Plan for the Week

We just got back from the doctor's office and here is the update:

1. I'm still only at 1cm dialated, not really effaced at all and my cervix is still pointing back and kiddo is fairly high. So she swept the membranes around the cervix to see if that will do anything. Ouch.

2. We hooked me up to the fetal monitoring unit to see how Monkey is doing in there. All systems go. Heartrate and movement rate all look good, he is nice an cushioned too. I am having contractions pretty regularly but they aren't progressive yet. We have another one of these sessions scheduled for this Wednesday night to check him out again.

3. If nothing starts up on its own, we will be checking in to the hospital this Friday, New Years Day at 4pm to start the induction process. So at least we have a deadline to look forward to of getting something going even if it may still take a few days beyond that to meet him.

In the meantime I will be at work and continuing to scare the crap out of people by going to the Y for water aerobics and walking around the track. I think this week will be easier than this past weekend simply because I have the distraction of work to keep me (somewhat) busy. Thank you for all the support and good thoughts you have been sending. Our next post will include pictures of Monkey!

The Waiting Game

Question - what would you rather do:

1. Wait in the airport for an 17 hours until the next possible flight to your destination with no place to lay down and only vending machine food available.

or

2. Wait for your baby to make his entrance.

Right now I'd go for option number 1 since it has a definitive end time, lying down isn't all the comfy and I'm not really all that hungry.

We see the doctor tomorrow to make a plan for the rest of the week. It could be interesting however because we have another holiday in the mix and this office doesn't seem to do well scheduling things around holidays. So my options to be induced may either be Thursday the 31st or Monday the 5th to begin the process - IF those times aren't already booked with other stuff which at this point I would guess they are. I am hoping they are more flexible than in the past with this stage otherwise they will end up with a very unhappy 41 week pregnant woman and her husband in their office tomorrow. We shall see.

Right now the hardest things is telling people that no, nothing is happening and yes, I feel fine. So if you call or email and I don't respond, please please please don't take it personally, I would rather just be alone with Russ at this point.

Here are some pics from our weekend with Jan and Anna. We spent Christmas Day at the Como Conservatory which was delightfully warm and open for business. I'll post an update tomorrow night after we know the plan for induction. Have a great night and safe travels if you are returning home after the holiday.

Indicators

They say there are some indicators to tell you when you are about to start the process of having a baby.

1. Nesting - Cleaning and organizing everything in your house. Ok, so this isn't really all that different from my usual state of being so it is hard to tell when this might hit. I think it hit today. I HAD to dust and organize the cables coming out of the TV and DVD/VCR. I have no idea how I fit myself in the space behind the chair to do this but it had to be done. Right. Now. I feel much better.

2. Unusually cranky. I hope I've been a pretty upbeat and non-whiny pregnant lady the last many months. Until this week. Pretty much every thing thing either makes me really frustrated or so emotional I cry on the spot. The fact that there are 6 fantastic packages blocking my front door, it has snowed, I am sweating and hungry and exhausted made me just start bawling the other night when I got home. The delivery guys could have at least put them in a place where I could have opened the door and then brought them in, but instead stacked them all up in front of the door which meant I had to put all my other stuff down, unstack and move them, open the door, haul all of them in etc etc etc. Doesn't seem like a big deal does it? I pretty much thought the world was ending at that point ;)

As I'm sure you know, everyone will tell you what you should do to induce labor. Eat this certain thing, walk in this certain area of the city, clean this certain part of your house, balance on one foot for exactly 12.3 seconds etc. It appears to be whatever they were doing when theirs started. Which means there is a never ending list of things I should do to get this show on the road. At least I can stay occupied!

Saw the doc on Friday morning and again not much going on and we both appear to be doing well. She said she'd like me to come in next week of course so I go to make my appointment and guess what - there aren't any available. That's right, I'm out of luck. I said, do you realize my due date is Tuesday? And the receptionist said the best she could do was schedule me with the on call doctor but if that doc needed to be called away then no, I couldn't see anyone. What really irks me about this is that when we started shopping around for doctors one of our first questions was hey, we're having a holiday baby. What does your office and staff do to make sure we are taken care of around that time. And the nurse practitioner that we asked this question of was really put out that we'd even consider asking it. She became quite condescending and short with us like we had asked her to clean our toilets while we were at the hospital. She assured us that we wouldn't have a problem receiving any aspect of care over the holidays. HA! How about a better answer like 'well the office is closed on certain days so you may want to schedule something for that week now but there will always be a doctor available on call when you need them in the hospital.' Now that would have been a helpful answer. I plan to call back tomorrow morning and try again.

I'm sure when I walk in the door tomorrow every other person will ask what I am doing there. I could sit on my butt at work and get some productive things done or I could sit on my butt at home. At least at work I get paid so I plan to go there.

Stay tuned for the week to come. Most likely you'll get a call or an email from someone when there is anything to tell. You can also watch Facebook as we'll have internet in the hospital and can update my facebook status when we can.

Happy Holidays everyone - travel safe, be well and think contracting thoughts for us!

What not to say - part two

When Heiser said this will be the slowest 2 to 3 weeks of your life, she isn't kidding. It's only Monday night??? WHAT? It feels like it should be Friday already.

