A few days after Davis was born Grandma Mendenhall came to help and a few days after that Grandpa Mendenhall joined us. It was such a blessing to have them there to help us get through the early days of parenthood. My mom helped me figure out breastfeeding. John and I also didn't have to do a dish or cook a meal the entire time they were here. Grandma also made sure our house was clean and laundry done (which there's a lot of with a baby around!). Grandpa made sure we were going to be cool this summer and helped John install the window AC and worked with Grandma to get us ceiling fans in the three major rooms we use. Grandma also bought us a new vacuum, which I've been trying to convince John we've needed for years. The night it came home from Sears, John spent vacuuming the house and he finally agreed we needed it. I tried not to say "I told you so"..but I could only abstain for a bit. In addition to all of this, Grandma and Grandpa were endless baby holders, entertainers, and diaper changers so that John and I could get rest and showers!
They left on early Sunday morning and Grandma Naegle (Grammie) came in on Saturday night for a shift change. So John and I still don't know what it's like to have to take care of ourselves, our laundry and a baby (which we are very thankful for).
Davis lost his umbilical cord on Friday night, which means real bath started Saturday. Of course, he doesn't like real baths anymore than he liked sponge baths. However, he is starting to sleep better at night! Last night we had two three hour stretches of sleep!
Thanks Grandma, Grandpa, and Grammie!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Random Pictures
Davis and Kristen relaxing
Tiny Baby Feet
Grumpy Sleeping
Grandma and Grandpa Mendenhall
Grandma Naegle
Cutie Pie
John & Davis (wrapped up) at Minuteman National Park
John & Davis (wrapped up) at Minuteman National Park
Sleepy Boy
Looking at the Mobile
Grandpa Mendenhall
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Understanding Davis
Wow, what a busy 12 days this has been, and yet what we've accomplished seems like so little, and so much at the same time. We had a really rough couple of days/nights after we came home from the hospital. Poor Davis had a lot of stomach problems of unknown origin. I was still feeling uncertain about breastfeeding (we had a rocky start, which I'll probably blog about at later date) and John and I really didn't know how to read his crying (wet diaper? hungry? tired?). He was also a happy little clam with the pacifier the hospital gave him, but only for a few days. The swing Josh and Courtney lent us worked a couple of times to soothe him..but just a couple of times. Since then I have cut out dairy, strawberries and am limiting the amount of acidic food I eat. (I tried strawberries again when they were too tempting and we had another bout of gas and inconsolable crying that day). We also started to notice something. Davis was fine after eating but about 10-20 minutes after we put him in his crib (almost asleep even), he would start with the wailing. Currently there are two philosophical extremes in the parenting world. There's the 'teach them independence from the start' and there's the 'treat the first three months like the fourth trimester'. As soon to be dual working parents, the independence theory seemed appealing. The central core of this is don't allow them to become dependent on something to fall asleep that you don't want to be doing forever (like rocking them to sleep, or feeding them to soothe them etc.). The second theory is based on the premise that babies really need a fourth trimester, so give them lots of skin-to-skin contact (sleep with them, wear them, etc.) and mimic the womb environment. Honestly, in the end I don't think you can choose your style (not at first anyway). Davis has chosen for us. He needs lots of cuddling and human contact. The night we first brought him into bed with us was a great night. Even better was last night when we swaddled AND brought him to bed with us. He slept for three hours straight (I feel like a whole new woman after three straight hours of sleep)! Also, no inconsolable crying. In addition to that, Davis sat in his swing all by himself for a good half an hour today (someone was nearby, but not holding him!). He loves to look around at the world. I don't know what's helped the most: he's simply maturing, his gas is better because he was intolerant to one of those things in my diet, and/or with all the contact we give him he feels secure enough to be alone now for a while.
Our other triumph was realizing that the newborn pacifiers are just to soft to soothe our little guy. Realizing how much he loves to suck on fingers, I decided to pull out the stiffer 3month pacifiers and he loves them! Now we have a method to help him soothe himself enough to calm down and that helps him get through whatever gas he's struggling with (which, now seems like a normal amount for a newborn).
Despite all the rough times, John and I are continuing to find ourselves absolutely amazed with how awesome Davis is and everything he does. Just before he falls asleep he gets a little smile on his face. When he wakes up he loves to stretch all his limbs out in every direction. Grandma M thinks he looks like John when he yawns. He snorts when he really gets crying. He loves his carseat (once you start moving) and the moby wrap (an alternate to a sling or front pack). He also loves to watch his mobile and talk to his friend Peter the Penguin. He likes to be bounced on the big rubber ball while you sing silly songs. We are very blessed.
Our other triumph was realizing that the newborn pacifiers are just to soft to soothe our little guy. Realizing how much he loves to suck on fingers, I decided to pull out the stiffer 3month pacifiers and he loves them! Now we have a method to help him soothe himself enough to calm down and that helps him get through whatever gas he's struggling with (which, now seems like a normal amount for a newborn).
Despite all the rough times, John and I are continuing to find ourselves absolutely amazed with how awesome Davis is and everything he does. Just before he falls asleep he gets a little smile on his face. When he wakes up he loves to stretch all his limbs out in every direction. Grandma M thinks he looks like John when he yawns. He snorts when he really gets crying. He loves his carseat (once you start moving) and the moby wrap (an alternate to a sling or front pack). He also loves to watch his mobile and talk to his friend Peter the Penguin. He likes to be bounced on the big rubber ball while you sing silly songs. We are very blessed.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Our birth story
DISCLAIMER: I feel the need to share the story of the birth of our beautiful little boy. Of course, that doesn't mean you need to read it! So, this post has a disclaimer that the content may not be for everyone, especially for soon-to-be moms out there. One of the most important lessons I learned is that absolutely everyone is different when it comes to pregnancy and birth, so although I'm sharing our story, it's important to keep in mind it's only one of many and it's more important to decide what you want your own story to be (at least the part you might have control in) on your own. Also, I'm not going to justify why John and I had hoped for a certain birth plan, I feel like pregnancy and parenthood are riddled with too many justifications. We hoped for what we hoped for simply because..but it is in no way a reflection on anyone who chooses to do something differently.
Prelude to a birth: John and I took two very different style birth preparation classes. One was the more traditional, information based class offered through my insurance at MIT. The second was called 'hypnobirthing', offered by the midwives at Mt. Auburn. Hypnobirthing focuses on relaxation and working with your body to 'gently and easily' bring your baby into the world. We actually really enjoyed both, and pretty early on we hoped to attempt to use the things we learned in hypnobirthing to have an unmedicated child birth. We had an open mind to the various types of medications though and knew what our options were. Also, as many of you know, if you've read the blog at all, that Davis was one day short of being induced. One of our hopes was to labor as long as possible in the comfort of our home, and we were quickly having to adjust to the idea of that not being possible.
