32 + weeks

We are back to the wacky foods. Little Evan is now roughly the size of a jicama...??

If you will recall, a few weeks ago he was compared to a rutabaga and we actually had some for dinner on Christmas Eve so that particular food mystery has been solved. I am still in the dark on the English cucumbers.

I am still feeling good. I am experiencing more shortness of breath (usually after talking too much or a stair climb) and occasional heartburn (which is a first for me).

We are still in MN and will be celebrating New Year's Eve tonight with Aunt Sara and Uncle Jim. Sara has 3 girlfriends who are expecting so they are hosting a Wii/Preggers New Year's get together. The boys will be busy battling it out on the Wii with Guitar Hero and Link Crossbow Training and I am sure the girls will be eating and watching. And eating. It should be a wild one!

We are heading back to AZ on Wednesday early morning. We have had two baby showers in MN so I know we will be coming home to lots of packages on the door step. My plans this week will include getting gifts & thank you notes squared away, putting away Christmas decorations and washing all our new baby clothes!

Pearl came down with an ear infection in MN so her vacation is going to be extended until Saturday so she can be fully recovered before flying. Lucky for her that she gets to stay at Grandma & Grandpa's an extra few days but bad for us since Brian and I will be lonely without her at home!

We have our last ultrasound on Friday so I will be sure to post after that. I am anxious to see if they will move my due date up any based on his size. Since he has been measuring big, I am wondering if maybe he will arrive a week or so earlier. Brian is convinced that I have gotten bigger in the 10 days we have been in MN which is true but I am attributing that to the Christmas cookies more than anything ;)

Have a happy and safe New Year!

31 + weeks

We are in the home stretch and as you can see, this little turkey is getting big! According to babycenter (sorry, no food reference this week) he is going into another growth spurt soon. As I mentioned last time, he is sitting very low and by the end of the day, my tail bone is killing me! I can only imagine that my waddle is about to get significantly worse...


We got to MN Friday night and it was surprisingly pleasant weather-wise. Lots of snow on the ground but temperatures were in the 30's. Saturday morning was spent decorating the Peterson Christmas tree and looking through Sara & Jim's wedding pictures (LOTS of them!).

Brian had mentioned that we may need to go meet with a client of his sometime early afternoon for a "meet and greet" to which I responded with many exaggerated eye rolls and heavy sighs. I thought to myself, "Who wants to meet with their investment guy the Saturday before Christmas?" I was looking forward to spending the day in my sweats and now I had to take a shower, put on real clothes AND put on makeup so as to not completely embarass Brian in front of a colleague. So after much whining on my part, Brian and I loaded up in the car and headed over to a coffee shop right by Ross's office to meet "Dan & Katherine". Right before we left, Ross had called and said he left a writing tablet at home and needed us to drop it off to him so we planned to swing by his office before our "date". When we got up to Ross's office, he was chatting with his acquaintance Steve, a guy who runs a jewelry business from home and helped Brian find the cushion cut diamond for my engagement ring. Brian introduced me to Steve and then things got really confusing because Brian turned to me and said (in his cheesiet voice), "Since you are going to deliver our son with sparkles in his eyes, you deserve something new and sparkly for your ears." Then all the guys were laughing and smiling at me and I was completely confused because we still had to go meet "Dan & Katherine" at the coffee shop! The joke was obviously on me because there were no clients, just some gorgeous diamonds to pick through for my new earrings! Needless to say, I felt like a total spoiled brat for all my whining and complaining that morning about having to leave the house!!

Saturday night we had "front row" seats to the Paper Airplane show (Uncle Andrew's band) which we have been so excited to get back for. In addition to the normal Peterson/May groupies, we had Brian's partner in crime Ryan along for the ride. I knew it would be an interesting night since I was was going to remain on the same level of awareness while most people around me were not...and Brian and Ryan together are always giddy and goofy. Paper Airplane rocked the house and Brian got to rock out on the cow bell for a song...

Brian is envious of Andrew's natural musical abilities and he has been hoping that lil' Evan will be blessed with those same musical talents. I think these pictures demonstrate that the musical ability isn't necessarily limited to Andrew...

I personally prefer a man who is handy on the calculator and knows his way around a spreadsheet ;)

It was a great night and lil' Evan enjoyed all the drum beats which he jumped around to for a couple hours. Once we hit about midnight, he and I both turned into pumpkins.

FYI, if anyone happens to be in Hopkins, MN on any given Thursday, we recommend stopping by Decoys to participate in the Meat Raffle and also enjoy the special of the day, the Hot Beef Sundae.

30 + weeks

We are a little past 30 weeks but I had a doctor's appointment this morning so I decided to do a lump blog.Everything went well at the doctor's appointment. I had some blood tests last time and my iron came back great (which means I am eating very well) and my glucosamine came back low. This is good because it means I am very low risk to ever develop diabetes but the doctor said low glucosamine sometimes means the baby's growth is restricted by the uterus during the last few weeks of pregnancy. But after measuring my fundal height and seeing that he is still big for his "age", she doesn't anticipate that he will have any trouble growing as much as he needs to for the next 9 1/2 weeks! Her exact words were "you are all baby". I have gained 31 pounds so far which means I am approaching Brian in the weight category. It is a sad yet interesting time...weighing almost as much as your husband is depressing but him knowing that you could PUMMEL him during a hormone induced mood swing has some perks ;)

The little man is head down, just like the picture above except that we think his back is facing out and to the right a little bit. I have more movement on the right side of my belly which we think is his little rear poking out as he moves. The doctor also said he is positioned low so I am hoping that means that when the time comes, he will just drop right down and slide right out the chute. Optimism is important during labor, right??

