Week 34

By Cyndi
November 30, 2010

The past week has filled with food, dr appointments and some relaxation!  Matt and I "celebrated" Thanksgiving day with a Lou Malanati's pizza before Matt worked the evening shift, where it was very slow.  We did that last year and it is a taste of home, here in DC. 

On Friday, I turned the big 3-0 by working in the morning and spending the afternoon/evening enjoying the turkey, fixings & friends.  I had forgotten how much I love sweet potatoes :)

Most of the cooking has been completed for the freezer.  It feels good to know we have enough food to last a while, since my desire to cook is starting to dwindle already. I spent Saturday getting one last haircut with Stacie, a quick trip to Buy Buy Baby for car seat protection mats and a trip to BJ's (similar to Sams) to buy 300 newborn diapers (which will last approximately 3 weeks).  Sunday morning was spent with Stef and her twins who are 6 months old.  We had a great time and were even able to run a few errands without any breakdowns!!

Matt has now installed the car seat bases in my car and I am headed to have them inspected by the police department later this week.

Update from the OB:  Everything still looks fine and these babies are making zero efforts to exit.  I also had the bpp check today and both babies scored well (diaphram practicing for their first breath, small motor movements of hand or feet, heart rate, cord blood flow & fluid space around the babies)

The other exciting thing is tomorrow is the National Menorah Lighting!!!  After this, on our way to dinner, 4 years ago is when Matt proposed :)  I'm so glad we have been able to attend every year since and will be spending this year with Daniel & Jill (their first year attending) and Todd, Stacie & Lincoln (T/S have attended each year with us, but it will be Lincoln's first year) ... here's a blast from the past:

2008

2009

And if inquiring minds wanted to know ... belly shot (and one of Meigs, who still knows where he is supposed to sit too!!)

PS.  The first baby pool guesses are this weekend ... wonder who will be closest!!!

Week 33 - almost Turkey Day!

By Cyndi
November 24, 2010

Well, the past week has been fairly productive and since I'm slowing down faster than I know, it's good for us to be getting these last few things done.  I still need to cook the meat pasta, enchiladas & kugel for the chest freezer, but everything else is made & packed away. Hopefully between tomorrow and this coming weekend, I will have the energy to finish all of the cooking.

We had an ultrasound and bpp (biophysical profile details here).  Generally it went well, but during the growth measurements, Baby B's (whose head is on my right side and feet are down) belly measurement was reading about 3 weeks behind.  His/her head and leg measurements were right on track at 33 weeks.  Baby A is measuring right on track, who by the way is still transverse at the top of my belly.  Yes, neither one is cooperating or making any moves to be head down!  We had the first weekly OB appointment and Dr. M wasn't concerned about Baby B.  We were there for all of 10 minutes - took my weight, blood pressure, peed in a cup, listened to the heartbeats, answered our question about the ultrasound, and we were done!

Since I'm off tomorrow and Matt was home this evening, we spent time finishing the nursery.  Here are the pictures!!

And, in case inquiring minds wanted to know ... the standard belly shot:

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We will be celebrating on Friday afternoon with the Isaacs since Matt works Thanksgiving afternoon/evening and took Friday off to cook the turkey!

I'm a planner ...

By Cyndi
November 20, 2010

Well, this is a quiet weekend for the Aldersons.  If I wasn't this pregnant, we would be in NY/NJ with my cousins celebrating a Bat Mitzvah!  So, in recovering from my bug earlier this week, I've started to plan out the chest freezer in the basement. I'd like to share with you what we have in store ...
(Note:  I am fully aware many of you will think I'm crazy ... I'm okay with that!)

• 3 Cheesey pastas
• 1 Meat pasta
• 2 Enchilladas
• 1 Sweet kugel
• 3 Loafs of banana bread
• 2 Bags frozen tortellini
• 6 lbs cooked chicken (diced or sliced for easy reuse)
• 12 lbs uncooked chicken
• 5 lbs ground turkey
• 6 Lou Malanati's deep dish pizzas (we are NOT sharing any of these ... not a single slice)
• 2 Bags salmon
• 2 Bags breaded white tilapia
• Two pie crusts, to make chicken pot pie
• Tons of shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but plan is to only need to run out for milk, fresh fruit & veggies for the first few weeks, since I'm fairly certain we will have our hands full. 

On another note, I've updated the picture link to the right ... we had professional pictures taken in early October (around 25 weeks) and love them!  Meigs behaved and we got some great shots.  Here's a few of our favorites:
 

 Matt's favorite ....

And my favorite .................

Week 32 ... an interesting one!

By Cyndi
November 16, 2010

This week has been an interesting one, that's for sure.  A few items from the to-do list have been crossed off!  Replacement piece for the crib came in and is installed.  Curtains are up & we've started to hang the art work.  Once the artwork is up, we'll post a picture ...

