Noah's Two Weeks Old

Noah is 2 weeks old today. In celebration of his 2-week birthday, we visited his pediatrician for his first well baby visit. Noah weighs 7lbs 8oz. He's gained almost one half a pound since last Friday. Noah's pediatrician said he looks great. He has a little bit of reflux that we will watch, but otherwise he's doing super. No immunizations today. We'll start those at his next visit, when he's 2 months old.

We're still working on nursing. Noah's getting plenty to eat, but he needs a lot of help to figure out what he's doing when he's nursing. We hope as he grows, he'll learn and nursing will become easier for all of us. The doctor did say that we no longer need to keep track of his feeding schedule. We can feed him on demand. This means that we won't have to wake him up at night to feed him every couple of hours. We'll just wait for Noah to let us know he's hungry and we'll feed him then. Hopefully this will help all of us get a little bit more sleep.

Here's a recent photo of Noah doing his "Superman." He likes to stretch his arms up high above his head and practice flying.

Routine, What Routine?

Thanks to everyone who has been checking in on us the last couple of weeks. We like hearing from you and appreciate all the support, even if we aren't very good at getting back to you in a timely manner yet. A common question friends and family keep asking is whether we have developed any kind of routine yet. To this I must say... huh, routine? There seems to be no such thing with Noah at this point in time. His wants and needs change day by day. One day he wants to sleep the morning away and we have to wake him to feed him every couple of hours. The next day he'll be wide awake from 9am to 2pm and wanting to nurse every hour. We never know what the next day will bring. As new parents, we're trying to take it all in stride and hopefully we're learning along the way. We hope we'll have things figured out and a routine developed before Eric has to go back to work the day before Christmas.

On Friday, our neighbors Steve and Sarah from across the street brought us a chicken pot pie to throw in the oven for dinner. What a nice surprise! We don't know Steve and Sarah very well, but chat as often as we see them out in their front yard. It was so wonderful to throw dinner in the oven without having to worry about who was going to prepare the meal and what we should eat. We've also been lucky to have Grandma Barb bring dinner one night and some of Jen's friends bring lunch last week. Normally, we would feel guilty having so many people doing things to take care of us, but we're finding ourselves so busy learning to take care of Noah that we don't have time for much else. Every little thing that our friends and family have done for us is greatly appreciated. And we figure we'll have the opportunity to return the favor some day in the future.

Right now Noah's having a peaceful slumber in his brand new borrowed swing. We are finding that many of the things we got for Noah before he was born are a bit too big for him. This is okay because he'll grow into them, but it has been posing a challenge in the short term. We have made a couple of runs to the store to pick up a few essentials like newborn size clothes. We also found that our swing and bouncy seat are much too big for Noah, but fortunately our friend Timi came to the rescue and loaned us the swing and bouncy seat her kids used but have since outgrown. Noah seems to be living it up in his brand new borrowed digs. Thanks!

That's all for now. Back to figuring out a routine with Noah...

Introducing Noah Matthew Ian Williamson

He's finally here and we couldn't be happier!!!


Our little Noah arrived Noah arrived on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008 at 2:33 pm. He weighed 7lbs 0 oz and was 19.9 inches long.

After a long active labor of about 24 hours, Noah finally made his appearance. We arrived at the hospital around 3:00 am on Wednesday morning and were admitted at 3:30 am. Jen had progressed from the week before and was dilated to 4cm. Once admitted, we started to walk the halls right away to encourage faster dilation, but after an hour of this and the constant nausea, we decided to go back to the room and try the bouncy ball. By 6:30 am, we were both so tired, more Jenny than Eric, that we were worried about how much energy Jen would have for the final push. At this point we decided to get an epidural, the only problem was that we had to wait about an hour before anesthesia would be available for us due to the shift change in hospital staff. Once Jen received her epidural, which was around 8:30 am, she started to perk right up! We then found out she was dilated at 7cm which was great to hear. We were definitely on our way! With Jenny on the epidural drip, we decided to get some rest. We brought a cot in for Eric and both of us tried to sleep. We were ALMOST able to sleep, except for the nurses coming in every 20 minutes to check on Jenny and turn her to ensure the epidural medication would not pool on one side. So much for getting some sleep! By 10:30 am, Jenny had dilated to 9cm. But unfortunately she got stuck at 9cm for three hours. Baby Noah decided to give us all a scare because his heart rate stared dropping after every contraction. The OB docs came in to meet us and talk to us about the possibility of an emergency c-section. We agreed that if it was medically necessary we would go ahead, but that we would continue to watch and see if we could still have a natural birth. Finally, Jen reached 10cm just before 2 pm. With a room full of doctors, nurses and our midwife, Jen pushed for only 38 minutes and our beautiful baby boy was born.


Noah gave us another scare when he developed jaundice which worsened after we were discharged from the hospital. Because of this, Noah has had almost daily visits to the doctor and lactation consultants and he had to have phototherapy at home. Noah wore a light belt around his whole torso to help him eliminate the jaundice. The light around Noah glowed blue around him at night and so we lovingly called him our little Blue Ray Boy. He is now off the phototheraphy and is beginning to look like a little rosy-cheeked baby, instead of a little pumpkin. Noah had his jaundice evaluated once again today and it was good news. He has improved so much that he didn't need to have his heal pricked to check his bilirubin level. His skin tone has returned to normal and the whites of his eyes are almost clear of the yellowish tinge.


Learning to nurse has been an experience for all of us. Noah, Mom and Dad are doing their best to figure it out. Noah lost quite a bit of weight in his first two days (10% of his total weight) and became dehydrated. We've been supplementing nursing with several feeding methods including using a tiny little tube to feed him while he's sucking on Daddy's finger. Today Noah is back to his birth weight now and we're all very glad. He's been gaining about an ounce per day which is the desired amount for a baby his age, so he's right on track now. We have officially graduated from the lactation consultant. We have a few more things to work on before Noah is nursing exactly how he should be, but we are reassured to know that he can down almost 2 ounces of Mommy's milk in about 12 minutes.

Life has been a bit chaotic since Noah arrived, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We love him more than we could have imagined and more. We are both so happy to finally have him in our lives.