Early labor: As per the usual, Braxton-Hicks (or false labor) contractions began for me during the night, they woke me up starting around 4am on Saturday morning. Given that I had been having these every night for almost two weeks, I was prepared to ignore them and so John and I met up with our friends Megan and Dave for breakfast as planned and then went to the crafts store to get the supplies we needed for making our own birth announcements. The difference with these contractions was that they didn't go away after I got up for the day. They were somewhat sporadic though and for a while I was pretty sure it was another false alarm. Around 2pm though they were still going and I was starting to get very hopeful!
Active labor: At about 4pm, my contractions took on a whole new intensity. I was having a lot harder time handling them and at this point I found I really didn't want John touching or talking to me during them, because it made it much to hard to focus on getting through each one. It was at this point in time I realized that hypnobirthing was failing me in some ways, it was almost impossible to stay relaxed during a contraction, so instead I focused on remaining relaxed in between and for as long as possible during. This stage of labor seemed to last for a while, with pretty intense contractions lasting about 1.5minutes, but they were quite far apart, typically 9minutes. The rule of thumb is that you shouldn't go to the hospital until you've had 1minute contractions, 5minutes apart, for an hour. I was breaking down though and called the hospital to see if it was time to come in. At this point in time I was also visualizing an epidural and readjusting my expectations for a medication-free birth. The midwife suggested I try getting in the shower. It was amazing, as soon as I hopped in the shower my contractions moved to 4minutes apart, still lasting 1.5minutes each. After about 3ominutes of this we called the hospital again and talked to the new midwife on shift. She suggested we take our time coming into the hospital since the contractions had only been close together for a short time. Since our water heater was now tapped out, I came out of the shower and moved to the living room. It was now 7pm and John suggested we head to the hospital at 8pm. It was nice to have a goal and someone to make a decision! In fact, when I talked to the second midwife, she asked me what my vision for labor was and I said I didn't know anymore! It seemed my capacity for thinking and decision making was completely gone and I just wanted it to be over. I don't remember when I started to shake was, but it was about the time that started that John said, "Let's go!". Heading to the car I could hardly walk I was shaking so bad. Contractions in the car were quite a bit harder to handle, especially with the rough roads of Arlington and Cambridge, but luckily it was a pretty easy drive with no traffic.
At the Hospital: John dropped me off in front of the hospital, we couldn't remember at what time we were supposed to use the emergency room vs. the normal entrance, so I went in the normal entrance and headed towards registration as John parked. John found me in registration having a contraction, so they told him to take me straight to labor and delivery and then come register us. So we headed there. John remembers thinking at this stage that things were really moving when I had two contractions between the elevator and the labor and delivery desk. They swooped me into a room and got me into a hospital gown. I had one friend who suggested taking a sports bra in order to maintain at least a modicum of modesty, but the moment I was in that room all modesty went out the door. By the time John returned from registering me they were checking my progress. I don't think either of us could believe it when the midwife pronounced that I was 8cm dilated. It was a complete blessing and a problem in some ways. They'll only administer an epidural if you are between 5 and 7cm and so I was committed. All I could think about at that point was when I had gone to collegiate cycling nationals two years ago. I was the weakest rider on our TTT team (TTT stands for team time trial, it's a rare event in pro cycling, but common in collegiate. You work as a team of four riders drafting to improve your overall time, the time counted for your team's time trial is when the front wheel of the third rider crosses the finish line. That means you HAVE to finish three riders or you essentially just forfeited. Here are two pictures of the men's and women's 's TTT team at National's the year I attended to help you visualize it. The women's team at this point has just started off the line, so we aren't quite in formation, in a few seconds all of us will be a couple of inches apart only). National's that year was in windy Kansas and being the weakest rider, I went in with low confidence that I would finish that race, within the first few kilometers I had almost been 'dropped' (which means left behind and would have left only three riders). I had just caught back on when one of our teammates double flatted (very bad luck). So she was done, and it meant no matter what happened the remaining three of us absolutely had to finish that race. It was like a switch went off and I lost all my fear and self doubt and I finished that race stronger than I ever thought possible. The point of that tangent, is at 8cm, I felt exactly the same. I was committed now, we were birthing this baby without medication, and if I had made it that far, I knew I could make it the rest of the way.
Although I was 8cm dilated, the baby was in position -2, which means he wasn't yet engaged (i.e. Davis had never really 'dropped'). They start at -2, at 0 that means they are in the middle of the pelvis and +2 means they are essentially crowning. So they suggested laboring standing up and moving my hips around to get him to drop down. This turned out to be more intense than I could handle, and so they drew a bathtub for me and I moved into that. I believe I was in there for about an hour and 15minutes. John was a champion, he made sure there was relaxing music on and poured water over my back and belly the entire time I was in there. He also fed me popsicles and water in between contractions to keep my energy up. The nurse with us was amazing and could tell where I was and how I felt, she said "You feel like pushing now, don't you?" And I did. In fact, I had been focusing on "breathing my baby down". In hypnobirthing, they stress not pushing until the baby is ready (so as opposed to pushing right when you are 10cm, breathe the baby down, by forcing your breath through your diaphragm during a contraction you can push the baby down in a more gentle manner). I have no idea if it works, but I was focusing on that around the time I felt like pushing. They pulled me out of the bath and took me back to the bed for an examination. Well, I was now 10cm dilated, Davis was at +2 and during the exam she broke my water. This began a flood of contractions that I could barely handle (in fact, even before this I wasn't getting a break between contractions). It helped immensely when they told me just to listen to my body...all of a sudden I knew when and how to push. We went through four (or five..it's all a blur) series of pushing contractions and Davis was all of a sudden in the world! In all we were only in the hospital for 2.5 hours before he was born.
Immediately Postpartum: Unfortunately, since Davis was so late, the amniotic fluid was 'meconium stained', i.e. the baby had already had a bowel movement. So as soon as I started pushing they had the pediatrician come in. They quickly cut the cord high up and took him to the warming station to suction out his nose and mouth. Everything looked great though, so they let John do another cut on the cord and they brought him to me where Davis immediately nursed! What I wasn't prepared for was the discomfort of being stitched up, I didn't have an episiotomy and so had some tearing. John also got me through this as he had everything else.
A note about this post: I actually began this post the first day at the hospital, but it's taken this long to finish it! Life with a newborn is very busy and yet we seem to get nothing done!
