Now that we have past the half-way point in the pregnancy, Alysia has been very persistent in reminding me that we need to narrow down our choices of potential boys and girls names to a short list.
My problem is that I think 90+% of girls names are great, and less than 3% of boys names are adequate. The result is that I can't settle on any girls names, and I genuinely can't think of many boys names that I'll like. There was one very intruiging boy name that we really took to - Aidric - but we're less enthusiastic about it now because we realized some close friends of ours (Mike & Kate and Lisa & Matt) already have infants with very similiar-sounding names - Aiden and Caden. So, we definitely don't want to rain on their parade.
Anyone who reads this post is free to give their opinion on two names that we are considering right now. Each name has the same story - one of us came up with it, and the other is not convinced yet that it will work.
My name - Boy - Julian Connor
Alysia's name - Girl - Talia Mae
Other than the name dilema, everything is going very well. We stripped down the spare bedroom tonight so that we can begin the painting process. The highlight of the night was my success in moving the (surprisingly heavy) ski machine from the 2nd floor to the basement. I can't wait to move that again whenever we move out of our house one day...
We also took a trip to Saginaw today to put our crib on order at Babies 'R Us. Of course, we bought a bunch of other things too. It's amazing how quickly you can spend money at that place. I'm pretty sure that that company is recession-proof.
On a side note, I've had "spring break" this week with school, so I've gotten a nice break. It's funny how even now, even though I'm only taking a single class part-time, it's still a great feeling to have spring break! (Just imagine how Ben feels every day....)
Until next time....
- Mike
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
21 Weeks
Baby is experiencing a significant growth spurt right now - and so is Mommy's tummy! Here are the Week 21 pictures: 
I'm sure you can tell that my tummy is stretching by the pictures. I can almost feel it growing every day now. All of this stretching has led to some uncomfortable backaches, and thankfully Mike never refuses my almost nightly back rub requests!
I'm sure you can tell that my tummy is stretching by the pictures. I can almost feel it growing every day now. All of this stretching has led to some uncomfortable backaches, and thankfully Mike never refuses my almost nightly back rub requests!
We had an appointment this week to discuss our latest ultrasound results. Much to Mike's surprise, the baby is in the 65% percentile for its size! Not the shrimp he expected it to be. He/she weighed approximately 10 oz (19.5 weeks). Based on the ultrasound, our due date has remained essentially the same - it predicts July 6th.
Alysia
Monday, February 16, 2009
20 Weeks
Now that we're halfway through the pregnancy, I thought we'd start showing baby's growth from the side and the front!
Alysia
The weekend was thankfully uneventful. Mike's Valentine's Day gift for us was perfect for my weekend of idling - a Guitar Hero! I had to be good and sit quietly on the couch while I played, but Mike was a real Rocker.
Alysia
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Cute Baby!
Here are some classic shots of our little one from the ultrasound Thursday. I know we're partial - but boy do we have a cute baby!
Baby was very active during the ultrasound. Arms and legs kicking all around! We especially liked how after the technician struggled to take measurements for awhile, the baby placed its feet directly in front of the probe - posing for its closeup:)
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
Alysia
Friday, February 13, 2009
Lornadoones for an Irritable Uterus
Yesterday was not the day we expected it to be. It was supposed to be a normal day of work with an entertaining free date in the evening. Instead, we had the opportunity to learn a bit about the labor & maternity ward at the hospital.
Immediately after getting out of bed, our drama began. I stood up and liquid trickled down my leg to the floor. This would have ordinarily been very weird, but the fact that it was pink/orange was just plan scary. This, accompanied by some small cramping, caused us to drive straight to the doctor's office rather than work. They confirmed that the baby was fine - heartbeat very strong - and sent us to the labor & maternity ward at the hospital for some tests.
During our long day at the hospital, we learned that the liquid was not amniotic fluid - thank God. It was also not related to any infection and was not the result of any internal issue with the baby. The cramps I felt in the morning were indeed contractions, but they were not the result of pre-term labor. They monitored me off and on all day, administered an IV to ensure that the contractions were not related to dehydration (which they were not based on earlier tests), and eventually gave me some drugs to calm down my uterus.
At the end of the day, they sent me home with instructions for bed rest for the weekend and told us that I just had an IRRITABLE UTERUS. This can happen for one day or several or even the entire pregnancy and often for an unknown cause. Who knew that a uterus could be irritable? Here's a link that describes it for those who are unfamiliar: http://www.irritable-uterus.com/default.asp
Here are some fun things we learned through our experience at the hospital:
- They serve boxed lunches at the maternity triage. Both Mike and I got one. I was excited because it was my first turkey sandwich in months (I've been avoiding lunch meats) and Mike was excited by the cookies - LORNADOONES. He ate his and mine.
- Our hospital is awesome. They were waiting for us when we arrived and were very organized.