Below is the link to the photos that were taken at Regions Hospital. Check them out if you're interested.
http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid= b1743702-ff93-490f-9d37-e36849ccb359&babyid=a6e9db3e-59ad- 44f8-92ce-716738c53725

Nope, No Baby Yet

For all those who are wondering... Nope, there's no baby yet. We'll let you know if anything changes.

Our official due date is tomorrow, December 1. However, we are aware that most babies do not arrive on their due date and the majority of first babies arrive after their due date.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see...

No New Progress

Well, we had another midwife appointment today and we learned that we have not made any progress since last week. Baby's head is still down and engaged and I'm still only dilated to about 3 cm and 40% effaced. It's good and bad news at the same time... If the little guy decides to wait to make his appearance until after Dec 4, our Doula will be back in town and we will have additional support during my labor and delivery. However, it means more waiting. We're so anxious to meet this little guy that waiting another week just sounds like too much. But then again, I'm happy that we won't be eating hospital turkey on Thanksgiving. Hospital food just isn't very good and it would be a big bummer to miss Thanksgiving with the family. So we'll wait and have faith that our little guy will arrive at just the right time for all of us.

No Exciting News To Report

We're starting to get calls from well meaning friends and family inquiring about how things are going and if we have any news yet, so I thought I would write a short post to update everyone. Sorry, there's no exciting news to report. My water hasn't broken. I'm not having regular contractions. Nope, we're not in labor yet. Apparently baby is happy where he is and he's not yet interested in making his appearance. We have another midwife appointment on Wednesday, so perhaps we'll have more news Wednesday night.

Don't worry... we'll let you know as soon as we have any exciting news.

Quick Update from the Visit with the Midwife

We had a good visit with the Midwife today. While the clinic was short staffed and they were running about 45 minutes behind, by the time we left we were feeling pretty happy despite the long wait. We met another Midwife today because our regular Midwife was not available for our appointment. We continue to be impressed with the great Midwife staff at our clinic. We have not yet seen anyone that we did not like or with whom we thought we would not feel comfortable for our delivery.

Here's the short update from the appointment. Everything is still going well and we continue to make progress toward the big day. While I am beginning to have swelling in my extremities, it's nothing to worry about because my blood pressure is normal and I'm not having any other symptoms. The baby continues to drop. He is now at a 0 station, meaning that his head is at the level of the ischial spines in the pelvis. So he is engaged (no way to go but out) and this is good news. I am more than 2 cm dilated (almost 3 according to the Midwife) and 40% effaced. Of course the Midwife cautioned us from getting too excited about an impending birth. She mentioned that it could still be some time before he decides to make his appearance. So we're taking it one day at a time, but we're happy to know that everything is still progressing as it should.

Car Seat Safety Inspection

After installing baby's car seat bases in our cars last weekend, we were feeling pretty good. The instructions were simple and easy to follow and with the reassurance that we are fairly smart people we felt pretty confident that we had installed everything properly. Then we took our cars to a Car Seat Safety Inspection on Thursday. All of our confidence just flew out the window.

We quickly learned why more than 80% of car seats are installed improperly. Since we were the only two cars at the safety inspection at the time, we had 7 ER nurses and 1 OB nurse working to install our seats properly and speaking with us about seat safety. It was great to have all of the attention and to know that when we left our little guy would be as safe as possible in his seat, but it was a little intimidating to have 8 women pointing out all of the errors one can make when installing a car seat.

There were several issues that we had with our installation.

Eric's car - While the car seat manual indicated it is best to place the seat in the middle of the back seat, Eric's car has a hump which makes the seat wobble from side to side. In addition, the seat manual indicates the seat belt latch contained in the box should be used when installing the seat with a belt. However, we learned that if you have locking seat belts in your car, the locks provided by the car seat manufacturer should not be used. To remedy these problems, the car seat is now installed on the passenger side using the latch anchors hidden between the seat and back. It's tight and does not wobble.

Jen's car - While the back seat does not have a hump in the middle like Eric's car, the seat was installed with the seat belt latch and the belt was far from tight. To remedy this problem, we had to twist the seat belt latch three times and hold the base down as firmly as possible while pulling latched belt as tight as possible. This was a great workout for a pregnant lady. When they had me install the seat after they had showed me what to do, I was huffing and puffing as I worked.

In addition, the inspectors told us that no aftermarket items should be used with a car seat. This includes: car seat under-mats, harness strap covers, and toys that clip onto the seat handle. There should be no free objects in the car which could fly around during an accident or roll-over. And finally, baby should not be placed in the car seat while wearing a coat or snowsuit. We both thought this was going to be difficult because it's winter and it's difficult to get the back of the car real warm. However, we can cover him with blankets after he is strapped in and there is a good reason for following the rules. The amount of padding in a coat or snowsuit can cause the harness to be too loose on the baby and in the event of an accident, the baby could be snapped back and forth causing more injury.

So Thursday was a learning experience for both of us. We're glad we took the time to have the seats inspected. It's nice to have the peace of mind in knowing that we have done all we can to keep our little guy safe in his car seat. I recommend that all my pregnant friends have their car seats inspected before their little one arrives.

Counting Down the Days

Well, we've started counting down the days. As we near our due date, we're growing more and more excited to meet our little guy. Though we know his birth could still be 2 to 6 weeks out, we're preparing for him to be here sooner rather than later. We have one more Childbirth Preparation class left of our 6-week series. Even though it's made our evenings even busier, we've been glad that we took the classes. We've learned quite a lot and I think we're both feeling more comfortable about the whole process now. We've written our Birth Plan and made some decisions about medications and what kind of labor and delivery we prefer. Next week we will start a class called "New Parent, New Baby" during which we'll learn about the milestones in the first three months, as well as what to expect when we bring baby home. We're looking forward to this class because we've spent so much time thinking about the labor and delivery and not enough time preparing for actually having a baby at home.

We have made a little more progress toward preparing for baby. Last weekend, we installed the car seats in our cars. We're hoping to get an appointment at a car seat clinic on November 13th to have our worked checked. We have learned that ~80% of car seats are installed improperly. We want to make sure we're part of the 20% that have them right. Protecting baby is a top priority.

