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Evie is 5 months old today. . .which means we haven't bragged about her "advancedness" in like 2.5 months. What kind of parents are we? And where do I start?

For starters, she's rounded out quite nicely. With all her rolls, seeing her cute little neck is a rare occurrence. I often comment to her on how chubby she's getting. I've promised I'll never say anything like this to her when she is a teenager.

She rolled! A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to Toronto to show her off to friends and family. She rolled for her Great Grandma and Uncle Mike. It's really not a regular thing. She's only rolled three since then. . .but still, she rolled!

She is now sleeping in her crib. Mostly. She usually ends up in the bed with us by morning. . .but still.

About a month ago she was working on a tooth. It's an elusive little tooth because it has since disappeared. And yet, she still appears to be red-cheeked and fussy. I hear that baby teeth can move up and down before they take up permanent residence. I hope this tooth makes up it's mind soon.

Well, I guess that's the 5 month report. I promise more pictures soon!!

Evieisms

I feel like I haven't had a chance to actually share some of Evie's talents and milestones. . .

She is a fabulous pooper, and especially loves to poop the second she gets out of the bath.

She has terrible reflux, so she spits up a lot. This has been her greatest trial. Often we have to change her clothes up to 4 times before she goes to bed because of all the spitting. The poor girl is never without a bib. We just upped her medicine to something a little more heavy duty. . .let's hope it works.

She has very strong neck muscles and has from the beginning. As her mom, I feel it is my duty to admit that she is very advanced for her age.

When she sleeps she spreads out like a starfish.

She's a terrific smiler. She used to save her best smiles and even laughs for lamps. We're not sure what the deal is, but she stares at them for minutes at a time (on or off). But she has now taken to smiling at humans (especially her parents). This has been a turning point for me, because before this I think she thought that a robot was in charge of feeding, changing and cuddling, and therefore needed no recognition. I need the recognition!

In that last photo, she's sawing logs. Sometimes when I look at her, I can't believe she's ours.

6 weeks old

Evie will be 6 weeks old on Tuesday. She is growing too fast. Here she is on her blessing day.

Her dad said a special prayer just for her with the help of her two grandpas. She wore an antique dress that was a gift from her great-grandma (which she promptly pooped on after the blessing).
She looked lovely.

Here's our little family. One day I will be rid of the double chin.

Evie

A few more pictures. . .

With her eyes open. . .

With Dad. . .

With Mom. . .

In her Sunday best.

Cranky

I am cranky. And not just because I am one day overdue.

I think we have a mouse. I keep seeing little black things the size of sesame seeds or grains of rice under the sink. I hate mice. They carry disease. I would rather kiss a snake, than pet a mouse. I fear I will have to throw out everything in my kitchen and bleach the place. I can hear the little nasty moving right now.

Also our A/C is busted. We thought it might be a quick fix but no dice. We'll need to replace it. . .boo.

Also I am one day overdue.

Kate

2 weeks left...

As we reach our due date I thought it would be fun to share a video of our tiny dancer.

This is from Kate's perspective.

She's a mover!

The Flip

So a lot has happened since the 28 week mark. Not the least of which was our event-filled doctor's appointment. At around 32 weeks we went in for a regular check-up only to be told, by our doctor, 'I think you should go to the hospital, I'll call and tell them your coming'. As you can imagine, that's not what prospective parents like to hear.

Upon arrival, the triage nurse said 'Hi, you doctor told us you were coming. Please head into room 3'. That's never comforting. Shortly there after a nurse arrived and hooked Kate up to a computer and told her to press a button every time she felt 'Peaches' move. (That's the name that the Browns have assigned our baby, in protest of not know the real name). While she left she said, 'we'll watch this for a half hour or so'.

On the computer screen we could see the heart rate of our little baby rising and falling while Kate would push the little red button at the appropriate time. Having no idea what sort of a correlation the doctors were watching for, we obviously feared the worst. As baby's heart rate rose so did ours. As hers fell, well, ours still rose.

After our half hour, the nurse returned and told us to proceed to the ultrasound center so they could have a look. Naturally we assumed that the last test must not have gone well and that was why we have been moved on to 'phase 2'.

