The Ypsi Life

Toren at 16 months

2010-09-27T16:39:00.005-04:00

Monday, Sept 27th

I'm finally starting to feel like we've settled in back at home after being gone for the summer. Toren has started attending daycare three days a week this fall. Two of the days (my class days) he attends the daycare around the corner from our house and on Friday he continues to go to daycare with his cousins in Whitmore Lake. The move to part time daycare has freed up some time for Justin to concentrate on his work since these days there is no real possibility of getting anything done when Toren is around. Toren has become a lot of fun, but also quite the handful. He runs round the house these days trying to scale everything in sight and chucking about anything he can get his hands on. He loves to try to sneak his way up on to the kitchen table when we're not paying attention. We also have to be careful to avoid flying objects. We've put away for now all his wood blocks to avoid some issues and are trying to teach him to only throw balls or his soft blocks, but his response to scolding continues to be laughing at me. We've also tried to institute time outs for his more grievous of infractions, but it usually entails me trying to repeatability put him back into a chair for a couple of minutes. I'm hoping it will have some sort of impact at some point. The other new unattractive development has been the degree of whining that he's developed now that he wants to do more, but usually needs assistance to achieve his goals.

On the fun side, it's been very cool to see him able to understand and communicate more and more these days (when he's not whining). He continues to be a socializer and loves to meet new people. He'll wave goodbye and blow kisses to just about anyone. He also loves to laugh and be tickled and has also gotten a little more cuddly, especially in the morning when he first gets up. He also absolutely loves music and dancing. He'll break into dance at the slightest hint of music. His favorite music is Bob Marley since this is what he frequently bounced to in his jumperoo days. Much to his Mom's chagrin and his Dad's pleasure, he also seems to really like hard rock, as this usually results on a lot of fist pumping and head banging in his car seat when it comes on the radio.

Toren's stats at 16 months:

80th percentile height, 20th percentile weight (at 15 month appt)
Words: Mama, Dada, Dexter, Dog, Ball, Bye Bye, Bottle, Bubbles, Bob (his term for music after Bob Marley), More
Signs: More, Please, Bubbles, Milk, All Done, EAT, Dance
Completely addicted to his pacifier (why can't they sell them in six or ten packs instead of only two at a time)
Still using his bottle at nap time and bed time, but we'll probably try to phase this out soon.
Loves to be outdoors and throws a fit if you don't let him out the door if you go out
Loves dancing and drumming
Loves balls and throwing
Finally appears to like his cousin Emmett :)

Oh Boy!

2010-08-17T16:21:00.004-04:00

Some of Toren's favorite activities these days:

Climbing on everything

Squeezing himself into small places where he doesn't belong

Trying to be helpful but failing miserably (luckily I was able to get the suitcase closed before everything was pulled out)

He's definitely all boy and it's pretty exhausting trying to keep up with him these days, but he's a lot of fun too!

So happy to be in Top-in-a-bee!

2010-08-10T16:12:00.006-04:00

Toren peers into Lake Huron

So we've headed into our last week of up North life and we're definitely going to be sad to leave our summer home of Topinabee. We've had so much fun up here enjoying lake life on Mullet Lake, the third largest inland lake in Michigan, and enjoying the 62 mile North Central State rail to trail located just across the street that goes from Gaylord to Mackinaw City. We've utilized the trail a lot to bike or walk into town the .7 miles to eat a the small cafe, shop at the corner store and local hardware store, or to spend some time at the local park/beach access (where we can poach internet access from the library). This weekend we worked on checking some of our up North activities off the list by biking 28 miles of the trail from Mackinaw City to our house in Topinabee. It was a great trip and Toren did a great job in his Chariot buggy that Justin towed behind him. It was a promising start for our goal of eventually biking all the bikeable Michigan rail to trails. We only had one little episode where either Toren had a little motion sickness or decided to practice one of his new tricks, gagging himself, and ended up throwing up in the buggy. Luckily we brought some extra clothes along.

rest stop by Lake Huron

In addition to biking this weekend, we tried to finally make our trek across the lake in our canoe, another goal on the list. Unfortunately it was a bit too windy for our barrage which was packed with the dog and baby too! Dexter gets rather upset if he doesn't get to go boating with us. He hates the car, but loves being out on the water. Perhaps we'll make it across later this week. We're also hoping to canoe down part of the Sturgeon River, the fastest running river in the lower peninsula, into Burt Lake, thru the Indian River, and into Mullet back to our place. We've definitely enjoyed taking advantage of the Inland Waterway. Of course we also want to get as much of the rail to trail finished as possible. I don't think we'll get to our entire list, but we'll sure have fun trying!

Full canoe on Mullet Lake

Life at Bug Camp

2010-07-19T17:05:00.004-04:00

We've been having a great summer up here in Northern Michigan and the time has been flying by. Toren has definitely loved camp life at the Biological Station. For the first two weeks my Mom was up here with Toren and I to help out with Toren during the day while Justin stayed back in Ann Arbor. Toren and Memaw (my mother) had a lot of fun hanging out together and exploring the station during the day. Toren seems to be quite the fish and has really enjoyed Douglas Lake. Toren took his first couple of steps right before Memaw got here and continued taking a few hesitant steps, but didn't really seem to enjoy being forced to walk. Shortly after Memaw left he became a full fledged walker. Between Memaw's departure and Justin and Dexter's arrival up north, I had one week to myself at camp while Toren stayed with Justin. It was kind of nice to have a bit of freedom for awhile (the most since Toren was born). I did miss him though and was glad when the whole family headed up north.

This year for the first time I moved off sight for the summer when the entire family came up. We're renting a little place in Topinabee just 10 minutes from the Station and across the street from Mullet Lake. Doggies aren't allowed at the Station and Justin spent a lot of time driving back and forth to Ann Arbor to deal with Dexter last year, so we thought it easiest to rent somewhere we could have the dog. It cuts down on the social aspect of camp, but Toren and Justin are making an effort to come over and join me for meals at camp. Justin has also brought his canoe and 2hp motor up from down south and has enjoyed having time to cruise Mullet Lake.

We've also had jam packed weekends since getting up here. We spent the 4th in Harbor Springs with our friends the Dilleys and got to watch the July 4th parade and go boating on their family boat in the Bay. We didn't quite manage to make it to the fireworks though. Life is definitely more exhausting when you have a child that wants to get into everything! The following weekend we took our first trip to Blissfest, a yearly music festival outside of Cross Village. I was a little nervous about how Toren would do, but he loved it! He's really into clapping and dancing right now and he got ample opportunity to do both at the festival. He also loved drumming on things in the kids area. This past weekend Justin's brother Jacob and his family came up from Whitmore Lake and spent the weekend with us. There was lots of swimming, biking (there is a great rail-to-trail path right across the street from us that is about 70 miles in length), and boating. It was a fun but exhausting weekend. I guess that really sums up parenting in general right now a lot of fun, but also very exhausting!

Happy Birthday Tor Tor

2010-06-01T12:19:00.005-04:00

We celebrated our little Tor Tor turning 1 the weekend before Memorial Day weekend. It was great fun to celebrate this milestone with our friends and family, and all the work that Mommy and Daddy put in was well worth it. The year has definitely gone by fast and we're enjoying seeing Toren grow into a little person. This past month he gained 3 new molars, started declaring his love for the "ball" (his first real world used in context..he also says, Mama, Dada, and tries to repeat Dexter), and continues to be hesitant to take those first few steps. He sure is good at getting himself into trouble though and he has to be kept close tabs on.

6/3 P.S. - At Toren's 1 year appointment today he was 75% for height and 25% for weight. He's stretching but staying a skinny dude.

Goodbye dear avocados I won't be seeing you nearly as frequently...

2010-05-05T13:05:00.004-04:00

5/5/2010

So the day has finally come when Toren has started to reject some food (it has amazed me up to this point that he's willing to eat everything!) and unfortunately for me, his first reject happens to be one of my favorites...avocados. I was ecstatic when I read that avocados make a great first baby food. Finally an excuse to buy avocados! I love avocados, but Justin can take them or leave them, so I often have a hard time rationalizing buying avocados when they tend to be somewhat expensive and half of the avocado usually gets wasted since I can't finish one on my own and they turn bad so quickly. So I've enjoyed using Toren as an excuse to buy avocado for the last 5 months...well it was fun while it lasted.

In other eating updates, Toren has also decided that he no longer really likes Mom and Dad feeding him. He rather make his own mess with his food these days. So I guess we're also kind of done with the whole baby food stage. Oh and also relating to the mouth...he's started biting this week! I guess its payback for my mock biting of him when we wrestle. He's bitten both Justin and I as well as one of our friends and he thinks it's hilarious every time. We don't agree, it really does hurt. So no more play biting. I hope this new habit is short lived.

Flashback to Toren at 10 months...

2010-04-28T12:25:00.014-04:00

4/28/10

Okay, so I'm getting worse at this updating thing, but it seems as the sun comes out and things warm up, there is a lot more that is vying for my time. Of course Toren has already hit the 11th month mark, but I thought I should update with info about him at 10 months rather then skipping. Have I mentioned that I haven't gotten past week 1 in his baby book? So I figure, I should write this stuff down here so that when I get my act together to work on that I have something to reference.

Toren at 10 months really exemplified the expression about babies that "as soon as you get it figured out, everything changes". It seemed like every couple of weeks he would under go a complete personality change. He started the month as a complete spaz really getting into crawling and pulling himself up and was a complete monster to try to put down for bed or a nap. When put down in his crib he would immediately stand up and start talking, throw his pacifier, and eventually start crying. We would spend about an hour trying to get him to go down by letting him tire himself out and then coming back in once he laid down and lowered things to a whimper to give him his pacifier again. After a couple of weeks of that he came down with a bit of a cold and decided he was no longer interested in crawling or standing, went back to his "swimming" motions and just fusing with frustration, but went back to being easy to put down for a nap. Now he's somewhere in between. He's back to being a good crawler, but much rather move around in standing position from one piece of furniture to the next. He hates to get dressed and get his diaper put on though and puts up quite the fight about that. He's also moved up to 7 teeth and has gotten to the point where he doesn't like to be fed by Daddy and Mommy so much. He continues to do a lot of mimicking of noises and words. No real use of language on his own though. He also loves to clap his hands and attempts to give me high fives. My favorite development of the month has been kissing. He will now give me a kiss when requested (if he's in the right mood) which usually ends up being a nice sloppy open mouthed kiss. Definitely warms the heart!

The other big change for us has been sending Toren to daycare twice a week so that Justin can actually get some work done at home. As Toren has gotten more mobile it's definitely been a challenge for Justin to get work done and keep an eye on him. So this past month we started driving him up to the daycare that his cousins go to in Whitmore Lake on Fridays and taking him to some friends of ours in Ypsi that have a 2 1/2 year old on Wednesdays. Whitmore Lake is a bit of a drive, but we figured it was nice for him to go somewhere where he knows people and we usually head up there after work on Fridays anyway for dinner. So far the arrangement is working out well and Toren seems to enjoy getting out of the house and socializing with the other kids so I think its good for both Justin and Toren. It's also very nice that Toren has yet to show any stranger anxiety. He always acts like he could care less that I'm leaving him somewhere.
As we enter the 11th month we're excited to see what it will be bring. We also quickly inch closer to his first birthday. Wow, what a year!

Our Little Rocker

2010-04-16T15:58:00.002-04:00

I posted this video a while back on my facebook page, but I thought I would post it here also for my non-facebook peeps. Toren is obsessed with the CD changer and we often let him pick the music and the frequency at which it's changed. It's entertaining to watch what he decides to let play and rock out to.

Our Little Rocker from anne fowler-edin on Vimeo.

Toren takes a stand...

2010-03-23T16:41:00.001-04:00

Toren Takes a Stand from anne fowler-edin on Vimeo.

Toren at 9 Months

2010-03-22T14:58:00.007-04:00

3/22/10

Okay, so I guess these monthly progress updates on Toren are becoming more of retrospectives since I don't get around to blogging until near the end of the Month. Nine months has been an exciting age for Toren since he had his first flight, started sleeping through the night, has finally started some real crawling, has agreed to finally start feeding himself, and has entered a fun mimicking stage. He also got his first ER trip out of the way.

