Wine Please

Posted By Colleen on January 13, 2010

I had my regular OB check-up two weeks ago. Of course, even though the radiologist’s office is only 20 minutes away from my OB’s office, they didn’t have the sonogram stuff yet. No biggie. So I told her we were having a boy, and that the baby’s measurements were indicating a due date closer to May 17th. I then asked her since my due date had been pushed up to the 23rd back in September after my initial sonogram, did she think there was a good chance that my due date would be pushed up to the 17th or so? She looked at me oddly, glanced at my chart and said, “we still have your calculated due date as May 19th. Who changed it?” I told her it was the sonographer I saw in the office back in September. She explicitly told me that I should consider the 23rd as my due date instead of the 19th. My doctor then muttered, “we need to remind her to quit saying that,” and went on to explain that their feeling is that unless there are extenuating circumstances, they do not change due dates if sonograms are giving alternate due dates up to a week early or later.
So may date is back to the 19th. And we’ve still got a 39-week induction penciled-in my chart in the event this child refuses to come on his own like his older brothers, or is the size of a hippo…which is highly probable since I’ve gained 7 pounds since that check-up two weeks ago. Five of those pounds were in one week. I blame the vitinnis I made for New Year’s Day. Or maybe the homemade fudge. Or the sugar cookies. Or the cheese (dear Lord, the cheeeese!!!).
Meanwhile, I have not gotten back to wrestle with my scanner to make it work so I can share the scant images of our baby. No joke. With Gavin and Cooper, we walked out of the radiologist’s office with 10 or more images of them. This kid? We got about five. This recession is really starting to suck.
So, since I don’t have the sonogram images to share (yet), I’ll instead sacrifice my self-respect and share this with you:

And yes, I am a huge “Chuck” fan and was beyond thrilled to come across a “Chuck” marathon on the SyFy channel over the weekend to get me prepped for the premiere that started this past Sunday. After getting a good 6-plus hours of “Chuck” into my system over the past several days, I’m finally feeling as if the world is in balance again.

Category: Pregnancy | 7 Comments »
Tags: baby

Posted By Colleen on December 28, 2009

It’s another boy!

From what I can tell, with all my layman’s knowledge of radiology, the baby seems healthy. I’m also basing that assumption on the fact that I did NOT hear any “hmmmm’s” or “uh-oh’s” or sucking in of breath that might indicate the sonographer saw something bad or unusual. Of course, we’ll find out for certain after the radiologist looks at all the images, and my OB looks at them all and they make their final educated guess. The sonographer did mention the baby was measuring bigger than my current due date of May 23rd, and that the measurements were suggesting a due date of May 17th (a mere two days prior to my original due date of the 19th). However, again, the doctor will need to decide if they will move my date back now that this little boy is measuring 2 days bigger than the calendar-calculated due date like his older brothers did. I sure hope she does decide to push back the due date because this kid appears to be on-track to be another 8+ pounder.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking of soothing my mild disappointment with a little retail therapy. Considering how many hand-me-downs this boy is destined to get, I’d like for him to have a few new items bought just for him.

p.s. I promise to add in scans of the sonogram pictures as soon as I can get my scanner to cooperate.

Category: Pregnancy | 13 Comments »
Tags: baby

Posted By Colleen on December 28, 2009

This morning we will (hopefully) find out what we’re having. As most people know, I’m really hoping this baby will be a girl because it will be nice to have some pink and lace around here. I mean, the dogs are both girls, but their inability to see most colors makes them less excited about pink (oh sure, that shade of grey is prettier than that shade of grey), and they tend to chew up lace. I think Justin would like to have a girl, mostly because I would like a girl, but I think, again, he’s the better parent and is more interested in having a healthy baby, regardless of gender.

So I asked the boys a few months ago if they’d like a little brother or a little sister, and I got these responses:
Gavin — I want a little sister since I already have a little brother.
Cooper (in his squeaky, Elmo voice) — I no wanna sista. I wanna ‘former! (translation: I don’t want a sister. I want a transformer)

Apparently, though, when other people have asked Gavin what he’d like to have, he’s told them he’d like another brother. Although one time he said he wanted a fish. Cooper, however, has been pretty consistent with his wish for a Transformer, despite getting one for Christmas.

