4 month pictures... Finally!

Here are some pictures that I took a few days after Simon turned 4 months.

And one of my favorites:

First cold and sleep regression?

Simon and I have both been battling colds since last Thursday.  This is Simon's first cold and I'm pretty sure he got it from one of the people at work when we visited on Monday.  Other than incessant sneezing and a bit of a cough, he has been pretty good overall.  His nose isn't overly stuffed up and he has been eating just as much as ever.  

He has been a bit more fussy than normal and it's led to some pretty rough nights this past week.  I don't know if it is cold related or just the 4 month sleep regression that I've been reading about, but we have now transitioned him to his crib from the bassinet and stopped swaddling all in an effort to reduce the tears at bedtime.  It's almost like he knows it's time to sleep and if I'm not there rocking him or laying down with him, he screams bloody murder.  

It could also be over-tiredness since I took him to my women's group meeting on Wednesday and he was awake that whole time (from 7-10) when he is normally winding down/sleeping.   That same night he got up at 1:30 and was awake until 3:00 screaming.  Nothing helped, not even nursing which is usually my cure-all.  We thought it was his ears bugging him from the cold but I went to the doctor today and he is fine, so we can rule that out.  Teething can cause ear issues and general night time pain so we gave him tylenol last night but he still needed to be rocked to sleep.   Who knows?  All I know is that our good sleeper is no longer and it's kept me on my toes trying to figure out tricks to keep him calm and get him to sleep.

That being said, I thought that not swaddling was going to be a challenge to keep him from waking himself up either from the startle relex or just scratching his face, but to our surprise, our first night not swaddling, he did a 6 hour stretch and a 4 hour stretch.  It can be done.  Last night wasn't too bad either.  He was rocked to sleep, put down at 8:30 and slept until 2, nursed, put back down at 3 and slept until 7.  Can't ask for much better at this point.

Rolled over for the first time!

On Sunday (Nov. 16), Simon rolled over from tummy to back for the first time.  PP missed it even though he was sitting right there.  We were playing on the floor and I had put Simon on his tummy just to see what he would do.  Usually he starts to whimper and then cry but this time he looked over at me and just rolled over.

Then today, I had put him on his back on his playmat and then was checking email and watching him play and all of a sudden I hear him whimpering and I look over and realize that he was now on his tummy.  I missed him rolling from back to tummy for the first time :( I've been watching, with my camera at the ready hoping he'll do it again, but no luck so far.  Hopefully we'll get lucky soon.

4 months old today!

Simon turned 4 months old today and to celebrate we took him to get his second round of shots.  We're evil parents aren't we?  When we got there, we weighed and measured him.  He's up to 15 lbs 3 oz (with clothes on) and 24.5 inches long.  About the 50th percentile for a breast fed baby.  They asked us a bunch of questions about his hearing, vision, tummy time etc. and then moved on to the shots.  Since we opted out of the Hep B shot, he only had to have 2 pokes, both on his right leg.  He did really well this time, though, compared to when he was 2 months.  He cried for all of 30 seconds and then looked over at me (PP was holding him) and smiled.  

We then waited the requisite 15 minutes in the lobby with another set of parents and their 4 month old named Lyric (very interesting name, IMO).  Then a lady came in asking the receptionist to call 911 since there was a guy on the ground down the street from the clinic saying he was having a heart attack.  The receptionist hesitated to call 911 (I know, WTF) but eventually did and as we were driving away we saw the ambulance coming.  Hope the guy was ok.  

Simon slept on the drive home, had his bath at the usual time and fell asleep without any major issues.  Hopefully he'll sleep like he normally does and not fuss too much because of the shots, but we've got the Tylenol at the ready in case he does.  

I forgot to post this a couple of days ago but we had probably the best sleep/night since Simon's been born on Sunday.  He went down at around 8:30 with no fuss and didn't wake up until 5.  He fed for about 15 minutes and then went back down until 7.  We've been getting nights like this periodically but always with either fussiness and tears to get him to sleep or he'll go down quietly and then be up in 30-60 minutes crying and we'll have to rock him to sleep again.  All in all, we've been pretty fortunate to have him sleeping these long stretches so early on.  I chalk it up to swaddling which is keeping his hands free of his face and his startle reflex in check.

