Dear Blasty, You Can Be Born Whenever You Want

The shadows make for a little bit of a "joker" face, but still so cute! :0)

We had what we *thought* was going to be our last ultrasound this past Monday. It was ordered as a final follow-up to check his growth because of my low PAPP-A. We were so excited to see him and I knew his growth had to be good because he FEELS so big! The technician did her measurements and he showed up again suddenly on the monitor with his chubby cheeks and eyes wide open as if they were looking right at us. I wish she would have kept the "camera" there longer but she had her work to do. At least she gave us a photo. :) She told us he was weighing in at 4.5 lbs., which is in keeping with what I have read the average weight gain should be at this point in his development. If he gains a 1/2 lb. every week (as they are supposed to do) and arrives on or near his due date, he will have a birth weight of roughly 8 lbs. I will gladly take that instead of something similar to Dan's 10 lb birth weight!!!! LOL.

Pleased to have seen our healthy boy, we happily started our first birth class (1 of 5) that following evening. The goal of the birth education classes (provided by my insurance company) is to explain the stages of labor and the delivery process at our specific hospital, offer instruction for non-medicated relaxation techniques, and education on breastfeeding and post-delivery infant care. Dan and I both read up on what to expect for labor but this gives us a chance to ask questions with someone who knows our hospital's procedures as well as interact with other couples who are expecting babies around the same time as us. Of course Dan was a big hit with the other men and took the leadership role when they met on their own. He also had his usual scientific questions....What exactly IS the amniotic fluid made of??? :-)

Yesterday we received a call from our doctor and he has a small concern about something he saw in one of the photos from the ultrasound. Apparently, Blasty's right ureter (the tube that connects his kidney to his bladder) is looking a little larger than they would like to see. Dr. O. said the maximum they want to see is 7 mm and Blasty's was 8 mm. He consulted our perinatalogist, and they both agreed that having another (better) look at it was a good idea. Best case scenario: the technician took a bad photo or wrong measurement and there is no problem at all. Worst case scenario is that there is some sort of blockage happening and we would need an operation to fix it after he is born. Dr. O. told me not to worry and they didn't even schedule the ultrasound until the first week of August so apparently they aren't tremendously concerned. I suppose if it was much bigger they would want to take a look again right away. It wasn't great getting less than perfect news, but I am confident it will be okay. I am trusting the doctors and so far we have survived all of our little hiccups with nothing but a healthy, (I am assuming happy), growing baby!

We also got some super great news in terms of our insurance for Blasty. Previously I mentioned that I had the option to cover Blasty through my plan with Kaiser at work but it was expensive. To get a less expensive independent individual plan, we needed Blasty to be born in August so we could get paperwork in for a September 1st enrollment. (Oregon only allows enrollment for children under 18 twice a year). I was getting very anxious about this! I don't know when he is going to be born and I hated to leave his insurance up in the air until the last minute. I was also worried about getting paperwork through if he was born at the very end of the month. Suddenly I realized I had to figure out all of those things like how to get the birth certificate and social security number, etc. Would the insurance company take paperwork without his SS#? Because I read they take 4-6 weeks to get in the mail. All of my worries were laid to rest, however, when my angel of an insurance broker gave us the news that Oregon is changing the law as of August 1st! Children will be able to enroll ANY TIME OF THE YEAR. Yea!!!! Problem solved!!! Blasty, you can be born WHENEVER YOU WANT! :-)

In the meantime, we are trying to get as "ready" for that moment as possible. There are lots of "TO DO" lists that I have converted into color coded post-it notes on the refrigerator. Dan is doing a great job of completing his post-it notes tasks. :-) I'm a little slower but I'm MOVING slower and Hey! I have the biggest post-it note of all: grow the baby! LOL.