Prelude to a birth: John and I took two very different style birth preparation classes. One was the more traditional, information based class offered through my insurance at MIT. The second was called 'hypnobirthing', offered by the midwives at Mt. Auburn. Hypnobirthing focuses on relaxation and working with your body to 'gently and easily' bring your baby into the world. We actually really enjoyed both, and pretty early on we hoped to attempt to use the things we learned in hypnobirthing to have an unmedicated child birth. We had an open mind to the various types of medications though and knew what our options were. Also, as many of you know, if you've read the blog at all, that Davis was one day short of being induced. One of our hopes was to labor as long as possible in the comfort of our home, and we were quickly having to adjust to the idea of that not being possible.
Early labor: As per the usual, Braxton-Hicks (or false labor) contractions began for me during the night, they woke me up starting around 4am on Saturday morning. Given that I had been having these every night for almost two weeks, I was prepared to ignore them and so John and I met up with our friends Megan and Dave for breakfast as planned and then went to the crafts store to get the supplies we needed for making our own birth announcements. The difference with these contractions was that they didn't go away after I got up for the day. They were somewhat sporadic though and for a while I was pretty sure it was another false alarm. Around 2pm though they were still going and I was starting to get very hopeful!
Active labor: At about 4pm, my contractions took on a whole new intensity. I was having a lot harder time handling them and at this point I found I really didn't want John touching or talking to me during them, because it made it much to hard to focus on getting through each one. It was at this point in time I realized that hypnobirthing was failing me in some ways, it was almost impossible to stay relaxed during a contraction, so instead I focused on remaining relaxed in between and for as long as possible during. This stage of labor seemed to last for a while, with pretty intense contractions lasting about 1.5minutes, but they were quite far apart, typically 9minutes. The rule of thumb is that you shouldn't go to the hospital until you've had 1minute contractions, 5minutes apart, for an hour. I was breaking down though and called the hospital to see if it was time to come in. At this point in time I was also visualizing an epidural and readjusting my expectations for a medication-free birth. The midwife suggested I try getting in the shower. It was amazing, as soon as I hopped in the shower my contractions moved to 4minutes apart, still lasting 1.5minutes each. After about 3ominutes of this we called the hospital again and talked to the new midwife on shift. She suggested we take our time coming into the hospital since the contractions had only been close together for a short time. Since our water heater was now tapped out, I came out of the shower and moved to the living room. It was now 7pm and John suggested we head to the hospital at 8pm. It was nice to have a goal and someone to make a decision! In fact, when I talked to the second midwife, she asked me what my vision for labor was and I said I didn't know anymore! It seemed my capacity for thinking and decision making was completely gone and I just wanted it to be over. I don't remember when I started to shake was, but it was about the time that started that John said, "Let's go!". Heading to the car I could hardly walk I was shaking so bad. Contractions in the car were quite a bit harder to handle, especially with the rough roads of Arlington and Cambridge, but luckily it was a pretty easy drive with no traffic.
At the Hospital: John dropped me off in front of the hospital, we couldn't remember at what time we were supposed to use the emergency room vs. the normal entrance, so I went in the normal entrance and headed towards registration as John parked. John found me in registration having a contraction, so they told him to take me straight to labor and delivery and then come register us. So we headed there. John remembers thinking at this stage that things were really moving when I had two contractions between the elevator and the labor and delivery desk. They swooped me into a room and got me into a hospital gown. I had one friend who suggested taking a sports bra in order to maintain at least a modicum of modesty, but the moment I was in that room all modesty went out the door. By the time John returned from registering me they were checking my progress. I don't think either of us could believe it when the midwife pronounced that I was 8cm dilated. It was a complete blessing and a problem in some ways. They'll only administer an epidural if you are between 5 and 7cm and so I was committed. All I could think about at that point was when I had gone to collegiate cycling nationals two years ago. I was the weakest rider on our TTT team (TTT stands for team time trial, it's a rare event in pro cycling, but common in collegiate. You work as a team of four riders drafting to improve your overall time, the time counted for your team's time trial is when the front wheel of the third rider crosses the finish line. That means you HAVE to finish three riders or you essentially just forfeited. Here are two pictures of the men's and women's 's TTT team at National's the year I attended to help you visualize it. The women's team at this point has just started off the line, so we aren't quite in formation, in a few seconds all of us will be a couple of inches apart only). National's that year was in windy Kansas and being the weakest rider, I went in with low confidence that I would finish that race, within the first few kilometers I had almost been 'dropped' (which means left behind and would have left only three riders). I had just caught back on when one of our teammates double flatted (very bad luck). So she was done, and it meant no matter what happened the remaining three of us absolutely had to finish that race. It was like a switch went off and I lost all my fear and self doubt and I finished that race stronger than I ever thought possible. The point of that tangent, is at 8cm, I felt exactly the same. I was committed now, we were birthing this baby without medication, and if I had made it that far, I knew I could make it the rest of the way.
Although I was 8cm dilated, the baby was in position -2, which means he wasn't yet engaged (i.e. Davis had never really 'dropped'). They start at -2, at 0 that means they are in the middle of the pelvis and +2 means they are essentially crowning. So they suggested laboring standing up and moving my hips around to get him to drop down. This turned out to be more intense than I could handle, and so they drew a bathtub for me and I moved into that. I believe I was in there for about an hour and 15minutes. John was a champion, he made sure there was relaxing music on and poured water over my back and belly the entire time I was in there. He also fed me popsicles and water in between contractions to keep my energy up. The nurse with us was amazing and could tell where I was and how I felt, she said "You feel like pushing now, don't you?" And I did. In fact, I had been focusing on "breathing my baby down". In hypnobirthing, they stress not pushing until the baby is ready (so as opposed to pushing right when you are 10cm, breathe the baby down, by forcing your breath through your diaphragm during a contraction you can push the baby down in a more gentle manner). I have no idea if it works, but I was focusing on that around the time I felt like pushing. They pulled me out of the bath and took me back to the bed for an examination. Well, I was now 10cm dilated, Davis was at +2 and during the exam she broke my water. This began a flood of contractions that I could barely handle (in fact, even before this I wasn't getting a break between contractions). It helped immensely when they told me just to listen to my body...all of a sudden I knew when and how to push. We went through four (or five..it's all a blur) series of pushing contractions and Davis was all of a sudden in the world! In all we were only in the hospital for 2.5 hours before he was born.
Immediately Postpartum: Unfortunately, since Davis was so late, the amniotic fluid was 'meconium stained', i.e. the baby had already had a bowel movement. So as soon as I started pushing they had the pediatrician come in. They quickly cut the cord high up and took him to the warming station to suction out his nose and mouth. Everything looked great though, so they let John do another cut on the cord and they brought him to me where Davis immediately nursed! What I wasn't prepared for was the discomfort of being stitched up, I didn't have an episiotomy and so had some tearing. John also got me through this as he had everything else.