Today was the 36 week Midwife appointment. It was an exciting appointment because it was our first opportunity to gain a little bit of insight into when our little guy might actually arrive. For those who understand the lingo, as of today I am 1 centimeter (cm) dilated, 20% effaced, and the baby is at a -2 station. At this point in time, the baby's station and effacement are the most important indicators when our little guy may arrive. A woman can dilate from 0-10 cm in hours or could be 4 or 5 cm for weeks. Baby's head is down and he has dropped. This is all good news.

When will the baby come? Who knows. The midwife said he may come as soon as a couple of weeks. But in the next breath she said, she's seen babies hang out at a -2 station for a month. So we'll just keep playing the waiting game and look forward to the exciting day when it finally arrives.

Leg Cramp

"Oooooooouch. Help me. Help me. Help me." That was all that I could manage to say in the middle of the night as I awoke to the most gigantic leg cramp I have ever experienced. Being the great guy that Eric is, he started pushing me out of bed because he thought I was having trouble getting up to go to the bathroom. "No, my leg. My leg." My calf muscle was completely tight. My toes were pointed down and despite my best efforts I could not flex my foot. Eric grabbed my foot and tried to help me stretch my calf, but he couldn't budge my foot from its current position either. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Eric was able to stretch my leg and the cramp released.

It's been two days since the cramp and my calf is still causing me pain when I walk, press the accelerator pedal while driving, or keep my foot in the same position for too long. I hope I can manage to make it through the rest of the pregnancy without any more calf cramps.

Dancing Maniac

This morning we had the pleasure of watching my cousin Marissa get confirmed. I am so proud of her and her many achievements, including the latest today. During the service, we sang a number of hymns accompanied by a live band. Our little guy really enjoyed the music. He was rockin' and rollin' and acting like a dancing maniac throughout the whole service. He must have tired himself out though because he seemed to sleep through almost the whole afternoon. After the service, we had lunch together as a family at my Aunt and Uncle's house. Since we all have very busy lives, we don't see enough of each other. Every time we part, I find myself saying we really should get together more often.

New Belly Bump Photos

In honor of the growing belly and the beautiful fall colors, we took a walk through Como Park today and shot a few photographs. It's always fun trooping through the park with the photography gear, setting up the camera on the tripod, lining up the shot and all the while trying to ignore the onlookers staring at us wondering what in the world we are doing. We weren't alone in our search for the perfect autumn photograph though, we encountered both a couple taking engagement photos and a wedding party taking shots near the Conservatory.





It's been a warm, rainy fall. The results has been lush green grass and gorgeous red and blaze orange leaves on the trees. Fortunately, the fall showers have not been accompanied by too many strong winds. While some of the trees are slightly bare, most of the trees continue to cling to their colorful leaves.



We're looking forward to next year, watching our little guy experience the falling leaves for the first time. We look forward to many photographs of the little one amongst the colorful leaves.

Baby's First Marathon

The little guy and I volunteered at the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon today. It was an exciting event and we tried not to let the cold rain the drenched us get us down. This was a little difficult as I already have a cold from the airplane ride home from Chicago. but the atmosphere was positive and engaging. We cheered and handed out water to all of the runners. This was the first marathon either of us have attended. If I can speak for both of us (which I often do), we were pleasantly surprised with how much fun we had and how quickly the time passed. I held cups half filled with water out to the runners as they approached. When they ran by they grabbed the cup from my hand, spilling half of the cup over both of us and leaving them with just one gulp left. Fortunately, there were many water tables all lined up and they could grab cups from multiple people as they passed. We also cheered for each and every runner we could, until my voice was hoarse and the little guy was completely warn out from kicking. We were stationed at mile 19, just after the runners crossed from Minneapolis into St. Paul. I was inspired by the determination on their faces and thought maybe next year I'll try the 10 mile run. Or maybe I'll try a 5K first...

After the runners had made their way beyond mile 19 we spent some time doing fast and furious clean-up, then warmed ourselves with a cup of hot cider before heading back home. It was a good day.

Baby's First International Trip

Baby and I just returned from an international adventure to Toronto, Canada this week. Well, it may not have been as much of an adventure as it was five days filled with meetings, scientific sessions and work. We traveled to Toronto for a medical meeting called Heart Failure Society of America where the results of the study I am currently managing were being presented.

Before leaving we had another visit to the midwife. Baby's measuring right on and his heartbeat continues to be strong and regular. It's always reassuring to hear his heartbeat when we're at the clinic. Everything checked out okay and we got the approval to fly to and from Toronto. The midwife provided a copy of my medical records with a note indicating that it was safe for me to travel, just in case one of the flight personnel decided they didn't think I should fly. As it turns out, there was no fuss and I didn't need the medical records to prove it was safe for me to travel. But it was reassuring for me to have the papers in my backpack.

Peanut and I left for Toronto on Saturday at noon. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough to book a non-stop flight so there was a layover in Chicago O'Hare both directions. I am certain that it was quite the humorous sight to observe me pregnant and slightly waddling from terminal to terminal wearing a backpack and pulling a carry-on suitcase. Fortunately, there was time between flights to stop for a snack and plenty of water as I made my way through the airport. Both legs of the flight to Toronto were uneventful. We arrived in Toronto at about 8:30 in the evening and made it to the hotel around 9:30. One of the major roadways form the airport into the city was closed so the cabby had to make detours to avoid the large backups.

I spent Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday in meetings and scientific presentations. It was a nice learning opportunity but I found myself missing the outdoors. Every-time I looked out a window at the warm sunny weather I wished I had a few more hours in my day to relax and take a walk. My hotel was actually attached to the convention center so I didn't even have to walk outside to go from my hotel room to the conference. It was very convenient. Finally Wednesday after the end of the conference I walked down to the waterfront and found a nice little restaurant where I could look out over the water while I enjoyed my lunch. After lunch, I headed back to the airport to start my trip home. Unfortunately we got stuck on the runway at O'Hare for an hour while we waited for lightening to pass, so I arrived back in Minneapolis an hour later than planned. I was beat, but all in all it was a good trip.

So the little peanut has already taken his first airplane ride and he seemed to enjoy it very much. Each time the airplane took off he woke up, kicked, elbowed and wiggled for about an hour before he fell asleep again. This little guy may end up being a jet pilot like his uncle if his excitement about flying at this stage of his life is any indication of his future career.

