i know lucas understands numbers because i told him he could have one cookie. he took a second one from the wrapper and said “two.” so i let him have two and he said, “have 3” and took a third one. paul said, “way to be a disciplinarian.” and i replied, “it’s teaching him to count.”
Lauren and Jenn and I were trying to figure out Arianna’s eye color at the hospital. b/c i’m neurotic like that i wanted to know what color her eyes are. with the computer era, you can now find out exactly that. I took a close up photo of her eyes in the daylight and loaded it into photoshop. Then I used the color grabber tool and used it to pick out the colors in her eyes — both the lighter and darker areas of her irises. I’ve been calling them steel blue but didn’t think they really looked very blue and they aren’t really. they’re like really grey. slate grey. that blows away the whole “all babies are born with blue eyes” theory.
this morning I’ve had my first taste of being a SAHM (stay-at-home mom) to two kids. Paul went to Bando and has only been gone two hours, but I’ve spent nearly the entire two hours going back and forth btwn the two kids getting stuff for them. Arianna wants a bottle, Lucas wants juice. back to giving her the bottle, Lucas wants toast. Arianna needs a new diaper, Lucas wants more juice. Arianna wants more bottle. Lucas asks for more toast. Abby barks at a person outside. Annabelle walks around the room repeatedly meowing. Lucas wants a third cup of juice. I’m getting really nervous about Tuesday when Paul goes back to work!
paul: lucas, say ‘mommy is incompetent’
lucas: mommy is competent
(this repeats)
i start laughing really hard
lucas: mommy stop laughing (and covers my mouth)
(i laugh harder)
lucas: shut your mouth
(me making oatmeal, lucas tries to eat the uncooked oats)
me: no don’t eat that
lucas: i want some
me: you have to cook it first
lucas: well cook it
Mon – We got to go home from the hospital today! Arianna was soo tiny getting strapped into the car seat. Mom and Lucas were at home waiting to meet her. Lucas was sooo cute about first seeing his little sister. We were telling him how she wasn’t in Mommy’s belly anymore and he said, “check.” Then he lifted up my shirt to see my belly and said, “is out”. He wanted to hold her and hug her and kiss her, but we couldn’t let him since he’s been sick 😦 Mom has been sick, too, so she didn’t get to hold her yet either.
Mom had gotten the curtains done and hung them in the nursery while we were gone. They are so so gorgeous.
My first night home was a little rougher than expected, but not too bad. Around 11pm she started wanting food hourly. At 1am, ten minutes after I’d fallen asleep (and apparently a really deep sleep since I’d already been dreaming, woke up groggy, and was shocked to have only been asleep ten mins), she woke up yet again for food. I was like, “what happened to the baby I had at the hospital that would sleep for 5 hours straight?” When I had this thought, it reminded me of when I brought Lucas home and thought I’d brought home the wrong baby (not seriously) because he had done the same thing. With Lucas, we later found out that he wasn’t getting fed enough and that’s why he’d cry hourly for food. With this in mind, I gave her as much bottle as she would take without worrying about if it made her spit everything up by giving her too much. Turns out she was ready to up her dosage and drank 40 and then 55mL the next two feedings compared to the 20mL she’d been drinking at the hospital. Yay for experience. I had solved the sleep problem in a single night that had me up for like a week with Lucas.
Tues – In the morning, the four of us got up and took Arianna to the pediatrician. That was pretty stressful because Lucas decided to be a total pain in the butt about everything. I missed pretty much everything that went on since I was busy dealing with Lucas and trying to fill out a billion family history questions as new patients at the practice in Towne Lake. I don’t know if the doctor was just trying to go fast to get us out of there or what, but the doctor didn’t seem very thorough. Lauren thinks also because she had just been seen at the hospital and they had her info from that, but i dunno. paul was quite frustrated by the end (mostly with scheduling), and I wasn’t impressed with them either, so we decided we are just going to go back to Dr Kola even though that means driving out to Acworth. In the evening, Dad came over to meet Arianna and brought us Longhorns for dinner. After dinner, Lucas took him upstairs to show off his new bed and bedding set, then they went to his playroom and worked together on the car engine. Lucas even got Grandpa to read him a book before he had to leave and Lucas had to go to bed. Lucas had so much fun hanging out with Grandpa, that he was still talking about it three days later.
