Long Overdue

Hello everyone,
I am long overdue for a post and have some catching up to do. First of all, I want to thank my colleagues at the Ohio Department of Health, Bureau of Early Intervention Services for the baby shower they threw us June 18th. I have only been at this job six months and they celebrated this baby with Geoff and I as if they have known us for years. I ate cake and opened presents galore and really enjoyed the time together. Thank you all for your generosity and thoughtfulness.

In baby news, it has been a fun week or so. Last Thursday, I received a phone call from our OBGYN's nurse who informed me that she "had scheduled my C-section for July 11th at 11:00 am." Excuse me, a C-section???? I promptly called back to explain that a C-section had never once been discussed with me. After explaining the why's (baby is breech and at the 97th percentile for size), I told Geoff about it. So, we waited until Monday to talk with Dr. Vaneck our OBGYN. Well, turns out Dr. V had a death in the family and would not be in Monday, so I would need to be seen by another MD in the practice. Fine, but I didn't feel comfortable negotiating this kind of thing with someone stepping in just for the day. *sigh* So, after an exam, this doc said the baby felt head down, so we'll just keep that C-section scheduled anyway, but keep checking weekly. So...now, we are back to not knowing anything. The baby may be head down, may be breech. The baby may be born on July 11th or some other day between now and July 25th. The baby may be born via C-section or not! Guess we'll just wait and see :)

Finally, Geoff and I are trying to enjoy this time before baby with each other and the boys. Might try the dog park on July 4 since we both have the day off. We bought the pups a CD of baby sounds and they were immediately interested in where the noise was coming from, but then ignored the cooing and crying. It finally annoyed me, so I whined for Geoff to turn it off. Hopefully, I will be more tolerant of the baby crying than the random CD. And, being the very sweet Daddy that Geoff is, he also bought a DVD and book by They Might Be Giants of kids songs. They sing the best songs for kids and adults alike and we are not exactly Barney people. OK, lastly, the two other blogs we mention here have great new pictures of the babies our kid will be born between. Taryn Lynaugh playing at the waterpark is pretty damn cute and baby Frymyer showing his/her foot off on the ultrasound is amazingly sweet. Baby Grove will undoubtedly know and adore his/her urban brothers/sisters and its been fun watching the kids grow together.

Comfesting

This past weekend was Comfest at Goodale park, which is one of our favorite weekends of the year. I'm not sure if it counts as the baby's first Comfest, but Wendy made it down for a couple hours on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Whit come into town from Chicago and most of our weekend was spent sitting in the sun listening to local bands or waiting in line for beer.

Friday afternoon we got to see my friend Bob's band The Damnits, pictured below. Then the Lynaugh clan stopped by, where Taryn had fun trying on every one's sunglasses. Saturday we took the pups down for a couple of hours until they wore themselves (and us) out. The pups were still tuckered out on Sunday morning as the rested on Uncle Whit.

Showered with Love

Dear friends and family,
Some things you expect in life and some things catch you completely off guard. As a fan of surprises myself, I have been pleasantly bamboozled and "caught off guard" by your excitement for our baby. I should mention that this baby's grandma Wehage has sent him/her lots of packages full of wonderful things both snuggly and practical, sweet and sentimental. His/Her grandpa has brought countless gifts for all of us, and never seems to mind indulging the Mama!

Then, on June 8, 2007, my friends and former co-workers at NEOUCOM (Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine) threw a surprise baby shower for us in Hudson. Armed with what can only be described as an obscene amount of gifts, these wonderful people shared dinner with me and let me babble on and on about being pregnant and preparing for this baby's arrival. Thank you everyone, the unexpectedness of it all has kept me quite emotional for the last week.

