October 24, 2007 ~ Birthday!

Above is my belly - 40 2/7 weeks pregnant - Morning of the C-section

Below is a shot of me and Joseph Austin born as I said, via c-section at 12:42. He was 8 pounds even and 20 inches long.

Joey is a really good baby, just has his nights and days a little messed up, even then we have only had one really rough night since he was born. Everyone is in love with him, the big sisters can't get enough, and the grandparents are gaga! And, Mom and Dad, well, we're smitten. It has amazed me how quickly we fall in love with our kids after they're born.

I feel like I should check in, I haven't "blogged" in a while and I am now 3 weeks from the birthday!!

Incidentally, my birthday (35!) was last week. I guess I am officially old, although my sister says I am not allowed to say that phrase in front of Mom. But, according to my medical record I am now "Advanced Maternal Age." That means one old mama. Nevertheless, it was a 34 year old egg and I am sticking with that!

Ande and Sophie are thriving in school. Piano lessons are in full swing and we are already discussing Halloween costumes.

Back to the pregnancy though, he's no longer laying sideways but is instead in "launch position." I have what must be his butt pressing on my right lung & rib-cage. I am no longer able to reach my feet or pick stuff off the floor without actually crawling upon it, which at 35 no decent woman should be doing that. I told Adam that is why I have young, flexible daughters... he said something snide about slavery. Well, did slaves get ice cream for dessert? I think not, so pick the stuff up or no ice cream!

I am excited, the next 3 weeks are a whirlwind of work, last minute shopping, and I have my parents and sister-in-law coming to visit. Sis-in-law and Mom-in-law just announced their desire to hold a baby shower for me which should be cool! I am planning a last minute pedicure with a friend of mine so I can arrive at the hospital in style (or at least sans ugly feet!)

I will post a belly shot soon, I'm actually writing this blog at work and that kind of photography would be considered unprofessional - not that blogging at work is very productive. Most of my co-workers are betting I go into labor prior to my scheduled c-section... we'll see. I need every day of the next three weeks to prepare, so I am on the stay-in-there-buddy boat!!!

The girls' first day back at school! New clothes, new lunchboxes and Sophie's got a brand-new backpack.

They had a great day, Sophie actually has the same teacher for 2nd grade that she had for 1st. Ande, was skeptical, but loves her new teacher. All in all we're happy with the 2007-2008 school year thus far.

As far as pregnancy goes, I am in the pee every 30 minutes, Protonix in the AM, Zantac in the PM, Tums all day long, with strange back and hip pain and oh so tired all the time trimester.

6 weeks to go (actually, it is a little less, but really who's counting! Ha Ha Ha!) I am half-a**ed nesting. More into the purchasing and random clean-up than major cleaning. I did hire a cleaning lady who has been here once. She comes again next week, YAY!

Anyway, I found some interesting articles about"natural" c-sections. I emailed them to Adam, my midwife & my doctor... check them out....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,5346971-117420,00.html

http://www.eheart.com/cesarean/oliver.html

I am hoping for a similar experience... wish me luck!

A visit to Tucson

So, in addition to Virginia, we have now been to Arizona this summer. I really can't figure out what is wrong with me, living near the Canadian Boarder we should plan these warm climate excursions during the COLD months!!

Unfortunately, someone thinks planning to have kids in school when it is snowing is preferable to empowering the population's mass migration towards the sun. I just solved numerous health problems here - vitamin D deficiency, osteoperosis, depression... change the school calendar to allow more winter vacations. Well, you teachers probably don't like that. When I was a kid the school had a trimester system. We started in September, went to school for 3 months and had a month off in time for Christmas. Then back in January for 3 more and then another 1 month vagation. Alas, you see where this is going, we came back to school for the months of May, June and July... but got August off. I really think it is superior to the mass cramming of education we do to our kids with a huge break at the end of it all just long enough for them to forget everything. Not to mention that teachers are grossly underpaid considering they are the ones responsible for ensuring a vast majority of our kids grow up to be intelligent and well informed. I think the teachers I've met do a pretty good job, despite having to work somewhere else over their extra long summer break to pick up the slack in their paycheck! Some though fall short, just look at George Bush and the number of people that voted for him - good argument huh!

Wow, sorry for the rant!! It is from too much time in the heat and a lack of chocolate I am sure...

Anyway, back to Tucson! I visited my parents' beautiful new home nestled at the edge of a state park (I think) Anyway, there will be no efficiency apartments built behind their house destroying the view of the saguaros on the hillside. We basked in the warm sun, swam in the pool, ate good food, and essentially tried to soak up as much family bonding as possible in 5 days! My sister and I henna-tatooed our bellies. The picture on her blog is better as it has both bellies, but we took it when I had mine covered, so here Mom, a picture of my henna'ed belly for ya. Ande took this btw, maybe she got Annie's photography gene?

4th of July -Family Vacation!

We recently visited my husband's family in Virginia. It was very nice there & difficult to return to real life. We baked ourselves at the beach on Assateague Island, fished in a river off the Chesapeake Bay, ate fresh seafood, and woke up without the aid of an alarm! The girls also enjoyed a riding lesson on ponies descended from Misty at the Chincoteague Pony Centre http://www.chincoteague.com/ponycentre/

Off topic... for some reason I can't access my froogle wishlist. This is frustrating me as it putting it together has somewhat curbed my apparent need to just buy everything now (Pre-nesting - my way of gathering sticks & mud I suppose...) I recreated the registry at http://www.myregistry.com/, http://www.target.com/, and a small one at the local Wal Mart. You can search for them in my name, Jeanne Wojciechowski.

Ride for Roswell

Today we rode our bikes on the 9-mile course of the Ride for Roswell http://www.rideforroswell.org/

The girls had a blast, Sophie riding for the first time without training wheels. Ande brought her friend Hannah, Hank rode with us and ofcourse me (belly & all) & Adam. I think our team, "Nuts about a cure" raised about $700, the whole ride total was a little over $1.5 million!

Roswell is the cancer research center and hospital that treated Adam about 2 years ago for testicular cancer... ensuring his life and ability to live it as evidenced by our pregnancy. Days like today make me grateful to have my husband and now be carrying his son. I saw so many people riding "In Memory" of someone, I am lucky to only have one name on my "In Memory" list, and one very important name on my "In honor of" list!

The baby loved the ride, kicked me the whole time! My rear end though, whew, I wont be riding today or tomorrow... I don't know how people do the 62.5 mile course. Ofcourse, when not preggers or riding with children, I could be motivated I suppose. Maybe those cute padded shorts would have helped? Maybe Annie and Ben would fly over for a ride and challenge Adam and I in one of the coming years?!?

I invested in one of those pregnancy belts as my last shift at work did my back in. Unfortunately, I have a 4-night-stretch starting on Sunday night (tomorrow night) and I ordered the belt online. I may not see it until night 2 or 3. If you think working as a nurse is bad on your back, work labor and delivery pregnant! I am, however, pleased that I don't have swollen ankles or hemmoroids to match my waddle and aching back. I am so looking forward to visiting my Tucson family and indulging in one of the prenatal massages that my sister has been raving about!

So enough of my rambling... I am going to go contort myself and try to paint my toenails!

Oh, Boy! He's gonna kill me for naming the blog FRUIT!

So here are some ultrasound photos of our Baby BOY!!!! He was happy to show off his "parts" but we were unable to get good face shots. The second picture is as close as we could get. He still looks skeletal, perhaps I ought to be eating more??!?

The debate turned into a compromise, if we find out the gender, I get to try cloth diapers. Not too hard to decide as it is win-win for the find out team. Now we know the gender of our baby and we will put less garbage into landfills and save money on expensive disposables. Plus, as I understand it, cloth diapered, breastfed babies have less diaper rash and potty train sooner. And how can you resist a diaper named Fuzzi Bunz?

