slings and things

I have a love/hate relationship with our sling.

For those of you that don't know, a sling is like a tiny hammock that the parent can wear around one shoulder (in the same fashion as a shoulder bag) and put your baby into the wide, hammock-y part. This part then cocoons around the baby, holding him all safe and secure and right next to you. It enables you to hold him (or, in modern terms 'wear' him. baby-wearing is all the rage these days.) and have both of your hands free and still be sharing warmth etc. with your baby.

Love - Milo falls asleep pretty much immediately upon being put into it. He really seems to like it in there and it's nice to have him so close and still be able to use both hands.

Hate - it is impossible to get him out without waking him up again, sentencing the wearer to hours of back strain (who knew 7 1/2 lbs could weigh so much?) until Milo wants to eat. Or until you decide it's worth risking his wrath to give your back a rest.

Also hate - I'm afraid he's going to suffocate in there. He likes to sleep on his side and there is definitely some stomach squishiness for him to push his face into.

In other news, it's been a crazy couple of days out at the Village - www.tetonat.com . It almost makes me want to take up x-country skiing. Almost.

There are some new pictures up in the Dec08 folder of Milo's website and I hope to get some xmas pics up soon as well. Thank you so much to everyone who sent him cards and gifts, thank you for thinking of us!

And since I know you've all been dying to find out, here is the picture I decided on for his ski pass:

two week appt

Yesterday we had Milo’s two week pediatrician’s appointment and everything went very well. He’s put on 7 ounces in six days, so he’s ahead of the ounce/day recommendation. I’m not sure if that makes him an overachiever or us....either way, he’s up to 7 lbs 4 oz and gaining every day. His head got bigger as well and he’s 1/2 an inch longer, up to 20”. He has another appointment in two weeks when we’ll talk about vaccinations and re-weigh & measure him, but Dr Pockat says he is doing great and is all systems go.

A few of the other women in our birth class are starting to deliver - my friend Noel delivered the day before yesterday and my friend Johanna is in labor right now. All three of us were induced, how weird is that? Noel’s not-so-little boy (10 lbs 8 oz!!! And Noel is tiny!!!) because she was over her due date and Johanna and I both because of pre-eclampsia worries. Noel ended up with a c-section after her labor stalled and Johanna is probably in Pitocin-induced pain as I type this.

Nate’s cousin Kilie is here for a few days, which is awesome. I don’t think we’ll do much besides lounge about and watch movies, but it’s nice to have another grownup here for a while. Hmm....if I’m this starved for conversation after one week what is it going to be like in week seven? I imagine I’ll get used to it. Plus we’ll have lots of company starting in a few weeks, so that will probably help as well.

My big task for the day is to pick out a picture to put on his ski pass. It’s a very important decision, don’t you know.

big day

Earlier this week, in the space of 5 minutes, Milo:

shot poop across the changing table and hit his laundry basket at least three feet away;

peed all over himself;

lost his cord stump.

big day.

pediatrician's appt

We had two pediatrican’s appointments last week, one on Wed and one on Friday to check on his weight gain. On Wednesday he weighed in at 6 lb 11 oz but by Friday he was up to 6 lb 13 oz, hooray! We have been continuing to supplement his feeding with pumped breastmilk on the advice of the lactation consultant at the hospital and that seems to be working, which is great. We can’t have our peanut losing weight!

We’ve been home for a week now and are sort of starting to get the hang of things. Sort of. He’s eating every 2-4 hours but we still usually have to wake him up and remind him that he’s hungry. Right now it works out fine to get up every couple of hours at night as I can just go right back to sleep and stay in bed until noon (with food breaks for Milo of course) if I want to. Going back to work will be a completely different story though.

We have our two week appointment next week on Thursday, fingers crossed for additional weight gain!

And as an aside...I got a belt on today. Granted it’s on my maternity pants and I still have quite the tummy, but still! Whooooooo!

details

Our little bird was born on 12/3 at 5:43 pm at St John's Hospital here in Jackson.

I wrote out all of the details already in an email to my friend Kris, so I’m going to indulge in a little cut ‘n’ paste action.

so let's see....I went in to the dr on Monday afternoon because my hands had felt super weird and swollen all day and I'd had a lingering nagging headache since the night before. When I got there my BP was something like 150/109, another sign of possible pre-eclampsia. they drew some blood and had me pee in a cup and then hooked me up to the maternal/fetal monitor just to make sure that milo was doing ok in there and to check and see if i was having any contractions. dr george ordered me to bed rest and sent us home.

Tuesday i spent all day in bed watching movies (rough work!!) and checking my BP every couple of hours. it was pretty consistently around 155/100 all day so I called the dr office around 3 to get their advice. i talked to one of the other doctors on the staff and she thought it was probably time to think about going to the hospital this week. She conferred with dr george who then called me and recommended we come in that night to start induction. so we did!

I called nate to come and get me and then sort of wandered around the house, trying to wrap my head around the whole baby thing. we grabbed some quick dinner on our way and then checked in at st. john's around 8 pm or so. They checked my cervix again (still at 2 cm and hardly effaced at all) and then gave me the ripener to let things progress overnight with some medical assistance. at 5:30 am they came back, took the ripener dealie out and re-checked me...still 2 cm, but about 50% effaced and apparently much softer all around. They started running in pitocin at 6:30 am. I'd been having really wimpy contractions all night but probably just as a side effect of the ripener.

Dr. Anthony came in to check me around 10 or 11 am, STILL 2 cm and not even enough room for her to break my water. grr. around noon or 12:30 the contractions were lasting about a minute and were only a minute apart and really really strong - strong enough where I couldn’t stand to have Dr. Anthony examine me.

I totally started to panic around 1 in the afternoon. The contractions were so fast that I wasn't really getting any chance to catch my breath or try to focus on anything to calm down. I thought about getting in the whirlpool and even had them start to fill it for me but then couldn't stand the thought of standing up or walking down the hall to get in it. I think my exact words were something along the lines of 'f&$% the tub, i don't want the tub, give me the shot' and poor nate was doing so good and trying to be soothing and suggest other things that could help and all i could think of was 'give me the drugs no I do NOT want to try a different position or the tub...DRUG ME RIGHT NOW!!!!'

I asked for the epidural probably around 1:15 or 1:20 and he was in my room and ready to go by 1:30. it was definitely a weird procedure...the initial numbing agent is all hot and itchy and then you can feel them in the space trying to find the right spot for the tube....not painful but for sure uncomfortable.

anyway, by 1:45 I couldn't feel a thing and was soooo much happier. Nate thinks they may have given me a bit too much - my legs were completely asleep until about 4 hours after the delivery and I couldn't even feel an urge to push when it was time. Whatever though, it was totally worth it and I will do it again if I need to.

Nate and I both slept until about 4:30 when the nurse came in to check me again and I was 10 cm and fully effaced. She said later that she was really surprised - the whole staff on call that day was convinced I wouldn't deliver until either late that night or even the next day since it took me 7 hrs of pitocin to progress from 2 to 4 cms. They called dr george who was on his way back from pinedale (about an hour away, they see patients down there once a week or so) and was very surprised to hear that i was ready to go. :) heh, I fooled them!!! Milo was at +2 station so it was probably good to wait a bit to push until he was a little further into my pelvis. plus since I had no urge to push it was not a big deal to wait at all.

dr george got there around 5:10 and I started pushing maybe around 5:15 or 5:20....thank goodness even without being able to feel anything I was able to push correctly. Apparently some women have trouble with that...seemed pretty obvious to me but then again breastfeeding doesn't seem like it should be that hard either.

after about 4 or 5 rounds of pushing the nurse said 'wait wait stop! I should really get your dr to deliver this baby' - he had stepped out a sec to do some paperwork and get into his scrubs, expecting the pushing to take 2-3 hours since I was a first timer and completely numb from the waist down to boot. He came running in and threw his gown and gloves and everything on with Milo's head partway out...one more little push and I was done. Dr george put him on my chest and they rubbed him down and he was just perfect and amazing in every way.

So overall I'm very pleased with how it all went - I think it's funny that I was going so slowly for the first 6-7 hrs and then all of a sudden my body decided 'hey, let's do this thing!' and shot him out. Now of course everyone is saying how easy the next one should be. Yeah...i'll get right on that.

He never really cried until he was one or two days old - dr pockat (the pediatrician) was a little worried that he may have some sort of respitory distress but his oxygen levels were awesome so it looks like his gruntiness was just him talking at us. His bilirubin levels were high on day 2 which is why we ended up staying two extra nights.

We were discharged Sunday afternoon and have been home since then getting used to each other. The feeding thing is starting to come together a little bit...or at least we’re starting to get a bit of a routine together. Norm is confused but has been really good about the new little attention hog in his life, which is a relief. He’s never really been around little kids so I was a bit worried as to how he’d react. Of course Milo doesn’t really do a whole lot at this point, but still.

milo charles gray

He's here!

And he has his own website!

check it out!

36 weeks (well, almost)

Crenshaw melon. Is that a cantaloupe from the 'hood? A gangsta' honeydew?

