One month!

It's hard to believe our little Aurora has been with us a whole month now. She's definitely growing and putting on weight. We have our 1 month check-up next week. We've had a great time in the last month introducing her to her Grandma Ellen and over Christmas to her Grandma Sue and Grandpa Dave not to mention lots of friends. She's still not a big sleeper, perhaps she's afraid if she sleeps too long she'll miss something exciting? We're all getting used to each other and the big changes that have resulted from introducing a baby to our lives.

We've been getting asked a lot for photos and must confess, we're still working on making an album to share pictures. Time online is a brief luxury at best, and we haven't had time to sort out the where and what. We're both very hesitant to just post all her pictures to places like Facebook (Facebook doesn't exactly have a great privacy track record) - call us neurotic, but she's our kid, so we're gonna do what we're comfortable with. Watch the blog for links to an album of photos soon. In the meantime here's a couple teasers.

Aurora is one week old

Ok, a week and a day now. Time is blurry when sleep is limited. We are so in love with this little girl. We've learned a lot about her in this first week. She loves to be snuggled, she's got a voracious appetite, and apparently she loves the Beatles. M was trying to soothe her one cranky afternoon while I was napping, so she put on our Beatles Rock Band game on the Xbox and tried signing for her, she LOVED it! So we bought a Beatles CD for car rides. Aurora is a very alert baby and she has an adorable smile that crops up when she's really rested a recently fed. We're working on setting up a online album so we can share all the amazing photos M has taken since her birth. We'll put a link up when it's ready.

If you'd like to see her let us know, we're looking for a few good friends to snuggle with her while her mom's take a breather.

actual weight

So it turns out I was actually right about the baby's weight. She was actually 7lbs, 15oz, but due to a typo, got mislabeled for a day. I asked when we were in the nursery getting her cleaned up, but was told no, she was under 6lbs and that I must have heard wrong. Sleepy me just believed it. Until yesterday afternoon, when she got weighed and came well out over 7.5lbs. Freaked the nurse out for a moment until I told her why the baby weighed that. They generally don't gain nearly a pound overnight. ;)

Home at last

Checked out of the hospital today, Mama & Baby Aurora doing well. First peds checkup tomorrow morning, but she had nearly perfect (9/9) APGAR scores, and her bilirubin levels are good. She is one healthy baby. After a long and protracted prelabor, Mama pushed that baby out in less than 30 minutes of hard labor. Almost no tearing at all, and she's healing quite well.

Both of them are figuring each other out for breastfeeding, it is actually going surprisingly well for this early on. A little chomp chomp, but mostly just one hungry baby.

Posting up a few of my favorite pictures taken in the hospital. Plenty more to come!

Aurora claims the stethoscope for herself. 

Napping after breakfast.

All ready to get in the car seat and go home for the first time!

She's here!

We would like to announce the official arrival of Aurora Joy. She was born at 11:30pm on 11/30/11, weighing in at 6 lbs, 15 oz, and measuring 20.5 inches. I think my initial texts out all had 7lbs 15oz, that was an error in calculation (I blame the NICU staff measuring her! ;)

Start to finish.

What we've been busy doing since day 1. Started off picking up from our usual sperm bank in Berkeley, enjoying a nice piece of apricot pie while the little frozen ones hung out. The next day we thawed them, loaded them on board, and sometime shortly after that, the fastest swimmer won the race. Or the most willful. 

Now we're all set. The doc is going to start induction tomorrow (11/30) morning. We've done everything we can to prep, now it is game time. And there's a new player coming out from the locker room soon! So here's a little silly short photo timeline to the tune of this little one's heartbeat. Recorded on her actual due date. 

39 weeks and 6 days

For those of you keeping track, tomorrow is officially our due date. As of this moment, there is little to no chance this baby will come today, and my optimism for tomorrow is dwindling. We tried to explain how awesome it will be on the outside, but so far we aren't seeing much cooperation. Worse case, we induce on the 30th and force things into action. So keep your fingers and toes crossed. We PROMISE, we will post here when the baby arrives.

39 weeks - ugh!

Ok, so I'm officially huge. I try not to whine too much (it's not like I can really blame anyone but myself for my condition) but man, I thought this kid would be here by now. We're so ready we're starting to think up new and ridiculous extra stuff we don't need to do to prepare because surely we must have forgotten something.

Friday was my last day of work, so now I'm just cooling my heels waiting (and occasionally obsessively cleaning things). The only place I'm truly comfortable is the fabulous glider my wife bought me. Soon I may be sleeping in it. The other day I finally hit a new milestone, I can no longer put on my own pants. I thought I'd be something way past 60 before I reached the point that I can't dress myself, but apparently I was wrong. I haven't been able to put on socks for more than a month, but this new reality is super frustrating.

