Baby Blog 2010

2010-05-27T12:01:00.001-05:00

Midwife appointment on Tuesday, at this point with Luke I was measuring right on (you know, 25 cm at 25 weeks, etc.) but now I'm measuring 1 cm AHEAD! Woo, maybe I'll get that 9-pound baby yet! Or not. I feel bigger than I did with Luke, though...

Mother's Day

2010-05-08T07:44:00.002-05:00

Adam brought home from school a questionnaire he had filled out all about me. Check out how many of the questions he got right!

My mom's name is: Lisa
The color of my mom's hair is: Reddish brownish
My mom's eyes are: Blue
I think my mom is aboutt 29 years old
My mom's favorite color is: Blue
My mom's favorite TV show is: Bones
My mom likes to: read stories but she doesn't like to: do stuff for my dad (haha! Kids are observent little things, aren't they?)
My mom likes to eat: Tacos
My mom looks prettiest when: She goes to a wedding
In the summer, my mom likes to: Pick flowers with me
In the winter, my mom likes to: Make snowmen
My mom likes to read books with me
I like being with my om most when: We sleep together with Luke
I enjoy listening to my mom read the story Marley Strikes
If I could give my mom something special it would be: Chocolate (smart kid!)
My favorite thing about my mom is: She reads a book to me

The Money Shot

2010-04-13T18:41:00.002-05:00

So I had my "big" ultrasound today. It took a little searching, but yes, we did find out gender. it's another bouncing baby BOY. The tech wasn't really certain, but the OB came in and took one look and said "Oh yeah, that's a boy." Everything else checked out fine, his measurements were pretty darn close to the due date we had already figured out. He was all curled up in a little ball with his hands over his face so we only got a couple of good face shots, but we did get to see his little mouth open and close. The tech said he was drinking :) Got a shot of his tiny foot, too, so cute.

So, in about 4 1/2 months, the testosterone level in this house will rise yet again.

Just testing...

2010-03-03T10:45:00.001-06:00

Seeing if this blog network thing works...

First appointment!

2010-02-24T07:51:00.002-06:00

Had the first midwife appointment last night. Pretty uneventful, just talked about how things are going and how things have been for the past year and a half. Tried to hear the heartbeat, think we might have heard it for a second but then the baby swam away, but in the process we did hear a nice kick at the Doppler so at least we know something's alive and swimming in there! Next appointment is on March 23.

Developmental ped update

2010-02-16T11:13:00.001-06:00

So we had our dev ped referral at Rochester yesterday. Actually, yesterday's appointment was just with the intake social worker. She went through the history, what we were concerned about, what had been done so far, and all that. She agreed that he is indeed behind and is going to set up an appointment with the developmental pediatrician. Except, there's a 6- to 9-month waiting list, so it's not going to be any time soon. There is a nurse practitioner there, but she's leaving in a month, so the social worker is going to see if there's any way she can squeeze us in before then. Otherwise it'll be summertime before we have anything new. She gave us a couple of ideas to help Luke out (like making a picture book of common things in our house and kitchen to see if he can point to what he wants instead of throwing a tantrum because he's *trying* to tell us what he wants but we don't understand him). So I'll get started on that this weekend. I'm kind of excited, it'd be so cool if he understands the book and actually uses it.

Charity Auction

2010-02-10T13:02:00.002-06:00

I know I have at least 1 follower, maybe some more anonymous ones, but I want y'all to pop on over to this blog and check out the auction they're putting on. This little boy has epidermolysis bullosa, which (don't quote me, I'm not a doctor) means he's missing some proteins that hold the layers of his skin together. The slightest friction on any part of him causes his skin to rub right off. Ouch, right? What's worse is that it's deadly, and (again, I'm not an expert, I've just been following this cute little guy since I stumbled across his blog almost a year ago) depending on the type of EB you may not make it through your first year. They're holding the auction to raise money for DebRA to find a cure.

New blog title

2010-02-02T18:37:00.001-06:00

So I guess I'm going to have to change the blog's title to Baby Blog 2010...

