Pieces Starting to Fall Into Place

Hi everyone --

Well, another week has passed and things are still going well. Dr. Nord did another ultrasound on Tuesday and checked everything out and the baby still looks good. He is now recommending that I stay home from work until the baby is born, which surprised me a little. I was planning on going back in a couple of weeks, but I talked to my boss and she is okay with me continuing to work from home. I do get my driving privileges back on Sunday, though, so I plan on taking a few short trips from time-to-time.

Our baby furniture was delivered and set up on Wednesday, so we can finally start to get the nursery together. Sharla and Kristen threw the most perfect shower for us on Sunday and it was great to see family and friends all in one place. We got so many cute things and I am anxious to start organizing the nursery (although it will have to be just a little bit at a time since I am still on bed rest). Dan is busy buying things that we still need and is traveling to Springfield tomorrow to load up the car with things from Babies 'R Us.

I'm feeling much more relaxed these days now that we have most things that the baby will need when we bring him home and especially since it appears that I won't be delivering prematurely. We picked out a pediatrician this week and plan on working hard next week on selecting a child care option. Now that I can venture out of the house on short trips, I can make some visits to some of the places on our list. Right now, I am leaning towards a day care center, but who knows how we will feel once we start our visits. I always thought that we would send our baby to an in-home day care, but now I am not so sure. If anyone has opinions, we would love to hear them!

Onto our other "baby" - Rascal. He is doing great and mostly sleeps during the day when I am home. Since he has been on his own sort of bed rest the last six weeks, we took his toys away so he wouldn't be tempted to get active in the house. Well, last night I gave him back his favorite red ball and he acted like he had never gotten anything so good in his life! He must have played fetch a half dozen times last night. It was great to see him have so much fun again.

Well, that's all for now and I promise to post pictures of the nursery once it is completed!

32-Week Ultrasound

Hi everyone!

We had our 32-week ultrasound yesterday and it was so great to see the baby (it has been 12 weeks). Dr. Nord did lots of measurements and checked the baby over and said that the baby is doing really well. We were amazed to hear that he is measuring two weeks ahead and already weighs 4 lbs 15 ounces! There is a margin of error of about one pound but the nurse mentioned that Dr. Nord is typically right in his measurements. I thought for sure that we would have a small baby since both Dan and I were smaller babies in the six-pound range. He could weigh more because he has longer limbs, which is entirely possible if you look at Dan's mom's side of the family. Anyways, it is encouraging to know that he is growing well and is at a healthy size, especially if I deliver early.

I am now supposed to be on bed rest through 36 weeks, but I can begin to be more active after 34 weeks. I am hoping that the baby will stay put until my restrictions are lifted so I can get some things done before he arrives! In the meantime, we need to pick out a pediatrician and make child care arrangements for when I return to work. It is all pretty overwhelming and hard to know where to start. We have a list of child care providers in the area, but how do you know which one will be the best? It is such an important decision to make, especialy knowing that this person would be helping us raise our child, which is so hard to accept.

We have finally picked out a name! It is one that we have continued to go back to even when other names were thrown into the mix and it has just felt "right." For all of you who have asked us about the name, we are keeping it a secret until after he is born! During the ultrasound yesterday, Dan asked Dr. Nord to check one more time to make sure the baby is a boy. He is without a doubt certain that it is a boy and even pointed out the parts to us. We pretended like we knew what he pointing at, but truthfully we had no idea :)

Well, that is all for now. I was planning on posting the picture of the ultrasound, but I don't think it is a great picture and by the time I would scan it in, the image would be even more grainy.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Inaugural Post!!!

Hi everyone --


Well, I decided to join the blogging world. Several of my friends have blogs and I find myself completely addicted to them, so I thought that I would start one of my own. I originally planned to get it started once Baby Engel is born, but as some of you know I am currently on bed rest and suddenly have a lot of time on my hands! I will try and keep it updated periodically and will add pictures from time-to-time, so stay posted!


For those of you who don't know, I was placed on bed rest last Thursday as a result of contractions that I was experiencing that were brought on by a urinary tract infection. Thankfully, I was able to trust my maternal instinct that I have heard so much about (and doubted that I had) and go into the doctor when something just didn't seem right. After being monitored by the hospital for three hours, I was treated with medication for my contractions and sent home with strict orders of bed rest, which has been my dread this whole pregnancy.


I have now adjusted to the routine of simply not being able to do anything and have Dan wait on me for things as simple as getting a glass of water. Most people think that this would be a dream to lie around all day and have someone else take care of all of the mundane tasks of day-to-day life, but it is just the opposite! Dan has been great and keeps reminding me that I need to relax and get my feet up for the baby's sake. I am also really thankful that my boss is so understanding and is allowing me to work from home, which will help keep my sanity :)


I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and my doctor wants me to continue my bed rest for another three weeks, at which I will hit the 34-week mark. The baby appears to be doing well and I have started to see his hand or foot doing the wave across my stomach for the first time during the past few days. I am used to the frequent punches, kicks, and somersaults, but the wave is exciting to see!!


Nothing else is really new with us right now except for baby planning. Dan has been working a lot and then gets to come home and do household chores. We're enjoying the new TV season and are trying to soak in the shows as much as possible because we know that shortly our TV time will be cut back dramatically. Thank goodness for DVR - the best invention (in my opinion)!

Rascal is doing good. He has been recovering from a disc herneation in his neck for the past month and seems to be doing better. This is his thrid episode of having problems with discs in his spine in the last two years. He has a disc degeneration disease and we keep praying that the next time he has a problem, it won't be serious enough that we have to make a hard decision. He is so young (five years old) and constantly wants to go on walks and play and we have to restrict him so he can rest and heal. His world is about to be rocked in the coming weeks and it will be interesting to see how he deals with a new human being in the house that consumes our attention.

I just wanted to update everyone on how the pregnancy is going. I apologize for my lengthy ramblings (most of you know that I can get a little wordy)!!


We hope that everyone is doing well and is enjoying the beginnings of fall!