So yeah, c'mon little one, it's go time!

Nesting done, ready for the egg to hatch

Freezer full of food (bought a chest freezer and filled it completely, plus the freezer in the kitchen is already full.

Baby bag packed, electronics updated with charged batteries, plenty of music and distractions.

Birth plan figured out.

Baby room assembled, as well as a ton of furniture.

Birthing class, breastfeeding, etc, all completed.

Ok, we're as ready as we're gonna get! Bring on the little one!

A few moments have occurred during the nesting process I should share.

I almost lost my shit during the birthing class. Imagine if you will, a room full of engineers/engineering types (hey, its Silicon Valley) in a birthing class. Awkward already. Then imagine them all sitting in a circle around a late-middle-age very British woman watching her squat over the floor and grunt. S had to actually about smother me to keep me from laughing audibly. I couldn't make eye contact with anyone else in there, or I'd have lost it.

If you're coming to visit us, we ask that if you're staying in the house or going to ask to hold the baby, that you make sure you're updated on your TDAP (Tetanus, Diptheria, and Pertussis), as whooping cough is currently epidemic in CA right now, thanks to the unvaccinated masses of ignorant fools and their kids. Oh, and get a flu shot while you're at it. ;)

Any time this baby wants to come along now is just fine with me. I want my side of the bed back. (currently occupied by my wife, who has decided its more comfortable, and I'm certainly not arguing with her!)

37 Weeks

I think it's safe to say, we're pretty much ready for the main event. We have now completed 3 different classes which covered everything we supposedly needed to know about having and bringing home an infant: breast feeding, caring for the baby, dealing with seemingly never-ending crying, oh and labor and delivery. Our amazingly generous friends and co-workers held a total of 4 different baby showers for us, resulting in an overwhelming supply of just about everything we think we could ever need. We feel so blessed. Now we wait, and my preference would be for a short wait. :)

Over the last week my wife has cooked and frozen 7 quarts of stock, 5 lasagnas, and 3 mac n'cheese. She also prepped enough breakfast sausage to get us through the winter and potentially part of the spring too. She's planning on making a couple pot pies, a batch of butternut squash soup, possibly some lamb stew, and chopping beef for stew before the weekend is up. The goal is to not resign ourselves to fast food and junk out of exhaustion. I think we'll be in good shape.

Reasons I love my wife, part 1

I realized today that I don't often share the myriad of reasons I love my wife. Or maybe I do, but I generally don't do lists. So here's a bit of it.

She makes me laugh, even when I am sad.
She understands why I am sad.
My wife is the strongest woman I know. I don't mean physically, although she is much stronger than she thinks she is. She is far more mentally tough than her squishy loveable personality would lead one to think.
She's a librarian.*
I am a better person for being around her.
When I think of my wife, I speak more kindly to others. I generally behave the way I think she would, because I believe she's the nicest person I know.**
She puts up with me. That alone is pretty amazing, as some of my friends will attest. Although I am considerably more housebroken then I used to be.
Her smile is like sunshine coming out from behind a cloud. It starts as a glow in her eyes, and spreads down her face, warming your heart.
She dated (and later married me), despite my showing up to our first date muddy to the knees from playing touch judge at a rugby game.
If you ask her a question, you will get a well-researched answer. Or at least a very well thought out one. (currently this is on hold for some of us, as she's very, very pregnant and the parasite in her belly is sucking all her oxygen.)
With her I have a family.
Smart as a whip.
She balances me perfectly.
She makes me laugh, even when I am sad. (That one is doubly amazing, so it gets the first and last credits.)

*librarians are made of pure awesomesauce
**she claims to not be that nice, but when questioned, can only say that she occasionally envisions someone who is not being nice to her burning in flames. I actually believe that's one of the nicest ways to get over your anger I can think of. 

36 weeks!

Okay, technically we're 36 weeks tomorrow, but really, what difference does that day make? One more week and we're full term, which means this baby can come anytime after next Saturday and be just fine. I think we're as ready as we're gonna be. We've got "newborn care" training this afternoon, because even though we both have done it. It feels like it's different when they're yours (and yes, I am that paranoid).

The baby is about 5.5-5.75lbs now and has really filled out my belly. As we were getting ready this morning I looked at my belly and told Michelle, "This might be the only time in my life I have rock hard abs."

Stay tuned...

