Christmas in Pictures!

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Christmas Night after all little girls were in bed

New Christmas Eve Pjs

Christmas Morning

Present Time

Mandy

Emily

Mandy is really into watching everything

Checking out the stocking

My Girl

Chewie!!!

Love Mandys face here

Light Saber!!

First Sippy Cups

Light Saber war

Present opening done

Enjoying her new teether

Dressed for Christmas

GG and Emily

NaNa and Mandy

Picture Blooper - Cassie getting socked in the face by Mandy

More new PJS

Play time - see who is sitting?!!

Matching outfits for all 3 girls!!

Emily just staring at Cassie

Tenure! (and something fun to read)

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Eric just had his tenure review meeting yesterday...and he passed! We are so thankful for job security in this era of economic uncertainty.

Are any of you subscribers to the Journal of Perinatal Education? You might have seen Eric's essay "Freebirth" in the most recent issue (Volume 21, Number 4, 2012, pp. 202-205). It's worth the read :)
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26 weeks pregnant

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My weekly pregnancy silhouette has turned into a biweekly one! The weeks go by too quickly to get a picture taken every time.


Inga at 28 weeks
Dio at 26 weeks
Zari at 27 weeks (25 weeks gestation)

Now some details for those of you who care:

I've been measuring ahead for as long as I could take reasonably reliable measurements. There was some uncertainty about dates initially, but it was in the other direction (i.e., possibly being 22 weeks at this point rather than 26). With my 3 other pregnancies, I have always measured spot-on for dates, no matter how much or little I was showing. So here are some figures from this pregnancy:

• 18 weeks: fundus at umbilicus
• 21.3 weeks: 25 cms
• 24 weeks: 27/28 cms (I sometimes measure twice, keeping my eyes closed so I'm not "cheating")
• 26 weeks: 31/32 cms

This is making me go "hmmmmm....is there just one baby in there or two?" I have my next prenatal visit on Monday and we'll discuss possible causes. I'm not opposed to having an ultrasound if there's a sound reason.

Everything else is looking good. Weight gain is similar to other pregnancies (+14 lbs). Blood pressure is nice and low. Baby is nice and active. I've been sleeping reasonably well and hope that trend continues.
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Pregnancy: Month 5

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November was filled with breech-related activities: planning a vaginal breech and ECV workshop for next June, preparing my presentation "Connecting the Dots: The Future of Birth Advocacy," attending the 3rd International Breech Conference in D.C., and writing up summaries of the conference sessions.

In honor of breech babies and breech-friendly providers, I created this quilt block to represent my fifth month of pregnancy. It's the logo of the Coalition for Breech Birth and is simply named "Breech." 


I didn't have any cobalt blue fabric, but this deep purple linen was close enough to evoke the same feel.

I love the design of this logo. It captures the deep love and connection mothers have with their babies and the desire to protect and nurture their little ones, born or unborn. We have to keep this in mind when we talk about breech birth and about what options are "safe" or "acceptable."

~ Soapbox over ~
I hope you're having a wonderful time preparing for Christmas or whatever other holidays you celebrate. Our house smells of lebkuchen (German spice cookies) and caramelized onions (for tonight's French onion soup) and fresh paint (yes, I've been busy repainting before this baby arrives). We have a houseful of family and have more arriving on Wednesday.
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Birth options and recommendations in the D.C. area

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A blog reader recently asked me for recommendations for providers and birth locations in the Washington D.C. area. She lives in Falls Church, VA and is open to considering all of her options, from home to birth centers to hospitals. She had her first children with epidurals and would really like to have her next baby unmedicated (although she's a bit nervous about how she's going to do it!).

Please add your recommendations in the comments or, if you'd like to keep things more private, via email.

Thanks so much!
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Christmas wish list

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I'd love to get a female pelvis model and cloth doll to practice & study the cardinal movements. Anyone selling a spare set? What suppliers sell the best cloth dolls?



A good portrait lens with a low aperture setting (1.4 or 1.8). This one would work with my  camera. I like bokeh!
The book Making More Plants



A Yepp Mini bike seat. It mounts on the front of the bike, right on the handlebar stem.