In preparation, we have been doing a lot. Some fun things have been: finishing the nursery decor, laundering Blasty's blankets, clothing, and diapers (he has already lost 2 socks to the washer/dryer universe and he's not even born yet!), and picking out the birth announcements. Our Oregon *family* baby shower is tomorrow and I can't wait! We have some friends coming that we haven't seen forever! Photos to follow... :-)

Reading To Blasty

Earlier this week, Dan announced that he wanted to start reading to Blasty every night before we go to sleep. He wants Blasty to know his voice. :) Luckily, we already have a large collection of books! For our baby shower at Uncle Doug & Aunt Rita's, everyone was asked to sign their name to a book for Blasty's library rather than a card. (We had an entire duffel bag full of books that we brought home!) It has been so much fun to pick a new book every night and open it up to see who it is from.**

The first night was really funny though, because the first book he picked had about 2 words in it. LOL. It was a picture book of trucks. He enthusiastically read "Truck" and "Trucking" about ten times and that was it. I laughed so hard I cried! :) Every night was fun as we alternated picking books and often opened them up to find a signature and think of a good friend or family member. Last night we opened up one to find out it was from Papa & Noni, (my mom and dad) and it was a popular book I had heard of but never read, "On the Night You Were Born." It was so sweet! Oh boy it was hard not to cry! :)

Here is a list of Blasty's first books this past week...I know it is totally silly to share it, but hey, I'm a sentimental pregnant mama:

Truck by Donald Crews
Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer (Both Dan and I grew up reading and LOVING the Little Critter books, didn't you??? My favorites were "Just Go To Bed" and "Me Too")
The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton (I hear all of her books are great?)
On The Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman
I Like Bugs by Lorena Siminovich (Petit Collage illustrations--I LOVE their stuff! I didn't know they did books...)
Gossie by Olivier Dunrea

Dan relinquished a shelf from his pint glass collection in the hallway for Blasty's books. (I guess he's officially entering daddy-hood!)

In an attempt to get things organized, I also got some baskets and a bin to hold toys (not that Blasty really has any yet, but I am assuming we will end up with quite a few and we don't have any closet space for them).

The red baskets were a big score from Cost Plus World Market (online) at just $7 each and then I super-indulged myself with 1 of those popular/trendy organic canvas bins (quite the deceptively HUGE container) by 3 Sprouts ($40).

**The most popular books at the baby shower were "Goodnight Moon" and "Guess How Much I Love You." Blasty received 4 copies of each. :) Another note of interest: He received books in Spanish and French, not just English! We will have fun practicing our horrible accents. :)

Blasty Bomb Belly Photos!

All photos by my wonderful and talented best friend, Amy! (Amy Mulder Photography) I can't wait for her to do his portrait after he is born! :) She is AWESOME.

Taken in Grandma and Grandpa Hodel's back yard on May 23, 2011 (I was about 26 weeks along).

It's All About the Belly

How far along? 20 weeks 6 days. I'm over the hump! (No pun intended.) It really IS all about the belly now. People want to touch it and strangers now seem to have a clear signal to ask questions about me and my baby. Weird. But sweet, I guess.

Baby's size and development? According to the stuff I read, he should be about 6 1/2- 7 1/2 inches for the traditional "crown to rump" length, which means probably more like 10 inches from head to toe, and 10-11 ounces! :) Dan has thrown out the produce references and now prefers to equate him with a small squirrel. It is so hard to believe that this little guy started out the size of a poppy seed. Wow.

Changes in me? Um, hello back pain! For crying out loud. Remember last time I said it wasn't that bad? Well, now it is. I can only last about 1/2-1 hour walking or on my feet working on any sort of housecleaning or projects before my back hurts so bad I have to lie down and spend the rest of the day recuperating with heat packs. This is throwing a big annoying wrench in my plan to tackle my To Do list. I think over the past five months I stopped using my abdominal muscles and my back is overcompensating for it. And it's already overcompensating for the weight in my uterus. Speaking of which, it passes my belly button now and continues to grow. I swear I can feel it growing all of the time! And sometimes patches of my abdomen feel so hard I think I have found, and can knock on, Blasty's head. However he isn't big enough yet for me to actually feel where he is and what parts of him are in what places.