So... now we have to name him.

Since discovering our baby was our son, I have started feeling him kick and move more. The ultrasound really brought the fact that I am pregnant into more of a reality. Not that my increasing size hasn't been an eye-opener, but I feel more motherly and less frumpy. I am also excited for the oportunity to mother a son as I think I have shown I am pretty good at mothering daughters.

I am going to look into adding some boy-specific items to my wish list. If you're interested here is the link. It is a work in progress as I haven't yet shared it with Dad... http://froogle.google.com/shoppinglist?a=SWL&id=67dff93f3d9c3964e6dee826affd0ff989f2c29

One thing to note about this wishlist is that none of the links in it work, so essentially it is just a list of items we want or need with pictures and suggested stores where google told me that item was sold for the least amount of money.

One neat item I couldn't get to load onto the wishlist was located at http://www.snappiescontainers.com

I think that after my son is born, this blog is going to turn into Jeanne's shopping recommendations for the new mom....

Fruit: On my plate, in my belly, of my loins!

I thought, hey - Annie and Ben have a good idea, what a great way to share stuff about an impending family member. So, as my uterus and placenta work on my new addition to the world's population, I thought I'd try this blog thing out.

I named it fruit. Mostly because it was the first somewhat deep thought I had in the 30 or so seconds it took me to name this blog. Fruit because that is really all I want to eat - strawberries, apples, bananas.. just a sec, I have to run and get something from the kitchen.


Ok, second because babies are often referred to in utero as the fruit of one's loins. So, there you have it. Fruit.

Adam and I are expecting our third child. Ande was our first, born April 19, 1998. She is in 3rd grade now and definitely has those safety scissors franticly sawing at my apron strings. Sophie came next on September 26, 2000. She is in 1st grade and I think she is using an alternative route to cut herself loose! Both of the big sisters are excited about October 24, 2007 when #3 will arrive.

As both of my brilliant children have exceptionally large brains they required large skulls to house them in. Such large skulls defied my excusitely toned, muscle bound uterus in its attempt to push them through my dense pelvis. (Damn calcium supplements!) As a result they were born in the way of Julius Ceasar. My point being that my doctor, my husband and I are all expecting nothing less from #3 and have been given a birth date rather than a due date. One nice side effect of this is that my family who reside across the country can actually make plans to visit and shop for the cheapest route in advance!

The big debate in our home right now is: To find out or not to find out. An ultrasound is scheduled for June 8th.

Sophie and I are of the opinion that the gender of our baby should be a secret. I think she sides with me as of our two children she was our only secret thus far and she was the best secret ever. The only downside of not knowing was that New York state requires us to name our babies before leaving the hospital and she was hard to name. But after a few sleepless nights and a couple doses of pain medication post-op day 3 she spoke to me as only a newborn can speak to her tired, drugged mother and informed me that her name was Sophie Lane.

Ande and Adam on the other hand want to know. Ande stated that she needs to be sure it is not a boy because they aren't as smart or talented as girls and she would like to prepare if it is. Adam, I think, is desperately looking to find out if he is recieving a little buddy to side with him in our estrogen laden houshold... or if he needs to speak with a professional about prescribing some sort of prozac-like substance to help him out a little. I suppose I understand... and finding out before I have to shop for little boy clothes with three children in tow would be helpful. We discovered Ande's gender via ultrasound and that was helpful in the naming process. I think I should mention though that she is the only one of my children that has expressed a desire to change her name.

If you read this prior to June 8th, why not email me and tell me your thoughts. I will definitely post the pictures and results of the debate soon after. I will not however be posting cute naked-belly shots like my beautiful little sister's. Mostly because after carrying and breastfeeding 2 kids (going on 3 mind you) my belly is not really so cute (and my breasts are hanging in the way...lol)

A link to Annie's blog http://www.malachiproject.blogspot.com