We have our last ultrasound on January 4th and I think it will just be a standard one instead of the hi-tech 3D ultrasounds we had for so long. This one will just make sure he is all developed and positioned correctly.

We leave for MN on Friday which will be nice to be away for 12 days. Not that I have anything to get away from but it will be nice to have Brian away from the office for so long. Plus, Gail always has lots of Christmas cookies on hand so that will be nice ;)

In other baby news, my friend Sam and his wife Amber welcomed their baby boy, Jackson Burton Correll, last Monday. Everyone is doing great in Dallas and the Corrells have a special Christmas present this year!

Happy Holidays!

29 Weeks

Yay! We are finally a normal food. According to babycenter.com, our little man is now the size of a butternut squash. A large one if I had to guess. He is over 15" long now and his head is getting bigger to accomodate his growing brain (which I will have to squeeze out in 11 weeks - yikes!). He also needs more calcium now for his bones which is interesting because I have been craving milk the last week or so. Funny how your body knows exactly what to do when you are growing a person!

I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and everything still looks good: no gestational diabetes, the fetal fiber nectin was negative (which means there is a 99.9% chance I won't go into labor in the next 2 weeks) and my cervix is still nice and closed. The little man is still measuring big which I figured out means that at 29 weeks, he is measuring 30 cm so he is only 1 cm big (phew). The doctor was feeling around my belly trying to determine if he has moved head down (we think so) and she hit a ligament on my left side that about made me jump off the table. It was VERY painful. I have been feeling a little ligament strain if I move too fast while lying down (I use the term "fast" very loosely...nothing about this body is currently fast) so I guess that means that he is still growing.

We also had our first birthing class Monday night which was way more enjoyable than the "Growing Your Baby" class that we bailed on halfway through! The teacher for this class has a fun personality and we feel like we will actually learn some stuff in this one. We watched a birthing video which was nice since I have somehow made it 29 years without ever seeing "The Miracle of Birth". What I learned from the video was, #1 We will not be asking to see the placenta and #2 I will be getting very familiar with my razor in the days before labor. It is surprising how many hairy women allow their births to be videotaped up close and personal for educational purposes! We have 2 more birthing classes so we will keep you posted on all of our new birthing knowledge.

On Wednesday we had our hospital tour so we know where to go to check in, where I will be laboring and delivering, recovering, etc. Everyone has told us how nice the hospital birthing suites are so Brian was a little disappointed when he saw the it wasn't actually the Four Seasons. Neither of us has much experience with hospitals (thank goodness) so we didn't know what to expect but it is very nice for a hospital! The nicest part is that I will labor and deliver in the same room and the baby will stay with us in that room for his exam, etc. The nurse was very excited with all the technology they offer in the suites (dvd players, room service ordering via tv remote, movie ordering, cd players) but as we all know, Brian is a bit of a technology snob so the only thing that would have impressed him was surround sound and a 50" plasma. They did have this cool remote that controls two spot lights in the ceiling so when you are delivering, the doctor just holds the remote where she needs the lights to go and brrrrrp spot light on your you-know-what! I must say the scariest part was when the nurse pulled out the leg stirrups on the bed. Holy moly. If you thought the stirrups in the gyno's office were intimidating...these are some serious stirrups! A couple hours after delivery, we will all move to a post partum room and Evan will be in a bassinet in the room with us the whole time which will be nice. We also have the option of putting him in a nursery for a couple hours if I need to sleep but I figure if I need to sleep then his dad will be taking care of him!

We have another doctor's appointment on the 17th and then we are off to MN for two weeks for X-mas. Time is flying and I can hardly believe that by the time we get back in January, we will be less than 8 weeks from being parents!!

28 weeks

We are officially in our third trimester!

Again per babycenter, our little man is about the size of a chinese cabbage. Or he is about 2 1/4 lbs. and 15" long. That seems to be the standard for 28 weeks but since our doctor told us at our last visit that he is measuring big, he could be larger than the aforementioned chinese cabbage.

With regard to him measuring big, when I told my naturopath this news, his comment was: "Your hips...you'll be fine." Comforting yet disheartening at the same time!

Lil' Evan also has eyelashes now and will react more to light that he can see through the womb. I am getting a kick out of sitting on the couch and watching my belly change shape. I think he had the hiccups the other night, too. Lots of movement from down below!

27 weeks - late edition

Sorry for the delayed posting! I have been busy being retired...

Here is what the little man is up to this week:

Here is what he will be up to in 30 years:

Brian "wrassling" an alligator in SC.

Brian dressed up to go "hunting" in SC.

Needless to say, Brian had a great time with Uncle Evan in SC getting to do all sorts of really manly things like throwing the football, changing tires, shooting pumpkins, etc. I can hardly wait until I have two of him... ;)

More on Friday when we hit 28 weeks!