I'll post 4 month pics as soon as I get a chance to take some LOL.  

Our little Ralphie

We took this picture today because Simon seems to love grabbing and pulling on PP's glasses while they play. He took them off and then realized it might be cute to see what Simon looks like with them on. We can't decide if he looks like Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" or that kid from Jerry Maguire. I'm going with Ralphie. Too cute :)

My favorite pics over the past few weeks

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Simon taken over the last few weeks....

Prenatal class reunion

We had our class reunion for our prenatal class today. It was so much fun to see all the babies and compare their sizes and abilities. We had quite the spread of ages with Simon being born 2nd in the class. He was quite a bit larger than most of the babies there. It's funny to see the youngest baby of the group (only 6 weeks old) and remembering when Simon was that tiny not so long ago. Who knew that I'd already forget and miss those early days of him being so tiny and wanting to snuggle all the time. All the moms exchanged advice from feeding to bedtime routines, which was nice. Since it was a week before hallowe'en, we all dressed up the kids for the inevitable photoshoot. Simon went as Eeyore (something that no one could pronounce... who knew?). Here are some pics:

Thanksgiving fun

Today was Canadian thanksgiving and we celebrated by eating our turkey small chicken in the dark. No, we didn't plan it that way to save energy, we're not that kind of people. Turns out there was a major power outage affecting half of the island that we live on which meant that we had mashed potatoes with no gravy (hadn't quite gotten to the gravy part before the power went out) and no corn. We did have stuffing, the bird, and the potatoes and all tasted delicious. Guess who slept through the entire occasion?? Simon of course. He's slept through 2 fire alarms and a power outage so far in his short life. Just like his daddy.

We drove around town after dinner marveling at people's inability to respect the 4 way stop procedure at each of the non-functioning street lights that we encountered. By the time we got home (a half hour later) the power was back on and the dishes were waiting for me to wash.

Am I a bad mommy for forgetting to take pics of his first thanksgiving? Yup, I think I am.

Baby shower at PP's work

Today, PP's work threw us and another guy and his wife and new baby a baby shower. Since PP was working that day, I ventured downtown on the bus for the first time to make it to the party. Let's just say that I failed epically at 2 things.

First, getting the stroller on the bus. Who knew that even with special low floor buses for people like me, it would be hard to tilt the damn stroller back enough to get it on the bus without tipping all the way backwards. The driver was this crazy lady who just stared at me as I struggled to get the front wheels high enough to get on the bus. I ended up having to practically lift the stroller up onto the bus as she stared at me and I cracked the "Can you tell I'm a newb at this" comment. She didn't even bat an eyelash at my lame attempt at humor.

Second, preparing for the actual ride and the subsequent weather once we got off the bus. Who knew that some drivers have no respect for new moms when they decide to start driving the bus at full speed while you're trying to get the stroller in position and the wheels locked. Needless to say that I went flying across the front part of the bus while trying to maintain a grip on the stroller so it wouldn't go flying as well. I have bad balance at the best of times, but this was ridiculous. The rest of the ride consisted of me having a death grip on the stroller as she drove the winding streets like a maniac. I swear the stroller, which was locked at this time, was about to tip to the side with the way she took those curves. Once I got off the bus, the weather turned from sunny to torrential downpour in seconds, and I did not bring the rain cover. Luckily my Zooper Waltz has a great hood on it and I had him in the carseat so I just brought both hoods up to cover him. I was wearing only a hoodie so I got soaked, just what I needed for my second meeting of PP's boss.

