My favorite maternity shirt

Self explanatory.  Mr E and I were studying some stuff for work when I had the desire to show you all my favorite maternity shirt.

Making sure Mr. E can see the book.  Not many good pictures though.  

I don't know why this one looks funny...

Beautiful fall day!

Brian and I went to a friend's cookout today which was a blast!  The weather was great!  When we came home to feed Mika, we hung out in the backyard playing kickfetch with Mika and chillin' in our hammock.  It is just awesome weather today.  Not too many updates with baby.

I'm 30 weeks!  EEEK!  10 weeks / 69 days left (yes I know this isn't a set day, but here's hoping Mr. E stays in until ~40 weeks).

Mr. E:

• ~15.7" long
• ~3lbs
• still moving around like crazy.  
• Fingernails and toenails are pretty much finished developing
• his bone marrow is completely in charge of red-blood-cell production
• is opening his eyes sometimes, but his vision is only about 20/400
• has spent most of his energy on brain development
• has eyebrows

I am: 

• sleeping a lot
• suffering from swollen hands.  My rings have been moved to a necklace chain.  I'll probably just quit putting them on my hands even when they are not swollen.  I might also drop them off to get them cleaned. 

Here are some pics from today's trip to the backyard:

Brian fixing the camera for me.  But he got my belly so I thought you would want to see!

Brian's feet

Mika says, "Throw it!"

Zzzzzzzzzzz

Eli and Mika playing kickfetch

Chillin' in the hammock

I was trying to get a nice picture, but someone had to make a face

I got rid of my first husband to marry this mountain man I found while on a hike one day. 

We decided we wanted a family photo, but Mika wasn't working with us.

She was very ball-focused and couldn't figure out what we wanted her to do.

This was the best we could get!

I tried to get my belly, but my arms aren't long enough.  B is so serious looking with the beard and shades.

Taking a break from playing with her ball.

"I'm ready!  Throw it!"

I got it!

I'm ready!

I'm a terrible blogger: 29 weeks

Here, have some pictures first to appease the masses: 

29 weeks 3 days.  Not a maternity shirt so it looks weird.  I was feeling lazy, and you're lucky I'm even wearing pants.

29 weeks 3 days

29 weeks 3 days

Sorry I haven't updated (again).  I'm a terrible blogger.  I'll make up for it today by writing a thousand page novel.  I have just been tired and too lazy to bust out the camera.  And not having pictures was a great excuse to be lazy with typing.  Who cares about the pregnant lady unless you can see the bump!

Obligatory fruit comparisons and such:

Mr. E:

• is about 2 1/2lbs (about the weight of a butternut squash...mmmmm butternut squash is delicious and now is the season!)
• is about 15 inches long from head to heel.  That is long.  That is longer than a ruler.  I'm having a baby.
• is developing a ginormous head to cause me pain and make room for what will be his genius little brain.
• is further developing in his bones, lungs, and muscles
• is starting to grow his fat stores.  He will be less skinny from here on out.  
• has teeth under his gums
• is going to be cramped soon.  He's trying to get in all the movements he can before then.  Believe me. 
• can distinguish between bright sunlight and artificial light, not that he knows what it is, he can see the difference though.  

Me:

• I can no longer type in baby at ## weeks into google images.  This leads to pictures of babies born at 29 weeks.  I don't think of that.  I keep explaining to Mr. E that he isn't allowed to come out yet and to stop knocking on the door.
• I have started kick counting as advised by the doctor.  Even though Eli moves a ton, I don't have the attention span to make it to 10 movements at most times throughout the day.   So I do it when I lay down to go to sleep. 
• Heartburn is actually not as big of a problem this week as it has been the last month or so.  I'm telling myself it is because Eli is hanging out attacking my bladder and cervix instead of my ribs and stomach.  
• I'm pretty sure I saw an arm/elbow or leg/knee bulge out of my stomach the other day.  That was cool, although a little uncomfortable so I'm glad it didn't last long. 

