Night One

We are relieved to report that Lewin, Dan and Melissa survived their first night together at home. The night was not without excitement.

Mr. Itty Bitty valiantly defended the household against an intruder (i.e. a mouse) by capturing and bringing it upstairs while Lewin was nursing. Dan quickly closed and barricaded the door to the room while he and Itty corralled the little beast. No harm came to anyone, including the mouse. Dan released the mouse to the perils of the night. The coyotes Dan heard in the middle of the night probably weren't interested in the treacherous little morsel.

Lewin gave Dan his first hands-on experience with uncontrolled urination. Dan was about to start the post-diaper change dressing routine. He reached for the first layer and noticed that it was wet, as was the next layer and the fresh diaper. We believe this was the result of improper appendage positioning during the final diapering stage. We will learn.

This morning we all awoke to a beautiful sunny day. Blue skies, fluffy white clouds. All is right with the world.

Another Monday, another OB appt.

Another Monday, another weekly appointment with the OB's office. Melissa is still measuring 38 cm (normal) and hasn't dilated any further (still at 1 cm), so we're holding steady. No contractions either. Being optimists, we did find out which doctors are on call later this week and weekend. It can't hurt to know!

We scheduled our next appointment for Monday, May 11. Here's hoping we don't need it!

I tie my shoes like an old man

I realized during a meeting the other week that I have been reduced to tying my shoes like an old man. I cross one leg over the other, resting my ankle on my knee. This results in a "bow" on the inside edge of the shoe. Just like an old man at work. So sad...

Getting Down to the Wire

We're down to weekly appointments with the OB now. First and second trimesters were monthly, first two months of the third trimester were biweekly, and now we're getting down to the wire. Too bad it essentially took until now for us to figure out the whole practical reading material while waiting thing. The down side is that the doctors' office isn't exactly punctual. The up side is that the reasons they're typically running late have to do with their responsiveness to their patients who are in emergency situations. Given the options, we'd rather wait a few minutes longer.

That said, Melissa is extremely happy with the personalities of all the OBs in the practice. The nurses have been great and the admin staff, too.

Kickin' It..Part 3

The baby is kicking back...

During a flurry of activity earlier today, I placed my hand on my belly to feel the force (getting quite strong, I must say). I applied a little pressure and the baby kicked back! We've played this game a few times since then. Why do I have a feeling that the baby is going to win?

The 24-hour Bug

Though Dan and I feel much better now, we had a rough couple of days with a "24-hour" bug. The good news is that it was like a thunderstorm (high intensity, short duration) and my symptoms didn't raise any red flags for the doctor. Those would include not being able to keep any fluids down for 48 or more hours and/or a prolonged spiked temperature. The worst of it was the added physical strain of vomiting (sorry, there's no sugar-coating that part) on my already stretched abdominal muscles. Like I said, I'm feeling much better now.

This all started around midnight on Monday (for Dan) and noon on Tuesday (for me). I was able to leave work before it hit me and even make a quick stop at the supermarket for some necessities (e.g. ginger ale, chicken noodle soup, disinfecting wipes). We're fortunate that it was staggered. By Wednesday we were both out of the "bug" stage and into recovery. Recovery can be defined as sleeping as much as possible throughout the day and night.

Through all this, the baby remained very active. The cute little movements are becoming more jab-like, but still not painful. More on that later...

Growing a person is hard work...

...and I've had a relatively easy time so far. No "morning" sickness, no funky out-of-control cravings, no sore back, no swelling...yet. I have noticed that my stomach muscles have lost their willingness to stretch vertically now that they're being forced in other directions. I can usually retrieve or return our salad bowls to the top of the cabinets, no problem. No problem until the other day, that is. It's now a task that has to wait for Dan, or I have to climb on the counter.

I'm also surprised at how quickly it became uncomfortable to bend at the waist, either to put on shoes and socks or to pick something up off the floor. I've got quite a collection of paperclips and binder clips on the floor of my office. Supply and demand. I've got plenty in a drawer that's easy to reach, so the demand to pick them up isn't very great. This approach was fine until I dropped the engineer's scale on the floor. My options were 1) to pick it up, 2) to ask a neighbor to help out or 3) to use a metric scale. Since I wasn't done working with the scale and the site plans were in English units, I had to choose option #1 since #2 was too embarrassing and I want to save it for later when I'm sure I'll really need it, and #3 would be a total pain. I survived, go figure.