Ready for the holidays

We're ready for Thanksgiving...as you can see by my "butterball" appearance.

36 weeks!

Average size for babies at this stage is about 6 pounds. Logan was born exactly at 36 weeks and was 6 lbs., 7 oz.

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Baby face at 33 weeks. I originally didn't post this because I thought it was hard to see his face. As it turns out, it's easier to see on a smaller pic. As usual, he's got half of his face mashed into the placenta, but we can see he had cheeks here already! He was measuring the size of a 35 1/2 week baby at this point.

And finally...to complete our holiday readiness...evidence that there are NO SILENT NIGHTS in my near future!

The Artist

Logan typically has "homework" for kindergarten over the weekends. It's just one piece of paper, usually kind of a family effort sort of thing. Last week he had to walk through the house, drawing pictures of the patterns he saw (piano keys, wallpaper border, tile entry, etc.). This weekend, though, he had to draw pictures of his favorite things to do during the different seasons. I didn't want to lead him towards drawing anything in particular, so I told him to tell me what he likes to do and I'd let him know which season that activity took place in.

His first idea? He wanted to know which day of the year we get to eat breakfast at church...which is Easter morning...so he drew a picture of a waffle. Both of the boys really enjoy this because they're made from a mix, rather than Mommy's homemade ones made with wheat germ, etc. For summer, he decided "driving his jeep" was the highlight. Notice the big load of rocks in the back (accurately depicting the ACTUAL load of rocks currently in their jeep). Winter was "playing in the snow" and fall was "going to school." I laughed at the school picture; kinda looks like a prison, doesn't it?

Baby update:

I admit, I wasn't going into today's appointment with a lot of optimism. But, it turned out to be a very good day. My fluid levels were up to almost 11, which means baby moves a lot more too. At this point in my pregnancy with Logan, I was already dilated to 4...and he was born 2 days later. Upon "checking" today, that is not the case this time.

Also, between the medication and acupuncture, my liver symptoms have been ZIPPO since last Tuesday. Doc can't really explain it as the medication usually just stabilizes things instead of eliminating things. Whatever...I'll take it.

Sooooo....for the next week, I get to live under the assumption that I will go full term. Truthfully, I'll be happy just to go until 12:01 a.m. on November 1st...just to prove my husband wrong! (He's still saying we'll have an October baby) The only "concern" I have today is wondering if this baby will be too big to fit into the newborn clothes we've received....we might have to break out the 0-3 month size! What a novel idea.

I'm also wondering....can acupuncture cure my 4-year-old's need to have his hands down his pants CONSTANTLY!!!???

The thing to keep in mind with kids is to "remain flexible"...

Carter's preschool pics are in now. Sometimes I cannot believe these two came from the same gene pool. To me, the boys don't really look alike at all...but we get different comments from different people. Some think Carter looks like his dad (THAT, I do NOT see). One of my friends thinks Logan looks just like me, but with dark features. I still remember how much Logan looked like his dad when he was just hours old, so I seem to hold that thought in my head when I think of who the boys look like. We took the boys to "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" last night. Going to the movies is such a treat (expensive treat, I think). But, we thought it might be one of the last things we get to do with them for a while. Logan's days are quite long and Daddy works Saturdays. Plus, the boys really enjoy doing nothing on Saturdays so they can play. I think they miss each other all week, being at separate schools. Today is the end of the first quarter, so Logan was off (Carter doesn't have preschool on Fridays anyway), so it wasn't a big deal to have them up a little later last night for the movie.

When we got home, Ryan had his yoga workout to do (he's doing the P90X program). So, while Carter was "busy" losing his privilege of being tucked in for the night, Logan got to exercise with Daddy for a few minutes. This is the only pic of my hubby doing yoga that I was "allowed" to put on here. Needless to say, the pregnant lady just supervised and took a few pictures before retreating to her sewing projects...

Short update

Baby update:
Not much to update other than I get to plan on staying pregnant at least until I see him again on Monday. He said our decisions will just be week by week (hopefully for another 4-5 weeks). I'm officially 35 weeks tomorrow, but I'm convinced if this little dude sinks down any lower, he's going to fall out !

My fluid levels have gone down a bit more. It measured 7.29 today; it was 8.55 last week (normal is 5-20). But, baby was moving really well and showing almost constant breathing movements, which is a good sign of lung function in the event he comes early. They've told me in the past that girls' lungs tend to develop earlier than boys (must need to get ready for all that talking we girls do!), but we've been very fortunate in that department thus far. Logan needed quite a bit of help after he was born, but that was more due to him being "sick" as opposed to immature lungs. He also snapped right out of it in about 4 hours. Carter came out screaming and hasn't managed to stop yet!

So, I'm back in on Monday...hopefully to just be sent back out the door again!

On another note...I had a baby shower last weekend and in the process, Logan & Carter received these nice wooden tops. A string gets wound around this handle so when it gets pulled, the top spins for a really long time. They've really enjoyed them. So...as Carter took one to bed last night, we didn't think much of it...until he came out with his finger stuck in the hole. We tried a few different things and ended up cutting the wood and breaking the thing in order to get it off. Ryan says it's a good thing it was made of weak pine rather than a harder wood. Carter was bummed that we couldn't fix it with tape, but off to bed he went...

...until this morning when I was brushing my teeth. Carter comes into the bathroom, looking all excited and says "Mom, look what I ..." and shows me how he got his finger stuck in the remaining top handle (which would be Logan's). Logan was on the couch, crying quietly because he knew his would need to be broken too. However, this time Carter put his index finger in instead of his middle finger, so I was able to pry it off with the lubrication of a little soap. Logan felt much better afterwards.

So, I was admitting to Ryan later in the day how I really, REALLY have absolutely NO PATIENCE for "stupid," (decisions, that is) regardless of age. So if you come to visit, please feel free to admire the cool top sitting on our windowsill, only to be taken down at Logan's request...and with supervision from now on. BOYS!

Be on the lookout for the evil bunny...

We were once again awakened by our second-born son at an hour much too early for our preference. It's typical for Carter to be up around 5:00, but this day, it was more like 3:30. He didn't come into the room and wake anybody up, but rather we awoke to the sound of the kitchen chairs being moved to accommodate his train-driving on the kitchen table. Ryan got up to find nearly every light in the house on. When he asked Carter what he was doing up, Carter responded "I had a nightmare."

I wondered most of the morning what kind of nightmare could cause him to wake at such an early hour, yet didn't prompt any crying or crawling into bed with Mommy or Daddy. So, when I picked him up from preschool, I asked him about his nightmare...to which he responded "I dreamed the Easter bunny was going to try to eat me! ...and that wouldn't be good, Mom".

I woke him up after he had napped for 4 hours that afternoon...

Quote of the day

Our normal morning routine consists of dropping Carter off at preschool a few minutes before 8:00, but Logan cannot be dropped off until 8:30. So, we typically sit in the car and read books during that time (which Logan thinks is soooo neat because he gets to sit in the FRONT SEAT!!!). Anyway, today we were reading a book called "When?". It covered a bunch of different topics including "when do rainbows appear?", "when do volcanoes blow up?", and "when do the leaves change color?". On the very last page, it stated something like "You will learn lots of new things in your life, but you will never know the answer to everything because there will always be new things to discover..." As I closed up the book, Logan didn't even skip a beat before saying "Mom, I'm gonna learn lots of things, but I will NEVER know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop!"
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So there you have it: the PROOF that my beloved kindergartner does NOT know everything!

Losing a little optimism

So baby boy and I had a biophysical profile today (an ultrasound that specifically looks at fluid levels, baby's tone, respiratory movements, etc.). Unfortunately, my liver is giving me a bit more trouble; it's taking about 2hours to get to sleep and I'm noticing symptoms most of the day now. So, I'm on medication, which hopefully will stabilize things.

Also of note, my fluid levels were a bit on the low side...still within the normal range, but on the low end of "normal." This happened with Carter as well, but not until 37 weeks, which is why they took him early. This can be fairly normal in the 3rd trimester if nothing else is going on, but it's also a higher risk with the cholestasis and abnormal placenta. So, now I not only SEE my OB once a week, but we're doing the biophysical profiles once a week, possibly increasing to twice a week if needed. Bummer.

Good news is that I'm continuing to gain weight, as is the littlest Magee. Baby was "a little on the hefty side", which is really good. I'm technically 33 weeks, 4 days today but baby boy was measuring between 35 and 36 weeks on all measurements. Still can't get a very good shot of his face as he's constantly hiding it in the placenta. I think he's gonna be a snuggler.


Also in the "good news" category; my placenta is still a grade 2, which is normal for this stage. In the past, my placentas have broken down really early on. In my OB's words, my placentas looked like I was 2 weeks overdue, rather than 3 and 4 weeks early. So far, so good.

So, I was quite direct and asked if I could still plan on a November baby at this point (it's typical to induce between 36-37 weeks with cholestasis to bypass the greatest risk of stillbirth). His response was "Today, that's still the plan. We'll see what next week shows." Unfortunately, I cannot be induced with a VBAC, so I might be "facing the knife" again if we're forced to go early. Another bummer. But, as long as we bring home a healthy baby, I'll easily learn to live with that disappointment.

Aside from all that, I managed to get the car seat cover finished this weekend and Logan has officially been moved to the WAAAAAY back of the Expedition. I think we need an intercom system to talk now! I'd like to get the crib bumper made, but we'll see what time and energy levels allow.


So, after a non-productive morning running around, I picked up Carter and headed home. I decided to try not giving him a nap because I'm getting a little bit tired of him getting up at 5:30. I even asked him if he wanted to take a nap. His response: "No, I'm not even tired."
Liar.