18 Months

2010-01-26T18:57:00.002-06:00

Just had Luke's 18-month checkup today. He's in the 41st percentile for head circumference, 5th for height, and weighing in at a whopping 21 pounds puts him in the 2nd percentile for weight. The nickname "Peanut Baby" seems to still be ringing true. Combined with his developmental delays the doc is concerned, not enough to recommend a developmental ped ASAP but put it out on the table and will write the referral if we decide to go that route in the near future. I don't know, we'll have to talk about it.

Starting the blog back up

2010-01-19T14:46:00.002-06:00

Yeah, so six months later...

Lukey is doing pretty well in PT. He still can't walk but he took a step last night, he went from hanging on to the coffee table to reaching for his rocking horse and taking a step to get there. He can also kick at a ball if he's holding on to something (he can also say "ball", in addition to "mamamamamama" and "dada") and he loves to play catch. They think as soon as he starts walking he'll be done with therapy.

Adam is doing pretty well in school. He's a superstar in math but needs a little bit of help in reading, so twice a week he stays after school for some extra help. Sounds more like playtime to me, but I can tell it really does help :) They do games and activities and play outside, so it's not like he's getting intensive tutoring at 5 years old or anything. We have conferences in 2 weeks so we'll be able to see how much he has improved since last trimester.

Happy Birthday to my baby boy

2009-07-24T11:01:00.004-05:00

Luke Nicholas is now 1 year old. This time last year I was sitting at work having contractions, but in denial that I was in labor because the stupid things weren't timeable or having any sort of pattern. Bitching to my coworkers and midwife about how this kid was *never* coming out. Ah, if only I knew. So Happy Birthday to Peanut Baby, you make my life better just by being here.

Gerber yogurt puffs, oh how I love thee...

2009-07-21T10:19:00.003-05:00

O. M. G. If Luke had anything to say about it, you'd think these things should be currency and valued more than gold. Stopped at Hell-Mart last night and swung by the baby department to pick some of these up. They're a guaranteed tantrum-stopper. Luke caught sight of the bag and SQUEALED, then clutched the bag when I handed it to him and tried opening the package in his one-year-old-completely-ineffective way.

Fast-foward to dinnertime, and Luke's yelling at me because he doesn't like the spaghetti I gave him to eat. He wants to be picked up. Actually, he wants to nurse, but Mama's trying to eat her dinner, which she happens to enjoy, so she tosses some yogurt puffs on his tray instead. All of a sudden life is much better! So thank you, Gerber Yogurt Puffs, for letting me eat dinner in peace.

Developmental Delay

2009-07-14T08:24:00.002-05:00

So it's official - Luke is developmentally delayed, specifically in the area of gross motor. His delay is profound enough that he qualifies for physical therapy through the school district. The special ed team was out again last night to go over their findings and his test results, and it's pretty dang obvious that he's behind in gross motor. There was one test that had a goal score of 10, and Luke's score was a 1. Yeah... So now, once we give the official go-ahead, they'll pull the team back together and put together some goals, and Luke will start in-home physical therapy twice a month until he's 3, at which point they re-evaluate and either stop the therapy or continue it through a different program. We're guessing the therapy will stop since he doesn't have an underlying condition causing the delay (like cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy). His goals are going to be things like army crawling, all-fours crawling, and walking within the next year (they're sure he'll be doing those things way before the year is up). Then once he hits those, they'll make him some new goals, and on and on and on.

2009-07-09T08:04:00.003-05:00

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Adam's new trick - we were down visiting my grandparents over the 4th and he saw that Grandpa's friend Pete was missing part of one of his fingers and asked Pete what happened, and Pete said he can take that finger off and put it in his pocket, and he "showed" Adam by reaching into his pocket and pulling out his hand with all 5 fingers on it (Adam never noticed that it was the other hand he had pulled out). Now Adam is going around showing everyone his trick - he puts his hands in a fist, says "No fingers!", then puts his hands behind his back and pulls them out with fingers extended and says "Back on!".

In other news, we had another meeting with Special Ed last night for Luke. She's pretty sure that going by his evaluation and the questionnaires we've filled out he's going to qualify for services of some type. We'll find out what kinds of services on Monday at our final meeting.

Here's Luke sitting all by himself! Doesn't last very long, but it's a huge improvement from even 2 weeks ago. He's so cute!