The life of a retired 29 year old

My first day of retirement is moving right along! We had a doctor's appointment this morning which included 1 1/2 hours of waiting and 10 minutes of actual appointment. The good news is that everything still looks good! The doctor did ask if either of us were big babies. Brian = no. Elisabeth = YES. Apparently our little man is measuring big for this point in the pregnancy. Good news for Aunt Jennifer, not so good news for me since I am going to try to deliver him naturally!! Keep your fingers crossed that he just went through a growth spurt and actually isn't going to come out the size of a linebacker.
After my doctor's appointment I picked up a cup of tea and ran an errand before I went and got my nails done (I know, retirement is TOUGH!). Then I stopped by Petco for some Pearl essentials and went over to Bed Bath & Beyond for drawer organizers & an electric mixer. Yes, I know that this day is sounding like a line from "Old School".
I got home and have been doing fun house stuff like unloading the dishwasher and folding onesies to put in my new drawer organizers. Next up is writing thank you notes and putting dinner in the crock pot before I head to my personal trainer this afternoon.
I plan to be showered and in my pjs when Brian gets home. Don't worry, I will throw an apron on over my jammies so it is more of the Donna Reed feel for him. At least dinner will be cooked!
Other good news is that there have been no soap operas OR home shopping channels on the tv, just CNN. Wow, I wonder if retirement is speeding up my transition into my mother.
Have a great Turkey Day! Gobble Gobble!

26 weeks

I have decided that the writers at babycenter.com eat really random foods. This week our little man is comparable in size to an English hothouse cucumber. What the??
The update is that his ears are developing more so he is responding more to sounds he hears. I am hoping that he will get really used to his big sister's barking so that he will sleep right through it!
His testicles are also descending into his scrotum. I am only mentioning that for Brian's sake.

Today is my last day of work and I am officially retired (or retarded for the Petersons). It feels so strange to be going through my desk and clearing stuff out. Don't get me wrong, it feels good! But strange considering I have been here 3 1/2 years and can't imagine not coming here Monday morning. Brian and I have so much going on from now until January that time will fly and before we know it, we will have our little man to take care of. Then wood will be all but a distant memory ;)

25 weeks

Our little man is now the size of a rutabaga or for those of you who don't have a visual of a rutabaga at the forefront of your mind (me), he is approximately 1 1/2 lbs and 13 1/2" long.

His Aunt J Jo will be glad to know that he is starting to put on some baby fat and his wrinkly skin will start to fill out soon. Jennifer is going to take it personally if I don't deliver a big fat baby for her to hold. Anyone who has seen my baby pictures may think this will be an easy task to accomplish but since this kid is already resembling Brian, I am thinking Jennifer may be disappointed with lil' Evan's first weigh in. It may be good news for me because if he is as long and skinny as Brian was, he should just shoot right out!

Also according to Babycenter, I can expect to have thicker and darker body hair soon. So if anyone sees anything resembling a pregnant gorilla, that may be me!

Retirement Preview

I have been at home sick for the past two days, ick. I came down with a cold Sunday and by Wednesday morning it had progressed from a head cold to my ears and lungs. I called my OB and was prescribed an antibiotic safe for the little man and was told to go home! Unfortunately, our house has been under seige this week with our builder doing the yearly maintenance things, which included drywalling our bedroom. So Pearl and I holed up in the guest suite and read and slept for 2 days. I can tell that I will not be watching much daytime tv when I retire...what a load of crap! I think Brian was relieved to hear me say that since I have been teasing him with visions of me on the couch 8 hours a day, remote and bon bons in hand, watching the Home Shopping Network and wearing out the Am Ex. I think we are going to need to get NPR piped through the house, although for Brian, that might be worse!
I am planning to be back at work tomorrow since one of the new sales reps started today and I need to impart my serious knowledge to her before next Friday!

24 weeks

The only exciting thing on the 24 week update was that he is now about as long as an ear of corn. What a great visual! He is moving up a storm. Last night I was reading in bed and he actually kicked my book off my stomach. Must be those enormous feet.

We have an exciting weekend planned of doing nothing and we can't wait. I think Brian is going to put together the crib and then we have an outing to Bed Bath and Beyond planned. I need a body pillow and a heating pad!

Red Vest...Revisited!

In and amongst the photos of E and me on the guestbook table at our wedding reception, each of us had chosen our favorite pictures of each other from when we were little. I selected a picture of her making short work of a watermelon (see below), and she found a picture of me hanging out in between two trees out at my grandparents’ house (also below).

After the wedding, we took these pictures and put them out for display on our respective nightstands. For me, display of the photo was partially due to the fact that it was a picture of the love of my life in her formative years…but mostly it was due to the pure comedic value surrounding her watermelon inhalation. I think for Elisabeth, in addition to being a cute picture of her man, the photo of me was a nice reminder that even though I looked like an alien baby when I initially popped out to greet the world (see below)...

...and later in life I landed on some excruciatingly awkward pre-teen years...

...and teenage years...

(this photo doesn't even do it justice, but think pre-braces chipped teeth, Rude Dog t-shirt and “soccer hair”…which was essentially just a way to avoid calling a mullet by its proper name), there WAS actually some good stuff in between…so all hope is not lost as to the likely cuteness of our baby-on-the-way! Regardless, not only has the “red vest” photo long been a favorite of my mom’s, but it has been absolutely adored by Elisabeth since she first saw it several years ago.

Anyway, while we were back in MN for my sister’s wedding this last weekend, my mom handed us a gift bag filled with tissue paper and a mystery item. She said that my aunt Julie had returned this item to her earlier in the week, after having discovered it while cleaning out a closet at their house. Julie said that she knew it to have particular sentimental meaning to our family and she was as much ecstatic to find it as she was curious as to how it had been randomly camped out in their closet for so long.