At the beginning of the month Toren and I flew down to Gainesville for a week to visit P-paw and Memaw. Toren did pretty good on the flight and had relatively little fussing. He was still a bit of a handful considering he's not one to sit still on a lap these days. After twisting and turning for about 2 hrs he finally fell asleep for the last 20 minutes of the flight. My arms were pretty sore the next day. We had a great visit with my parents and even my brother was there from Pennsylvania. This was the first time in about 4 years we had all been together (my brother is a chef so he never gets the holidays off) so it was a pretty special trip. My brother treated us to a lot of wonderful gourmet meals. We also took a trip down to the Naples area to visit with my grandparents as well as a cousin and her three wonderfully sweet boys. Toren also surprised me by deciding it was finally time to start sleeping thru the night while we were down there. Though he also became a bit more demanding during the day since he entered into the kind of mobile, but not really mobile stage of things, where nothing keeps his attention for more than 10 mins. On the flight back my brother flew with us and got a connecting flight from Detroit to PA. It was great to have an extra pair of hands.

Toren has also finally decided to start helping out with feeding time and has become better coordinated with feeding himself finger food (well something other than just mom and dad's pickle spears when eating out). It probably helped that I finally bought him a real highchair (well a travel one anyway) with tray so that he could get some extra practice in. He's still happy to have us feed him baby food but at least he's willing to do some of the feeding himself now. He also started doing some real crawling last week to celebrate St. Patty's day. He's still more comfortable with " swimming on the floor especially when on our linoleum and hardwood, but he's making progress. Toren also likes to mimic sounds now and will often respond to "Hi" with a similar sound. He also likes to have lengthier conversations with us or Dexter. He and Dexter are becoming better friends these days especially since Toren will now hand food off to him.

The not so fun part of this month was our trip to the ER for a MRSA (staph) infection. Toren's buttock became infected last week with what I initially thought was just an infected pimple, when a large portion became infected, Justin took him into the pediatrician. The pediatrician drained the infected site and prescribed us some antibiotics, but also suggested that we take him to the ER to get IV antibiotics. Well I think it was a bit of an over reaction on our doctors part as the ER folks were a bit surprised that we came in given the fact we hadn't tried any antibiotics yet and Toren didn't have a fever and was acting fine. Five hours later we got to go home with a new prescription of antibiotics (they thought the one that our doc prescribed was a bit overkill) and with out any iv antibiotics. Toren was a champ though and charmed everyone as long as they didn't touch his infected site. He even took a nap for part of the time so I was able to get some work done (thank goodness for free wireless at the UofM ER). His infection is almost gone now so we're all pretty happy about that. Hopefully that is the last of that type of excitement for awhile.

P.S. - Toren reminded me last night at 2:30 that he also is teething again and has at least two additional teeth (#4 & 5) coming in. Guess his vampire looking days are over since he is finally getting at least one of the front two teeth.

Toren at 8 Months

2010-02-11T14:13:00.007-05:00

Umm, so I typed up this entry a while ago, but forgot to post it. I do realize he's just about to turn 9 months at this point...

At 8 months, Toren continues to be a fun little guy though not the best sleeper of late. After several nights of sleeping through the night and thinking that we had finally turned a corner, Toren seems to have moved backwards this month, due to teething issues, developmental issues, and now a cold. There have been a few occasions this past month when we've even had to allow him to sleep in our bed in hopes of getting some sleep for ourselves, something we haven't done since he was a newborn. He's still working on his top two teeth and perhaps more which have been causing him a bit of pain.

Little Tor Tor appears to be on the verge of crawling, but seems to be quite frustrated that he can't quite do it and get to the things he wants yet and I think this is also affecting his sleep. He can get around a bit by rolling around or pushing himself backwards on his stomach. We've realized it will soon be time to start making the house a bit more baby friendly which will take a bit of work. Toren has also started to use a few signs, milk and eat, though he frequently uses the milk sign if he wants an object.

One of our favorite activities with Tor Tor of late has been bath time. We recently had a plumber friend fix our tub so that it holds water so that he can take a real bath instead of in his plastic tubby. We've (well usually me, except Justin stands in on the nights I have class) started taking baths with him and he loves it just as much as we do. It's a great way for both Toren and I to unwind in the evenings and to get some quality time together. The only draw back is that now of course he doesn't really like to take baths by himself.

I continue to stay overly busy with work, classes, and trying to find time to hang with Tor Tor. I've also started the process of putting my resume out for possible job opportunities. My current position will be coming to a close at the end of August and given the state of the current economy, I decided that I need to get into the job hunt earlier than later. It's a little nerve racking knowing my position will be coming to an end, but I'm hoping this means that I'll be moving on to bigger and better things.

The end of the holiday season and Toren at 7 Months

2010-01-11T16:04:00.006-05:00

Monday, January 11th

Toren chillin at Motel 6 on our way to Gainesville

This year we discovered that holiday time is so much more fun with a little one. Inspired by having a little one, we actually put up lights for the first time and got a table top Christmas tree -well a rosemary plant shaped like a Christmas tree. Even though Toren didn't have a clue what was going on and ended up being sick and a little cranky for both of our Christmas celebrations, they were still a lot of fun. We celebrated early with the Edin clan in Whitmore Lake and then headed to Gainesville, Florida, to celebrate Christmas with my family. Toren was such a trooper for the 17 hour drive, even though he came down sick with a fever. Travel with he and Dexter was surprisingly easy. We had a lot of fun in Gainesville checking out my parents new digs and the surrounding areas and we're looking forward to getting back there. My parents have become urbanites, now living right near downtown, instead of 30 miles out in the country like they did in San Antonio. They're enjoying being able to walk everywhere so we manged to get some good exercise while walking around town and even getting out for a bicycle ride with them and Toren on their near by rail to trail. Dexter was in heaven since my parents live near a doggie park that he got to visit daily. I'm pretty sure he didn't want to come back to Michigan with us.

Toren and P-Paw

Toren and Memaw

At 7 months Toren is continuing to do well. He's continuing to be a pretty happy baby, though he's a bit more opinionated of late and isn't shy about fussing if he wants something. He's doing better with his sleeping, now generally waking up between 4-6 to eat and then head back to sleep until 9ish (thankfully he lets us sleep in). He actually even pulled 13 hours straight last week! His day time napping is getting a bit more erratic though, and while Mommy appreciates the extra sleep at night, Daddy is suffering from a less time to get stuff done during the day. Other updates..he's finally sitting up better, though we still need to keep an eye out for flopping over, he's working on some top teeth to go with his bottom two, and continues to love to chat, mostly about "Daadaa" these days. Oh and this past week he's started this head tilting obsession. For some reason he really likes to look at things sideways. Have no idea why, but whatever makes him happy..

What a cutie!

2009-12-10T13:05:00.006-05:00

I asked Justin to take a few photos of Toren yesterday for a project I was working on. He got some really great snapshots for me...

Toren at 6 Months

2009-12-08T17:16:00.004-05:00

Tuesday, December 8th

Today I celebrate my first birthday as a mommy and what a great celebration it is! Who knew being a mommy was this much fun, a lot of work, but a lot of fun! At 6 months Toren is becoming such a fun little guy to hang out with. He recently had two lower teeth come in which had been bugging him for awhile. He now loves to check them out with his tongue tip and makes lots of cute faces in the process. He's also gotten a lot chattier especially in the morning when he gives us his nice sing song monologues. He frequently combines the tongue exploring with the chatting which is pretty funny. Justin has also taught him to dance...this consists mostly of head bobbing (ala Ray Charles style) which is also pretty hilarious when he gets it going. Combine this with the sing song monologue and tongue exploring all at the same time and he has us cracking up for a good while.

Other developmental progress...he now can pop his pacifier back into his mouth when he takes it out, which is a big help. We're still working on sitting up for extended periods of time, but I'm sure it will be very soon.He continues to explore the world of food and often enjoys blowing razzberries while eating which makes for a food splattered Mommy. He's also started trying to grab our food off our plates so we'll probably start in on some finger food that he can gum soon.

All in all its been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to celebrating the holiday season with our little one.

Toren at 5 months

2009-11-07T21:48:00.007-05:00

Tuesday, November 10th

Month 5

click on the above album to see photos from Toren's 5th month

Okay, so the kids been 5 months for a couple of weeks now, but as usual we've been a bit busy. I decided to go ahead and let Toren start in on solids at 5 months as he seemed interested in the idea of eating. He's been a pretty good eater from the start, but we did have possible allergy issues come up. About half a week into rice cereal Toren broke out into a head to toe rash/eczema. Our pediatrician sent us to an allergist. The allergist did a scratch test for the typical food allergies plus rice, but Toren didn't show up positive for anything. However, I took him in to get blood drawn (not a lot of fun for either of us)for a blood test which is more accurate and we get the results back in a week. The allergist thought it might just possibly be that since he's a red head we can blame it on his sensitive skin. He told us to go ahead to continue to introduce him to solids and let him know if anything produces a similar reaction. So we've continued to introduce him to food, but we've held off on rice cereal as it seemed to create a rash again. He's enjoying, banana, apple, pumpkin, peas, and carrots at this point and I've enjoyed making his food. I figure that since I rarely cook for Justin and I, I could at least make Toren's food.

Toren has also started some not so fun teething lately which means that he's been waking up every couple of hours at night for the past three nights. Needless to say I'm quite exhausted from this. Luckily my mom has been in town so she's been helping me out with some of these sleepless nights. No teeth have broken through at this point but I'm sure some are coming. When not teething he's turned into quite a happy baby as long as he isn't to sleepy. As Justin has said, if we had just had video of what a happy baby he would become, it would have made those first few months a bit easier. He still doesn't like tummy time so doesn't do much rolling around unless forced to but I think he's getting quite close to sitting on his own as he'll sit for about 30 seconds or so before toppling over. He's also become quite the babbler and really enjoys shrieking.

In addition to my mom visiting we also got some visits from some out of town friends this past month who were here for a law school reunion. We even got to babysit one of our friends 3 month olds (well he actually slept most of the time). We also got to celebrate his first Halloween with a couple of Justin's high school friends and their families. Justin took Toren to a couple of houses...and picked up some candy for himself and to show off our cute bumble bee of course.

A visit from our doula and a recap of our birth experience

2009-10-13T20:58:00.007-04:00

Last week we had a visit from our doula Cara Genesio. She came to visit with Toren and deliver our Birth Story. It was great to see her and it was also nice to read her version of our birth. There was already a lot that I had forgotten. Below is the story of Toren's birth from her perspective.

Anne, Justin and Toren’s Labor and Birth Story From a doula’s perspective
By Cara Genisio

I had the honor of working as Anne and Justin’s birth doula for the arrival of their son, Toren. Because this birth story is written from my perspective, there are moments and events that are not included in this narrative, because I was not present.

Baby Toren was ready to make his arrival into the world several days in advance of his June 3rd due date. On Saturday, May 23rd, during the mid-morning hours, I received a call from Anne in which she explained that the pre-labor contractions that she’d been having off-and-on were starting to feel “different,” more frequent and more intense. They were beginning to organize themselves into somewhat of a regular pattern, although there was still a lot of unpredictability with the time in-between contractions. Anne and Justin had planned to drive to the west side of the state on Saturday to visit with family, and Anne said that she was pondering whether or not to cancel those plans. After talking about it for a bit, she said that her “gut” told her that it was better to cancel and take it easy around the house in Ypsilanti. The possibility of needing to drive across the state while in full-blown labor certainly didn’t sound very appealing!

I maintained phone contact with Anne and Justin throughout the day on Saturday and I was thrilled to hear that Anne was able to get quite a bit of rest despite the continuing contractions that she was experiencing. In between her attempts at napping, Anne and Justin also used another at-home method of getting labor started, and all of this relaxing time at home worked very well indeed!

As Saturday afternoon turned into evening, Anne reported by phone that her contractions were about 5-7 minutes apart, and she asked if I would join them at home. I was more than happy to, and we all settled in to watch The Kite Runner on the sofas in their living room. Anne was eating small meals of fruit, smoothies, and other little snacks, and the house lights were dim and mellow. The film, however, was not always very helpful in creating a relaxing mood; there was one moment in particular where a young boy (the main character) wondered whether his father despised him because his mother died in childbirth! Father answered “It’s a dangerous thing, being born—dangerous for the mother, dangerous for the child.” I had to say out loud, “Afghanistan, 1978” a couple of times just to place it all in context! We all had to laugh at that moment.

