Pics from the Past Month

Kristin Zandstra came to visit with Mica and baby Meghan. Meghan and Els were born extactly 4 weeks apart.

A quick family pic in front of the fireplace for Max's preschool. Max standing in front of his playhouse after this winter's first snow. Max being silly or maybe this is what happens when you live the first 4 years of your life in Amsterdam!

Cheeks

Elisabeth Ruth

Per the request of many, here are some pics of Els. The 2 with her in the light pink were taken within the first week of her being born. The one of her in the hot pink was taken last week. As you can see, she has rightfully earned her nickname of "fatty". The cheeks are plentiful and seem to have Buikema written all over them. You would think a baby this well fed would be sleeping through the night...not a chance.

Any Day Now...

As of yesterday, the cerclage is out. I can't begin to say what a relief it is not to have to worry any longer about tearing through it. It was not quite the easy procedure I had hoped. My doc couldn't do it (after trying by herself for 5 minutes which doesn't seem long but felt like an hour due to pain and pressure) so she said we may have to go to the hospital for an epidural. I looked at her and said "No I'm fine just keep trying." At this point she pushed the emergency call button. She warned that a lot of people would come storming in the room but don't worry, she just needed another doc to try to help her. Well, with my luck, no one came in for at least 2-3 minutes. Finally the other doc came in and after another 5 minutes of working together they got it out. Then I started contracting. So they had me hang out a while and walk around. However, all is fine. The contractions stopped and I am STILL pregnant.

On Sunday, I will be 37 weeks...full term. I am now allowed, after 6 months of being limited in my activity, to do whatever I want. All I want is to have the baby. We'll see, the doc said it could be any day now.

By the way, I should mention that Bas was along for the appointment yesterday. He stood by my side and held my hand which was great...until I started to feel like it was raining. I look up and my 7 foot giant of a husband is sweating so badly it is dripping all over me. I did ask him "What is the matter with YOU?" He replied that he was fine. After the procedure the doc offered him an extra BEDSHEET to dry off. He excused himself and went to the bathroom instead. My doc looked at me and said "Should he be in the delivery room?"

Closer and Closer

Almost 36 weeks now. Amazing to me as I never thought I would carry a baby this long. I had a"mini" ultrasound on Wednesday. The baby's head is quite low and she is practicing her breathing which the doc said is one of the final things to develop. So that means this baby is quite far along. I like to think this means that if the baby is born now she wouldn't need any breathing assistance. Anybody out there know if I am right on this?

I will go back next week Wednesday and my doc will remove the cerclage. While I am not looking forward to any pain that may occur with this procedure, I WANT that cerclage out so that I can try to regain some level of activity without worrying about pulling through the stitch. There is a possibility that removing the stitch will start things up...we'll see!

Good for Now...Bad for Later

Well, I made it to 32 weeks! No further dilation so that is also good. I had a 32 week ultrasound... estimated weight... 5 POUNDS! Needless to say this is great that the baby is so big if she is born early. However, by week 36 or so, not so much.

This is definitely another one of Bastiaan's babies. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. When Max was born all the docs said the he was huge for a 24 weeker, weighing in at 2 full pounds. In the back of my mind I have been worried about how big this baby would get if I carried it full term. But obviously, the main concern has been keeping her in so I haven't dwelled her being too big...until now.

Status Quo

I have made it to 30 weeks! I saw my doc yesterday and all is the same, so no further dilation. And since I have made it to 30 weeks and my pelvic muscles are starting to bear some of the weight of the baby, I can now have 2 hours a day of "minimal activity". This means I can go out to eat or to a movie and sit in a chair for 2 hours as long as someone drops me off and picks me up at the door. I am so thrilled by this as over the last week I have felt myself going a bit crazy. I long to do such simple silly things like go into a store, any store. It has been 3 months since I have done even this. I am sick of books and magazines and TV and DVDs. I just want to be out!

So this added activity definitely helps. Tonight Bas, Max and I will go out for dinner to celebrate Bastiaan's 36th birthday which is today.

Next baby target...32 weeks!

Not the Report We Wanted

As most of you know, I go to my doc every week. This week's appointment did not go as well as we hoped. It turns out I'm starting to dilate. Nothing to freak out about yet, I'm only 1/2 cm. My doc didn't even put me on complete bed rest although she did say I need to take it even more easy (how do I do this?).
What does this mean.... Well, I'm pretty sure it means I won't make it to 40 weeks. The way my doc explained it is that the hope is by 30 weeks (I'll be 29 on Sunday) the pelvic muscles hold the baby up and not so much my cervix (which is now confirmed to be crap). The good news is she said my stitch is holding up well.
So my next goal is to get to July 13th! Hopefully I will get there and then I would really like to make it to 32 weeks, so to the end of July. If I give birth at 32 weeks the baby would still need a bit of a NICU stay but nothing too dramatic.
Thanks to all of you who have helped me get this far by bringing meals and stopping by for visits. We really appreciate it. I'll keep you posted...

