Logan John :: 08.18.2011

Went in for a regular appointment at the OBGYN today. Got my ultrasound done first -- looking good, baby still looking nice and BIG! Had some more fluid (about 26.5cm) but baby's heart rate in a great range.
Went to do the NST test -- two hours later, baby's heart rate was still in a good range but not accelerating as it should through his movements (he was moving a ton the day before but had slowed down a lot, not unusual for him)...so since it wasn't what they were looking for, I was sent down to Labor & Delivery to do an NST with them. Well, I ended up passing it, but luckily my doctor came down to check on me (she had been in surgery all morning/afternoon and just found out I was in L&D). She took a look at things and noticed that a) I was having contractions every 3-5 minutes (which I couldn't always feel because of all the fluid built up, but was insistent that I was having them even though they weren't showing up on NSTs) b) I had a ton of fluid this time (total opposite of James where I was out of fluid, which really threw the doctor for a loop because pregnancies are not often THIS different). Since the fluid was high and she thought we were going to be doing an amniocentesis in 4 days anyway (we were not, I had agreed to do it at 38 weeks) -- she called the Maternal Fetal Specialists because the baby was technically "late pre-term" (before 37 weeks, at 36 weeks, 5 days). Maternal Fetal told her to ultrasound again and low and behold, she found that all of the fluid was stretching the lining of my uterus out so much, it was actually close to rupturing -- YIKES! So after a frantic call to Jim to tell him to call neighbor, Rachel, and have her get James from school and for him to get there ASAP (that was at about 4:45pm), the wheels were in motion to have this baby now! I was changed and all ready to go and Jim got there within 20 minutes -- at which point they told him to change into scrubs and get ready to become a Daddy x2 :-) Surgery went well and at 5:41pm we were blessed with the birth of our second healthy baby boy!!!

Logan John

08.18.2011 at 5:41pm

6lbs 12 oz, 19.5"

If you'd like to see them, our doctor let Jim take pictures of Logan actually being born (ie. yanked out of my stomach), but I decided to spare people the gore this time :-)

Since he was born prior to 37 weeks, the hospital had some extra "rules" for Logan. He had to stay in the nursery for 6 hours for observation (not the NICU, just regular nursery). His APGAR scores were good at birth (8 at 1 minute and 9 at 3 minutes, which are great scores). He did well and when I was cleared from my observation in the recovery room, they wheeled me in to the nursery and we got to hold Logan for the first time. I let Daddy have the honors this time :-)

Nothing like that first smooch for your lil' ones!

We went into L&D with 3 names we liked, took a look at him and decided Logan it was (Jim let me kind of decide here between Logan, Gabriel and Duncan). John is from my grandfather on my mother's side and Jim's brother (Jim picked between John, Cash and Daniel for the middle name) :-) So, hopefully he ends up looking like his name! It has been hard to call him Logan after having referred to him as Cash for so long (and it's weird to have another son that's not named "James")! Happy Birth Day, Lowgs!!! We can't wait for you to meet your very excited Big Brother (he was sound asleep with Rachel watching him by the time we got to see Logan in our room at 12:30am).

Cash -- 35 weeks

Hey there, Kiddo! The ultrasound tech was able to get some actual face pictures this time -- last time was only his leg. Here is a profile of his face and one of his arms. I find it easiest to locate his nose first and go from there -- it's pointing up and then you can see his mouth and eyes from there. Just to the left of his chin is one of his hands.
Back for another NST -- was there for +3 hours! Got back to the NST room late, was hooked up to it for almost 45 minutes, talked with physician assistant (PA) for my appointment while hooked up....then had to wait for quick ultrasound for fluid check. He was moving around a ton and had good accelerations of his heart rate when moving on the NST. We could see him moving on the ultrasound and all looked good except they couldn't find his stomach "bubble" -- stinker had probably just peed and flattened out, so I had to go in waiting room and wait for another 45 minutes to go check again! They had already seen his stomach before but needed to make sure it was still filling up properly to indicate he was eating and using his lungs fully. Fluid was up to 24cm!!! Big babies tend to have more because they need to inhale more and, thus, excrete more; and one of the quadrants was completely all fluid, he had crammed himself totally in the other 3 (HELLO, uncomfortable, child)!
The PA also explained to me the medical reasons for having a possible amniocentesis test run on Cash to determine if his lungs are mature enough to deliver him a bit earlier than scheduled. We've already seen that he's a larger baby (the ultrasound had me measuring almost 2 weeks ahead last time) and larger babies tend to: a) pass meconium (poop) earlier, which is not preferred by physicians because they inhale it and are likely candidates for pneumonia at birth (also a reason why a lot of people trying to go natural have to have c-sections) and b) tend to use up the life and nutrients of the placenta earlier (and Mom gets no indication that it is happening). So, with both of these situations being ones we'd like to avoid, and since they have to do a c-section anyway, we are scheduled for an amniocentesis on Aug 29th and if it's all cleared and goes as planned, Cash's birthday will be August 30th!!! Of course, he could always try to throw his own wrench in the plans, these kiddos don't come with contracts or manuals, ya know (which would be helpful sometimes) :-)

