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October 30, 2003
Good news!
Just talked to our doc...she looked at the results of the ultrasound, and based on the analysis, it looks like there's nothing to worry about. What it may suggest is that baby is further on than we initially thought. Based on his cumulative size right now, his due date would be 12/11. It's hard to do ultrasounds at this time because baby sizes are so variable. I don't need to have that ultrasound in two weeks after all. I'm both disappointed and happy...disappointed because it's so cool to see him, happy because there's no cause for us to have one.
I really felt a rush after hearing that...makes me want to file away all the piles paper I have accumulated, read read read books, really start knitting baby's blanket, finish john's hat... nesting??
We're going to interview a daycare provider tonight. John printed off a checklist that we found so we make sure we ask the right questions. Yikes!
Posted by janna at 05:20 PM
You should never do this...
There is no society known where a more or less developed criminality is not found under different forms. No people exists whose morality is not daily infringed upon. We must therefore call crime necessary and declare that it cannot be non-existent, that the fundamental conditions of social organization, as they are understood, logically imply it. by free online poker
Posted by janna at 10:40 AM
October 29, 2003
Big-headed, part deux
Today we went in for another ultrasound. Baby D is definitely growing!
When I was 30 weeks:
Head = 33 weeks!
Torso= 31 weeks!
Femur (thigh bone)= 30 weeks!
Weight= 3 lbs 7 oz, +-10 oz
Now, when I'm 32 weeks:
Head = 35 weeks!
Torso= 33 weeks!
Femur (thigh bone)= 32 weeks!
Weight= 4 lbs 11 oz, +-10 oz or so
Folks, what we have here is a baby with a big, smart brain. There are plenty of big-headed, smart people in both of our families. Our doc thinks we will continue to monitor it (she hasn't seen the official report yet to really comment). Her initial reaction is we'll have another ultrasound in two weeks (on November 12th) and see where we are then. If baby hasn't come on his own accord at 39 weeks, and growth is still going at this rate, we may want to consider inducing. My guess so far is that he'll come after December 10th. I have absolutely no prior experience to base this on, so take it for what it's worth! Let's just say I hope he stays in his nice little home at least until then.
His head is down, and he's facing up (so if you looked straight into my stomach, you'd see him upside down, facing you). It really explains the incredibly powerful, visible movement across my belly. At least he isn't floating his head all around, tee hee. We got some great pictures (I know, we need to post them!), including a shot of a foot with a great big toe, an arm, his face and a close up of his hair! It looks like he has a little soft spike. His little nose is so cute!
Posted by janna at 07:02 PM
October 25, 2003
Little man Ivan stopped by
What a wonderful evening last night!
Hans, Lisa and Ivan came by last night to make us dinner, such a treat. Lamb chops, potatoes, incredible mixed greens with pears, raspberries, sauteed mushrooms, blue cheese, maple cashews (I'm still drooling). Little man Ivan is not so little anymore. An adorable three-year old with incredible energy, bright eyes...he's quick to giggle and likes to help out. He's particularly a fan of John. My favorite was when he played the piano for us while the rest of us were still eating. He just sang, sang about all of us, sang about how he liked the color yellow, turned the page of the music books I have perched up there.
Posted by janna at 11:52 AM
October 22, 2003
He's apparently big-headed
We went in today for our weekly check-up. I'm 31 weeks as of yesterday, and my uterus measured 32 cm. I have a baby in that belly! The doc looked at the results of the ultrasound from last week. Apparently baby's head is measuring big, 32 or 33 weeks in measurement, and his body is measuring at the rate appropriate to my week. To make sure we're not dealing with a lack of growth, we'll have another ultrasound next Wednesday. I'm not worried about this right now, as it's possible the head measurement wasn't accurate. I'm just looking at this as an opportunity to see Baby D one more time, lucky us! He's moving a lot, which is a good sign, and his kicks are certainly packing a punch.
Since I'm not out in the world very much, it's so funny to me to see strangers react to my pregnancy. After the OB appt, I went next door to my primary doc to get a flu shot. As I was sitting the waiting room, a woman came up to me to show me a picture from a magazine. It was that famous picture of a surgery that was being performed in utero on a 21 week old baby. Her hand is coming out of the exposed uterus and clasped the enormous surgeon's finger. Right after she showed me, I was called in for the shot...the woman said, oh shoot, disappointed I had to go in. It was very sweet.