Weds – i got up early when Lucas and Arianna did and kinda helped paul out a little bit before going back to bed for a long nap. in the evening, paul took Lucas to the playground since it was nice outside while i stayed home with Arianna. then Glenn and his daughter Shannon came over to see Arianna. They brought some cute little clothes for both Lucas and Arianna. It was nice of them to stop by. The day finished up with Jenn picking me up and the two of us having our weekly IHOP dinner. I was super tired when I got home, but still ended up not going to bed until 1am.
Thurs – pretty good day today. I slept in until 12, paul said Arianna slept most of the time, too, after he had gotten up with her. Sarah and Shelly came over and brought us some Chick-fil-A and we all hung out. Funny pic of both baby girls laying back and being fed bottles. After they left, Paul and I took Arianna out on the back porch to lie in the sun for a few mins while Lucas napped. Such a pretty day outside today. Just been chilling the rest of the day.
i’m scrolling through the baby announcements for my Feb Baby Board to see what the Feb moms ended up naming their kids (mostly looking for any odd ones). So far I’ve found:
– 2 little girls with the middle name London
– some cool ones: Kai x2, Declan x3, Rowan x4, Everley, Avaleigh, Emerlee, Vienna as a middle name, Jace Donovan, Trevin, Drake, Roman, Asher, Brynleigh, Irelyn, Rylan, Kylon, Aubrianna, Trace
– an Alexandria, Damon x2, a Hunter, an Ethan, Lucas x 2
– Aidan x 4, Eliana x 4, Sera x 2, Landon x 4, a bunch of Reeses, 2 Paisleys, 2 Willows
– Albert the 3rd, Larry, and Maximus
– the odd ones: Logan Viking, Thatcher, Briar, Giovanni Valentin (this baby is destined to be an Italian clothing designer or something), Zakk, Ma’Riyah Zyerria, Stanislaw, Billie Jean (a boy), Balthazar, Atlas, Journey Raine, Zyaire, Breslynn, Dorian Gray
This week’s post is kinda long, but it actually ended up covering all the stuff that went on at the doc this week in my Babycenter weekly update.
How your baby’s growing:
It’s hard to say for sure how big your baby will be, but the average newborn weighs about 7 1/2 pounds and is about 20 inches long.
How your life’s changing:
After months of anticipation, your due date rolls around, and… you’re still pregnant. It’s a frustrating, but common, situation in which to find yourself. You may not be as late as you think, especially if you’re relying solely on a due date calculated from the day of your last period because sometimes women ovulate later than expected. Even with reliable dating, some women have prolonged pregnancies for no apparent reason.
You still have a couple of weeks before you’ll be considered “post-term.” But to be sure your baby is still thriving, your practitioner will schedule you for testing to keep an eye on her if your pregnancy continues.
You may have a biophysical profile (BPP), which consists of an ultrasound to look at your baby’s overall movements, breathing movements (movement of her chest muscles and diaphragm), and muscle tone (whether she opens and closes her hand or extends and then flexes her limbs), as well as the amount of amniotic fluid that surrounds her (important because it’s a reflection of how well the placenta is supporting your baby).
Fetal heart rate monitoring (called a nonstress test or NST) will generally be done as well — by itself or as part of the BPP. Or, you may have what’s known as a modified BPP, which consists of an NST and an ultrasound to assess the amount of amniotic fluid.
If the fetal testing isn’t reassuring — the amniotic fluid level is too low, for example — you’ll be induced. If there’s a serious, urgent problem, you may have an immediate c-section.
Your practitioner will also check your cervix to see if it’s “ripening.” Its position, how soft it is, how effaced (thinned out) it is, and how dilated (open) it is can all affect when and how your labor is induced. If you don’t go into labor on your own, you’ll be induced, usually sometime between 41 and 42 weeks.
What’s the procedure like?