Cash -- 33 weeks

33 week update :: going weekly now to check in on Cash. They did an ultrasound to check for his growth -- WHAT A BIG BOY!!! They use the length of their femur to estimate their size. Cash is estimated at being 5lbs, 15oz right now -- that puts him in the 89th percentile!!! Quite the opposite from Mr. James -- he was always around the 20th percentile. You can't put too much faith in these estimates (James was predicted at 7lb 11oz but was only 7lb 2 oz when he arrived) but if Cash keeps up at the 0.5lb per week rate (and goes full term), he'll be in the 8lb range and if he puts on more than that, he could be closer to 10lbs! (I'm not too worried about that though). I measured at 35 weeks, 5 days from the ultrasound and at 36 weeks from the tape measurement (top of pelvis to the top of the fundus - which is the top of the uterus) -- you can measure +/- 3 weeks in the 3rd trimester. Cash has finally situated himself to be head down, which has given me some occasional breathing relief, but he isn't always in there straight, so the pelvic pain has gotten crazy intense -- pushing my SI (sacro-iliac) joints (where the sacrum and pelvis meet in the back) out of whack. Pretty much feels as un-awesome as it sounds :-) We are getting close to meet this (big) little guy! Can't wait for our linebacker to make his appearance!

And Cashew is....

A BOY!!!! Yeppers, going to be WAYYYY out-numbered around here, but we couldn't be more excited! James and Daddy found out Cash's gender at the appointment but kept it a surprise from Mommy (I didn't want the anti-climatic ultrasound tech just telling me). They did a great job of keeping it secret and then Jim found an AWESOME way of telling me!

Jim took pictures of things around the house, blew them up (and got to play with his camera), used clear contact paper to cover them, then painted over them with a silver paint-water mix so I got a scratch off ticket at every stop. It took me 1.5 hours (dinner was in there) to find all of the clues around the house (some were extremely difficult and I had to get help)...but it was sooo much fun and very creative! The last one was a blow up of the ultrasound (which was just confirming what we both thought we saw within the first 10 seconds of the ultrasound).

Big Brother!!!

Well, the shirt says it all! James is excited to announce that he is going to be a big brother soon!!!
Baby "Cashew" (James was "Peanut," so we thought we'd keep it close) is due 09.10.11 and has looked good so far on all the ultrasounds. Below :: just an itty bitty thing! No morning sickness (woo hoo) just extreme exhaustion (which has now diminished in the second trimester to just above average exhaustion) and I've got some varicose veins going on which can be painful at times (I wear some sa-weet compression hose during the day at school to help with circulation, but it's always a fine line between just enough and too much walking).
At the first OB appt (I don't know why they don't do the 'confirmation' and 'first OB' appts at the same time), they did another ultrasound to check on the size of the baby and make sure the placenta was attaching well (it was). Cashew was all sorts of awake for it! S/he was kicking his/her feet and waving at us -- must have been in the middle of his/her workout time ;-) The next week is when I went to get my varicose veins checked and during the ultrasound, we saw Cashew kick and I felt it at the same time! Everything seems to happen earlier with #2 -- felt Cashew kick at 11 weeks, 5 days (James was just after 20 weeks) and at the point I'm actually typing this blog (16 weeks today), Cashew has already "popped" my belly (as my co-worker put it) -- s/he is fitting nicely in the space James created for his brother/sister :-)

Week 14 ultrasound to check growth and the heart rate -- at this point she said it was still easier to get the heart rate through ultrasound (took 2 minutes) then to try and find it with the doppler (can take forever to find the beat). Cashew was showing off his/her limberness this time by having both feet above the head at first and then kick, kick, kicking!

36 Weeks

We went for our 36 week appt on Tuesday. It included the last growth ultrasound (which Jim got to see, yeah, but didn't prove for a good pic as Peanut is pretty much out of room in there), a non-stress test and some very interesting "predictors." The ultrasound showed Peanut at about 34 weeks, approx 5lbs 2 oz...puts me behind about 2 weeks; however, he's still in the 49th percentile for his gestation age...only weird part is he only put on about 4oz in the last 3 weeks, whereas they are supposed to gain .5-1.0lb/week the last few weeks. The amniotic fluid was at 10.7 (normal 10-25), so towards the lower end there, but still "normal." The non-stress test was good -- midwife came in room bc she heard so many baby movements -- he was going to town in there with his kickboxing routine! Then she measured my belly with the tape measure and it showed me at 37 weeks -- so one week ahead on this one! As I was all over the place she went to talk to the doctor (while I took the chance to pee for the 18th time that day) to see if I needed to get a Level II ultrasound (not scary, just more information about if the placenta and other necessary things are working properly...who knew a placenta had an "expiration" date of sorts, huh?). She came back to tell us no ultrasound, but that if the baby hasn't made an appearance by 39 weeks (March 11th), they are going to induce me...seems that my pelvis just wasn't made for watermelons to squeeze through (which is what I've been saying for years) so they can't let him get too big or we'll end up with either a stuck baby or a C-section and that is far more scary than going early. It's only a week early and he'll be "full-term" on Wednesday this week, so no worries folks! Plus, March 11th makes me that much closer to winning the baby guessing game ;-) Next appt: Tuesday to see what's going on in there!