Brian: 

• School is going well!  It is midterm week and he only had one midterm (how lucky is that!).  
• The spring schedule looks like we might not need full time childcare.  Who here can see Brian being a work at home dad two days a week?  It may just happen!!
• Has had two realizations that baby is coming soon: 
• He said, "What do you want for Christmas? Christmas is soon you know.......That means baby is coming soon!"
• He was emailing a hotel that he has been to before (about returning for a stay) and wrote something to the extent of "I will be returning with my wife and son."  He said that using the word son felt strange.  I am very excited for him.  He doesn't get all the bumps and kicks and heartburn and bathroom trips to remind him all day long.  So I am excited that I get to share more of the excitement/nervousness that I feel with him because I think he is feeling similarly. 

Mika: 

• Doesn't even know what's going on
• is currently snoozing like a rockstar because she went to camp today.
• has been licking my belly so maybe she does know something is going on.  
• loves bananas and applesauce and cheese and pumpkin and...

So for those of you who can't resist buying cute baby things and sending them to me (you know who you are...grandmas!)  We are pretty set on newborn and 3-6 month clothes.  Our neighbors are awesome and have a boy about 10 months.  We are getting tons of his hand-me-downs!

For those of you that are getting titles with this birth, we would love to know what you would prefer to be called.  I'm sure we'll have an Oma and a grandma and an Aunt (like ant) and an Aunt (like aunt) and such.  So if you know what you want to be called, let us know.  Also, if you have a recent picture you could digitally send me, that would be awesome.  I want to put family pics on his wall and start a picture book for him so we can "visit family" who we don't get to see often.  My older sister had a little photo album for her kids and I love the idea.

I had a doctor's appointment last Friday.  There weren't any real updates before then anyway (another excuse for being a terrible blogger).

• I do NOT have gestational diabetes which is great.  
• First off, that glucose stuff they make you drink is gross, I am so glad I didn't have to do it again for a 3 hour test.  It tasted like a flat orange syrupy soda.  I don't like orange soda and if you are a drink that tries to taste like soda you better have carbonation and a lot of it.   This weirdo husband of mine likes to shake his sodas so there isn't as much carbonation.  I glare at him.  Anyway, the orange stuff is gross.  Most of you know me well enough to know that I love my sweets, so you would have thought that I would have loved an uber-sugary drink.  
• Secondly, I'm hoping this will prevent a doctor from trying to tell me I'm going to have a 20 lb baby and demand a c-section and then baby comes out at 5 lbs.  
• I'm a bit anemic but I practically begged not to be put on extra iron supplements.  I'll feel fatigued a lot, that's fine. Most of you ladies that had to take prenatal vitamins with iron probably know the reason why.  Everyone else can just be left hanging. 

The doc at my appointment was great.  This was the first time I had questions and she listened very carefully and answered thoroughly.  Also she felt comfortable laughing with me.  That was nice.

• Laughter suddenly turning into uncontrollable sobbing is perfectly normal, even if you are still trying to laugh BECAUSE you are sobbing so hard you can't breathe.  She got a giggle out of me explaining the deer in headlights look Brian gets when this happens (poor guy).  
• Punches to the cervix area are normal and not a cause for concern unless it is consistent pressure.  I like to tell Mr E. to go away ("no one's home!") and come back in a few months.  I actually think I preferred it when he was exploring all the different ways he could hit my ribs.    
• Sadly, my left arm and hand has started to get tingling in it again.  This is a first since my surgery, so it scared the crap out of me.  I spent many moments trying not to cry about it (stupid hormones) during the three days between the tingling starting and my doctor's appointment.  
• The doc recommended going to a regular doc and getting my hardware checked on and anything else they might think is necessary.  
• She also explained that my progesterone levels are already on the higher side of normal so my tendons and ligaments may be relaxing quite a bit to prepare for birth.  This could be putting stress on the nerve going down my arm.  
• She also thinks I may be compensating for my belly with my back which could cause strain on that nerve somehow.  SOoooo (why aren't there various sizes of the letter o so I could make that soooo get smaller in increments?), she provided me with a pregnancy belt.  Now anyone sitting inside my mind during my plane ride home to Indiana would know that I made fun of the pregnancy belt advertisement in the magazine I read.  However, it made a difference just in the 40 minutes I wore it that day.  So I'm suppose to wear it when I have to walk a lot (in and out of work, renn fest (ooops, forgot it), shopping, etc).  And I get to be the dork in the pregnancy belt.