The issue of Real Simple came out where I am the "Reader of the Month", even though I don't have a subscription.   About two months ago, Real Simple posted on Facebook, "What is your unique Hanukkah Tradition?"  After reading some of the responses, I crafted a response that it similar to what was printed - edited for space and whatnot. Mine also included the fact that the Isaacs join us, and after submitting, I realized I did not mention that Matt proposed the first year we attended!  A few days later, I had a message saying they wanted to print it and asked some additional questions. 
Here's the article in case you haven't rushed out to see it in person:

And then there was Monday. After being at work for just a few hours, I began to feel off. By 10am I informed my boss that I would probably have to leave early; I was out at 1030am. I got home and called the OB's office to tell them my symptoms:  nauseous, lower back pain, all around achy. The OB said, "You probably don't want to hear this, but you should go to the hospital to have the babies monitored & check you out." I called Matt at work - he had to be taken off position to take my phone call - told him what the doc had said, and he promptly left work to pick me up to head to the hospital.
Once there, they got me into a triage room, and by the time they hooked my up with three monitors (one for contractions and one for each baby), the OB had come in to assess the situation. He thought I might just be dehydrated, though I quickly informed him I had had 60-80 oz of water that morning, which is about my usual intake. He still wanted to hook up an IV and have some blood pulled to be analyzed. Within minutes of the blood draw, my stomach felt really bad and all that liquid was quickly expelled. The nurse said something like, "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said how much you drank today." After that, I felt much better, not great, but improved! The OB returned, said the babies were fine and that the blood tests came back normal with a slightly elevated white blood cell count, indicating my body is probably in the process of fighting something off. So we stayed just a little bit longer, and were released.

Total Time at the hospital: 3 hrs.  Not bad for our first trip.  I took yesterday off to relax and build back some energy.  Here's lessons learned from today:
1.  Don't hesitate to call OB ... it was nice to know the babies are fine
2.  From the time I called Matt at work, it took us one hour to get to the hospital.  Not bad!!
3.  Triage (and maybe all hospital beds) are extremely uncomfortable.  It was rock hard and no position was comfortable for me.  Looks like we'll be bringing a lot of pillows for me.

Hot off the presses ... literally!

By Cyndi
November 12, 2010


I suggest that you take a look at Real Simple magazine the next time you are at the store ... specifically the December 2010 issue, with a blue cover.  Trust me, you will know the "Reader of the Month"!!

This article isn't posted online yet, so you'll have to run out and look for it at the store.

TGIF!

Week 31

By Cyndi
November 9, 2010

Good amount of updates for you ... Starting next week, I have one OB appt and one monitoring appt per week for the duration of the pregnancy.  When all appointments were scheduled, I realized how close to the end we are!!  Matt has made some progress on the replacement piece for the crib.  We might actually have it by the end of this week.  The shelf is hung and the artwork and curtains are waiting to be hung.  We ordered and received the crib mattresses, so hopefully within the next week or two, the nursery will be mostly ready!

Last weekend, we took a tour at the hospital where I will deliver, INOVA Fairfax.  It's a very large hospital and is about 25 minutes from the house.  It isn't the closest hospital, but has the best NICU (Level IIIc) in the area. We learned the admission process, saw Labor/Delivery and postpartum rooms and understand the basics.  Maybe I'll draw a process flow!

Last night, Stacie hosted a fun shower for my VA friends.  She did a fabulous job with the food and decor.  The "theme" was:

Our friends gave us some very useful items (most of them are moms, so I know I will use everything they gave us).  I am so blessed to have great friends and enjoyed spending the evening with them, even though we were missing a few since either they or their child were sick and they didn't want to expose me to anything.

A diaper cake made by Stacie

A few of the girls hoping to feel a few kicks!

Yummy Wegman's cake and cupcakes

We are working on the communication plan to inform everyone and when it is finalized, we will let you know!  Off to enjoy some kugel for dinner ... yum!

Week 31

By Matt
November 4, 2010

The week's happenings:

I know Cyndi already mentioned the express birthing class we took two Sundays ago, but she did not include my thoughts in the previous blog post. And since I'm sure you all would like to know, here you go:
- Let's hope I actually make it through the births, since the video we saw started getting my stomach in knots. Maybe it was the flashback to 7th grade when we were forced to watch that birthing video from the early 80s that showed everything; whatever it was, here's to hoping that because it will be my own children, I'll be as cool as Meigs on an A/C register on a hot summer's day.
- Glad Cyndi is not thinking natural birth, i.e., sans drugs. The woman in the video looked like she was in some serious pain.
- Episiotomy - ouch. I'm not even a woman and that hurts thinking about it. If you don't know what this is, do yourself a favor and don't google it.
- Thoughts while being shown a drawing of location of fetuses in relation to other bodily organs: "These two must be beating the crap out of each other in that constricted space. Hope no one come out with a black eye."
- The RN running the class was telling the men we should be giving back rubs, shoulder massages, etc. She also said the ladies should be reciprocating every now and then. It's a nice thought, but does anyone really expect that to happen? I will wager 100 Wegman's muffins worth that I receive no such treatment.
- So it turns out the placenta is the organ that delivers nutrients, transfers oxygen, allows waste elimination, etc. I thought they lived in the placenta in there. My bad.

Update on the nursery
There is no update. Still waiting on the replacement foot board for one of the cribs. This has caused me to be lazy about putting up some shelving in there, which in turn has prevented me from hanging wall decorations. So you see, it's all the fault of Babies R Us. Black-out drapes are on order so that the babies can sleep in a room that will be "darker'n a black steer's tuchus on a moonless prairie night." Hey Cyn, name that movie.

Another OB visit was had this week. Everything is progressing normally, each weighs just under 3 lbs. While Cyndi was laying on her back and the doc was preparing to get heartbeat readings, one of cadets started kicking/punching so forcefully that I could see it while sitting about 4 feet away! We might have a fighter on our hands; his or her first words might be, "Gimme your lunch money."

This week's pic: