Ecuador - Quito, Amazon and Galapagos Islands

We are so happy to have had the opportunity to travel to Ecuador (Dec 8-18) together before the baby is born. This might have been the last adventurous last trip we take for a while!

First, we spent 3 nights in Quito, which is the capital of Ecuador and the oldest city in South America. Quito is located 9,000 feet above sea level so at times it was tough to catch your breath and being pregnant didn't help. I made sure to drink a lot of water to keep myself hydrated.

We then spent 3 nights in the Amazon jungle. This is where we met Hector, one of our favorite characters on the trip. He was our guide, a local healer, a shaman, and quite possibly part god. He told Craig and I he was able to tell if we were having a boy or girl just by waving his panther claw across my belly...the claw of a panther he killed for his "entry to manhood", but that's another story. I let him, and after about a minute he told us we were having a boy. Later in the trip he told us we would be having 9 more children, so I'm not sure how accurate this guy is, but we'll see. Overall, the Amazon was great. We went on a lot of hikes, some really early in the morning. The best part was that they always gave us a break to take a siesta right after or before lunch, which was exactly what I needed. The food in the rain forest was pretty good considering we were in the middle of nowhere. I was eating for two at this point, when it wasn't really even necessary! I'm glad I did, since the rest of the food on the trip sucked! I told all a few of the travelers that I was pregnant and word spread quickly and I suddenly had 14 grandmothers and grandfathers. We were traveling through my company, Grand Circle Travel, and the average age was about 75. Everyone took great care of me and gave Craig and I some great advice.

Next, we were off to the Galapagos Islands for 3 nights. I was a little nervous because we were staying on a 16 passenger catamaran for 3 nights and I wasn't sure how my stomach would handle the rocking. I took one of my new grandma's advice and pretended like I was getting rocked to sleep, which worked perfectly. Who can think about getting sick when you're cruising and exploring the Galapagos Islands? What almost did make me sick was the food on the ship. I wasn't sure what I was eating half the time and at this point, food is the one thing I could look forward to indulging in. I did sleep through a snorkeling trip, which was disappointing, but me and the baby needed to catch up on some sleep. At certain points I would have loved a drink and it would have helped we cope with some people on our trip. Remember, we were traveling and spending every waking moment with 14 75 year olds for 11 days. Most of our days started at 6 or 7 am and ended when I called it a night at 8 pm. I do have to give the travelers a lot of credit because they had more energy than Craig and I put together.

Overall, it was an incredible trip that came at the perfect time. It was our first trip "with" the baby, and the entire vacation was in celebration of our news. Stepping away, just the two of us (well, except for the 14 old people), was a great way to put things into perspective and absorb the fact that from this point on, things will never be the same!

Telling Our Families The Great News

After finding out I was pregnant, Craig and I were itching to tell our families about the news right from the start. But we wanted to make sure to do it in person, and it just so happened that Thanksgiving was right around the corner and we planned to be in Guilderland and Nanuet in the same week. Even though we had it all planned out, we figured out quickly that things don't always happen exactly the way you plan them. Unfortunately, our good news came at the same time as some of the worst news we've heard in a while...

We were on our way to Rockland County to take my parents on a surprise anniversary weekend (Nov 16th) and to share our news when we got the news. Frank Lavaia, a very close family friend, had suffered a heart attack picketing with the stagehands, his co-workers, on Broadway in NYC. About an hour after that phone call I received the news that Frank passed away. Unfortunately, Frank never heard our great news and will never meet our baby, but I know from the bottom of my heart he would have loved our baby almost as much as his own grandson. We miss you Frank! We decided to postpone our anniversary celebration weekend so we can spend time with the Lavaia's. During such a sad weekend we decided to tell my parents and brother our news. We went to sushi to "celebrate" the beginning of one life and the good memories of another. Even though we only told my immediate family, somehow half of Rockland County found out and some of LI...mom, I have no idea how! Do you?