And this GMG Junior bike seat for the back of one of our bikes Too bad it isn't sold in the US! Maybe a Dutch reader could help me buy & ship a used one? They are everywhere in The Netherlands. I'd probably need the adapter too.


The WeeRide Co-Pilot bike trailer looks like fun!

I'd like to watch the documentary Catching Babies.


What's on your wish list? 
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Pregnancy: Month 4

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I first started feeling movement at 11 weeks. It began with faint flutters and bubbles, the kind that you're pretty sure are baby...but not entirely. By 15-16 weeks, it was definite. At this time, it really felt like a fish flopping around inside me. If you've ever held a live fish in your hands--something the size of a sunfish or crappie--you'll know what I'm trying to describe.

So this quilt block for the  fourth month of pregnancy reflects the sensations of movement. I named it "Quickening."

What they don't tell you about Newborns

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What they don't tell U about Newborns?

1. Suck blisters from thumb sucking,
2. Baby girls can have periods in their pee,
3. Immature Reflex system and startle system seems like baby is having seizures,
4. U may be able to see their pulse in their soft spot(s),
5. If baby is overdue it's skin gets pickled in amniotic fluid & vernix coating which looks like huge dandruff flakes has to be removed with a washcloth for a week or so.
6. They can look cross-eyed sometimes because Vision isn't fully developed.
7. Hairy backs incl. Swollen genitals and baby breasts due to hormones in both   genders,
8. Coughing up stuff like amniotic fluid few hrs after birth,
9. Overly long and weird shaped fingernails,
10. Babies can be born with Teeth,
11. Babies can pop a blood vessel in their eye due to pressure and tightness in birth canal,
12. The first poops are black and sticky like tar.
13. Uric crystals! they are an orangy pink substance that form in the diaper just after birth. It is amniotic fluid crystalizing in the kidneys and coming out in the urine and it is nothing to worry about,
14. Both boys and girls can have breast milk for the first couple days,
15. Some babies have "grunting baby syndrome". They think they need to push their bowel movements out so they're constantly straining and grunting, it lasts first 3 months,
16. Blocked tear duct in the eye for the first few days it can cause oozing eye, squirting some breast-milk into it and washing with a warm cloth towel helps,
17. If you breastfeed your baby will have poop free days. It can be normal up to 10 days for them not to poop,

IMPORTANT NOTES;
Fluid leftover in the lungs can lead to uneven breathing problems in newborns & eventually pneumonia, get that checked thoroughly!
The web all the way till the bottom of the tongue won't allow the baby to suck on anything, doc may need to check and cut if extra.
If the baby holds his/her breath, just gently blow into their face and they will take a gulp of air and start breathing again.
-If your baby lays on one side of their head too much, it can become flattened. Sometimes you have to prop their head with a pillow/blanket so it can be "rotated" and rounded back out. Happened with my first, her head became flat on one side.
-If baby wont burp, gently lay him/her down on their back (on your lap while holding them), and then lift them back up to your shoulder (in one swift motion) and try again, you can also gently bounce them on your knee.
Oh and another one...'I called the nurse and the bundled him up tightly and put him on my chest and moved his body up until his head was tucked right into my neck and chin area...voila,.....he didnt cry anymore! He was just used to being tight in the womb and having his head tucked in the birth canal.'

A ton of Chamomile in your diet to avoid acid reflux in babies,
No one told me that wiping with a warm wipe can stimulate their rear end and make them poop again... on the spot... in your hand...
Newborns don't need to be bathed every day, but be sure to take a wet wipe during diaper changes and wipe under their neck folds. They accumulate stuff there like crazy, and it can get all crusty and make their skin bleed from irritations.

The above are some scary notes and pointers collected from various websites and contributed mostly by moms on babycentre.

Kyla's 21st Birthday!

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April 27, 2011! Even though Ben and I were busy with school and work and church, we still had some fabulous Birthday celebrations! I have this sewing machine, but no table to put it on. Ben bought me a table and chair for our extra room. Now I have a sewing table (HORRAY!!!). 