39 weeks ahoy. And no, I haven't had the baby. "Well of course not, we hadn't heard you had." A ha! If only everyone thought that! Today was the first day I had more than one person come up to me and ask me "Have you had the baby?" And none of these people were blind or visually impaired. And even if they were - WHY ON EARTH WOULD I BE AT WORK IF I DID? So I just have started answering 'yup, this morning' to see where it goes.

The moral of the story is, please don't ask me if I've had the baby and don't tell me it's time for me to have the baby. I get it, everyone is excited. However, I can already see this line of questioning stressing me out. So thanks in advance. Let's talk about skiing instead - where to go this year... or how many weeks until it's biking season...

Here is a pic of 39 weeks and all decorated for the holiday. This is our cute, squat and fat little tree. There are many cute, squat and fat ornaments on it which makes it just perfect. And I'm not squat, but I sure am cute and fat (in a way) so I fit in perfectly in the photo.

Have a good week!

Two weeks people, two weeks. At least until the 'due' date science gives us. Today I have definitely started to feel kiddo making his way lower - my maternity pants are becoming more like window blinds (only rolling over right in front where he's at) which is NOT very attractive or comfortable. I'm awfully pleased however that the same few pairs of pants have gotten me to this point. I may be wearing skirts and dresses a bit more to work - or at least changing out of my long underwear into them when I get there because:

MN is getting it's first actual winter storm of the season at the moment. They say we could have 6 inches or so by the end of tomorrow which naturally causes everyone to FREAK OUT. I'm not nervous about getting to the hospital if we should need to go, (I have a very good driver here and a very large truck with 4 wheel drive sitting outside) it's all the other drivers who forget to slow down you have to be freaked about. Ok, stepping down off that soap box...

This past weekend was Cookingathon 2009. Momter came up Thursday night and we spent Friday shopping for important things like nursing bras and bulk items such as frozen chicken tenders. Costco is a wonderful place - for the bulk items, not the nursing bras.

There is no way I would have been able to make the amount of food we whipped through in two days without her - lasagna, stir fry, veggie sides, crepes, enchiladas fantasticas (their real name), taco fixings, meatballs, mac and cheese, stuffed shells and probably 6 other things I can't remember right now. If kiddo has an appetite like his ma then this should last us about a week ;)

Momter also got to experience the Holidazzle parade for the first time and helped us cut our cute little Christmas tree which is up and lit and decorated. And I made her go to water aerobics with me.

After all that excitement over the weekend, Monkey spent all of Monday during the day wiggling and twisting and generally making his presence known. Momter speculated that he was so happy with all the movement that happened throughout the weekend that he wasn't pleased when I sat down all of Monday - let's hope he gets used to sitting still at some point!

This week I'm trying to stay active which helps the sciatic and hip pain be less intense and am continuing to make plans to keep myself motivated and perhaps a bit distracted. We'll take some more pictures next weekend and add them in here including ones of the freezer(s)!

36+

They tell me this kid is due in less than a month. I really hope that is true because other than us not having a finished kitchen I feel just about ready. Nursery is set up, I've read what I need to read, we took infant and child CPR last week, the car seats are getting inspected this week (amazing!) and the hospital bag is about 70% packed.

But, Ann, do you know that many time first babies are later than their due date??

Yes, thanks. We have been told that, just about 5 times less than we're having a Christmas baby. Either way it's fine, I am just thankful that we had the opportunity to get this prepared for Monkey and that he and I are so healthy thus far.

Starting on Monday I see the doc once a week until we see her in the hospital. So far we're still measuring right on track and kiddo has a fantastic heartbeat and activity level. 4am is now his new favorite time. I am still sleeping really well except for waking up every few hours to turn over as my toes are going numb. I don't start out sleeping on my back, but I sure do end up that way. And then on my back, I'm rather stuck. Try getting up with a 28 pound weight on your tummy - it's a lot harder.

We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday - spent the day relaxing at home and then headed to the Browns for an awesome meal. I really do love traditional Thanksgiving meals. Mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy...mmmm....oh, and Russ's pumpkin pie. I am really thankful that we didn't have to drive a great distance or spend a lot of time cooking all those wonderful things this year - thanks, Kat! We have some leftovers too and Russ managed to catch me in a common location these days, looking for them:



Mom is coming up this next weekend to help me finish up a few things (and get pedicures) and COOK. We'll fill up the freezers with meals we can use in the weeks after kiddo arrives. If you have a favorite freezer meal recipe, send it along.

I also enjoy this picture - note how kiddo enters the room first these days...

Oddly enough feeling a bit lighter...

You know how when you finish a project or a paper and suddenly feel a large sense of relief just because it's done and you are ready for the next thing = finally? That is how I feel this weekend now that we have the nursery just about totally ready for kiddo to come home to. Each day I'm feeling a bit slower and less energetic so I was really hoping to have that big piece of preparation done before week 35 hit - and I just made it ;) Here are some pictures as we circle his room!



Very important - toys.




Feeding corner.

Notice that the crib is on wheels...it did NOT come that way...