And here's just a cute picture:

Progress

2009-06-25T10:35:00.003-05:00

Luke started waving bye-bye yesterday (SO cute!) and I caught him army-crawling towards one of his brother's toys this morning.

We also have the meeting with the district special ed coordinator and possibly a physical therapist tonight at 5:30.

Special Ed meeting

2009-06-23T09:42:00.001-05:00

The special ed coordinator is coming out Thursday night to talk with us and meet Luke, and she'll bring out a physical therapist if one's available. She'll talk with us about what the assessment entails, what they might find, what our options are, and we decide if we still want to go through with it. More details to follow.

Happy Birthday to my big boy

2009-06-14T11:09:00.002-05:00

Adam Allen is 5 years old. Seems like just yesterday he was a teeny-tiny 3-pound baby in a great big incubator. Now he's getting ready for kindergarten. He loves doing tricks and "myfs" (myths - watches too much Mythbusters!) and playing with his baby brother. I love you Adam!

We have toofage!

2009-06-05T13:20:00.001-05:00

Luke just cut his first tooth yesterday! Bottom left, can't really see it but if you look closely or run your finger over his gums you can tell it's there!

IRT meeting

2009-06-01T10:11:00.001-05:00

Had the meeting with the interagency referral team today. Just basically confirmed what's been going on and what's changed. They agree he definitely has a gross motor delay and possibly a language/communication delay, so the next step is a formal evaluation by PT, OT, and possibly the speech pathologist. They have 45 days from today to complete the evaluations, so I should be hearing from the coordinator within the next couple of weeks.

Developmental delay

2009-05-21T13:46:00.002-05:00

So, about a month ago I realized that Luke's a little behind developmentally. I was reading one of those websites about "Your baby should be doing x at y months" and realized Luke really wasn't doing any of it. My suspicions were confirmed at his 9-month visit, but the delays aren't enough that Dr. K was concerned enough to recommend immediate intervention. He offered a developmental pediatrician referral but said he was fine just waiting until his 12-month checkup and seeing where he was then. I decided to contact the Follow-Along Program through the Department of Health, where they send you developmental questionnaires at regular intervals, you fill them out and send them back, and they score them and let you know if they think anything needs further evaluation. So last week I filled out the 10-month questionnaire, and lo and behold I got a call last night that there's enough delay in Luke's gross motor and language that the coordinator wants to present his case to the FAP committee (made up of someone from the school district, Head Start, County Health, and a few other places) and see what kind of intervention is recommended. He can't sit unassisted, can't creep, can't crawl, can't/won't bear weight on his legs, doesn't wave bye-bye, and some other stuff that I don't notice as being behind but obviously are. So, June 1st I'm going to sit in on the committee meeting and see what's recommended for the babe. It could be as little as someone from the school district coming out, checking him out, and giving us some ideas to try, or it could be as much as a formal evaluation through the health department or Mayo. We shall see.

Not Me! Monday

2009-05-18T10:17:00.002-05:00

After borrowing the book Twilight from my sister because I was out of things to read, I most certainly did not devour that book and finish the entire series in 8 days (that's 2560 pages, yo).

I also most certainly do not have a mad crush on Edward Cullen. That's so 7th grade.

I did NOT go all weekend without showering. Ew, gross, who does that?

I also didn't let Adam go without a bath for longer than usual because I knew Grandma would do it when we got to her house. I don't foist my parenting responsibilities on other people!

Not Me! Monday

2009-05-04T11:10:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

So in a round-about way I came across this blog a while back, and immediately added it to my blogger list so I could keep up on Baby Stellan. Well, once all the medical drama started settling down, MckMama reinstituted her Not Me! Monday tradition - every Monday she goes through what she didn't do the previous week. Hilarious! And I'm stealing it! Okay, not really stealing it, since she encourages everyone else to do it, but anyway...

*I did not let Adam eat goldfish crackers in bed last night
*I did not put dirty socks on him this morning because he didn't have any clean ones
*I also did not let him play outside alone in the neighbor's sand box yesterday while I read a book
*And I did not just use woot.com to send my mother-in-law flowers for Mother's Day.

I have a follower!

