I received a call from my midwife last evening. When she told me it was her on the other end of the line I immediately thought, "Shoot. 3-hour Glucose Test for me!" Thankfully, after way too many words were spoken that did not contain this reassuring news, she did indeed tell me that the GTT came back normal - no diabetes here. I am, however, anemic. This explains a lot about the lack of energy, etc. I was anemic with Adeline as well, but this time it must be more severe or this particular group of practitioners takes it more seriously, because I now have to go on an iron supplement. I'm also going to start trying to get more iron in my diet, and I did go back to taking a regular prenatal vitamin because my gummy bears didn't have iron in them. I think all of this will help. I absolutely do not, in any way, want to compromise my eligibility or ability to give birth in the birthing center as opposed to the hospital (especially given some literature I've been reading lately about maternity care in the US...) so more iron it is for me! I've also stepped up my protein intake as I know that is key in the final months of pregnancy to avoid having a low-birthweight baby.
In other news, Adeline said three more words this morning that I didn't know she knew - square, stool and... shoot, I can't remember the third one. She's getting really good at recognizing red and blue without prompting, and now will say, "Love you" if you ask her to. Haven't quite gotten to the point of her just offering a "Love you", but the "hug" and "kiss" are enough for now. It's so adorable when Daddy leaves for or comes home from work. She meets him at the door, hugs his legs and says, "Hug, kiss." Soooooo cute :). (She says "cute" too.)
That's all for now. More soon.
Much love,
Meredith
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
What's New
A few updates, since it's been a while...
I had my monthly prenatal appointment this morning which included my Glucose Tolerance Test to check for Gestational Diabetes. All seemed to go well. I'm almost back at my pre-pregnancy weight and my belly is measuring one centimeter shy of my number of weeks along, which is just fine. Pink Floyd has a strong heartbeat on the cusp of the upper 120's to 130, and she is currently head down with her little bottom sitting to the right. I now know those rolling movements across the top of my belly several inches above my belly button (or "boo-tee" as Adeline calls it) are feet ;-). She's actually laying on the opposite side that Adeline preferred. When I push the lump jetting out to my right this time instead of feet I know it's a little tushie :) - at least for now. Now that I'm in my third trimester I'm already due to start visiting every other week! I can't believe it! If I have more than 4 Braxton-Hicks contractions in an hour I'm supposed to call in (and follow some other instructions to get hydrated and rest). At the top of the to-do list is still to find the time to get over to the birthing center for a tour. We can't take a scheduled tour because they are only on Wednesday evenings a couple times a month and Alan has youth group. The only other option is to call them when we think we might be able to stop by and they let us know if they're busy or not and have the time to walk us through! [**As I type this Adeline is feeding Daddy fishies and trying to stick her sippy cup of milk in his mouth. Such a good sharer :)**] I'm beginning to get more and more excited about the arrival of little Pink Floyd and more and more excited about being able to share her real name with the world, which is not 100% decided upon but pretty darn close :). I'm working on my Bradley exercises and relaxing and take the uncomfortable Braxton-Hicks contractions as an opportunity to pretend it's labor and consciously relax all the muscles in my body. For having done this before there are still so many unknowns, and being in a new place with new midwives and a new birthing place makes things just as unfamiliar as they were the first time. It's like having baby #1 a second time :).