Belly Bump

The belly bump is growing. Friends at work have now told me that I officially look pregnant. Fortunately, I'm not to the point yet of having people I don't know walk up and touch my belly. Although, this weekend I had a guy at the mall tell me he hopes my baby comes healthy and soon. I didn't think I look that pregnant yet, but apparently he thought so...

Here are a few pictures Eric took of the belly this morning.

Picking a Hospital

We've been busy touring hospitals in an attempt to choose a hospital for our delivery. We're lucky to have the option of delivering at any one of three good Twin Cities hospitals: Abbott, St. Johns and Regions. We have now toured all three and selected Regions. The hospital philosophy on deliveries matched well with what we had been thinking and our favorite midwife at the practice delivers babies at Regions. I will be encouraged to walk around during labor, take a bath if that sounds helpful, and I will have the option to have something besides ice chips if I get thirsty. Regions also happens to be the closest hospital to our house and we can take city streets the whole way. The trip is less than 10 minutes from door to door. Unfortunately, friends and family will have to pay for parking in the Regions Hospital ramp if they choose to visit. If by some odd chance the Regions Hospital Birth Center is full when I go into labor, we may be redirected to St. Johns (our second choice hospital). So now that we've selected a hospital, we've signed ourselves up for several classes: Childbirth Preparation, Breastfeeding Your Baby, Infant CPR, and New Baby - New Parent. We'll have a busy October and early November with classes 1-2 nights per week.

Gestational Diabetes Free

Good news from the clinic after my most recent appointment... I passed the gestational diabetes screening test. I had quite a bit of anxiety about taking the screening test because so many friends had told me how awful it was drinking the glucose drink. In addition, I was worried that I would not pass because people of Asian descent are more likely to have gestational diabetes and being one quarter Japanese I was sure I was doomed.

Well, the screening test is not as bad as so many women say it is... You are asked to drink the equivalent of about one can of very flat pop within approximately 5 minutes (or as fast as possible). The glucose drink was very sweet and though it was fruit punch flavored, it was not very appealing. Fortunately, I was able to fight it down within the requested time and none of it came back up. An hour later, the lab tech drew my blood and tested the glucose level.

The great thing about electronic medical records is that the patient has access to test results within hours. No more waiting around the phone to hear the results from the clinic. You can just look them up online. So that evening, I popped into my online records and saw that I had squeaked by just under the high end of the normal range. I was happy to know that there was need for me to return to the clinic for the three hour oral glucose tolerance test.

At the clinic, we also collected the usual data: my weight, blood pressure, baby's heart rate, and the belly measurement. I now weight more than I have ever weighed before. The baby's heart rate was about 150 beats per minute, which is right on, and we're measuring about a week behind. The midwife wasn't worried about the measurement though. She thought he would have a growth spurt pretty soon and catch back up to the expected size. If for some reason, we continue to measure behind we may have an additional ultrasound in the future to make sure everything is still on track. But we're not to the point of needing that yet. We also learned that our little guys is breech right now, meaning that his head is up and his feet are down. We're hoping he decides to turn pretty soon, but he still has some time before we reach 40 weeks. So everything is good for now and we'll be back to the midwife on September 17th.

Baby Shower Blast

Well we're finally finding time to provide an update on the exciting baby shower that was thrown for us last week. We had a very enjoyable time. The house was crowded with friends and family.

Our little guy had his first opportunity to meet so many special people (or rather hear their voices and conversations). There was great food, yummy desserts and excellent company.

We could tell he really enjoyed all of the hubbub because he kicked and squirmed periodically throughout the night. After dinner we played a fun game of guess how long a string it takes to fit around mom's tummy. There were many close guesses and it was looking like nobody would be right on until Aunt Lorraine won with a perfect length of string. We also played a fun game of steal the pacifier necklace from anyone who says the word "baby" throughout the night. I managed to lose my pacifier necklace right away. I'm chalking it up to my pregnancy brain that's been causing me so much memory trouble of every kind. (Friends tell me that my pregnancy brain is actually parent brain and it will never go away. Well, I hope my memory improves at least a little after the little guy is born.)

Mom and Dad opened gifts and everyone enjoyed inspecting all of the new toys, books, clothes and essentials. We felt so lucky to receive so many great baby essentials and we're looking forward to putting all of them to good use as soon as our little guy arrives.


Here's a picture of the proud soon to be father inspecting a new teddy bear.


And the Great-Grandmothers checking out the shawl Peanut's dad used to wear when he was little. Grandma Thunnissen has saved it all these years....

We've already unpacked and washed and put most of the items away in the Peanut's room. The room is really starting to look like a nursery now as we received the Winnie the Pooh crib quilt and bedding at the shower and it's all in place just waiting for a tiny little baby to arrive to use it.

Looking forward

There are so many things we find ourselves looking forward to lately. We look forward to meeting our little guy, naming him, learning his quirks and the little things that bring him joy. We look forward to the many many photographs we'll take from the time he arrives (all curled up), to the many firsts (smile, steps), to the big milestones (school, sports, etc.).

This week, we find ourselves looking forward to a baby shower as well. My mom and my Aunt Cindy were so gracious to offer to host me a shower. We're really looking forward to it. Even the little guy wants to make his excitement known. (He's kicking me as I sit here and type.) We can't wait to see all of our friends and family and to celebrate this exciting time with them. Don't worry, if you're not able to come, Eric will have the camera and will snap some shots of the fun an excitement.

More to come later this week...

Decorating the Nursery

Winnie the Pooh seems to be an expensive theme for a nursery, so we have decided to handle a few of the decorations "home-made style." We figure our little one won't notice the difference until he's a little older and by then he'll probably have grown out of the Pooh theme anyway. So here's a sampling of the new artwork for the baby's room.

Daddy's First Kicks

Last week Eric had his first chance to feel our little guy kick. It's been a long awaited event, as he's been looking forward to this since I felt our little guy doing the hula on my birthday in July. The baby seems to have Eric's personality. I can almost imagine him in there saying "No need to be too excited, I just want to relax." So it's a big event every time we feel him moving around. His movements are starting to feel more like kicks and elbows, rather than squirming. But yet, we're sure his bones are still hardening because his kicks are not very forceful (and I won't complain about that).