Getting bigger by the day it seems

One thing this baby is really good at is growing. That and kicking! We took another picture of my belly last night and I swear it's doubled in size since the last one. So far my belly button is holding it's own (in!) but I think it's time is drawing near. It's gotten smaller in the last few days. After the shower at our house this past Sunday our nursery is starting to fill up and feel like really, a baby is going in there soon. I'm so excited some days it makes me all hormonal and weepy. Our thanks to everyone who's chipped in, come over and helped out, and send well wishes. Can't wait to share this baby with all of you. :)

Parents in Training

We started going to all of our "new parent" classes. I'm pretty sure I've got diaper changing down (so many younger siblings, and years of babysitting), but some things have changed over the years. Like infant CPR. Have to get a refresher on that.

I was really confused we had to go to a breastfeeding class though. I mean, I'm pretty sure babies and mommies generally understand this sort of thing without a two hour training. But there were a few things I learned and can help a little with to make sure everyone is comfy. But thanks to Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital, I now know what color breastfed baby poop should be through the first 8 weeks. Gee, uh, thanks. Eve know the consistency it should be now (think apricots, not applesauce.) I'm sure I'm going to be drowning in a sea of poopy diapers soon enough, so getting a 1080p view of them in full color was perhaps too much.

Some of the classes will be a bit more useful to me though. Like the car seat fitting. And the "how to calm down your wife in labor" classes (that is so not the name of them.) They need to teach some classes like "how to make a foot soak for when she develops swollen cankles",  "How to massage her sciatica without feeling like you're uselessly rubbing on her ass for an hour" "Crib, bassinet, and nursery assembly", and "Preparing for Placenta, the ugliest part is when you think its all done."

Ah well, that's what I have friends and family for. To warn me all about these little pitfalls and problems.

Baby Shower Day

Today is the big shower at the house. I've already managed to assemble most of the big furniture (crib, bassinet, stroller, etc.), but a few things left, plus anything that shows up today. We're doing a countdown calendar, and if you want to pick a date of the ones that are left after the party, I will create a post and you can pick. Winner gets a prize of our choice, sometime after the baby is born, 'cause we certainly are not dropping everything to mail it to you on the arrival date.

I think we both wore ourselves out this week getting the house ready, but we're just about officially ready for this child. Any time the babe wants to come after Nov 6th is a-ok with us.

So who has suggestions as to what we should put in the hospital bag?

32 weeks!!

I was thinking today, "Holy Cow, less than 8 weeks to go!" It seems like it wasn't that long ago that we were holding our breath to see if this baby would make it to 8 weeks, then 9, and 10... Now here we are getting closer by the day to my due date. I think I've promised belly pics to several people now, so I'll see if we can't get a few up here this week. This kid is bouncing and rolling like crazy, and as the kicks get stronger, I know that means we're getting strong muscles and bones. The nursery is starting to look more like a nursery and less like the room where we store all our junk thanks to the wife's master assembly skills. Next step, where do we store all our junk?

Update: Here's that pic I've been promising, complete with nosey dogs.

30 weeks

So here we are - 30 weeks! This is an experience unlike anything I've ever been through, and frankly, I still feel pretty good. Mornings suck, I wake up feeling a bit like I've been either hit by a truck or run through gauntlet. It seems to vary by day. Once I get moving and my muscles warm up, I usually feel pretty good. The baby is growing like nuts now and kicking like a soccer forward. Of course that's in between what I can only describe as somersaults.

This week has been especially strange because my wife is in Africa for the whole week. I knew it would be hard to have her gone, but I don't think I realized how much I rely on her. I'm so thankful for her, and now that she's away I realize I would never want to go through this alone. Sunday she gets back from her trip, and I'm happy to report I have a huge stack of stuff for her to assemble. I'm sure she'll be thrilled.

Some things that make me laugh

Some things that make me laugh also get me in trouble lately. I'm sorry honey, I know I'm supposed to have a sympathetic look on my face while you complain that it feels like someone slammed you in the vajayjay with a hammer. But I blame the new Tosh.0 addiction that has me remembering the "cooter kick" video:

Tosh.0
Get More: Tosh.0 Videos,Daniel Tosh,Web Redemption

29 weeks

Good lord this child is growing. Today is "officially" 29 weeks. Should the baby arrive on the due date, that means we've got just under 11 weeks to go. How scary, that seems too soon. And yet, my belly is getting bigger, my hips getting sorer, so I'm not sure I'd be interested in it taking any longer either. We like to wake up about every 2 to 3 hours during the night to go on a crazy kicking rampage, only to to insure mama will get out of bed by giving the bladder a good solid kick. I'll post a belly pic before too much longer, but I want to wait until it gets nice and round.

The best thing about the kicking and movement is the regular reminder that this little one is alive and well and for that, I can suffer quite a bit.

