Kickin' It

It didn't seem like much has happened the last few weeks, but when we sat down and thought about it - it really has!  Time moves much faster when there is joy, and our little family has certainly been feeling joyous lately.

Is there an endless to-do list?  Obviously.

Are there scary and stressful things?  Of course.

Are we all feeling loads better than we were a month ago?  You bet!

Little beastie continues to grow very well, and really seems to enjoy flailing around.  He's been a busy guy, and Chris has been able to feel him kicking and punching multiple times now.  He especially likes to kick up high, near Elizabeth's ribs.

Little beastie after some soccer practice.

In addition to all this physical activity, we had some more screenings, preventative care, and check-ups.  Our normal OBGYN is on maternity leave of her own, so we had our first visit with a new doctor in mid-September.  No new concerns and we were able to register for a bunch of free classes like Breastfeeding, Late Pregnancy, and Labor and Delivery.  Most of them aren't until November, but we're still pretty excited to get them on the calendar.

One of the most important things we did this month is get vaccinated.  Getting a seasonal flu vaccine is important for everyone, but it is especially important for pregnant women.  This vaccine will help keep both Elizabeth and little beastie safe during the pregnancy, and will also protect beastie after he is born (right in the middle of flu season).  We also have gotten the combined Tdap vaccine, which protects against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough).  This is another vaccine that is safe and encouraged during pregnancy.  Pertussis in particular has seen a resurgence, and our family feels very strongly that adults need to do their part to protect those who can't protect themselves - and that means get the shot!

Protecting ourselves, protecting others!

It hasn't been all about our health these past few weeks, we've also started getting the nursery ready.  Some of the coolest people in the world gave their time and energy to paint beastie's room in late September.  When you have three people doing paint prep (edge taping, removing outlet covers, etc.), five people painting, and one person pretending to be helpful, things get done very quickly!  Elizabeth wasn't allowed in the nursery during painting because of the fumes, so she tried to take pictures.

 The gang's mostly here!

The 49ers game was blaring from the living room, Elizabeth shouted scores and information occasionally, and we ran out of paint.  After the girls made a quick run to Home Depot, Team Beastie was able to finish painting.  And who are we kidding?  Lawrence is a much better photographer than Elizabeth any day.  She was pretty much useless except when hand-delivering coffee and water.

It always starts out fun...

We can't wait to tell beastie about Lawrence, Kevin, Meredith, Kelly, and Christina helping Daddy paint his room.  And if he hates the color, it was totally their fault.  

We had yet another ultrasound visit earlier today, and have started looking forward to our video chats with the beastie.  His growth is right on target, the omphalocele is still tiny, and no other defects were found.  The ultrasound tech we had today is the one who originally found the omphalocele, and she told us about showing the pictures to the perinatologist and asking if it was the tiniest omphalocele she'd ever seen!  She spent some time showing us the omphalocele up close on the ultrasound, and explaining how they could tell it was only intestines and no liver.  Sometimes babies with omphalocele have more amniotic fluid than normal and while this isn't usually a problem, they like to keep track.  Elizabeth has just on the high end of normal, which makes sense considering how small the omphalocele is.  Since this was a much less stressful visit than previous ultrasound trips, we enjoyed ourselves a bit more and Chris got to take some video!  

 FOOT.  FACE.

We'll continue to have ultrasound visits every four weeks in addition to the regular prenatal appointments.  We also had a discussion with the perinatologist about delivery and if/when they would induce.  Same guidelines as a healthy pregnancy, if labor starts after 34 weeks they would let it continue.  If labor hasn't started at 38 weeks, they will have us a schedule a date.  They won't actually induce until 39 weeks, but they don't want Elizabeth to go past her due date (at least not by much).  That means beastie should be here sometime before January 5!  He might even sneak in a 2014 birthday.