Thanksgiving

(Written earlier this week!)

It doesn't seem possible that Thanksgiving is already here or that I'm already 21 weeks along!  Where has the time gone?

Last weekend we tailgated at the Northwest vs. Pitt State game held annually at Arrowhead Stadium.  We arrived literally second car in line at the gates so as you can imagine, it was a long day for this pregnant lady!  The weather was very chilly and windy but eventually the sun came out and it provided some much needed warmth.  This year I went prepared.  I brought hot water and tea bags, my heaviest snuggling blanket, and wore 4 or 5 layers of clothing.  I was still cold but overall fairly comfortable in my oversized lawn chair.  I have to admit tailgating while pregnant or at this stage of my life was not what it used to be.  I didn't miss the beverages at all nor did I even want one.  Watching Robin get crazy as usual was okay but this year I stayed in one spot the whole time and when 3:00 rolled around, I was done and it was time to go.  In years past, we'd stay the entire game and then go to a bar afterwards to enjoy eachother's company.  I have a feeling our days of tailgating to this degree is coming to an end, at least for me.

Did I mention some crazy decided to hit my car while we were all tailgating on the other side?  Ah yes, such a fun event to happen at 10:15 a.m.  Nice start to our day but thankfully they didn't contest the issue and we're well on our way to having it fixed.  All I have to do now is take it to the shop, order the parts, and take it back when it's time to get everything fixed.  Mostly this is just an inconvenience.

On Saturday we met Kevin and Leah for double date night, preggo style (as Leah and I called it).  We saw "Due Date" which I have to admit was really pretty boring for me.  It was one of those movies that shows everything funny in the previews and is mostly just annoying.  I think Kevin and Robin enjoyed it though so I don't think it was a complete loss.  We followed up with dinner at Jack Stack BBQ which was fabulous as usual.  Our waiter was quite possibly the most annoying human I've ever come across.  Let's just say I could see why he's a waiter and not a rocket scientist!  Finally we went to Starbucks, got some hot drinks, and lounged on the deck.  The Plaza is a really great place to people watch and the weather was fairly nice.  That was probably my favorite part because we just sat and talked for an hour or so and enjoyed the sights and sounds of late fall.

Sunday was a big day for us!  Robin and I are officially God parents of Miss Rowen Annette.  She was super adorable in a white onesie, white tights, white bow, and light pink tu-tu.  I got a few toothless grins out of her during the service as well.  I have to admit I never thought I'd be a God parent.  I'm not extremely religious though I do have faith and I'm not baptised myself.  I actually find that I believe a lot of things from a variety of religions.  But I feel very blessed and honored to be chosen and I take it very seriously.  In a lot of ways, I feel like I'm going to responsible for helping her grow up to be a good little girl and eventually a woman.  It's strange; I didn't think it would feel quite such a big deal!



Robin, Me, Rowen, Kellen, Phil and Marsha after Rowen's Baptism!

 And that brings us to this week and my pregnancy.  I've noticed my belly has begun to really bulge in the last couple of weeks.  So have others.  It seems adults lose their filters altogether when it comes to pregnancy.  For example, a woman who knew I was pregnant saw me preparing my lunch the other day and said, "Wow!  You really LOOK pregnant now!  Before you just looked chunky!"  I could have smacked her but I refrained and ignored her.  When trying to pretend that you're still semi-good looking to your husband and the public while pregnant, comments like these are really tough to take.  I do struggle now thinking I'm too big or too round but in terms of the doctor, I'm doing fine.  Robin doesn't seem to mind.  He still looks at me the same and nothing has changed between us.  I'm so thankful to have such a sweet, kind man in my life!

21 Weeks (My face says it all..."I feel HUGE!")

I also developed something of a side effect this week that I didn't foresee.  In fact, I'm a bit of an enigma to my doctor too.  I won't go into detail but what I will say is that the diagnosis is my immune system isn't loving something or other I either ate or came into contact with so I get to feel its wrath on my skin.  The doctor said it was really pretty bad so I'm on 3 meds, one topical and two oral, to get it under control.  I think the hardest part of this is that I can't eat bananas, peanut butter, or strawberries for a while because all of them have high alergen content.  BUT, the baby is doing fine so thankfully this whole issue isn't bothering her a bit!

