April in Duluth - 26 1/2 weeks

When I say April, what do you think of? April showers? Spring flowers? Young lovers skipping through the park? Pick-up games of ultimate frisbee? 10 inches of new blowing snow!?

Thats right, just when we were preparing to welcome the blooming of the early spring crocuses, we get hammered with a heavy cover of white. We have already put the snowshoes and shovels in the basement! Whats the deal!?

Sorry to all of you who have been anxiously awaiting new belly pictures. We took a break from posting them so Kristi's family would be surprised, which they were, but as you can see above, now we're back in full force. As Kristi's belly continues to grow and defy gravity, we are all loving to feel the baby moving, hear the heartbeat, and play the musical giraffe for Baby. We recently received a "fetoscope" from our doctor here in Duluth. Its an ancient piece of obstetrical equipment that docs used to use to hear Baby's heartbeat back in the day before the doppler machines (the electronic heartbeat monitor). It looks like a regular stethescope, but the bell of it is connected to a tube that leads to the doctor's forehead. It is supposed to enhace the sound and allow the doc to "hear" the heartbeat transmitted through the bones of his/her head. But I have to say that one looks ridiculous using it! (We'll post pictures later).

Baby is almost 2 pounds now and 14 1/2 inches long. We are approaching the beginning of the third trimester (in a couple weeks) and Baby is working on putting some meat on those bones, but he/she isn't too preoccupied with growing the length much these days (pretty much the same thing Kristi is up to!).

Spring is Coming!

Little Foot continues to grow this week. At this stage of the pregnancy Baby is just growing growing growing! It is difficult to know exactly, but he/she probably weighs about 1.5 pounds and is about 14 inches long. It is starting to get crowded in the uterus!
Baby has fingernails and hair now (maybe we've already announced that, but I can't remember). He/she is working on forming the first poop, called meconium, in the intestines. This will hopefully stay in the intestines until after Baby is born, otherwise it can be a problem for Baby's lungs (obviously breathing in or swallowing your poop is not a good thing). Baby is big enough now that you can hear the heartbeat with a stethoscope--you don't need that special doppler thing in the doctor's office. Matt can even hear it just by putting his ear next to Kristi's belly if Baby is positioned up next to the surface! Recently, Baby likes to "freak out" every once in a while, where he/she flails his/her arms and legs and does some complicated swimming movements in rapid succession. This is startling and hilarious to feel and watch! We are having fun interacting with Little Foot--we like to push back on feet and hands when they poke out, and Matt talks to him/her all the time.

Mom: The belly is growing surprisingly fast. Every time I walk past the mirror I am surprised at how far it sticks out. And speaking of sticking out, my belly button has decided that it doesn't want to be an innie anymore. It visibly sticks out through some of my shirts...I am afraid for how far it will stick out by July 7! I have been feeling good, with just a little heartburn now and then. This is common in pregnancy when the uterus starts crowding out the stomach and pushing acid up into the esophagus. Other than that, I'm just feeling pregnant! I've pretty much transitioned to all maternity clothes now. Thank you to all the friends who have shared theirs with me!

Dad: I enjoy our pregnancy. I think Kristi should always be pregnant. Always. Grandparents, get ready for lots of babies. Just kidding, but seriously, its exciting to see the changes developing in Kristi and the baby every week. I have been reading through some information on deliveries and learning how to coach a successful delivery and create a birth plan and what-not. Things need to be learned such as: the different stages of labor, what the uterus is doing during each stage, the causes of different aches and pains in the laboring woman and what I can do to help eliminate them, different body positions for labor/delivery, relaxation and breathing techniques, and the like. I am excited for this opportunity, but its a little intimidating for the both of us. Any suggestions from experienced parents??? Thanks for continuing to follow our pregnancy during the "plateau stage." If you are reading this now, you are one of the dedicated ones! By the way, don't forget to make your BabyPool predictions! (see previous post for instructions)

Growing up (and out!)

