Highlights - Cousin Gets Published!

A blast from the past and looks like still around for the future. Do you remember when you were young and when you went to the doctor they had magazines for kids? Do you remember the one that had puzzles and fun games called Highlights? To Amy and I's surprise, Highlights Magazine is still around for kids and is now online as well. I'm sure many of you that have older kids than ours, probably already know this.

How many of you know of any kids that have gotten published in the magazine? Up to this point, I haven't know any, but I am very excited to say that I know one. It is my first cousin's daughter Maria who was 8 at the time of the submission. She submitted a drawing to illustrate a poem called "The Oak Hotel" by Clare Mishika. Click on the titel of this blog or click here to see Maria's great creation. You may need to page through a bit once you get there, so look for Maria, Age 8 Michigan.

A job well done Maria!!!

Aw Nuts!! We Had To Go To The Week 39 Appt!!!

Today's appointment itself was pretty much uneventful and status quo basically like the last nine months. The baby's heartbeat was good, Amy's symptoms are normal, etc. Amy's swelling has come back some in the past couple days, but still doesn't rival where it was while she was working.

Well, since the baby hasn't shown his face in the last week and due to the issues during the pregnancy, on Monday, the doctor will be working on scheduling an induction on either Thursday or Friday of this week. We will probably find out the details on Tuesday as the hospital doesn't always get back to them right away.

During today's appointment, the doctor confirmed that the baby is headed downward and his head is still low. He did attempt to "stir things up", so only time will tell. This "stirring up" has caused Amy some discomfort. So, she is now resting a little uncomfortably. Looks like it will be a low key day so that we can rest up and be ready for D-Day (delivery day)!!

A Big Thank You!!

A big thank you goes out to those that communicated with us about the huge crib recall. Please be rest assured that we fortunately did not purchase one of the cribs being recalled. It is pretty scary to actually see one of the cribs we were considering on the list. Another positive is that if we did purchase one the cribs being recalled, our baby isn't here quite yet for him to use it. So, we would have at least a little bit of time to take it back and get a new design and/or manufacturer.

Thanks again for all of your concern!! :-)!!

Haven't Left Yet

Nope, we haven't left for the hospital yet. There were no contractions to really speak of yesterday. Could this be the calm before the storm? Only time will tell... Mom is getting very anxious to have the baby and is feeling a lot of pressure. We are staying focused and relaxed as we are still over a week away from her due date. Yes, the doctor said he wouldn't let her go past 39 weeks, but we are still hopeful that she won't have to experience extra drugs to get things moving. At the same time, we are letting things take their course at this point.

So, nothing report this morning...

No Baby Yet!!

Our little guy hasn't arrived yet. Many have been asking and calling, but there is nothing to report on the grand entrance. My cousin, Paulette, after reading the blog noted to "Relax, it's all good". So we are... ;)! It doesn't mean that we still aren't excited and anxious whenever Amy has a big contraction, but we aren't running to the car when they happen either.

Amy's mom came over yesterday and visited (and also worked her tail off doing some cleaning) and was able to get snuck in for her non-stress test. I guess it was pretty funny because whenever the nurse came behind the curtain they told Amy's mom to be quiet, eventhough she hadn't said anything at all. Amy did get to see one contraction on the monitor in the 15-20 minutes she was hooked up.

Since Amy's mom did a lot around the house, we decided to take her out to dinner before she left. Near the end of dinner and while we were waiting for Amy to finish eating, she had a pretty big contraction. I thought her mom was going to make it to the hospital in a single bound while her eyes were bigging than an ostrich... A second contraction came nine minutes later... which made Amy's mom's eyes even bigger if that was possible... I asked Amy's mom if she had her bag packed and she said no, but she was going to go home and pack one. I told her if she would be able to go home... ;)! "All is good" because we went home and the contractions stopped. On the way home, I asked Amy if she wanted to go for a walk. She immediately started giggling and said that her mom asked the same thing earlier in the day. Amy and I both think that her mom was hoping that by her coming over that Amy would progress much further.

I don't think Amy is quite 100%, let's have this baby NOW!!, but I think she is around 99.6%. We are a couple days away from our next appointment and Amy is already saying that the doctor better note that she is really progressing because of all the "stuff" that has been going on this week.