And the changing/clothing corner. Russ was thinking ahead and added one helpful piece of information as well, I hope you can read it:



Russ is still busy working on the kitchen - this weekend he assembled most of the cherry faceframes and is working on the beading that goes around. I'm not sure what is after that but hopefully we're near to starting to put some of them INTO the kitchen. Dishwasher here I come!

Monkey has been a mover and a shaker in the last two weeks - much more so than I noticed at all before. On Thursday the doc said he is head down and most likely will stay that way from now on. Instead of funny flutters it is starting to feel much more like stretches - a hard little bump in one spot that sort of feels like a fist. I am very thankful that things have really been very easy so far - I'm still sleeping like a champ and my feet are normal sized yet.

A few days ago I also had my first of the 'prep' contractions known as Braxton Hicks. It doesn't hurt but just feels like my abdomen is really tight for a few seconds - and you can't relax it. Now if only the real contractions felt that way...

Hiccups!

It's been a busy week or so for us. Russ spent a long last weekend in Chicago with Jan and Anna and I stayed home and worked on kiddo's room. Mostly I stayed home because an 8 hour car ride sounds just about like the 9th ring of hell at the moment. So you want pictures you say? Ha! Give me until Sunday and we'll see what we can do. We were so lucky and got TONS of clothes for Monkey between the hand me downs and gifts over the last few weeks. So I did lots of laundry and organized (who, me?) them by size so we can easily grab what fits him as he grows. Russ got some shelves hung up yesterday so we should be just about set up by Sunday. Then just looking for some decoration ideas at that point I think.

Monkey got the hiccups! It was Saturday night at about 430am. I went to the bathroom and laid back down and was so surprised to find he seemed to be dancing to a beat. But there was no beat. Went on for about 2 minutes, very funny. Haven't felt them since then.

It has been a very long week of work - 2 twelve hour days and one ten hour day and going into my last day of the week which will be nice and short. This will be the last week I agree to any 12 hour days though. I just feel awful at the end of it which isn't good for any of us (russ included!). So if you ask me to do something (and please continue to do so) and I decline don't take it personally. It's not that I would rather sleep than hang out with you. Well, actually it is at this point but this is only temporary :)

Check back later this weekend for more pictures.

What's in a name?

There are some aspects of this whole experience we are excited to learn right away and share with folks and others we aren't. What we've discovered however is that many people (most of whom you don't even know) have an opinion about every aspect of your experience that they are happy to share with you. From your due date, to finding out about your baby, to names to everything in between.

Please please please don't tell a woman with a due day around 12/25 that 'Oh! A Christmas baby! Too bad he's going to feel like he got the short end of the stick'. This assumes two things:
1. You celebrate Christmas.
2. Birthdays and Christmas are only about presents and that is how you'll raise your child.

We've had great support from friends and family about the fact that this isn't as big a deal as many people make it out to be. Kiddo won't know the difference until we teach it to him. And then he'll go to school and all bets are off, but at least we can start a good foundation.

I also really enjoyed the lady at Home Depot yesterday who told me all about the ridiculously awful birth story her friend just had. Hello, I'm still pregnant and have yet to go through that part of the deal. Perhaps you should hold that story for folks that are done with the birth part already. Plus I'm sure the guy with the box of nails behind me really wanted to hear you say the word 'vaginally' at Home Depot.

Names are also a big thing on people's minds. Just to set the record straight: the child will not be named Colter Colliton (thanks, Heiser). You all can breathe a deep sigh of relief if you thought that was the case. We are not however going to tell you what the options for his name are :) That is for Russ and I and kiddo to think about and ultimately decide once he is in our arms.

Week 33 is rapidly approaching here. I am feeling rather heavy and like I could take a long nap at any point during the day. Kiddo has some active moments but mostly he is pretty quiet as he has been the whole way through this ride so far. The doctor did say that the placenta is sort of in front and on the right side so that could be why I don't feel him as much as other women might with their babies.

This coming week will be the last of our birthing classes, a phone call to the insurance (always a pleasure) and next weekend working on getting the nursery actually set up. Russ is headed to Chicago to visit his fam and for his and my sanity we've decided I'll stay here as a long car ride is less than comfortable at this point. I'll work on sleeping, organizing and oh yeah, sleeping!

Found it!

This weekend my good friend Monique came to visit us before the little guy shows up and keeps us busy for a few months. We had a great time exploring areas of the city, eating at some new places (The Bulldog in NE has GREAT burgers and Jun Bo's Dim Sum is rather overwhelming) and braving the worlds of Target and Babies R Us during the snow storm that appeared Friday afternoon. A good friend is one that will help you return and purchase new things for your baby when you aren't 100% sure what you need :)

I feel a bit more prepared now knowing that most of the items we wanted to have on hand before he comes are ready. Just a couple little things to get from generous friends or exchange and we'll then have to face the daunting task of - putting it all in his room... Pictures of the nursery you say? Yeah, not yet. Maybe in two weeks.

To kill a little time before having to go to the airport this afternoon we stopped by the Mall 'o 'Merica and found what hopefully will be his going home outfit if the timing works out:

This last week has simply flown by for us. On Tuesday we hit 30 weeks - only 10 weeks to go in theory! Yikes! Besides this lovely little cold Russ brought home for me I am still feeling good. However, a major sore throat and breathing issues as well as having a tough time getting comfortable do NOT make for easy sleeping at night. Hopefully this will run its course quickly.

I can tell that my energy levels are starting to decline again. At the end of the day I am a little toasty. However, Monkey seems to be increasing in his energy levels. On Wednesday I spent the entire day out of the office at a conference and from 5am until 5pm he was pretty much on the go. It was hilarious to watch my tummy jump around while we were discussing IMPORTANT things. Perhaps he was just as thrilled as I was to be away from work...

In the last week we have been blessed to have not one but two showers thrown for us by friends and family. Last Thursday our Minneapolis crew hosted a fantastic shindig and then on Saturday Mom and Auntie Becca hosted one in Grafton. It was really fun to see about 75% of all the people we know in a span of 3 days. Sort of like a wedding. You get to see them but maybe not talk as much as you like. Grandma Egelhoff was able to escape rehab for the afternoon and join us as well which was fantastic.


As a result of these parties kiddo is super set for clothes and toys. This weekend we are going to get some advice from an experienced mommy on what items would be good to get yet to make our lives easier and then it's time to set up the nursery. Which currently looks like a hurricane went through it. So pictures of that will be a few weeks out yet. Hope you like the ones here. This last one is our favorite of the ducks - these guys have been in the hottub a bit too long...

Monkey enjoys the sugary drinks

Just got back from the glucose stress test and we passed - just. They have you drink a really sugary sort of fruit punch thing and then wait an hour to test your blood. In the meantime you get to be measured and poked and prodded and such. Measurements all look good, kiddo's still got a good heartbeat and did an excellent job of kicking the doc's 'stethoscope' when she was listening a few times. Scared her ;) We're now at the point of visiting the doc every two weeks. Good times.

It's awfully drab and gloomy here this week.We sort of went from summer to late fall without that lovely in between time. However, this does force us to work on the house or just rest which is probably the best choice at this point. I still have energy, Russ is still inspired to make cabinets! We're making progress, so we'll post some pictures maybe next week of what we've been up to. At that point we may have the baby's room a bit organized and decorated which will make us feel really good.

Headed to Grafton this coming weekend to visit folks and have showers showered upon us - thanks ahead of time Becca and Mom. Please send healing thoughts for my Grandma E too. She had a stroke yesterday and is doing ok, but may have a long recovery road. We'll be bringing a bit of the shower to her instead.

No more balancing glassware on my tummy

It's been a fairly uneventful few weeks, hence the lack of postings. However, a few new experiences have happened in the last week to share with everyone.

Monkey is now big enough to do a few new tricks. The first one is when he gets some good kicks in, you can see my stomach move. So no more balancing the breakfast tray on my tummy. He's not super consistent with WHEN he moves around but every few days gets a good workout in. The other trick is he has managed at least once to settle all 2 1/2 pounds of himself on a major vein/artery. Last Friday night he got nice and comfy which made me get light headed and pass out. At a bar. It was super neat. Luckily it's easy to recover from that and we promptly left. Since then he hasn't sat in that spot again and hopefully won't.

It was an exciting week - Heiser had her little guy yesterday. It has been such a great experience to have such a close friend going through this at the same time. Plus she got to do it first and tell me what to try to avoid. Thanks for that, buddy ;)

Finally got the posting up for the other half of my job at work, so hopefully they will hire someone by the end of the month and I can start showing them the ropes. I'm really looking forward to a) only working part time and b) having an actual peer in the same field as me working at the agency. It will be easier to brainstorm and get feedback about situations I think.

In theory we're headed out camping this weekend. Right now, I'm not as it's going to be 45 and raining, but if that changes we'll go. Think sunny and warm thoughts!

He likes to swim

Today was the first day I was woken up by someone kicking me in bed - and it wasn't Russ. Kiddo was having a field day about 6am so I embraced it and took him swimming. He was quiet then until the afternoon. I really like feeling him explore and poke and move around. It doesn't hurt at all which I got asked today. He has busy days and quiet days at this point. And of course as soon as Russ puts his hand on me to feel it, Monkey stays still and tries to hide. Ha!

We bought a road rug! This is something we've both wanted for a long time (our friend Katy got one a few years ago for herself) and now we had an excellent reason. Gotta love IKEA. Now we'll find some little cars and fire trucks and hours of entertainment will be in Russ's future. I mean Monkey's.

Think Labor thoughts for Heiser in the next 24 hours - time for Chompers to meet the world!

So many things to think about

In addition to the emotional, practical and physical things you have to learn and get ready for with a baby, we also have been learning a lot about the what ifs lately. We are both very blessed in that we don't have a lot of significant long term illness or disease in our family lines. However, you just never know what might happen. So we've decided to bank kiddo's cord blood in case he may ever need it, or we or other siblings might be able to use it. I think the kicker in this decision for us was, what if we didn't do it and regretted that choice in a few years?

It's not a cheap prospect, but not out of the realm of possible either so we've set up our account with a company called Cord Blood Registry that came recommended from a coworker. It's fascinating to learn about how this works too - once he shows up, the doctor collects the blood from the umbilical cord and stores it in this special package they send us and then it gets shipped medical transport to the storage facility where they process and store it for us so it's safe and usable in the future. How odd is that when you think about it? Science is amazing stuff.