A note about this post: I actually began this post the first day at the hospital, but it's taken this long to finish it! Life with a newborn is very busy and yet we seem to get nothing done!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Whew
Last night was much easier on all of us than Saturday. Instead of three, 1 hour inconsolable crying sessions, each feeding was followed by between 5 and 15 minutes of crying. I took duty in the bedroom while Kristen rested on the couch. We believe that gas is causing him a lot of pain, so we're trying a few different things. Kristen has eliminated milk and acidic foods from her diet and she is trying to nurse longer one one side. It seemed to help yesterday; while he still had gas, it was reasonable.
This morning we gave Davis his second sponge bath then did some baby art in the bedroom.
This morning we gave Davis his second sponge bath then did some baby art in the bedroom.
Besides the (now) usual feeding/entertaining/putting to sleep of our little guy, with Kristen's parents we did a lot around the house. We looked at installing ceiling fans in both bedrooms and the living room. We're having an electrician come some time this week to look at the wiring, but we believe there are active electrical connections in the ceiling. Russ and I spent a little bit of time trying to close off the office with some doors that were in the basement, but it will require wood working skills well beyond our current abilities and tool set. Fortunately, I have a friend that is really into wood working / carpentry as a hobby, so I might be able to bribe him with a couple of home brews to help me install the doors. Peg and Russ also fished a screw out of our dishwasher pump so no more dishes by hand (yay!).
I managed to get a bike ride in today. I just rode out to near my work and back. It was crisp and windy but it felt great to be back on the bike after two months off. Exercise is supposed to help mitigate some of the side affects of radiation, so I'm going to try and ride to work a couple of days this week if the weather permits.
I managed to get a bike ride in today. I just rode out to near my work and back. It was crisp and windy but it felt great to be back on the bike after two months off. Exercise is supposed to help mitigate some of the side affects of radiation, so I'm going to try and ride to work a couple of days this week if the weather permits.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Silly Cat
One of Domino's favorite activities is knocking clothes off the drying rack. I managed to catch him in the act and get a few cute pictures:
Yes, he is actually upside down
Yes, he is actually upside down
Treatment Update
This week I went in for my first radiation appointment. The purpose of this appointment is to take x-rays of the target area and determine the dosage and treatment schedule. The appointment mostly involved me lying as still as possible while they used lasers, projected images and x-rays to precisely align the machine with my body. When the alignment was set, I received 5 pin-prick tattoos that will be used in later visits to position me exactly where I need to be.
Between this appointment and my first radiation treatment, doctors will determine the dosage and number of treatments that I need to have. The radiation oncologist prescribes a certain dosage (say 30 gray, 3000 rads) administered in a certain area, then the radiation specializes and physicists determine how best to deliver that dosage. I talked with the radiation oncologist after the appointment and he thought it would be roughly 18 sessions.
I'm all set to start at 7:40 am on April 27th. I'll be doing the treatments in the morning, then heading to work. Right now, I'm planning on driving to Davis square, taking the T to MGH. It might actually be faster than driving downtown and back each day. I'm also planning on taking the last week of treatments off to spend time with Kristen and Davis. That is the week that I'm most likely to have any immediate side affects such as nausea or fatigue.
Between this appointment and my first radiation treatment, doctors will determine the dosage and number of treatments that I need to have. The radiation oncologist prescribes a certain dosage (say 30 gray, 3000 rads) administered in a certain area, then the radiation specializes and physicists determine how best to deliver that dosage. I talked with the radiation oncologist after the appointment and he thought it would be roughly 18 sessions.
I'm all set to start at 7:40 am on April 27th. I'll be doing the treatments in the morning, then heading to work. Right now, I'm planning on driving to Davis square, taking the T to MGH. It might actually be faster than driving downtown and back each day. I'm also planning on taking the last week of treatments off to spend time with Kristen and Davis. That is the week that I'm most likely to have any immediate side affects such as nausea or fatigue.
Rough Night
Last night was a pretty rough one. Davis seems to be getting some very painful gas, we're not sure if it is caused by something Kristen ate, or what, but it caused Davis to have 3 one hour screaming sessions last night. Kristen's mom was a great help and between the three of us, we were able to all get a reasonable amount of sleep. Davis just seems to need to work the gas out of his system, then he calms down and go to sleep. Today, Kristen is staying away from cow's milk to see that helps (a very common cause) of gas.
We've had what feels like a busy day today. I ran to target/costco/best buy for an amazing amount of baby supplies and Kristen and Peg went to Isis maternity with the stroller to make some returns, get some advice and buy yet more baby stuff. The result of these trips, and others over the last week is that Davis has officially conquered the house (no surprise). I'm sure we'll be making more trips over the next few days.
Kristen's dad arrives tonight, so we'll have one more pair of hands to hold the little guy (I'm not sure you can have to many at 2 in the morning, 4 in the morning and 6 in the morning). We're going to order some food from a local resturant and celebrate Davis' 1 week birthday and Peg's birthday.
I've posted some pictures to Picasa in the same album as yesterday.
Here are a few selections:
We've had what feels like a busy day today. I ran to target/costco/best buy for an amazing amount of baby supplies and Kristen and Peg went to Isis maternity with the stroller to make some returns, get some advice and buy yet more baby stuff. The result of these trips, and others over the last week is that Davis has officially conquered the house (no surprise). I'm sure we'll be making more trips over the next few days.
Kristen's dad arrives tonight, so we'll have one more pair of hands to hold the little guy (I'm not sure you can have to many at 2 in the morning, 4 in the morning and 6 in the morning). We're going to order some food from a local resturant and celebrate Davis' 1 week birthday and Peg's birthday.
I've posted some pictures to Picasa in the same album as yesterday.
Here are a few selections:
Friday, April 17, 2009
A busy few days
The last couple of days haven't left much time for blogging, but I have a few moments now to catch up.
We brought Davis home around 7:30 on the 13th (Monday). We could have stayed in the hospital until around 8 on the 14th, but the constant visits from nurses/pediatricians/lactation consultants/etc and the abundance of inconsistent advice really made us want to get out of there and come to a more comfortable relaxed environment. The trip home was made without much fanfare; there really isn't a formal checkout process, they just cut the bracelets and you are free to go whenever you want. We just had one last hospital meal (not bad actually), grabbed the bags and headed to the lobby. I drove the car around and Kristen rode in the back with Davis for the short ride home.
Since then, things have been somewhat of a blur. A visitation nurse came on Tuesday, Kristen's mom arrived and we had our first visitors on Wednesday, we made our first trip out of the house on Thursday and today was our first pediatrics appointment. In between those events, Kristen and Davis have been learning how to breastfeed, we've been trying to sleep as much as possible, and Davis is growing and changing by the day. At six days, he can already track objects with his eyes and is able to hold his head up a little.
