Contractions: Part 2

Mommy's contractions are back tonight and with a vengence. They are meeting the requirements for going to the hospital (5 min apart, lasting 1 min). However, the mind numbing intensity doesn't seem to be there. We called the doc's office and their opinion was to come in when mom feels uncomfortable. Knowing our luck we should be at the hospital now and will deliver on the highway.

Labor Scare.

Last night Mommy thought she was going into labor. I thought she was too. Mom has been having contractions for weeks now but they have been pretty low on the pain scale. The ones last night were stopping Mom dead in her tracks. There was no rhythm to them but they were coming quickly for a few hours. Around bedtime they cooled off and things went back to normal.

A positive note from this was that the impending birth pushed me to get some baby stuff done around the house. I got the baby seat out of storage and resized it for a new born, setup the pack n play, and packed my bag for the hospital.

We are more ready for a baby, now we just need the baby.

Another Week To Go

Today Mommy went to her doctor for another checkup. The good news is that the signs of preeclampsia have disappeared. The bad news is that the doctor thinks Mommy has at least another week of being pregnant. I don't think this is exactly the news she wanted to hear.

The contractions continue to come and go. The seem to be causing Mommy some serious pain. However, until they are rhythmic for over an hour it is considered false labor and no delivery is eminent. Mommy's energy is coming in spurts. She goes into sprees where she starts cleaning things around the house.

Baby Names

Mommy and I have been dragging our feet on baby names. We have been dragging because I think we are apprehensive about making such a big decision. How long should a family spend when it comes to make a decision that will last a lifetime? We could call him ESPN and be done with it. A 10 second decision that affects a lifetime.

I think our shortlist is down to two names with Carver being the middle name for both.

• Lucas (Luke) Carver
• Andrew (Drew) Carver

If you know our last name you would know that both names fit well when we need his attention. I tend to like them both. Mom and I have been throwing around Luke since Christmas and Drew has been part of the conversation for the past few weeks. Neither first name is a family name or holds sentimental value. Perhaps that is the reason for our apprehension. It might be a decision that needs to be made when we see his beautiful newborn face.

Make your opinion known via the poll above. Not that we will do what the poll says we should, but it would interesting to know what everyone else thinks.

Update: The polling is closed and Lucas was a big favorite with 16 of the 27 votes for a 59% share. Drew took in 7 votes for a 25% share. With either name taking in 4 votes for a 14% share.

Three Weeks To Go

Mommy had a doctors appointment on Wednesday. All sorts of things are happening. For starters Mommy is 1 cm dilated so we are heading down the path for delivery. The doctor was fairly confident that Mommy was going to make it into April so this next weekend my be our last with a single child.

We were informed of another development which is cause for some minor concern. Mommy is showing some signs of preeclampsia. Preeclampsia as per WebMd.com is a form of high blood pressure that occurs during pregnancy. Preeclampsia isn't so bad as long as it doesn't turn into eclampsia. Two major issues associated with high blood pressure while pregnant is that high blood pressure interferes with the placentas ability to transfer oxygen to a baby and the second problem is that is can hurt the mother in a multitude of ways.

The reason why this is only a minor concern is that the way to fix preeclampsia is to deliver the baby. Since our baby is full term if the doctors determine Mommy's blood pressure gets too high we can simply induce.

So this is something that needs to be watched, but with modern healthcare and our stage in the pregnancy any true danger is mitigated.

I'm Betting We Will Go Early

This coming Tuesday Mommy will be 37 weeks. Only 3 weeks away from her due date. 3 weeks seems like a lot of time right? I don't think we have that long. Mommy has been having tons of Braxton Hicks contractions and maybe some false labor a few times. When a contraction hits Mommy is in some decent pain. However, these contractions are not rhythmic and thus aren't real labor. Seeing Mommy in such a state makes me think labor can happen any instant. Knowing our luck Mommy will have to endure this for 3 weeks and we will go the whole 40.

Getting Close Now

Wholly Smokes it is getting down the crunch time for the new baby to show up. However, we are sitting on our hands when it comes to getting ready for the new baby.

I've been getting Alyce's new room ready so we can move Alyce out of the nursery. I've been painting the walls Purple Whisper or as I call it pastel purple. There will be new trim, outlets, and switches too. I remodeling the bathroom too.

Mommy has been getting ready for the baby where she can. Being 35 weeks pregnant makes it hard to do anything physical. But Mommy found all of the old baby bottles in the basement so we can clean them and she has been going through Alyce's baby clothes picking out the gender neutral and temperature appropriate clothes.

We've been getting Alyce ready for her new brother by reading her a book every night called I'm a Big Sister Now. She gets a kick out of it. Every time I say "big sister" while reading the book Alyce giggles and says "sister". I also ask her if she wants a baby brother and she responds with an uh huh.

We are still hoping to get Alyce into her new room by the time the baby shows up. While it isn't a necessity it would be nice to only clear one hurdle at a time.

33rd Week

So here we are at 33 weeks. Seven weeks to go. Mommy is ready for the baby to come out. She is hitting the point where she is constantly uncomfortable. She has loose painful joints, changed center of gravity, and not sleeping very much at night. The baby is still kicking like crazy which is much different than last time. This time around Mommy isn't worried about the baby being ok like she was with Alyce.

We are continuing updating the house getting ready for the new baby. We are updating the front room for Alyce. We are going to move her into that room to free up the nursery for the new baby.

We are also actively looking at names. We have one that we like but haven't done our due diligence to ensure that there aren't any other names that we like better.

3rd Trimester

As Mom approaches her third trimester things are starting to change with her and around the house. Mom is getting bigger every day but in a cute way as her belly is starting to really show. This is a big departure from Alyce where mom hid her bump for a long time. I am sure it has something to do with a second pregnancy being an easier transition.

Mom's center of gravity hasn't changed yet and she doesn't waddle around the house. She is starting to have some hip issues while sleeping. She is trying different things to help such as a pillow between the legs. I haven't heard if it is working or not.

Around the house I am starting the initial preparations for the new baby. The guest bathroom or soon to be kids bathroom is getting some updates. This coming weekend I am going to replace the faucet and some plumping underneath the sink, after that I have to fix some problem areas with the drywall, and lastly we are painting the room a sky blue and then doing a rubber ducky theme. Once I am done with the bathroom I am moving onto Alyce's room. Well her new room. We are going to move her into our front guest bedroom and eventually a big girl bed. I need to get a move on only 3 months left.

Kicking

As Mom's pregnancy moves on inevitably things are going to change. The biggest change at the moment is that Twinkle is kicking. Kicking a lot and with power. Just two nights ago I was sitting next to Mom with my hand on her belly and was treated to a couple of really strong kicks. Mom seems to be commenting that Twinkle is kicking all the time. This is a big departure from Mom's pregnancy with Alyce. During that pregnancy Alyce would only kick on rare occasion and usually stop right after I started feeling for them.

Twinkle at this stage of development (23 weeks) is now 12 inches long and weighs around one lb. I believe his ears are now developed enough that he can hear what is going on. Not that what he can hear is all that interesting. Odds are he just hears the rush of blood and the gurgling of Mom's belly digesting a cheeseburger.

Speaking of cheeseburgers. That is another big departure between the pregnancies. With Alyce mom wanted nothing to do with meat. She forced herself to eat chicken, but couldn't stand hamburger. This time around all mom wants to eat is hamburgers and ice cream. Proof positive that no pregnancy is the same.

20th Week Ultrasound

Last week Mom had another ultrasound. Hopefully this will be the last one. This ultrasound is the one where most parent's get to see their baby for the first time. This is also the one where you can find out the sex of the baby. I'm am happy to say that we were able to confirm the sex of the baby. Twinkle is going to be a boy! Alyce is going to have a little brother and twinkle is going to have a big sister. This should make for some interesting dynamics later on in life.

The ultrasounds all looked great. The baby was progressing fine. Mom's placenta had moved up the wall of the uterus so we no longer have any fears of a placenta previa.

The above picture is of twinkle arching his back. The bright white lines are his skull and spine.

The picture above is of his foot. There is some toe detail.This is another profile picture. With this one he is turned a bit so you can see his legs and back.

And lastly another profile. He is quite the show off.