During the hours that we were watching the film, Anne’s contractions seemed to begin to focus in her lower back. Often, as she was sitting on the sofa, the start of a contraction would cause her to immediately turn into a hands-and-knees position, and I would use my hands for counterpressure at the base of her spine. Anne would breathe intensely and deeply, and it was clear that her contractions were becoming much more focused and painful. This was our first indication that back labor was to be a constant presence throughout the next several hours. At 11:30 PM, Anne had three very rapid contractions during a trip to the bathroom, and she had a lot of mucous discharge. At around midnight, after a couple of discussions with Dr. Popp via phone and much intensifying of contractions, Anne and Justin decided to make the trip to St. Joe’s; her contractions were about 4 minutes apart at this time, and they felt ready to make the move.

Upon our arrival in St. Joe’s Triage room at 12:15 AM on Sunday, Anne had her first cervical check—her cervix was 3 cm dilated, 80% effaced, and Toren’s head was at a -1 station in her pelvis. Labor was definitely progressing, but not to the point yet to check-in to a room. Anne, Justin and I left the Triage room together to walk the halls of the birthing unit for about an hour. From 12:40-1:40 AM we walked together; Anne would lean against the railing at the side of the hall when the contractions came, and I would apply counter-pressure to her back. For several contractions in a row, she developed a tapping rhythm with her fingernails along the railing in the hallway—it was a tapping at about the pace of a heartbeat, a quiet drumming sound that provided a focal point for the sustaining effort of working through the contractions. Justin would lean in very close to her head, touching her shoulder with his and breathing with her. I carried a metal bowl, our “just in case” bowl if Anne’s nausea returned (she had had some nausea in Triage). Anne made a couple of stops in the bathroom along the way, and she reported a lot more bleeding than she had seen before; the contractions also increased to two-minute intervals during this time. She and Toren were making progress, for sure!

At 2:05 AM, Anne’s cervix was checked again by the resident on-call, Dr. Johnson; her cervix had progressed to between 4 and 5 centimeters dilated, 90% effaced, and 0-station! Fantastic news! Just after her cervical check, Anne was sitting upright in bed and reported that she suddenly felt wet—her water had broken on its own at 2:25 AM. We gathered our things and took the walk down the hall together to the L&D room, stopping and standing for Anne’s contractions along the way. Anne’s first labor nurse, Danielle, joined us for this walk down the hall.

Once we arrived in the labor room, Anne sat upright in bed for many of her contractions, and stood for others. It was clear that her back labor was very, very strong, and it took a tremendous amount of focus to breathe through the back pain. It was remarkable to watch Anne work with her contractions during this whole time; she would close her eyes, drop her chin down towards her chest, and loosely grip a bed rail or the edge of a sheet. One aspect of this time in the labor room proved to be an unexpected challenge: the placing of the Heplock and drawing some of Anne’s blood. Perhaps due to her nausea and vomiting earlier, the nurses found it difficult to access a vein; in and of itself, this would have been challenging enough. Something that proved particularly difficult, however, was the hospital staff’s discussion of the difficulty they were having. (Justin expressed after the end of the labor that he wished they would have kept all that discussion to themselves; he felt it greatly increased the level of stress in the room.) Anne’s courage and tenacity through all this was remarkable; she was not able to freely choose her position, but still she remained strong and determined, sitting upright when she could, opening her pelvis by sitting cross-legged, and leaning forward whenever possible to relieve some of the pressure from the focused pain at the base of her spine. It was remarkable to watch her focus and concentration sustain through this challenging portion of her labor. After about 90 minutes, after the Heplock was placed, the nurses stopped trying to draw blood, and instead gave Anne some IV fluid to perhaps help hydrate her, thus making the blood drawing process easier.

At about 3:50 AM, Anne had another cervical exam, and she had progressed to 6.5-7 cm; Toren’s head had also moved much more deeply into her pelvis. His lower position might have contributed to the continuing intensification of Anne’s back labor, and she made the decision to request an epidural for pain relief at this time. The anesthesiologist, Dr. Klimek, placed the epidural quickly and also drew Anne’s blood while he was in the room. During the time that he was placing Anne’s epidural, he also noted a mole on Anne’s back that he though she should get checked (I learned after Toren’s birth that she did indeed get it checked, and thank goodness! It was an early-stage melanoma, and it was safely removed). At 4:20 AM on Sunday morning, after Anne’s epidural began working, we turned off the lights in the room and Anne and Justin quickly fell asleep under their blankets.

At 6:15 AM, Anne’s cervix was checked, and she had progressed to a “stretchy” 8 cm dilated. Dr. Popp noticed a small bulge of fluid ahead of Toren’s head; although Anne’s water had broken, there was still a bit of fluid contained by an unbroken part of the membrane. Dr. Popp ruptured this bulge of fluid to see if that might encourage more progress. Anne was starting to feel a “bowel movement” sensation with contractions at this point, which continued to build over the next couple of hours. Anne shifted her weight from side-to-side, and she kept moving her body’s position as the contractions continued intensifying. She also kept herself in a semi-upright position, which surely helped bring Toren down even deeper through her pelvis.

At 7:00 AM, Anne’s new nurse, Donna, began her shift, and Dr. O’Leary came on call as Dr. Popp’s shift ended. Dr. O’Leary checked Anne’s cervix at 7:35, and gave the wonderful news that she was 9 cm dilated, with just a lip of cervix at the top (an “anterior lip”) that still needed to open up and away. At 8:20 AM, Anne changed her position to her hands-and-knees to attempt to relieve the back pain that was becoming more intense as time passed. She rested her belly on a bean bag in the bed, and rested her head against her arms on top of a pillow. Justin stood at her head, stroking her hair and cheek, and providing quiet verbal encouragement and constant, light touch.

Finally, at 9:05 AM, Anne’s cervix had fully dilated and Toren’s head was at a +1 station! Very soon after this cervical check, however, Anne’s uterus contracted and held on—the contractions did not fade, and Dr. O’Leary gave Anne a dose of terbutaline to release her uterine muscles and give both Anne and Toren a break. Toren’s heart rate dropped during this period, and Anne had to shift quickly into three different positions to try to release the pressure that was building around Toren. The terbutaline worked very quickly and Toren’s heart rate immediately stabilized; Dr. O’Leary later pointed out that this difficult moment demonstrated how healthy Toren actually was, because his heart rate did exactly what it should do in a moment like this. His heart rate’s reaction to the intense, unyielding contraction was a reflection of his strength and resilience.

Anne said that she felt an incredible surge of energy as she began pushing, and she was able to squat in bed, push on her hands and knees, and move her body into whatever position she wished because the epidural had not blocked the sensation from her feet or lower legs. Anne’s face looked joyful and elated as she began pushing, and it was remarkable to see. Anne said, however, that the intensity of her pushing contractions had begun to fade, and she was not feeling the urge to push as strongly as she had felt them before—it felt like her contractions were becoming less effective over time, despite the upright positions and movements that she was using to move her pushing stage forward.

At 11:10 AM, after she had been pushing for two hours, Anne took a break from her efforts—exhaustion was setting in, and it was clear to her that the contractions were fading. Her care providers suggested a dose of Pitocin to encourage the return of the contractions. Dr. O’Leary rejoined us in the labor room shortly after the Pitocin was started, and she spoke directly and calmly to Anne about what her hopes were; she said she was interested in “directing” Anne’s pushing efforts more than she had before, and she asked Anne to focus in on her words and her touch as a way of guiding each push and each contraction. Justin stood by Anne’s head, I held Anne’s left leg, and Donna held Anne’s right leg, and we all joined in the quiet focus on each contraction as it came and went. Soon, Anne started to feel the intensity of the contractions building again.

At 1:00 in the afternoon, after Anne’s pushing stage had lasted for almost four hours (her cervix was checked and found to be 10 cm dilated back at 9:05 AM), Dr. O’Leary raised the possibility of using forceps to help Anne birth Toren. Dr. O’Leary explained how she used the forceps and the decisions and adaptations that she made whenever she used them, if needed. Anne and Justin listened quietly to her words, and a few tears were shed during these difficult moments, but they decided that Dr. O’Leary’s suggestion to use forceps was a path that they would try in order to avoid a Cesarean birth, if at all possible. Anne and Justin’s determination at this moment was extraordinary; they were quiet and peaceful, despite the difficulties and fears that were understandably associated with a decision like this.

At about 1:30 PM on Sunday, May 24th, Anne began her last few pushes with her labor support team surrounding her. Dr. O’Leary assisted her pushing efforts with the forceps for the last two pushes, and Anne gathered all her strength to push with as much effort and energy as she had had all day. It was a beautiful thing to watch her bring Toren into the world. He was born at 1:38 PM on the 24th, and he weighed 6 lbs. and 14 oz. He was 20.25 inches long, and very, very blond (or perhaps strawberry blond?) from the very start! Within the first hour after his birth he was nursing in his mother’s arms.

I am deeply appreciative to Anne, Justin and Toren for having the opportunity to be present through this amazing labor and birth. It’s an honor, and a day that I’ll never forget. Thank you.

Uncle Ps Visit

2009-10-13T16:53:00.004-04:00

Tuesday, October 13th

A couple of weeks ago my brother, Aaron, AKA Uncle P (his chef nickname I think short for Sweat Pea) came to visit Toren for the first time. It was a great visit and he Toren really hit it off. I was pleasantly surprised to see how in tune my brother actually is with babies. His "other family" (one of his colleges families that he frequently hangs out with) has three kids that I knew he had baby sat in the past, but this was the first time I really got to see my brother in action. We threw him right into the fire the first night he was here and had him baby sit Toren while I was in class and Justin went to a meeting. He's actually only the second baby sitter we've had other than my mom who claimed that she was "too old for this" when we came home after a night out. In her defense that was during the first six weeks. Uncle P did great and in addition to helping us out with babysitting he also took Justin out to a Tigers/Twins game (one of the ones they actually one) and joined us for a brewery tour of west Michigan. We hit up four breweries in one day - Founders in Grand Rapids, Bells in Kalamazoo, Arcadia in Battle Creek, and Dark Horse in Marshall - not bad for one day. We thought it was never too soon to introduce our wee one to quality beer. Click on the album below to see photos from Uncle Ps visit.

Mom had way too much fun...

2009-10-12T08:48:00.002-04:00

Playing with my present from P Pa, especially once she discovered that the sandwich pieces had Velcro.....

2nd and 3rd Month Photos

2009-09-30T09:48:00.002-04:00

I finally have put photos from Toren's 2nd and 3rd month up on Picassa. Most of these have been put onto Facebook already, but for the non Facebook fools, click on the photo albums below:

2nd month (1 month old)

Month 3 (2 Months)

Toren 4 Months

2009-09-29T17:55:00.006-04:00

Tuesday September 29th

Toren hanging with his friend Sophie the Giraffe

Toren hit the 4 month point last week and things are going fairly well. His 4 month appointment went well yesterday despite the ouchy shots. He is now 60th percentile for height and 20 percentile for weight. The doctor isn't too concerned about the weight percentile being some what low, but Toren definitely doesn't have those typical 4 month old rolls. Toren is getting a lot more fun all the time as he started smiling a lot more and has become more engaging. He's become quite the talker and drooler also --no teeth yet though. He's still not a fan of breast feeding so I'm still pumping during the day and bottle feeding and then breast feeding at night when he's too tired to object. For sleeping at night we've officially abandoned the car seat after a recent study was published that showed that oxygen levels dropped in infants sleeping in car seats. He was pretty upset about it at first as he was really attached to his car seat and enjoyed hanging out in it not just in the car and for sleeping but sometimes wanted to hang out in it when he was feeling cranky or even to feed when he was in a "don't touch me" mood. He finally got adjusted to sleeping without the car seat and back to sleeping until 5am when I disrupted his schedule by spending a week at my Grandparent Fowler's last week. He decided to carry out a boycott on napping and start sleeping like a newborn again. It was extra fun considering I was sick with a cold which he came down with for about 24 hours also. His first cold and a fever to go along with it which was bit unnerving, but he quickly recovered (much quicker than I did).