Yesterday we returned the dresser I posted about previously too.  After reordering parts that broke or didn't fit right, we finally gave up.  It is a horrible dresser!  Do NOT buy it!  We found one at Nebraska Furniture Mart which is slightly more expensive but is more sturdy.  We'll save up and get it sometime in the future.  Same goes for our rocker.  We went bright and early on Black Friday because it was 50% off only to find the store had ONE to sell.  ONE?  Please tell me how you put something on your ad and then you only have ONE to sell for the entire day?  Woosah!  On the bright side, it's still on sale today and tomorrow so we may end up stopping by tomorrow to pick one up.  It's just not quite the spectacular deal.

Finally, Thanksgiving is coming up in just two days and we're heading up to Iowa to spend part of the week with my family and then Sunday with Robin's back here in KC.  I am very thankful that we get the opportunity to see both my family and his during the holidays.  I do wish my sister was able to be with us and that Robin's mom, sister, and niece could come home too.  Juggling two families is not always very easy though our situation seems to be a little more so.  This year I am in charge of something (scary, I know!) which is making my Grandma's pies.  She is flying to Washington to be with her sister so it's my job to ensure we have our traditional desserts.  I'm actually excited because this is something I know I can handle.  I may not be much of a cook, but I sure can bake some stuff!  I'm also excited to see my Grandpa.  It sounds like he is doing very well recovering with both of his new knees.  He had a second railing installed on his stairway so he can now go up and down by himself.  The last time I talked to him he said he was getting a stationary bike to ride at home so that the knees wouldn't get stiff.  I am SO happy that the minor stroke didn't stop him a bit!

So to you and yours, Happy Thanksgiving!  And just to annoy my husband, "Gobble, Gobble..."

Registering for babies...

...is COMPLETELY overwhelming! 

Let's start with last week(end).  Friday I had a checkup with my midwife who went through the sonogram with us and did her usual checks on me.  She showed us with her tape measure how small the baby really is and I have to admit, those sonograms sure are misleading!  Baby Sol's femurs are no bigger than the tip of my pinky to the first nuckle!  Her head is barely as big around as a ping pong ball!  When I look at this growing belly I'm sporting, I think she must really be a big girl but then I realize that her mommy wasn't small to begin with and that she's just getting ready to go through her growth spurts.

Saturday we started at a consignment sale of baby and children's clothes.  Everything was a dollar!  We got 23 items for $23 and while I walked out feeling that was a great job, I then remembered this baby could go through most of that in just a few days!  How overwhelming!  After that, we went to Phil and Marsha's to take pictures of their family.  Kellen is 2 years old and Rowen was just born in September.  It was really fun spending the afternoon with them as we got to experience a little bit of life with two small kids.  First off, Kellen was my buddy most of the afternoon.  We sat and ate "pish" or his Goldfish crackers and "ships" or chips.  He shared too!  He is talking quite a bit now and it's really funny to hear how he is pronouncing his words.  It's also amazing to see the mood swings that a 2 year old goes through in a matter of minutes.  It's exhausting!  Second, I got to snuggle with Rowen a bit.  I don't know if it's normal or not but she was super calm and not very fussy as we sat and got to know eachother.  She even started to nod off at one point which was pretty reassuring that I might actually be able to help a baby get to sleep. 



Our first set of baby clothes, courtesy of a GREAT sale!

 We took quite a few pictures of the family clad (unfortunately) in Nebraska gear.  After that we went to a buffet and got some lunch, then headed to BabiesRUs where Marsha walked us through the store and gave us pointers on things we do and do not need.  We took some notes as we went through the store and though I felt a bit more prepared to register, I have to tell you that registering is not a fun experience!

Kellen, Phil, Marsha, and Rowen!  Thanks, Marsha, for registering tips!

Sunday we decided, "Sure, we're adults.  We can handle this registering thing!"  Within the first section (bottles, nipples, pasifiers, etc.) I was overwhelmed.  There are SO many kinds of bottles, levels of nipples, stuff that may work, and others that won't.  By the time we finished our loop through the store, I felt as though this poor baby is going to have nothing of use!  We went back this week and registered for a few different things, changed some things online, and second guessed everything but I'm hoping we're nearing the sit and wait game of showers.  Most of the time we go through the registry I think, "These things are going to help care for my child's life!  What if I mess it up!?"  Then I realize our parents and their parents and back farther did just fine with even less.  I just need to chill out!