The party went well though. We got a giftcard to Zellers and 3 onesies and a pair of jeans from baby GAP. The onesies all have cute sayings like "If you think I'm cool, you should see my dad" and "live fast, nap hard". It was nice meeting all the people in PP's office and Simon was very well behaved and slept through the whole thing, again. I see a trend starting here :)

First day home alone

Today is my first day at home, alone, with no PP to keep me company. So far things are going well. I took Simon out for a walk because the weather was nice, and managed to keep the baby entertained the entire day . Simon has also picked this time to go 6 days without a poop which means I'm sure to be the one to change that messy diaper. The good news is that Simon is sleeping much longer stretches at night, only getting up once around 4 or 5 am for a feed which means PP won't be so sleep deprived at work.

Visit with Grandpa D and Great Grandma

Grandpa D and great grandma came to visit us last week. They came all the way from the northern part of our province, and it was so nice to be able to visit with them both. The last time I saw my grandma was last August, before Simon was even a twinkle in our eyes. We picked them up at the ferry on Saturday and spent the rest of the afternoon catching up. The next day, we all went to UVic so that PP could do some work on his thesis. The rest of us walked around campus and grandpa insisted on pushing the stroller. We had fun watching the bunnies and marveling at all the construction on campus. Apparently we had so much fun that grandpa and great grandma fell asleep when we got home.

On Monday we went grocery shopping and spent some time at the mall, and on Tuesday we went out for breakfast and then picked up a bunch of pictures that I had printed off at WalMart. On Wednesday, we took a long walk through our neighborhood and went out for ice cream and then ended our day having dinner at The Keg. We were so nervous to bring Simon out to The Keg because we had never been in a "fancy" restaurant with him before. All the other places we had been were family restaurants where it was ok if he had a meltdown because all the other kids were doing it too. I made sure to feed Simon well before we headed out the door, and we made it through ordering and appetizers before he started to wail. It was at that point that I had a second of panic, not knowing the best way to keep him quiet and not get kicked out of the restaurant, but then I remembered my Hooter Hider. I just put it on and fed him until he settled down and let PP keep him entertained until he fell asleep again. At this point we just put him back in his car seat and he slept nicely until we were all done eating. There was another baby at a table nearby who must have been around 5 months old who was making cute little baby screeches much to the chagrin of all the childless people dining around us, which made me feel a lot better about the noise we were making.

All in all a great trip!

Here are a few more pictures from grandpa's visit.

Smiling at grandpa:

From Simon

Reading "The Hockey News" with grandpa:

From Simon

Spending some time with great grandma. Can he be any cuter?

From Simon

First shots

We just took Simon for his first set of shots. The appointment went really well except for the part where I started crying when the nurse stuck his leg with the first needle. And then when I cried even more at the next 2 pokes. I always thought I could hold it together when my kid got shots but I was wrong, and I realize now that it's perfectly normal to cry more than your child when they get poked. I'm sure it'll change with the next set in November (ya right).

8 weeks old and smiling every day!!!

Simon has been smiling more and more every day. He's even trying to laugh which kind of just comes out as him inhaling rapidly at this point. Here's a picture of Simon smiling at daddy while playing together on his playmat.

From Simon

First smile caught on camera

We finally caught Simon's first smile on camera!! Here it is, smiling at daddy:

Baby shower at grandma's house

This weekend, we traveled up to grandma's house, a 4 hour drive and hour and a half boat ride away, because she was throwing us a baby shower!

Our trip started at 4 am when Simon woke up for his next feed. After I fed and changed him, we got him packed in the carseat and got all our gear loaded in the car and decided since we didn't know how many times we would have to stop along the way, we decided to leave and try to catch the 10 am ferry. We were on our way at 5 am and drove almost halfway before Simon needed a change and to eat. It was pretty comical watching PP change Simon's diaper in the front seat of our car, with me waiting in the back seat to feed him. We got to the ferry with over an hour to spare so I fed Simon again and we waited. Simon was such a good baby the whole drive to the ferry and for the entire ferry ride.