The cats are doing okay with Davis. Lilly has been very tentative and has been very slowly investigating and coming closer, but still seems a little upset and skittish around the house and Davis. Domino on the other hand was very interested in the crib since it was now making noise.
I've posted some pictures on Picasa web albums.
I had a lot more I wanted to write about, but I feel a nap coming on.
We brought Davis home around 7:30 on the 13th (Monday). We could have stayed in the hospital until around 8 on the 14th, but the constant visits from nurses/pediatricians/lactation consultants/etc and the abundance of inconsistent advice really made us want to get out of there and come to a more comfortable relaxed environment. The trip home was made without much fanfare; there really isn't a formal checkout process, they just cut the bracelets and you are free to go whenever you want. We just had one last hospital meal (not bad actually), grabbed the bags and headed to the lobby. I drove the car around and Kristen rode in the back with Davis for the short ride home.
Since then, things have been somewhat of a blur. A visitation nurse came on Tuesday, Kristen's mom arrived and we had our first visitors on Wednesday, we made our first trip out of the house on Thursday and today was our first pediatrics appointment. In between those events, Kristen and Davis have been learning how to breastfeed, we've been trying to sleep as much as possible, and Davis is growing and changing by the day. At six days, he can already track objects with his eyes and is able to hold his head up a little.
The cats are doing okay with Davis. Lilly has been very tentative and has been very slowly investigating and coming closer, but still seems a little upset and skittish around the house and Davis. Domino on the other hand was very interested in the crib since it was now making noise.
I've posted some pictures on Picasa web albums.
I had a lot more I wanted to write about, but I feel a nap coming on.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Going home
Kristen and I have decided to go home this evening instead of tomorrow morning. We've got a lot more confidence and are ready to take this boy home where the only interruptions and schedules are our own, not the hospitals. We'll probably checkout after dinner, we're not sure exactly when.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Amazing
As 0f 11:07 pm on April 11th, 2009, we are proud new parents. We welcomed Davis James Naegle into the world at 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 21 inches. Mom is sore, but happy. Kristen was 8 cm dilated when we got to the hospital, and she only labored for 2 1/2 hours in the hospital. Right now we are in the recovery room, tired but happy.
Hello Davis!
Hello Davis!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Accelerations
Since 6:30, Kristen's contractions have accelerated significantly. They've been a regular 4:00 to 5:00 minutes apart and about a minute in length. We're going to try to stay at home till 8:00 and see how she is doing then. We've been in contact with the midwives, and while it seems very intense, we've still got a long ways to go. Going to the hospital now is an option, but home is a lot more comfortable.
Getting ready to meet our boy
It looks like Kristen's labor is getting started. Kristen has had contractions all day about 10 minutes apart, but within the last 30 minutes, things have gotten a lot more intense. We'd been told that mom would definitely know when things have changed from practice / braxton hicks contractions to labor. Kristen definitely experienced this. Right now, Kristen is relaxing, going inward as much as possible during each contraction while I make final preparations to go to the hospital and do everything I can to support her. It might be a while before we go, but we're probably headed there this evening.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Ultrasound and Non-stress test update
John and I went to Mt. Auburn this morning for a non-stress test and ultrasound to make sure that baby has everything he needs to keep hanging out in the womb. The nurse we had was fantastic. She explained absolutely everything to us. They check for four things during the non-stress test. The test consists of strapping a heart rate monitor and a contraction monitor to my belly. First they make sure that his heart rate is in a healthy range, then they check for 'accelerations' and 'decelerations', where his heart rate increases and can decrease normally with activity. We had to wake him up by drinking a bunch of ice water, which does two things: 1) It cools his little feet which are against my stomach and 2) It cools everything as my blood volume increases and exchanges more heat. He was very sleepy though and so we had to wake him up further with a little buzzer she pressed against my belly. She also checked him by ultrasound and everything looks fantastic. We could see his little lungs practicing (for good wailing I'm sure) and he was moving his head and hands some as she pressed on him. The cord was well away from his neck and head at the time. He's mostly engaged, which means the risk for a prolapsed cord is very unlikely (a weird fear I had developed) and he's still in a great position. She said he's LOT (lateral occipital transverse). So his head is down and he's looking transversely. Since the placenta is placed to the left, it will guarantee when he moves to come out, he'll turn the right way to avoid back labor (yay!). Calcification of the placenta had begun, but nothing more than normal for almost 41.6 weeks. At this stage, this non-stress test gives us four days of safety before we need to check again. Of course, in 4 days, I'll be far enough along that non-stress tests will only have a 12-hour period of predictability for safety, and hence the reason for inducing labor. She explained that before 41 weeks there's a 1-3% chance the placenta will fail, from 41-42 weeks 5%, but after 42 weeks there's an 80% chance.
I thought for sure last night I had started labor. I had the strongest contractions yet, but they went away after I got up for a snack. She also explained this, during the night as my blood volume decreases, the oxytocin that is being released is concentrated enough to cause fake contractions. Hence, the reason for the false labor contractions I have every night, which ceases in the morning when I get up, move around, and drink fluids. The good news is though, that the labor hormones are mounting and so things could start anytime. I sure felt a lot better after she said that most women begin labor on their own before 42 weeks. So here's hoping our little boy will come this weekend all on his own! I've already put one practice announcement together, so we're all ready!
I thought for sure last night I had started labor. I had the strongest contractions yet, but they went away after I got up for a snack. She also explained this, during the night as my blood volume decreases, the oxytocin that is being released is concentrated enough to cause fake contractions. Hence, the reason for the false labor contractions I have every night, which ceases in the morning when I get up, move around, and drink fluids. The good news is though, that the labor hormones are mounting and so things could start anytime. I sure felt a lot better after she said that most women begin labor on their own before 42 weeks. So here's hoping our little boy will come this weekend all on his own! I've already put one practice announcement together, so we're all ready!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
My Big Day in Arlington
Now that I've decided to enjoy each day between now and when the baby comes, instead of feeling guilty about how little focus I have at work, it's a big adventure to plan something fun and exciting. This morning I spent a good deal of time working on a weekly calendar of local events that baby Naegle and I can go to. This included things like breastfeeding support groups and local sing-alongs at the public library. I also decided I would try my hand at creating our own photo baby announcements and so I got some ideas at this very cool site MonkeySee.com.
Given how gorgeous the day was, I was determined to spend most of it outside. I've been wanting to see a local park in Arlington, called Menotomy Rocks Park. In all I walked about 4.5-miles and spent most of the time relishing the sun on my face. Occasionally, I would pull the headphones out of my ears to enjoy bird songs as well, but I must admit I enjoyed catching up on a couple of This American Life podcasts. I walked through some of the most amazing old neighborhoods of Arlington, with many houses dating to the 1800's. On my way home from the park, it was clear that these streets were very old, the cobblestones had simply been paved over. Here's an example of what you would find on the sidewalks (I couldn't find out when this might date to or anything about the company, unfortunately).
