Coming Along

Well, another few days have gone by, and I don't really have anything exciting to say. Vivi has used either really good or really challenging behavior. One minute she'll be so sweet, helpful, and grown up, but later that day she'll forget the 'rules' and act like..well..a two year old. She started eating a new cereal this week - Kix! I loved that cereal as a child, and she does too. She calls it "Chix" though...too funny. Her love of peanut butter on raisin bread sandwiches has gone from a love of eating to a love of finger painting the counter with the peanut butter. She hasn't had much of an appetite for the past 5 days or so, so mealtimes for her require more supervision than normal (so that she doesn't play with her food). Oh well. Her appetite will pick up again soon.

I had a doctor appointment today. They did an ultrasound to get an estimated fetal size. They measure the baby's head circumference, femur and humerus bones, and belly circumference to get an estimate size. He's estimated to be around 3 and half pounds now, and the measurements indicate that he's pretty big - 95th percentile for other babies at this gestational age. They aren't concerned though (Kyle and I are larger than the average person, plus, even with very well controlled diabetes, I'm still likely to have a larger baby due to blood sugar spikes - the excess sugar crosses into the placenta and sugar makes things grow) but the doctor I saw today said that they wouldn't take action (by induction or c-section) until the baby was 11-12 pounds. I didn't tell her a couple of things when she told me that. I didn't tell her that I was going to Birmingham to have the baby; and that there was no way I was going to birth a 6 month old. She's new to this (I see one of about 18 residents at each appointment), so I let it slide. I'll just see my pals at Brookwood Medical Center in a few weeks. During the ultrasound they also did a Doppler to check the arteries that feed the placenta. There are things they look for in the Doppler wave that can indicate upcoming blood pressure problems, and we got the all clear. Whew! I was glad to hear that he's growing well. The doctors are too - they say everything looks great. So, 28 weeks down and a few left. Anyone want to take guesses as to baby's birthday? Dr. R. in Birmingham said that 37-38 weeks would be all he'll let me go, even if everything is fine. I might be able to talk him into 35-36 depending on how big I feel that monster truck baby is getting. Oh yeah - that's my new name for him - monster truck - because he's so big and bulky feeling. Don't worry, we'll have something better picked out by the time he's born. Hopefully.

On another baby note, it's so much harder finding cute baby boy clothes than it was finding baby girl clothes. Maybe it's because there are only 3 stores in New Bern that have child sized clothes, or maybe my tastes have changed. Maybe I'm too picky. I think that when I had Vivi I knew that everyone would know that she was a sweet little girl, so she didn't necessarily have to have 'sweet baby girl clothes' - I just let her smile do all the talking. But with a baby boy, I want to dress him more on the sweet side than the 'scary' side. I mean, have you noticed that they have tiny baby boy clothes with dinosaurs roaring on them? I'm going to opt for the sweeter stuff; at least for now. So, clothes shopping has been challenging. But, I've found some things so far. Plus, I'm probably not going to take him out and about until he's at least 4-6 weeks old, maybe longer depending on if he comes early and needs special NICU treatment, etc. So, most of his beginning clothes will be for at home use primarily. Plus, if he's born on the larger side, he won't need 'newborn' sized clothes, and won't use the 0-3 month ones for long. We'll just have to see.

SO, here are some of the things that I've either purchased or received as gifts as well as some pictures of the baby preparation that we've done in his room. There are picture captions on our picture site - www.dropshots.com/kyleandleannabuchina. We've gotten some Auburn and Navy game watching outfits for football season, all as gifts from football enthusiast friends/family. All of the other items are 0-3 month or 3-6 month sizes.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!