That's all for now (are you really still with me?  woooow!).  I'll update again this weekend.  If I don't, make sure you blame the photographer.  Or maybe the dog.

end radio silence: 26 weeks

Sorry I have neglected this for the last few weeks.  I was in training for work.  It was fast paced but I got a certificate out of it!  Hooray for boosting up my resume now that I have a job!  The rest of my time was spent napping.  More on that later.  I plan on interacting with the rest of the world this week.  So if anyone is available and wants to hang out, let me know!

Oh and we have a name (unless we change our minds of course)!  Eli Zachary!

In the last few weeks,  Eli:
has grown from ~ 1 pound to 1.75 pounds
has grown from ~ 12 inches to 14 inches (head to heal)
developed tastebuds
developed enough nerves in his ears for him to easily hear both sides of the conversations I have.
started filling in the wrinkled skin with some fat
grew some hair
developed branches in his lungs and has also begun to develop the substance that helps the air sacs in his lungs inflate
has started the process of hardening in the center of his bones
may have a preference for the right or left hand already
is making fists (MY RIBS ARE NOT TOYS, MR ELI!)
will start opening his eyes anytime if he hasn't already.  And those eyes are blue right now, no matter what color they will end up.


My changes:
*I'm showing enough for people in public to stare and a barely known neighbor that I only see rarely in my circle to say "Congratulations" without even asking if I was pregnant.
*I'm tired.  I've frequently taken 1-2 hour naps in the evening after work.  Part of it is I'm terrible at keeping a sleep schedule.  The other part of that is even when I sleep 12 hours on the weekend, I'm ready for a nap at about 3pm.  I'm expecting my bump to pop out a bit more soon.
*I've started to feel even more off balance and bending over frequently to do housework has become a bit straining...I've started changing to squatting.
*I can't see my toes when standing straight up...sigh...  I have a feeling shaving and shoe tying will become difficult soon (thankfully I mostly wear slip-on flats to work and flip flops at home)
*I'm getting calf cramps, but can feel them coming on and prevent them if I am awake enough.
*heartburn, heartburn, heartburn....ugh.
*I got back my second round of genetic tests and everything looks normal.
*I got back the anatomy scan/ultrasound results and everything looks normal.

Pictures!  Excuse the dirty mirror, that is where we write our todo lists! Someday we'll find the power cord for our good camera.

Last week of August ~23 weeks

First week in September ~24 weeks

What Mika and B have been up to:

21 Weeks and a pic

Here is my pic that I promised.  Finally.  Sorry about that.  I'll try to get better ones when B gets home next weekend.

Anyway, I'm 21 weeks today.
Baby:
* is about 7.5-10.5" long (about the length of the carrot says BabyCenter.com)
* is about .75 lbs (12.25 oz)
* is kicking up a storm.  He's getting close to my ribs already.  I'm already seeing a pattern of kicking all night and resting most of the day.  (preparing me).  I still haven't felt him on the outside but they are definitely stronger kicks and I expect B should be able to feel them soon!
* has eyebrows and eyelids now, but he still can't see.
* gets a better sense of touch this week. Soon I will get to poke him back and he will feel it.

I'm:
* getting round ligament pains
* enjoying some hellish heartburn
* tired.  The fatigue is back full power.
* noticeably pregnant.  Someone cautiously asked me the other day.
* getting a bit short of breath at times.  I'm assuming I'm getting a bit of pressure on my diaphragm now.

