Welcome to the world baby girl!

We are proud and relieved to announce the safe arrival of the newest member of our family. Adele (pronounced ah-dell) Virginia was born a little after 3pm (vaginally) and weighs 3lbs 2.8oz. She is breathing room air without assistance and is currently in the special care area but didn't need to go to the more intensive NICU because she is doing so well. APGARs are scores given to babies given at birth to measure well being. The maximum score is 10 and she got an 8 which is excellent for a her age.

Here are some pictures. There is a video on flickr.

Baby's on the way...

I went into labour this morning. Baby and I are doing fine so far. We're going to wait see how she handles labour rather than going straight to a c-section, and so far she looks good. If she starts looking unhappy we'll get her right out.

And since I'm reminiscing about having babies, here's a picture of super cute brand new Fiona so brighten this post!

We'll try to keep you posted! Wish us luck :-)

Bedrest day 5

We're still here! Good job baby!

Things are much the same... baby is looking good on the monitor, and no contractions to speak of. I can really feel her when she moves because of the lack of cushion, it's like a big bag of elbows squirming around in there, but I'm happy she's still in there, so it's ok I guess... :-)

Since there's nothing new to report baby wise, I'll tell you about the wonderful visit I had this evening... two of the awesome ladies from the Mommy group that Fiona and I are members of came by and in addition to entertaining me also brought a big basket full of fun! They put together a basket of really thoughtful and useful items that I'm looking forward to using! Here are some of my favourite things...

Christmas ornaments to decorate myself to brighten the room!

Socks that are not brown and hospital themed...

And Sara made this wonderful little picture of Fiona to keep around... this is great because every time a new nurse comes on I make them wait for me to pull up pictures on my computer to show them, so this will save them some time ;-) I love it!

Thanks for all the wonderful gifts and the fun visit you guys!!

For today's featured menu item I think we'll go with breakfast. My lunch and dinner was good, but for breakfast I forgot to ask for milk to go with my raisin bran so I just mixed it in with my yogurt instead. I could have called them for milk, but I was hungry and didn't want to wait so I went with it!

Presentation: 2/5 - Looks a bit strange, like Fiona invented it...

Taste: 3/5 - It was definitely edible, but probably not a flavour you'd go looking for...

Repeatability: 2/5 - I wouldn't specifically order raisin bran with yogurt again, but it was interesting! If I get really tired of the other food, who knows...

Total score: 7/15. Not bad for such a bizarre breakfast :-)

Bedrest day 4

We're still here! Happy December eveyone!

Here's today's run-down...

My regular doctor stopped by this morning to chat about things. She said that 34 weeks is as long as she is comfortable letting me go to balance the risk of infection with the benefit of further gestation, but it's not very likely that baby will stick around in there that long. 34 weeks exactly would be Monday December 27th.

She looked great on the monitoring that was done this morning - heartate good, hardly any contractions. I'm hooked up again right now, and she's squirming all over the place trying to get away from the monitor, so she's definitely still in there :-)

Fiona and Ben came to visit, and we were able to hang out at McDonalds and have chocolate sundaes for dinner. Fiona liked the ice cream, but wasn't particularly bothered that I was there. It was nice to see her though! Her hair is longer and she seems older already! I forgot to bring the camera down, so there's no picture, sorry!

All in all, nothing much to report, which is good. And since one of the more exciting parts of my day here is getting to order food, I thought for your entertainment I should start including some hospital food reviews!

They have a pretty good menu, so I choose what I like, then call, and they bring it up to me... today's featured item

Lunch: Cheese and salad sandwich. I don't eat meat, so I thought I'd try just cheese, and this is what I got...

Scores out of 5:

Presentation: 4.-the cheese looks a little crusty, but someone really tried to artfully arrange those tomatoes and the whole thing looked much better with the top on!

Taste: 4. it looks a bit dodgy, but I added some mayo and it was actually pretty good!

Repeatability: 5. Fairly healthy, tasted good, and was small enough to also be able to justify eating a brownie with it. Excellent overall score of 13/15. Winner!

That's all for today... stay tuned for tomorrow's feature :-)

Bedrest day 3

Well, we made it through another day! This morning at 5am they stopped giving me the drugs to prevent contractions, and I'm happy to report that all has been quiet since then.

I was also moved from the "wait and see" area into the "long term care" area, and was given permission to shower. Ahhhhh heavenly! People no longer make the nose wrinkle face when they get too close! If you'd like the phone number for my new room, let me know.

Baby was monitored a couple of times today and did great, her heartbeat looks really good. I'll also be getting biophysical profiles twice a week to get a more in depth look at exactly what's going on in there. They score it out of 8, and she scored 6 which is considered to be a pass, particularly because the part she did not score perfectly on is not considered to be as important. She passed on the amount of amniotic fluid left, which was very reassuring, despite the fact that we were able to see her bladder empty during the ultrasound, and then witness the resulting gush from me, resulting in a bed change... gross, but kind of fascinating also!