The next day was the baby shower. All of Simon's great aunts and cousins were there and all got to hold him and oogle him. They spoiled him rotten, getting him so many cute outfits, a bunch of stuffed animals and a few practical gifts as well. Grandma S got him a cake with yummy custard and strawberry filling and a cute little lamb toy on top that said "Welcome Simon". Everyone had a great time at the party and Simon was on his best behavior.

We decided to stay an extra day just so we could visit some more with PP's parents. It was nice being able to hand Simon over to his grandma or grandpa when I needed a break. And there must be something about grandma's house that Simon likes because from the moment we got there, he started sleeping long stretches at night. Before we left, he would wake up every 2 hours to eat, and since then he has slept at least 5 hours going up to 8 hours before needed to eat again at night. Needless to say, we've all been a lot happier now that we're getting decent rest at night!!

A few more pictures from the shower.

All dressed up for the party. Wearing an outfit that we bought him when we found out we were having a boy. I never thought it would fit him this soon!!












Wearing a hat that grandma got him as a shower gift. He's trying to smile at PP in this picture and we almost caught it on camera.

Simon's first wedding

Today we went to PP's cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding at a golf course but man was it ever hot out. We had baby S in the stroller and even then he was sweating. Afterwards we attended the reception and had a great time. Baby S got to meet all of his extended family who just fawned over him all night. Unfortunately we were so occupied with keeping baby S quite during speaches etc. that we forgot to take any pictures. Here are 2 taken right before we left for the wedding.

5 days old- Proud poppa's account of events

It was a cold, grey wintry evening, the clouds were heavy with ill omen as a mother gives birth to a son...

Ahem!

Actually, it was a bright and sunny afternoon, warm with nary a wisp of cloud in the sky.

A proud mum and dad were beaming, counting their blessings that their son, Simon Matthew arrived relatively healthy considering his early arrival.

Thursday, Day 1:  Simon's first checkup by the pediatricians!

Here's our little guy, just after his exam.  Kind of looks like his Daddy on Monday mornings before the caffeine has kicked in! *groan*

"And in the blue corner, wearing nothing at all, fighting out of Victoria, BC, and weighing in at five pounds and thirteen ounces, Simon 'The Early Bird' S!"

Friday, Day 2:  Mum and baby!

Altogether, say it with me now:  Awwwwwww.....

Simon! ... and some tired looking bald guy...

Saturday, Day 3:  Bath time!  He liked having his hair washed and his face scrubbed.  The rest of him? Not so much.

So tuckered out....

Sunday, Day 4:  All snugged into his carseat, Simon is ready to blow this popsicle stand.  Note the adorable candy-cane shaped rolls of blanket, the newest safety accessory, so versatile it'll go with anything in your wardrobe.

Simon's first fire alarm

It's our first full day home from the hospital and Grandma S had decided to cook PP and I a nice meal of shaken bake chicken and baked potatoes.  I had gone to take a nap, and baby S was sleeping peacefully in his crib.  Not 30 minutes after falling asleep, I hear the smoke alarm going off.  I come out of our bedroom to see Grandma S frantically fanning the heat detector to get it to stop beeping but to no avail.  I run to open up all of our windows thinking that any minute now the main building alarm is going to go off and sure enough, it did.  At this point, my heart is racing and all I can think about is get the baby and get the hell out of the appartment.  I open the oven and don't see anything out of the ordinary so I shut it off and put on my shoes, tell grandma S to get her coat and grab my keys and head outside.  On the way down, I run into the building manager so I tell him it was from our appt. and that it was a false alarm.  He says we still have to go outside.

We get outside and baby is wrapped pretty tightly in the blanket, still sleeping peacefully.  We get the all clear to go back in about 30 minutes later and we walk in the appt. and see a piece of the heat detector on the floor.  The firemen have to come up and inspect that no fire actually started and when they see that piece on the floor, they start accusing us of tampering with the heat detector.  It turns out that grandma S was fanning the wrong thing.  What she thought was the smoke detector was the HEAT detector and she fanned it so hard with a dishcloth that a piece of it fell off and triggered the main building alarm causing all of the building to evacuate.  Needless to say that grandma S hasn't wanted to cook another meal in our appt. and can you blame her?

