Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Dear Kieran...

I've got a lot to complain about, you know. Being this much bigger, constant trips to the bathroom, and waking up just to turn over. And I complain a lot about being pregnant. Especially on this blog.

But I wanted Kieran to know that even with all this going on, with a looming needle (this weekend), labor (still freaking me out beyond belief) and ensuring our house is in order for a baby - I'm still pretty excited about meeting him. I wonder what type of person he'll be. If he'll get my dad's blue eyes and Ken's dark skin. Or maybe he'll get my stuborness and Ken's impulsiveness.

Whatever - or whoever - he turns out to be, I know we'll love him. It won't always be easy. I'm sure there were several times when my folks wanted to strangle me. And many more times when I thought my parents were completely in the wrong. But there will always be love and support.

Why am I writing this up on my blog? Well, we have a baby book and it includes an area for Ken and I to each write a letter to Kieran. I wanted to start thinking about this but I also wanted to invite all of you to write a little something as well. What do you wish for Kieran?

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Welcome New Cousin!


My cousin's wife, Dawn, gave birth over the weekend. Join the Lipshultz family in welcoming Sophia Lily Lipshultz (daughter to Michael and Dawn for those keeping a tree). She joins her sister Eve.

Mike and Dawn - Congrats! And Mike, Ken is bewildered at your ability to remain calm in the face of two future dating daughters. :-)

Monday, October 23, 2006

Kick Me Already!

I went to the doctor on Friday - weighed in at 161 (but I'd venture to say you can subtract a pound or two for the heavier clothing/shoes I was wearing at the time). But they are happy with my weight gain - said I was right on track.

I unfortunately will have to get blood drawn. Not this weekend but next (at my 28 week mark) to do the glucose test. All I can say is it BETTER be normal. I don't think the women at Qwest Diagnostics (where I go to get blood drawn) want to see it any other way either. I'll probably do the same thing we did before - first thing in the morning with my mom and 2 nurses. I don't have a huge margin of error on this - they need to draw my blood roughly 1 hour after taking the glucose drink. I tried to beg and plead for a finger prick test, but they need to test a few more things. I do think this will be the last time I have to have blood drawn though. Good news for me - and the kind technicians at Qwest.

Not much else is new. The midwife was not happy to hear that Kieran is not moving as much as he did. Now I have to pay more attention to when he's kicking and moving around. If he doesn't move around every few hours or so, I'm to get something to drink, lay down, push on my stomach and then, if he still doesn't move, I've got to call the doctor. Every since I've been paying attention, he seems to be doing OK. There are a few times when he doesn't move as much as I'd like, but that's OK. When I follow the midwife's suggestions (get something to drink and/or eat, sit still, etc) it seems to work. I've only had to press on my belly once or twice to get him to kick me or push out.

I'm starting to get into freak out mode. Realizing how little time we really have before "the big day" (whenever that actually happens) and how much we need to get done is wigging me big time. Maybe it's my nesting instinct.

Ken says he'll freak out about a month before the baby is due. Until then, it's too early for him.

Carpet just came in, so we'll be getting that installed this coming weekend. Then it's getting the baseboards installed and the furniture from my brother's house, then the room is about 90% complete and we'll be able to put away some of the things that we've received already (and if I haven't said thank you - THANK YOU!).

That's all from pregnancy-land. Happy Monday!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Nothing Much New

Have a docotor's appointment on Friday. Feeling pretty good although the nausea seems to have come back just a little bit.

Biggest issue right now is just trying to stay asleep. I don't know what it is, but it seems that now I'm not supposed to lay on my back and I toss and turn ALOT (poor Ken is sleeping badly as well due to this). Doesn't help that Ochi and Milo have decided that the bed really belongs to them and we are simply there to help keep it warm.

I'm a bit tweaked for my next appointment as I'm hoping to talk my doctor into a glucose test strip (my sister in law says this is how her sugar was tested) rather than a full blown blood drawing. If they have to check anything else it probably won't work, but maybe I'll get lucky. We'll see.

I haven't gotten any costumes that play on the stomach. Maybe I'll rent a nun costume. The pregnant nun is always popular. Though, with those robes on, it would likely be difficult to tell that I am pregnant.

Finally I wanted to let everyone know that I will try and get a photo up soon. Now that I'm really showing (though most people seem hesitant to say anything in case I'm just fat) I know many of you are wanting to see "the pooch". Hope all is well. See you soon!

Monday, October 09, 2006

Up to His Old Tricks

Well, I thought that the whole not liking what I've ordered at restaurants phase had passed. Apparently not. It happened again this past weekend when Ken and I went to get carpet ordered for Kieran's room. Went to Bertucci's afterward. Ordered something that sounded good when I got it, but when it came, didn't look so good.

At least I had lunch at the office today.

Not much else to report right now. We opened the box of gifts from my mother-in-law. I don't think we'll need any more blankets. We also got a nice gift from our friends in Salisbury when Ken went down there this weekend. Right now we're just putting things in the den until the baby's room is finished.

We ordered carpet (it's called Legato and comes in tiles with built-in padding, etc for easy installation) and that should be in within 2 weeks. We will do the carpet installation (I say we, but it could just be Ken or it could just be me) ourselves and then the contractor will put the baseboards on. Then it's just getting the furniture up from my brother's house and the kid's room is 90% DONE. I really can't wait. I'm pretty happy to see it all finally coming together.

Next on the hit list will be fixing the upstairs (3rd floor) bathroom, which had begun to leak (I swear this house is rebelling against having a kid in it again). We'll find out the cost for that in a few days or next week. Such fun to always have a project to get completed.

Right now I'm at work enjoying my last few moments of lunch break while I type this. Eating candy corn makes me wonder if I can go trick or treating this year in Kieran's honor or if I have to wait until he's actually outside of me to do that.... what do you think?

Monday, October 02, 2006

Food, Fun and Family

Well, we had a nice time at Bubbie's (that's my father's mother for those not 100% up on my family tree) for a Yom Kippur supper. Good food and good company though I swear Ken was eating for two more than I was. To be fair, he hardly ever gets such good brisket and I never, EVER make cabbage rolls, which I know he loves (but I never eat, so I don't make).

Not much else is new. I think I've gained weight. I can't really tell as we have a Body Mass Index (BMI) scale that shoots a small eletrical charge through you. When we asked about this to the midwife, she said to be on the safe side, don't use it. Of course, I can't really step on the scale and see what it says anymore anyway. I know the kid is growing and he's been kicking (though I think I put him in a food coma -he's been pretty quiet since last night) so I think we're on the right track.

The last thing, for anyone interested and those who I don't have an email for - we've launched our invite to the baby shower. It's up on evite, just shoot me a comment with your email address (I can delete it when I'm done, just let me know you want me to do that) and I'll get ya invited. We don't pay any attention to the conventional wisdom. We're hosting our own, it's for men and women (and kids), and we're holding it the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I hope we don't kill each other with all this family togetherness :-). I will, however, promise we will NOT serve Turkey at this event. Have a good one!