31 Weeks & No School

As you can tell, I'm catching up on my blogging today. Reason: no school due to inclimate weather...and just found out have tomorrow off too...So, a 5-day unplanned weekend when you count MLK Day on Monday. You would think I'd be stoked; however, that is now 3 extra days that I have to take off at the end of the school year for maternity leave - ouch! I guess -7 degrees as the "real" temperature before wind chill does make it rough for all the kids that walk to school...they are already cancelled in Carmel, IN too where my mom is a lunch lady -- BRRRRR for the midwest!

I went to the doctor for a 31-week growth check-up and non-stress test for Peanut yesterday before the Hawks game. Everything is looking good: good heart rate & movements during the non-stress; amniotic fluid levels are normal; he is measuring 3 pounds 7 ounces, give/take 4 ounces -- right smack in the middle at the 50th percentile (we've had a talk, I'd like him to stay right in the middle, thank you); and the ultrasound measurements put us at 32 weeks, 2 days...but that just shows us "right about right for 31 weeks" according to the dr. Although.... both my mom and I were first borns and we were both 10 days early and right about 5lbs, 7 oz...wonder who will be closest with the guessing game?!?! Found out I'm resistant to a certain kind of stitching (starts with a "v," don't remember) as my body has been fighting the stitches from a mole removed on my back since before Christmas (we thought it was infected)...nope, just allergic -- so got to stand through that medicinal treatment and removal -- which was most excellently painful...but I'd rather figure that out on my back than somewhere else later (moms, you know what I mean ;-) )!!!

2-side views look pretty much the same if you ask me, but you get a good profile of his head.

The last one is my favorite -- I love when he's looking head-on into the ultrasound pic -- I think he may end up with mostly Jim's features (as I'll be genetically dominated), but may get my nose...wad do ya think? Alas, I'm always horrible at that game, so we'll have to wait and see!

20 week Glamour shots :-)

The doctor's office FINALLY kept an appointment (3rd time's a charm, right) and we got to see Baby Monty up close and personal! We saw the baby moving (wanted to suck its thumb but the ultrasound wand kept moving the hand away from the mouth and some busy busy little legs -- so weird that I can't feel it all the time yet)...heart, kidneys, spine all looked good to the tech and midwife. I've been prepping the baby for these pics and we actually got a great view of the entire face -- eyes, nose and mouth -- s/he was looking right at us! Very cool. The second one she printed for us was a side profile -- a little bit harder to distinguish what is actually what, but still amazing none-the-less. Heart rate was up at 159bpm again. And I actually gained some weight finally -- woo hoo (I know, odd to hear from someone starting where I did, but it was good news).

A shout out to my friend Sheryl, in NJ, who is 5 days overdue and waiting it out -- best of luck on bringing your 2nd lil' man into the world!!! Can't wait to see some pictures (and hopefully win your guessing game)!

12 week pic

The ultrasound machine wouldn't do any other pictures than the last freeze -frame, but it's still a good shot. The baby is 46.4mm long from head to rump and the estimated due date from that measurement is still March 18, 2009. To the left above the body is the baby's foot. Aunt Amanda has been calling the baby peanut since before she saw this picture, but I think she was on to something :-)

Telling the Grandparents-to-Be

The first weekend of August we went to Indy to tell my parents the good news and then told Jim's mom when we got back. Above is the baby's first picture at 7 weeks. Gma Jan got a stack of old pictures I found with the baby's 1st ultrasound pics included in the middle...she asked "Who's baby is this?" when she saw it and just kept saying "Really?" over and over again when told it was ours :-)



Pops got a poem (that's kind of his thing) about Baby Monty coming to visit him in mid-March...he was a bit stubborn about actually reading it because he was too worried about which order the dogs were going to eat in the morning, but I got him to cooperate finally! Then he was finally able to bust out his Crown Royal from 1972and share it with everyone there (I had a celebratory shot of water for the occasion).





For Gma Shell, we put all the ultrasounds on one sheet of paper and told her we found something she may want to see. When she opened it up, she said "Oh, Jim's colonoscopy" (referring to Grandpa Jim, whom we all miss very much)...we responded then with our "Reallys?!?!" as we almost lost it with laughter. After a little prodding she figured it out and was so excited about the good news all she could do was shed some tears.



Another great part of the weekend was that Uncle John finally got Easton to go in the pool and swim without being afraid!!! We were getting kind of worried about our lab that didn't like the water -- now we can barely keep him out :-)