Anywho, enough about me... Adeline seems to get bigger everyday. I continue to be astounded by all she understands and is able to communicate back to me. She says, or at least tries to say, EVERYTHING! Just today at lunch Alan offered her some of his tuna saying, "Do you want some tuna?" She'd never even heard the word tuna before and she promptly replied, "No tuna," clear as day. She knows a whole host of animals and their sounds (cat, dog, monkey, cow, duck, frog....), is becoming a pro at her clipo blocks, can complete her farm animal puzzle and put the shapes through her shape sorter, and continues to add to her phrase vocabulary daily. We're starting to do some intense work on "I Love You" ;-). Everyday she mentions other family members she hasn't seen in weeks or months and remembers that she's seen their pictures on our camera. She loves the scarf her Grandma made for her (and says, "Scarf" quite well too!) and turns almost everything into a phone and/or a hat (including her food, much to her parents' chagrin). She is also getting very good at saying her name. She started that about a month ago, but it is starting to get much clearer. She also can pick the letter "A" out of just about anywhere and knows it "stands for" her name. We sit at the dinner table together for our meals, now that we're all able to be home and together for dinner most nights and even occasionally some lunches. She sits in her booster seat and eats at the table with Alan and me, no longer off of a tray, and can manage forks and spoons with ease now. She loves to sing. Some of her favorites are "Wii Pooh" (Winnie the Pooh), "Baa baa" (Baa Baa Black Sheep), "Ah-C's" (ABC's), "Row Row Boat" (Row Your Boat), and - my personal favorite - "Ooh Boo-Tee" which is the belly button song from the Boynton Belly Button Book. It has a real tune but we don't know it so we made one up. She loves her "boo-tee". I think it's funny she calls it that because she knows how to say "belly" and "button". I guess it's just its own thing! She also knows lots of body parts - from hair to neck to back to toes - and is getting better at "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". She also loves to bounce like Tigger :). She really does and says so much more than this too but it's a lot to type!! Hopefully this is enough to satisfy our long-distance readers at least :). Oh, and the plug has been all but forgotten :).
We have a busy and exciting couple of weeks coming up. Today Alan's sister Beckie is coming to town and will stay with us tonight. We haven't seen her since... hm, actually at the moment I can't think of the last time we saw Beckie! We're glad she's passing through on her way to her new job. Papa is coming to Michigan for a few days this week so we get to see Amma and Papa probably on Tuesday. The week after that we're heading down to Cincinnati to visit Nathan, Johanna and William for a couple days. So we'll finish out February with lots of fun visits with people we love.
I think that's all for now. Again, sorry for the lack of belly pix. We took some at week 27, I just haven't gotten around to uploading them yet. Maybe we'll take more this week and try to get them all posted soon.
That's all from our neck of the woods for now. Happy Valentine's Day to all :).
I had my monthly prenatal appointment this morning which included my Glucose Tolerance Test to check for Gestational Diabetes. All seemed to go well. I'm almost back at my pre-pregnancy weight and my belly is measuring one centimeter shy of my number of weeks along, which is just fine. Pink Floyd has a strong heartbeat on the cusp of the upper 120's to 130, and she is currently head down with her little bottom sitting to the right. I now know those rolling movements across the top of my belly several inches above my belly button (or "boo-tee" as Adeline calls it) are feet ;-). She's actually laying on the opposite side that Adeline preferred. When I push the lump jetting out to my right this time instead of feet I know it's a little tushie :) - at least for now. Now that I'm in my third trimester I'm already due to start visiting every other week! I can't believe it! If I have more than 4 Braxton-Hicks contractions in an hour I'm supposed to call in (and follow some other instructions to get hydrated and rest). At the top of the to-do list is still to find the time to get over to the birthing center for a tour. We can't take a scheduled tour because they are only on Wednesday evenings a couple times a month and Alan has youth group. The only other option is to call them when we think we might be able to stop by and they let us know if they're busy or not and have the time to walk us through! [**As I type this Adeline is feeding Daddy fishies and trying to stick her sippy cup of milk in his mouth. Such a good sharer :)**] I'm beginning to get more and more excited about the arrival of little Pink Floyd and more and more excited about being able to share her real name with the world, which is not 100% decided upon but pretty darn close :). I'm working on my Bradley exercises and relaxing and take the uncomfortable Braxton-Hicks contractions as an opportunity to pretend it's labor and consciously relax all the muscles in my body. For having done this before there are still so many unknowns, and being in a new place with new midwives and a new birthing place makes things just as unfamiliar as they were the first time. It's like having baby #1 a second time :).