2009-04-29T11:26:00.000-05:00

Shout-out to Jay (heeeeeey girl!)

Sickies

2009-04-21T14:58:00.004-05:00

Luke survived his first stomach flu. Oh, the vomit. BUT, I found an added bonus to cloth diapers - great at catching puke. Lay a premium-size under his head while he sleeps and it keeps you from having to change your sheets and/or the backup towel you have laying under you ever half an hour. Of course, that means you'll probably go through 3 dozen diapers in 2 days, but hey.

And some cuteness before the sickness - swinging outside at daycare last week:

More cuteness

2009-03-23T11:59:00.000-05:00

Bowling fun

2009-03-17T10:06:00.002-05:00

7 months - what's up?

2009-02-25T08:35:00.003-06:00

Luke is a rolling machine. I put him down under his little activity area, walk out of the room, and when I come back he's halfway off the mat and pointed in a completely different direction. It won't be long before he figures out how to roll to actually get somewhere.

He's also getting close to cutting some teeth, he's always gnawing on something, usually his hands. I tried giving him a bit of cereal a couple of days ago (he still hasn't started on solids yet) but he was more interested in chewing on the spoon than eating the food. Plus I think he was just plain tired and cranky, so we'll try it again in a couple of days and see what happens. Going by Kellymom (http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-when.html) he's still not quite ready for solids, so I'm not pushing it.

He's also finishing up antibiotics for an ear infection - not sure if it's a new one or if the last one just never cleared completely (not finishing the Amoxicillin didn't help, I'm sure - yeah, yeah, I've learned my lesson). They gave him Ceftin this time and he tolerated it much better, no puking and the diaper rash wasn't near as bad. I don't want my kids to be like me, on antibiotics practically 24/7 for almost my entire childhood, so I'm trying to let things run their course before jumping to drugs (last time was a moment of weakness), but the poor thing was PITIFUL before he got meds, whining and crying and clingy. It just broke my heart! Poor baby :( But after a couple days on the antibiotic he was back to his old self. My parents had come to visit the day before I took him in, before he got really bad, and he wouldn't let anyone hold him and was a complete cranky-pants, so I'll have to take him down to see them now that he's better so they can get some cuddle time with him.

Adam is getting super-excited for Kindergarten. Registration is next week. He'll be Class of 2022. I'm not gonna cry, I'm not gonna cry...

He had his followup with ENT last week, and if the fluid in his ears isn't gone by March they want to put in tubes. He said 90% of cases will clear up on their own within 3 months, but the last 10% usually won't clear up no matter how long you wait. He also suggested taking out his tonsils at the same time because they're HUGE. And they really are, they're almost touching. He told me to listen to him while he sleeps because he'd be surprised if he didn't have sleep apnea. And lo and behold, I listened to him in the middle of the night and every once in a while he'd stop breathing. So come April we may be looking at surgery. There goes our tax refund. Ah well, the things we do for our kids.

2009-02-10T12:47:00.003-06:00

Luke in his Jumperoo, taken last night (on my phone, sorry about the crappy quality). He loves that thing...

2009-01-29T08:26:00.002-06:00

38%

39%

$4740.00

26% Geek

Reverse cycling

2009-01-26T15:55:00.003-06:00

So Luke wants his milk either straight from the tap or not at all. In order to achieve this, he is drinking the bare minimum possible during daycare (sometimes less than 12 ounces in 9 1/2 hours) and nursing all. night. long. Whee! Coffee is my friend.

Sickies

2009-01-22T09:24:00.002-06:00

So Luke got his first ear infection. And his first Amoxicillin prescription. Aw, something to write in his baby book! That stuff ain't as great as I remember - he did NOT like it. Hated the taste (this can't be MY kid, that stuff was like candy to me when I was little!) and it made his tummy hurt. Plus it's given him an AWESOME diaper rash. His poor butt is so sore, it hurts just to look at it. So I threw away the antibiotic. Yeah, I know, he's supposed to finish it all, but screw it, it's not worth putting my baby through even more pain just to fix up an ear infection.