We stayed in Rockland for Thanksgiving, then on Friday went to Albany for Craig's high school reunion and to tell his parents, sister, Aunt Rose and Aunt Sandy. Craig came up with the idea to write my due date on a piece of paper, roll it up and tie it with a piece of ribbon. We called Stace on the phone and told the family that we had a gift for them. They opened the paper and read the date out loud. It took Joe about 5 secs to guess that is was my due date and we were having a baby!

That weekend we went to Craig's 10 year high school reunion in style (or were we looking ridiculous?!) thanks to Eddie reserving us a limo. I must admit though, I did a really great job pretending like I was drinking beer or cranberry and vodkas all night! I also went to my 10 year reunion that weekend. It was an open bar at Vertigo in Nyack, NY. I once again did a great job spilling out half of my beer every time I went to the bathroom and pretended like I was drinking all night. Vanessa and I even took advantage of last call and got 3 beers each. Craig was very happy to see me and have 3 free beers (he met me after the reunion was over and the bar opened to the public).

1st Trimester

When it comes to my first trimester, I consider myself one of the lucky few who didn't have to deal with morning sickness and all the fun that sometimes comes along with those first few months. During mine, I never got sick or nausea enough to vomit. The worst it got was one morning when Craig was driving me into work I got really hot and nauseous. I wanted him to pull over but we were in traffic getting out of the tunnel. I had made the mistake of waking up without putting something in my stomach, then went to workout and rushed out the door so we weren't late for work. This was the only time I felt sick enough to puke.

I took the doctor's advice and from that point on I have made sure I eat something as soon as I wake up in the morning. I just felt overly tired and whenever I got the chance, I took a nap or slept through a movie on the couch. My biggest complaint was tender breasts which lasted for a couple months. I wasn't able to sleep on my stomach without putting down a soft blanket to cushion myself. I did get spells of lightheadedness or dizziness if I got up to quickly. My sense of smell was heightened, but I didn't get any cravings. I had more food aversions and therefore stuck to bland foods and ate smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day. I did notice and so did Craig that I become more irritated and annoyed with people and situations. I was able to work out and even run, at a slower pace than normal, throughout the entire 1st trimester. I believe I was so lucky because I took care of my body by eating well, exercising and keeping a positive attitude.

How We First Found Out We Were Having a Baby

On Wednesday, November 7, Craig picked me up from work. We both had a stressful day and stopped to pick up some beers before going home. I recommended we stop at CVS to pick up a pregnancy test before having a beer, just in case.

After arriving home Craig took the Lionel out and I went into the bathroom to pee on the stick like I had been doing every few weeks for the past 3 or 4 months. This time was different than all the rest though, this time it came back positive... Craig was out walking Lionel for what seemed like 3 hours, not 3 minutes. He finally opened the door and I was right there to greet him with, "I think I'm pregnant...". Even though this was what we had been hoping for for months, we were in total shock and disbelief. We didn't even believe the accuracy of the 99% accurate test, so we walked over to CVS and bought another brand just to find out that the first test was just as accurate as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th one I took...and the one's Craig took for that matter. For the last of our many tests, I made Craig pee on the stick. This was the the final proof that our lives had changed forever...In a great way of course!

Ultrasound At 18 Weeks

Here is your first look at Baby Maslowsky (18 weeks)! According to the weekly update I get on email, our baby is approximately 5.5 inches long, the length of a bell pepper in case anyone needed a visual, and weighs about 7 ounces.

At the appointment, our Dr. said we have a healthy, "perfect" baby. This is the best news we have ever received! Through the sonogram we were able to see the baby moving his/her arms and legs, but I can't feel anything yet. I am doing really well and have been truly enjoying the pregnancy with every day that goes by. I have all my energy, until about 9:00 pm when I can't keep my eyes open anymore, but what else is new?

I've been keeping busy with work and my social life on the weekends. My only complaints are heartburn and waking up a couple times a night to use the bathroom or to eat handfuls of tums. I am starting to show or get the "baby bump". I have about 1 more week in my jeans then I'll need to get a bigger waist size or start looking at maternity clothes.

Since we started this a bit late we'll do our best to fill in the missing time in the next few blogs!