The park itself was gorg
eous, a little woodsy, hilly oasis in the middle of the city. Here are a couple of pictures. Notice the two rocks just full of turtles basking in the sun. It was absolutely amazing to take a walk through the woods on such a beautiful day.
Note: I apologize for the bad pictures, I didn't feel like lugging our large SLR around, and so these are all with the point and shoot.
I stopped at the crafts store on my way home to get materials to try out making a baby announcement, which will be tonight's project (unless having a baby is tonight's project). I figure if that walk didn't induce labor, than the whole walking thing is complete nonsense. Of course, beyond the walking, I was just happy I could tie my own shoes to leave. I've included a perspective shot to demonstrate what it is I see..you'll note that feet are not part of that. You can see Domino waiting on the landing to run to the door to stop me from leaving however.
Given how gorgeous the day was, I was determined to spend most of it outside. I've been wanting to see a local park in Arlington, called Menotomy Rocks Park. In all I walked about 4.5-miles and spent most of the time relishing the sun on my face. Occasionally, I would pull the headphones out of my ears to enjoy bird songs as well, but I must admit I enjoyed catching up on a couple of This American Life podcasts. I walked through some of the most amazing old neighborhoods of Arlington, with many houses dating to the 1800's. On my way home from the park, it was clear that these streets were very old, the cobblestones had simply been paved over. Here's an example of what you would find on the sidewalks (I couldn't find out when this might date to or anything about the company, unfortunately).
The park itself was gorg
eous, a little woodsy, hilly oasis in the middle of the city. Here are a couple of pictures. Notice the two rocks just full of turtles basking in the sun. It was absolutely amazing to take a walk through the woods on such a beautiful day.Note: I apologize for the bad pictures, I didn't feel like lugging our large SLR around, and so these are all with the point and shoot.
I stopped at the crafts store on my way home to get materials to try out making a baby announcement, which will be tonight's project (unless having a baby is tonight's project). I figure if that walk didn't induce labor, than the whole walking thing is complete nonsense. Of course, beyond the walking, I was just happy I could tie my own shoes to leave. I've included a perspective shot to demonstrate what it is I see..you'll note that feet are not part of that. You can see Domino waiting on the landing to run to the door to stop me from leaving however.Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Distractions
I learned today that I am now not effective at working anywhere. It seems like such a waste to start anything significant at work as it might have to be abandoned at any moment. Today I spent the whole time at work staring either at my computer or at the to-do list I had made but didn't want to have any part of. Finally, I decided it was not worth my time to be there, so I went to the movies! My friend Sonya was nice enough to play hookie with me and we went and saw "He's just not that into you", a movie I could safely see without John, and a perfect prescription for distraction.
One good thing came out of my going to the office today, which was I was able to rush to the medical center to turn in the insurance form to add baby Naegle to my insurance. They ask that you do that the month before they are expected. Oops. We're all good though, they just need his name and birthday within 30 days after being born in order to add him to my insurance. This makes me wonder if there are other important things we're forgetting to do and junior knows it and is waiting until we have all our ducks in a row.
John met me at our local Mexican restaurant for dinner, which absolutely hit the spot. Right now, he's making pizzas to freeze for later.
One good thing came out of my going to the office today, which was I was able to rush to the medical center to turn in the insurance form to add baby Naegle to my insurance. They ask that you do that the month before they are expected. Oops. We're all good though, they just need his name and birthday within 30 days after being born in order to add him to my insurance. This makes me wonder if there are other important things we're forgetting to do and junior knows it and is waiting until we have all our ducks in a row.
John met me at our local Mexican restaurant for dinner, which absolutely hit the spot. Right now, he's making pizzas to freeze for later.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Appointment, appointment
Yesterday I had a 41 week checkup and we met with the oncology team at MGH for a follow-up and final consultation visit (after they got the full set of John's scans).
41 week checkup
I have to say this visit was a bit depressing, after four more days of contractions, I was in exactly the same state as I had been the last Thursday. The good news is that the little guy is doing great. They hooked us up to a heart rate monitor to watch his heart rate and movements. He started out sleeping and then woke up and vigorously kicked the monitor, thereby declaring him perfectly healthy. We'll keep on keeping on. Friday we'll head to Mt. Auburn for an ultrasound and another stress test to make sure everything is ok. If nothing happens by Sunday, we'll call that afternoon to see if they have space for us and we'll check in that night for an induction.
Oncology Appointment
The good news is after a new blood test and further consultation with the CT scans, there's no evidence that there is metastasis (or at this point it is microscopic). However, their recommendation to continue with follow-up treatment didn't change, since the tumor was large and showed some invasive behavior. So we scheduled John's appointment on the 15th to start radiation. This first appointment is an x-ray scan of his body on the radiation table, where the doctor and the technicians will precisely line up where radiation will be targeted. It will take about 1-2 weeks from there for the physicists to translate dosages into a treatment regimen. Once treatment starts, John will need to go into MGH every day for 2.5 weeks (sans weekends). The fantastic news is that he should have very little side effects. At most some fatigue towards the end and maybe some GI issues as part of the stomach will be affected given the proximity of the lymph nodes being targeted. We've talked about John taking a second week of paternity/medical leave towards the end of his treatment, which will help reduce the stress of going into Boston and to Bedford (for work) every day. Not to mention..baby! Fun! John is determined our little boy will get to take naps on him.
I'll be heading to another pre-natal yoga class tonight and we'll probably head out to dinner in Davis afterwards. I believe it must be worrisome for all the 17-20week pregnant women to see me coming back week after week after week...but maybe it's a good dose of realism for them too about their due date! I should say I learned an important lesson at my yoga class on Sunday, which is another woman at 39 weeks had a co-worker deliver 7 weeks early. Both of us I think are very thankful to know our babies are coming full term.
41 week checkup
I have to say this visit was a bit depressing, after four more days of contractions, I was in exactly the same state as I had been the last Thursday. The good news is that the little guy is doing great. They hooked us up to a heart rate monitor to watch his heart rate and movements. He started out sleeping and then woke up and vigorously kicked the monitor, thereby declaring him perfectly healthy. We'll keep on keeping on. Friday we'll head to Mt. Auburn for an ultrasound and another stress test to make sure everything is ok. If nothing happens by Sunday, we'll call that afternoon to see if they have space for us and we'll check in that night for an induction.