So if you know anyone looking into doing this, I am full of information about it at this point and happy to share. If you are interested in helping us fund this little project, just let me know and I can direct you to our 'gift registry' with Cord Blood. So far, this has been a good and educational experience for us.

Tomorrow - picking up the crib!

Aviator perhaps

We have returned from our week in Colorado. We spent the time with Russ's family as a memorial to his dad. A good chunk of our week was in Colorado National Monument which is where Jim worked as a Park Ranger for a few summers and he and Jan met. Jim had grown up in Grand Junction which is just at the feet of the Monument.

Getting there was a bit harder than anticipated. In Denver we got on to our connecting flight and as they were removing the walkway to the door they managed to shear off a bolt on the door. This meant we had to get off the plane until they could figure out what to do. The answer? Cancel the flight. Evidently this was a rather large problem. We're glad they noticed and we didn't get up and then realize we were missing a bolt on the main door!

6 hours later we got to Grand Junction and I fell asleep immediately. What I did notice on both of our flights is that Monkey either really loves or really hates flying. Once we were up at cruising altitude he was kicking and punching and moving all about a lot more than usual. As someone who doesn't particularly like to fly, I'm hoping he liked it.

We spent a day in Aspen going up the mountain and hiking about (and a little hula hooping) . Hula Hooping is actually a bit easier now, as I just have to swing it around my rib cage and it sort of stays up for awhile by itself! That evening we spent in Glenwood soaking in the warm warm pools. We did a bunch of hiking in the Monument itself, explored Grand Junction, saw old friends of Jan and Jim's, saw a Mud Monster Truck show (really) and toured a neat little Alpaca farm. My hiking poles were AWESOME.




Today I had my 24 week appointment and all is still well. I'm measuring exactly as I should for this point of the pregnancy so perhaps Dec 22nd will be a realistic date.

Dreaming

Normally the night before a trip involving an airplane I dream about oversleeping or forgetting my license. Seriously, like every time. However, last night was rather different. Instead, I dreamed that the light rail had bathrooms and that I forgot my ID on the light rail, but it was ok, because it had bathrooms.

I don't think my brain is too worried about over sleeping but is about not having a bathroom because why? Oh yeah, I pee every 2-3 hours, day or night. Good work body.

Running on a treadmill

My wonderful friend Tracey told me today that being pregnant is the equivalent of running on a treadmill all day every day. Except at the end I will not be able to compete in any races. That sure does explain why I want nothing to do with anyone after about 9pm - I'm toast. I'm still trying to figure out the balance of activity vs. rest that is good for me and for kiddo at the same time. The trouble is each day is a bit different.

We have a crib ordered and pretty much have the rest of the 'stuff' for Monkey figured out. I convinced my mom that she really wanted to go shopping for a new dresser for my room in Grafton and that it would be so great if my kid had the dresser that I had as a kid. So we are getting a great free dresser that matches the crib (which is very much not free). The Babies R Us and Target registries are done! Complete! Go find fun things to get for Monkey! :)

We are getting ready to head out to Colorado this Thursday. This will be a sort of combo trip for us - vacation and memorial for Jim. We'll get to see a bunch of family and spread his ashes as he wished. We'll also get to relax (pool here I come) and go to the hot springs in Glenwood, do some hiking and visit Aspen to see if we can go up our mountain. The one we got married at. Where all this Monkey business started (hahaha).

Here are some photos of me at 23/24 weeks. There is some wiggle room on where I am really and truly at in terms of weeks. I'm going with 23 actually which feels more realistic, but we'll see when kiddo thinks he's done in there.

Wiggle Worm ahoy!

Monday afternoon I was sitting at my desk and someone very squarely poked me in the bellybutton. From inside. Yea! I emailed Russ right away and then sat quietly hoping for another little poke, but Monkey must have gotten comfortable because he didn't did it again. But each day this week has been a bit more and a bit more. It is definitely not like anything I have felt before so he must have just been to little or not in the right place before for me to feel him. And last night about 4am he decided to have a little dance party. Little. It wasn't too much but there was feet and elbows that time. Can't feel it from the outside yet, but we'll keep trying!

Woohoo!

I know I know, I'll wish the opposite later

So all my books tell me that by week 20 I should start to feel kiddo moving around a little bit. Well, I thought perhaps I felt something when we went to see Harry Potter but since then I have been paying attention and haven't felt anything that could be or even mistaken for movement. And when I tell people I am anxious to feel something inevitably they say, Just wait, you'll be singing a different song in a few weeks.

Thanks, I do realize that i am going to continue to grow but Monkey will be growing more making things tighter. And that he'll most likely elbow me in the lungs and the ribs and all of that but why can't I enjoy the little movements and looking forward to that now? Why do we always have to jump to the next experience? Anyways, I am looking forward to feeling movement and if he kicks me in the ribs that means he's still doing well so I'm ok with it.

We put a few more items on the Target registry and hopefully this weekend will finish those things up so we know what items we are looking at needing and wanting for Monkey. The current debate is what type of bike carrier to get...

Pack the energy bars and the stun guns

Today we head out to Babies R Us.

Energy bars for me, stun guns for Russ to aim at the sales staff.