And through it all, baby S slept peacefully and didn't even open his eyes or cry once.

First few hours at home

Our first few hours at home were spent opening a package from Auntie Cel and sleeping on daddy and grandma.

36w3d- Holy crap we had the baby early!!!

Wow!!! What a crazy few days it's been. As you can see from the title of this post, we had the baby early!! A month early to be exact. Obviously it was totally unexpected but he's happy and healthy and all is well. Simon Matthew arrived on Thursday July 10 at 4:19 pm and weighed 5 lbs 13.6 oz. and was 18.5 inches long. Here is our birth story:

At about 3:30 on Wednesday (July 9) I was just leaving the lab to head home when I felt a gush. I pretty much knew right away that it was my water that had broken but I was praying I had just peed my pants because I was only 36 weeks 3 days along and knew it was a bit too early for this little guy to arrive. I called Proud_Poppa to come get me given that I was NOT going to ride the bus home and then called the midwife who told us to meet her at the hospital. We got to labour and delivery and they put me in a room to check on the baby and to see if it really was my water that broke. By then my midwife had arrived and pretty much broke it to me that it was my water that broke and that I wasn't going home until this baby was out. They sent me to ante partum to wait for the next day to be induced and because I hadn't had my group B strep swab they started dosing me up with IV antibiotics. PP at this time, was sent home to get me dinner and pack up my hospital bag because I hadn't done it yet. When he came back, we had our dinner, and then by 9:30 he had to leave because dad's aren't allowed in that part of the hospital at night. I was told to rest up because tomorrow I was going to have a baby and to enjoy my last night of peace.

So much for my last night of peace.... Only a half hour after PP left, I started having contractions that were 10 minutes apart. I told the nurse and she didn't believe me. So I just figured what I was feeling was nothing. Over the course of the next few hours they started getting more intense to the point where they were 5 minutes apart and I had to breathe through them. I buzzed the nurse and she still didn't believe me because she said to take a couple of sleeping pills and sleep through them. I took those pills and spent the next 4 hours NOT sleeping, and breathing through contractions on my own with no labor support. By 4 am, I buzzed the nurse again and told her I was having contractions, and that I needed PP with me. She was pretty insistent that PP could not be with me on that ward and I insisted right back that she get him on the phone because there was no way I was continuing labor without him. She finally listened and sent me to the delivery room where I spent the next half hour on my own in the shower waiting patiently for PP and my midwife to arrive. Once PP was there, I felt so much better. He helped me through intense contractions but because I had been laboring all night, the contractions weren't really getting any more frequent because I was falling asleep for the 2 or 3 minutes between them. My midwife checked me at 11 am (12 hrs of labor at this point) and she said I was only 4 cm dilated and that it would likely be another 6 hrs before I was at 10. I knew that there was not a chance in hell that I was going to be able to labor through them. I felt like I had to push so much and there was no headspace I could be in that would stop that feeling. Believe me when I say, puh-puh-puh DOES work at least to a certain extent, no matter how goofy you sound saying it. At that point, I caved and asked for an epi. I knew I couldn't labor through another 6 hours of those kinds of contractions. The anesthetist couldn't come right away because he was in an emergency c-section so I labored at least another 45 minutes. Once the epi was in though, my god, the pain relief was amazing. I slept for another 5 hours while PP went home and showered up. When he got back, I had just been seen by the obstetrician and I was 9 cm. He told us that because he was so early, he and a pediatrician would have to be present at the birth to make sure everything was ok. An hour later, I was ready to push and 45 minutes after that, Simon Matthew was born. I have to say, the relief of having him out of me and happy and healthy was intense. He cried right away and the pediatrician said he was looking good. He weighed 5lbs 13.6 oz and was 18.5 inches long but because he was so small and so early, they had to send him to NICU instead of back to the mother babe ward with me.