- The nurses were wonderful, caring, and funny. They made us feel comfortable all day.
- Wheelchairs are kind of fun to ride around in.
- Our baby is VERY ACTIVE. They monitored the heartbeat nearly all day, and you could hear the kicks, punches, and somersaults through the monitor. Of all the patients in triage yesterday, my monitor was the loudest.
- Our baby has a very cute profile.... we ended the day with an ultrasound and had an opportunity to say 'Hi' to our little one for the first time in 10 weeks!
All fun aside, we hope the hospital visit does not become a recurring one.
Well, here's to reading books, watching movies, cross-stitching, and anything else I can do while sitting on my butt this weekend. To anyone who knows me, you must realize that I'm already bored.
Alysia
Immediately after getting out of bed, our drama began. I stood up and liquid trickled down my leg to the floor. This would have ordinarily been very weird, but the fact that it was pink/orange was just plan scary. This, accompanied by some small cramping, caused us to drive straight to the doctor's office rather than work. They confirmed that the baby was fine - heartbeat very strong - and sent us to the labor & maternity ward at the hospital for some tests.
During our long day at the hospital, we learned that the liquid was not amniotic fluid - thank God. It was also not related to any infection and was not the result of any internal issue with the baby. The cramps I felt in the morning were indeed contractions, but they were not the result of pre-term labor. They monitored me off and on all day, administered an IV to ensure that the contractions were not related to dehydration (which they were not based on earlier tests), and eventually gave me some drugs to calm down my uterus.
At the end of the day, they sent me home with instructions for bed rest for the weekend and told us that I just had an IRRITABLE UTERUS. This can happen for one day or several or even the entire pregnancy and often for an unknown cause. Who knew that a uterus could be irritable? Here's a link that describes it for those who are unfamiliar: http://www.irritable-uterus.com/default.asp
Here are some fun things we learned through our experience at the hospital:
- They serve boxed lunches at the maternity triage. Both Mike and I got one. I was excited because it was my first turkey sandwich in months (I've been avoiding lunch meats) and Mike was excited by the cookies - LORNADOONES. He ate his and mine.
- Our hospital is awesome. They were waiting for us when we arrived and were very organized.
- The nurses were wonderful, caring, and funny. They made us feel comfortable all day.
- Wheelchairs are kind of fun to ride around in.
- Our baby is VERY ACTIVE. They monitored the heartbeat nearly all day, and you could hear the kicks, punches, and somersaults through the monitor. Of all the patients in triage yesterday, my monitor was the loudest.
- Our baby has a very cute profile.... we ended the day with an ultrasound and had an opportunity to say 'Hi' to our little one for the first time in 10 weeks!
All fun aside, we hope the hospital visit does not become a recurring one.
Well, here's to reading books, watching movies, cross-stitching, and anything else I can do while sitting on my butt this weekend. To anyone who knows me, you must realize that I'm already bored.
Alysia
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Practice and Preparation
Well, I started this entry before our crazy day at the hospital... and I just wrapped it up today.
We went to a friend's 30th birthday party last Friday night - it was a frightful reminder of what awaits me in about 390 days. But it was also a nice reminder that twentysomethings and thirtysomethings with kids can still have a good time. One room of the house was full of people playing Wii Tennis, while the other half had people playing Guitar Hero, World Tour... what a great way to spend an evening.
While taking a break from gaming, I had the chance to get some more practice with holding a baby since our friends Matt & Lisa brought Caden, who is only 6 weeks old. For some reason, I always feel awkward when I hold the baby, or I feel like the baby is very uncomfortable with the way I'm holding it. While I held Caden, Alysia and Brian (another friend, born in Michigan) confirmed that I did, indeed, look awkward. With a few adjustments, I managed to do the job.
We made a little more progress this week to prepare for the big day - we picked the color scheme for the bedroom. If only that was the hard part.... We will be painting all North and South walls a pale yellow, and East & West walls will have large vertical stripes of bright and pale yellow with a lime green horizontal stripe. To add another level of complication, there will be skinny white stripes on either side of the lime green stripe. We've never tried anything like this before, so I'm sure that it will be an interesting experiment. If we pull it off, it should look great based on some pictures that we've seen. We plan to go out tomorrow (Saturday) to buy the paint, so we'll be ready to start on the room the next time we get a foot of snow over the weekend....
As I'm writing this, Alysia is reminding me of other things that we haven't done yet. On that note, I should quit writing and start doing.
Until next time...
- Mike
We went to a friend's 30th birthday party last Friday night - it was a frightful reminder of what awaits me in about 390 days. But it was also a nice reminder that twentysomethings and thirtysomethings with kids can still have a good time. One room of the house was full of people playing Wii Tennis, while the other half had people playing Guitar Hero, World Tour... what a great way to spend an evening.