We learned at our last ultrasound that my placenta is at the bottom of my uterus. This is known as "Placenta Previa," and it is a "complete placenta previa" because the placenta is completely covering my cervix. The gravity of this condition depends on how far along I am in my pregnancy. So right now, it isn't alarming. I read that 8 out of 10 cases diagnosed by week 20 resolve themselves later in the pregnancy. I am on "pelvic rest" so I am supposed to keep an eye out for any bleeding and avoid strenuous activity such as lifting more than 20 lbs., or agitation or strain in the pelvic region. The perinatologist said it was still OK for us to have sex but our doctor advised against it. He wants me to take every precaution to avoid causing bleeding. The good news is that over time, my placenta is likely to "migrate" farther from my cervix (I learned in my reading that since the placenta is implanted in the uterus, it doesn't actually move, but it can end up farther away as my uterus expands) and I also read that as the placenta itself grows, it's likely to grow toward the richer blood supply in the upper part of the uterus. This is what we will be hoping for because if it continues to stay where it is into my third trimester, I will have further restrictions and things will get a little bit more tricky.

Maternity clothes? Still rockin' the belly band but I'm feeling ready for some actual maternity pants! At the end of the month we are going to visit April and I'm going to have to see if I can borrow some. I'm also planning on pillaging Megan's used goods at the end of May, and in the meantime I am on the hunt for a dress to wear to a wedding. Liz Lange at Target has cute styles but they are either ivory (horribly unflattering for me) or black (can I wear black to a wedding??)

Sleep? Great. Did I mention our new bed? And that Rocco is a big boy now and sleeps on his own in his kennel in the living room??? (Why didn't we do that from the very beginning with him???) :) Yes, I know I have. But it is worth mentioning again. These are good ....Very good things. I might get to experience a small window of great sleep before things get changed by a newborn.

Best moment this past week? Reading to Blasty. Like I said before, Dan has been talking to him but I haven't really. It hasn't come very naturally to me. So I decided to read to him. I happen to have a few board books already because I have been collecting Eric Carle stuff for a long time. I am determined to own every book he has written/illustrated. Blasty LOVED "My Very First Book of Animal Homes." He moved through the entire reading. He quieted for the more plot driven story that followed, "A House for Hermit Crab." :-)



Movement? Still lots of flutters and pops. Now that I feel him regularly it drives me crazy when he stops. He was relatively immobile throughout the entire weekend and I was getting annoyed. LOL. I like to know he's there!!! :) We have determined that he is most active on Mondays. Monday arrived and he moved from 7 am to 10 pm non-stop. I can't wait for when he is bigger and Dan can finally feel him...!

Symptoms? Back pain, round ligament pain, acne, less energy but no longer quite so fatigued.

What I miss? Sex. I'm just being honest. It has been a while. This "pelvic rest" thing is annoying.

What am I looking forward to? Our trip to Illinois. It is only 1 month away! We will have 11 glorious days away from work to just relax and spend time with family and friends. I have been so much more "homesick" than usual ever since I found out I was pregnant. I just can not wait to see my family and friends, hug them, and spend time together.

Emotions? There is a list of emotions in the right hand column on this web page. I feel like I am so hormonal I feel each and every single one of them every day. LOL. What a roller coaster!

New Goodies for My Boy

I'm pretty sure had I found out that Blasty was a girl I would have gone on a major shopping spree by now. I mean.....c'mon. Girl clothes....are So. Fun. The DRESSES, alone, people! And the swimsuits? I even had one picked out, just in case. LOL. It is a nice relief, though, to not get caught up in all of it. Because believe me, I would have been Caught. Up.

After five years of buying gender neutral things, it was quite thrilling to walk into a store and go straight to the boy stuff. :) Here are a few things I picked out for Blasty...

BLUE. The first time I've bought something blue!

Uber hip Appaman for Target

Swatches for the blue and green bedding I decided on from Land of Nod and the first bird for Blasty's Audubon bird collection, the Blue Jay. He looks just like Boris!!! :)

now blasty is officially ready for the season. go bears.

It's a Boy...!