So we've reached another big milestone. It's starting to sink in a bit more... there's going to be a new addition to our family in a little less than four months. His kicks and movements are just another reminder that we'd better keep preparing so that we're ready for this little guy. It's good motivation to continue making progress on the nursery, making those big purchases and making decisions about all of the many many details. Four months feels like an eternity from now, but we're sure it'll pass faster than we expect.

What's In A Name???

Ahh, the famous question that we continue to ask ourselves now that we know we're having a little boy. We had three baby name books and the wide world of the Internet to guide us, but yet we find ourselves struggling to find that perfect name.

In keeping with family tradition, our little guy will have two middle names. The first middle name will be the name of this Godfather and the second will be a family name. These have been easier for us to choose than that elusive first name, but nope we're not sharing yet...

We currently find ourselves considering five names as options for the first name, but we're coming to the conclusion that we'll have to wait to meet the little guy before we'll be able to name him. Nevertheless, here's the list and what the books have to say about them.

Brandon
Meaning: high-spirited, sword
Origin: Anglo-Saxon
Recent Popularity: 31st in 2007
Comments from The Baby Name Wizard: " Brandon sounds dashing, so it's no surprise it swept onto the scene as a popular soap opera name. It also sounds classically masculine, which has given it staying power. The name is still in the very mainstream of fashion, but with so many Brandons arriving through the '80s and '90s, this dashing hero could be coming due for a well-earned rest."

Caleb
Meaning: faithful, brave, bold
Origin: Hebrew
Recent Popularity: 36th in 2007
Comments from The Baby Name Wizard: "A terrific biblical rediscovery, Caleb is equal parts Puritan antique and soap-opera chic. Until recently, this name seemed like a fresh alternative to the super-popular Jacob, but today it's a super hit in its own right."


Gabriel
Meaning: God's hero, devout, God is my Strength
Origin: Hebrew
Recent Popularity: 28th in 2007
Comments from The Baby Name Wizard: "The lyrical name is one of the mist buoyant biblical choices for boys. It is currently riding a wave of popularity that takes some of the edge off its impact. That's good news if you're worried that the name's too exotic, bad if you're in search of the unusual."

Nathaniel
Meaning: God's gift to mankind, gift of God
Origin: Hebrew
Recent Popularity: 82nd in 2007
Comments from The Baby Name Wizard: "Nathaniel is the perfect understated antique. It's like that elegant sideboard that's been in the family for generations. Yes, the name's biblical style is the height of fashion, but it doesn't make a fuss about it. It's handsome, confident, and modest - an American classic."

Noah
Meaning: sweet man, peacemaker, rest, comfort
Origin: Hebrew
Recent Popularity: 14th in 2007
Comments from The Baby Name Wizard: "Not long ago, the biblical patriarch herding animals into his ark dominated our image of Noah. Today this former white-beard name is the toast of the cradle and diaper set. It's a lovely rediscovery, and the bevy of young Noahs have lightened up the name so that it's positively cute."

We're looking for a fairly uncommon name that fits with a last name of Williamson and a possible nickname of "Willi". Since we just haven't landed on the perfect name yet, we're taking suggestions from friends and family. We have also posted a new poll (at the right side of this page). Feel free to make your name suggestions by commenting on the blog. Or... if you've fallen in love with one of the five on our list so far, vote for your favorite.

IT'S A BOY

And here he is...



The poll ended even, 6 votes for a girl and 6 votes for a boy... So for some it may come as quite a surprise that we're having a boy, for others it's no surprise at all. Regardless, he'll be perfect. Nope we don't have a name picked out yet, but we're definitely looking forward to meeting the little guy.

Mom's Favorite Birthday Present

I had a wonderful birthday this year thanks to my colleagues, my mom and my husband. My colleagues spent the evening before decorating my desk area so that when I arrived at my desk on the morning of my birthday I couldn't even find my desk. Mu cube was filled with red and blue balloons. Streamers were hanging from the ceiling and stars were hanging form the lights. And of course, confetti was sprinkled EVERYWHERE.

Mom spent the day painting the baby's room a beautiful shade of creamy tan ("Creamy Camel" is the exact name). The best way I can describe it is the color of Classic Winnie the Pooh's fur. It's a great neutral color and the Pooh window valances and diaper hanger (also courtesy of Mom) give it a warm and inviting feeling. We're looking forward to finishing up the Pooh theme, but we're trying to take our time.

In the evening, Eric brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and then took both me and mom our for dinner at one of my favorite local restaurants "Muffuletta." Dinner was great and it reminded me a bit of dining in Maastricht. The atmosphere was cheery and warm. We had a nice long dinner without feeling rushed away from our table at all. We enjoyed our meals and then were treated to a birthday desert on the house. It was such a pleasant birthday dinner and so nice to spend some time with both Eric and my mom.

This year, the baby gave me my favorite birthday present. While it may have been due to the sugar high from all of the treats that my colleagues brought and on which we snacked all morning, at 10:30 the baby was doing the hula in my belly. It was the first time I was sure I could feel the baby. Every pregnant woman seems to describe the feeling differently. To me it felt like a little worm wiggling and poking around. It was quite different than any other movement I had felt before. So we're calling July 2 the day of quickening (meaning the first feeling of the baby's movements). I was so excited I couldn't wait to tell Eric. We both can't wait until the baby is strong enough for Eric to feel him or her move too.

The next ultrasound is approaching... July 15. We haven't yet decided if we'll find out the baby's sex, but in case we do... remember to vote for whether you think it's a boy or a girl (voting buttons on the right side of the page).

Bulging Belly

Well, today I realized that I have passed the point of being able to hide this pregnancy behind loose fitting clothes and a joke about working too many hours and not getting enough exercise. It seems the baby went through a growth spurt overnight, and consequently so did my belly. I had a terrible headache and felt nauseous all day Sunday and yesterday. It must have been all the growth hormones the baby was producing because when I woke up this morning my belly appeared to be about twice the size it was yesterday. I was under the misunderstanding that my growth would be gradual, but apparently it doesn't work that way.

A few of my colleagues at work have commented to me today that it's the first day I really look pregnant. Besides that... I think I'm starting to get the waddle. I don't find my movements to be as smooth as they used to be.