He's most likely approaching 6 lbs now and is about 18.5 inches long...coincidentally that is the approximate height of the ledge I drove off as I picked up Nate for the appointment today. We're all fine, I was turning the car around and didn't see it - there is some damage to the charcoal filter in the exhaust system but I think that is about it. That didn't stop me from going into a hysterical crying fit or sending my blood pressure through the roof (it had returned to normal by the end of the appointment).

Other than that, everything went fine. Dr. George recommended that I cut down to 4 days a week at work and try to lay down at least 3 times a day while I'm here, so from here on out I'm working Mon-Thurs (ooo gotta change my voicemail!) until I deliver. Except for next week, when I'll be working Mon-Wed and taking Thanksgiving off. But working a halfday on Sunday to train the cashiers.

It's all very complicated.

At our appointment next week he'll start checking on my progression to see if there is any dilating or effacing going on, that'll be so cool. Of course the answer will most likely be 'no', but whatever. The more you know, and all that.

Some more pictures from our weekend outing:











1-4 weeks to go!

35.5 weeks

this week he is the biggest honeydew melon on earth at 5 1/4 lbs and 18 inches. his development is pretty much done and he's going to spend the next few (....very few....) weeks putting on weight.

not much else to report really, other than i wholly agree with the idea of the last few weeks being the most uncomfortable. we had an all day seminar thing at work on friday and I could not make it through the morning session without getting up and walking around because it hurt far too much to sit in a chair for 3 hours. plus i think i hit the restroom about 5 times in that same time frame.

yesterday we took a trip to an abandoned school house and took some more belly shots, including a story-type sequence that is pretty cool (but will remain under wraps until the unveiling of the new website - after the goober is born). nate has been doing an amazing job setting up and taking pictures; he's got a real talent.

this is one i took though - all i can see of my feet at this point -















there are more on flickr, plus i'll be adding EVEN MORE tonight, so check back!

4.5 or (eek) 1.5 weeks to go!

edited to add - new pictures are up on flickr, just follow the above link to see them all.

34 weeks

This week he is a cantaloupe, weighing approximately 4 3/4 lbs and is almost 18" long. Not all of those tenses are correct but I don't know how to fix it. You all know what I mean.

He is putting on more fat layers and his nervous system and lungs are continuing to develop. The risks of pre-term labor are dropping as I get closer to 37 weeks - babies born between 34 & 37 weeks with no other health problems usually do just fine. If it happens he may need a quick stay in the neonatal unit at the hospital but that'd be about it.

I am also putting on more fat layers, although Dr. George says it's just water weight (hooray!). Still, it's a little depressing to watch that scale jump every appt...oh well. Pretty soon I'm going to lose 12-15 lbs in one day! Won't that be neat! Plus then the water weight will disappear as well and before you know it I'll be svelte as all get-out.

Dr. George also mentioned that I should probably start cutting back my hours at work a little bit to allow me to work closer to my due date. It's nice to have a medical person telling you to work less. Then you don't feel like such a slacker just going home early because you're tired! He also reinforced the fact that I should be laying down every few hours for about 20 minutes, so I will definitely make a concerted effort to do better at that.

In fact....perhaps I should do that now!

3-6 weeks to go!

32 weeks 1 day

A jicama. WTF is a jicama?

Still not sure what it is, but apparently that's what it looks like.

the goober is approximately 3.75 lbs and 16.5 inches long...taking up more space in there every day. He'll gain about 1/3 to 1/2 of his birth weight in the next 7 weeks, getting all fat and sassy and ready to be born. He's got hair and fingernails and toenails and is pretty much just concentrating on putting on weight.

My blood pressure is looking good and very consistent throughout last week, so that is good. Dr. George told me to lay down for about 20 mins every two hours to help with the water retention and the swelling, so I am now under doctor's orders to nap at work. He said it'll help me feel a lot better and also make sure that I can stay working as long as possible.

I am feeling pretty good most of the time, just tired and out of breath pretty much constantly.

5-8 weeks to go!

31 weeks, 1 day

4 navel oranges. so he's rounded, but very lumpy.

He's about 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 pounds. He's putting on weight and filling out quickly at this stage and moving around like crazy.

I had a good appointment yesterday, my blood pressure was a bit high so Dr George asked me to monitor it for the next week and keep a log (I borrowed a home BP cuff from a friend at work) and it was much lower today, so I must have just been stressed out or something yesterday! I have another appointment next week to go over the results from this home monitoring.