Finally! March 30th! The day we have had marked on our calendar for our anatomy ultra sound! Oh how I have waited!!! LOL. Dan always said he would want to wait to find out the sex until a baby is born but by the time we saw blasty at our first ultrasound, reality set in and I think he got curious! I am so glad he changed his mind because getting to find out today has been like a giant, mighty reward for all of my hard work growing this little babe. ;)

My hand next to a true-to-life size image of an average baby at 19 weeks. (Today I am 18 weeks and 1 day.)

Not only was today important because we found out the sex, but it was also crucial to check Blasty's growth for two reasons. 1.) One particular blood protein of mine, PAPP-A (or, pregnancy-associated plasma protein) tests too low. My result was 0.17 and they prefer to see 1.0 or greater. This has raised flags for both blood screenings for Downs Syndrome and other severe chromosome disorders. We saw a perinatologist a month ago so he could examine the fluid in Blasty's spine. It was a normal amount, so he said we could generally rule out these disorders but because of my PAPP-A level it keeps a little warning flag raised. It could indicate delayed growth or low fetal birth weight. Today we were very happy to see that Blasty is growing healthy and on target (even 3 days ahead of himself!) 2.) A medication I was taking when I conceived can cause growth malformations, particularly cleft palette or cleft lip. Again, we were so happy and relieved to find out that Blasty's facial growth is normal and all of the right bones and plates have formed accordingly. :)

Blasty's face with his right hand waving :)

We decided to make today extra special by finding out Blasty's sex in a unique way. I got this idea from a couple who came into Spoiled Rotten years ago and did it. When the sonographer examined Blasty's legs and pelvis, we looked away and then had her write down the sex and put it in an envelope for us. After work, we went to the mall and picked out a boy outfit and a girl outfit. We took them to the cashier and gave her our credit card and the envelope. She became the 3rd person to know what we were having! (After the sonographer and our doctor, who teased us! Ha ha.) The suspense was killing me, but it was so much fun!!! She put the right outfit in a big gift box and we took it with us and went out to dinner to celebrate.

We ended up at Asabache, our favorite Mexican restaurant...Blasty had a hankering for tacos. :)

Here we are about to open the box! Our waitress was so sweet and really happy to help out and take some pictures to capture the moment. She genuinely seemed just as excited as we were! LOL.

That looks like our boy outfit! (I love the look on Dan's face!)

A cute little button down shirt just like daddy would wear...!

Getting Started on the Nursery

I trust there is never a good time to take a photo of yourself when you are pregnant. This was the best that I could do. ;) Can you tell how tired I am? LOL.

I am in the middle of week 13 and I have a teeny tiny bump. Not enough that it is super noticeable, but enough that I don't need to wear a belt anymore and my pants are certainly starting to feel tight. So here is my first question: When should I buy maternity pants? They totally already sound more comfortable at this point, but won't I have to buy new ones the bigger I get? Or are there pants that grow with you? Please advise.

Dan took this photo in our nursery, where we have some paint samples up on the wall. Last weekend he fixed our ceiling light/fan and installed a dimmer switch as well as put the crib together and cleared out enough space to get it into the room. This was a busy weekend, too. We cleared out more stuff so that I was able to move the crib around and figure out where I want to put it and a few other furniture pieces. Dan put paint samples on the wall and I started taking out some items from my future-baby boxes. Boy, did the reality really sink in fast! I started crying!! LOL. Poor Dan had no idea what was going on. He thought it was something he said, but it was more the overwhelming realization that our baby was no longer in my imagination. He or she is real, and growing inside me every day. Standing in the room that I always imagined would be a nursery and seeing it start to truly become one was exciting yet scary! I just want Blasty to keep growing and be strong and safely greet us in six months. ;)

Today we found a rocking chair at the thrift store that Dan is going to refinish and I will reupholster. We settled on artwork and bought frames, and picked out fabric for the crib bedding! This is a MAJOR accomplishment because I have searched for crib bedding since the day I found out we were pregnant....We went to every store in Portland and I spent hours online, to no avail. I AM SO PICKY! Of course anything that I DID like was horribly expensive, so after I saw Melissa made her set, I asked her if she would help me. Dan and I went to the coolest fabric store in Portland, Cool Cottons, and I am so happy with what we found:


This will be the bumper fabric and the sheets will be ivory. We have two other fabrics picked out for the skirt, depending on the sex of the baby. As for a blanket, I haven't quite decided yet if I will use the owl fabric again or just do ivory. I like the idea of doing ivory and adding some embroidered text or something. I don't know...We'll see. I'm just so happy to have found a starting point! Thank you to my wonderful, adorable, supportive husband, who is clearly my lucky charm when it comes to finding things!

Blasty: Part II Sharing the News

The next few days following our surprise test results were ....surreal. I definitely feel like finding out I was pregnant was the most surreal experience I've ever had. Despite the fact we had been waiting and trying for so long, I was shocked! LOL. I woke up every morning at the crack of dawn and laid there, poking Dan until he woke up. I just kept thinking, I'm pregnant. Oh my heck!!!

So I was up early on Christmas Eve and ready to go! I told my sister the news first. I messaged her and said we sent her a present from Amazon and she should check her email to make sure she got it. Of course, there was no present and the email had the photo of our positive pregnancy tests. :)

That evening I had her wait until we were Skyping to give my mom her 2011 calendar, pretending I wanted to see it. She was busy holding Lexi, so my dad was flipping through it, showing us the photos Rachel used of Logan and Lexi for each month. She also added a photo of each family member on their birthday and anniversary. When they reached September (we didn't know an official due date yet, so I was guessing...) my sister had written something like "birth of grandbaby #3." My dad read it aloud and showed it to my mom, then held it up to the screen and asked us, "Did you guys know about this!?" My mom turned around to look at Tom and Rachel, and Rachel said "Don't look at us!" At which point, my mom turned around to look at us and shrieked "Are you pregnant?!!??!" I cried "Yes!" and we all laughed as my mom continued shrieking and started crying.

Luckily, Dan was able to record it. I have watched it several times already. My mom cracks me up and the giant grin on my dad's face is priceless.

On Christmas day, Dan told Doug and then we surprised Jim & Char when we Skyped. Dan bragged a little about what I got him for Christmas, holding up his shoes and golf towel for them to see, and then had me show them what he got me: A super cute little onesie. Char mused that it was very cute, and when I said "It's for the baby," she said "What baby?" And I explained, "Our baby." Silence. "Your grandbaby." More silence. This had to sink in...!!! And then Dan said, "I got her pregnant for Christmas," at which point Char really got it! "Oh my gosh!!!!" And after answering some questions, Dan had to check in with his dad, "Are you okay, dad?" He had been quiet and perfectly still the whole time. He was waiting to make sure we weren't playing a trick on them! Nope! Not this time! :) Blasty was our real little Christmas miracle.

I think Dan actually googled how long to wait to tell people you were pregnant. Somehow we came to the decision that we would wait until the end of the first trimester. Our families respectfully agreed to keep quiet. But boy, is that easier said than done! Oh my heck! I woke up the next morning with an overwhelming need to tell my girlfriends. I convinced Dan, and then continued to convince him, slowly, over the next few weeks, why it was OK to tell so and so, and then so and so. :) Officially, during the first trimester, quite a few people knew: Grandma, Aunt Mary, Aunt Connie, Aunt Joan, Dan & Tina, Josh & Jess, Allyson, Hattie, Sarah, Nick & Megan, Kevin, Art & Andra (we found out they were pregnant first!) We saw a few friends in person here in Oregon, who knew either because I wasn't drinking or because I couldn't keep the secret while looking at them straight in the face. So, pretty early on my coworkers, Matt & Gayle, Peter & Angela, Patrick & Teressa, Andy, and Carmen & Lorri found out. LOL. By 10 or 11 weeks I was getting really antsy. I think I ended up telling Melissa, Amy, Corey, Kate, and of course, April, when we visited.