Ok ok, kidding, sort of.

We've got a rough list of stuff to look at and see what things we need vs. things we want. And perhaps start the Registry (with a capital R) today. It was much easier to register for wedding gifts - ooo....I like that *click*.....ooooo....that would look good with the dishes...**click**....oooo...shiny ***click*** Now we have to be a bit more deliberate and informed about our choices. The Baby Bargains book is awesome, so thanks to those that recommended it.

To round out the day we're going to see Harry Potter in Imax tonight. Monkey's ears are developmentally fully functional at this point so we hope he likes loud sounds...

Russ got a new toy - the digital SLR camera he's been coveting for about 2 1/2 years. We (helped) to rationalize it by saying it will take excellent baby pictures - which made Russ very excited so it was totally worth it. Here are some pictures it took last week as a 'test run.'

And the answer is....

It's a baby! Wait, no, you wanted more than that. It's a boy! It was fairly evident like IMMEDIATELY so looks like that's the answer. Guess kiddo is just going to have to get used to the idea of the pink sheet savers I got yesterday. It'll be good for him.

Had a good ultrasound this morning and everything looks perfect. Kiddo was really comfortable down in the lower right corner of me and we had to do some dancing and drinking of cold water to get him to move around to get all the measurements.

Other than that really no news to report. Still waiting to feel any movements which is amazing based on how much he was dancing this morning.

Stay tuned for more fun!

Iron?

I opened up a package of newborn onesies my friend Kristen gave us and the instructions for care say:

Machine Wash cold with like colors. Non Chlorine bleach as needed. Tumble dry low. Warm iron as needed.

Iron? What mother or father of a newborn is going to have time to IRON their infant's onesies??? Aren't most people lucky to get them washed in cold water and dried on low?

I rest my case

Russ: I positively identified a pregnant lady from the back today.

Ann: How did you do that?

Russ: She had those little ties on the back of her shirt.

Too little to tell

This morning we went and had a super secret ultrasound with my aunt Anne in Grafton. Had fun looking at Monkey and it appears that all systems are go - 4 chambers in the heart, 2 halves of the brain, a strong jawline, big femur, spine in tact etc. However, our dates may be off. Both ultrasounds have indicated a week later than my due date, so I'm probably more like 17 weeks along NOW meaning Monkey was a little to small to be able to determine sex easily. We'll push our next ultrasound back a week and hopefully know more the first week in August. Here are a few of the pictures we were able to capture this morning.

Shirts

I've gotten some feedback to this, but why do 90% of maternity tops have this decorative tie thing going on? It doesn't help the shirt expand and for the most part they don't help tighten the shirt to you either. I thought my closet looked kind of funny with them all hanging there ;)

17 weeks ahoy

Not too much to report. I could for sure be classified as a boring pregnancy at this point which is just fine. No movement yet, but they say closer to 20 weeks. My friends are awesome and thanks to a few key mamas I am totally set with maternity clothes for work or play.

We've had the chance to meet or play with some friend's kids the last few weeks. A 2 month old last weekend and a 2 year old tonight. Very different types of interactions :)

We've started a small mountain of loaner toys and equipment already. Bassinet - check. Exersaucer - check. If you have things you want to get rid of or loan out for new parents, just let me know!

This coming weekend is the annual 150 bike ride. Sadly I am not doing it this year, but Russ is. I am going to aim to do the first leg of it on my commuter (aka, upright) bike and then drive the rest of the route and camp, eat and have fun with the peeps. We'll get some good pictures and throw them up here next week. And the best part is next Monday? Ultrasound! We hopefully will know if it's a little girl or boy Monkey!

Stay tuned...

Wishing Russ was a hairdresser

So I had read that your hair and nails grow faster when you are pregnant, but I wasn't quite prepared for HOW fast. I have short hair so normally I know I have to get it cut about every 8 weeks or so. Once a month it looks like is about what will have to be the norm. I used to have to cut my nails MAYBE once a month. Now? Twice a week. Luckily, I can cut my own nails for free, but we decided against Russ cutting my hair so I'll have to suck it up and hit the salon.

16 weeks this week. No big changes. I'm still waiting for that amazing burst of energy to hit. Mom and I hit Motherhood Maternity last weekend and got a couple of nice things that I feel comfortable and stylish in. Leave it to Mom.

This morning I went to the dermatologist as I had two moles that have been changing shape on me since I got pregnant. Evidently that is fairly normal and the ones I pointed out he wasn't concerned about due to their color, shape and size. He did however point to a few to keep an eye on. So good news for now, but something for me to be aware of.

1 week and 4 days. If all goes according to plan and Monkey cooperates we'll know if we have a little girl or boy monkey at that point. Woohoo!

Pictures!

Finally! Here is the ultrasound pictures from about two weeks ago. The black open space is the basic shape of the uterus and the little peanut shaped thing inside is Monkey! The head is on the right and the little fringe on the left and coming out of it's nose are legs and arms. It was kicking away during the ultrasound which was very cool to see. Our next one is about July 20th when the picture will be much more defined and if it's feeling good, we may just know if it's a boy or girl.