We also talked about the whole procedure of what to do when the show gets on the road (call the clinic or the hospital if it's after hours, they will page him. Both numbers are now in my cell phone. I may also have a secret weapon....he's Matt's neighbor, so I possibly have access to his actual phone number if I need it. I shouldn't need it. They do this stuff a lot.) and went over my (incredibly vague) birth plan a little bit. He said that most birth plan checklists seem to come from the 50s...they don't do a lot of the stuff that used to be done as routine; i.e. take the baby to another room for newborn procedures, episiotomies, etc. It seems like St. John's is very flexible and definitely wants each mom to have her own experience and not overly control everything, so that sounds just great.

Another belly pic from Dillon -



6-9 weeks left!

30 weeks, 1 day

This week the goober is a head of cabbage.

He weighs approximately 3 lbs and is almost 16 inches long. His eyes are continuing to develop, but will not be very good until....well, considering his genes, he'll have good eyesight when hell freezes over.

It seems like he's probably getting more cramped in there, it seems like every movement I feel now is a big one. The other morning he had jammed his foot up almost against my ribs, Nate and I could both feel a hard little lump where his heel was poking through. I think I've started having the Braxton-Hicks contractions as well; I don't feel anything happening unless I happen to touch my stomach and it's super hard in there. It's very odd. I'd imagine as they get stronger I'll start to feel them more.

We've started the baby classes at the hospital; the first one was pretty fun! I even know a couple of people in the class, which is nice. The next one is all about pain management options and the hospital tour - it's definitely the one I'm most looking forward to.

My glucose tolerance test came back normal, so I do not have gestational diabetes, hooray!

A picture from our trip to dillon the other month that I really like....




10 (or 7, or somewhere in between) weeks to go...

29 weeks

he's a squash this week!

the goober is about 2.5 lbs and a little over 15 inches and I'm pretty sure he's a soccer player. Or perhaps into karate. he's very busy in there, whatever it is he's doing. Maybe he's knitting! I hope he doesn't bring the needles out with him.

I noticed the first stretch marks on my stomach yesterday, whaaaaaaaa. The good news is they are very faint and not very long; I'm going to cling to the hope that they'll fade away immediately after delivery.

Nate and I have been busy rearranging the house - we had been living with our friend Jim for this past year or so and he just moved out on Wednesday...we got to set up our (AWESOME) new couch and coffee table and lovely shag rug and are going to work on hanging up some artwork and moving the office into its new, bigger room tonight. I got most of our closet moved last night and just need to transfer my bathroom goodies to the new bathroom and that'll pretty much be my contribution to the move...it's pretty hard to contribute when most of the items being moved are large and so am I...*snort*.

I think I may be a little slap happy today.

11 weeks to go! Although technically I'll be full term at 37 weeks, so it could be as little as 8 weeks. Yikes!

28 weeks

According to Dr. George, I am almost too healthy to need to come in and see him. Almost. :) Generally this is about the time I'd switch to going in every two weeks (I'm currently at the doctor every 4 weeks) but he recommended 3 weeks, so that's what I'm doing.

The booger was doing great, he didn't seem to happy about the doppler thingy moving around on my belly as he got very active as the nurse was trying to get his heartrate...there were huge squeals of static every time he kicked it. His heart rate was within the normal range and Dr. George said I am measuring right on target for my due date.

The gremlin currently weighs about 2 lbs 4 oz or so (he's a chinese cabbage this week) and is about 14.8 inches long from the top of his head to his heels. He must be folded right in half in there! He has eyelashes and may be able to see light filtering in through the uterine wall.

I'm feeling pretty good most of the time; I'm starting to have more trouble sleeping as my hips are getting more and more sore the more time I spend on my side. It's mostly ok though - I'll have a few bad nights and then be so tired that I sleep like a rock for about 12 hours and feel great for the next day or two.

12 weeks to go!

27 weeks

hellllloooooooo third trimester! whoooooooo!!!!

the goober now weighs about 2 lbs (like a cauliflower is the example they gave on babycenter.com - what is it with the food comparisons?) and is approximately 14.5 inches from head to heels. he's sleeping and waking at regular intervals and opening and closing his eyes, maybe even sucking on his fingers at this point.

he's practicing breathing, and may actually be able to breathe in the outside world with some heavy medical assistance if necessary (which it won't be). all the breathing often leads to hiccups as his diaphragm develops, so that will be fun.

not much else to report at this point - i feel pretty good other than the ridiculous fall allergies i seem to have developed. it just doesn't seem fair to get them in the spring AND the fall.

we're going to start setting up the nursery over the next few weeks....i'll finally get to nest! hooray!!

13 weeks to go....wow.