Anywho, enough about me... Adeline seems to get bigger everyday. I continue to be astounded by all she understands and is able to communicate back to me. She says, or at least tries to say, EVERYTHING! Just today at lunch Alan offered her some of his tuna saying, "Do you want some tuna?" She'd never even heard the word tuna before and she promptly replied, "No tuna," clear as day. She knows a whole host of animals and their sounds (cat, dog, monkey, cow, duck, frog....), is becoming a pro at her clipo blocks, can complete her farm animal puzzle and put the shapes through her shape sorter, and continues to add to her phrase vocabulary daily. We're starting to do some intense work on "I Love You" ;-). Everyday she mentions other family members she hasn't seen in weeks or months and remembers that she's seen their pictures on our camera. She loves the scarf her Grandma made for her (and says, "Scarf" quite well too!) and turns almost everything into a phone and/or a hat (including her food, much to her parents' chagrin). She is also getting very good at saying her name. She started that about a month ago, but it is starting to get much clearer. She also can pick the letter "A" out of just about anywhere and knows it "stands for" her name. We sit at the dinner table together for our meals, now that we're all able to be home and together for dinner most nights and even occasionally some lunches. She sits in her booster seat and eats at the table with Alan and me, no longer off of a tray, and can manage forks and spoons with ease now. She loves to sing. Some of her favorites are "Wii Pooh" (Winnie the Pooh), "Baa baa" (Baa Baa Black Sheep), "Ah-C's" (ABC's), "Row Row Boat" (Row Your Boat), and - my personal favorite - "Ooh Boo-Tee" which is the belly button song from the Boynton Belly Button Book. It has a real tune but we don't know it so we made one up. She loves her "boo-tee". I think it's funny she calls it that because she knows how to say "belly" and "button". I guess it's just its own thing! She also knows lots of body parts - from hair to neck to back to toes - and is getting better at "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". She also loves to bounce like Tigger :). She really does and says so much more than this too but it's a lot to type!! Hopefully this is enough to satisfy our long-distance readers at least :). Oh, and the plug has been all but forgotten :).
We have a busy and exciting couple of weeks coming up. Today Alan's sister Beckie is coming to town and will stay with us tonight. We haven't seen her since... hm, actually at the moment I can't think of the last time we saw Beckie! We're glad she's passing through on her way to her new job. Papa is coming to Michigan for a few days this week so we get to see Amma and Papa probably on Tuesday. The week after that we're heading down to Cincinnati to visit Nathan, Johanna and William for a couple days. So we'll finish out February with lots of fun visits with people we love.
I think that's all for now. Again, sorry for the lack of belly pix. We took some at week 27, I just haven't gotten around to uploading them yet. Maybe we'll take more this week and try to get them all posted soon.
That's all from our neck of the woods for now. Happy Valentine's Day to all :).
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Plug Weaning
Over the last couple of months Alan and I have been much more intentional about when, where and for what period of time we allow Adeline to have her plug. Mostly she's been able to dictate plug usage because she was always really good at giving it up when we didn't want her to have it. Well, the last couple of days we've really stepped it up and we were only letting her have it for sleep - both naps and overnight. However this stepping it up has also seen a dramatic increase in tantrum throwing. Yesterday at Target I saw the biggest tantrum I've ever seen in my life. It was totally out of control. (Thankfully both Alan and I were there and Alan was able to take her out to the car so I could finish our shopping.) Since we'd already seen the mother of all tantrums take place we figured we didn't have much to lose in trying to go without the plug overnight. I was expecting some crying and maybe some frustration. But when I put her in her crib and said, "Nigh-night," she looked up at me, holding Doug, and said, "No plug." I said, "That's right. No plug for my big girl." I exited the room and didn't hear a peep! (Well, till 4am which seems to be a regular thing these days...) And today for her nap there was a little bit of fuss, but it didn't last long. Her nap was significantly shorter - about an hour instead of two and a half - but I think that will change. And tonight when I put her in her crib it was the same thing as last night - "Nigh-night," "No plug."