19 Weeks!  Don't worry, I'm not as big as I look!

 I am just finishing up my 19th week and I'm really starting to notice differences in my body.  My belly button is still an "inny" but it looks different and I can still see my hip bones but there is a defining line where my belly is bulging forward.  My back is sometimes sore now and I notice more pain in my hips and ligaments.  My midwife says I'm doing great with my weight but I should admit I haven't been to the gym in a LONG time.  I'm hoping the holidays will be some motivation because I really don't want to go too crazy with weight gain during that time.  I don't look as huge as these pictures make me look (I SWEAR) but I was too lazy to take my sweatshirt off.  Give me a pass; Sunday nights are when I rest and the weather has gotten pretty cold lately!

And our baby's flavor is...

Here's a bit I wrote after we found out the sex of the baby.  I apologize for the long wait!  We took a video of the sonogram and had hoped to attach it here but it's too large so unfortunately, I can only describe what we saw!  I'll update some more in a bit!

*********************************************************************

I chuckled while typing that title because my friend, Moira, said she was excited to find out what "flavor" our baby would be.  It is quite possibly the best way to say "sex" or "gender" in a more mild tone.  Thanks Mo!  I can't wait til you find out your baby's flavor either, though you're forcing us to wait until April!



18 Weeks!!

 Anywho, I am now 18 weeks and sporting an obvious bump.  There's no hiding this baby now!  I've started to feel little movements here and there, mostly on my sides because the baby is padded by the placenta which for me is in the front.  Apparently everyone is different there.  The first time I felt it was probably the most pronounced.  The last couple have been little flutters or twitches.  Probably the funniest time was when I waited WAY too long to go pee.  Right after, the baby nudged me fairly hard and I think it was saying, "It's about time, Mom!  Thanks for the room down here!"

The last week was pretty uneventful.  We've been trying to keep as busy as we can since we knew today was the day we were to find out the baby's flavor!  Most of you probably saw it on FB by now, but just in case....

IT'S A GIRL!

I (tried) to post a video of the sonogram above.  Robin was so proud, he took video on his iPhone during the whole thing!  The video is 20 minutes long so I can only imagine family will want to watch the whole thing but it's really interesting if you've never seen one before.  During the sonogram, the baby was laying with her butt and feet at my belly button and her head down towards my pelvis.  She was also facing my spine so it was really hard to get pictures of her face!  The sonographer definitely tried!  She pushes and prods and pokes at the baby to no avail.  I think this is going to be one stubborn little girl!  She even kicked at the pushing when we tried to get her to move!  Something else interesting is that she was laying on her belly and had one hand up to her mouth and was sucking on it.  The video shows that in the first few minutes.  Look close; you can see her little jaws going to town!  Looks like she'll be an eater, just like her parents!  She was also laying with her left arm/hand up over her head.  The really funny part is that Robin sleeps EXACTLY like that every night, though he does sleep on his back.  She's already picking up our traits!

The sonographer didn't see any abnormalities or defects and of course that was a big relief!  She showed us the bones in her legs and arms, hands and feet, spine, skull and brain, kidneys, bladder, and lips.  I have to say it was refreshing to see her as a human and not a blob!  The last sonogram just looked like a blob so there wasn't much there to see.  Also, the sonographer confirmed that our due date of April 3rd is within 3 days of when she'll be set for the world.  I still think she'll be late; she's stubborn just like me!

Family and friends have already begun to wonder what her name is and like I said, we're keeping that a secret.  We have started calling her by name at home when it's just the two of us and especially around Atlas so he becomes more familiar with it before she arrives.  As I told Robin, it's really REAL now.  The baby looks human, has a gender, a name, and is developing her own personality!  We plan to go to BabiesRUs with Marsha this weekend so she can give us pointers on what to register for, what's good, and what's bad.  Since she has two kids 2 and under, she has a good bit of experience to help us out! 

So that's our news and we're so thrilled to share it with all of you!  I am so thankful that so many of our friends also have or are having kids about the same time as us.  We'll have many playdates and won't have to miss out on time with friends this way!  I'm also thankful that our families have been so great and supportive!  Everyone seems excited which makes this a lot of fun.

Fun Weekend!