The ultrasound went well but revealed that our beautiful little girl had gone from a birth-ready head-down position to an apparently more comfortable head up yoga pose. Not what you want to see as you are approaching the 9th month of pregnancy! Besides flipping, we were also notified that her fluids were a little low. With this information we were told to return to the triage nurse and she would tell us what was next.

When we saw the nurse she told us to sit tight because our doctor was on his way to the hospital and he would speak to us when he got there. 'He's on his way!.......that can't be good' we thought, but we sat tight to reflect on the events of the day and wait for Bloomer (our family doctor). When the doctor arrived we realized that there were other patients of his waiting in the same room. That was a little reassuring. As we eavesdropped on his conversation we realized that their situation was a little more precarious than our own, and perhaps he came to see them and just wanted to see us because he was there.

As we talked with Bloomer he explained that in the doctor's office he had found 'Peaches' heart rate was a little high . The first test we underwent was a stress test and that our baby had passed with flying colours. Her heart rate rose when she moved and dropped when she was at rest. (I wish they had told us that that was what they were looking for, it would have been way less stressful).

As for the ultrasound, he explained, that the fluid levels were low-normal and that we would need to monitor it. He also said that because baby was now breech (head up) and 32 weeks, we would most likely need a C-section, and therefore we should be seeing an OB instead of a family doctor. It was like he was saying good bye, it was sad. We went home with plenty to think about.

Over the next few weeks we kind of resigned ourselves to the idea of the C-section. It would be nice to have a finite delivery date, and time. We realized that recovery would be more difficult but as long as we had a healthy baby in the end that was all that mattered.

Our next appointment with the OB was on the day 'Peaches' turned 35 weeks.

Preparing for the appointment we talked about all of the questions we would ask regrading the operation, timing, possibility of inversion, recovery and whatever else you could possible ask.

The appointment began with an ultrasound to verify the positioning of the baby and fluid levels. To our surprise, she had flipped!!! Head down and ready to rock (be born) was the diagnosis. She passed the fluid test as well. . . .well done Baby!!

The appointment with the OB was relatively short after this. She told us to go back to Bloomer and to give her a call when we have our beautiful girl in our arms. We asked her if the baby might flip again? She said no, but that's what we told us when she was breech at 32 weeks, so we'll see how it goes. . .

Anyway, our baby is now 35 weeks, 5 pounds 8 ounces and very active.

On another note, we were planning to post a few pictures of the nursery so here you go. Hope you like them.....

Dan

28 weeks!

Last Wednesday we hit the 28 week mark, which is generally considered the safe zone. With good neonatal care a baby born at 28 weeks should do quite well. This is big news for us because we were told that I'm higher risk for preterm labour. The doctor said he is quite pleased with the way things are progressing.

During our monthly prenatal visit, I had to do the glucose test for diabetes. I was actually looking forward to drinking that little bottle of orange glucose cause it looked like orange pop. . .yum! It wasn't too bad. Drawing three vials of blood was a bit of an episode because the student doctor was, well, a student. I almost passed out, so she let the doctor do it.

I put on another 7 pounds and continue to be shocked at the amount of weight I've gained (24 lbs in total). Baby seems to be doing well. Her movements are less jerky and more squirmy, which means she's filling up her little home quite nicely. Once and a while I can feel these really fast taps. . .it's hiccups!

I think this is the first picture we've taken of the two of us since I got pregnant! Dan and Kate plus 1.

Baby update

With my little sister all the way in Korea, and lots of friends and family spread out across Canada, I thought it might be a good idea to do a blog post about how things have been going re: growing a baby.

I started playing with this blog about a year ago when I thought our lives were more interesting. . .turns out not so much. But with baby on the way, we certainly have a lot more to report, and I thought this might be the easiest way to do it.

I think most of you know it's a girl. Here she is at 19 weeks.



The due date is June 29th.

I've been feeling pretty good. I'm having a lot of back pain but so far I'm coping. Baby is kicking a lot! Here's me at 25.5 weeks, just over 6 months. Most moms say I'm still pretty small, but I feel like a bus.

Dan has been working on the nursery, and we're about half-way done. We're becoming schooled in the language of cribs and car seats. There's a lot to know!

I'll try to update the blog a few times before baby makes her grand entrance.
Love you all! xo

Kate