Baby is getting bigger (and so is Mom!)! Little Foot is now almost 1 whole pound and is almost a foot long (11 or so inches). At 22 and a half weeks, Little Foot is going through a gigantic growth spurt that will pretty much last for the rest of the pregnancy. This is becoming exceedingly more obvious as Little Foot's movements are surprisingly strong and visible (both from the inside and the outside perspectives). At this point in development, Baby has fully developed eyelids and eyebrows, fingernails that go all the way to the end of the fingertips, and the brain is entering a period of rapid growth. If Little Foot is a boy, his testes are beginning to descend into the scrotum, primitive sperm are beginning to form, and his body is producing testosterone. Baby's liver is starting to break down bilirubin, a waste product from red blood cells. This is an important function for Baby in order to avoid jaundice (yellowing of the skin due to a buildup of bilirubin). Little Foot can also hear a lot better now; his/her ears are quite developed. They say that in studies where babies were read the same book throughout pregnancy, as newborns they sucked more vigorously when they were read that book again (a sign of recognition in babyworld, since they can't voice their thoughts). So maybe we'll have to start a nightly reading program for Little Foot. Any suggestions on what we should read?

Mom: This is an active baby! He/She moves so much; yesterday I felt like there was never more than a half hour between awake times. I love feeling him/her move and remind me that there is a little baby in there! It's hard for me to believe sometimes that I'm growing another human life inside of me--what a miracle it is! I am in awe that God has given us the gift of bringing another life into the world. I know that I am definitely not capable of raising this child the way it should be, but with God's help I hope that Matt and I will be able to bring up Little Foot to be who God wants him/her to be. Parenting seems like a daunting task. Any major suggestions from those of you who are already parents?

Dad: I've been feeling Baby moving and grooving in its little womb-fortress for about 6 weeks now and try not to let a day go past without interacting with the little one. I like to push while Baby pushes back. I'm still stronger for now, but Baby's getting bigger fast! Often we are sitting in class and I hear Kristi give a little startle and a smile comes across her face. Baby likes class alot. So we are almost done scheduling our clinical rotations for 3rd and 4th year. We will be living in Duluth at our current place until November and then we move to Buffalo, Minnesota for 9 months for RPAP (rural rotations). Then on to the big city (Minneapolis) for a year. Any ideas for childcare in Duluth for one month in Sept/Oct? Or in Minneapolis for July2008-May2009?

Please make a guess on our "Baby Pool," where you can guess the baby's gender, birthdate, birth time, weight, and length. This friendly little game was set up for us by our friend Jose Sturgeon (a good friend from Matt's hometown Delano, MN). All you have to do is go to www.expectnet.com and enter the game name littlefoot2007 on the lefthand side of the webpage. Then you enter your best prediction for all those categories. A suggested entry fee of $5 should be mailed to: Jose Sturgeon 915 Haywood Drive Howard Lake, MN 55349 (unless you live in Duluth and you would like to hand-deliver the money to us). The total money pot will be divided between the winner of the predictions and us (lucky us!). The winner will be the person with the least number of points (like golf). You will be given penalty points for each wrong guess (400 points for the wrong gender, 5 points per hour off on the birthdate and time, etc). This "Baby Pool" is going to be open until June 20. May the best guesser win!

Everything is OK

Just a quick update to let all of you worried people out there that we had another OB appointment yesterday to check on the status of these contractions. The great news is that even though Kristi is still having sporadic contractions nothing has changed cervix-wise. (translation: there is no risk of baby falling out any time soon!) Our doctor was very relieved (apparently she was more worried than she let on, which is always disturbing in hindsight!). We got to listen to Little Foot's heartbeat again, always a wonderful sound. The un-official verdict on the contractions: either Kristi has an "irritable uterus" which might continue contracting sporadically throughout the rest of the pregnancy OR Little Foot was going through a big growth spurt (along with the uterus) causing some stretching and contractions. We may never know. But now we are going to see the doctor every two weeks instead of every 4 weeks just to make sure everything is on track. Hang in there Little Foot!

Matt got to practice his skills as an ultrasound technician on Little Foot last night. We had a short class on ultrasounds where we worked in small groups with a doctor. We looked at all kinds of normal stuff in the abdomen and chest (aorta, heart, liver, kidneys, spleen, etc) and then we took a peek in at Little Foot. He/she was swimming around, doing some ninja kicks and punches. Matt poked a bit, causing Little Foot to fight back. Everyone at the ultrasound class was pretty amazed (as we always are too!). Seeing that tiny little heart beating so perfectly is really neat!

We don't have any pictures to post this week, but we'll probably post again this weekend after we take another side profile or something else fun. We're forecasted to get approximately 2 feet of snow this week/weekend! Watch for Duluth on the news!

Halfway there!

20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go! Up until now we keep telling people this has been a very easy pregnancy, but this last weekend has put a small kink in that claim. On Thursday night Kristi started having some cramps/contractions that were pretty frequent. After some hemming and hawing, Matt convinced Kristi to call Dr. Kruger at home, even though Kristi was worried about interrupting Dr. Kruger's home life in the evening. Dr. Kruger of course was not mad, and has since convinced us that we should never hesitate to call if we have a concern. Anyway, we talked through some causes of pre-term contractions and luckily, we already had an appointment scheduled for Friday afternoon. So since there was no bleeding and the contractions seemed to be calming down at that point, we agreed to wait it out and talk Friday afternoon. To make a long story short, there is no consensus as to why Kristi's uterus is contracting. It is pretty early for "false labor" (Braxton Hicks contractions), and we have explored (and eliminated) the common causes of contractions... So we are just supposed to wait it out and hope that nothing bad happens. The tricky part is that if this turns into labor, there is nothing that can be done to stop it this early in pregnancy. In a few weeks, Baby will potentially be able to survive outside the uterus, so we are praying and hoping that things settle down. They already have calmed down considerably...on Saturday night we had several of our friends pray for us at church and from then until mid-Sunday we were contraction free! And then the rest of Sunday the uterus was pretty quiet. Thanks God! We have been praying a lot for this little Baby, so we would appreciate anyone else joining in that too.

On a happier note:
Little Foot is a very active little baby. He/she likes to punch, kick, roll over, swim, do handstands, stretch, and body slam. This is fun to feel and watch! We keep trying to videotape Kristi's tummy, but Little Foot seems to be a little camera shy and stops moving every time we bring out the camera.
Kristi's belly is growing...as if you can't tell from the pictures! As of Friday's doctor appointment, the weight gain tally is a little over 7 pounds. Kristi's wardrobe is making a transition from normal clothes to "pregnant lady" clothes (as her sisters like to call them). Matt's belly is not growing. He has not gained any weight, but he is trying to keep up by snacking while studying! He still fits in all of his clothes. :)
Little Foot is approximately 10 inches long and maybe around 12 ounces. Nothing much is happening in development, but he/she is getting bigger and bigger! Grow Baby grow!

Week 18

Baby's grandparents came for the ultrasound last week, and afterwards the grandma's wanted to go to Target and buy Little Foot some blankets. Look how excited they are! Grandma Cindy (Kristi's mom) is in the blue jacket, and Grandma CarolAnn (Matt's mom) is holding the giraffe blanket. Grandpa Randy (Matt's dad) found an appropriate onesie to commemorate his days as an accountant. It says "Tax Deduction!" Grandpa Mark (Kristi's dad) couldn't make it up to Duluth so he sent Little Foot a special song on a CD. Little did Grandpa Mark know that his gift is currently the most useful to Little Foot, because he/she can hear now! This week Baby's bones are starting to harden (ossify) and the bones in the ear are the first to do so. With that accomplishment, Baby's ears are now fully formed and functioning! Maybe we'll have to start playing Mozart for him/her to help those brain cells get smart!

Mom & Dad have a fun new hobby. Baby is big enough to kick hard now and you can actually see it from the outside! It's pretty entertaining to watch it kick and move across Kristi's belly. Matt likes to put his face on the belly and let Little Foot kick him in the face. Grandpa Mark has nicknamed Baby "Kicking Foot."

What's in a name?

Now for some audience participation. All those who are reading this blog every day but too shy to post a comment, now is your time to shine.

We are looking for names! We already have some favorite names picked out, but would appreciate some ideas from the world-wide peanut gallery. Some examples we thought of: Sebastian, Rudiger, Ethel, and the very appropriate "Awesome."

We look forward to hearing from all of you. Points and world-wide recognition for most creative entries!