We are encouraged that things are progressing, but Amy still has the fear of being sent home. So, I think she will be toughing it out at home as much as she can. It's a good think we are only 12 minutes from the hospital...

What Timing... :(!

Could there be any worse timing?!?! I mean, we could be leaving at any minute to go to the hospital and here I am fighting a cold. There would be nothing worse than to be so sick that I wasn't able to be there when our child is born. Fortunately, it did seem like my cold has been going through the "cold cycle" pretty rapidly. Just to hedge my bet a little bit, I actually took a half day of vacation to get some rest today. It worked for a little while once I finally got home. I figured I would be feeling much better now... The chicken noodle soup really seemed to help, but I don't think the drugs are helping like they used to... :(!

Amy is of course feeling tired and actually helped me out yesterday getting me drugs from the medicine cabinet, etc. She was really kicking my butt to just relax yesterday and I wasn't listening because there was so much that needed to be done around here. I had very good intentions of mowing the lawn and cleaning the house. Of which, neither happened. I focused more on the important stuff like putting the car seat base in Amy's car and vacuuming out the crap that had accumulated. There were a few other baby errands that needed to be done and were completed. One of which was getting a round Cottage Inn pizza for mom, but there is a story here ;)!

Okay, so we were at a M vs. ND football gathering on Saturday and mom-to-be wanted a hot fudge sundae and a round Cottage Inn pizza. She asked for the phone book and got the number so that we could time it for when we would be back at home and it would be hot and ready. This of course was after she had gotten her hot fudge sundae. Well, we stopped to Dairy Queen, but they weren't the best of places to go. A "Q-tip lady" was at the counter for the third time so that they could get her order right and they still got it wrong. This, coupled with no one getting served in 10-15 minutes wore on the pregnant ones nerves and she had enough. We left without getting her ice cream. Dad quickly started thinking about plan B. McDonald's cone might be an okay substitute and they even have sundaes. Well, dad was quickly turned down. As we got closer to home, mom changed her mind after some coersion and she at least got some ice cream. By this time, she was pretty tired and feeling icky, so we just went home... without the sundae or the pizza. So, Sunday she really needed to have it, so she did!

Okay, so back to the bad timing... Amy wasn't feeling the greatest this morning and rolled over and went back to sleep after I left. She woke up and realized that she missed her appointment at the hospital. So, she is now rescheduled for Wednesday.

Still no baby, but the practice contractions are still happening on occasion... Let's hope that we can both get some GREAT rest tonight!!! We need to be ready when the little one decides it's time for us to go to the hospital.

Oh The Waiting!!!!

As Doug has already mentioned....Any Day Now!!! Holy Crap!! The doctor told me I was "paper thin" and this was great progress. Looks like he won't have to induce me, as he shared with us that he doesn't think I will last that long. Again I say...Holy Crap!!

One minute I'm so excited for the baby to be here that I feel like I should go for a long walk, clean the house, run a marathon, or do anything physical that helps the onset of contractions. It seems like it doesn't take much to get those contractions going, and luckily they aren't real painful yet. Sure, some of them are enough to take my breath away momentarily but nothing to severe. Then in a matter of minutes the fear can set in and I feel like I should do nothing but lay on the couch and do nothing to help promote the contractions. I of course want our baby to be here, but I would be lying if I said I'm not scared to death of labor....it terrifies me!!! I am not looking forward to blowing out my vagina!!!

Other then the constent changing of my emotions (totally caused by hormones, i'm sure!) I'm surprising feeling okay, not great, I mean I am 9 months pregnant...but okay. I get really tired super easy, which is preventing me from cleaning the house!! I swear thats why...thats my story and I'm sticking to it! So everyone hold your breath...it could happen any time now!!!
One more time I say Holy Crap.......but really I can't wait for our sweet baby boy to finally be here!!!

Anytime NOW!!!

For those die hard Rattle Tattle fans, you have probably noticed that the hospital dates for the 27th and 28th are no longer scheduled. The reason is that we had our weekly doctor appointment this morning. The latest is that Amy's cervix is paper thin and ready to go. She is still only a fingertip dilated, but the doctor said that he wasn't going to schedule the induction because he didn't think Amy would last the two weeks. However, he did say it would be possible. He even gave Amy the "gold" star for her cervix being thinned and noted that he wished all of his patients progressed like this at this point in pregnancy.

Stay tuned for more information from the soon-to-be new mom!!

New Dads Class

As a new dad-to-be, I took the opportunity to attend a one night class for new dads. This was a 3-hour session of what to expect, how to do and sometimes the why things are done, etc. It was taught by a non-medical, professional daddy (2 girls and a boy) along with an RN for the technical/medical support questions. I was amazed, but I guess shouldn’t have been surprised that only about 4% of new dads take this class…

The evening started off with introductions and then we jumped right in with mocking a newborn’s bath followed by a video with diaper changing, bath and burping. The instructor warned us that we would see things in the video that we wouldn't agree with and some things that were just annoying like the “artist dad” that called his son “Mr. Baby”… Seemed whacked to me! I could hear some of the other guys chuckling because it sounded so stupid during the video, but to each their own!! I think they should have found some one else to play the part or just edited some of his stuff out. The one burping position he used was like an inverted (face down) cradle hold and then he mentioned hanging onto the baby’s ankle for safety. It not only doesn’t seem like it would be safe, it looked uncomfortable for the baby. So, at least I learned a little about what not to do. ...aaannddd... You would be hearing me call our son "Mr. Baby".

I did get some tidbits about some different products and how to bring our baby home the first time and for Frankie to meet him. I knew about bringing one of the baby’s blankets home, but I didn’t even think about the order of going in the house. It was suggested to let Amy go in first to greet Frankie because I know she will have been missing her immensely. This gives Frankie a chance to get her time with mom before the little one comes in. Since dad will be around to let Frankie out and bring the baby blanket home, etc. Frankie should be “cool” with dad bringing the baby in. Never heard this scenario before, but it makes sense to me, so I’m sure it will happen that way. Besides, I’m not sure mom will be up for carrying our new son in at that point anyway.

It was an evening that flew by. A ton of information was supplied, most of which would be common sense stuff, but other information to go along with it. A little practical experience was gained with bathing, taking off a shirt and diapering during the class. Oh, you can’t forget how to make a “baby burrito” either, as this is one of Amy’s baby favorites!! It was great introduction of what to do when our baby arrives in 2 weeks or less!! I would definitely recommend something like this for all new dads. It was unbelievably painless!!! :)!!

The Stage Is Set

The stage is set and now we are just waiting to get the show on the road. The bags are basically packed and in the vehicle ready to go including everything to bring our child home. The room is done, except for a few things that are still on backorder/haven't came in yet. The hutch for the changer/combo and a Dream Teddy shelf are yet to come in. The hutch should have been in during the first week of July and the shelf should have arrived a few weeks ago. Do you think maybe the boy knows this and is waiting for his room to be completely ready? Now doesn't that make ya' think... ;)!

This Saturday's appointment should shed a little more light on the continuing pregnancy saga. There will only be one more doctor appointment, as it stands now, after Saturday before Baby Gaynier is born. I'm pretty sure mom will be looking forward to not having a weekly or more apponitment for her. Mom is doing well at this point for being basically 9 months pregnant. Of course, she gets tired just getting out of bed or getting off the couch, but from what I hear, this is unfortunately pretty normal. Her blood pressure is still elevated with swelling in her legs and feet so the induction date could potentially change, but for now we are staying status quo.

A September Birth Date Is Inevitable!!

We knew "things" were happening on Friday evening about every 14 minutes or so, but they calmed down while relaxing and watching a movie. We weren't concerned with too much as we just figured Amy's body was going through some warm up exercises.

Saturday morning's doctor appointment confirmed that "things" are warming up and happening. Unfortunately, it was found that Amy's blood pressure was slightly elevated and some of the swelling in her feet is back. It's not near as bad as when she was working, but definitely noticeable. The doctor starting looking at the calendar with his back to us and said for Amy to keep talking because he was checking out his schedule. This was a little odd, but we soon knew what he was doing. He was reviewing his mental schedule and calculating Amy's pregnancy term. After a little bit, he said that if the baby doesn't arrive on his own before September 27th, he would have us, well Amy, go to the hospital on September 27th to get the ball rolling and then would induce her on the 28th and have the baby. So, it looks like our baby boy will join us in the real world on or before September 28th. The doctor did note that if Amy's hypertension were to worsen, swelling became worse or if preeclampsia were to enter the picture, he wouldn't hesitate to induce sooner. The doctor did some checking and found that the baby has dropped and "things" are thinning and starting to slightly open... To see Amy for the first time, you would think that she hasn't dropped, but she has a little. If you didn't know how high she was carrying him, you wouldn't be any the wiser...

With this new information, the "goodie" bag for the hospital was reviewed, restocked and put into the vehicle along with the baby's going home outfit, diaper, clippers, etc. Then we were off to Monroe for a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for my Uncle Don and Aunt Sandy. Many were surprised that we made the hour trek for the event. The surprise/shock was pretty easy to see when Amy openened the door and many of our relative's jaws hit the floor. We enjoyed seeing our relatives and Amy was able to meet a few more. After being there for a couple of hours, "things" started happening again. I feel pretty confident that if the party would have been a little closer to the hospital, Amy would have been out there dancing a jig and we probably would have made a trip to the hospital last night. Well, we decided to leave a little early so that if something were to happen, we would be closer to home and the hospital that we are familiar with. We made it home and went right to bed and tried to watch the NASCAR race, but quickly fell asleep.

Today was a day for getting things around the house a little more "baby like". The swing and bouncer have made their way out of the baby's room and now into the living room. Diapers and a few other items were arranged/rearranged. The rest of the car seat is now in the truck as well and the second base will be going in Amy's car tomorrow. I think it is safe to say that we are ready. Yeah, sure there will be things that will inevitably come up, but I think for first time parents we are pretty well prepared.

So, it looks like our child will be here within the next 19 days one way or another!!!

36 Weeks and 2 Days!!

Pediatrician Found!!

The baby has a doctor!! For the last couple of weeks I've been researching pediatricians and local child medical centers, and I'm very excited about my final choice. Yesterday I actually went to two different offices to meet with the staff and was very pleased with my decision to go with Royal Oak Pediatrics. The practice includes 4 doctors and a wonderful staff of ladies that I already love. They gave me a tour of the whole practice and a nice and complete explanation of how they run their practice. They are affiliated with the Royal Oak Beaumont hospital which is a big bonus because Doug and I already love the hospital so much. All four doctor's are also on staff there and do hospital rotations. In fact, when the baby is born whichever doctor is on call that day will come right to the hospital and give him a newborn baby check up and will be the one to give the discharge order so we can take our bundle of joy home. PLUS....they gave me presents!! I'm a sucker for gifts and they gave me a backpack filled with stuff for the baby, including a blanket and book, plus tons of literature for Doug and I to use for reference. So we're all set...I think Doug was getting a little nervous about finding a good doctor for the baby because he left it in my hands and we're getting really close to the end of this journey but I totally have it under control!! And I'm thrilled with the outcome and I feel really confident that we will build a wonderful relationship with this pediatrician's practice, doctors and staff!!

Girls Weekend!!

Well most of you know exactly what Doug did over Labor Day weekend. It has been an 8 month debate but he got clearance to go to Michigan Tech to celebrate his fraternity's 50th reunion. It was a really big deal and I'm very glad he was able to go. While he was off romping it up with his buddies and enjoying a funfilled guys trip (probably his last for a while) I was home taking it easy.

Doug left on Thursday afternoon and I spent most of Thursday on the couch crying !!! Damn pregnancy hormones...I mean I wanted him to go, but I didn't want him to go!!! Ya know what I mean?? I felt kinda scared, being all alone. I didn't feel like I should do anything. I decided to go get chinese (my favorite) and some movies. I spent all night on the couch, as I was instructed to do so by Doug.

Friday came and I had had enough of laying around. I started putsing around the house. I wanted to straighten up for my mom. She was coming over to stay the night and even though she said she would pick up my house for me so I could relax, I still felt like I needed to clean up a little bit!! Mom got there early evening and went right to work. She just started going through the baby's room and seperating all the newborn size and 0-3 month size clothes and made piles. I mean piles and piles of baby clothes !!!! You could hardly see my kitchen floor, clearly my mom was on a mission. She was pulling bags out of corners and out of closets and going nuts organizing!!! Thank god for mom!!! She emptied out all of the drawers in our baby's dresser and changing table combo so they could be filled up with clean, folded, organized baby's clothes and necessities. She did laundy and worked in the babies room until after 11 and we didn't go to bed until after midnight!!! We called it a night and my mom was up and at it again in the morning. In total my mom did 10 loads of baby laundry!!! Clothes, sheets, blankets, bibs, covers and more clothes.....whew!!! Then she put everything away and organized everything for Doug and I. Those empty drawers are now filled with washed folded clothes organized by size just waiting for the baby to come home. She was amazing....I love my mom!!!!

Saturday early afternoon my mom left and I was only lonesome for about 2 hours when my sister Abby and niece Sydney came over to spend the rest of the day and night with me. I was kinda in the mood to get out of the house so when Abby and Sydney suggested making a quick trip to Old Navy to go school shopping for Syd, I was totally up for it. We were only going to go for an hour or so and hit the sales so my little Sydbear would look adorable for school. She's entering the 3 grade and going to a new school....it's a very big deal!!! After Old Navy, it just seemed right to walk next door and go to Target. I felt a little pooped but after a 15 minute break sitting down and drinking a very yummy fountain pop (i was having a craving) I was ready to go again. I got a mirror for the baby's room and a couple pair of pajama's to pack for the hospital. I needed to find some big comfy pj's that had button down shirts so it will be easy to breast feed and not have to flash everyone all my goods !!!!! After this short and very productive shopping trip I was feeling good and thought it would be nice to take my girls to the mall and hit another store where we could find some cute and cheap fashions for Sydney....plus they have a kick butt food court and I was getting hungry!!! We ate first....I had more chinese food!! I can't help it, I love that stuff and I was having another craving, I think my little boy really likes chinese too!!! After our fancy food court dinner we hit one store and then headed home. My energy boost had left me and I was feeling really exhausted. The best part of the day was about to happen. Abby and Sydney surprised me with a spa evening right in my very own living room. They brought fresh strawberries, grapes and melted chocolate dipping sauce. Then we filled up my foot bath and Abby gave Sydney and I pedicures!!! She is really fantastic at it; she could make some good cash on the side doing these for family and friends. It was amazing. She massaged my feet with lotion for an hour while I sat back on the couch and relaxed and ate strawberries dipped in chocolate....it was heaven on earth. She also spent 30 minutes on my back which was also amazing. When my sister was through with me I felt like a big noodle...and it was absolutely fantastic. All we could do next was go to bed and sleep like babies after our pampering. And thats exactly what I did!!! I woke up to Abby working in the babies room. She had cleaned out all the shelves in his closet and made his bed. She put the mattress cover and sheet on, tied on the crib bumper and sheet saver. The crib is totally ready for my baby...I got a little emotional!! Imagine that!! She also got all the diapers, wipes and other diaper changing necessities all organized and put away. Then she cleared out the corners of the babies room and nicely put everything away so as we need stuff it will be easy for us to get to it. SO !!! In 48 hours my babies room as been completely transformed and is ready for him!! Oh yeah....another thing my wonderful sister did for me was bring over the fixin's for biscuits and gravy. Yep, she is awesome at duplicating my mom's homemade southern recipe for breakfast gravy and us three girls sat at the table and had a fantastic southern breakfast of biscuits, gravy, bacon, toast and eggs (for them, i don't like eggs). YUM!!!

After my sister and niece left the rest of my weekend was spent relaxing, hanging out in my babies room, and working on homework. I was feeling so elated at how productive my mom and sister was. They told me they were gonna come over and stay a couple nights with me while Doug was away and help me get the babies room together. But I had no idea the two of them were on a mission to get that nursery completely done and ready. We could bring the baby home today and everything would be ready for him....well almost everything, I'm not sure if Doug is ready yet!!!

So if any of you were worried about me, knowing that Doug was outta town....I had a wonderful girls weekend with my mom, sister and niece!!! I relaxed, got pampered, enjoyed a little alone time and most importantly watched as my babies room completely came together. Big hugs and kisses to my girls!! I don't know what I would do without them!

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