25 weeks

just got back from a checkup with dr. george and everything is going well. I've put on about 10 lbs over the past 5 weeks, but considering I only put on about 4-5 in the previous 8 weeks i think it's ok.

the goober is about 13.5 inches long and weighs about a pound and a half (which is apparently how much a rutabaga weighs - who knew?). If we could see him we'd be able to tell his hair color and he's starting to fill out a little bit. I think most of what he'll be doing in the next 3.5 months is packing on some weight - he's already reached 65% of his length but only about 20% of his birth weight. madness!

Yoga yesterday was great, it felt really good to stretch out a bit. She kept up a great pace, too - if it's too slow i tend to get bored and look at the clock a lot, so it was great to keep moving.

24 weeks, 1 day

baby gray has gained about 4 0z in the past week and is still about a foot long. the description on babycenter is that he probably resembles an ear of corn - so pretty darn skinny! he's going to spend a lot of the next few weeks packing on the weight and filling out that skinny bod.

his tastebuds are continuing to develop and his lungs are branching out. his skin is still relatively translucent but that should change soon.

he's a wiggly little guy, I feel him squirming around all the time. i keep grabbing nate's hand and forcing him to grope my belly whenever i feel it at home but he hasn't had a big enough kick to feel from the outside yet. i'm pretty sure it's going to be any day though, some of his movements feel pretty big to me!

23 weeks

all right, time to start the dance party!

the gremlin can hear and feel music and dancing now. he's 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound and pretty soon i'll be able to see him moving around from the outside. it'll be all sigourney weaver in Alien. or the end of Spaceballs. probably Spaceballs.

i've noticed that by the end of the day over the past few days my feet are swollen. not fat-swollen, but wide-swollen. they look like flippers, or possibly vaguely foot-shaped pancakes. so far i've avoided cankles (the lovely look of the calf that goes right to the foot without stopping for an ankle) and with any luck i'll just skip them since the weather is starting to cool off.

I'm missing yoga this week! last Wednesday's session was super-challenging, I'm definitely going to try to go twice a week. at least once a week, but hopefully monday and wednesday both. i think it will help my back pain tremendously and Dr. George keeps telling me that exercising now will make me happier later, so i'm all for that.

i've been in WI for the past few days and it's been super fun! my mom and i are going to shoot a wedding for my good friend brendan on Saturday in madison and I'm very much looking forward to it.

the lake -

22 weeks, 1 day

the gremlin is now about 11 inches long and weighs one pound! he's starting to look like an actual baby instead of some weirdo from the planet uterus - he's even developing eyebrows. he is still very wrinkly; he's just waiting to pack on the fat layer to fill out those wrinkles. or maybe botox?

i feel him kicking every day now, it's pretty cool. i would imagine in another few weeks that nate will be able to feel him as well, that'll be exciting.

here are some more pictures from our road trip last weekend - nate did such a good job.











and my absolute favorite - i want a big-ass print of this one -



there are more up on flickr - here is a link to the slideshow.

road trip

last weekend we decided to go on a little road trip up to dillon MT and stop and take lots of pictures along the way. Nate got some absolutely fantastic belly shots of me; here are a few of my favorites:









there are more up on my flickr site, please check them out! i will be posting more tomorrow night; i'm a bit too tired to get through the rest of them tonight.

i'm mostly feeling pretty good, hungry a lot, but good. sleeping is getting a bit harder just because my hips get so sore sleeping on my side all the time. the pillows help, but pretty soon nate is going to be sleeping on the floor with norm if i keep adding more pillows to our bed.

ultrasounds

got a few ultrasounds scanned tonight - these are from the 19 week scan that we just had last week -



and my personal favorite -



this is the last time we'll see the little guy before he pops out; we'll continue to hear his heartbeat at every appointment but i believe the ultrasounds are done unless there is some sort of issue.

halfway! (20 weeks)

Just got back from my appt with dr. george and he said that everything looked great in my ultrasound from last week. he said that they did move my due date up to around the 12th based on grayboy's size, but i'll bet he's just a big'un. i'm not going to get my hopes up for an early delivery.

they are moving their clinic to a new location so my next appointment isn't for 5 weeks - September! i can't believe that we're almost done with summer....i'm actually a little relieved as it's been too hot to wear jeans so i've been living in el cheapo gaucho pants from Target. sooo comfortable, but probably a little too sweatpant-like for work. thank goodness i work in a very casual office.

i've gained 3 lbs since the last visit which i think puts me around 21 lbs total. i'm not sure what i weighed before i got pregnant, so i'm going to go with a round-ish number that is probably close to right. and no, i'm not going to tell you what it is. so that means i'm averaging about a pound a week but i put most of it on in the beginning as i hadn't gained anything at the last appointment, so really this is 3 lbs in 8 weeks. i'm starting to get really hungry again though so i'll bet the hiatus is almost done.