So I am quite hopeful that even the remembrance of the plug will soon pass. She seems to be doing okay without it. Although the tantrums are ridiculously awful. I'm only assuming this is associated with the lack of the soothing plug during the day because the increase in number and severity coincides quite perfectly with our decision to pull the plug, so to speak ;-). Although it could also just be because we're getting just that close to 2... Only time will tell.
So I am quite hopeful that even the remembrance of the plug will soon pass. She seems to be doing okay without it. Although the tantrums are ridiculously awful. I'm only assuming this is associated with the lack of the soothing plug during the day because the increase in number and severity coincides quite perfectly with our decision to pull the plug, so to speak ;-). Although it could also just be because we're getting just that close to 2... Only time will tell.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Ultrasound and Other Pictures
It occurred to me that the odds of me actually getting the scanner set up and the ultrasound photos scanned in and uploaded was pretty slim. So instead I decided to take pictures of them. They actually didn't turn out that bad. And I can already tell she's beautiful and I think she looks like Adeline :).
This was funny because he'd gotten all tangled up in them:
And Adeline is starting to eat cereal like a big girl ("Wheats!" = Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast every morning). She actually doesn't even use this tray anymore either. She eats at the table with Mommie and Daddy and loves to pray for the food ("Amen! Amen!" as she reaches for our hands).
And she wears her hair like a big girl, too.
Also, here are some more pictures from William's visit. He really likes balloons!
This was funny because he'd gotten all tangled up in them:
So fun :).
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Weekend at Amma's
While Alan has been out of town this weekend at Spring Hill with his Senior Highers, Adeline and I decided it would be a good weekend for a little trip to Amma's! We got in on Friday night - Amma was still traveling home from California and didn't get in till almost 2am, so we didn't see her till Saturday morning - but as we pulled up into the driveway Adeline said, "Amma!" Then she asked about "Papa?" and "Rob?" I had to tell her they aren't here right now, but we will get to see Amma tomorrow.
So yesterday we had a really fun time out shopping and spending some fun time together, just us girls. We went to Red Robin for lunch, to Meijer to get groceries, to Target to mosey for a while and then to Carter's to look at tiny baby things :). I had seen an outfit online that I wanted to get for bringing Pink Floyd home, so we thought we'd go see it in person. I'm like a kid in a candy shop in that store! Soooo many unbelievably cute things and the spring dresses... I could have bought every single one! (That's why I didn't even bother to bring in my wallet :).
Well, we found a going home outfit for Pink Floyd - different from the one I originally wanted, but this little layette set is so much cuter. It can actually be pants or a gown:
So yesterday we had a really fun time out shopping and spending some fun time together, just us girls. We went to Red Robin for lunch, to Meijer to get groceries, to Target to mosey for a while and then to Carter's to look at tiny baby things :). I had seen an outfit online that I wanted to get for bringing Pink Floyd home, so we thought we'd go see it in person. I'm like a kid in a candy shop in that store! Soooo many unbelievably cute things and the spring dresses... I could have bought every single one! (That's why I didn't even bother to bring in my wallet :).
Well, we found a going home outfit for Pink Floyd - different from the one I originally wanted, but this little layette set is so much cuter. It can actually be pants or a gown:
The second one in that row is the same pattern as Pink Floyd's going home outfit and that was intentional. They're going to match :). We also picked up some pink and brown pants to go with the new onesies. They have a little ruffle on the tushie. So cute! Thanks Amma!
Today we'll go home and see Daddy again. Adeline has managed to get a little cold - well, actually, it's really not so little. She's pretty sick. Hopefully the trip home will go smoothly.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Visit
This week our friends Johanna and William came to visit. We had so much fun hanging out and playing together. Here's a cute picture we took of William and Adeline together:
They look just a little different since this picture was taken last January ;-):
They look just a little different since this picture was taken last January ;-):
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Change of Plans
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