Fair to say...

Kaylynn will definitely be a December baby. I have a pretty strong feeling that she won't be born in the next 2 1/2 hours. I was a quick baby, but even I couldn't be born in this short of time.

That's good though. Her middle name isn't going to be Noelle for nothing. :)

I might take a picture of my 38/39 week belly sometime this week. We'll see. Brian's finals start on Tuesday. He's almost done with his first semester!!!!!

38 Weeks

I don't agree with that little ticker up there. I don't think I'm as big as a house (though others might beg to differ...keep your mouth shut, Brian!), and I can confirm that I don't have hemorroids or "the runs". Life just continues on as normal. I'm watching my salt intake, so the blood pressure has been normal and the ankles only get huge at night. We're exactly 2 weeks away from her due date. Good news, I'm almost done Christmas shopping!

Here's what babycenter.com has to say about us this week:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

I'm putting my money on blue eyes...hopefully Brian's shade of blue. I don't think I ate enough yesterday to put Kaylynn up at the 6.8lbs range, but again, I could be wrong. I do agree that she's probably over 19.5 inches long, probably over 20 inches long. The doctor said we'd make it through the Thanksgiving holidays, fingers crossed that when I go back to the doctor on Monday she says that everything is still all "closed" and that Kaylynn is looking like she'll be at her due date.

Also, we've got tests on Dec. 2nd and 4th this week (we, meaning Brian). Say a little prayer or 5 for him, por favor! He'll do great, he's just stressing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish our 5+ readers a Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Let us not forget all that we have to be thankful for.

Swollen Ankles & 37 Weeks

Here's the 37 week update:

Congratulations! Your baby is full-term! This means that if your baby arrives now, her lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though your due date is still three weeks away. She weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long.

Yeah, we're hoping for hair. She's not 6 1/3 pounds right now either. Well, I don't know that, but I'm going with the estimate from the doctor still.

I had some blood pressure issues yesterday, which was neat. I was eating lunch (some ramen teriyaki noodles - hitting the sodium hard) and when I stood up my left foot blew up like a balloon. Went to the school nurse and my blood pressure was 142/80, which is high for me. Went back 30 minutes later and it went down to 132/80. So, after Brian's pestering, I called the nurse and she said if I got to 140/90 then I needed to go into L&D to be monitored. Neat. So we're in Frankston right now and thanks to dad's high blood pressure, he has a monitor here, so we're watching, making sure it doesn't get too high. I think a weekend of relaxing will do me good. :) Kaylynn needs to stay in for another 3 weeks.

What Lazy Looks Like

"Here I am, just relaxing. I got my leg propped up on this door plate. Lady won't let me inside, but she's sneaking pictures of me from her bedroom. All I really want is to come inside. See, I used to be an outside dog, but then they brought me to the city and now when I am outside all I do is whine like a little girl. But only if I'm not relaxing." - Gus.

"This is my new friend. I met him once when he was younger, but he is more interesting to me now. If only the Lady and her friend would let me lick him...I bet he tastes good. I like to lick lots of things...myself, the kitchen floor, the carpet, and little kids. I have a feeling that Brian and the Lady won't let me lick my little sister, but I'm sure going to try. At least I get attention that way, even if they are scolding me." - Gus

36 Week Update

Kaylynn's 36 Week Update

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

I didn't think doctors did that anymore...flipping the baby from the outside, that is. I've read that 9 times out of 10, if they try that, the baby just flips back and it could lead to all sorts of issues with the umbilical cord and what not. But I'm not a professional, I could be way off.

My doctor also said I wasn't full-term until 38 weeks. What's a week though? I do know that she is not 6lbs right now! Suckas. And she's probably longer than 18 1/2 inches, just a guess. I can tell you that she's in a head-down position, reaking havoc on my bladder. One sip of anything and I have to pee. I keep pouring down the water though; I'm tired of my cankles.

I'm tired in general. But that's ok. I'll gladly be tired for another month if it means that Brian can study and take his finals in peace! So prayers and crossed fingers out there that she doesn't arrive before Dec. 11th. Please! We need it.

11/12

ONE MONTH UNTIL KAYLYNN'S DUE DATE!

That's 30 days, assuming she's not early or late!