eeet's aliiiiiiiive

so for a week or two i've been feeling weird little tickles that i thought just *might* be the baby moving around, but this weekend i finally felt a definite kick. you know those little fisher price vacuums with the balls in them that pop when your kid pushes them around? it felt like a little toy vacuum ball pop.
in other news, we painted some furniture for grayboy's room - i was originally going to go with orange and gray but ended up liking the green/brown a lot better. the green is a little lime-ier than i was thinking so i may re-paint the green bits but here's what we've done so far -



(i just noticed that this one is all weird and pixel-y, hmm)

we're going to use it as a changing table - the changing pad fits on it wonderfully.

and then a nightstand/mini-bookcase -



(also pixel-y...my pictures are generally not like that - must have had a weird setting in my export from lightroom. i will investigate)

i was going to post some images of some gifts we've gotten from our parents but i think i'll wait and re-export so i don't have all that weird pixel nonsense happening.

oh and you voters are mean!!! apparently grayboy is going to be late and huge. awesome.

19 weeks

Big week this week!

Gremlin is starting to designate different areas of his brain for the senses - hearing, taste, smell, sight, touch. He may be able to hear us now...I suppose I'm going to have to start watching my language. Hm.

He weighs about 8.5 oz and is about 6 inches long; babycenter.com compared that to a tomato but that seems like a damn big tomato. His arms and legs are the right proportions to each other, his kidneys continue to generate urine and he's starting to get some hair on his head.

We had an ultrasound today and had a great ultrasound tech - she actually made me laugh until i cried at one point.

Pretty early on she could see the sex and remarked 'well, you're right to be calling it 'him'' (ya, a boy!!!! hoooray, what fun! of course a girl would have been perfect as well.)...I turned to Nate and said 'a boy! we're having a boy!' - he had completely missed her comment and was sooo confused as to how I had figured it out. He then asked the tech 'how do you know it's a boy' and she shot right back with 'because of the penis' which is when i laughed hysterically for a good minute, it was awesome. later on in the process he (the baby, not nate) mooned us and we got a great printout of the penis in question.

so a boy! good job, voting majority. I had to buy a few blue things today but feel like i kept it under control for the most part.

i suppose i'll have to come up with some new polls now...hmmmm.

we have pics from the ultrasound but need to get them scanned. i'll put them up as soon as they are ready!

18 weeks

I'm over 4 mos now, another two weeks and I'll be exactly halfway.

The gremlin is about 5 1/2 inches long and weighs around 7 oz. He's flexing his arms and legs like crazy (although I have yet to feel it) and you can see the blood vessels through its skin. It's ears are in the right place on its head although they are still sticking out a bit.

The other morning one of our local DJs asked me when I was due and got me a chair. it was a bit surreal.

my hips are starting to hurt when i sleep on my side so I think it's about time to find me an extra pillow for some support...I also can't really sleep on my back any more as my uterus has gotten big enough to be putting pressure on my vena cava which makes my heart race if I'm on my back.

In other news, Norm was just cleared for swimming and other exercise by the vet. she said his lungs looked totally clear with no signs of the pneumonia remaining. He still has two weeks left on his antibiotics, after which he'll go in for another checkup, but hopefully after that we can stay away from the vet's office for a while.

In other OTHER news, I ordered iPhones for Nate and I on Tuesday. They should be here next week sometime...i'm pretty stupidly excited about getting one.

The battery pack for my studio lights blew a fuse last week and while Nate fixed it for me I'm almost afraid to set them up again - stupid, since if it blows again all that happens is the lights don't fire. Durr.

17 weeks

17 weeks! almost halfway! madness!

i'm back to feeling pretty normal, other than the tiredness. i'd still like to go to bed at 8 every night...but now that i think of it, I want to do that when I'm not pregnant, so I guess I'm almost completely back! I am having some back pain but i think it's from wearing inappropriate footwear (aka flip flops) almost every day, so I'm trying out some sandals with a bit of arch support to see if that helps.

This week the gremlin's skeleton is starting to harden, and the sweat glands are starting to form. he's in there just sweatin' to the oldies, i know it. It is about 5 inches long and weighs about 5 oz...growing like crazy!

I will put pictures up soon, i promise - things have been very busy lately and i just haven't had the time to take any.

15 weeks 4 days

So yes, it's been a long time since I've posted. I apologize but really there's not much happening! I eat, I sleep, I'm cranky...allergies have taken over my life.