Then, for dinner we went to Pita Pit. Small and simple Birthday, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Honor's Graduation!!!

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Ben has been working so hard at school. He is finishing up his last semester in his Senior year and moving onto a Concurrent Masters program next year. He has been in the Honor's program and has just completed it. For those of you who don't know what Honor's is...I'll explain a little. It's pretty much doing extra work in about 1 class a semester. This not only gives Ben more experience in the classes he is working on, but also helps him create relationships with the Professors and expand his horizons.

Mechanical Engineering is already a really time consuming and difficult program at Utah State, but doing Honors on top of that adds a lot of pressure. The people in the Honor's office were surprised to see that Ben was still in Honors at this point. They said they couldn't remember another Mechanical Engineering student who had not dropped out of Honors by their Junior year. So...not only is doing Honors a difficult thing, but it is almost impossible in the Mechanical Engineering program to graduate with Honors. Ben has stuck to it and really done a great job.

Last week (Wednesday April 18th) was Honors graduation. This was a night to honor those all those at the University who graduated or will be graduating with Honors from Fall 2011-Summer 2012. They had a really yummy dinner, a slide show presentation highlighting the accomplishments of each Honor student, and awards.

Here are some pictures from the evening:



Ben is WAAAAAAAAYYYY in the back. (Sometimes he forgets he's a little bit shorter than his older brother Joe. Haha) 

One of the ladies who works in Honors even remembered that we were having a baby boy in June. She gave us a special gift of a little newborn onesie. This shirt has a little bit of a background story. Utah State has some game day shirts that say "We are HURD" In the "U" the is the word "State" for Utah State. The Honors department decided to make a little spoof off of these shirts for their students. These shirts say "We are NURD" This little onsie says "NURD in training" haha! We love it! 

Here is Ben with his Honors Diploma and his medal that he gets to wear when he walks for graduation.


Way to go Ben!!!! I am so proud of all the hard work you are always doing! Way to stick through the program and graduate as one of the only Mechanical Engineering students to graduate with Honors from Utah State!

20 Weeks Pregnant - IT'S A GIRL!

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Click Here to See the before and after of our Sex Determining Ultrasound on 11/22/2011!

That's right, it is a girl!!! We got the sex determining ultrasound a week and a half ago but I had to refrain from posting the results because we were waiting to tell our family and my mother has seen my blog. Hi mom, love you!

We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy that we are having a little baby girl. It was simply amazing seeing the sex determining ultrasound and how she was moving and even shaking her head at one point. It's hard to tell from this ultrasound picture (she looks a bit more like a creature than a baby here) but she looked absolutely beautiful and they showed us her growing limbs, fingers, bones, organs, brain, and they even zoomed in the heart beating with the four chambers clearly pumping away. The heartbeat was a little faster than normal, 168 beats per minute.

So, my wife is relieved. In her family they have all girls. She is the middle of 3. She has 2 cousins that are girls, and her sister had 2. In fact the last male in the family to be born was Bob and he's 50! On the other hand, I am one of 5 boys in my family so they are overjoyed to have another girl.

We told them with a riddle poem that has the answer of whether it was a boy or a girl hidden vertically in the first letter of each line. She's so creative!

Baby Gender Riddle
by Nikki

I know you’re all wondering what will it be?
Time & this riddle will tell, you’ll see!
So will it be a historical event, where the men will have joy-
As it is rare in this family to have a boy?
Growing baby, should we buy you dolls & pearls?
If only our family isn’t tired of so many girls!
Rejoice on tax day either way,
Let’s celebrate that a baby has seen its first day!

I showed the first letter's bold for display but if you're going to use this obviously don't make them bold and using a really fancy handwriting helps to mask the answer!

It was a great idea, this could be customized for anyone's family for a baby gender reveal idea and it was really fun for them to figure out, her family really likes puzzles too so it was more interesting than other ideas like cupcakes with colored frosting inside.

We have been thinking of names, but those are still secret for now. Let's just say we're thinking traditional names are making a comeback!

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