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!