You may be advised to eat a meal just before the test in the hope that eating will stimulate your baby to move around more. Although there’s no hard evidence that this works, it can’t hurt. It’s also a good idea to use the bathroom before the test, because you’ll be lying strapped to a monitor for up to an hour. The test consists of:
A detailed ultrasound to observe your baby’s body movements, muscle tone (flexing of the arms and legs), and breathing movements (the baby’s ability to move his chest muscles and diaphragm), and the amount of amniotic fluid surrounding him.
A nonstress test to assess whether your baby’s heart rate changes when he’s moving. For this, you lie on your left side. A technician straps two devices to your belly: One monitors your baby’s heartbeat and movement; the other records contractions in your uterus. The technician listens to and watches your baby’s heartbeat on an electronic screen.
So I had all of that done at my appointment today since I’m now considered “past due” of my Feb 13th due date that the doctors go by. However, since the original ultrasound due date was like Feb 18th, and she consistently measured behind like that at every ultrasound (and I’ve had 8 of them!), I don’t really consider her late yet. The nonstress test was actually kinda stressful for me, because I had Lucas with me in the room, and while I was *supposed* to be lying there restfully and counting fetal movements, I spent most of the time fussing at Lucas to stop pressing buttons on the machine and trying to keep him entertained. The midwife I saw today was able to get the results though, luckily. Then we did the ultrasound, which was kinda disappointing because Arianna is all lowered and in position (a good thing) so all the tech could see was the top of her head and not her face, so I didn’t get any pix this time. Arianna scored a 8/8 on her BPP so everything is looking good in there. She measured at 7lbs 3oz currently. Her size measured her at only 38.5 weeks — even further behind than the other ultrasounds had been showing — but the tech said she could just be measuring small for her age.
Unless I end up going into labor over the weekend, the current plan is: Monday @ 1 I go in to my regular doc for my 3rd NST (I had my first one at last Monday’s regular appointment). Monday evening I call the hospital and find out if they have a bed available for me, and as long as they aren’t full, I’ll check into the hospital Monday night. There they will give me a medicine(Cervidil) to prep me overnight. Then Tuesday morning I’ll be given pitocin to actually induce labor.
“How your baby’s growing:
Your baby’s waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it’s likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.”
Hmm even Babycenter didn’t have much to say about this week. Probably because nothing seems to be going on in there…it’s all just waiting. I had my 39wk check-up on Weds, and the doc said that nothing was going on. 0 cm dilated, ~50% effaced, and that she had lowered a little bit which was probably what is causing the ucky cramping i keep having. sometimes i can barely move. buuut, I’m hoping I still have until the end of next week, because anything before the 16th just doesn’t really work for me. i have my 40week appointment on Monday which will be when they schedule the induction. *fingers crossed i don’t go Mon, Tues, or Weds!*
Heather, one of my Girl Scouts, made me these awesome onesies for Arianna. Then all the scouts signed the back of one of them. So sweet!
how come every girly teen movie requires a fashion montage of the main character trying on a bunch of different clothes at a store to music? is it part of the costume designer’s contract to have her wearing a set number of outfits in a movie so they just throw ten in at once?
how come in the movies/tv, when someone’s get-together gets crashed by being turned into a raging party, 100 people show up *all at once* and they come bringing kegs, cups, and stereos for the music? i have never brought my own stereo system to a party.
i don’t care if “the script called for it,” Mr D, it’s just stupid
(i found this in my drafts folder, apparently it never got published)
How your baby’s growing:
Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She’s shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.
At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she’s in a head-down position.
A post Paul put on my Facebook that made me LOL:
This is what it is like living with you while pregnant 😀
http://i.imgur.com/7Eve8.jpg
So the heartburn has gone away over the past couple of weeks, but I still have the awful lower back pain when I try to sleep at night (or lie in bed more than a couple of hours). i still want to sleep all the time, and get headachey/dizzy occasionally.
we (paul) got the room painted and the border up!! i’m so excited how it is coming together
talked to a nurse today (my insurance has a nurse that calls me monthly to check on me), and found out that the ultrasound measurements are only accurate for due dates in the first trimester. that the babies grow at different rates, so just because she is measuring to be due Feb 18, doesn’t mean that is as scientific as it sounds. so now i have no idea when she will come. i’m sticking with *fingers crossed* my guess of the 16th. anyone else want to register a guess?
ally-cat 