This weekend was extremely good!  My Mom and her friend, Kathy, came up around noon on Friday.  Robin and I were both off for a half day so we could spend a little extra time with our company.  The first thing we did was have a checkup for the baby.  My midwife was delivering two babies Friday so I went to her "alternate" midwife.  Everything is looking good but there were a few surprises.  First is that the heart rate was 140 this time.  Last time it was 150.  If you believe the old wive's tales, you can tell whether you're having a boy or a girl based on the heart rate.  Even the midwife said she couldn't tell because we're right in between.  The second surprise is that the baby may be bigger yet!  He/She was big during our first sonogram so they moved my due date up a week.  Now the top of my uterus is level with my belly button whereas it should be just under it.  This isn't a concerning issue but it makes me wonder if they'll move my due date up again. 

Otherwise we're doing great!  I'm still on track with my weight and I'm paying more attention to my scale at home than at their office.  At home I can weigh in the morning and in the nude.  From my college days, I know that this is how you should weigh so I'll take that number over theirs.  That makes my weight gain up to 5.5 lbs.  Not too shabby!  The best news is we'll find out the gender of the baby on November 1st!  Just one week and all of you can share in our excitement!

That evening we ate at Rudy's, our favorite Mexican restaurant, and came home to sit on the porch.  Kathy, Mom, and Robin drank wine while I enjoyed a water (ha, ha).  The weather was actually really nice though we were told it was supposed to rain all weekend.  Boy were they wrong!  Saturday was beautiful!

We spent the day in Lawrence exploring the shops along Massachusetts Street.  Last week I saw an article that Mass Street is one of the "best" downtown streets in the US.  I would definitely say it is one of the most interesting because of the kinds of people you see (all kinds) and the types of shops (all types).  The shops are mostly locally owned businesses.  Very few are chains and most all of them have things you wouldn't find most anywhere else.  Between the four of us, we got a few Christmas presents, a few things for ourselves, and lots of people watching opportunities!  The weather was beautiful, as I mentioned before, and we got there before the gameday traffic.  We decided on Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch simply because it was right in front of where we parked.  Thankfully they had a Mass Street patio so we had the opportunity to sit outside, chat, and enjoy the beautiful fall day!  Here's a link to the Mass Street website:  http://www.downtownlawrence.com/SiteResources/Data/Templates/t1.asp?docid=514&DocName=Home
Click on "About DLI" and you can find a directory of the stores lining Mass Street.  It doesn't do it justice but you'll see how unique this area really is!

After leaving Lawrence, we headed to the Legends, another shopping area in KC.  I specifically wanted to go there for the Motherhood Maternity outlet store.  I am still searching for work options, mostly shirts, but got only one off the clearance rack.  Along with those I got a longer pair of jeans that were on sale.  I'm set for bottoms now, other than pajamas that I can wear this winter as well as at the hospital.  I have a feeling that may be a Christmas wish-list item.  I did have to invest in two new bras.  I won't even mention how big they are now but I will say they are MUCH larger than I've ever had in my life.  I wish they would stop but I know they'll get bigger still.  Kathy gave them the nickname, Jugs, if that tells you anything!



Successful Chocolate Meringue Pie!



We got home more than 8 hours after leaving.  It was a FULL day and we were all exhausted.  We spent more time on our deck, drinks for the non-preggers and a lemonade spritzer for me.  Leah taught me about the spritzer and she was right.  It makes it feel like you're drinking an adult beverage when you aren't!  After relaxing for a bit, Mom and I began our task of attempting to make my Gradma Mac's from scratch chocolate meringue pie.  It is my all-time favorite family recipe and I want to make sure I can master it too.  The three of us ladies wore our pajamas and set to work!  I think the pajamas made all the difference; we were successful on the first try whereas last year I tried twice and never did get it right!  For supper, we ordered Chinese delivery and gorged ourselves silly but it was a fantastic end to the day.  We had zero room for the pie so it was saved for today.

This morning I woke up to a house that smelled wonderfully of coffee.  I LOVE waking up to that smell and it really reminds me of my time with my Mom.  Kathy was the only one downstairs when I got there; Robin had gone to get a paper and Mom was taking a shower.  We chatted a bit and she even served me a cup of coffee for my caffeine quota of the day.  Kathy made all of us a breakfast casserole that was fantastic!  She even made one without cheese for Robin.  She's just so nice!  We followed the casserole with a piece of pie each.  Hey, sometimes you just have to have dessert for breakfast!