We've officially started work on the baby's room. So far, we've almost emptied it of all the dining room furniture... almost. We'll finish the rest of the emptying tonight because my mom has graciously volunteered to paint the baby's room tomorrow. (It's a birthday present to me, in a way. I'm no longer allowed to paint, among other things.) The room will be a creamy tan, the color of Winnie the Pooh's fur. We've decided to go for a Winnie the Pooh themed room because it's gender neutral and they had so much cute stuff that we decided would be just perfect for our little peanut. We'll post pictures when the room is farther along. But there won't me much to see for a while yet.

16 Week Visit to the Midwife

Eric and I had our third visit to see the midwife this afternoon. Everything is still going well. We saw a difference midwife today as we have been advised we should meet as many of the midwives as possible so we will have met the person who ends up delivering this baby before that day arrives. As with the first one, today's midwife was very informative, talkative and helpful. Today I learned that I should eat more strawberries, cherries and apples, but cut back on my banana and chocolate intake. It seems that bananas and chocolate are tough on an already sluggish digestive system. So in honor this disappointing news, tonight I made brownies. Though I may regret it, I'll start cutting back on my chocolate intake tomorrow.

The 12 week and 16 week visits are very similar. They're short visits to check vitals, answer questions, get a current weight, and listen to the baby's heart beat. The big difference was the baby's heart sounds amplified by the doppler. Last visit, the heart beat sounded like a fast swishing. This time, the baby's heart beat was much stronger and we could hear the different heart sounds (blood flowing through from the chambers as the valves opened and closed). The baby's heart beat sounded much more like an adult heart this time. So the baby's growing well and we're both doing fine.

Most of the excitement comes with our next visit (20 weeks). We'll have another screening ultrasound, where they'll measure the baby's organs and other body parts. We may also learn the baby's sex... if we decide we want to know. That's right, we still haven't decided, though Eric is leaning toward wanting to find out. Actually, he wants to see if he can read the ultrasound himself to learn the baby's sex. We're scheduled for our ultrasound on July 15th and then we're back to see another midwife on July 24. But for now, we're just enjoying the fact that I am feeling well again.

We're approaching the time when well have to start making a number of decisions... do we want to know the baby's sex, where to deliver the baby, where/how to search for daycare, finding a pediatrician, what classes to take and when. We'll get to those decisions with time.

Another installment of the Pregnancy Symptom Tracker

A newer symptom lately has been vivid dreams. Yes, dreaming (and worrying) about this little peanut has begun. The dreams are so vivid that I am sure we already have an infant sleeping in our newly purchased bassinet when I wake up. Fortunately, the "pregnancy brain" (forgetfulness) takes over shortly after and I don't remember what I had actually dreamed.

So Many Things to Buy

Over and over again, I find myself asking the question "What do we really need to be ready for a baby?" It's a nagging question for a first-time mother. I ask my friends who are already parents. I read recommendations from parenting groups. And I listen to podcasts made by parents and other pregnant women. But even with all the advice, I still feel at a loss for what we really need for our new baby. There are so many things you can buy. Too many. If we purchased everything that has been recommended and that we think we need, we couldn't fit all of the "stuff" into our house. There would be no room for us or the baby. So, I guess we'll keep asking ourselves "What do we really need?" And hopefully we'll come up with the right stuff.

So far, I've struck it rich at garage sales. We now have a crib, a number of newborn, 0-3 and 3-6 month outfits, a bouncer seat, and various toys. We also made a couple of big purchases including the stroller (a BOB Revolution) and an infant car-seat/carrier. But we still need a highchair, swing, bassinet or co-sleeper, convertible car-seat, glider rocker, crib bedding, a nursing pillow and the big purchase that no one wants to put on the registry... the breast pump (they run ~$400 for a good one, ouch!). The rest of the miscellaneous stuff (bottles, diapers, etc.), should be easy to pick up at more garage sales or on a regular Target run.

Once again, here's the weekly update on pregnancy symptoms...


The nausea has almost given way, but the fatigue is hanging on. I can't complain though, I'd rather be tired than nauseous all the time.

The End of the First Trimester

Well the first trimester ended in a flurry of fatigue and all-day morning sickness. But we made it through and are starting to enjoy the bliss of the second trimester. We're looking forward to all of the exciting things that happen in the second trimester like watching my growing belly, feeling the baby move, and the 20 week ultrasound where we may or may not find out the gender.

The end of the first trimester both felt like an eternity and a blink of the eye. We're both been very busy with our normal activities. Eric started playing soccer again. I can't (of course). He's also golfing and we're trying to get the house ready for a new baby. I've been hitting many garage sales on the weekends hoping to catch some good deals on baby stuff and fighting off the all-day morning sickness. I also went through a period of feeling hungry constantly. Despite the fact that I felt nauseous constantly I would eat and eat, but nothing would satisfy my hunger. Fortunately I've grown out of that feeling now too as I can now sit down to dinner and feel full after eating a normal amount of food.

At the end of our first trimester (11 and 1/2 weeks), we had our first ultrasound and were able to see our little peanut for the first time. Previously, I posted our ultrasound pictures but I didn't have much time to give the update on the experience. I won't do it justice now, but will try to describe the experience as much as possible. Going into the ultrasound, I had so many worries... was there really a baby in there? Were there two? Would the tests come back normal? And though Eric doesn't like to admit it as much, I know he was thinking some of the same things. We arrived to the clinic about 15 minutes early, but they took us right back for the ultrasound. We saw our little peanut right away. The little one wasn't moving around very much, except for flipping over when I laughed and what looked like a little wave to mommy and daddy once in a while. As you can see from the pictures, the head is about 1/3 of the whole baby but this is normal at this time. Baby's brain develops quite quickly and the head has to make room for it. During this ultrasound the tech takes several pictures and then a physician measures the skin on the back of the next. This measurement, coupled with a blood test, can tell you your probability that your baby may have one of a couple of genetic disorders, including Downs Syndrome and Trisomy 18. Our tests came back looking good. This test does not rule out the possibility, but rather indicate (for example) you have a 1 in 1,000 risk that the baby will have one of these conditions. Our risks came back low, so we're looking good.

Finally, another update on the Pregnancy Symptom Tracker...

Baby's First Pictures

We had our first ultrasound yesterday. It went very well and we found out that we are soon to be the proud parents of a Gummy Bear... we'll that's how the baby looks in 3D ultrasound anyway.