A representative from the NICU also stopped by and explained some more about what will happen when baby 2 decides to make her appearance and what to expect immediately after her birth. She mostly reinforced the message that by 30 weeks the most risky time has past and outcomes are very good, and babies usually just need help eating, breathing, and regulating their temperature at first. It was nice to talk with her, and I feel better knowing exactly what to expect when she's born.

Fiona is still doing fine, Grandpa Bill sent me some pictures this morning of her having fun with megablocks, so I at least have some cute pictures for your entertainment this evening...

Just look at that girl stacking blocks!

The last exciting thing is that I was also given permission to have one wheelchair trip a day, so tomorrow I might be able to meet Fiona in the lobby/McDonalds area downstairs (the only part of the hospital she is allowed to come into) for a quick visit.

Thanks for all the emails and calls and well wishes, we really appreciate them!

Bedrest day 2...

We have nothing new to report on the baby 2 front... she's still hanging out in there. Her heartrate is great, and she seems happy. She's probably just relieved that she doesn't have her big sister squishing her and using her as a snack table any more...

I don't even have to be monitored all the time any more, which makes it easier to get to the bathroom as there is only 1 thing to unplug instead of 3, and less chance of me tripping over my cords getting there.

Ben's parents visited tonight and gave me the Fiona update... she's doing just fine, coping very well without me, which is great. She's having fun building towers of blocks, making herself laugh, demanding things, and playing with bells and toys. It's only been 2 days but I heard about her doing things I've never seen her do before, so that's exciting. It was nice to hear that she's happy and having a good time. I think Grandma and Grandpa are probably going to need a good night's sleep tonight though :-)

And just to prove how clever my little girl is, here's a picture of her trying to eat a rock...

It tasted so good, she'd like to share...

Thanks Fiona.

28 Week Update

Before I bore you with the pregnancy details, here's a very serious picture of Fiona after she woke up from her nap yesterday...

She might be wearing her 'don't mess with me' face, but she's still so cute!

Well, we officially have less than 12 weeks to go before #2 arrives. Are we ready? Certainly not mentally!

Tuesday was my 28 week checkup. From now on I see the doctor every 2 weeks until 36 weeks, then it's every week. That's when you know the end is really nigh.

The good news is that I passed the gestational diabetes test. Woohoo! Bring on the chocolate cake! Except, according to the nurse I've also gained about 5lbs too much at this point, so maybe just give me a small slice. When she told me this, out loud I just said 'ok' but in my head I said 'well it's not my fault I'm hungry every 20 minutes, and by now with Fiona I looked like a blimp and had gained about 20lbs too much, so really, let's not focus too much on 5 measly pounds'. Boy, did she get an internal talking to...

Other than that, everything looks good. Baby is measuring just the right size, her heartbeat is great, and other than Fiona-induced exhaustion I feel really good.

Fiona is becoming more and more obsessed with my tummy the larger it gets. She wants to blow raspberries on it and snuggle with it all day long. Last night she kept stopping eating during dinner to ask me to come over and lift up my shirt so she could pat it (I know this sounds impressive, but she communicated her wishes with whining, grunting, and pointing, so we have a long way to go in the language department!). She has no idea that there's a baby in there, but something about it is comforting to her, and she'll lay her head on it when she's sad. It's sweet, in an 'inappropriate in public' kind of way...

Amanda and Michelle: here's your bump picture...

Thanks for all the votes on names! We still have not decided, but it has been fun to hear what you think!

Help us choose a name for baby 2!

So you all know that Fiona's name was a secret before she was born. We thought we'd do the same with baby 2, but it is proving much more difficult to find the perfect name than we thought it would be. So we thought you might like to share your thoughts...

Please note, we might not choose the name that wins the vote, and we might not use any of these names, but we'd still like your input ;-)

Here are your options:

1. Ailsa

Pros: Scottish (like Fiona). Unique, particularly here. Sounds pretty.

Cons: Unique! Quite likely that people will constantly think her name is Elsa.

2. Claire

Pros: Pretty. Familiar (no confusion here). Not currently super popular, so still will likely be the only one in her class.

Cons: Common over the years, so many Claires exist already.

3. Evelyn

Pros: Same as Claire. Also has really cute nickname (Evie)

Cons: A bit old-lady-ish

So what do you think? Vote in the poll on the right! And please feel free to leave us your thoughts, and any other suggestions you'd like to share!

Poll Issues: I've been having trouble with the poll. It has very limited options. If there is more than one person in your house who wants to vote for the same name and it won't let you, try re-opening the blog in a new browser. If that still doesn't work, just make a comment with your vote and we'll count you in! Thanks! :-)

Girl or Boy? All will be revealed...

Today was the big day! Ultrasound day!! As well as this being the 'are all the limbs in the right place?' test, it was also the day to find out if baby was a girl or a boy. And we got happy news! Everything looks perfect... it's growing great, and has all of the limbs and organs it should. Phew! And we found out what kind it was...