I'm ready for her to be OUT.
I'm ready to wear normal clothes again.
I'm ready to sleep on my stomach, even if it is for short bits of time.
I'm ready to not feel like there's something in my stomach clawing to get out.
I'm ready to have my ankles back.
I'm ready to look human again.
I'm ready for a glass of red wine.
I'm ready to see what she looks like.
I'm ready to dress her in all these cute outfits; she's already more stylish than I will ever be.
I'm ready to love her so much that no boy will ever be good enough for her.

And though I'm ready for these things...if she wants to be 5 days late, I'm ok with that. I need Brian to have one less thing to worry about during finals. :) Unless she wants to be born BEFORE finals, and that'd be ok too. Well, not ideal, but better than during finals.

Perfect Timing

It still amazes me that there are certain "things" that can totally clear your mind of all that is going on in the world. These "things" could be pictures, songs, thoughts or any number of other items. And so often it seems that these "things" show up at just the right time.

Case in point. I was sitting on the bus this afternoon (class was cancelled - WHOOP!!!) thinking about everything that was looming on the horizon - the holidays, work, hurricane leftovers, a new president, a crappy economy, finals, a kid - when a song came on my iPod and completely took all of these thoughts out of my mind. And ironically enough, I did exactly what the title of the song said to do: Drift Away.

The song I heard is not the original, but it's the one I prefer and the one that takes me back to that T.G.I. Friday's in Latvia with some great friends. All I could do was smile and recall how we spent a couple of hours walking around Riga. I was in a bad mood then too (after a tantrum that I still quite regret to this day). All that changed when we were paid a visit by a butterfly (I know that sounds cheesy and childish and whatever else you may be thinking, but I don't care). As weird as it sounds, it totally brought me out of my bad mood. Here we were, walking down this path, killing some time until dinner when a butterfly landed on Jessi's hat. We thought it was funny at first and took some pictures. The butterfly took off and we thought nothing else of it...until it showed up on Bree. And then on Matt. And then on Kyle. The thing was curiously attracted to our group. I'm sure that it was because we were in its territory and that it was simply crapping all over us to "mark" us, but it was cool nonetheless.

On Jessi's hat

On Bree's shoulder

On Matt's hair

On Kyle's fingers

After our butterfly encounter, we went in search for the restaurant that we would be eating at the following night. It turned out to be a unique restaurant (as described by our guide book) that used garlic in EVERYTHING it made. Now, I like garlic and I'll spare you the details, but the garlic ice cream pushed me over the edge.

After finding our next evening's meal, we went in search of the current evening's meal which proved to be an extremely difficult task. Riga is an old city, full of architecture from times past but it is extremely modern. I enjoyed the old town feel, but was deeply disappointed in the modern techno influence that dominated (Riga has become a favorite stomping ground of British bachelor parties; we had a bachelor party group on our flight going to the Baltic states). We generally had a policy that we would try to eat at "authentic" restaurants in the places that we visited and attempted to adhere to that policy while there. However, after several hours (yes, literally hours) of searching, we finally settled on T.G.I. Friday's at 11:30 PM.

It was in this restaurant, in the 6 person booth in which we were impatiently waiting for our mozzarella stick appetizers, that Uncle Kracker's rendition of "Drift Away" came on. Without any prompt, the 5 of us (Kyle was in the bathroom) busted out singing the chorus ("Give me the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in your rock 'n roll and drift away") because, let's face it, we are the noisy Americans. But hey, we knew the song and we knew the words and it was one of the few things that we understood in an ex-soviet country so why not? As it turns out, one of the Latvian servers at the restaurant jumped in with us and started singing along too. After the song was over, we managed to talk to him about where he lived and how he liked Riga. He was born and raised in Riga but had made the decision to leave because of it's modern, techno-ish dominance. I think he said he was going to move to Sweden to be with his girlfriend or something, but I don't fully remember.

I guess my point is that I know that life is about living for the future. But it seems that sometimes, we should live in the past, if not for a brief few minutes, to remind us why we continue to live for the future. So often that reminder is enough to allow us to look past the storm clouds that appear to be brewing on the horizon and look forward to calmer days ahead.

35 Week Update & Latest Appointment

I'm offically going to the doctor every week now. I learned about how the whole "on-call" doctor thing works (i.e., if my doctor can't deliver the baby). Unless she's out of town or at home alone with her son, she'll be there, which is a relief. Though people keep telling me that when I get to that point, I won't care who's delivering the baby. We'll see.