It wasn’t readily apparent as to what it was when I began to pull it out of the bag…and even once I had gotten it out, it still took a second or two for it to register with each of us …but once I turned it over and saw those signature rainbow lines, we were both overwhelmed with emotion. So silly that a piece of red nylon clothing could have such an impact on two parents-to-be, such as to bring them both to teary-eyes…but there in front of us was the very vest that I had sported in the picture! Given the fact that it had been shelved and out of action for the last 20+ years, it's still in great shape. What’s more, as I’ve been informed by Elisabeth, is that although it was gathering dust through several fashion-cycles along the way, today it’s even pretty well back in style again! So, very cool that my son will now get to rock the same red vest that his daddy once did…but I’m going to try to steer him away from the Rude Dog t-shirts!

(fewer trees in this one, but fortunately just as much "awesome" as in the original)

The nightmare is over!

Brian and I met with a new doctor yesterday and we LOVED her! Considering that she could have been Freddy Kruger and she still would have been an improvement on our first OB, I guess that is not saying much but you get the idea.
We left the appointment feeling very relieved and our minds were eased. Dr. Kwatra (new dr.) thinks there is no need for the biweekly ultrasounds and office visits. She thinks everything looks great, I am very healthy as is the little man and that I have little to no risk of going into pre-term labor. The best news is that she sees no problem with us traveling for Christmas!
She is going to go over my records from my old doctor and will call if she sees any sort of red flag but it sounds like I will see her again on the 19th for a check up.
Brian is up next for a blog entry so stay tuned...I am sure it will be entertaining as always.

Ultrasound 22wk 4 days

We got some great pictures from today's ultrasound! We had a nice technician with a gentle touch and everything looks good so it was an all around good visit. We have determined that this baby is either Brian's or Bigfoot's (I didn't tell anyone about that solo camping trip I took 5 1/2 months ago.)

Check out the dogs on this kid...


Evidence again that he is mine (well, in addition to him being inside me :)...the beginnings of some chubby cheeks!


The technician was sure to tell us he didn't have a hole in his head, the 3D just adjusted funny sometimes. No worries!
The technician did say that I have a low lying placenta which means nothing at this point. Well nothing except that now EVERYTHING on or in my body is sagging. The doctor said that if it was lower it could be considered previa which would mean nothing except for I would probably have to have a c-section. But he also said that the placenta does not continue to get lower so I am in the clear.
That was it for today. We are off tomorrow to MN for Aunt Sara & Uncle Yimbo's wedding!

22 Weeks

According to babycenter.com, our little guy is almost 11 inches long and weighs almost a pound. I believe it! I feel like he has really hit a growth spurt the last week or so. It is becoming much harder to get off the couch or out of bed...I am resorting to doing a sort of half roll to get back on my feet. My back is also killing me right about now which I think is just from him growing so fast and pressing down on stuff in there. My body is still trying to get used to him. I understand now when women say your body doesn't belong to you when you are pregnant!

Babycenter.com also talk about stretch marks this week and how you can get them on not only your belly but your hips, thighs, breasts and rear. Fantastic. I am going to be smelling like cocoa butter for the next 4 1/2 months so no one accuse me of moonlighting as a stripper!

On another exciting note, our friends Brandon and Brigette found out yesterday that they are also having a boy! Brigette is due 2 weeks after me and she actually found out she was pregnant before I did. Turns out when we had dinner with them in Charleston in June, we were both pregnant and didn't know it! It was a good thing that we were more interested in dessert than alcohol that night, I guess that should have been a sign, eh?

Not much new to report...

We had another doctor's appointment Tuesday and everything still looks good. I am measuring right where I should and my weight is good. My boss told me last week that I didn't look like I had gained enough and I almost hugged him! No worries though, he obviously hasn't seen my rear up close and personal so I still have him fooled!
We have decided to definitely find a new doctor seeing as how she rolled her eyes at me when I was asking questions and I almost cried. That was the last straw for Brian and I had visions of him and the doctor coming to blows in the delivery room so...let the search begin!
We have another ultrasound next Tuesday. Hopefully we won't have the technician from hell and the little man will be cooperative so we have some more fun pictures to post!

Alright...

...here is a recent picture. Now everyone can quit bugging me!


This picture was taken last weekend at Sara's bachelorette party. There were 3 pregnant gals there - Mindy (at the time, 25 weeks), Emily (12 weeks) and yours truly (20 weeks). You can't see much of my bump, which we figured out later was due to the black shirt.

The maternity shirt was a gift from Brian that says, "We're Hungry" across the chest. I thought it would be perfect to wear out to the bar for part 2 of Sara's bachelorette festivities because surely people will notice my big belly and get the reference to the baby. Apparently it has been a long time since I have been drunk because I TOTALLY overestimated the observational/reasoning skills of the Minneapolis bar patrons. Let's just say that most people thought the "We're Hungry" referred not to the bump of my belly but the two bumps directly above my belly. There were some uncomfortable exchanges which was due (for the most part) to me being completely sober and the other party being completely NOT. I did realize the amazing power of beer goggles so I guess it can be chalked up to an anthropological study.

Since the shirt technically backfired it has been temporarily shelved until "the" bump is noticeable enough to everyone!

21 weeks

Holy moly! I just got the email from Babycenter.com signaling I have hit 21 weeks. Look at the size of this kid already. Apparently he is about 10 1/2" long now. From the looks of our 17 week ultrasound, I think 8 inches of that are legs and feet! We are pretty confident that he will be tall and have those longs legs (and really cute butt, if I do say so) like his dad!