Toren and Great Grandpa Fowler

We enjoyed the visit with my Grandparents even if we didn't get a lot of sleep and spent a lot of time running back and forth to visit Grandpa Fowler whose been in a skilled nursing facility at the hospital since he came down with pnemonia a month ago. Toren charmed all the people at the facility with his smiles and gigiling. He's become a real people person of late! However, Toren didn't enjoy all the driving around and has now learned to hate his car seat and officially learned the back arching technique last week to make straping him into his car seat more difficult.

We also got to see P-Pa (my Dad) this past month when he came up for a visit. We enjoyed his visit and I know he enjoyed hanging out with Toren also. My Parents have now officially moved to Gainesville, Flordia after 15 years in Texas. My father has take a new position with the medical school at Florida State University. My Dad is excited about becoming at Gator and my Mom is excited to explore a new geographic area. I'm sure we'll be visiting Florida this winter. The drive is a bit shorter than to Texas. Which will be nice with trying to drive with an infant.

As for me...I'm definitely tired of being tired. After years of avoiding caffeine I've picked the coffee addiction back up as it seems to be the only way to get through the day these days. However, Toren's smiles definitely help make up for the lack of sleep and I really am enjoying being a Mommy and Justin is definitely enjoying the Daddy role. Work is going well though I think I may have spent more time on vacation the past month than at work with all visiting of family. I have a lot of vacation time that I have to use up this year and this is a slower time of year at work so this has worked out okay. I've also been back in the study mode this Fall as I'm taking an evening class as part of my Evening MBA program at UofM. I decided to take only 1 class this fall though instead of the usual 2 so that I'm not away from Toren as much. As always, I'm staying busy!

For more photos and videos from Toren's 4th Month Click Here

Bye Bye Bug Camp

2009-08-22T11:00:00.011-04:00

Tuesday, August 25th 2009

Well we officially survived our month up North with Toren. Other than the drama with my health, things went pretty smoothly overall, but we're glad to be back home and are working on getting settled in here. Our last few weeks up North we tried to get in a few more "firsts" for Toren. We took him on his first trip to Lake Michigan with a trip to Sturgeon Bay. He did a good job hanging out under the umbrella in his bouncy chair listening to the waves. Mommy got a nice cold swim in and even though I was pretty sure he wouldn't like it, I dipped Toren's toes in. Indeed he thought it was way too cold! We also took Toren on his first bike ride in the kiddy carrier. There is a nice rail to trail system that runs from Gaylord to Mackinaw City and was smooth enough to take our road bikes on. We jumped on the trail in Indian River and rode for about 10 miles. It was beautiful and Toren seemed to enjoy napping in his cart. It was a good sign as we hope to enjoy a lot more bike riding together.

Beach Bum

Mommy and Toren at Lake Michigan

Can't quite reach the pedals

After we left the North Country Justin dropped Toren and I off at his mom's house in Canadian Lakes were we spent a few days hanging out on the lake and relaxing. Dexter was already there so Toren got to get reunited with his furry older brother. It was a great visit and Toren got his first "swimming" experience. The lake was much warmer than Lake Michigan and he seemed to really enjoy it. He seems to really like water when its warm enough as he's really started to like bath time. Lot's of kicking and splashing now when he's in his tub.

Drying off after a dip in Canadian Lake

Now we're back home trying to get back into the swing of things here and making up for a month of neglect at the house. We're sad to see summer winding down but it is nice to be back on our home turf. I'll be trying to work from home two days a week (assuming I can get work done) so that I can spend a little more time with Toren. It is kind of sad to go all day with out seeing him now when I got use to visitng him through out the day at the Station.

Toren Month 2 ...and How I learned to love anesthesiolgists

2009-08-01T17:53:00.004-04:00

Saturday, August 1st 2009

Toren and I hanging out in front of our cabin at the UofM Biological Station

Hello, from Northern Michigan! Well another month has zoomed by in the life of Toren with out a blog post. We've definitely have had another busy month. Luckily, things started getting easier with Toren around 6 weeks -- started sleeping longer and generally a lot less fussy and of course many more heart warming smiles. He's also started babbling more as well as trying to kick and reach out and grab things. He had his two month appointment when we were back in Ann Arbor. He has dropped back down to 25 percentile for weight though the doctor wasn't too concerned by this as he is steadily gaining weight. For height he is now officially in the 50th percentile. My only recent struggle with him has been with breast feeding. Toren has decided he much prefers the bottle to the boob and will only breast feed in the middle of the night when he's half asleep or occasionally with great reluctance during the day. So for the most part I have to pump and put it in a bottle for him...and they say you can't spoil a baby less than 3 months! This of course creates a lot more work. I probably wont mind when we return to Ann Arbor and I start going back into work on campus and will have no option but to pump, but now that we are up at the Biological Station and I have the ability to walk back to our cabin to feed him, it's kind of annoying.

So far Toren has adapted well to life at the Biological Station. We were a bit worried about how he, or more correctly WE would deal with a life of communal eating and living in closer quarters, but he's done pretty good. I'm so glad that we didn't bring him up here before the end of his 6 week fussy period though. So far we've had no major meltdowns in the cafeteria, and we're also lucky enough to often find a willing volunteer to pawn him off on so that Justin and I can have our hands free to eat. He's also decided that he really likes hanging out outside. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been the greatest for that, but we've gotten a few nice days. He's also already had the opportunity to get his feet in the sand along the shores of Lake Huron. The water was much too cold to dip his feet in though!

Of course everything hasn't gone completely smoothly with our stay up at the Station, but not because of Toren, but because of my own health issues. Here is where we get to the second part of my post title..."How I learned to love anesthesiologists". I've had two runs in with anesthesiologists in the past months and in both cases they were real life savers:

1)Anesthesiologist who gave me an epidural - as I previously mentioned I wasn't to thrilled about the idea of having an epidural during labor, but as they say...somethings happen for a reason. The anesthesiologist spotted a mole on my back that he suggested I get check out when I was a little less busy. Long story short, I did get it checked out shortly before heading up north and it was a stage 1 melanoma (yup, skin cancer). Luckily it was caught before there was a chance of spreading and has now been excised from my back. So here is my PSA for the year...Don't forget to wear sunscreen (make sure it protects against UVA not just UVB), avoid prolonged sun exposure, and stay away from tanning beds.

2)Anesthesiologist who fixed my headaches from hell - after being up at the station for a week I came down sick with muscle aches, fever, light headiness, headache and neck ache. I was pretty sure that the head and neck ache was partly from bad nursing form and doing a lot of looking down to pump, work on my laptop, etc.. When I went to the urgent care in Petoskey though, they were afraid I might have meningitis so sent me to the Petoskey ER. Evidently the only way to check for meningitis is through a spinal tap. They gave me the option of doing a spinal tap though they said if it was viral meningitis they wouldn't necessarily change the way they treated me - just help with the pain - and it was not likely bacterial meningitis. Given the fact that we live in close quarters at camp and could potentially pass the infection along and that we had a 2 month old, I thought it best to confirm exactly what the issue was so went ahead with the spinal tap. I was told that there was a 5% chance that it would actually make my headaches worse (a number I since have been told is a gross underestimate). Well, my headaches did get worse shortly after leaving the ER. So bad that every time I sat up or tried to stand up I would get nauseated and eventually throw up from the pain. The next evening I went back to the ER complaining of the severe headaches and a temperature of almost 103. There were several issues with my second visit to the ER that upset me but long story short I was told to buck up and deal with it, though they did give me some IV fluids and said it could possibly be related to the spinal tap so to make sure I kept drinking lots of fluids which I did. The next day I felt well enough to travel back to Ann Arbor with the family for doctors visits for myself and Toren. However ,the next few days things got worse and I was again bed ridden with pain until finally I insisted on going back to the ER at St. Joes. Luckily, they immediately recognized the problem as leaky spinal fluid from the spinal tap and the anesthesiologist on call gave me a "blood patch", an epidural of blood from my arm into my spine. Within a couple of hours I was out of there and feeling significantly better. So second, PSA ... Don't get a spinal tap!

Seriously, a month already!

2009-06-20T20:44:00.009-04:00

Toren's First Month

Umm started last week at some point...finished Tuesday June 30th

Whoa, how the time has flown by! I can't believe Toren is a month old (yeah, time to update the ticker) and I'm finally doing a post-birth blog post! He has definitely kept us busy. I TOTALLY underestimated the amount of work that a baby brings! It's amazing I feel like I've been so busy this past month yet haven't gotten anything done - well other than maintain and fatten a baby. Of course we've also lost a lot of sleep in the past month, but I'm hoping that his sleep schedule will improve soon. It doesn't help that he's kind of a high maintenance baby and has a great set of lungs. He's luckily able to be soothed, but he needs to be soothed all the time. He is also very difficult to get to go down for a nap or bedtime and he often ends up sleeping in our bed (this from the person that was convinced that there would be no baby in the bed!). After all the battling to get him down at night we're rewarded about half the time with him awaking to very briefly fuss and fall back to sleep (he does this as I type and I swear that tonight I will finally move his car seat, in which he sleeps when not in our bed, into the nursery). Needless to say between his schedule and trying to keep up with what is going on at work (so, I guess I'm not 100% on maternity leave), I've been busy.

We've also had lots of visit from family and friends. Justin's mom, Lynne, stayed with me the last night at the hospital so that Justin could go home and get some real sleep. She also alternated between our house and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house during the first week. She was great help, running errands, cooking, etc.. Then my parents arrived from Texas; my father stayed a week and my Mom stayed until this Monday. Justin's sister Jen came up this weekend from Cinnci. We also had quite a few visits from friends.

But other than dealing with the time intensiveness and general crankiness of Toren, and general lack of sleep on everyone's part...we're enjoying parenthood. The brief periods when he is actually awake, not feeding, and not crying, make all the work well worth it. Especially now that he finally gave me a smile yesterday (no chance on getting one today). Smiling was his one missing "milestone" at his one month visit last week. He definitely has plumped up in the last month as he was 8lbs 11 oz up from a low of 6llbs 6oz after he left the hospital. Depending on whose height measurement you believe, he has now moved from 25th percentile to 30th percentile for both height and weight. I have to also say that I've been very impressed with Justin's contribution to the daily parenting. I feel very fortunate to have him home with me during my maternity leave as I would not enjoy doing it without him. It's so nice for both of us to be able to hand him off to someone when we get frustrated with trying to sooth him or just need some baby free time. In addition, thanks to Justin, I have to change very few diapers and also get to go back to bed most mornings when Toren decides he's up for good around 6. I think its very unfortunate that most women have to do most of it on their own as new parents.

I'm hoping that Toren will be becoming a bit less of a handfull as time goes on and I'll have more time to get online and post to my blog and update photos. Of course we'll all be heading up North on July 15th to the Biological Station for me to return to work. So who knows if I'll have any free time. A whole new challenge awaits!

Wow!