Posted are a selection of our baby's first pictures. We wanted to get them up on the website to share with all of you as soon as possible, so we will write more about the experience later.

Week 10

Today we're 10 weeks pregnant. We're feeling relieved to have made it this far. We have just two weeks to go before our risk of miscarriage drops significantly. We're still trying to keep our little secret between ourselves and just a few other people, but we're finding it more and more difficult. Fortunately, our first ultrasound is scheduled just one and a half weeks away. I'm sure that as soon as we have a picture of our little peanut, we won't be able to contain ourselves anymore and we'll start calling up all the family and friends to share our news.

Week 10 was chalked full of ups and downs, but we made it through. At the beginning of the week I was feeling kind of icky, but the middle of Week 10 brought relief. In fact, I was feeling so much better that I started second guessing whether I'm actually pregnant. It's embarrassing to admit but I took another pregnancy test this week just to reassure me that we're still pregnant. Turns out we probably didn't need to waste the test because the next day the nausea, headache and persistent fatigue hit again. It's funny how I've grown so accustomed to feeling bad that it was almost a relief to feel nauseated again because it signifies to me that I am still pregnant. Well if things go for us as they do for most pregnancies and I start to feel much better in the second trimester, I'll have to find a way to reassure myself that things are still going well without emptying Walgreens' shelves of pregnancy tests. I suppose once I really start to show, my growing belly will be our reassuring sign that we're still pregnant.

Mom, two great friends and I went garage sale shopping yesterday. My shopping focus was, of course, baby stuff. I hit the jackpot on onsies and little baby caps. It was so much fun to find such cute (almost never warn) little clothes for our little peanut. I came home with about 15 onsies or different sizes and a few other select items. After garage sale shopping, Mom and I hit REI and I made our first big purchase... the stroller. We looked them up and down and finally settled on a BOB. I can't wait to take it out of the box a put the wheels on. But Eric, the voice of reason again, reminded that if we put it together now it will just gather dust downstairs in the many months before December. So we'll put it aside and save the joy of breaking out the new stroller for November.

We're headed down to Rochester today for a birthday lunch with my Grandpa. We're planning to share the news with my Grandparents over lunch. We're looking forward to their reaction. I think they'll be excited. Well better hit the road if we're going to make it there by lunch-time.

Here's a new look at the pregnancy symptom tracker to date.

Weeks 8 and 9

Week Eight
It seems that the nausea plans to hang around for a while. I feel good for about 2 to 3 hours per day. Other than that, I feel as though I could erupt at any moment. Fortunately, I don't actually get to that point very often. I've been listening to all of the advice from also pregnant friends and am trying to eat little snacks often so my stomach is never empty. It seems to help a bit but if I have to keep this up for too long, I think I may be 300 pounds by December.

I'm learning to cope with the nausea. It's still difficult to concentrate during the day and I am exhausted. The ironic thing is that I'm most exhausted when the nausea is at it's lowest point. Maybe the nausea wears me out or maybe it keeps me alert. Who knows?

I've been reading up on the development of the baby. In the eighth week, the baby should be about the size of a kidney bean. It's growing fingers, toes and eyelids this week. Our baby's arms are lengthening and knee joints have formed. Now that the baby is bigger than a lentil, Eric has officially given him or her a nick-name. We'll refer our baby as "Peanut", at least for a while anyway.

Here's the Pregnancy Symptom Tracker update:


Week Nine
The nausea is a bit better this week than the last one. It's still there, but the intensity seems to have lessened a bit. I'm feeling more fatigued though. However, I much prefer the fatigue to the nausea. I can work through the fatigue. Work is a bit better too. We successfully hit our milestone so maybe the drop in nausea is associated with the lower level of stress.

We're only half way though, but we've had an exciting week already. We made our first visit to the midwife on Monday. It was a good visit, but there's not too much to report. We're right on target for where we should be. We re-calculated my due date twice and so it turns out that now I have four different due dates: Nov 30, Dec 1, Dec 3, and Dec 5. So we decided that I really have a due week, instead of a due date. But for all who want to know our due date, we're going with December 1. I was shocked to hear that I will probably gain 30 pounds throughout my pregnancy. I was thinking it would be more like 20, but I guess 30 isn't too abnormal. It just sounds like A LOT.

We didn't get to hear a heartbeat or see an ultrasound this time. We're going to have an ultrasound screening test in the 11th week, so that will be our first chance to see the baby. It sounds like we'll get three chances to see our little peanut before we actually meet him or her. The midwife told us that standard of care ultrasound tests occur at 11, 16 and 20 weeks. We'll probably have to wait until 20 weeks to find out the gender. We're looking forward to the first ultrasound because we both still feel like it's all a bit surreal. The ultrasound will allow us the chance to see that there is actually a little peanut growing in there and we'll finally feel like it is real.

Out next appointment with the midwife is scheduled for May 19. One that day, we should be able to hear the baby's heartbeat. Another exciting moment!!!

Week Seven

Spoke too soon...

Last week, we reported that things were going very well and I had not been experiencing any morning sickness. Well, we knew it was too good to last. The dreaded nausea reared its head this week. Though the nausea seems to be present most of the time, the worst of it appears to have a schedule. I can expect to feel awful from the time I get up in the morning until about 20 minutes after I eat lunch. Then I have about a four to six hour reprieve before the first afternoon waves of nausea start crashing down on me again. Despite fighting down dinner, the nausea generally hangs around until I fall asleep for the night. Unfortunately, occasionally the nausea is coupled with dizziness when I close my eyes so this makes it very difficult to fall asleep at night.


We told a few more people about our news this week. We are realizing that we're not very good with secrets. We both intended to keep the news between the two of us and a few select people until we reached the 12th week and the risk of miscarriage drops. However, it appears that we're too excited to keep the news to ourselves. I guess our big mouths have been helpful in a way. Eric works with a whole bunch of nurses so every-time we have a question or a concern, he's able to get helpful advice from his colleagues.

We're looking forward to our first appointment with the midwife on April 21. I'm not sure if we'll get to hear the heartbeat, but I am hoping we will. We bought a bunch of books this week. Because our first appointment isn't until 8 weeks, I have found myself with so many questions that need answers. I've been reading up and finding answers in books, but the books also bring more questions to mind. I'm sure we'll use all of the time we're allotted at our first appointment.