Last time we found out and just called people to let them know. This time I thought we should announce it with some fanfare, because this is the most exciting point in baby's life so far, and the next big excitement won't be for quite some time yet. We planned a cake-reveal party. After our appointment I baked a cake that was either pink or blue inside, and our local family gathered together to witness the cake cutting...

We built the suspense... first we forced our guests to eat pizza and make small talk. They also had to make official guesses beforehand...

(Laurie and Nate were joining us from Utah via Skype, so they got to participate in the fun too.)

We showed the lovely photos that we were given in the afternoon (there are more on flickr)...

(The face is in profile, and the blob by its chin is a hand... it has another one on the end of the other arm too. Yay!)

We gathered everyone together for the grand finale. Ben was busy holding the 3-D picture up to the webcam for Laurie to see...

He wanted to be sure Laurie could see the picture, so seconds before the big cake moment he asks "can you see her?"

Yep, you read that right. Her. It's a girl. Oh well, so much for fanfare. Lets just cut the cake so we can have dessert.

So Fiona's going to have a little sister. Ben's going to be totally outnumbered and we might need to add another bathroom ;-)

And here's the updated tummy picture... I promise, it's starting to become more baby and less twixes. I had to switch to mini-twixes because it was getting out of control...

Yay for healthy baby girls!

Fiona and Mama visit the doctor

Thursday was an exciting day - both Fiona and I had checkups. Fiona's was second, but we'll cover her first because she's cuter... see?

Fiona is now 15 months old, and weighs 21lb, 9oz (29th %). She is 30 1/2 inches tall (52nd %). Her noggin is more in proportion with her height now, and is 45.8cm in circumference (47th %). So she hasn't grown much in the last three months, but that's normal given that she's a lot more mobile than she was and some days refuses to eat anything but yogurt. She also got 3 shots, one of which was for flu, which aches for days (for me anyway) and she's had a fever and been in a horrible mood all day today, so I'm going to assume that means they're working ;-)

Other than that she's healthy and developing just right and we're happy we have made it this far without ruining her. Yay! :-) And see how happy she is?

Fiona thought my appointment was much more entertaining than hers... she thought it was very interesting when the doctor got to inspect my tummy (because normally that's Fiona's job). We're pleased to report that at 16 weeks everything is still going great, and apparently I'm 'gaining weight nicely'. Thanks twixes!

Michelle and Amanda keep asking for 'bump' pictures, so here's one for you guys showcasing all those twixes... :-)

We're looking forward to the next appointment in 4 weeks where we'll (hopefully) find out which variety of baby we're having. If you'd like to guess the variety, take the poll on the right hand side!

12 Weeks

Today Ben, Fiona and I made the exciting trip to downtown Minneapolis to visit my baby doctor. Doctor visits are still exciting at this point because they're infrequent, and the only way to have real proof that yes, there's really a baby in there, I'm not just faking.

Today number 2 is 12 weeks and 1 day old. After some searching the doctor was able to find its heart beating with the doppler, but only for a couple of seconds before it squirmed away again. So it's still in there, and it's not very cooperative!

Here's a somewhat gruesome picture of what everything is looking like inside. Proof that the lovely round tummy I'm sporting is indirectly caused by baby, because even though baby is not that big yet, there used to be a bunch of stuff there, which had to go somewhere!

Later in the day I continued my effort to eat a healthy, balanced diet to adequately nourish the miracle within... we walked to the ice cream shop for dinner, which I followed up with a grilled cheese sandwich and potato chips for dessert. I boosted the health properties of the sandwich by using two kraft cheese slices. They're calci-yummy. I'm now getting ready to head to bed with my heartburn.

As for excitement to look forward to... we scheduled our big 'does the baby have all its limbs, and maybe even a tiny willy?' ultrasound... it will be September 24th. Don't touch that dial ;-)

Big, Big News

Posts about our adventures have been few and far between recently. We're still having them, but I've been way too tired to make regular blog updates. I'm sorry. But why so tired?

Well, Fiona's going to be a big sister, and all my energy is being used to grow a baby.

Yep, pretty exciting! Luckily I'm almost at the end of the first trimester, so hopefully in the next couple of weeks I should start getting some energy back and we can once again share our super exciting adventures with you.

We had an ultrasound a few weeks ago. Baby is 8 weeks and a few days in this picture. We were able to see its little heart beating like crazy, and it was kicking and squirming around. I've labelled it so you can see which way up the blob goes...

I think if you kind of squint a little you can see a smiling face... By now (11 weeks) it looks like a teeny alien baby and is about 2 inches long (though my big tummy would indicate otherwise).

Here are some frequently asked questions...

The baby is due on February 7th, though it is likely I'll have to have another c-section, so it'll probably be around a week before that. and definitely not on my birthday!

Yes, it's definitely only one baby.

We find out whether it is a boy or girl in about 9 weeks, at the 20 week ultrasound.

I'm feeling ok... I have been feeling terrible, but between magic drugs, the first trimester ending, and a wonderful husband who is willing to get up at 6am with Fiona, I'm feeling a lot better now. Thanks for asking ;-)

We're super excited, and we'll keep you updated along the way!