17 Weeks (Post-Walk)
I feel huge and not very cute these days.

Mom and Kathy left around 1:00.  It's always tough to see Mom go and we enjoy having Kathy here anytime she comes down.  She is certainly welcome in our home anytime!  I spent the rest of the afternoon searching for shoes (if you ever find somewhere that sells 11's or 12's in cute styles, let me know) while Robin watched football.  We washed all kinds of laundry and to end our evening, we went for a nice walk with Atlas.  I would say all in all, this was a successful weekend!

We just took my 17 week picture (at left) and as you can see, I'm worn out from the weekend not to mention my belly is getting bigger by the day!  Right now I feel really big and unattractive but that varies from day to day.  Weekends, I just don't try unless we're going somewhere so I guess that partially explains why I look the way I do in these pictures.  I promise I'm not AS huge as the picture looks!



Two week update!

Sometimes you learn the strangest things about your family at the strangest times!  Last weekend I learned a couple of things about my family through observation and discussion.

1)  I have always worried that if something happened to my Grandma, my Grandpa would be completely lost.  How would he take care of himself?  What would he eat everyday?  Would he stay at home all by himself?  My Grandparents have the old-school marriage where the wife cooks and cleans and the husband does the usual husband chores like take out the garbage, wash the cars, etc.  At times that has completely annoyed me but I do understand.  They were raised that way.  Well when you take all of this into account, I really worried about what my Grandpa would do without my Grandma. 

What I didn't understand is that my Grandma would be just as lost without my Grandpa.  Watching her in the hospital was really interesting.  She hovers over him as though he's going to break.  She knows every detail of his treatment and if he wants to adjust himself even a little bit while in the bed, she helps.  She jumps up anytime he needs a little help.  What would she do without Grandpa to talk to or to help?  My Grandma is a helper and that's why she'd be lost without him.  Thankfully Grandpa is recovering really well!  We are all hoping he'll be back home and nearly back to normal in terms of walking before Thanksgiving.

2)  My entire life I've been told, and believed, that I'm German on my Dad's side.  The back story on this is that my Grandma hosted a reunion for a certain side of our family.  She was the only one who attended but it turns out a few older family members were there, and one had been tracking our family a long way back.  It turns out 4 of our family members fled France through Germany and came to America.  Everyone thought we were German because they came from Germany but we're actually French.  Amazing!  I guess my name is even more fitting...since it's French too.  That will be an interesting story for the baby.

Between last week and this week, my clothes have decided they just do not want to fit.  I retired some of my shirts and all of my jeans.  The jeans were fine when I stood up but when I sat down, they sort of hurt around my belly.  Mom and I went to Khol's, Target, and Motherhood Maternity when I was home.  I did get a few things, jeans included, and found a few great deals.  I'm going to have to buy more things in the next month or so...or this belly's gonna be cold!  Yesterday I pulled out all of my summer things and left only those that might still fit for a while in order to layer or for these days that are summer warm once again.  Currently, my closet is BARE.  That's even more overwhelming.

Sunday of last week, Daddy (Robin) decided baby's crib should be put together.  He did a great job all by himself!  It was up and ready when I got home on Monday night.  Too bad nothing else in the room is ready!  We can't even pick paint yet!  We did attempt to get the dresser put together but realized it was a bad sign when the drawers wouldn't even go together.  One piece was too long.  We skipped that and continued on, only to find other pieces were the wrong sizes.  Thankfully this baby is not due to arrive until April!  We called the manufacturer and they're sending new parts which will arrive later this month or early next.

Grandma Jeri got baby his or her first outfit last weekend!  It's a sleeper that's a little larger so that he or she can wear it after a few months.  Our reasoning here is that if I'm cold in air conditioning, the baby will be too!  The sleeper is adorable!  You can't tell in the picture but there are barnyard animals and small barns printed on it.  The animal on the shoulder is a steer.  We think this will be adorable when the time comes for the baby to sleep tight!  First piece of baby clothing, CHECK!  Lot's more to come...definitely!

15 Weeks!  Obvious bump!

Last but not least, my body has been changing pretty significantly lately.  I'm now 15 weeks and it's usually very obvious that I'm pregnant.  Sometimes I still feel "fat" because I'm in between with clothes.  Maternity is too big, normal is too small.  I try not to think about it too much because I don't want to stress about being "fat."  I've started to have some ligament pain in my abdomen and hips.  Earlier this week, I thought the baby was standing on my left hip flexor it hurt so bad.  I also have horrible acne on my face and upper back.  Most mom's tell me that went away for them so I'm hoping they're right.  NOTHING seems to help!  On a good note, I haven't been sick in 3 weeks now!  I have had bouts of slight nausea but nothing at all like I did the first trimester.  It is so nice to have an appetite again!  The only interesting craving I've had is continual cravings for Mexican food.  Specifically, our favorite place in Kansas City, Rudy's.  Apparently this baby wants salty, not sweet!