We Made It!

Yesterday was a big day for us. No I didn't go into labor, and that is why it was significant. Yesterday, I was 24 weeks and 5 days along in my pregnancy. Yesterday is when Max was born. Physically, I have felt fine this week, but mentally it has been a bit challenging. I can't begin to explain the new hope I have that this baby will make it based purely on getting through yesterday.

I actually had my weekly Dr appt yesterday and everything looked good. The definite low point of the day came on the way to the appt. I got rear ended. Thank goodness we have a very safe car. Although the impact was pretty hard and there was damage to the car, nobody was hurt.

I continue to take it really easy and will do so through the next 3 weeks until I get to week 28 (at 28 weeks, the baby's chances of survival go way up). Bas's parents are here from Europe and are a huge help with the house and Max. Next week they will take off for a couple weeks on vacation, headed for the Badlands, Mt Rushmore etc. At this point Elizabeth will begin. She is a Sr at Timothy who will take care of Max the rest of the summer.

We are still coming up with zeros for a girls name...any suggestions???

Shocker!

It's a GIRL.....we couldn't believe it either. We actually asked for an explanation of what we were looking at as proof the tech wasn't mistaken.

But more importantly all looks well with the baby and my cervix so no bed rest yet. I'm keeping up with the weekly shots and I go back in a week and a half. So we'll see what my doc says then.

I guess now we need to stop referring to the baby as him, throw out the list of names for boys and actually start thinking about girl names.

Place Your Bets

A week from today I will be going in for my 20 week ultrasound. And yes, we are one of those couples that has to know everything about their baby, so we will be finding out the baby's gender. As for me, my money is on another boy. Everything just feels so similar to my pregnancy with Max and the fact that my hubby is one of 4 boys all lead me to this conclusion.

A Normal Child

Last night was a first for us. Max had his Little Lambs program and it was the first time that we saw him in such a setting. It was a standard children's program and Max did nothing noteworthy during it. He sang along to all the songs and seemed to know the hand motions that went along.

About half way through I leaned over to Bas and said something that most parents wouldn't say with as much pride as I did. I whispered, "He's so normal". After all we have been through with Max, it was such a moving event to see him up there acting like every other one of the little kids.

Bas and I have said from the beginning, we hope Max will be normal, but as for us, we will never be normal after living through Max's early arrival. Last night was proof of this.

*If you're interested in seeing a pic of Max(and Zach), feel free to check out Wool's blog as I still haven't figured out how to downlaod pics off our camera we bought almost a year ago.

Advice Needed

This posting is for any of you that are stomach sleepers and have been pregnant. How did you sleep????? I am only 18 weeks but my back is really giving me some nasty pain whenever I lay. I am not used to sleeping on my sides. I finally (after a week of complaining to any one who will listen) went and got a massage on Friday and my back was great Friday night. But last night it was right back to sitting up ( this seems to stop the pain) awake in bed from 3:30 to 4:30 and then tossing around until I get out of bed at 6:30.

I do have a body pillow...maybe I'm not using it right.

Anyway, anyone with some advice, PLEASE help!

Thrilled

One morning last week Max was laying in bed with me. I have begun sleeping with a body pillow and Max noticed it. I told him that since my tummy is getting bigger this new pillow (actually borrowed, thanks Wool) helps me to sleep better. I then asked him "What's making mommy's tummy bigger?" His response..."Nobody."

Loving this big brother thing?? Not so much.

Cautiously Excited!

It's been over three months now since our international move and before we get too settled, we've started on our next adventure...a new baby! I about 3 1/2 months pregnant and due in mid September. Of course for me that means if I get to August, I'll be thrilled.


Things have gone well so far. Food hasn't been my best friend over the past three months but nothing as bad as when I was pregnant with Max.

This pregnancy brings with it the challenges we knew of when we decided we would like a 2ND child. Due to having an incompetent cervix, I had a cerclage last week. Not a fun experience by any means. I was on bed rest all of last week. All is fine with the baby and I am no longer on bed rest. However, I do need to start scaling back on things. No more cleaning the house and no more walking more than a couple blocks for example. I begin going to the doc every 2 weeks now and once I hit 20 weeks I will have to scale back even more. The doc is thinking that if all goes well, I won't have to go on complete bed rest until week 22 or after.

My first summer back in Chicago won't be all I dreamed of, but it is a small price to pay for trying to keep that baby in me and growing for as long as possible.

We appreciate your thoughts and prayers over the next months. And all the kindness from friends has been greatly appreciated (thanks Sara and Elisabeth).

As for Max, he's not so into this baby thing. The only thing he knows about babies is that they "break toys". As he has been our attention sponge for the last 4 years, saying it will be an adjustment for him is an understatement!

Life in the 'burbs?

I haven't lived in a house in the suburbs for over 10 years, but is it normal for a neighbor to begin snow blowing at 5AM?????