Oncology Appointment
The good news is after a new blood test and further consultation with the CT scans, there's no evidence that there is metastasis (or at this point it is microscopic). However, their recommendation to continue with follow-up treatment didn't change, since the tumor was large and showed some invasive behavior. So we scheduled John's appointment on the 15th to start radiation. This first appointment is an x-ray scan of his body on the radiation table, where the doctor and the technicians will precisely line up where radiation will be targeted. It will take about 1-2 weeks from there for the physicists to translate dosages into a treatment regimen. Once treatment starts, John will need to go into MGH every day for 2.5 weeks (sans weekends). The fantastic news is that he should have very little side effects. At most some fatigue towards the end and maybe some GI issues as part of the stomach will be affected given the proximity of the lymph nodes being targeted. We've talked about John taking a second week of paternity/medical leave towards the end of his treatment, which will help reduce the stress of going into Boston and to Bedford (for work) every day. Not to mention..baby! Fun! John is determined our little boy will get to take naps on him.
I'll be heading to another pre-natal yoga class tonight and we'll probably head out to dinner in Davis afterwards. I believe it must be worrisome for all the 17-20week pregnant women to see me coming back week after week after week...but maybe it's a good dose of realism for them too about their due date! I should say I learned an important lesson at my yoga class on Sunday, which is another woman at 39 weeks had a co-worker deliver 7 weeks early. Both of us I think are very thankful to know our babies are coming full term.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Sunday Brunch
John and I had friends over for brunch today. We were really hoping that by inviting people to our place we would be tempting fate. Instead we had a very uneventful, but fantastic brunch. We made two new dishes from a crock pot cook book I recently acquired along with our usual frittata and fruit salad standbys. Both were good, but very sweet, so next time I might just make one of them and choose something more savory. Here are the recipes:
Oatmeal Creme Brulee (Crockpot)
4 c. water
3 c. quick-cooking oats
1/2 tsp salt
6 egg yolks
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 c. whipping cream
1 tsp vanilaa
1/4 c packed light brown sugar
fresh berries (optional)
1. Coat crock pot with nontstick cooking spray. Cover and set on High heat. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil. Immediately pour into preheated crockpot. Stir in oatmeal and salt, cover.
2. Combine egg yolks and granulated sugar in a small bowl. Mix well; set aside. Heat cream and vanilla in a med. saucepan over med. heat until mixture begins to simmer (DO NOT BOIL). Remove from heat. Whisk 1/2 c. of hot cream into yolks, stirring rapidly so yolks don't cook. Whisk warmed egg misture into cream, strirring rapidly to blend well. Spoon over oatmeal (Do not stir).
3. Turn crock pot on LOW. Line lid with 2 paper towels. Cover tightly; cook on low 3 to 3.5 hours or until custard has set.
4. Uncover and sprinkle
Chocolate Stuffed French Toast (start night before)
6 slices (3/4 inch thick day-old challah)
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
6 eggs
3 c. half-and-half
2/3 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1. Butter a large casserole dish. Place one layer of challah down, then 1/4c chocolate chips. Repeat layers and finish with one final bread layer.
2. Mix remaining ingredients together (eggs through salt). Slowly pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Back at 350degrees for about an hour. The bread will pouf when finished.
Oatmeal Creme Brulee (Crockpot)
4 c. water
3 c. quick-cooking oats
1/2 tsp salt
6 egg yolks
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 c. whipping cream
1 tsp vanilaa
1/4 c packed light brown sugar
fresh berries (optional)
1. Coat crock pot with nontstick cooking spray. Cover and set on High heat. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil. Immediately pour into preheated crockpot. Stir in oatmeal and salt, cover.
2. Combine egg yolks and granulated sugar in a small bowl. Mix well; set aside. Heat cream and vanilla in a med. saucepan over med. heat until mixture begins to simmer (DO NOT BOIL). Remove from heat. Whisk 1/2 c. of hot cream into yolks, stirring rapidly so yolks don't cook. Whisk warmed egg misture into cream, strirring rapidly to blend well. Spoon over oatmeal (Do not stir).
3. Turn crock pot on LOW. Line lid with 2 paper towels. Cover tightly; cook on low 3 to 3.5 hours or until custard has set.
4. Uncover and sprinkle
Chocolate Stuffed French Toast (start night before)
6 slices (3/4 inch thick day-old challah)
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
6 eggs
3 c. half-and-half
2/3 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1. Butter a large casserole dish. Place one layer of challah down, then 1/4c chocolate chips. Repeat layers and finish with one final bread layer.
2. Mix remaining ingredients together (eggs through salt). Slowly pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Back at 350degrees for about an hour. The bread will pouf when finished.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Productive (nesting?) - no baby
The title of this post pretty much sums up our day. I was very productive and got a lot done and we still haven't met our son. Kristen had a lot of contractions last night, but they slowed down a lot when we got up and went to breakfast this morning.
I believe this was the fourth week in a row that we've been to the Ball Square Cafe for breakfast. Today I tried something new; one of my favorite breakfast is the Broadway Blues which is mashed and grilled hash browns, a grilled blueberry muffin, bacon and a small cheese omelet. I never get the bacon and I don't like their veggie sausage or turkey sausage, so I asked for fresh fruit instead. With an egg whites instead of regular eggs, it almost felt like a healthy breakfast.
After breakfast, we came home for a couple hours. I cleaned for a while, then we went to Harvard Square to walk around and run some errands. We stopped by the camera store and picked up a neoprene sleeve for our small camera, the bead store for some craft supplies and the book store simply to browse. I picked up Lance Armstrong's biography (used) and we got The Baby Wisperer (also used). We stopped by Diesel on the way back to grab a decaf mocha for Kristen, then it was back home for more chores.
I pulled the grill out of basement, moved our bed to make room for the pack-n-play next to Kristen's side of the bed. Since the pack-n-play has a bassinet, we'll be using that initially at night. It was just a couple inches too wide to fit next to the bed, so I had to take both matresses off, shift it by 4 inches, then undo the whole process. Of course, I forgot to "measure twice" so I had to re-do the whole process. I had great help from the cats where there to investigate every step. I also spent a lot of time cleaning the free fridge we picked up to store breast milk at Kristen's office. It is in pretty good shape now, but it took a pretty good scrubbing to remove the signs of basement storage.
I also balanced the checkbook today. I've been using Microsoft Money for a long time and the only computer I have it installed on is a) slow and b) very very noisy. I got a little fed up with this and found how to install Windows in a Virtual Machine on our Linux desktop. So now, I can boot my (quite and fast) Linux desktop and run Windows XP within that environment. It was actually pretty easy (note the following is very geeky and maily here so I don't foget how I did it)
I believe this was the fourth week in a row that we've been to the Ball Square Cafe for breakfast. Today I tried something new; one of my favorite breakfast is the Broadway Blues which is mashed and grilled hash browns, a grilled blueberry muffin, bacon and a small cheese omelet. I never get the bacon and I don't like their veggie sausage or turkey sausage, so I asked for fresh fruit instead. With an egg whites instead of regular eggs, it almost felt like a healthy breakfast.