Posted by janna at 06:56 PM
October 21, 2003
31 weeks today!
BM? Bx? "another week! This means another 5 weeks of medicine and then we'll see what Baby D wants to do. I hope he decides to stay a bit longer, we could use some more time and he could use some more growing time.
Tomorrow is our weekly check up...
Posted by janna at 08:30 AM
October 20, 2003
Ready for a walk
The stroller is here! I cannot wait to get out of the house with Baby D and just roam around. This was a gift from Ken, Deb, Alex and Kersten, thank you!
Look how well the carseat fits in, thanks Mom! Doesn't John look good?
Posted by janna at 10:55 PM | Comments (1)
October 19, 2003
Baby D's friend, Evelyn
Oh my...what a beautiful, beautiful little girl. Meet Evelyn Rose, Seth and Monica's new daughter. She was born on September 25th, my Grandma Valera's birthday. It was so fitting. Monica was due on the 28th, pretty much three months before us. We've been watching them through this, taking internal notes, learning what we need to do/know before Baby D's arrival.
See Evelyn for yourself!
Shortly after they left, Ken called and had Grandma Valera get on the phone. It was such a wonderful treat to hear her voice and to talk to her. It makes me cry every time. I miss her so much. We were three days from visiting her when we found out I needed to be on bedrest. That was the thing that hurt the most, not being able to visit her. I was able to tell her that we were having a baby and she seemed to have some lucid moments during that part of the conversation.
Melissa came after that... (a wonderfully social Sunday for us!) So nice to have face-to-face conversation with her. They just bought a puppy today, Ruby. So fun.
Posted by janna at 07:44 PM | Comments (1)
The crib!
Before...
And after!
Posted by janna at 09:55 AM
October 15, 2003
3 pounds, 7 ounces!
What an amazing morning. Before our weekly check-up, we had an ultrasound to check for the rate of fetal growth. Three pounds, 7 ounces...give or take 10 ounces. Nonetheless, it is overall growth, which is good.
I didn't get to see Baby D at first. Can I just make plug right now for clinics to set up two monitors, one for the tech, and one for the Mom? And why not talk about what you're doing at the time, so the patient doesn't have to guess? I certainly don't want to take away the tech's concentration, nor do I need to know every medical detail, but I would like to know simple things...I'm measuring his femur now...the circumference of his belly... I don't even need to know the measurements. I'm not a radiologist, I can't make sense of the data, but just a little bit of info about what's going on just would put a patient at ease, no?
After all was said and done, I did get a freeride glimpse at Baby D. His face! The detail was astounding. His lips, the light layer of hair on his head, his fingers, his eyes! He blinked, and we actually got a shot of him with his eyes open. So amazing. Seeing him really made me feel better. It reminded me about why we're doing what were doing, reminded me that being on bedrest was not just about me, it was all about him. So grow, Baby D! Keep at it. And don't come too soon...
Our weekly appointment also went well. We were able to talk to Pam, our doc, about pediatricians. We're also starting our search for the perfect daycare situation. Very overwhelming.
Things that are happening in the world right now: The Cubs are up, bottom of the 9th, 7th game of the National League Championship. Cubs haven't been to the World Series in 95 years. I am a fair-weather fan. As John would say, I have penant fever! I'm biting my nails, I don't like conflict. Cubs are down, 9-6. In yesterday's game, the Marlins came back in the 8th to score 8 runs. Why do I know all of this??? Baby D, do not think your mother is becoming a permanent baseball fan. I couldn't handle it.
Posted by janna at 10:27 PM
October 14, 2003
30 weeks today!
We've made it to 30 weeks today! It's a huge step for us. Only six more weeks of Terbutaline, the medicine that is keeping the contractions at bay, and then we'll see what happens.
John went and did his hunter/gatherer routine at Dominicks....maybe I can convince him to continue that after Baby D comes. I won't push it. Tonight was also another Kye night. She brought some leftovers for us to enjoy...it's so nice to have her company.
Tomorrow we'll have our weekly check-up and an ultrasound. We'll see Baby D in all his 2-D glory and hopefully find that he is measuring normally. Hopefully we'll get to take some pics home with us!