He also has eyebrows and fully formed eyelids now. Babycenter also says that I will be developing varicose veins around this time, especially if my mom has them. Um, too late. My thighs look like road maps. But, this little man will be worth it (I am staying positive now but rest assured that as soon as I am done popping kids out, I will be undergoing "repairs").

Registry

Thank goodness for Jaimy Clarkson! She was kind enough to take time out of her busy day (which includes Ashley 22 months and James 2 months) to list out all the baby must haves so I could start our registry. She gave great details so I was able to go online to get started.

I must admit that the thought of actually going to Babies 'R Us and registering was intimidating. I had visions of me standing in the middle of the store with the registry zapper gun having a nervous breakdown while Brian wondered around looking for the "Stainless Steel/Chrome" section!

Here is the registry address:

http://www.toysrus.com/ControllerServlet?lastName=peterson&firstName=elisabeth&state=AZ&x=15&y=6&target=search&userType=giftGiver&searchForPerson=primReg&whereTo=viewRegistry

Mothers, please feel free to offer more suggestions for things I will need!

Aunt Lisa & Uncle Evan

I knew that the gauntlet had been thrown when Uncle Andrew presented us with the "My Uncle Rocks" onesie and that it would be only a matter of time before "The Godfather" Uncle Evan retaliated with his own wardrobe contribution.

We laughed ourselves silly when we opened the package and saw the Lil' Eban onesie.

What a cute idea to have onesies monogrammed! From what I understand about baby spit up, I will need to Scotchgard the heck out of these so we will get lots of mileage out of them!
(Lil') Evan also received another book to add to his growing library and a monogrammed frog throw that is the softest thing I have ever felt.

I think the score has been evened between the Uncles. If (lil') Evan is lucky, this battle will wage on throughout his life and he will be the beneficiary!
(If I may offer some suggestions...a car on his 18th birthday or a college trip to Europe, these are good one uppers.)

Nursery Artwork

I have been brain storming lately for ideas as to what to put up on the nursery walls. Because we decided against doing a theme (no clowns for us!) we have been trying to come up with creative wall decoration that won't give Evan (or us) nightmares.

So far, we have found a beautiful wood picture box that is being custom painted in the nursery colors with a quote we picked out (that I obviously don't have memorized or else would repeat it here). Granny Annie also brought us a Beatrix Potter framed picture that was in my nursery that is being reframed to better suit the colors we are using. You could tell it was straight out of the seventies with an orange mat and bright yellow frame!

In MN this past weekend Grandma Gail pulled out Brian's baby book and other fun things she has collected over the years. When I saw this relic from Brian's esteemed academic career I knew it would be the piece de resistance of the nursery artwork. This gem is dated June 1, 1984 and was done on what we assume was one of Brian's last days in kindergarten.

In case you can't see it clearly...

Brian Peterson
I want to go to
first grade because
be kos im giten tiyrd
of kinde gardin.

And at the top the teacher wrote, "I love it!"

My favorite part is that you can tell the teacher put the assignment up on the board like, "I want to go to first grade because..." and Brian copied that exactly and then things went down hill from there!!

I am so thankful that Gail was willing to part with this heirloom so that we can pass it along to our kids. What a great treasure to have!

19 Weeks 6 Days

I had another hi-tech ultrasound today and came out of it feeling like a piece of tenderized meat! The technician I had today wasn't as gentle as the past two were so it made for an interesting 45 minutes.

She was trying to measure all sorts of things on the baby (heart, brain, kidneys, etc) which necessitates that he move around quite a bit so she can get all the different angles. Usually this is no problem for our little man (please see blog posted below) but today I think he was feeling a bit crabby at being woken up by the not so subtle jabs of the technician because he really dug in and refused to move. In fact, I would say that today he demonstrated that he is my son as well because when the technician needed him to roll to the right, he went left. Atta boy, you show that lady not to wake you up with demands.

At one point, he was trying to roll over onto his belly and the technician decided to stop him. This consisted of her digging the ultrasound wand into the side of my belly to try and block him from rolling. Try to imagine the kind of pressure that it would require to stop a person the size of a grapefruit from moving IN MY UTERUS. I was actually having trouble breathing while this gal and our son had this battle of will with me being, quite literally, in the middle.

She did manage to get all of the measurements needed and everything looks great so that was a positive that came out of her beating me up for 45 minutes! The downside of our boy being so stubborn is that we didn't get many good 3D pictures. This one was the best...



You can see that he was curled up trying to get his snooze on while this woman kept attacking him. Even though we didn't get many good pictures, I was really glad he asserted himself ;)

He's a mover!

Lots of people ask me if the baby is moving and my usual response is, "He is Brian's kid, he can't stay still!"

I thought I would post some visuals so you could better understand what this little man is doing in utero...(Notice Jill and Jens' looks of utter amazement at the wonder that is Brian.)

18 weeks

We had another routine doctor's appointment this afternoon. Everything looks great; the baby's heartbeat, my cervix, my weight (I actually LOST a pound from my 16 week appointment - yee haw).
We got to spend a few minutes with the doctor asking some questions that I had been thinking up. I won't bore you with the details but I will say that at the end of the Q & A period, Brian was still a decided NON-fan of our doctor's. He felt that her answers were a bit melodramatic and biased. My impression was different because I expected her answers to reflect her medical training and her years of experience. So while her answers weren't always what I wanted to hear, I did feel that were her honest professional opinion. Since we have decided to go the OB route instead of the mid-wife route, I want to know what the doctor recommends.
Probably the most disheartening news for Brian and me was that there may be a possibility that we will not be able to travel for Christmas this year. The doctor said she would make her recommendation once we reached 24 weeks so we won't know one way or the other for another 6 weeks. Her main concern is that I would go into pre-term labor and would be stuck in another city, unable to fly until the baby is born and then he is cleared to fly. This could mean being away from home for up to 3 1/2 months. Again, we won't know definitively what the doctor suggests until 24 weeks so we aren't getting bent out of shape about our holiday plans just yet. I am sure everything will be fine and we will avoid a cactus Christmas.
Now, let's all remember that I lost a pound!