My midwife was amazing and after checking me out (no stitches and no tears), she and PP wheeled me to the NICU so I could meet my little man. He was in an incubator and they told me that he might be back in the room with me within the next 2 hours. Well, it turned out his glucose levels were not regulating themselves so they had to keep him until he had 3 consecutive feeds with good numbers. I spent my first night in mother babe alone in a semi-private room with a, shall we say interesting, roommate who managed to turn the hospital gowns into a strapless dress and luckily had no issues with sending her screaming baby to the nursery so she and by default I could get some rest. The whole next day was spent pumping and dropping off my milk to NICU to get him to try and regulate his glucose levels. They warned me he may need a second night there and I was so upset. The nurses in mother babe totally understood and were so nice to sit with me and calm me down a bit. They also got me a private room so I could rest in preparation of baby Simon's release from NICU. At around 5 on Simon's second day in this world, they wheeled him into my room because he had finally passed his glucose tests. Since I was in a private room, PP could stay with me through the night and we muddled through feeding and caring for our new baby. We ended up staying another night because I felt I needed all the breast feeding help I could get. We put him on a 3 hour feed schedule and he ate like a champ both through bottles of pumped milk mixed with formula and through short spurts of breast feeding. We were released from the hospital on Sunday (July 13) and have been managing very well since then. I'm feeling great, but I think that's because he was so small and I didn't tear so I didn't have to deal with that kind of pain.

I wanted to say that the nurses at mother/babe are absolutely amazing and were all so willing to help us learn how to care for our baby. If you get a chance, look for Cynthia who is a lactation consultant and RN and helped us out so much during her day and night shift; she was so patient and had excellent advice for us.

31w5d- I now have a PhD!!

Today I had my PhD graduation ceremony! It was great to have all of my family there to seem me receive my degree and even better knowing that baby S was in my belly with me the whole time. The entire ceremony went by pretty quickly and the whole time, baby S was kicking me and doing little summersaults while I tried to sit quietly and listen to the proceedings. I think he was picking up on my nervous energy while I waited for my name to be called. Afterwards PP took a few pictures of my belly to mark the occasion. I don't think I look very big, but when you compare to some of the earlier pictures, I definitely have grown. Only a few more weeks to go!!

Belly shot:

30w0d- Nursery is finally finished!

We finally managed to finish up the nursery today.  Our dresser arrived via fedex so we stayed home from work to put the crib together and get his room all decorated.  It was a long day but we got it all done and just in time for our parents to see it at my graduation in June.  We went with a jungle theme that we hope our son will enjoy when he gets a bit older.  Here are some pictures:

27w6d- 3D ultrasound excitement!

We had our 3D ultrasound today.  It was an awesome experience and we're both so glad we spent the money to do it.  We got to see your little man (yes he's still a he) moving around and munching on his hand.  We got some awesome pictures and one of him that looks like he's smiling.  We also got a 30 minute DVD that we've watched a few times already, and I can't watch without crying.  To think that in a few short months our little man will be here.

Here are a few of the best pictures:

25w1d- We have a name!!

Well actually we've had it picked out since a few days after Easter.  I just forgot to post it on here.  The thing is, we've decided not to announce the name to anyone because we don't want our family voicing their "thoughts" on the name.  I can say though, that his initials will be SMS.

25w0d- 2 colds and a kicking machine

Haven't posted in a while since I've been so sick over the last month and am just starting to feel better now.  It started out with a cold that I thought was going away and then came back with a vengeance.  I had a cough for over 2 weeks and missed a lot of time off work.

Over the last month we've had a midwife appointment (everything is looking good) and PP got to feel the baby kick on two occasions.  The first time he felt it, he was thrilled, then the other day he was resting his head on my belly and the baby kicked.  He's been kicking up a storm the past week.  I usually feel something every hour or two and sometimes he kicks so hard that my entire body shakes.  It's pretty thrilling.

