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.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
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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