I also got a nice Amoxicillin prescription, but I got stupid pills, no yummy pink stuff for me. Thought I had strep, actually was convinced I had strep, but turns out it was bronchitis that was going on it's 4th week. Huh, alrighty then. And I also quit taking it, it makes my stomach hurt something awful. What the heck, I lived off of this stuff when I was a kid, would actually ASK to take it, and now that I'm an adult it gives me stomach cramps?

Some pictures

2008-12-29T12:42:00.003-06:00

Jen and the kids were up this past weekend so we all went and got our pictures taken (Mom's been trying to organize this for years).

My husband, the radio personality

2008-12-17T10:59:00.003-06:00

So Nicky-boy got a new part-time job at the AM radio station in Albert Lea. Right now he's learning the ropes, but eventually he'll be doing sports broadcasting (high school games and stuff like that). Way cool. I think there's talk of him having his own weekend show somewhere down the line, too.

I have to say, I'm loving the 4-year-old age right now (ask me that again when Adam's throwing a tantrum...) He is SO INTO Santa and Christmas. He loves seeing the Christmas lights on all the houses and buildings. He never lets me forget to add an ornament to our Advent calendar every day. He leaves drawings under the Christmas tree for Santa to see. It's so friggin' cute I can hardly stand it. Last Sunday he saw Santa at the Christmas party at the Eagles. I took the pictures with my phone so they kinda suck, but it's all you're gonna get right now.

Okay, and Photobucket sucks eggs because these shouldn't be sideways. Whatever.

Lukey-boy is still as cute as can be. He's been a little sick, he's got a cough and he's more fussy than usual, but he still shows off his big smile whenever you talk to him. I love to munch on his chubby cheeks. Pictures of him forthcoming (yeah, like you haven't heard THAT before...)

We have rollage!

2008-11-26T08:03:00.003-06:00

Luke rolled over front to back AND back to front the other day at daycare! Haven't seen it for myself yet since by the time we get home all he wants is a boob and a nap and isn't much for floor time, but I bet he'll perform for us during the long weekend.

I also got him to laugh for me, a real 2-part belly laugh, not just the cute little baby giggles. He's never laughed this much, though:

This is a little girl from my due date club (I'm on a message board where a bunch of us all due in July formed a little club).

Three months!

2008-11-04T09:40:00.004-06:00

Blogger's being mean to me, the pictures look cut off but if you click on them they'll come up full-screen.

Adam had just finished some gummi snacks so his teeth are kinda gnarly:

Yes, I actually did take these pictures on Luke's 3-month birthday, I just haven't been able to upload or post them until today.

Halloween pictures to come soon, and Adam had his first hockey practice last Sunday so I'll have some pics from that, too.

Better late than never...

2008-10-01T09:34:00.003-05:00

Luke Nicholas was born 07/24/08 at 10:03 p.m. I was in labor all day at work but didn't know it (I was feeling the contractions but they weren't in any pattern and I didn't think they were doing anything). He came fast and easy (the midwife almost didn't make it, she got there about 15 minutes before he was born, and I never did get to go in the birth pool), the contractions hurt some but it didn't "really" start to hurt until about 9 p.m., and then I understood why women ask for drugs. But I'd do it all again in a second, and if there is a #3 he or she will be born at home, too.

1 day old:

Brotherly love:

2 months old:

Angry pumpkin:

2008-07-17T08:10:00.001-05:00

Yes I'm still pregnant.

2008-07-07T07:41:00.000-05:00

Had contractions all afternoon on Friday. Real ones, too, not just Braxton-Hicks. Don't know how far apart they were or how long they lasted because I didn't have my watch on and we were outside all day.

Don't get too excited, though - haven't had a single one since then.

Here's your chance to name our baby!

2008-06-23T10:20:00.002-05:00

We are in desperate need of name help. We haven't agreed on a single name, everything's more of a "maybe", so I'm calling on everyone to hit us with your best name suggestions! There are only 2 rules: 1) It has to be a BOY name (duh). and 2) It has to have 4 letters (or can be shortened via nickname to 4 letters). GO!

I nested!

