4 more weeks...

The countdown is on...

Less than four weeks till our due date, January 19th, 2010!!

Recap of this week (don't choose to do it over..ever): Monday 36 wk appt everything went fine. Tuesday ultrasound to check on baby, yep she is breech, approx weight 5 lb 1 oz, heartbeat still really strong. Wednesday call from ultrasound tech stating another doctor in the office wants to schedule BPP test because she is breech and small for 36 weeks..here is where I lost it..what is this test, why are we doing it, is something wrong with Tori?? All of these questions flow through my head really quickly and I don't know what to do...one hour later I am back at the doctor's office having another ultrasound. Tori had 30 minutes to perform 4 tasks and the tech graded her on them..about 20-25 mins later she says "she passed with flying colors, 8 out of 8 points" and a sigh of relief exited my body.

Now Bryan and I are having daily chats with Little Gripka to flip around so everything else can go as planned :) Good luck to us right?? Yeah right!! Monday is another appt so we will discuss our options at that time w/ my regular OB.

Until later I will leave you with the most recent belly pics..more to come soon.

Sister Dog Bertha

Thank you to all who said some prayers last Friday as Bertha, our beloved four-legged daughter, went into surgery to have a tumor removed from her tail area. The one tumor ended up being 2 tumors and a severe "fanny lift" in the end. Bertha was such a good sport, she only cried for a little while on Friday night, one can only imagine why, and I think it was worse on her Mama then it was her. She is doing well healing at home and will go visit the Vet on Monday to have the stitches removed. The pathology report came back yesterday and it was not so good, again this was harder on her Mama then on her. The determination was Anal Sac Gland Adenocarcinoma...which are malignant aggressive tumors that are common in dogs. Bryan and I have decided to watch for more tumors to grow and take action at that time if something comes up. We will not have tests done to find out if the cancer has spread and we have decided to opt out of treatment (radiation or chemotherapy).

I never thought I would love an animal so much, but how could you not love this face...

Catching up on belly pics...

Here are pics from week 30, 30.5, 32, and 33.....

Week 30


Week 30.5 -


Week 32 - Last vacation before Tori arrives - Scottsdale AZ



Week 33 - Baby Shower at work with pink hair bow on Tori's head!!

Getting Closer...

Tomorrow marks our 36th week of pregnancy...I really can't believe we only have 6 more weeks before Tori arrives...they say time flies when you're having fun, well we must be having a blast because it has went by sooooo fast!!

I visited the doctor today...leaving a sample is getting more and more difficult each visit :) Gained 1 pound (16 total), blood pressure was great, measurement of uterus of was right on track, heartbeat was strong, sounds like everything is going awesome...only one thing we talked about that isn't good or really bad...Baby Tori has her head in my ribs and not her feet or booty...doctor said not to worry and we will check her again in 2 weeks...if she hasn't flipped by then we will discuss our options for delivery.

Just wanted to update everyone, more pictures soon to come :)

The Past 8 Months

28 weeks

24 weeks

20 weeks

left hand (on left) and right hand showing us who is #1 (on right)

Profile pic with hand in mouth

Our little Lima Bean (10 weeks)

If all pregnancies were like this one so far the Gripka's may have 10 kids....JUST KIDDING :)

Everything has been going great so far! The doctor says Baby Tori is growing perfectly as planned...these pics are some pictures of her (10 weeks and 20 weeks) and of my growing belly!!

1st blog ever!!

I have been thinking about starting a blog since June 2009, when we found out we were pregnant. Living in Kansas City away from 99% of our family it is difficult to keep everyone in the loop on what it going on so here I am starting a blog to keep everyone in the know!!

Not sure how often this will get updated but I will do my best to keep everyone posted :)

xoxo,
Brandi (Bryan, Bertha & Baby Tori)