A week from Friday I'll go back for a checkup and two weeks later we'll find out if this is a boy or a girl!  Stay tuned!

Stressful Week!

As the title implies, we had a pretty stressful week!  None of it was related to the baby but I did have some baby adventures mixed in there.  Some of you are patiently awaiting news related to this weekend so let's dive right into the back story.

My Grandpa has had knee pain for quite a while now and we started to notice he was quitting some of his favorite activities.  The first to go was hunting.  Walking in the timber and through the fields got to be too much for him so he quit going.  Then he stopped walking around town quite as much, or at least not as far.  Lately Dad has noticed it's a lot harder for him to get in and out of the boat when they go fishing.  I think there have been other indications that something's not right too.  Dad mentioned all of this to Doug who is my Dad's cousin and also my Grandpa's doctor.  Doug took a look at Grandpa's knees and after a few tests, they found that he didn't have any cartilege in there and that he was walking on bone to bone contact.  No wonder those knees were hurting!

 After some talking, Grandpa decided to have both of his knees replaced.  One of his friends had had one and he got along great.  He had his first knee replaced about two weeks ago and 5 days later, they replaced the second one.  Now, you have to understand that in the first place, Grandpa is 78 years old and to me, this seems like a lot of surgery.  But the doctors say that's the procedure so we trusted them.  All went well with both knees, he was getting along great, and they sent him home to start therapy.  He did fall once but he landed on his butt and was fine afterwards.  However, during PT this week, he couldn't stand on his right leg at all and it was very painful.  Not a good sign.  They discovered that during PT, his quadriceps muscle (the one that makes up the front part of your upper leg/thigh) was torn.  The only way to repair it?  You guessed it.  Surgery #3.




He had the third surgery on Thursday and got along fine.  On Friday, things did not go so well.  Grandma arrived at the hospital Friday morning to discover that he'd had a small stroke.  His left arm was very weak, his left lip was pulling down at the cheek, he was slurring his speech slightly, and he was a little confused.  Thankfully, he was in the hospital and with a nurse when this happened.  They recognized it immediately, gave him the drugs to stave off a larger stroke, and it appears they stopped it in record time.  I got a call Friday night about all of this and immediately decided I needed to go home.  Robin wasn't home all weekend because he was in Maryville with friends.  I think that made the situation a lot more stressful for me but I did my best to stay calm for the baby's sake.  Hopefully I did a good job.

The first time I saw Grandpa in the hospital on Saturday, he was really happy to see me which made me feel really good about making that trip.  I noticed a slight tug at his left cheek but it was barely visible and he was just barely slurring some of his words.  We stuck around for about 3 or 4 hours.  In that time, he had two or three other visitors.  Two were friends from home and fishing trips and one was his sister, my Aunt Iney.  She's a spitfire and if you need entertaining, she's the person you want around!  At least he's not sitting around bored all the time!  We visited again on Sunday for a few hours and I got to spend more time with him.  By then the slurring was gone, he was fully coherent, and no other signs were present that he'd had a stroke at all.  It really is a miracle he was in that hospital!

This morning he was supposed to be moved to skilled care for PT but unfortunately they found an infection in his knee.  Until that is taken care of he can't be moved.  I know he's disappointed.  Grandma told my Mom he was really happy to be moving to another area of the hospital.  But, it sounds like they caught things early once again and I just hope that all turns out well and he can be moved soon.  He's doing okay and is out of the 48 hour window when they say a stroke can get worse.  He seems in pretty good spirits and as though he likes his nurses.  Grandma only leaves his side in the evenings to go home to sleep and take care of a few errands.  It's really amazing to see them together.  It is really apparent they couldn't get along very well without eachother.  They make a good team!

Tomorrow or the next day I'll post about the baby stuff I did over the weekend as well.  Not a huge amount to report as I was mostly focused on Grandpa but my 14 week picture will be there along with a few other notes.  Hug your families tonight!  I certainly wish I was closer so I could hug mine more often!

There Really IS a Baby In There!



Crib and Dresser on right.