2008-06-09T09:18:00.002-05:00

Okay, being 2 weeks farther along now than I ever got with Adam, this is all new to me. I nested yesterday! I completely cleaned Adam's room, rearranged all his toys, got rid of the "storage" and random junk that was piled up by his closet door, and cleared out the clothes from his dresser that don't fit anymore. Now the kid can actually play with his toys, the only stuff in his room is HIS stuff (well, and the baby's), and his new clothes will fit in his dresser! Gotta still go through the stuff hanging in the closet, though... Ooh, and I got the crib ready to go, all I have to do is wash the sheets and set up the mobile, but I lowered the rail and got the mattress up to the highest setting.

Saturday we spent the day at the Mall of America at Nickelodeon Universe with some of the Semples for Adam's birthday. He got to see Grandpa Steve, Aunt Denice, Aunt Judy, Aunt Kim, Melissa, Matthew, and Olivia. Rode as many rides as they could get on! Nick had to chaperone the boys because they were too small to ride most of the rides by themselves. And get this - they rode the log flume. And LOVED it! I was so surprised, I thought for sure Adam would get freaked out, but he came running out of the exit afterwards asking to do it again! We should have bought the picture they take of you on the ride, Matthew is holding on to the seat in front of him for dear life and Adam has a look of complete horror on his face. But they loved it and rode it again before we left.

If anyone is wondering what to get Adam for his birthday, one word - Legos. Denice bought him a bucket o' Legos for his birthday and they are a HIT. Though he did lose his Lego priviledges yesterday because he decided he didn't want to pick them up when he was done playing with them. So yeah, Legos are "it" right now, you can never have too many Legos (ask me that again when the baby starts to crawl). He also got a big pack of Matchbox cars and a carrying case, much better than the plastic grocery sack he's currently using to haul all of his cars to daycare every day, and a giant firetruck floor puzzle, one of the reasons why I was so gung-ho to get his room cleaned yesterday. And Grandpa gave us some money to go pick out a new Twins hat, his old one is getting a little small for his noggin, and it's pretty spiffy.

As far as the baby's concerned, no news is good news. Still head-down as of last week, still squirming around, no signs of coming out anytime soon. Haven't had an ultrasound since 22 weeks so no guesses on his weight, but my belly measurements are right on track every week. I'm expecting at least an 8-pounder, though 9 would be better (yes, I want a BIG baby! I want a rolly-poly chunker monster!).

Can you hear that?

2008-05-16T09:34:00.002-05:00

Shhhh, listen carefully... Do you hear that... It's the sound of Nick, washing dishes...

IN OUR NEW DISHWASHER!! AKA my new best friend. It's not pretty, it's just jerry-rigged up to the water supply and sitting in the middle of our kitchen, but by golly it washes dishes just fine! Be still, my heart...

My son, the future midwife (midhusband?)

2008-05-05T10:22:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not updating sooner, there's just been nothing to write about. Baby's fine, really active, and I feel fine. My lower back hurts a little bit but I heard my stepsister has sciatica so I'm not complaining too much.

We're now down to visits every 2 weeks. I'm officially in the 3rd trimester! As of today I'm 28+5 weeks. I had an appointment last Thursday and everything was peachy. No swelling, not spilling protein or glucose, and I'm measuring right on target. We're starting to talk a little bit more about the birth and what to expect now, what's normal and what's not normal, stuff like that. I'm going to have to make Nick a little cheat sheet for labor because the poor guy is going to be completely out of his element. Props to him for humoring me about my "crazy homebirth" ideas, though. He's taking everything in stride.

No new updates on the name front, Nick is nonplussed about the whole thing and thinks we have plenty of time to decide, whereas I'm chomping at the bit ready to name this kid already! Nickolas (notice the spelling) is a maybe, Braden is a maybe, Aiden is a maybe, other than that we can't narrow anything down. Nancy just suggested Cole, to keep with the 4-letter name tradition (Nick, Lisa, Adam), so I'll run that by Nick to see if he vetoes it or not. It's the name of a character on one of his favorite soaps, though, so I'm not sure how it's going to go over. On the other hand, his girl name (Hope) is also a soap name, so you never know.