We went and looked at Strollers today.  We're pretty sold on the Zooper Waltz.  It isn't a 1 hand fold but we figure that we probably wouldn't rely on that feature anyway.  The Waltz was the only one that PP could easily figure out, without much troubles.  It comes with a ton of accessories that we would have to pay for separately if we got a different stroller, it's lightweight and is a nice looking stroller to boot.  We're waiting for the 2008 model to come in, but if it's going to be a long wait, we'll probably order online from some stroller store if we can find one that ships up North.

I have another midwife appointment next Tuesday and we're starting parenting classes in 2 weeks and our 3D u/s is also in 2 weeks.  It's going to be a busy 3rd trimester but I'm really trying to savor every moment of this pregnancy.

18w3d- IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

I thought for sure we were having a girl, but I guess mother's intuition can be off sometimes.  

Our ultrasound went well today.  We couldn't be more thrilled to be having a boy!!  

The u/s  tech was great.  She explained to us what we were seeing as much as she could, although she was not allowed to comment on whether things were looking ok or not.  We got to see him moving around in there a little bit, but I expected more movement than what we saw.  I had to empty my bladder because it was so full of pee and was preventing her from taking good enough pictures.  The scan went so quickly and I really want to go back just to see the little gu

y doing well in there.  At the very end of the u/s she was able to get the money shot, and she commented on how difficult he was being through  the rest of the u/s.  We could see the lines his leg makes when looking from the bottom up and then all of a sudden I could see a penis for sure!!!  PP couldn't make it out, but afterwards when we were discussing how sure we were, I explained what I saw and it was exactly what he saw and it was a boy for sure!!!

Here are some pics:

His little feet (look at that big toe)-

His profile (with daddy's nose)-

15w2d- Midwife appointment

We had our 3rd midwife appointment today.  I've learned that I am incapable of peeing into a dixie cup, but that I am likely equally incapable of peeing directly on a stick.  What to do?  The pee stick that we're supposed to use before each appointment is so long that even if you filled the cup, it wouldn't get the entire thing all wet.  Next time I'm trying the peeing on the stick method with the cup as backup just in case.  The test itself came back normal, which I expected.  

The rest of the appointment went very well.  Yarra, the student midwife, did a full physical exam and I am healthy!  Whaddya say.  She felt for my uterus and it was maybe 2 fingers below my belly button, which seems high to me, but is normal.  We called PP and listened to the heartbeat once he got there.  We actually got to hear the clip clop of the heart, with the valves opening and closing (something we haven't heard before on our home doppler).  We got a requisition form to do the maternal triple screen to check for increased risk of Down's syndrome or other trisomy diseases.  I have to go in and do that in a week and hopefully the results will be back by the time we have our next appointment on March 12.

13w5d- The best sound in the world!

We bought a doppler back at 9w and have been trying unsuccessfully to hear the baby's heartbeat since the day we got it home.  We limited ourselves to 1 try per week and up until now, could hear only my heartbeat and what we think are placenta noises.  Today, on a whim, PP asked if we could have a little listen.  Immediately after putting the probe down on my tummy, we heard a pretty fast heartbeat.  We both looked at each other and I knew it was way too fast to be mine, so we listened some more and then started counting to see how fast it was.  It clocked in at around 150 bpm (no way that could be my own heart) and we can now say we have a real baby growing in there.  I'm so relieved that everything sounds ok, and hopefully our midwife will be able to hear it again at our next appt. on the 12th.

13w2d- First ever craving run

Today I had an insane craving for Pillsbury cinnamon buns, fresh out of the oven.  I asked PP if he would take me to the store to get some and being the sweet guy he is, volunteered to go himself because, and I quote, "It won't count as a real craving run if you come with me".   I stayed home in my pj's with the oven preheating, waiting for him to come home.  The cinnamon buns were delicious, BTW!

12w0d: Our first baby purchase

Today, to commemorate making it through our first 12 weeks, we decided to go shopping for one outfit for the baby.  Since we don't know what we're having, we ended up deciding on a yellow 5 piece set that included a cute hat, onesie, sleeper, pants and bib.  Check them out: