Monday, February 25, 2008

Movement

I'm pretty sure I felt the baby move this weekend! It felt like little butterfly wings tickling me from the inside. It happened several times, and always in the same spot.

I was miserably sick and stayed in bed reading the whole weekend. But anytime I laid on my right side, I would feel a faint tickle under my ribs on the left - just where the doc said the baby was sitting. The baby is about 5 inches long and weighs 4 oz at this point, and according to the books I should be able to feel movement anywhere from 13 to 20 weeks.

This is getting exciting!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Random Update

Things have been fairly status quo around here.

Marilyn
Marilyn is still in the hospital, and will be for several more weeks, up to a month. She is in a regular room, and continues to improve in teeny baby steps. She is eating solid food (if Jello is considered a solid) and has had her feeding tube removed. She can carry on conversations, although she is extremely weak and tires very, very easily. I spoke to her on the phone once, and was shocked at how frail she sounded. She did ask how baby and I were doing, and conveyed how miserable she is right now. She was tired out after about 2 minutes of conversation, but at least I got to talk to her, and I'm anxiously awaiting the next phone call. Now we're praying she will be well enough to come to the reception in April. All my uncles, their wives, kids and grandkids are planning on coming. It will be the first time we've all been together since mom died in '01.

House Stuff
We are feverishly working on the house. We are trying to clean out and organize our storage room and turn it back into a reasonably working room again. Eventually it will be a den/guest room. For purposes of the wedding, and the guests we have staying, we are just trying to get it functional. We bought five bookcases and are installing them as wall-to-wall bookshelves to store various items. When that is done we'll be able to finish cleaning and organizing - and hopefully end up with enough room for an air mattress for the time being.

We've done a minimal amount in the nursery. I cleaned out a couple of random boxes of books that were being stored in there, organized the office bookshelves and found everything a home. Mostly we've made a bigger mess than we managed to clean in there, though :)

Dan's been working on organizing his dozens of boxes of "misc electronics" into some sort of order. He's sorted through and got rid of quite a bit. The rest has been organized into small, clear plastic tubs and labeled so we can actually find stuff when it's needed.

That's about it for now. Baby is doing fine, and I'm starting to look pregnant rather than just fat. :) Dogs are fine - I made them beds for the living room and they bicker over who gets what bed. One bed is bigger and one bed sits in the sunshine during the day. Crazy critters. The cats are cats - they spend all day sleeping on the softest, sunniest spot they can find.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Peanut Watch




But this is:

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

We Have A Heartbeat

Yesterday was our 3 month prenatal appointment, and we heard the baby's heart beating! What an amazing sound. This little person living inside me, with a heart beating at 160 beats per minute. Doc said I am now into my second trimester. The big news on that is the chance for miscarriage drops from roughly 20% to less than 5%.

Baby stats:

  • Roughly 3 inches long and weighing in at almost an ounce (about the size of a shrimp)
  • Fully formed fetus (we've graduated from embryo status)
  • 10 fingers with fingernails and fingerprints have formed
  • 10 toes are formed, although not as developed as the hands
  • Eyes and eyelids are formed and reactive to light
  • Vocal cords have formed (but aren't useful until air is present at birth)
  • Ears are starting to form
  • Sex organs are fully formed, although they won't be visible for several more weeks

In other news, Marilyn is still in ICU at the hospital and her status hasn't changed much. She still is semi-conscious - she will only respond when prodded several times in a loud voice. The doc is hopeful her mental state will continue to improve, although it is going much slower than any of us anticipated.

Monday, February 4, 2008

A GML Recipe

Mix in a large room:

1 Serving expert value shopper




4 Cups fiance and pets (mixed) and 4 Cups Craigslist bargain babystuff





1 Cup active dog (self rising)




You get....well.. I guess the point is we don't know where to put the stuff, but it's still entertaining.

Baby Steps

Marilyn opened her eyes yesterday morning and said her husbands name as he walked into the room! That is a wonderful sign of improvement. Today she was able to answer questions, but was very, very weak. She can't stay awake very long, and her voice is no stronger than a kittens. But it appears she is coming back to us!! She will remain in intensive care for several more days, at least. It's all still very iffy - it just depends on her strength.

Her birthday is in one week - so let's pray she is strong enough to talk on the phone to hear all her birthday wishes.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Cascade Mountains Snowstorm

The weather here has been rainy and in the 40s. Just slightly southeast of us, Snowqualmie Pass, is a mess. There are only two routes through the Cascade Mountains here - I-90 through Snowqualmie Pass and US 2 through Stevens Pass. Both routes have been shut down for three days now because of record snowfalls and avalanches. It's amazing!

Did I mention we have to go through one of those pass' to get to Leavenworth? And we have an appointment there next week? Should prove to be interesting.

I can't believe it's 45 degrees here today, and there is 8 to 10 FEET of snow just an hour south of us - including 2 FEET that has fallen in the past 24 hours. This area of the country is so amazing.

And a very happy birthday to Traci! Wish I could be there with you to celebrate, babe!