2009-05-30T14:13:00.009-04:00

Saturday, May 30th

Wow, how quickly a week has gone by and what a week it has been. Way to busy to get on the computer for very long. Actually had a bit more time today during his morning nap. Soon we'll be venturing out to the store...our first big outing as a family other than to the pediatrician's office. Further updates on this week when we have a chance and will be putting together a picasa site of our first week of photos and videos so check back. Below is the birth story that I just sent to our child birth class

Toren Fowler Edin was born last Sunday 5/24 at 1:38pm at 38 and ½ weeks weighing in at 6lbs 14 oz and 20 ½ inches long. Of course things didn’t go exactly as planned (do they ever?) but we’re definitely happy with the end result. I start having clear early labor signs on Saturday morning. We decided to scrap our plans to go visit my grandparents and extended family an hour and ½ away that were in the area for Memorial Day Weekend. By the evening the contractions were getting fairly regular and about 5-7 minutes apart. We decided to call in our doula, Cara Genisio from Ann Arbor Doulas, to came over and hang out with us while we watched Kite Runner (or at least parts of it between contractions). Of course we all had to laugh when the main character talked about his father hating him because his mother died giving birth to him –we decided this perhaps was not the best movie to watch while going into labor. We headed to St. Joes around midnight when contractions became more intense and were about 3 to 5 minutes apart. In triage I was 3 cm dilated so they had us walk around for an hour and allow the contractions to strengthen. As contractions intensified they all became back contractions and I knew that Toren was most likely in the “poopy position”. After an hour of walking we returned to triage and I was 4.5 cm dilated. This was the point that I started doing a lot of throwing up and my water broke. I was then officially admitted. Once in the labor delivery room the nurses requested to put in a heplock in case I needed fluids they explained that they would need to stick me regardless to get blood and would only have to stick me once if they put in the heplock. This turned out to be very wrong. They spent the next excruciating hour and ½ trying to draw blood while I continued to throw up. They managed to get the heplock in and an IV started to rehydrate me as they continued to poke me and keep me confined to the bed (most frequently right on my back). We were so thankful that Cara was there to assist us but after an hour and ½ with still no blood drawn (and swearing at any nurse that tried to draw it), still no idea when they would let me up to move, and the back pain continuing in between the contractions, I couldn’t cope any longer with the pain and requested an epidural. At this point I was 7 cm dilated. After the epidural and after the anesthesiologist was able to draw my blood in one shot, I was able to rest for awhile until mid morning when I was dilated enough to push. As the pushing stage neared I had let the epidural wear off enough so that I could feel the urge to push and was able to get up on my hands and knees and push as well as pushing in a modified squat position. After pushing for a while, my uterus stopped relaxing during contractions which caused Toren’s heartbeat to drop. In order to avoid an emergency c-section the doctor administered terbutaline to slow down the contractions. Unfortunately, it slowed it down to the degree that though I continued to push, I didn’t make any progress. The surge of energy and empowerment that I had felt in the beginning of the pushing stage (which even caused me to smile despite the contractions and the wearing off of the epidural) was long gone after 2 hours of pushing. They decided to have me stop and take a break and started administering pitocin to increase the contractions and also started internal monitoring so that they could get a better read on the contractions. Once the contractions intensified the doctor had me start pushing again but she informed me that she was going to take control of the pushing stage at this point and was going to direct me on exactly how she wanted me pushing in order to try to get him out before all my energy waned. I was once again relegated to my back while my doula and nurse held my legs, Justin held my head and the doctor channeled my energy with her voice and hands. It really felt that pushing was a team effort at this point and I was surprisingly happy to give up some control over it. After an additional hour of pushing Toren hadn’t progressed much further than he had been. At this point we were given two options: 1)ramp up the contractions some more with additional pitocin, continue to push for a half hour and then attempt a forceps delivery or 2) C section. The doctor did a wonderful job explaining to us how the forceps would be used, the pros and the cons, and her track record for forceps. I was disappointed in the idea of using forceps (well okay, somewhat hysterical perhaps) but a c-section seemed to be a much worse option, especially after I worked so hard I didn’t want the feeling of empowerment taken away from me with a c -section. After an additional half an hour pushing like hell Toren lowered enough so that the doctor was able to deliver him with the forceps with the assistance of two additional pushes. It was an amazing rush of course and I couldn’t believe he was ours, that they were actually going to let me have him.

Even though I was slightly disappointed with the epidural, I think given the circumstances the tools used were appropriate for the situation. I was happy I was able to labor until 7 cm without the epidural, happy that despite not pushing him all the way out on my own, I was able to work at it for so long and make the progress that I did. Both our doctor (who was such a calming force in the room) and our doula (who seemed to know exactly what to do to make me feel better) were amazing and without their assistance I don’t think things would have gone as smoothly as they did. Having a doula present is definitely money well spent. Even just talking with her today and discussing the experience with someone that was there has been so important in this process. I can’t recommend it enough.

We’ve been taking our time to recover at home. The episiotomy, due to the forceps delivery has definitely made recovery a bit tougher and has made learning to breast feed a bit more frustrating, but we’re all working together to figure things out. The change in pace of things has been shocking but we’re also learning to revel in the small accomplishments of the day. It has been quite the learning curve, but we’re enjoying the process!

-Anne, Justin, and Toren

Preparing for Birth

2009-05-21T11:58:00.004-04:00

May 21st, 2009

Well, it's been about two weeks since the little one has dropped down or "lightening" has occurred and I'm not sure that our little one is any closer to coming on out. It was interesting that most of the articles I read about lightening emphasize the good points of lightening - i.e. can breath better- but I never had many issues before it occurred. Now that he's dropped down pregnancy has definitely become a lot less comfortable as the weight on pelvis as well backaches are not so fun. At my 37 week appointment last Thursday I was 1 cm dilated, 75% effaced, and the baby's head was right on the cervix, so station was probably near 0, but I forgot to ask. This past Tuesday at my 38 week appointment things were pretty much the same. I was a bit disappointed but knowing that I have a bit more time to get some things done is good.

We've definitely been busy over the past couple weeks and now have the carpeting in upstairs as well as all of the office furniture moved upstairs (Many thanks to Jacob for his help on this!). There are still some things that need to be done up there, like installing a railing around the stairs so that no one falls down them. Overall though most of the hard work is done and we can take some time to finish things up and set up the office space. We're loving the extra space already even though most things are still in boxes or piles. Freeing up the old office space allowed us to move into our new bedroom which has been somewhat odd for me since my bedroom really hasn't changed at all since I moved into the house almost 8 years ago. I kind of feel like I've moved in with Justin by moving into his old office space. We also set up a bassinet in there for the little one which felt very odd too. We finished painting the nursery this week and after I do some touch ups tonight we'll get to move the rest of the nursery furniture in. Now if we can only figure out what box the crib hardware got dumped into! Oh well it won't be needed right away. On the non baby front we've also put in some hours working on getting things planted out in the 3,000 square foot garden we share with my brother and sister in law on their property in Whitmore Lake. We've planted 20lbs of potatoes and Justin is supposedly out there today planting 40 tomato plants that we started from seed this spring. Can't do anything small! This year the guys put down weed barrier through out the garden to hopefully cut down on a lot of the weeding - 3,000 square feet is a lot to keep up with when it comes to weeds. Not sure what we'll be doing with all that produce. I guess I better figure out how to can tomatoes this year.

Justin working on planting tomatoes in the garden

We also finished up our prenatal meetings with our Doula, Cara, this week. Cara is around our age and a mom to a two year old as well as a Lamaze instructor at the Lamaze Institute here in Ann Arbor. We really like her and are really happy to have her by our side during the delivery and she has gotten us excited about the delivery process. This week when we met we practiced and discussed some positioning as well as breathing and massage techniques (which were pretty relaxing after a long day). Not sure how much I'll really get to "appreciate" this during actual labor - I hear its not quite like going to the spa- but its good to have these coping tools. Justin and I have also been doing some practice on our own as well as preparing a birth bag, pack list, and birth plan. I also have been practicing trying to "escape" the pain and not focusing on it by holding ice cubes in my hands for a minute or longer and ignoring it. This was an exercise suggested by both our childbirth educator and Cara. So overall I'm getting pretty excited about the big day and am looking forward to meeting this little bugger.

We've also decided on a name for our wee one, which we've already shared with many of you. His official name is Toren Fowler Edin (assuming no last minute changes). The name is Swedish as we thought we would honor Justin's Swedish background by giving him a Scandinavian name. The name is actually more common as a last name, but like many last names these days is gaining popularity as a first name (well in Scandinavia anyway). The name is most frequently spelled Thoren but pronounced with the hard T. Since there is enough problems with the correct pronunciation of Edin we thought we simplify it to Toren. The name of course relates to the Scandinavian god Thor. Before I ever got pregnant Justin used to joke that when we had a kid he would name it Thor and I told him that there was no way we were going to name our child after a god of thunder, that that was just asking for trouble. Well, here we are, asking for trouble!

Are we ready for this???

2009-05-09T15:38:00.019-04:00

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

So we've made it to the home stretch and it's been a busy couple of weeks. I finished up both my evening classes and am happy that I did well in both courses. I'm now 1/5 of the way to getting my MBA. No more classes until the fall. Currently I'm registered for two courses in the fall, we'll see how I feel about that when the fall gets here. We've also been wrapping up things on our upstairs remodel project. It was a lot of last minute scrambling and long hours to get things wrapped up so that Justin's friend could paint the room. We're really excited now that its painted and all the hard work is paying off. It will be so nice to have the upstairs space livable as it increases the square footage of our small house by about 1/3. I'm also hoping to work from home one day a week when we come back in the fall so that I can spend more time with our little man and give Justin one day during the week to get his stuff done a little more easily. The upstairs room will come in handy for that.

Looking west. There used to be a wall where the column is

Looking east. Now we get a great cross breeze between the two windows

Last weekend my sister-in-law Jocelyn and mother-in-law Lynne, threw me a wonderful shower at Jocelyn's house. It was great to be able to share some time with some amazing women and especially wonderful that my Mom was able to come in from Texas for the weekend for the event. I last saw her around Christmas time before I had any significant bump. It was nice to have her see me actually looking pregnant and get to spend some quality time with her. My best friend Blake even managed to jet up for the day (life of a busy lawyer) for the shower which was also nice since I haven't seen her in over a year. Of course there were also a lot of nice gifts and we can now legally brig our little one home thanks to the stroller/car seat from the Edins. You can see Jocelyn's photos of the shower here.

At the shower with BFF Blake and my Mom

On the pregnancy front things are progressing well and perhaps a bit faster than we expected as I think our little guy is going to make his appearance before the June 3rd due date. I dropped Justin off at the airport this Thursday to fly out to Las Vegas for a wedding. We were a little nervous about having him go on this trip when we initially scheduled it since it was getting closer to the due date and of course I wouldn't be going to Vegas with him, but his friend had asked him to be in his wedding. Though I new I was going to miss him on Thursday after dropping him off I thought that it might be kind of nice to have some alone time before Iddy Biddy gets here and to get some stuff done around the house. Well I was feeling at ease about things until I started getting some cramping Thursday night and when I woke up Friday I had some spotting. Lukily I had my 36 week appointment already scheduled for later that afternoon so I headed off to work trying not to get anxious. At work I spoke with my co-worker Alicia, who is a doula, about the sympotms and she said that it sounded as if it could be signs of very early labor. Of course that didn't put me at ease any and all I could think about is how unprepared I was for Iddy Biddy's appearance and I definetly didn't want him arrriving without Justin around. In addition, Alicia and I had recently decided that she was going to be too busy at the end of May and June to properly serve me as doula. I had scheduled an apointment to meet with a different doula tomorrow, but no longer had one in place. Alicia assured me though that if I went into labor this weekend she would be around to help me which was somewhat reasuring. On my way to the doctor's office I decided I should pick up some disposal diapers just in case as well as some other things for my "birth bag" which I had yet to put together and also started to wonder if I was going to be able to dig that carseat out of the basement on my own. The doctors visit was pretty reasurring though as she visually checked my cervix and couldn't see any more bleeding and didn't think I was very dialated if at all. She didn't want to manually check as she didn't want to cause anymore bleeding. So she thought I would probably make it through the weekend but she thought that it sounded like things were headed in that direction.

As of this morning things still seem to be holding tight, no more bleeding. I'm pretty sure he has dropped though and I think the bleeding was related to that. I woke up this morning with a waddle (my hips feel like they're looser and have widden), my lower abdomen is feeling more pressure, and I'm definetly having to run to the bathroom more often. According to what I've been told, this baby dropping or "lightening" usually happens a couple of weeks before birth during the first pregnancy. So I'm thinking he's going to arrive a little early, but who knows, nothing about birth is really predicatable. I'll just be relieved when Justin gets back late tomorrow night. Still not feeling like were exactly ready for this, but I don't think anyone is. It would be nice to have things a bit more settled on our house projects (like a nursery) but oh well, it's not like the baby is going to notice or even use the nursery in the first couple of weeks. We'll see which one gets here first!

36 1/2 weeks

Checking things off the list...

2009-04-23T16:01:00.003-04:00

Thursday, April 23rd

Thirty four weeks and as things get closer we've started to realize there is so much to do before Iddy Biddy gets here. This week we finally set up an appointment to go interview a possible pediatrician. We decided that we will likely go with the practice we interviewed, Turke & Thomashow, as we liked the idea of a small hands on practice and I also liked the fact that they were both PhDs first before becoming MDs (I think a PhDs often brings with it a certain amount of healthy skepticism). We also made the decision to get a doula for the birth to help us with our goal of having an unmedicated birth. Justin and I both came to this decision independently based on our birthing class. We decided we would feel more comfortable having someone there to help us to remember all the information that we're flooded with in class, to let us know that things that come up are part of the natural birth process, and to be our general advocate at the hospital. Luckily, one of my co-workers is also a birth doula and was a doula for my friend Heather. She has agreed to help us with our birth. I also finally signed us up for a hospital tour and now just need to figure out how to squeeze in a newborn 101 class and a breast feeding class - keeping busy!