High Tech Ultrasound...Round Two!

Tuesday of this week (9/18) we had a follow up appointment at the high-tech ultrasound center. Elisabeth had been there once before…the time when “nothing cool was supposed to happen…but did”. So, this was old hat for her, but it was my first go-round with the hi-def version. The nurse led us back to the monitoring room and went straight to work jellying up E’s belly. They had a flat-panel TV mounted on the wall in front of us, such that both E and I could see what the technician was seeing on the ultrasound monitor. As she moved the wand back and forth she talked us through what she was looking for. We were thoroughly amazed as she pointed everything out, checking things off her "ultrasound treasure hunt list" as she identified important parts of his development in the various little blobs that showed up on the screen. A healthy heart, kidneys, developing cerebellum, fingers, toes…“come on”, I thought…“where is it?”…and then, BAM…his “in-utero-man-business” showed up to the party. She promptly labeled it with the word “boy” (see picture below) which gave us the final thumbs up we needed to go crazy buying clothes and painting the nursery!

The technician said that she has been doing this for seven years and typically does about ten exams per day. So, the way I figure it, multiply that by five working days in a week, less holidays and two weeks paid vacation in any given year, and you have about 16,800 ultrasounds that this woman has seen. Now, while I’ve not experienced such voluminous ultrasound review in my lifetime, I HAVE seen the look of a thoroughly impressed person before, and she freely wore that expression with no indecision whatsoever...and rightfully so (again, see picture below)!

Both the nurse/technician and the doctor (who made a three minute guest appearance to confirm the tech’s work) indicated that they were happy with all that they saw. I’m fairly certain that they were both probably rather well accustomed to the notion by now…but I still can’t get over the fact that there is a little person growing inside Elisabeth…a little person that is half me and half her…incredible! So, needless to say, I was pretty well flabbergasted throughout the entire process and felt the need to get a bit teary eyed from time to time. I was sitting in a chair next to E, as we held hands throughout the session. I soon found myself doing the ultrasound equivalent of the “wave” at a sporting event though, as it was tough to stay in my seat…constantly standing up in order to position myself nearer the monitor to make sure that I caught every last detail!

The 3-D pictures blew our minds once again, as now you can actually make out the features of his face (see below). Ears, nose, mouth, and eyes…all of which are positioned nicely on a melon that, proportionately speaking, rivals the size of my at-birth cranium (as I popped out looking like a moon man). In the second picture he’s assumed the aptly-named “fetal position” and you can see his whole body. From the looks of it, this leads me to believe that he’s going to be a professional cannon-baller, as in the picture he is demonstrating flawless form! (Mom, how reminiscent is this picture of the “back of the blue van” pose I struck when I didn’t make the traveling basketball team in middle school…minus the tears, right?!)
Once again, in addition to the still frames, were able to get a DVD of the entire session. During quite a bit of it it’s difficult to make out exactly what you’re looking at…but I will carve out a few clips of the more quality footage, as there are definitely some cool shots. There are some great motion sequences where you can see him moving his arms and legs around (in one shot he’s kicking back with his hands behind his head…Andrew, “I call this one 'Relax'”). Very cool stuff!

Elisabeth says she’s started to feel him moving around inside her…I can’t wait until I can feel him moving around from outside her belly. We have a real kid on the way…and we’re going to be real parents…BP is going to be someone’s dad…wow!

So a doctor it is!

We had our appointment last Thursday with the midwife/ob practice in Phoenix. We should have guessed it wouldn't be our cup of tea just from the address. The practice is located in a rather seedy area of Phoenix that is about an hour drive from our house. This practice came recommended by another midwife I had spoken with so we figured it was our best option since there are no midwives practicing in Scottsdale.
Thursday morning we trekked down to this office. Brian's first thought when we pulled in was that someone would steal our cars. This is just in the parking lot so I was still trying to be optimistic! Upon entering the waiting room area we both realized that this was NOT where we would be coming for pre-natal treatment. It looked like a Medicaid office! Brian and I were the only natural born citizens of the USA, if you get my drift. The waiting rooms chairs were stained and the carpet was frayed and coming up in areas. It was not winning any sanitation awards.
We sat for a few minutes quietly debating whether to stay and meet with the midwife or to run screaming from the building and back to Scottsdale as fast as our (hopefully not missing any tires) cars would take us. We finally decided that there was no way we would ever go with this practice so it would be a waste of our time as well as the midwife's. Brian let the receptionist know that we had an emergency and needed to cancel and we hightailed it out of there.
I must admit that I felt pretty snobby leaving the practice without even meeting with the midwife. Especially considering how much I would have preferred working with midwives over an OB. However, as I retold the story to Valerie later, she made me feel much better in pointing out that you have certain expectations for offices where you are to receive medical care and stained chairs and ripped carpet doesn't speak well to the level of care they provide.
Since there are no midwives practicing in Scottsdale, Brian and I made the decision to stick with our current OB. She may not be warm and fuzzy but she is a good doctor who provides a high level of care and a nice waiting room!

A boring yet good appointment

We had another doctor's appointment on Tuesday which turned out to be rather uneventful. Instead of an ultrasound, I got an exam. Brian had never seen such a thing so he was pretty interested! It wasn't a paps mere type exam but was an actual pregnancy exam which was my first. The doctor had me lay back on the table and put the soles of my feet together so that my knees splayed apart. Then she measured from the top of my pubic bone to just above the round in my belly (my uterus) with a measuring tape and said that everything measures right where it should for 16 weeks. It is strange to look at my belly while laying in that position because everything kind of goes to the right. The doctor said that is because my bowels are on the left so the baby moves to the right. Interesting, eh? She did a brief internal exam and said my cervix is hard as a rock, which I guess is a good thing. She listened to his heartbeat and said he sounds beautiful! We have another hi-tech ultra sound scheduled for next week to measure the length of my cervix. I would imagine at this appointment we will really be able to see his "business" so that will be the confirmation we need to paint the nursery!
The only bad news at yesterday's appointment was that I gained 7 pounds in 3 weeks! It was rather unexpected for me since I have been eating well and exercising a lot. But my belly has grown quite a bit in the last 3 weeks so I am trying not to be too hard on myself. The total weight gain so far has been 16 lbs so basically a pound a week. At this rate I will end up gaining 40 lbs so I am hoping that it slows down at some point...wishful thinking I know!
We have an appointment Thursday morning with a mid wife practice in Phoenix. We want to explore the options to see if we are more comfortable with a mid wife instead of a doctor. I will keep you updated!

Finally!

Brian edited this clip of the ultrasound down from the hi-tech one we had at 12 weeks. He says that this is the only good part of the whole 20 minutes because you can see his business. Pay close attention to his "special area" for confirmation.

More Stuff!

Here is the diaper bag that Aunt Sara picked out and Grandma & Grandpa bought for us. We thought the green was a nice neutral color so Brian would feel comfortable carrying it around. Probably with Evan strapped to his chest!
Here is the crib bedding we bought in MN. This isn't a great picture, I will try to find a better one!

Outfits

We had a great weekend in Minnesota for Sara & Jim's couples shower. It was quite an experience to be the designated driver for once! There were several jeers that I should just stay pregnant (Britney Spears style) so I can continue to chauffeur.
This past weekend also marked the official beginning of Evan's wardrobe. Grandma Gail & Grandpa Ross, Aunt Sara & Uncle Yimbo & Uncle Andrew all contributed mightily to Evan's closet this weekend with onesies, pjs, a blanket, a baby book and a diaper bag.
Andrew contributed the "My Uncle Rocks" onesie. We will be sure Evan is decked out in that every time Andrew babysits ;)
While we were out shopping for the newest Clarkson addition, James, we stumbled across some baby Vikings gear, which of course, Brian could not resist! You can see Pearl is more than happy to share the Football Sunday dress up torture with her little brother!
We are back to Minnesota tomorrow for 9 days of relaxing and cooler weather!

Classic Cruiser Silver Speedster

Evan's first gift from Granny Annie!


A lot of expletives went into its construction by Brian!

An uneventful doctor's appointment

Finally! A doctor's appointment where Brian didn't miss anything spectacular!
I went in this morning for my first exam. Ladies, you know what I mean. Pretty standard stuff. Everything looks good. The nurse practitioner tried to listen the the baby's heartbeat with a hand held speaker type machine but he was moving around so much she could only find it for a second or two at a time. Again, is there any doubt who this kid is taking after already?
We ended up down at the ultrasound machine again which was fun to see but after the high tech ultrasound from last week, the pictures were pretty boring. The NP did say that he seemed to be sucking his thumb which means he does take after me some, too. I am having visions of headgears with denim neck straps in about 12 years!
So, to wrap it up...we have a confirmed thumb sucking jumping bean - A perfect mix of Brian and me!

Our FIRST baby purchase!

How adorable is this? I got it in brown and can't wait to bundle him up in it next winter!

A Little Surprise...