So, on to my future midwife. At my appointment last week Adam was bouncing around and showing off as usual. About every 5 minutes he'd interrupt and ask if it was time for him to squeeze the black thing yet (he gets to squeeze the bulb of the blood pressure cuff when Rachel takes my vitals). So we're winding down our visit and Rachel starts getting things out to check on the baby. Of course she lets him squeeze the bulb, which he does an awesome job of. I lay down so she can check on the baby's heartbeat and he gets a tissue ready to wipe off the blue goo they use for the Doppler. Now that the baby's bigger Rachel is using a fetoscope to check on the heart rate (http://www.allheart.com/om13fetal.html) and always brings 2 with her, one for her to listen and one for the mother to listen. Well, she has her fetoscope on my belly and is trying to hear (the heartbeat is still kind of soft at this point), and while she's doing that Adam grabs the other one, sticks the earpieces in his ears, and puts the thing on my belly. It was all I could do not to bust out laughing! I kept looking at him and giggling, and apologizing to her because every time I laughed it made my belly move and she was trying so hard to listen, but then I'd catch a glimpse of Adam listening intently to my belly and I'd start laughing again. I so wish I'd gotten a picture, but I was kind of indisposed at the moment and Nick was outside working on the house. It was just the cutest thing I'd ever seen! She finally got a good read on the heartbeat and let me try to listen to see if I could hear, but I couldn't. Maybe next time. So she starts packing up her stuff and Adam asked where the blue stuff was, with the tissue still clutched in his hand, so she fell victim to his cuteness and broke out the Doppler so he could hear the heartbeat and help wipe the goo off my belly. Such a good little helper.

And now for something completely different

2008-04-10T08:41:00.003-05:00

Puppies!!

Yeah, sorry they're sideways, Photobucket sucks. Gertie had her puppies on Tuesday morning, and 4 girls and 2 boys made it through the night (one girl died).

He MAY have turned...

2008-04-08T13:41:00.001-05:00

I don't know for sure, but babe might be head-down now. I got a few kicks to my upper abdomen this morning.

Place your bet!

2008-03-19T13:38:00.003-05:00

Someone hooked me up with this cool website where you can set up an online baby pool!

http://www.expectnet.com/games/sempbabypool

Two hints - It's a boy (duh) and as of yesterday the ultrasound gave a weight of 1 pound 3 ounces.

It's a...

2008-03-18T19:39:00.002-05:00

boy! And a very healthy boy at that! He has absolutely no modesty, unlike his brother, who made us go down to Mason City for a 4-D ultrasound to find out gender, this one gave up the goods right away! I do have pictures, but we don't have a scanner; my mom has a scanner but no internet, so it may be a few days before I can get anything posted.

I can see why this OB is so popular, he had an awesome bedside manner. He was completely nonplussed about the whole midwife thing, told us if we had any questions or needed anything to let him know, and to come right in if there were any emergencies. During the ultrasound he told us exactly what he was looking at and why he was looking at it, which my last OB didn't do. In the abdomen we could see the stomach bubble, which means the baby can swallow and urinate, which rules out a specific birth defect, and it was below the heart so there's no diaphragmatic hernia; the skull was nice and round so there's no anencephaly; and the cord insertion was normal and there weren't any organs floating on the outside, so he doesn't have gastroschisis or omphalocele. And, oh yeah, did I mention it's a BOY?! His measurements were right on, I'm due July 23 and the measurements via ultrasound put the due date at July 19, so close enough.

20 weeks 5 days

2008-03-11T08:51:00.002-05:00

Last night's appointment went swimmingly. I'm measuring right on target and when she busted out the Doppler to hear the heartbeat we got it on the first try. Then s/he decided to play hard to get and swam away. I'm starting to feel a lot more kicks, and when I lie down at night and press on my belly I can tell where the baby is hanging out - whether it's on the right side, left side, or way up top. Pretty cool.

AND, I just called and set up my ultrasound, it's next Tuesday at 1:30. We intend on finding out the sex, so if you don't want to know stay away from the blog next week!

We have heartbeat!

2008-02-13T19:31:00.003-06:00

Rachel (the midwife) just left after my 17-week appointment. We heard the heartbeat loud and clear this time, it was running about 150 beats per minute. It's also an active little bugger, we heard a bunch of kicks in the short time she had the Doppler on my belly.