Thirty four weeks has also meant that I've been able to return to jogging (well, jogging/brisk walking/waddling.). It's not been an easy return, but I'm trying to get out there as much as possible as I really think its helped me avoid any sciatic or back issues. I had my 34 week appointment today and all is looking well. Iddy Biddy is head down so lets hope he stays that way. I have one more 2 week appointment and then it's every week from there on out. On my next appointment I have my Strep B test and really hope that it comes back negative so that I wont have to have antibiotics during labor.

On other fronts I've finished up one of my two evening MBA classes this week and have the final for the other on Monday. It will be nice to have a break from school for awhile and not to have my weekends taken up with meeting with my class groups for projects and homework. Right now the plan is that I'll go back to taking two classes a semester this fall. We'll see if I still feel up to that once the fall semester gets here. We're also hopefully getting close to wrapping things up on the upstairs remodel, well as much as we need to get wrapped up to move the office stuff up there and make room for switching bedrooms downstairs. Justin's friend is scheduled to come paint the upstairs next week so we better be ready. Then it's carpet upstairs and refinishing of floors downstairs and we can finally put together a nursery. Iddy Biddy just needs to stay patient until then.

7 months and the belly grows on...

2009-04-06T17:20:00.005-04:00

April 9th

At 7 months I'm happy to report that all is going well especially since I've finally started sleeping consistently again. It was definitely a rough month 1/2 of varying degrees of insomnia. I was definitely a bit sleep obsessed there for awhile. I've now had 2 weeks of good sleep and feel ready to finish out these last 2 months before looking forward to some more sleepless nights. 7 months has also marked the end of my pregnancy running. for a bit I've had to put it on hold for a couple of weeks because my Braxton hick contractions, or "practice contractions", have started to become too frequent during my runs. Braxton hick contractions are pretty harmless, but can lead to dilation if too frequent and Iddy Biddy definitely needs more incubating time. Now I've been demoted to a brisk walk and I might try setting up my road bike on the trainer in the backyard for some exercise. The doctor today said that I could probably start back up in a couple of weeks as long as they only occur when I'm running and don't continue after I stop and rest. We'll see if I still am actually able to jog in a couple of weeks when I try to start back up.

Thankfully I don't have any real aching to complain about at this point. Oddly enough my only achiness so far was at the end of my first trimester as my joints and such started to loosen up. I have been feeling the effects of some lung compression when trying to climb the stairs or when I was running but even that has been pretty tolerable. Iddy Biddy has started to have fun poking me in the ribs or in the pelvis which has made his movements a little less fun sometimes, but its also been cool to be able to feel a butt or foot or hand here and there from the outside of the belly. His movements have become slower and less karate chopping as his room in the womb decreases. It's also been fun being able to watch him move my belly around now that he's gotten so strong. Even my dad who was here for a brief visit got to see a nice little performance from him. Yes, it reminds me of something from the movie Alien. Another sign that the end is within sight has been my colostrum coming in which was a bit of shock when I first made the discovery. Guess it's nice to know that things are working in that department.

We also began our birthing classes last week and the two classes we've had so far have been pretty enjoyable. We really like the instructor and the other couples seem fairly like minded. We're taking a natural child birthing center with the goal of having an unmedicated birth as there can be some draw backs to an epidural. I'm really hoping that I can do it. I actually wanted to look into the possibility of going to an independent birthing center where I wouldn't have the option of medication to ensure that I wouldn't "cave in", but the closest one is about an hour away and I don't think that drive would be a lot of fun when I'm in labor. St Joes hopsital is only about 5 minutes away.We'll see how it goes. At this point I'm not too nervous about the whole labor thing, perhaps naively so, but hey it ends eventually and then we get to meet the little one which is pretty exciting.

Into the last trimester...the honeymoon is over...the swan has sung

2009-03-11T11:52:00.006-04:00

Thursday, March 12th

28 week belly, Dexter doesn't understand what all the belly fuss is for

So I've officially entered the last trimester. Nice to know that it's 2/3s down and last 1/3 to go, but it also means that the second trimester honeymoon has definitely started to wrap up. I can't complain too much as my tummy has remained on the smaller side which I think has helped me to have no real back issues or other aches to complain of during the day. However, sleep has definitely been another issue. Despite the smaller tummy, sleep started getting uncomfortable about three weeks ago - sore back, hips, headaches, etc.. Usually, I'm a back sleeper, but as pregnancy progresses the weight of baby and uterus tends to cut off circulation which leads to major headaches when laying on the back for awhile. So, it's suggested to sleep on the side - primarily left - as this leads to the best circulation. So side sleeping has taken a while to get used to and also leads to an achy back and hips b/c of the relaxing of all the joints thanks to those handy hormones. I finally managed to figure out how to wedge enough pillows around my body to get comfortable and then came down with a sinus infection that kept waking me up with throbbing in the head and face. After dealing with that for a week and getting no sleep, I finally caved in and started taking some Sudafed as directed by the my OBGYN, but then had built up anxiety about trying to sleep and I don't think the stimulant effects of the Sudafed helped. Anyway, I think I'm slowly getting back into a routine of sleep and my primary care physician has given me a homeopathic remedy that has helped immensely with the sinus issues as well as the middle ear fluid that was giving me hearing issues - another common pregnancy thing - and helped to reduce the guilt about having to take something like Sudafed. There seems to be so many things to feel guilty about when pregnant.

Okay, so like I said, other than the sleeping and pregnancy related sinus issues, I don't have a lot to complain about. Running has definitely gotten more difficult, very slow, and just awkward feeling and despite feeling like the poster child for Special Olympics (please excuse the very non -PC slip) when going out for a run, I'm trying to stay focused on the fact that it's just great that I'm still out there trying it. Justin has definitely been my cheerleader for keeping going with the jogging. When we initially talked about my exercise routine during pregnancy he had some concerns about me trying to jog all the way through it. But since the tummy hasn't necessarily progressed to a large size all that quickly and now that he knows what jogging in third trimester really looks like - all the slowness and awkwardness - he's definitely changed his tune. Perhaps he just gets a good laugh out of seeing me trucking down the road.

This weekend I had my Swan Song late nights out on the town. Despite being fairly sleep deprived I decided to go ahead and head out to Hamtramck on Friday and Saturday night for the Blowout - 3 nights of live music at 14 bars in Hamtramck. I knew if I didn't go out I would be disappointed about missing it and that as things progress I'll definitely be less interested in trying to get out late. Staying out until 3 in the morning just leaves me a little too wrecked these days. I was glad I got out and enjoyed the music and even a little awkward dancing (nothing new really) with the burgeoning belly. This weekend was also my Swan Song for Princeton Review. After over a decade of teaching/training for them it was time to say goodbye (umm, at least for now). So things are starting to settled down for this third trimester. Now, if we can just get that upstairs remodel finished and move on to the nursery.....

The new Edin addition!

2009-03-01T17:50:00.006-05:00

Sunday, March 1st

Our nephew Emmett Mac Edin arrived early this morning at 2:30 am via c-section and we're pretty excited. Mom and baby are both doing well though baby had to spend some time in the NICU today so we had to take turns briefly visiting him. His big sis Gwen got dropped of this morning at a little after 1am to hang with Aunt Kiki (my nickname) and Unky. We spent the morning building forts and then headed to the much promised Chuck E Cheese. Then to the hospital to visit baby brother. The visits were brief and Gwen wasn't too happy about not getting to spend more time with Mommy and Daddy and baby Brother, but hopefully she'll get to visit again real soon. Not easy being the big sis.

Gwen and Winnie enjoying the living room fort

Gwen and Unky racing jet ski's at Chuck E. Cheese

And then you realize there is no going back...

2009-02-26T10:28:00.002-05:00

Thursday, February 26th

So during the past week and 1/2 this impending motherhood thing has really hit hard. I think the belly really popping combined with now not being able to sleep comfortably as well as a lull in my hectic schedule has really started me thinking about the next 3 months and what comes beyond it. I actually have no fears about the labor thing. I figure that it can only be about 24 hours of pain and suffering right? It's what comes after that I'm more worried about. You hit a certain age and yes the biological clock sets in and you figure its now or never, but I'm not sure that anyone is really ready for the rude awakening that parenthood is sure to bring and of late I'm having a hard time not focusing on all that it means I'm giving up. Yes, there are all those things that you gain, or that's what other parents claim, but what if I don't like being a mom? I mean not everyone does and there do exist some awful moms out there. I'm not diving into this totally blind, we're fortunate to live so close to my brother and sister in law and have had the opportunity to see my niece grow from a sleepy new born to a precocious 3 1/2 year old, but lets be honest, though I've greatly enjoyed my time hanging out with her, I've also greatly enjoyed the fact that that it is not my 24/7 responsibility. What if I don't have the patience to be a 24/7 parent. Patience has never been one of my virtues and its something that is sure to be tested. I do take comfort in knowing that this isn't an a-typical response, or so my weekly pregnancy bulletins claim, but in the end I can't really predict how I'll feel once it gets here. I'm just trying to remind myself not to think about it too much in advance. Deep breaths!

On the subject of things I'm giving up...Justin and I had a great time going out last Friday night to see one of recent Detroit favorites, The Readies, at one of my favorite little dive bars in Detroit, The Lager House. While it wasn't the best Readies performance we saw, the two opening bands were pretty good which is always a pleasant surprise when the openers are just as good as the headliner. I was fortunate to be able to find a couple of stools for us to occupy half way thru the night or I probably wouldn't have made it all the way thru the evening. I still managed to start dozing off half way thru the last set. Though Iddy Biddy managed to help keep me awake. Not sure if he was protesting the loud music or rockin out. It was a fairly successful night until we got home and Justin realized he couldn't find the house key and had to figure out how to break in at 2am in the morning. Oh well, we got inside which was all that mattered. I realized over the course of the evening that next weekends Hamtramck Blowout, 3 nights of music at the Hamtramck bars - or modest version of Austin's SXSW, will probably have to be my "swan song". If it weren't for the Michigan legisltatures inability to pass a smoking ban, I might be able to make it a bit longer but alas, I don't think that will happen anytime soon.

Here you go April ...

2009-02-18T13:28:00.005-05:00

25 weeks (5 1/2 months)

Yup, so the belly is really starting to grow as Biddy starts putting on his weight. I'm definitely starting to feel the effects especially in the last week and I'm starting to realize that I really will have to slow things down. Guess I'm not invincible after all. Running has definitely become more of a work out this past week as I find my legs feel like lead these days and I'm really sucking for air. I've slowed down to a pace that I could probably out walk. My pace and awkwardness makes me a feel a bit ridiculous as the skinny undergrad running girls zoom past me during my runs in the Arb. They disappeared for most of the winter but are now back out in force as the weather warms up. Since its still not completely obvious that I'm pregnant, especially if I wear a running jacket, I'm very tempted to put a sign on my back that says "baby on board permission to run slow". The belly has also become a bit more cumbersome in other ways, trying to bend down to do stuff, getting up off the couch, out of bed. I also discovered the other weekend when doing a training for Princeton Review, that after standing around and talking for a couple of hours I start getting out of breath and feel like its hard to get in enough air. It's amazing the changes and my belly isn't even that large yet. So with this realization that I will indeed have to slow down, I've started trying to cut back on commitments and decided to stay goodbye to Princeton Review (well other than a brief training next month) and had them cancel the upcoming class I was supposed to teach. Can't really cut back on my real 9-5 job or my MBA classes so Princeton Review had to go. I'm also realizing that I will have to lower my expectations about what I'll be able to do to help finish up our upstairs house remodeling project and the nursery as well as other projects we had planned for the spring. Slowing it down, taking it easy, and lowering my expectations are not among my strengths so we'll see how it goes.

This morning I went in to get my gestational diabetes test and anemia test completed. Within a couple of hours I got a call back that the anemia test was fine, but I didn't pass the gestational diabetes test. This doesn't mean that I have gestational diabetes but that I have to take a secondary test which is kind of a bummer because the second test is a bit more involved. I evidently have to have a restricted diet for three days, fast, and then spend a good portion of the day getting my blood drawn at hour intervals. I guess its good that I planned to take next week off to help Justin with the upstairs project since now I'll have to spend at least one of these days at the blood lab. I just hope the results from this test clear me of gestational diabetes. One of my coworkers said that she and several other women she knows had to take the second test which made me feel better. Guess I'll find out next week.