After breakfast, we came home for a couple hours. I cleaned for a while, then we went to Harvard Square to walk around and run some errands. We stopped by the camera store and picked up a neoprene sleeve for our small camera, the bead store for some craft supplies and the book store simply to browse. I picked up Lance Armstrong's biography (used) and we got The Baby Wisperer (also used). We stopped by Diesel on the way back to grab a decaf mocha for Kristen, then it was back home for more chores.
I pulled the grill out of basement, moved our bed to make room for the pack-n-play next to Kristen's side of the bed. Since the pack-n-play has a bassinet, we'll be using that initially at night. It was just a couple inches too wide to fit next to the bed, so I had to take both matresses off, shift it by 4 inches, then undo the whole process. Of course, I forgot to "measure twice" so I had to re-do the whole process. I had great help from the cats where there to investigate every step. I also spent a lot of time cleaning the free fridge we picked up to store breast milk at Kristen's office. It is in pretty good shape now, but it took a pretty good scrubbing to remove the signs of basement storage.
I also balanced the checkbook today. I've been using Microsoft Money for a long time and the only computer I have it installed on is a) slow and b) very very noisy. I got a little fed up with this and found how to install Windows in a Virtual Machine on our Linux desktop. So now, I can boot my (quite and fast) Linux desktop and run Windows XP within that environment. It was actually pretty easy (note the following is very geeky and maily here so I don't foget how I did it)
- Download a Windows XP ISO image
- Allocate 16 GB on the linux machine to act as the C-drive for Windows XP:
- qemu-img create -f qcow2 vmdisk.img 16GB
- Boot the Virtual Machine, booting from the CD drive, pointing at the ISO and 640 MB of RAM
- qemu-kvm -cpu qemu32 -m 640 -boot d -cdrom windows_xp_professional.iso -hda vmdisk.img
- Install Windows XP in the Virtual Machine
- Boot the Virtual Machine with a network card, 640 MB of Ram:
- qemu-kvm -cpu qemu32 -m 640 -net nic -net user -hda vmdisk.img
- Install Windows Updates in the Virtual Machine
Friday, April 3, 2009
Weekend update
It's Friday, and still no baby. Although, every time I think I've developed a pretty good waddle, it gets even better the next day. I spent today at home, mostly resting, since it seems I exhausted myself yesterday (working a full 9 hour day plus a trip to the gym) and then straight to Bill and Sonya's for dinner (which was fantastic). Today was more about sleep and cat cuddles with a trip to the local bakery to pick up a fresh challah loaf for this weekend's french toast adventure. I had bigger plans then just making it to the bakery, but once I was there that seemed like a sufficient walk, I made it back in time before the rain started again.
This weekend will be low key (unless of course this little boy of ours decides to make an appearance). We'll get breakfast with Megan and look for a pot for John's jade plant. We also badly need a camera case for our little camera. I also realize that John's next oncology appointment is on Monday and we haven't really talked about his treatment options as a couple (in great detail anyway). I'm tempted to head to the vernal pond in the Minuteman National Park, it's probably a couple of weeks early still, but I'm determined not to miss it this year! We're getting plenty of rain this week, with a wonderful break on Sunday, sunny and 60 degrees.
This weekend will be low key (unless of course this little boy of ours decides to make an appearance). We'll get breakfast with Megan and look for a pot for John's jade plant. We also badly need a camera case for our little camera. I also realize that John's next oncology appointment is on Monday and we haven't really talked about his treatment options as a couple (in great detail anyway). I'm tempted to head to the vernal pond in the Minuteman National Park, it's probably a couple of weeks early still, but I'm determined not to miss it this year! We're getting plenty of rain this week, with a wonderful break on Sunday, sunny and 60 degrees.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Things that happen after 40 weeks
- The number of (random) people asking when you are due increases every day
- You get invited out to dinner a lot (3 times this week)
- You can't sleep (both of us)
- You stop caring about diet as much
- You find out exactly what the last day you can deliver without induction is (April 12th)
- People are surprised to see you
- When you are online, people want to chat with you more
- When you are offline, people think you are having the baby
- When you go the gym, people are shocked and amazed
- The nesting instinct kicks up a gear
- You wonder how you can raise a child if you can't keep cats out of a cupboard or off of plants
Quick Update
Kristen and I had a nice night out. We went over to our friends Bill and Sonya for a wonderful dinner and evening. Kristen's contractions are still pretty irregular, but the baby has dropped a little bit more. Her appointment today was pretty much like many others. They did discuss when they might do a medical induction (April 12th). Hopefully we won't get to that point, but we now have a definite end date.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Apparently no on acupuncture
Last week when I discussed induction with our midwife, she mentioned acupuncture may be one way to speed things up..although, it has varying results with different people. I had an appointment today to try it. Unfortunately, I was way more squeamish about it than I had expected and after about four needles she had to stop before I passed out. I then spent 15 minutes recovering, my blood pressure had dropped dangerously low. John was nice enough to pick me up from my appointment.
And so, we continue waiting. Megan made us a fantastic dinner last night and we really enjoyed visiting with her, our friend Nancy, as well as their roomate and roomate's boyfriend who are both from France (and the food, which was spicy, was fantastic). John and I both worked from home today and I've been quite productive, despite the cats being very pesky for the better part of the afternoon.
Tomorrow morning I have my 40.3 week checkup, which I secretly hope I don't need (not so secret really). The baby has been romping around quite a bit still, and two nights ago he pulled an all-nighter..so much for what they say about babies calming down to save energy for birth. Yesterday, I ran into a couple from our birth prep class who had their son in for his one week pediatrician appointment. I have to say, it gave me hope to see a baby on the other side! (and what a beautiful baby he is too).
And so, we continue waiting. Megan made us a fantastic dinner last night and we really enjoyed visiting with her, our friend Nancy, as well as their roomate and roomate's boyfriend who are both from France (and the food, which was spicy, was fantastic). John and I both worked from home today and I've been quite productive, despite the cats being very pesky for the better part of the afternoon.
Tomorrow morning I have my 40.3 week checkup, which I secretly hope I don't need (not so secret really). The baby has been romping around quite a bit still, and two nights ago he pulled an all-nighter..so much for what they say about babies calming down to save energy for birth. Yesterday, I ran into a couple from our birth prep class who had their son in for his one week pediatrician appointment. I have to say, it gave me hope to see a baby on the other side! (and what a beautiful baby he is too).
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