Work is going great.  I'm doing some kick ass training.  It is a lot of information in a short period of time, but I'm enjoying it.  I can't explain how excited I am to have this job.  The people are friendly, helpful, and extremely knowledgeable.  I do my mission fit interviews this coming week so hopefully I should know which office/team I will be working on in the next two weeks.  I'll get a mentor to help me focus my training and prep to go on the client side to work.

Mika is doing really really well with some loose leash training.  Although strangely enough she barked aggressively at a dog across the street today.  Something I don't think I've ever seen her do.  Now the other dog started barking first, but I've just never seen her act that way.  She lunged a couple times and I had to hold her collar to get her calm.  She didn't pull like she does when she sees a bunny or deer, but it just caught  me off guard.  We might have to start going to the dog park and training a bit in there off leash with tons of distractions to get her to start paying attention to me and B more during distractions.    On a good note, she has been home alone for long hours without getting into anything.  She pretty frequently gets something or other while we are gone.  Something she doesn't do when we are home.  She has been going to campbowwow twice a week to run some energy out of her.  She will probably go less when B is back.

B is in Europe visiting family.  I'm sad I didn't get to go, but I think he is enjoying himself.  I'm glad he got to go though.  I can't wait to hear all about it!  We don't mess with international call fees.  We've been emailing, and I've gotten a few details, but can't wait to sit around and hear about it in detail.  (oh and I hear that I'm getting swiss chocolate!)

It's a....

BOY!

We had our anatomy scan today and found out early in the scan that our little (heirloom) tomato (approximate size at 19 weeks) is a boy.  He was very very active and the ultrasound tech had to chase him all over to get all the pictures she needed.  I'm betting I will soon be getting sore ribs and internal organs from this activity, but right now it still feels like little flicks of the finger or (what I think) a kernel of popcorn would feel like if it popped in my belly.  We will get the full report about development in September.  The fun parts are the cute pictures we got out of it and learning the sex.  Thankfully he mostly cooperated!

No names decided yet!  We still have a ways to go on this, but we have plenty of time.  I'm a few days shy of "half way" based on due date.  We'll be thinking hard about it.

Without further ado, here is our little boy showing off for the ultrasound wand!

Yum Yum hand!  It is pretty obvious where the head, arms, and legs are.  The darker spot towards the top of the torso is the heart.  

Still waving his hands in his face.  

The whitish area on the back of the torso is the spinal column.

Long legs and feet...you can even see the toes a bit

This is our alien baby.  Alien head to the right, freakish single foot with four toes on the left.  Bwahahaha. 

Check out his other side.  Which is more photogenic?  

A bit blurred, but you can see some bones (the bright white areas)

And this is the shot that showed us that he is a boy.  Butt to the right, legs to the left, and the middle part shows his parts.  It was more clear a few times on the screen, but the tech didn't capture it in time.  Brian and I both noticed it before she got this picture and told us.  This was no more than 5 minutes into the scan, so we were lucky that baby cooperated!

Our tech was super nice and very cool.  She even spent a few minutes after the official picture getting for the anatomy scan requirements to show us some good profiles that got us some of these pictures.  I still find ultrasounds totally cool.  And it was pretty amazing how the tech could find the kidneys and heart and just zone in on them in seconds.  Sometimes it was just a different shade and I never would have thought it was anything special.  The heartbeat was nice and strong and about 156bpm.  He is very active.

Maternity Ward Tour

Brian and I took a maternity ward tour yesterday.  We took it pretty early because it is only offered on Tuesdays at 1300 (1pm) and I don't want to miss work and I start next week.

So Bethesda is a pretty cool hospital when it comes to delivery.  I am pleased after the tour.  I feel like they are a happy medium when it comes to policy.  Here are the highlights.