Well, I’ve been informed that in order for me to solidify my role as the “other parent” of this child, I need to make a blog entry tonight…apparently just providing the swimmers that got us here wasn’t enough. So, officially all of the cool stuff seems to happen without me there (well, I suppose it’s not entirely true to say that ALL the cool stuff happens without me, in that obviously ONE pretty cool thing that required my presence happened about 12 weeks and 5 days ago)! Anyway, Elisabeth went in for what was supposed to be a standard appointment to have some tests run at a more specialized fetal clinic that apparently had some pretty high tech ultrasound equipment…an appointment where nothing overly spectacular was supposed to happen in the way of new developments. So with a hectic work schedule today, we figured that I would be safe to sit this one out. Wrong. Elisabeth called me when she was finished to say that she had received an interesting bit of news during the visit, but when I pressed her to fill me in, she said it was news that she couldn't share with me over the phone. As it turns out, after having gone through a series of 3D ultrasounds, they were actually able to determine (with at least 90% certainty) the sex of the little jumping bean growing inside her! So, I promptly ducked out of a meeting at my office in order to drive up to hers. Shortly after opening the door she mandated that I close my eyes. Now, as anyone who has been familiar with this pregnancy thus far knows (not to mention the many months/years of “baby conversations” prior) we were DEFINITLEY going to be having a girl first…which I suppose should have been my first clue. Once I got the green light from Elisabeth to open my eyes, there she stood in front of me with a blue lollypop in her hand…across the front of which it read “IT’S A BOY”. Unreal…I was completely floored…absolutely incredible that we're going to have a SON…and immediately my mind snapped to thoughts about exactly how small they make Vikings jerseys?! Needless to say we were both teary-eyed as we hugged each other tightly for a while, first for love and then almost just to absorb the enormity of this surprise. So...it's official...it's a boy!
Now, when I was informed that I would be contributing to the blog this evening, given the newly discovered gender of the baby, my immediate inclination was to post this under the subject line heading of “Holy Balls!”…but apparently I’ve been informed by the mother-to-be that such a tag line isn't as much a “creative play on words” as it is “wildly inappropriate language” for a baby blog. Man, parenting is tough.
The pictures that I posted below were from the ultrasound today. One of which is a 3D pic, where the baby looks uncannily like an old man, and in the other non-3D pic the baby's making his old man proud as it looks uncannily like he’s hoisting a cold beer. I will also try to figure out how to post a video clip that I harvested from the ultrasound dvd that they gave us. If I manage to get that posted, pay particular attention to what I think is a pretty sweet "ween shot" about 3 seconds in…definitely a Peterson. If for some reason I can't figure out the video post and you are interested in seeing it, I'll make sure that both Elisabeth and I have the file to send by email.
So, it’s official…Elisabeth is going to have her hands full...now that there’s going to be two of us running around!

Second Doctor's Appointment

I had my second doctor's appointment on August 7th and actually met with the doctor this time. Brian was along for the ride and let me tell you...Gail, I can imagine what it must have been like for you to have to sit in an examination room with Brian waiting for the doctor for half an hour...he was a mess! I guess it is a good thing that I have plenty of practice with short attention spans!
The doctor came into the exam room and started looking through my chart and the notes from my last visit with the Nurse Practitioner. The doctor mentioned that she was concerned about my first ultra sound. What?! I looked at Brian like, "Concerned? She is already concerned??". After some clarification, it was determined that she thought the dates on the ultrasound were wrong. So back to the ultrasound machine to see if we could get a better read on the kidney bean.
It is amazing how much the baby has developed in the last 3 weeks! He/She is no longer a bean but a little person with a face and arms and legs flailing (DEFINITELY Brian's kid!). Once he/she had stopped jumping around so much the doctor took another measure and lo and behold, instead of 10 weeks 2 days, we are 11 weeks 4 days! At this rate, I will be having this kid next week!
Our new due date is February 22nd so the good news there is I am done with my first trimester. This has been the fastest first 3 months ever. I went from 5 weeks to 7 weeks to 11 1/2 weeks in a flash! Soon it will be time to break out the muu muus. :(

The doctor also said that she gave no stock at all to the theories that girls have faster heartbeats so I guess as far as evidence goes, we are back to 50-50 on what we will have. I am still pretty sure it is a girl!
I think the whole situation has finally become reality for Brian. Last night he kept charging at me and grabbing my belly saying, "You have a person in there!".

He's escaped!

Brian is out of town again this weekend working. He was out of town last weekend, is gone this weekend and will be gone again in 2 weeks. Three out of 4 weekends. Hmmm.
He says that he hates being away on the weekends but I think it is a welcome respite from his rapidly enlarging wife who is usually either grumpy, hungry or both. Who shoves her feet (albeit really nice feet) in his lap as soon as he sits on the couch in the evenings and then complains that he is paying more attention to Pearl. Oh yes, and who falls asleep at 7:45pm on average and apparently snores now.
Yes, now that I really think about it...I figure I can expect lots more business trips over the next 7 months!

First Doctor's Appointment

I had my first doctor's appointment on Monday, July 16th. I told Brian not to come because I figured I was only about 4 weeks and there is not much they can do at that point other than give you a blood test to confirm you are pregnant. Plus I knew they were going to weigh me and after a weekend with the Petersons, no man needs to see his wife's post-binge weight.
After answering all the routine questions, the nurse practitioner decided to give me an ultra-sound to determine exactly how pregnant I was. She mentioned that since I was not very far along, we wouldn't be able to see much so my expectations were low. Imagine my surprise when as soon as she put the monitor to my belly the heart beat popped up! I was completely overwhelmed and my first thought was how disappointed Brian was going to to be. It turns out that we were already 7 weeks pregnant! This means that we got pregnant the first month we started trying, on our one year wedding anniversary to be exact. Needless to say, Brian has been congratulating "himself" quite a bit (you all know the specific area to which I am referring). The heart beat seemed to be pretty fast which is leading me to believe it will be a girl. Poor Brian, between Pearl, me and a baby girl...he will be toast!

Finding out

We found out we were pregnant on Monday, July 9th. I had come home from yoga and was dying to take a test even though I thought it was fairly early in the whole process. Brian was outside putzing around in the garage so I took the test unbeknownst to him. It came back positive immediately...yikes! I walked out into the hallway and called to Brian. As he came walking in from the garage I said (in shock), "I'm pregnant"! Brian looked like he had been hit by a truck. We hugged and he kept asking me if I was sure (2 tests sure!) then he says, "I thought you were going to scold me for something". Ha, not this time, buddy!
We had a great time that week telling our immediate families. Brian's whole family was in town that weekend so it was especially fun to tell them in person. Lots of bear hugs from Sara and Gail , those Peterson women can hug your head right off your body.