Weeks 5 and 6

We've been blessed with this pregnancy so far, as I have not yet experienced any morning sickness or negative effects from the increasing hormone levels. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll continue to have an uneventful pregnancy, but I'm expecting the nausea to hit anytime. I caused my mom to be sick for all nine months of her pregnancy. I know that the experts say every pregnancy is different and that you won't necessarily follow the same pattern as your mother, but I just have a feeling Mom and I are too much alike for me to get away with feeling great my whole pregnancy.

Week five was very uneventful. In fact the only reason we knew I am pregnant was the multiple pregnancy tests I took. After periodically re-reading three positive tests, I think we now believe the news. Once in a while I had hot flashes at night and I had to throw off the covers. But I really can't complain.

We enjoyed sharing our news with our immediate family and a few friends who happen to be pretty good detectives. The Grandparents and Fairy Godparents are all very excited. Both friends and family have offered plenty of helpful advice about pregnancy and how our lives will soon be changing. We also received our first gifts for the baby. They're so cute and so tiny!

Week six has been a little more of a challenge, but overall not too bad. We took a trip to the doctor this morning in the hopes of discovering the cause of the back pain I have been experiencing. The pain has been progressively worsening over the last couple of weeks and most recently has been waking me up throughout the night. Good news from the doctor though, it's probably not a disc problem. He sent me home with a prescription for physical therapy and told me I should take frequent light walks as studies have show activity helps to heal back pain more than taking it easy.

Mom and I spent a little time shopping the clearance racks on Wednesday night. We found some really great deals! I bought a few cute maternity shirts and a pair of pants. Of course, we also checked out the newborn clearance racks. We picked up a few little outfits and Eric also found a great Minnesota Gopher onesie and hat.

We're slowly trying to figure out all of the things we are going to need for the pregnancy and for the baby. It's a little overwhelming at first, especially because we're trying to identify the things that we will really "need" and weed out all of the things advertisers like to say you need but we can really live without. Fortunately, we have some time.

We had our first experiencing of trying to "hide" my pregnancy from my work colleagues (at least until we are into our second trimester and the risk of a miscarriage decreases). We went out to celebrate a Happy Hour with a few colleagues while one was in town from The Netherlands. Eric knew exactly what to do. We arrived before anyone else and Eric asked the waiter to get me a root beer in a pint size beer glass. It worked! At least no one hinted they were thinking something. There was that challenge at the end when the bill came with "root beet" as the first item. But fortunately, everyone seemed to just look at the total. We'll share our little secret with them in about six weeks.

I have started to chart my pregnancy symptoms (graph below). I'm charting by week so there's not much there yet, but it should be interested to see how things change week to week.


Well, we're off to dinner with some friends. I am thinking salad. Since I don't have any aversions to food yet, maybe I'll just pick what ever strikes me when I read the menu.

And the Wait is Over

Surprise! We're pregnant. And we're so excited we can't seem to find the right words to express how we're really feeling. At first it was disbelief that after all this time, we were finally pregnant. "Are you sure?" Eric asked me. "You need to take another test." Well, two tests later we're still pregnant. So we've moved into the wondering and planning stages. We wonder what the pregnancy will be like. We wonder how we're going to learn everything we need to know to be ready to take a baby home with us in about nine months. We wonder how we're all going to fit into our tiny house. But, amazingly, we're not stressed out about any of it. We're not feeling stressed by the impending changes in our lives and I'm not freaking out about how we're going to pay for it all (yet). I guess the months of waiting helped.

We are however, worried that somehow we'll lose the baby (which is the size of a poppy-seed right now according to babycenter.com). So we've decided to tell only a few people. I'm going to keep posting on the blog to chronicle the changes in our lives and our thoughts and feelings as the weeks pass. If you somehow found this blog without a pointer email announcing its existence, well we guess that you're intuitive enough that you'll figure it out anyway so feel free to keep reading.

I've posted a QuickTime movie that I created from the recording I made when I shared the exciting news with Eric. I thought you might be interested in sharing the moment with us.

Oh... The Waiting

I don't remember feeling this impatient since I was a small child. I haven't quite pinpointed why it is exactly, but I just feel like the days can't go by fast enough. There's so much waiting and we're not even pregnant yet. Then again, maybe that's why I can't stand the waiting. We are so eager to start this phase of our lives that as the weeks and months go by and we find ourselves without the news we keep hoping for, I grow more anxious and impatient. I keep telling myself to focus on everything else in our lives and everything will work out. It's hard to be really convincing though. It's like a I have a boomerang flying around in my head. When I have a thought about our future family, I force myself to think about something else. But my mind always makes its way back to that feeling inside of me... the longing for that new experience.

Trying Times

Well, we have been anxiously awaiting news that we once dreaded. We're hoping that one of these months we'll find ourselves pregnant. It's been a roller coaster ride of emotions since we started trying. For so long, we've been trying to avoid getting pregnant. We wanted to make sure we really felt ready before we began that part of our journey together.

The time did come when we both felt like we were ready to start growing our family; however, we were just starting to think and talk seriously about starting our family when I was offered the opportunity to spend three months in Europe. Obviously, that was not the best time to get pregnant. So we thought maybe we would be able to come home from our vacation with a European souvenir. We felt particularly optimistic after visiting the Temple of Vesta and the House of the Vestal Virgins in the Roman Forum. (The Vestal Virgins represented fertility in Ancient Roman Times.) But we weren't that lucky. Since then its been a bunch of highs and lows.

We've had weeks filled with happy but nervous anticipation, followed by big disappointments (more disappointment for me than Eric as he says he won't get too excited until it actually happens). Friends keep telling me not to worry, but not to wait too long to seek out information about our fertility. However, the medical establishment seems to say something different. My doctor's office doesn't even want to see a couple to discuss fertility until they have been trying for at least a year. That's a lot of ups and downs, if you ask me.

So right now we're sitting on the fence. Do we seek help? Or do we just keep trying? Or do we stop trying all together and just have faith that it will happen when it happens? It seems that many people have plenty of advice to offer. I've read articles on the Internet and books from the bookstore. I've talked with friends and family members. So many opinions. So much advice. I appreciate all of it, but unfortunately it doesn't help with the disappointment.

I guess we'll just keep playing the waiting game for a while longer.