5 months

2009-01-30T13:46:00.003-05:00

January 30th

So five months down and 4 more to go and all is going along well now that I'm in the second trimester. The aches and stiffness of the beginning of the second trimester have faded and I've been feeling pretty good of late. I'm still managing to get out for my jog 5-6 times a week which I think has been helpful in managing the achiness and my energy level. Other than being a bit slower these days and having to deal with the contstant annoying feeling that I'm going to wet myself, the running has continued to be pretty enjoyable. Oh and I forgot about the ocasional feet falling asleep while running which the doctor says is due to retaining water, but isn't a concern. The doctor told me this morning that it was fine for me to continue this level of excercise through out the entire pregnancy as long as its comfortable. We'll see how comfortable it is once I hit the third trimester. I might have to hit the stationary bike at the gym though I hate to give up being able to excercise outside.

I've also been greatly enjoying all of Iddy Biddy's movements. Now that he's large enough to cause knocking in all parts of my tummy, he often catches me by surprise. It's amazing how he can knock on my lower tummy and then seconds later be knocking near my belly button. It often makes me laugh outloud which sometimes gets me wierd looks when it happens in class. Justin has also been enjoying getting to feel the little guy as well as talking to belly. Supposedly Biddy can hear sounds outside of the belly now. The belly continues to grow rather slowly but this week I did notice that its now at a point where its no longer comfortable to slouch over my computer at work - puts pressure on the rib cage. So I guess I'm forced to practice good posture.

Had to hit up Old Navy after we found out it was a little boy to do a bit of clothes shopping for him. I told Justin that I needed to buy some boys stuff to make it a bit more "real". Good excuse I think and with Old Navy's sale prices it beats even garage sale shopping. I also picked up a crib and changing table via Craigslist this week. I've become somewhat obsessed with Craigslist the past month in my search for baby furniture. I never realized what a cut throat system it is. You evidently have to check it several times a day in order to pounce on any good deals and with baby stuff have to worry about recall lists. I'm extremely happy with our purchase but now of course I have a changing table in our kitchen and pieces of the crib all over Justin's office. Perhaps in a couple of months I'll have a nursery to put them into. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Looking forward to spring hurrying up and getting here, though there is a lot to do between then and now and next month should be exciting with our new nephew (Jocelyn's baby) being due later in the month. I'm hoping he gets here early, for her sake and ours. She's full term this coming monday so really it could be any day.

Our Iddy Biddy Boy

2009-01-14T10:20:00.007-05:00

JANUARY 14th

Well we had the 20 week ultra sound today and it's most definitely a boy. It was very clear from the first profile shot that there were little boy parts hanging there. The technician didn't even really have to say it. So Momma's intuition wasn't correct after all. Luckily we didn't have any money wagered on it so I don't have to pay up. I guess we better get cracking on boy names. The ultrasound also revealed that my placenta was a bit low near my cervix, just barely under the cut off point that they like to see, so I get to go back in 7 more weeks for another ultra sound. I'm definitely not going to complain about that! The technician said it's pretty common and that usually the placenta moves away from the cervix as the uterus stretches out. I also have an appointment with my doctor at the end of the month to review the ultrasound results, but we can at least tell all 10 toes and all 10 fingers are there. Crazy to think that both Jocelyn (my sister in law) and I will be having little boys about 3 months apart. These little boys will sure be hanging out a lot and I'm sure they'll be the best of friends and worst of enemies at times!

20 week belly shot

Operation Closet Overhaul

2009-01-11T20:36:00.010-05:00

JANUARY 11thThis week my belly finally really "popped" and I developed a bit more noticeable baby bump - well noticeable to those who know I'm pregnant. I think I finally entered that "is she pregnant or just putting on weight" stage. The stage that pregnant women are so fond of. As if to prove the point, I've also felt a lot of twinges from ligament stretching this week in my lower belly sometimes so strong that its woken me at night. Thanks to the belly popping (and an ever increasing rear) I finally outgrew the last of my pre-pregnancy pants this week which was a bit rough on the self esteem. Even though the weight gain and growing body is all part of the natural healthy pregnancy process, its definitely not an easy part. Anyway, this weekend it was finally time to bite the bullet and go buy some more pregnancy clothes. I had only bought one pair of maternity pants so far and then ran out to Target mid week to purchase another after realizing that my pants were too unbearably uncomfortable at this point. I dragged Justin along with me to Old Navy expecting to buy just a couple more pants - wanting to draw out the painful process of spending money to rebuild my entire wardrobe (everyone knows how much I hate spending money on clothes). When I got to Old Navy it was a pleasant surprise to discover that the entire maternity section was on sale - 50-75% off everything! So I decided that I might as well take the opportunity to really rebuild the wardrobe considering their sale prices were as good if not better than the consignment shop down the street that I was planning on hitting up later down the line. Even Justin got a shirt (from the men's section not the maternity) for his trouble.

This evening I went thru and cleaned my closet of the last of my clothes that aren't stretchy enough to make it at least another month or two and installed the new wardrobe. With my closet overhauled I'm feeling a bit better about embracing this whole pregnancy plumpness. Well at least for this evening anyway. It's nice to actually have some clothes that fit and not to have to squeeze into clothes that are constant reminders of the growing body.

In other news...wednesday is our 20 week ultrasound and the day we find out if Iddy Biddy is a he or she, assuming full cooperation on Biddy's part. The closer we get the less interested I am in finding out, but it is a must for Justin. Knowing the sex will definetly help with choosing names. I'm predicting that Biddy is going to be a girl, mostly I think because I have a girl name that I like so I have an easier time envsioning the presonality to go along with it. Justin's predicting a boy, just to be contrary. Neither of us really care one way or the other as long as its a healthy wee one. Yeah, yeah, I know that's what everyone always says but really we have no prefrence. The nursery room will be green regardless. I'll probably post the ultrasound pics and the sex at some point on wednesday as well as a first belly shot. Stay tuned!

The end of the holidays and the start of a new year

2009-01-04T19:13:00.010-05:00

JANUARY, 4th

So the holiday season sure whirled by... It started with my parents arrival from Texas. They brought along with them a suitcase full of fresh veggies from their Texas winter garden. Hard to imagine gardening in the winter around here! We were a bit concerned that the veggies might suffer a bit of frostbite since the luggage cart got stuck on the tarmac for an hour and 1/2 (on the coldest day so far this year) but they made it in perfect shape and Justin and I are still enjoying the Texas spinach. After staying a night my parents headed to Jonesville, Michigan to my grandparents and we headed their to join them on Christmas Eve morning. We had a nice visit with my grandparents and my aunt Jill from Sacramento - once she got their at 4am xmas morning after running into a deer with the rental car on her way from the Detroit Airport to Jonesville. Luckily, the car wasn't damaged too badly - same cannot be said for the deer.

After breakfest and present opening xmas morning - Iddy Biddy by the way made off pretty well for not even being born yet - we headed to Canadian Lakes to visit with Lynne and Mike and the rest of the Edins. The new (to Lynne) place in Canadian Lakes is beautiful and it will be nice to visit again when its warmer and we have a bit more time. We had to head back to Ypsi the next morning to meet my parents to take them to the airport (we had lent them our Subaru for the week as our xmas present to them). Several hours after dropping them off to the airport I hit the "after holidays crash" and started getting very sentimental and teary eyed about how it's unfortuante that I only get to see my parents twice a year and it never seems long enough. In the middle of discussing this with Justin the phone rang and it was my parents who were still stuck at the airport due to fog in Chicago (their connecting destination). Their flight ended up getting canceled and they were going to have to stay until Monday to get a flight out. I was happy to hand over our bedroom again to them for the chance to see them for a few more days. My parents and I headed back to my grandparents for an extra day and night and I also got the opportunity to visit with more of the Fowler family who showed up after I left Xmas day. My parents did end up taking off Monday with out incident and I don't think they were too sorry in the end to spend some extra time in Michigan (though they were happy to get back to warmer sunnier weather).

Justin and I spent the week after Christmas visiting with a few friends and also getting a lot of work done on our upstairs remodel. Our upstairs has never been a very livable space as its pretty dark and not very tempature controlled. We mostly used it as a guest bedroom, but its actually one of the biggest spaces in the house. We started the remodel last year, but didn't get much further than some of the demo, and prep work. With Iddy Biddy on the way the clock is ticking on the remodel. The space will become Justin's office/hideaway with a futon for our occasional guest. Justin's current office will become our bedroom and our bedroom will become the nursery. Justin thinks that the baby's room should be in the back of the house - something about the Lindberg baby's kidnapping and oh yeah, drive bys ???? We got quite a bit of work done, but there is still a lot to be done and there will be no work on a nursery until the the upstairs is done. I've put in a request to have it completed in two more months so that I can start on the nursery at the beginning of the third trimester before I get too big. We'll see how that goes...

We didn't plan anything too exciting for New Years as we were both too exahusted from all the upstairs work to do anything other than sit on the couch. I dozed off and managed to wake up just before midnight. It ended up being a slightly more exciting New Years Eve then expected when I got the opportunity to finally feel Iddy Biddy slightly after midnight. I guess he/she wanted to ring in the New Year too! It was pretty cool and I've been feeling a lot more of Biddy since then (even now as I type this). We wrapped up our nice holiday vacation by going out last night to a local club, the Elbow Room to see a Detroit band that Justin started listening to and chatting it up with this summer, Duende. Tomorrow its back to work after such a nice time away and I also start back to classes tomorrow which I wasn't quite prepared for. I'm sure it will be another busy semester!

The end of the first semester.......of school

2008-12-22T16:38:00.006-05:00

DECEMBER 22nd

So last week I was happy to officially wrapped up my first semester of Business School. I started the evening MBA program this fall at UofM. I had initially put off starting the MBA program last spring because I thought I might get pregnant in the winter or spring and did not think that dealing with the first trimester of pregnancy and my first semester of business school would be a lot of fun. Well...after realizing that these things can't always be planned the way we want them, I decided to go ahead and apply for this fall and low and behold I did manage to be pregnant during my first semester of business school.

Dealing with my first trimester of pregnancy and first semester of business school (my first business classes ever actually) did prove to be a bit trying at times...trying to stay awake thru class, trying not to puke especially when my neighbor decided to drink coffee or eat his dinner, and trying to get motivated to do homework when all I ever wanted to do was sleep. There was also full time work for UofM and oh yeah, the occasional class or training still taught for Princeton Review on the side. So the semester was a bit busy and while I loved my marketing class, I really struggled through my accounting class. I think calculus my freshman year of undergrad was the last time I felt that stupid! Anyway, I've survived and manged to pass both my classes and am now officially 1/10 of the way done towards getting my MBA, whoppee! Next semester its another marketing and accounting class.

In other news...I still haven't managed to feel Iddy Biddy yet, but supposedly thats going to happen any day now. According to what I've read it feels like gas bubbles at this point...not quite sure how I'm supposed to know its a baby and not gas. For the most part I've been feeling pretty good this trimester and other than my slightly growing tummy (and umm, butt????) and my joints that now sound like a percussion section every time I move with all the snapping and popping, I wouldn't even know I was pregnant.

Hope everyone has a great Holiday. My parents arrived in Michigan yesterday to enjoy our really cold weather (yesterday's high was 9 and it felt like -23 with the wind chill). They've headed to the grandparents in Jonesville and we'll follow on Wednesday and then on Christmas day its off to Canadian Lakes to visit the newlyweds, Lynne (mother-in-law) and Mike.

Happy Holidays,
-Anne

My Birthday ...an International Event!

2008-12-09T17:12:00.004-05:00

DECEMBER 9th

So yesterday I turned the big, umm, 30. However, it was already decided that that since I wasn't at liberty to really party it up given the incubation status, that I could stay 29 for yet another year and really party it up next year. However, despite my insistence that the birthday should be completely forgotten this year (well except for the present from mom and dad), I didn't get away completely unscathed. Jocelyn made a nice birthday dinner and cake on Friday. We hadn't had a Friday get together for a while so it was nice. Jacob even managed to stay awake for the event (he pulls snow duty for the winter months so does a lot of late nights). Jocelyn continued the festivities on Sunday when she took me out to the movie Twilight as part of my birthday present. I thought the movie was actually quite funny, though I don't think it really was supposed to be.