Week 15 and welcome back to pants

Everything I own that does not have an elastic waistband is officially now too small. Luckily, my handydandy bellaband came in the mail last week and has been getting a good amount of exercise. Now I can leave my pants unbuttoned and fold this elastic band over them to keep them up. Woohoo!! At least it gives me a few more options.

If anyone is looking to get rid of maternity clothes for a 5'7" lady, give me a call, I'll pick them up.

No big news this week other than I can make it through the day without a nap. Even stayed up for about 22 hours last weekend working a show. I was pretty stupid tired by 1am, but I made it and we have a nice chunck of change to buy some countertops with now.

16 week check up is next Wednesday, not much hopefully to report at that one so keep your fingers crossed. I'm hoping in the next few weeks here I'll start to feel Monkey dancing around a bit. Can't wait!

The hospital is on board

So being the former stage manager that I am, we have already preregistered for when Monkey shows up. We'll be delivering (let's hope) at Abbot Northwestern hospital about 3.5 miles from our home. At my last check up they gave me this preregistration sheet to fill in and send in. Pretty standard stuff except the last question made me laugh:

What would you like staff to call you?

Which made me think of my wonderful father. A few Christmases ago he went in to have a stent put in to open up an artery. They had given him some of the happy meds and the nurse walked in to take him down to the OR. She asked him this same question: Hello Mr. Terlizzi, what would you like me to call you? My dad's response: You can call me Mr. Handsome. To which she responded: "OK, Mike."

I just listed 'Ann'.

Week 13 and we're out!

Welcome to week 13! This past weekend I headed to Grafton to visit family, celebrate a few graduations and tell some folks in person about our little Monkey. It was really fun to see people's reactions. Grandpa E got a little teary eyed ;) This means we are now officially 'out' and can open the blog up for anyone.

Still trying to get our scanner to work so you can see our blurry, grainy pictures of Monkey from last week's ultrasound. Our next scan is July 20th at which point we should know if we have a girl or boy monkey.

Thank god for my mother. Two weeks ago I ordered one of those bellaband things that lets you wear your pants for longer by keeping the top unbuttoned, but the band holds them up. Two weeks ago my pants were just starting to feel tight and hey, amazon ships quick this will work well. It's still not here and now I am down to two pairs of pants that still fit, one being sweat pants. Luckily, momter to the rescue. She cleared Kohl's out of some maternity clearance items and that was what I wore all weekend. Hopefully Amazon gets it's act together in the next few days or my coworkers are going to start looking at me funny...

This week according to the Mayo book we're now done forming all the major organs. I do feel a bit more energetic, perhaps as a result. We're on to growing bones and the ribs have started to form. Monkey can also kick and wiggle around which was clearly evident in the ultrasound last week. In theory it can even put its thumb in its mouth at this point. Awww....

Mom and Dad T are thinking about what names they want to be called as I still have two living Grandmas and Grandpas. My favorite so far has been Gramter and Grampter for those of you that understand the history there.

Russ and I are headed into Rock the Garden week so besides working we'll be sleeping. More posts coming next week.

The first Ultrasound - speedy posting just for Heiser

We had the first ultrasound this morning and all is good:

-Just one kiddo
-Size is on schedule, 11.5 weeks by ultrasound measurement so she said keep the 12/22 due date unless the doctor says otherwise
-Good heartbeat (could see if flicking away)
-We have a wiggler - when she held the sensor in one spot you could see the kiddo kicking it's legs and waving its arms and sort of just wiggling all around. So cool!

We have two pictures we'll post when we get home later tonight.

Yea!

Oh geez, here we go

Today marks the 12th week of pregnancy and the second doctor visit. Things have been rather boring and I sleep a lot so not too much to post as of late. Today will make up for it though!

The visit went fine and the coolest part was looking for the heartbeat with the super fancy stethoscope thing. Monkey was swimming around a bit but she found it and there is a strong and quick heartbeat there for sure. Woohoo!

After the exam she said she'd like me to have an ultrasound this week as she thinks my uterus is bigger than usual at 12 weeks. Could be my due date is wrong, could be other things but she also said TO RULE OUT TWINS. Holy crap. I realize that this isn't so unusual, but it's unusual for us. So 9am tomorrow is the first ultrasound. Which is awesome as I thought we'd be waiting 8 more weeks for the chance to do that. Keep your fingers crossed that it's only one little Monkey for now...

One of the unfortunate (or fortunate depending on your view) side 'effects' of having a sea monkey in your tummy is that people don't really like it when you use chemicals, stains and other toxic type substances. As you all know, our house has been under a bit of remodeling for the last 10 months and we are getting closer and closer to having it done. But the closer and closer part involved staining and clear coating the furniture pieces that Russ is making so beautifully.

So what to be done?

Ask the Grandparents to be for help.

Just like our wedding location, my dad agreed right away to help us do any of this work and then forgot that he'd said that. Luckily, he didn't change his mind about either. So momter and dadter had time to give us and drove up for the long weekend. They spent lots of hours in the basement applying dyes and stains to the various pieces of our new bathroom.
It. Looks. Awesome.
They also helped us clean and install windows and other little household tasks that really help us so Russ can spend time building the rest of the kitchen. Dad also got his upper body work out by trying to rake up the 10,000 helicopters that fell from the big tree. The lawn now looks the same as before he did it :)

And what did I do while I put my parents and husband to work? Napped. And made them food. And let them tell some folks the good news - or at least be present for the telling of the good news - which I know they enjoyed immensely.