The very next day, June 9, 2007, my friends and dear colleagues--some presently and others formerly of the University of Akron--threw us our second baby shower. Complete with some of my favorite babies: Makaia Ross and Riley Jo Bemiller Kelley, who aren't really babies anymore, we ate and laughed and caught up on life both within and outside of academia. Their gifts for this child were personal and very reflective of how well they know Geoff and I. It was like going home being there again and I can only describe the day as wonderfully exhausting.

Yesterday (June 14, 2007), Geoff and I started our day at his job (Ohio Department of Mental Health) with the most thoughtful co-workers anywhere. I know what you may be thinking about a bunch of researchers, but I'm telling you, these geeks (which I use with the respect only another geek can bestow) can PARTY! They brought in a delightful brunch that included quiche, freshly homemade waffles (in the shape of hearts), potatoes, fresh fruit, and chocolate muffins! And, the men participated in a teddy bear diapering contest (Geoff lost and even dropped the baby). The discussion was lively and we heard advice, stories, and lots of fun adventures with kids. We ended that party with a great discussion about naming baby grove and here are some of the highlights:

We liked Remington Steel Grove (RSG). Also, there is Chance, a very statistical kind of name. Bell(e), as in curve. I think the measures of central tendency: Mean, Mode, Median; would make good names, but not the measures of variability: Stan(dard Deviation),Vari(ance), I(nterquartile) R(ange). Some the statistical tests and measures, would be cute: ANOVA (Anna), t-test, Bonferroni, Chi-Square, Fisher's Exact Test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Polychoric Correlation Coefficient. Some the population descriptives would be OK: Norm(al). Others, not so: Skewed. But, they all make Remington Steel Grove sound better.

Still, I would prefer that you stay in the Rock genre...is Tesla still a contender? What about Winger? Warrant, Poison, and Ratt probably wouldn't be good choices but Motley Crue Grove does have a nice ring to it!

So, as you can see...the Great Naming Debate is still on and we have yet to really make up our minds and share those choices with anyone. As we get closer, I thought I might start up a pool (I miss March Madness). Send me your guesses for Baby Grove's birth date, birth weight, and sex...I will keep a tally up on the blog.

Thank you all for the love, the many wonderful presents, and for caring about this kid. He/She should do fine growing up among so many good people. Wendy

What a Metal Pan and Spoon Are Used For in a Fetal Non Stress Test

OK, so I went in for my second non stress test today and asked some questions. I was a little off on my explanation of exactly what we were doing and have been cringing at the thought of all the Nurses I know and love mumbling that I am dumb...so here are the facts:

The one strap-on belt is measuring the baby's heartbeat. That part I got right. The other one, however, is providing not electric stimulation (as I stated earlier), but is in fact, measuring my CONTRACTIONS!!!!! Whaaaaaaatttt??? To that, I asked, "Am I having any???" Clearly avoiding my question, my nurse said, "Oh, people as early as 15 weeks can have contractions." Huh, OK. Well, if I am having rumblings, I can't feel them. I moved on...and found out more. So, I have to push this button so they know when there is fetal movement and the baby's corresponding heart rate at that movement. So, I got the overall point of the NST pretty correct after all (talking like a nurse now, thank you very much): to see what stress the baby is under as he/she moves.

OK, so this morning, our baby decided he/she was sleepy and did not move at all in the first 15 minutes of the NST (non-stress test). I had already told the nurses that this baby moves most post-lunch through late evening, but office hours are 8:00 am - 4:00 pm, so relying on his/her regular cycle of movement is not an option. This, as you can imagine, is an issue that is resolved in a very technologically advanced manner: by banging a pie pan placed on my belly with a large metal spoon. I swear this is no lie! And, it worked. The baby woke up, allowing me to bang my fetal movement button a few times, then promptly went back to sleep. It made me laugh, but after 45 minutes of baby EKG, the doctor let us go off to start our day. So, let this be a lesson to you all...don't assume a metal pie pan and spoon are the leftovers of a staff potluck, they may be the tools of the trade on any given day at the OB's office!

This post has nothing to do with Paris Hilton . . .