Monday for my actual birthday Justin and I decided to move things over the border. We've been talking for a while about going to Windsor for dinner and decided my birthday was reason enough. So after doing some google searching we decided on Lilly Kazzilly's Crab Shack, which had a great view of the river. I must say that Detroit looks pretty impressive from the Windsor side. I also have to mention that for once it was actually the American border patrol dude that was friendlier than the Canadian. Though it was a bit disconcerting when he told us that the last "girl" that told him it was her birthday ended up having a warrant for her arrest. Evidently she passed through or tried to pass through the border about 5 minutes prior to our arrival. Luckily I didn't appear to have any birthday warrants!

Iddy Biddy's first gifts

2008-12-04T12:37:00.006-05:00

DECEMBER 4th, 2008

Well my brother Aaron wins for giving Iddy Biddy his/her first gifts. Regardless of whether Biddy is a he or a she, it appears that he/she will be one rock'n baby! I received these in the mail from Aaron yesterday as Biddy's first X mas present (couldn't tell from the outside that it was supposed to be for xmas, oops!). I think Iddy Biddy probably has a bit of growing to do first considering he/she is only about 3.5 inches long at this point.

I think my parents though probably rightfuly win for purchasing the first outfits for Biddy, or so I've been told. Within a few weeks of being informaed about their impending grand child, they both independently purchased outfits for Iddy Biddy and then sheeplishly had to admit their purchases to one another. I was most impressed that my mother actually purchased something considering how "frugal" she is and given the fact that she informed me that she was having to "adjust" to the idea of being a grandmother :)

In other news we got to hear Iddy Biddy's heartbeat for the first time this week. Very cool and once again a nice reminder that something is actually in there. I told Justin that this was the last appointment that I was going to drag him to, other than the 20 week ultrasound. I wanted him to experience the heartbeat at least once. He's probably relieved to not have to to hang out in the OBGYN's office anymore though give the boy a magazine to read and he's pretty content. Now if babies were just that easy...

And so the first trimester ends....

2008-11-26T10:54:00.004-05:00

NOVEMBER 26th

So, I'm way happy to put the first trimester and all it's glory behind me. Goodbye to waking up feeling like I got run over by a bus. Goodbye to having to carry around a barf bag with me at all times (only got to use one of them- all other times I made it to the bathroom or my office wastebasket in time). Good bye to sneaking my vomit filled wastebasket liners out into the main trash at work (gross yes, I know). Goodbye to constant nausea. And Goodbye to my hateful relationship with food. Hello to the honeymoon period!

Granted, I'm not totally "symptom" free. I still get to revel in the pimply skin not seen since high school days - who knew that "glow of pregnancy" was a euphemism for break outs! There are the other not so dainty things like lots of gas that poor Justin like every other father to be has had to put up with and fairly frequent indigestion. But compared to the first trimester, this part appears to be a cake walk so far (granted I'm on day one of the first trimester, but I've been feeling pretty good for a little over a week now). At one point during the first trimester ( I think around week 8 when things where at their peak) I told Justin that I thought I would rather break my collarbone again than ever go through pregnancy again. My motto thru most of the first trimester was: "Pregnancy is not for wimps and I'm pretty sure I'm a wimp". When I told my sister-in-law Jocelyn that I couldn't believe that she was going thru this a second time and I didn't think I would ever want to do it again, she said not to worry that I would be telling myself that several times thru out the pregnancy.

Of course one week after my symptoms have died down, I've completely changed attitudes. I feel like I can finally sit back and relax and enjoy this thing (at least for the next three months until I enter the huge stage). Now I even get the enjoyment of forgetting that I'm pregnant sometimes. I ran into an old friend from graduate school the other day at Wholefoods and it wasn't until the end of the "what's new with you conversation" that I even remembered to add "and oh yeah, I'm pregnant". Don't get me wrong, I am very happy to be "with child", but sometimes it's nice to take a break from that. So now I'm just sitting back and looking forward to watching my tummy grow (still not more than a very small bump at this point) and especially looking forward to getting to the point where I get to feel our Iddy Biddy moving around in there. Oh by the way, we were very happy to get negative results back from the Ultra Screen yesterday. And as far as the other important subject of my belly button ring goes, based on feedback from others, I've decided that regardless of what I do I'm chancing scaring (and stretching of the scar), so I guess I might as well keep it in.

Hope all have a nice Thanksgiving day. Justin and I do have a lot to be thankful for this year!

Iddy Biddy at 12 weeks

2008-11-19T17:38:00.006-05:00

NOVEMBER 19th

We got to go in this morning for my 12 week ultrascreen test (ultrasound and blood test where they screen for genetic issues such as Downs). It was more of an opportunity to get another ultrasound than anything else. The ultrasound was pretty cool since Iddy Biddy actually looked a little more babyish this time and we got to see him/her move around and open and close his/her hand a bit. Of course it made me all teary eyed seeing Biddy moving around. It's nice to be reminded that there really is something in there. Now that my first trimester nausea and vomiting is dying down (though I did get the wonderful opportunity of throwing up partially digested fish oil tablets on Monday -avoid at all costs!) it's hard to believe sometimes that I really am pregnant. I'm looking forward to the part where I get to finally feel Iddy Biddy moving around. I'm also excited that next week marks the end of the first trimester. Only 6 more long months to go!

The belly button ring dilemma

2008-11-07T13:07:00.003-05:00

So now that I'm facing the idea of an expanding belly, it's time for me to make a very important decision- what to do about my belly button ring. My friend April told me how a friend of hers with a belly button ring was left with a pretty nasty scar after her belly got all stretched out from pregnancy. Since I've gotten pregnant, I've looked at several pregnancy chat boards which explored this topic and the responses have been mixed. The majority of women seem to have not had any problems. Evidently you can buy acrylic pregnancy rings online that are flexible and allow for an expanding belly (you can't have any metal in your navel when you go into labor in case they need to split you open for a c-section). Many women suggested these and were able to pop their rings back in with out a problem afterwords. BUT..there were some women who complained of scarring - evidently it usually ends up being shaped like the playboy bunny - yeah, I can't quite picture this. These women suggest taking it out right away and letting it grow back. Though other women pointed out that they tried this and the hole did not grow in. My favorite are the chicks (and you seem to find them on every chat board no matter what the subject) that basically say get over it and grow up you have a child inside and should focus soley on that. Evidently when you become pregnant you are no longer allowed to be anything other than an incubator. What I find hilarious about these posts is that about 50% of the chicks are in their late teens/very early 20s. Is this who I want to be taking advice from?

So do I take it out or not? I'm pretty attached to my belly button ring - yes literally. It's been there for over a decade and you can often catch me messing with it when I'm bored - yeah, kind of my security blanket. The hematite ball was chosen in remembrance of a friend to "keep me grounded". I'm not even sure if it would close up at this point and if it did it could make re-piercing it difficult if it scarred when healing. All, I know is that I need to make a decision sometime soon before a decision is made for me. At least I made a good decision on my tattoo placement so that I don't have to worry about that getting all stretched out.

A little bit of bump?

2008-11-05T09:17:00.001-05:00

Well, I think I've officially developed a little bit of baby bump. I've been obsessively checking out my tummy in the mirror to see if I could detect any changes. All previously perceived roundness have been false alarms, more of a baby bloat than a bump. But, I've had a bit of a roundness for a couple of days so I think its official bumpage. Bye, Bye, flat tummy! Of course no one else other than Justin could probably detect it, but it kind of makes things feel more real. As has been pointed out to me, because of my height it will probably take a lot longer for me to look noticeably pregnant to the casual observer.

Justin and I stayed up late last night to watch the election results role in and watch Obama's acceptance speech. It was a pretty amazing experience. We thought it was pretty cool that our Biddy is going to be born at a time when we will be welcoming our first African American president into office. Unfortunately though, last nights elections (the special ballot measures on marriage across the country) showed that this country still has a long way to go before we start treating all of our citizens equally. It is my hope that our children will be able to see this equality realized during their lifetime.

On the way to becoming boring?

2008-11-02T14:40:00.000-05:00

While having a conversation with a friend last month about having kids, she mentioned to me that her problem with the idea of kids was that people tend to become boring after they have them. This is probably due to the fact that kids tend to be pretty time consuming and as I've been told you're not allowed to just leave them home alone when you want a night out on the town (and where do you find a baby sitter who is willing to hang out until 2am?). Kids seem to become the center of parents lives (perhaps a bit more so for mommies than daddies - you know, the whole boob thing).

With all this in mind I've been very conscious of the fact that my days of complete freedom are limited and perhaps I should take advantage of these last 7 months. Of course my freedoms have already been somewhat limited by the fact that having a few drinks while out is now off limits (though a recent study suggests that women who drink 1-2 units of alcohol a week while pregnant may actually end up haveing more well adjusted toddlers). However, after last night I'm also begaining to realize that even with out the alcohol issue going out isn't quite what it used to be. Justin and I met up with his friend Ron at the Park Bar in Detroit for some tunes. The Park Bar is a new venue for me and appears to be a great place to hang out if you go to Detroit to catch a game at Comerica or Ford Field. It may be a bit off the beaten path otherwise and the fact that one of the patrons got their car stolen from out front that evening (ahh...Detroit) made me a tad bit nervous. I wouldn't necessarily suggest it for live music though, as the performance space upstairs has yet to be finished. It's pretty much bare bones - all concrete- and the acoustics were pretty bad. They also don't appear to have any heat which made me pretty glad I brought a warm jacket (what they plan to do in the middle of winter, I don't know). The music started up pretty late. It was supposed to start up at 10 but things got going after 11 because they had to set up scaffolding??? However, it was kind of cool to see John Sinclair reading his poetry accompanied by the experimental jazz tunes of Pinkeye Orchestra (is it noise or is it music?). We managed to stick around to also catch the main act Duende, a band that Justin stumbled on this summer at an Ypsi show and whose members he enjoyed hanging out with. The band's drummer also happens to be a friend of Ron's from his Central Michigan days. Anyway we finally flew the coop around 2ish. Thank goodness I didn't end up having to be DD as I could barely stay awake on the drive home (though Justin seemed to be suffering too).

Well, I woke up this morning feeling like I had a hang over (yet got none of the associated fun last night) and came to the conclusion that I just can't hang out at clubs until 2am anymore. Pregnant women do indeed need their sleep and like my three year old niece, Gwen, I tend to get pretty cranky if I don't get it these days. Plus I do have concerns about all of the smoke when we go out (Could the Michigan legislature get their acts together and please pass the smoking ban already!!!). So I guess I might need to cut back on my expectations of living it up these next 7 months. Perhaps a few less shows than I had planned and a few more evenings staying in snuggled up and watching our Netflixs will have to suffice...

p.s...to all my mom friends out there, please do not think this post in anyway implies that I think you're boring. I think you guys are pretty rockin!

And so it begans... Introducing Our Iddy Biddy

2008-11-02T11:24:00.000-05:00

Announcement Email 10/31/08:

Dear Friends and Family,
Justin and I would like to introduce you to the newest addition of our family...our little Iddy Biddy

Ultra sound at 9 weeks and 2 days. Yup, doesn't look like much, but Biddy definetly has two legs and two arms and a nice beating heart. His head is on the left and butt on the right and he is facing downward and if you squint hard enough you can see his legs and an arm.

Of course we don't get to meet Biddy for another 7 months, but we're getting pretty excited. Don't let his/her small size fool you though, he/she has already started wreaking havoc on Mom. Who knew payback could start so early! I've had the pleasure of lots of nausea and yes tossing my cookies, from early on. I'm hoping that things peaked last week (who knew morning sickness could last all day long!) as things have started to calm down this week and I have actually developed an appetite which has been nice since eating has been quite a chore. I've also started to get some of my energy back which should make my daily jogs a bit easier (well, until I develop a tummy).

I've also included a couple of photos from A Child is Born, which my friend Heather lent to me, so that you could get an idea of what Iddy Biddy looks like at this point if you could get a peak inside.

At 9 weeks Biddy looks something like:

Next week (10 weeks) he/she will officially graduate out of the embryo stage into a full fledged fetus. His/her parents are so proud!
So I guess now we just sit back and wait. Time sure ticks by slowly when you're pregnant!

Love,
Anne and Justin