We also found out that she was a bit off in the "bad guesstimate" of Kaylynn's weight. Last week when they got the good measurement of her head and everything else, they put her at 4 lbs 5oz, in the 39th percentile. So my doc said that based on that percentile, she could guess that with an on-time delivery, Kaylynn will weigh somewhere around 6.5 lbs when she's born! I'm totally ok with that! She's measuring one week small (meaning she's measuring at 34 weeks when I'm at 35 weeks). That's not to say she's going to be late or early, just that she's on the smaller side of average for her development. Again, I'm totally ok with that!

More information...if I were to go into labor tomorrow, they'd let me have her. There's no stopping labor now. All she's doing now is getting her cute baby fat. That and kicking the mess out of my side. She sent me doubled over in pain a few times today after a swift kick to the rib. It really, really hurt!!

So here's what happening with Kaylynn this week. Note that the lbs are off...like I said, she's on the smaller side of things.

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Sweet Boy, The Cat, and Halloween

A few Sundays ago, my sweet boy (who hasn't been so sweet recently, eating cat food.........) was sick. He usually follows us from room to room, because he can't stand to be alone. This Sunday, he just layed, had a dry nose, and was cold. So Brian covered him up. I'm guessing the Browns blanket helped, as he was back to his usual, pestering self on Monday.

Just look at how sad he looks...

Skip ahead a few weeks and Gus is ready for Halloween. He may be ready for it, but he is hardly amused by our choice of costume, as can be told by his "Guys, this really sucks" face.

He was a little happier to join a Mighty Red Devil Fan and the Wicked Witch of the West for a photo op.

And lastly, he's always happy with "lady". Apparently he can call Brian by his name, but I just get called "lady". Perhaps he knows he's got to be nice to "lady" because of what is hiding underneath the pumpkin.

After all was said and done, the Wicked Witch of the West decided it was best to turn back into Sweet Zoesephina Kate and lay on Kaylynn.

And I'm happy because we're still eating left over candy!!!!

An Answer to an Age-Old Question

I was sitting in class yesterday when I realized that I was chewing some gum. That got me thinking. You know when you take out a pack of gum and someone else sees it? They get that look like "I just realized that my breath stinks too and could really use some gum". If you see them with that look on their face, you are pretty much obligated to help them out.

Now, the question I came up with was this: Why is it that when there is only one piece left that the other person is like "Oh no, don't worry about it. I don't want to take your last piece". They are so apologetic if you actually do give them the piece. Now, suppose there are only two pieces left. You know that the person is going to be more than happy to take one of them. What makes two pieces so much different than one piece? In the end, you are left with half of what you originally had (not really for me since I tear each piece of gum in three - it makes the pack last longer and the pieces a more manageable size).

At what point should the person asking for a piece of gum truly not feel bad about taking a piece? I maintain that leaving someone with only one piece of gum is analogous to taking their final piece. But what if there are three pieces left? It seems a little more reasonable. I would argue that the figure should be five. When there are five pieces left, the person requesting the gum should not feel bad about taking a full piece of gum. Why five you may ask? Well, there are five fingers on a hand, five toes on a foot and 5 work days in the week. Additionally, five starts with an "F" as does von Frinkenhagen (I know some of you smart alecks are going to say "It starts with a "v". However, "von" is an article of speech. Think of it as equivalent to "the". In fact, from now on, I am Brian the Frinkenhagen).

Continuing on, I have lived in the UK for 5 years of my life. Five wins would make any Aggie season a successful one. Hayley and I are both 26 years old. If you add our ages together, you come to 52 (which starts with a five). Further, if you add the digits together (i.e. 2+6+2+6), you come to 16. Then, if you subtract the 6 from the 1 (i.e. 1-6), you get -5. The absolute value of -5 is in fact 5.

Basically, all indicators point to this magic number. Why tempt fate and determine that another number is more supreme in the gum requesting world? Just don't do it! If you are ever in the position where you are asking someone for some gum, ask them to count the number of pieces they have left. Think of it like poker; before you put someone all in, you ask how many chips they have. You don't want to look stupid by saying "I put you all in" only for them to tell you that they have more chips than you do (not that I've ever done that...).