Our next visit is scheduled for March 10, but before then I'll get my 20-week ultrasound. Rachel is going to get ahold of one of the OBs at the clinic and see if I can get an ultrasound without officially becoming a patient or having to get a whole mess of bloodwork and labs.

2008-01-23T12:35:00.000-06:00

The husband of a member of a message board I'm on wrote a really great entry on their blog about homebirth. http://ronrothman.com/public/leftbraned/is-home-birth-courageous I highly recommend reading it. It's a lot of what I wrote in my "hombirth soapbox" entry but a lot "nicer"!

I'm organized!

2008-01-18T15:15:00.000-06:00

I emailed my payment plan to my midwife yesterday (because I, um, forgot to print it out before my appointment on Tuesday) and she emailed me back thanking me and saying I was very organized. Ya see that?! I'm ORGANIZED! Ha! I think I'm going to print that out and hang it on my cubicle wall so I can show people when they start griping about how cluttered my desk is.

Oh, and so far this little bean is taking after his/her big brother and really liking Mexican food...

And now, my homebirth/midwife soapbox

2008-01-17T07:50:00.000-06:00

Being the "odd" one of the family, I'm sure people are wondering why the heck I'm using a midwife and having a homebirth (if you didn't know before, you do now!). Well, for one, I'm not sick and don't need a doctor. Second, I don't like being told what to do and really don't want to worry about having to tell some random nurse to get their hands out of me when I'm in the middle of a contraction, or to stop yelling at me to push, or be put on a timetable from the moment my water breaks, my first contraction, how many centimeters I am, etc. Third, I like being treated like a person instead of a paycheck. When I was pregnant with Adam the longest my OB ever spent with me during a prenatal was 15 minutes, and after I got married she didn't even notice that my name had changed on my chart. At my prenatal with my midwife Tuesday night she was there for almost 2 hours and knew I'd just had a birthday. Just a random prenatal, nothing special. I don't have to worry about taking off work or sitting in a waiting room for an hour to spend 10 minutes with the doctor. My son and my husband get to be at all of the appointments and be involved in my care (the highlight of Adam's day is getting to squeeze the ball to pump up the blood pressure cuff when Rachel takes my vitals). I know when I go into labor Rachel will be the one to help me deliver my baby, not whichever OB happens to be on call that day. I know that by having my baby at home there is a decreased chance of needing any interventions like episiotomy (which you know was created by a man), epidural, or C-section, and the risk to me or the baby isn't any greater than birthing in a hospital (check out http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7505/1416?ehom_ if you don't believe me). I don't have to worry about the baby catching some infection from the hospital (MRSA, anyone?). I will know exactly what procedures are done to my baby and why they're being done. I will know exactly what procedures are being done to ME and why they're being done. My midwife will actually listen to me if I want to decline something or ask questions instead of citing "it's procedure" ad nauseum. I won't have to bring my baby into a germy doctor's office for a checkup, Rachel will come right to my house for all of the postpartum mother and baby visits. Basically, I am in control, which is just better for everyone :)

2008-01-16T08:16:00.000-06:00

Well, the midwife appointment went well last night. Mostly talked about my medical history and how the pregnancy is going so far. We did attempt to hear the heartbeat but the little bugger didn't want to cooperate, we'd get a blip on the Doppler then s/he'd swim away, so we never really got a good "bump-bump-bump" rhythm going. Rachel warned me that we might not be able to hear the heartbeat, and I had to promise not to freak out if we didn't before she'd agree to trying out the Doppler. All in all everything is going well, my uterus is starting to peek out over my pubic bone and growing into my abdomen more, and I'm officially in the 2nd trimester now, so hopefully I'll start looking pregnant soon instead of just fat. Grow, baby, grow!

2008-01-11T07:41:00.000-06:00

Our midwife Rachel called last night, we have our next prenatal set up for Tuesday at 6. Should have some nice updates after that visit.

On a lighter note, my gag reflex has fully kicked in. Nothing like almost making yourself puke just by brushing your teeth!

Baby News

2008-01-10T11:12:00.000-06:00

So, I'm 12 weeks 1 day. Nothing going on. No sickness, no movement, no belly bulge. Boring. I should be having my next midwife appointment next week, so if anything fun happens I'll let you know (we should be able to hear the heartbeat!).