While taking a break from gaming, I had the chance to get some more practice with holding a baby since our friends Matt & Lisa brought Caden, who is only 6 weeks old. For some reason, I always feel awkward when I hold the baby, or I feel like the baby is very uncomfortable with the way I'm holding it. While I held Caden, Alysia and Brian (another friend, born in Michigan) confirmed that I did, indeed, look awkward. With a few adjustments, I managed to do the job.
We made a little more progress this week to prepare for the big day - we picked the color scheme for the bedroom. If only that was the hard part.... We will be painting all North and South walls a pale yellow, and East & West walls will have large vertical stripes of bright and pale yellow with a lime green horizontal stripe. To add another level of complication, there will be skinny white stripes on either side of the lime green stripe. We've never tried anything like this before, so I'm sure that it will be an interesting experiment. If we pull it off, it should look great based on some pictures that we've seen. We plan to go out tomorrow (Saturday) to buy the paint, so we'll be ready to start on the room the next time we get a foot of snow over the weekend....
As I'm writing this, Alysia is reminding me of other things that we haven't done yet. On that note, I should quit writing and start doing.
Until next time...
- Mike
Sunday, February 8, 2009
19 Weeks
Baby continues to grow - the little one is now almost 6.5 inches (not counting its little legs)!
Baby is very active and seems to be on a sleeping schedule now that doesn't exactly match mommy's. Little kicks and pops are noticeable each day from about 2PM - 5PM and then again starting around 8PM. I think its doing flips and moving around while I sleep as I can feel activity when I get up for my oh-so-fun potty breaks throughout the night:) I have yet to feel a big "kick" though and we're looking forward to the day when dad can feel them from the outside.
Alysia
Monday, February 2, 2009
18 Weeks and Pennsylvania Reigns
I was late posting the 18 week picture yesterday. Here's your weekly dose of baby's growth!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE STEELERS! Now Pennsylvania holds both baseball and football bragging rights!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE STEELERS! Now Pennsylvania holds both baseball and football bragging rights!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Dad is Busy
I am very much consumed in my semi-annual self-punishment, which is my way of saying another graduate class. Fortunately, I expect this to be my last tough course, which is good timing I suppose. The subject this time is Fluid Flow. It sounds simple enough, but most of my free time is completely taken up by listening to lectures, doing homework, and reading. I'm sure looking forward to having that piece of paper in my hand someday.
In the little time that's left after finishing work and school, I'm keeping myself busy by playing racquetball in a new league that I discovered in Midland, and we're also on a once-a-week movie kick since we signed up for Netflix. Of course, I'm also staying busy trying to keep up with Alysia making plans for the baby. I tried to make some progress on the planning earlier this week on a weeknight after spending the evening doing homework: My task was to read a synopsis about choosing strollers from ConsumerReports.com (We signed up last week to help us make decisions on which brands of larger items to purchase.). I figured that this would be an easy break from thinking about fluid flow phenomena - I was mistaken.
The report was organized by different types of baby-transportation vehicles, so I expected clear differentiation between the available types. However, I was thoroughly confused because the differences seemed so subtle that every description sounded like the last one I read - especially when you get to the end of the section and find out that there are models for purchase which convert to all of the other styles of strollers - including carriages. Also, the combinations of options and features are endless, so it's impossible to quickly differentiate an obvious choice. Basically, what I learned is that no matter what you choose to purchase, it's likely that your choice will lack some key feature that you'll regret not having.
I think that our child will skip the whole stroller stage and go straight to the bicycle - or if we're really lucky, it can figure out the unicycle!
Let's go Steelers - bring home a 6th!
Until next time...
- Mike
In the little time that's left after finishing work and school, I'm keeping myself busy by playing racquetball in a new league that I discovered in Midland, and we're also on a once-a-week movie kick since we signed up for Netflix. Of course, I'm also staying busy trying to keep up with Alysia making plans for the baby. I tried to make some progress on the planning earlier this week on a weeknight after spending the evening doing homework: My task was to read a synopsis about choosing strollers from ConsumerReports.com (We signed up last week to help us make decisions on which brands of larger items to purchase.). I figured that this would be an easy break from thinking about fluid flow phenomena - I was mistaken.
The report was organized by different types of baby-transportation vehicles, so I expected clear differentiation between the available types. However, I was thoroughly confused because the differences seemed so subtle that every description sounded like the last one I read - especially when you get to the end of the section and find out that there are models for purchase which convert to all of the other styles of strollers - including carriages. Also, the combinations of options and features are endless, so it's impossible to quickly differentiate an obvious choice. Basically, what I learned is that no matter what you choose to purchase, it's likely that your choice will lack some key feature that you'll regret not having.
I think that our child will skip the whole stroller stage and go straight to the bicycle - or if we're really lucky, it can figure out the unicycle!
Let's go Steelers - bring home a 6th!
Until next time...
- Mike
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