Just one thing.

There's just one thing that bothers me about having a baby. We are bringing our child into a world where, despite being married twice, in BC and CA (2008, yes, we're one of those couples); being fully recognized as married by the state we live in (CA), we are not able to file our taxes next year as a married couple with a child. Not for the federal government that is. Nope, we have to each file single, never married. One of us will file as having a dependent, the other will not. But for our state income taxes, we'll have to separately file as a married couple with one child. That's DOMA in action.

To my government, thanks for the institutionalized disenfranchisement of my loving marriage. You have no idea the pain it puts us through, knowing that we love our country, but our country doesn't love us. I served my nation honorably in the Army for years, I left after DADT went into effect. There is no honor in living your life a lie. Two laws, put into place by a reactionary Congress and signed by a terrified President, which now across nearly twenty years have robbed me of my rights twice. My right to serve the nation I love, and my right to have the government recognize my legal marriage.

Oh the hormones...

The last few days I've been really feeling like a pregnant lady. Grumpy, short tempered and tired. I'm feeling a need to put EVERYTHING in order, regardless of it's relationship to this baby. I'm trying not to drive my wife crazy and found making a list of things I thought we really needed to do reduced my anxiety a bit, but I really want to DO IT ALL NOW! I need a vacation so I can sit at home and obsessively organize things, either that or someone needs to hire me one of those professionals to come do it for me.

Longing for my sanity...

Hello Third Trimester

It's been a long long journey to get here, but we've made it to the third trimester. Now we begin the watch, like a slow roasting turkey, for my belly button to pop out. Does that mean we're done when it pops? No, but suffice to say, that button's days as a innie are numbered.

23 weeks and growing

Our baby is now almost 24 weeks and still on schedule size wise for a Nov. 27 due date. Most of the ultrasound pictures are pretty darn blurry, but in this one you can at least make out a tiny nose.

You know you're pregnant when....

• Your just laying down to sleep and suddenly you're STARVING!! So your fabulous wife gets up to make you a snack.
• Every single time one of your friends posts on Facebook about what they are eating, you instantly get a craving. (You people are killing me!)
• Just about the time you've finished cleaning up from the last meal, you're ready to eat again (~1 hour).
  
• It feels like someone is kicking you in the bladder...and it turns out to be true.
• You spend 2 hours in Babies R Us, walk out empty handed, but feel painfully broke.

To be continued....I'm certain

******SPOILER ALERT*****

Don't read any further on this post unless you really want to know what the sex of the baby is...

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Its a girl. Here's a photo (labeled entertainingly as "girl stuff") to prove it.

More silly questions answered

Nope, S is having the baby, not me. I'm just putting on weight. :)

Yes, we are still going with an "identity release donor". Our opinions on letting our child know who their biological father is when they are 18 has not changed.

No, we won't name the baby after you, especially if you have a weird name. Unless its super-cool, then go ahead and send it back in.

Yes, we know the sex of the baby now. I will post a spoiler alert soon.

Sorry, we've had our "godparents" chosen before we even started this long process more than 2 years ago. It is a pair of my oldest and very dearest friends, and they are incredibly awesome people who I would trust with my baby. I know should anything happen, they will raise our child the way we would want.

Nope, there were no turkey basters involved, although I seem to be batting 100% for doing the IUIs. Every time I get to push the syringe, my wife gets pregnant. I wonder if it has anything to do with those Mormon breeding genes spread all over my body...

Waving

This ultrasound picture was taken at 13 weeks, and its one of the best! I love a photo that everyone can actually figure out what they're looking at. Of course I've gotten much better at this in the past two years, and now I can call out baby parts on the screen almost as fast as the ultrasound tech. Before it all looked like salt and pepper were having a fight and spilled themselves in funny shapes. I would always nod and smile when women would show me their blurry little B&W photos, and I'd squint, stare, and never, ever figure out what I was looking at....

Let's do this thing!

So as a few of you know, its official, we're going to have a baby. Yup, back in the saddle. We are at 20 weeks tomorrow, and we wanted to wait until after we got the all-clear on the big diagnostic ultrasound this time before making announcements. I'll start posting photos and good stuff later today!

Oh, and yes, we know what its going to be. I'll put up a spoiler alert later too. :)

Back in the saddle

Hello folks,

 So as most of you know, we are still very much trying to have a baby. Still working on it, we'll hopefully have some good announcements on here very soon. Keep your ears and eyes open here, this is certainly where we'll make any public announcements of future baby making goings-on!

Much love to all of you for being so great the past several months. We know many of you were very nearly as disappointed as we were, but we're back in the saddle and moving right along.