I should be able to start feeling movement soon, which will be really cool. Gremlin (or 'Jiggles') is starting to get fingernails and the bones in its ear are starting to form. Its legs are now longer than its arms and the body has finally gotten bigger than the head. It is about 4 inches long and weighs about 2.5 ounces.

14 weeks

Hoooray, more belly pictures!

Had to do another similar profile for the flip book:



And then played with some vertical shots for those of you who were just dying to see my new haircolor:







I tell you what, it is handy to have a photo studio in your basement.

Let's see...the gremlin has a thyroid gland and is producing its own hormones, it may be sucking its thumb at this point, and it is about 3.5 inches long and weighs about an ounce and a half. Extra postage!

It has also started to grow lanugo, which is a fine covering of hair that it'll keep until sometime just before it's born. Somehow having hair like Bigfoot helps protect its skin from all that amniotic fluid it's floating around in.

This isn't baby-related, but for those of you who have been worried about Norm here's a picture from this afternoon -



He's definitely feeling a lot better but will be on the antibiotics for quite a while to make sure we knock out all of that pesky bacteria this time. I was very happy to pick him up from the hospital this afternoon and bring him home for some puppy love.

FYI for those that don't know, Norm has pneumonia for the second time in about a month and the doctors aren't sure what is causing it. I think this time is just a recurrence; that we didn't do the antibiotics long enough last time. No chance of that with this one - they put him on a six week course! He's already so much happier and more lively than he was yesterday morning when we dropped him off and they had to carry him to the back to get examined (he could have walked, he just refused to go and laid down. stinker).

Anyway, that is what is going on with Norm, next time it'll be all baby, promise!

breathlessness

Breathlessness (and the constant hunger, of course) is now my major issue. I'll be laying in bed and feel like there is no way I can get enough air...it's fairly distressing. I looked it up and it is normal, women need more oxygen while they're pregnant and I guess this is just my body trying to figure out how to do that, but jeez is it annoying. It's pretty embarrassing to be completely out of breath walking up a couple of flights of stairs. Not to mention how silly it is to be out of breath while laying down to read or to try to sleep.

Getting busier at work, so that's really helping the time fly by. Ingrid and I are doing a photo shoot this weekend of her belly (she's due in July) so that'll be fun - we're going to do it in the 'studio' in the basement here.

I had my first stranger say something about me being pregnant yesterday, that was kind of weird. He's lucky I actually am in the family way or that would have been a good way to get smacked.

13 weeks

I couldn't find a good picture for this week. Boooooo.

The gremlin is about 3" long right now and weighs about .8 of an ounce. Tiny! It's starting to practice inhaling and exhaling and is getting all of its nourishment from the placenta at this point.

I just got back from Dr. George, everything went very well. He confirmed that the NT scan results were great and we got to hear the heartbeat on a little doppler dealie. I've gained 7 lbs in 5 weeks and my blood pressure was way lower than last time...but I think that might have been because I fell asleep for a little while before they came in to take it.

belly photos

ok, my friend Jan pointed out that it was shameful that I hadn't posted any belly pictures yet. So tonight while I was still feeling relatively energetic, I had Nate set up a backdrop for me, put up my lights, and did a mini photo shoot. Then I played around with different processing in photoshop and lightroom, which was great fun. Here are the ones I like best:

This one is Nate's favorite:




I really like this look and will probably be using it again, it's just so warm and soft -





I am going to try to do this weekly - should be a lot easier now that the backdrop is set up. It'll be fun to see the difference week-to-week...maybe I'll do a flip book after I deliver.

In other news, the dr's office called with the results of the NT scan that we had last week (testing for possible Down's Syndrome) and the nurse said everything looked totally normal. We have an appt on Thursday to go over the results in more detail with Dr. George.

I'd better go to bed, have to rest up for yoga tomorrow!

slacking

I know I've been posting less but there's just not that much happening! I'm still waiting for Nate to scan the 12-week ultrasound for me (the scanner doesn't work on my computer)...I have a dr. appt. on Thursday to go over the results of the scan + blood test...so far all other tests have been totally clear and normal.

I am starting to feel a little more clear and normal myself...I'm still ready for bed by 8 but am feeling slightly more alert during the day. Having said that I'm sure I'll fall into a hormone induced daze any second now.

Colleen just told me that I have 'popped', so that's kinda cool. Hopefully that means I look pregnant now rather than just fat. :)

a bit of normalcy?

I ended up going over to a friend's house to take a nap yesterday afternoon and I think that was a good choice. For some reason I was just exhausted all day and then when I started to get a headache I threw in the towel.

Two days now I've thought about staying home from work and ended up coming in and regretting it. I will make it a policy from now on that if I feel like I want to stay home when I get up in the morning I'm just going to go ahead and do it.

I am in the office this afternoon catching up on the stuff that I was too fuzzled to do yesterday. I brought Norm in with me and he is actually doing a wonderful job of cleaning my office. Way better than the janitors. They NEVER vacuum under my desk and I think Norm has already sucked up any and all food particles that may have made their way down there. He is now sleeping behind me, looking quite pleased with the little snacks he's picked up.

My friend Kris tells me that although everyone says that as soon as the second trimester starts you should start to get your energy back it is more like 14 weeks. It won't be soon enough, whenever it happens.

Oh, and it's snowing. Again. It's June, right?

my own personal utah

Today I am very tired for some reason. Somehow I managed to sleep all night but not get any rest...it's like my body is giving me a preview of what life will be like come December.

Tomorrow I'm going to get my hair done; going back to brunette. As I've been a redhead since well before I lived in Jackson I think the reactions are going to be fun.

I know there is more I should be posting about but I can't think of it. Oh, that's one thing - the baby is totally stealing my brain. I used to be relatively sharp - good recall, witty, occasionally I'd have a nice insight into a problem...no more. I can't even think of basic words like 'sweater' or 'internet' or 'restaurant'. Instead it's 'uhh....long sleeved warm thing' and 'you know, the thing with the pages and you put in what you want and it tells you stuff' and 'the place with the stuff that i like to eat'. And god forbid someone ask me to calculate a tip or remember a phone number.

It's very frustrating and I'm told it'll only get worse. Hoooooooraaaaaaaaaaaay.

edited to add - I changed the title of this post to more accurately reflect what it is about. I'm right behind you, mom. :)

12 weeks

yes, I know I've been slacking. Let's get past it. :)

A picture -

It's got vocal cords and a functioning liver and pancreas!

But best of all we went in for an ultrasound today and it was SO COOL. It waved at us! And I think it had the hiccups because for a while he/she was having a very rhythmic sternum bounce. I will post pictures as soon as we get them scanned. He/she was flipping and spinning and waving...it was really really cool.

In unrelated news, our cell phone provider has just been absorbed by AT&T and you know what that means....iPhone in Jackson!!!! Woo hoo!!!! I'm pretty much just dancing with excitement about it.

11 weeks

Whoa, looks like he/she is at a rave.

So our little gremlin is about the size of a plum this week. It is developing its sense of smell and should be getting tastebuds soon. I can't say I envy him/her - I'm guessing the aromas in there are weird to say the least. It is getting hair and nails and will soon be demanding expensive trips to the salon. Its kidneys are starting to function and amniotic fluid is starting to collect. He/she is starting to develop gender characteristics but we'll have to wait another NINE WEEKS to find out. Suck.

Nate and I had a great time in Chicago - thank you again Tom and Jan for everything! I tell you what though, traveling pregnant is not all it's cracked up to be...I have motion sickness now. MOTION SICKNESS. Somehow I can no longer tolerate taking off, landing, or any sort of turbulence. I have to clutch Nate's arm in a death grip and repeat my mantra of 'don't vomit...don't vommmmiiiiit...' until we either flatten out or land. Also I'm not as good at walking around as I used to be...I had to sit down a lot while we were exploring. Everyone was very understanding though, so thank you all very much!

I went shopping with Nate's cousin Kilie and went a little bazonkers at the maternity store...got two pairs of jeans, some comfy pants, some shirts, a sweater or two....she just kept bringing me stuff! All I wanted was jeans, honest!!!

Other than the tiredness and nausea I felt pretty good this week. I did end up spending one night in our hotel room with a headache but otherwise was quite participatory, hooray for me! Jackson needs a Cheesecake Factory and better shopping...I re-discovered how much more fun it is to shop in an actual store than online. Oh well, maybe someday there will be another mall in my life.

vacation

yup, that's right, we're getting the heck out of dodge. Nate and I will be enjoying ourselves in the Windy City for the next five days, so I probably will not be blogging until we get back on Thursday. I'll just have to be extra funny to make up for the posts I miss while I'm gone. In the meantime, here's a way cooler 10 week photo:


It has ears! It's almost like there's a real person in there or something. Madness.

10 weeks

a photo:


All these pictures are looking pretty similar to me, just different angles. Hm....suspicious.

We officially have a fetus now, wahoo! It can make a fist, it's head is about 1/2 the length of it's body and it is about 1 1/2 inches long. Apparently it's started wiggling around a bit but is still too small for me to feel it.

Not much else to report I guess, just building a baby and all the fun that comes with it.