. . so you probably just want to move on.

In real news (aka news that involves us), we had another ultrasound last Thursday. The baby is looking good although it is rather hard to see now that there isn't much room for him/her to move around. The estimated weight was 6 pounds and 2 ounces, give or take 16 ounces. Sounds damn big to me and I'm not the one carrying it around. This morning, Wendy had the first of her bi-weekly Non Stress Tests, something to do with sitting there with some electrodes and hitting a button when the baby moves . . .you can tell I'm an expert . Anyway, everything with the test went fine and the "baby is responsive." Good to know.

In the world of pups, our two boys are doing well. Full of energy, but they happily go into their crates when we leave for work or just need a nap. Remember the $30-something "indestructible" dinosaur Wendy mentioned? You an see the results of that in some pictures below. I've never spent so much time picking up fluff in my life.

In real important news, how about that last Sopranos episode? After realizing our cable did not go out at the end, I loved it! Vintage Sopranos/David Chase. Now what are we supposed to do with Sunday nights?

*Footnote from Wendy: A non-stress test is done where the baby is stimulated by an electric sound (I think) and they chart his/her heartbeat on an EKG machine. With me indicating when the baby moves, it is supposed to tell us if the baby is in distress (like we are after exercising) or not. Lucky for us, this baby is not distressed one bit and responded appropriately to the electric stimulation.

The Family Updates

Hi everyone, we have updates on the entire family, so here are some recent pictures of all of us. Geoff and I are posed in downtown Columbus at our neighbor's wedding (congratulations Gavin & Sarah!). Baby Mookie is playing with the $35.00 "tuffy" toy that supposedly was created with seven layers of stitching for pups like ours who like to chew (yeah, that tuffy dinosaur is 4 days old in our house and almost destroyed). And, here are Charlie and I taking a nap. I tend to fall asleep a lot lately and the pup was keeping me company.

So...updates. The pups see their vet tomorrow, who happens to be another neighbor of ours, Andrea. She was so amazing when Anna died, we decided that she should be our pup's veterinarian. We're a tad worried about Mookie, who after almost 2 weeks of going 9 hours without an accident, has taken to relieving himself and drinking water on a constant basis, including while we are gone. I think it's just a bit out of the range of normal for a boy his age, so we'll see what she says.

Geoff started an obedience class this week and on Wednesday, he gets to take Charlie with him. It's a great training facility (Columbus All Breed Training Club) that is staffed by volunteers who have achieved certain requirements and Geoff says the demonstration with trained dogs was amazing. Once Charlie passes the obediance class, we can pay a membership fee and the whole family can take classes there for free. We are thinking Mookie would do great at agility, plus he is so smart, he would love the obediance classes. So, we have high hopes for our boys and are committed to working with both of them (and Mom!) everyday.

Baby Grove was checked out by his/her own doctor just yesterday. The baby looks great size wize and Dr. Vaneck actually said to me: "You have a great body for babies!" Perplexed, but oddly prideful, I said, "huh?" and she responded, "Your ribs are way up here and you have made lots of room for the baby." OK, well, I am happy to have a legitimate "reason" for these hips now. Who knew that I was just preparing for babies? In other news, the insulin I take daily continues to increase (3 injections a day now) but I have gotten into quite the routine and have to admit that I am enjoying a sweet or two more than I used to now.

Finally, Appointment overload: OB appointments are now every other week, but yesterday Dr. Vaneck told me that I have to start coming in an additional two times a WEEK for non-stress tests. The diabetes makes it necessary to check on the baby's heartbeat more frequently, so we'll go in twice a week to listen to the baby's heart for 20 minutes. Wow, I guess this means more time off work, but if it is what will ensure a safe and healthy baby at the end of the next 8 weeks, I'll do it. That's right folks, only EIGHT WEEKS left until we'll have pictures of sweet baby grove to share. *yay* Take Care all, Wendy