I will labor, deliver and do a few hours of recovery in the same room.  All rooms have one bed, a rocking chair, a birthing ball, squat/birthing bars, a small fold out couch (the nurse recommended air mattresses over the couches), a few chairs, a spacious bathroom with a walk-in, sit-in shower, the baby's hospital bassinet thingy, TV, and probably anything else you can think of except for a birthing tub.  The rooms themselves are very spacious and could probably hold 4-5 people comfortably even with staff coming in and out.  They showed us how they take apart the bed for delivery and explained how it helps when baby comes out.  They have posters of suggested positions for the birthing ball, allow you to labor in the shower for a bit (not birth there), require 20 minutes out of every hour to be on a monitor (but I can move around when not on the monitor).

Since the staff is there on rotating shifts and you can't guarantee a specific provider for your delivery, no one is in a rush so they can go home, go on vacation, etc.  The surgeons and anesthesiologists are on the same type of shift schedule and most are military.  None are paid by the procedure so there is no pressure for epidurals or csections although their csection rate is close to all the other hospitals in the area.

Babies stay in the room with mom at all times except for a few exceptions:  weighing (out in the hall) and a few standard tests/procedures that we can accompany if we want.  All nurses and main staff members are trained to assist with breastfeeding, latching, etc and lactation consultants are available about 14 hours a day during the weekdays.  As a first time mom, I'll be required to stay for 48 hours before release even if everything is peachy.  They provide everything that is needed for baby except the take home outfit/blanket and carseat (which they inspect to make sure baby fits into correctly before we are allowed to leave.  They also highly encourage us to take the carseat with our car to the fire department just outside the hospital to ensure that the carseat fits right in our car and we know how to lock it in).   They even encourage that we take home all the diapers, bulb syringe/nose thingies, brushes (great for cradle cap apparently but are OR brushes so they can't be bought), wipes, pretty much everything but their shirts and blankets.

It is a training hospital so there may be doctors in training helping with delivery and any other procedures.  I get PAs, Nurse Practitioners, etc in training all the time so I'm not too concerned about this.  When anything complex or important is happening, the (attending? is that the right word?) fully qualified doctor is there to supervise.   For the less important stuff (asking questions, routine stuff like checking pulse and stuff) they might be there on their own, but the qualified doctor dude follows up.  Some people seem concerned about this (one person asked "Can we refuse a training doctor?"), but it doesn't bother me really.  I know I won't be their first patient.  It takes a lot to get to that level.  I don't know all the details of how, but I'm pretty sure every form of medical training requires education on childbirth.

Immediately upon birth, baby and mom get tagged with what they jokingly call baby Lojack.  Babies don't even leave the room for the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) until this band is on.  These tags will cause an alarm that goes off if the baby leaves the maternity ward.  This alarm locks down the hospital and the entire post until all babies currently admitted to the ward are accounted for.  The NICU and csection operating rooms, etc are all right down the hall in the same ward.  So once mom is admitted she really doesn't leave the general area.

They reminded us all that they appreciate birthing plans, but that everything is driven by the mother's body and the baby and sometimes due to those two factors, they can't stick to the plan.  Their policies are pretty liberal.  I can have clear foods and liquids (Jello, sprite, popsicles, water, etc).  I can labor in almost any position and even when being monitored, the cord is pretty long and will allow me to reach the ball, rocker, etc.  We can rearrange the room in almost any way we want.  They encourage the baby be delivered to the mother's belly/chest, dad can cut the cord if he wants, they do everything possible to get baby breastfeeding within an hour after delivery (usually sooner and they highly encourage breastfeeding).

Overall I feel very comfortable with this hospital and the setup/policies.  I'm actually afraid I will be a bit spoiled with this, and with my next kid I won't have great facilities.  For all I know though, this stuff can all be pretty standard.  I just feel like I hear about some hospitals requiring a bunch of stuff to make life easier on the staff or because that is how it was done in the past and putting the mothers' wants at the bottom of the list.  (Hell, they even has a snack room where they keep popsicles, jello, etc for us to use during labor).