Posted by janna at 10:39 PM
October 12, 2003
I felt like I was running the marathon
Even though I was positioned soundly on the couch, as usual, I felt like I was right with John, Mom, Sue & Kyle as they wound their way through the marathon course in search of Mike and Kristi. With every phone call I was pulled into the cheering surrounding the marathon path. John took the crew to mile 4, 11, 19 (in Pilsen) and the finish line. I was able to track Mike & Kristi by searching for their registry number online. They had a little chip that they attached to their shoes. At certain points of the race, they would run over a time checker that would then keep track of their pace and their times.
Here they are at the end of the race...I believe the first thing Mike said was, "I don't think we'll do that again."
Here's Mom and John among the beautiful fall trees...
Posted by janna at 05:00 PM
October 11, 2003
A beautiful day to cheat
Saturday was such a beautiful fall day. We had a full house...Sue and her son, Kyle, her other son Mike and his girlfriend Kristi. They brought their dog along, Sadie. Mike and Kristi were going to be running the marathon on Sunday, so Saturday was all about relaxing, eating good food, and getting to bed early.
Mom had decided that this weekend would be my early birthday celebration with her in town. With that in mind, it gave me perfect opportunity to cheat. Mom wanted to treat me to a haircut, so off we went to downtown Oak Park, to a new salon, to get a much-needed trim. To mix things up a bit, the woman straightened my hair with a hair iron. I felt so strange and different!
The rest of the day was spent deciding a birthday/marathon dinner. Kristi's parents arrived, grocery shopping was done, lounging, reading, until the wonderful chaos of cooking ensued. Here's John and I at the table:
It was an amazing meal, full of pasta, bruschetta, and 'Death by Chocolate' cake!
John and I spent the rest of the night reliving the beginning moments of our relationship for Mom and Sue. While we may have remembered details differently, the ultimate ending was definitely the same. We should really write it all down, it's a great story.
Posted by janna at 11:04 PM | Comments (2)
October 09, 2003
The future Grandma Shirley is here!
Mom made it safe and sound tonight, even though her cabbie didn't know where to go. Thank goodness she knew how to get here! That knowledge came to her the hard way...she only needed to get lost once to figure out her way around. Zeppo is always excited to see Grandma Shirley. Zeppo puts out the full howl for her.
We are now even more stocked with cute clothes... every boy needs some overalls! She brought some cute crib sheets that will go perfectly with the dinosaur bumper.
Posted by janna at 08:33 PM
Mom is coming today!
I'm so excited...my Mom is coming here today! It's the beginning of a busy weekend. Tomorrow Sue and her son,Kyle, neighbors from my home in Iowa, will come in, as well as Mike and Kristi from Ann Arbor (Mike is Sue's older son). Full house, but very fun. Mike and Kristi have taken on the mammoth task of running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, so amazing.
Posted by janna at 08:22 AM
October 08, 2003
Wednesday Dinner!
Tonight we were graced with the presence of Kye and Maddie...they made us a wonderful meal and provided great company for the evening. Kye cannot stop herself from doing our dishes whenever she comes, and last night was no different. Of course, we're very thankful and are happy to provide a task that makes her happy (not that we purposefully leave dishes out when she comes...)
Here's a glimpse at our dinner...or the end of it. Pasta, yummy garlic bread, and the best dessert ever: caramel apples w/peanuts from Stanley's. Yum, yum and yum.
Thanks again to them for making the trek out here after a long day!
Posted by janna at 10:00 PM
Weekly Appointment
We went in for our weekly appointment today. Things seem pretty stable. Pam, our OB, is still counting on me to tell her when things are changing (ie. more contractions than 'normal'). My growth is measuring right on schedule, but now she wants to make sure that Baby D is growing at the right rate. We'll have an ultrasound next Wednesday, on the 15th, to check for that. On the 17th we'll be going out to another hospital to have a special ultrasound that checks the growth and development of Baby D's heart. It's called a fetal echo...we had one done at the end of August, and everything looked really good with his heart. What she couldn't quite see clearly were his valves, so now that he's a bit bigger she wants to check out his valves to make sure they're okay. Since I have a heart murmur and an interestingly shaped aeortic valve, there's a higher chance that Baby D will also have something with his heart, although the chance is still very low. We feel very good about the whole thing as we are, at this point, about 95% certain nothing is wrong. Good news!
I'll post new pictures of our son next week! I'm sure he still has his parents' wide forehead. There's no escaping it, Baby D. It's gonna be a big one...