Robin and I bought the baby's crib on Monday and it and the dresser went on sale this weekend.  My husband is a big negotiator so he got the items price matched (they "don't do that") plus we used 20% off coupons on both.  We saved almost 50%!  Rather than go with a changing table, we decided to go with a dresser and changing pad on top.  Most of our friends said that a changing table is great for babies and small toddlers but after that, they're too long.  Plus, we like the idea of a piece of furniture that will grow a bit with the baby.  Here's a picture of our set.

I had a monthly checkup on Friday.  One thing I haven't told you yet is that we didn't go with an OB/GYN.  When I took the first positive test at home, I called my doctor and found out she doesn't do prenatal care.  I've never been to an OB/GYN; I've always had a family practitioner.  I hate to say this but I was actually glad.  In the time I've been in Kansas City, I've been going to the same office but they've changed my doctor 3 times.  I loved the doctor I had previously but she left when she had a baby and wanted to be closer to her family.  The current doctor is very new and she's a big reason why it took 3 months to get a diagnosis for my colon issues.  So when the receptionist told me she didn't do prenatal care, I was a bit relieved.  I asked for her suggestions and she said the health system I was already in had a Nurse Practitioner who was also a midwife.  The word "midwife" was a little scary but the receptionist said I could go to her to have everyting confirmed and decide from there if I wanted to stick with her or she would help me find an OB/GYN.   

Jeanie is amazing!  We both really like her and she spends a lot of time with us when we have appointments.  The main difference between an OB/GYN and a Nurse Practitioner-Midwife is that she will spend a lot more time with us in the hospital than a true doctor would.  She will go through coaching with us and she won't have to run to and from other delivering moms.  She has delivered more than 5,000 babies and has been in on over 2,000 C-sections.  She has an OB/GYN backing her up everyday in case anything goes wrong and though she can't do a C-section herself, she will be there if we need one.  One question we had was if we would be delivering at home or a hospital.  Thankfully we are delivering at a hospital and it's only 5 minutes from our house.  Another question I had was if I could have an epidural if I wanted it and I can.  Honestly, I don't do pain well and I just want to have the option available if I want. 

I saw Jeanie yesterday and the first thing she did was pull out the doppler and let me hear the baby's heartbeat.  I can't explain how cool that sound is unless you've experienced it yourself.  The baby was very active and kept "running away" from the doppler.  I just had to laugh.  I love knowing I have an active little one in there (get back to me on that when he/she is kicking me in the ribs).  I still can't feel the baby but Jeanie said that it'll take me longer because the placenta is attached to the front of my uterus, meaning the baby is facing my spine for now.

One concern we've been having is the level of nausea and vomitting I've had.  I started taking Zofran more regularly thanks to a suggestion from Stacy back home.  It's a lifesaver!  I haven't been sick since Monday.  I've still had some problems gaining weight but I did gain another 2 lbs meaning I've gained 3 lbs. since my first appointment.  I'm happy that it's coming on slow but I just want to make sure I do gain enough for the baby.  Still, even with only a slight gain, I can't button a lot of my pants anymore and my bowels have moved pretty far up according to Jeanie's exam.  She thinks by the next appointment, I'll be showing!  The only bad news we got was that our next appointment is not when we will find out the gender.  It's 6 weeks from now when we'll be able to tell and that's too long between appointments so Jeanie is having me see her in 4 weeks then go back 2 weeks later to find out the gender with a sonogram.  Now it looks like it'll be about the first week of November when we find out.  It'll be a good early Thanksgiving present!

I'll leave you with my 13 week picture.  Not much has changed since my week 11 picture!  Atlas definitely knows something is up.  He loves to cuddle on my lap so I've started to put a pillow there so he can't hurt the baby.  Atlas is 70 lbs, much too large for a lap dog, but he doesn't know that!  These days he's fairly gentle with me and has started cuddling next to me rather than on me.  Sometimes when I'm sitting at the kitchen table, he lightly snuggles his nose into my belly and lays his head with his ear against me and just stares up.  I truly think dogs know when something is different and I wouldn't doubt it if he's trying to bond with the baby.  Robin and I both agree he will likely start sleeping in the baby's room or in the hallway between our rooms.  Here's a pic of him, just so we all remember who was the first baby in the house, and to celebrate his 3rd birthday which is Wednesday, September 29th!

Happy Birthday, Atlas!  Pretty smile!