For various reasons we chose to call my grandparents Terlizzi Sunday night to tell them to expect Great Grandkid #7. Well, silly me, I called about 30 seconds before the Brewer game was to start so the conversation went something like this:

Me: "Hi Gram, hi Grandpa, Happy Memorial Day to you. Russ and I have some news we wanted to share with you. We're going to have a baby in December!"

Gram: "Oh, honey that is great, just marvelous!"

Grandpa: "Are you going to give Grandpa a boy?"

Me: "Either that or a girl."

Grandpa: "Nice talking to you honey, see you soon"

Grandma: "love you."

Click

Hope the Brewers played well. Our plan is to tell the Egelhoff side of the family in person the weekend of Graduation parties (June 13this) and then go public for everyone. So thank you for keeping it mum and your support as we learn how this all works. Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend!

Heat wave = nausea wave

While it is a bit early to say what our little sea monkey likes and doesn't like, mom apparently does not enjoy the heat. This was our first really warm day where I wasn't in a AC controlled building all day and boy could I tell the difference. This was the first time I really felt like I should stick close to the toilet. Hopefully we get a cold front soon!

Looking forward to a Memorial Day weekend with Mom and Dad Ter. They are going to help us start staining the woodwork for the bathroom cabinets now that I have been banned from doing so. We also plan to tell a few key groups of folks this weekend so looking forward to that! Once we both tell work and the grandparents it will be a free for all - we'll keep you posted.

PS - we got a book of baby names. So far we have cut: Jemima, Matilda (how many supermodels have been named Matilda? none) and Quigley (rhymes with squiggly).

Hibernation

It would be much more appropriate to be in my first trimester in late fall I think when various animals start to sleep as much as I do. All I want to do is sleep. It was great having Melissa here earlier this week because we both were like "Dude, it's 3:00 we totally need to take a nap" and would go to our bedrooms and saw logs for a solid hour. Wednesday and Thursday the return to the real world did not provide for this option and I could totally tell. Last night I laid down about 7:30 to read and was pretty much out by 8:20. This morning I rose and shown at 8:00 and feel great. And already plan to take a nap at about 2:00 :)

First Visit

This morning was our initial visit to the baby doctor. Everything looks fine, I am indeed pregnant and most likely my right ovary was the winner this time - I guess it was bigger than the other one which is often a sign. She also talked a lot about the various screenings and tests you can have done at this point to screen for problems with the baby. We have some thinking to do about this over the next week. It's an interesting moral, budget and peace of mind conundrum to contemplate.

In general I'm feeling good, very little nausea and no toilet hugging time yet. I am however markedly more tired and have found myself taking a nap almost every day for a solid hour and sleeping a lot at night. Best get it in while I can here.

My friend Melissa is here visiting this week which will be a good thing for me I think - another person to talk to and someone who has had just a bit of experience in this department (three). The next appointment is June 9th so stay tuned!

Two pounds

I have three different books on pregnancy that I am currently reading. One is very technical and has good detailed information of what and why, another is pretty average and the last one I might classify as trashy. It has 'Tips for Dad' inside like: Clean or vacuum the house without being asked. Right. I love Russ to bits, but I won't h0ld my breath for that one. Or: Give your partner a lot of hugs. Many woman enjoy more hugging and cuddling during this very special time. Time out. Were the authors of this book ever actually pregnant? (Nope, written by a man) Because hugging is very much on the LOW end of what I want right now. You get near these sore boobs and I will most likely back up like you have really bad breath. I learned this last night as we have some very fantastic friends who also happen to be fantastic huggers. And as we aren't yet telling most people our news it's hard to decline the hug when we arrive or leave an event.

The other thing we learned this week about my boobs is that on average I'll gain two additional pounds of weight which will be centered there as they get ready to make food for the little one. Russ read that part of the book, looked up and immediately said "Two pounds?!?!" like I had just brought home two pounds of perfectly cooked bacon that he got to eat all by himself.

April 25th 2009 - the world changes

After a lovely day of Crawling around Art in St. Paul we got home and I was feeling more tired than usual. And since some incense on the crawl made my stomach...well...crawl and I was about three days late, time for a little test.

Do you know how awkward it is to pee on a stick for only 5 seconds, make sure the stick doesn't become inverted the wrong way, cap it immediately and still not get pee everywhere? I didn't either, but successfully avoided any major catastrophes.

So we're going to have a short one in about 9 months. We'd actually started trying in February so were elated, scared and nervous all at the same time. Our first appointment is on May 11th and it can't come soon enough. It's hard to know right now where I am exactly on the timeline but let me tell you there is a major difference in that when I am hungry? I AM HUNGRY. GET OUT OF THE WAY I'M CUTTING TO THE FRONT OF THE BUFFET LINE hungry. Which is only slightly above normal, so this should be fun. I think I'll carry a granola bar with me so I don't take anyone's arm off and have to blame the baby.

This journal will be an account of our experiences as we learn about our little one. Thank you for sharing this journey with us.