Posted by janna at 09:00 AM
October 07, 2003
We've made it to week 29!
Today is another Tuesday to celebrate...we're officially 29 weeks today. We're so thankful. Tomorrow is our weekly doctor's appointment, so hopefully everything is going as planned. He's probably almost 14 inches head to toe, so hard to believe. (okay, maybe not for someone looking at me, but I can't imagine how he's fitting inside of me)
I think I've been on bedrest now for just about five weeks. Hard to believe. It's gone both fast and slow. Thinking forward from the start, it seemed like December was so far away. It still feels that way, actually. But looking back to see five weeks gone, I'm amazed. hard to believe that we'll be parents soon. It seems like we spend so much time thinking about being pregnant and keeping baby in, but it's now starting to sink in that we should also think about being parents! I'm so excited about it, but I'll admit I'm nervous too.
Posted by janna at 08:20 PM
October 06, 2003
I spoke too soon...
I kept telling people that Baby D was on the same sleep schedule as me. Isn't it great, I'd say, he sleeps when I sleep, is awake when I'm awake. I secretly, or not so secretly, hoped this was a sign of how things would be once he was out in the open. Ummm. Yeah. No. Last night was hopefully an exception to the rule, but oh my, was he wide awake and waking me up. Kick, flip...flip....flip....breakdancer? Karate? Not sure, but it was amazing how many times I was kicked awake in the night. I willed him to sleep, but it did no good. I just figure this is practice for reality as we'll know it in a few months. Tonight will prove if it's a pattern!
Here's a picture of the belly from about four days ago...see the new cradle to the right? It's in our room now. It's eerie to have an empty cradle, just waiting to be filled. I don't think we can even imagine Baby D in it yet.
Posted by janna at 10:12 PM
October 05, 2003
A visit from the future Grandma Janice
John's Mom, Janice, stopped by today with a bag full of goodies. She called earlier, saying she had a table full of clothes, and wondered if we knew anyone who could use some newborn clothes. Oh yes, Baby D...
Lots of cute onesies, little hats...John tried one on for size!
It's so amazing how cute little things are. When we're holding up all these little things, I still can't imagine a baby in the clothes, let alone our baby. Janice wanted to show how to swaddle a baby, so John brought down one of my old baby dolls and had a little demo. John's a natural, he was able to replicate with great ease!
I love how excited the future Grandmas are. Both Shirley and Janice are our clothing sources, and their excitement just fuels ours. Baby D's arrival seems so far off, but really we're only two days away from being 29 weeks. Not long now!
Posted by janna at 10:17 PM | Comments (2)
October 04, 2003
Our first baby, Zeppo
She's all grown up now...here's a look at a puppy picture of her on the Purina Kibbles n' Chunks page. She's the one on the left, not the bulldog. I've tried to get her ready for Baby D's arrival by occasionally playing a baby's cry that I downloaded from some site. At first she was curious and simply came to sit by me and cocked her head. Now she sleeps right through it. Good doggy. I just want to be sure that we keep giving her enough attention when baby comes.
I wonder if she'll try to herd Baby D around once he's up and crawling?
Posted by janna at 02:07 PM
Making our home safer, that's John.
Happy Saturdays...after a "cheating" trip to Dunkin Donuts for apple fritters and hot chocolate (I just sat in the car, we drove through, baby seemed happy with it all), we're now back home. John is now putting the carpet on our ladder-type stairs. We have, amazingly, not suffered any bumpy trips up nor down, but with baby coming, we thought it high time to decrease that risk until we can totally tear out and redo the stairs. Good man, John is...The work is slightly monotonous, so John is taking breaks between stairs to talk to the plants, change the music on the iPod, and entertain me.
Baby D is breakdancing this morning. Every morning I wake up and feel like there is no possible way my belly could get any bigger. I'm sure Baby D is hoping that is NOT the case, as he is certainly growing. The other night I dreamt that I had him. No labor pain, he just showed up looking like he had just been born. I picked him up and was wiping the goo off his face and he started laughing! I remember thinking, what a wonderful beginning!
Posted by janna at 01:01 PM
October 02, 2003
The happy squirrel
John bought two wonderful pumpkins from the farmer's market last Saturday, when Missy and Sarah were here visiting from Iowa. Who knew that our neighborhood squirrel would make a meal out of it.
Posted by janna at 08:40 PM