Finally, come Valentine's Day, I reached 12 weeks. Our parents were free to share the news with everyone and anyone, and we put the word out on Facebook. And waiting was worth it to get to celebrate all over again with so many people online. The messages and comments of joy and congratulations were wonderful and overwhelming!!! :)

Some of my memories of sharing our news have become top favorite memories of all time.

Blasty: Part I Finding Out

This is our baby, who we affectionately refer to as "Blasty." When we discovered we were pregnant, I was about 4 weeks along and Dan learned that the baby was at the stage of being a "blastocycst." Blasty! The photo above was from our first ultra sound when he (or she) was six weeks. His head is at the top of the uterus, with a little lima bean-like body below.

So how did this happen?!? (More importantly, how did I keep it a secret!??! LOL.)

After the future-baby making post on December 11th, we hit a tail-spin. I used an ovulation test kit the first two weeks of the month but we never had a positive. It is hard to even describe how disappointing that was.

On the 16th, I met with the fertility nurse for a consultation required by my insurance company. They follow a series of steps before referring patients outside the network to fertility clinics. She quickly assured me that my doctor planned to refer me right away. However, the final steps I needed to take were: 1) have Dan's paperwork sent to my office and 2) Check my fallopian tubes. First of all, Dan didn't have any paperwork. :) We never had his reproductive capabilities checked! And second, I found it slightly absurd that they wanted to check my tubes. I CAN'T MAKE EGGS. I wasn't interested in my tubes! Besides, they were going to classify the procedure, a standard hysterosalpingography (HSG), as a fertility procedure, so my insurance would only pay half. It was going to cost us about $1000.

$1000 to check my tubes. When we knew I couldn't even make an egg. So that my doctor could refer me to a fertility specialist to address the egg problem, with more expensive and aggressive treatments. No thanks.

And that was it. It was like realizing the road was a dead end. We decided not to do the HSG, but we had Dan get his sperm tested. Of course the sperm were perfect. At that point, the two of us began to see things differently. I was exhausted. Dan wanted me to see what the naturopath had to say and try treatment for at least six months. I was wary of doing anything else to my body and afraid that I couldn't handle it emotionally. I felt like I had already gave so much. I was ready to move onto adoption. I ordered an informational packet from a local agency.

A week after the fertility consultation, on December 23rd, I took a pregnancy test.

When I look back on this, I am struck at the irony. I didn't need to take one. I didn't ovulate, and there was still another 5 days or so that I could start a period on my own. I was just in the habit of ending each cycle by taking one so that I could verify I wasn't pregnant and begin the next round of medicine. Somewhere, deep inside, I must have known. Because there wasn't going to be another round of medicine. We were done!

I left work early that day and spent that afternoon on the couch...I had cramps and was starting to wonder if I was getting a bladder infection. There was some pressure and discomfort, and I had to go to the bathroom all the time. I spent two hours on the phone with Hattie, agonizing about the whole journey and worrying about what to do next with Dan and I in disagreement. After our talk, I ran errands and picked up some stuff at the store, including a test. When I got home, I ran in the bathroom and took it, hardly even paying attention to the results. What I noticed was that it changed right away. I didn't even know what the result meant. Then I read the directions. And I started shaking. Why did I have a positive?

I immediately told Dan to go to the store and buy another test. Buy two or three. Get different brands. Get expensive ones! I thought I had a false positive and I needed to know for sure ASAP. So, off he went. He came back to find me pounding back glasses of water and on the phone with my mom. She called while everything was happening, so I called her back to talk and keep my mind off of what was actually happening. About a half hour later, I had to pee. I ended the call with my mom and returned the bathroom with two tests. One was the same brand and the other was a fancy digital one. After I used them, I walked back to the living room and informed Dan that you aren't supposed to drink a lot of water and then take a test. It can dilute the results. We were probably going to get a negative, but we wouldn't know if it was accurate. Right? This was all crazy! I couldn't stop shaking! I went back to the bathroom and glanced at the tests.

Wow. I'm really pregnant.