Last night, Justin was putting Gavin to bed and was reminding him of our appointment this morning, and he again asked Gavin if he’d like a little brother or a little sister, and Gavin answered, “well, lets just find out tomorrow.” Justin was surprised at this sudden burst of diplomacy, so he prodded him again, and again Gavin answered, “I think we should just find out tomorrow.”

So here we are. It’s tomorrow. Either I’ll be going nuts in the girls section of the store on the way home from the appointment, or I’ll be trying to figure out what clothes survived Cooper and can be used again for Baby #3.

Category: Adventures, Pregnancy | 4 Comments »
Tags: baby, Cooper, Gavin, Justin, memories

Posted By Colleen on December 21, 2009

Oh yeah, I was pregnant.

Correction. I still am. And largely so, it seems. According to Baby Center, I’m 18 weeks. I tend to lose track until I get that weekly update from them telling me what food item my baby now compares to: “your baby is now the size of a blueberry!”, “your baby is now the size of an apple!”, “your baby is now the size of an Eggo waffle!” Thankfully the nausea and most of the heartburn has abated, thanks to all the well-wishes. Or maybe all the snot from all the colds I’ve gotten recently. But I’m going with well-wishes being the reason I can look at or hear about food without gagging, and slapping a hand over my mouth to keep the fire contained.

And while I was sick with consecutive colds (and one that was nice enough to turn into a 2-week sinus infection ordeal), we visited with family for Thanksgiving and I got to see my sister-in-law who is two weeks ahead of me, gestationally, though you’d swear she was two months behind me. She had this cute little bump that looked only as if she ate a big dinner; meanwhile, I was unknowingly knocking over any child under 36 inches tall by bashing them in the skull with my belly.

Okay. There were a few times that I knowingly knocked a kid over with my belly. But he deserved it. And I still got away with it.

Since we only have nephews, one on my side, six on Justin’s side, it has now become the Unofficial Race for the First Girl. Okay, not really, since that will probably jinx both of us into having boys. Again. But still kinda fun since she is supposed to find out this week, and we’re scheduled to find out next week.

After that, we’ll have the Unofficial Race to the Biggest Baby, of which I think we’ll both want to lose.

And the Unofficial Race to Who Has Theirs First, since we’re only two weeks apart and I’ve already got the go-ahead for an induction a week early if I’m nowhere near labor and this kid ends up anywhere near the size that Gavin and Cooper were, and that when they did the first sonogram the baby measured small, so my original due date of May 19th was pushed to May 23rd. Which means next week’s “anatomy survey” sonogram will not only make sure this kids has all his/her parts, like a single skull, brain matter, internal organs, appropriate number of limbs, boy or girl parts, but also a better handle on the size and if it will impact my due date. Thereby, heretofore, and whatnot, that means that if my due date gets pushed back to the 19th, and I get induced a week early cuz this kid a behemoth, there’s a much larger chance our kids will be born within a few days of each other.

But it’s all unofficial, so it really doesn’t matter, right?

Category: Pregnancy | 4 Comments »
Tags: baby, challenges, Gavin, holidays, ramblings of a sleep-deprived woman, suburban mom, working mom

Posted By Colleen on November 30, 2009

Since I have been a huge slacker, due to work, Justin traveling, back-to-back-to-back (yes, three) colds, Thanksgiving, and a short, but all-consuming obsession with all things “Twilight”-related, I am reposting Justin’s article from this past Sunday. I will certainly miss checking on his perspective of things and the funny pics he takes while on his travels that end up on his site. Most of all, I will miss the time we’d spend together editing his big and/or more important posts, especially the ones regarding the births and milestones of our kids.

(Originally Posted on Sunday, November 29, 2009 at www.justinrummel.com)

I have maintained a personal site now for over a decade where I have generated:

* almost 500 articles
* posted over 6100 pictures
* archived too many memories to recount

This site has been my learning playground of PHP scripting and site design, which has helped me greatly in my professional life and my abilities to contribute to open source communities.

With that, I’ve decided to stop posting personal updates. This decision did not manifest because I became overly security conscious of identity thieves, but because of my professional life now deals with highly technical and smart individuals who can easily profile me professionally and create prejudices before we even meet. With that, beginning in 2010 this site will change to a purely professional site that won’t hold much more than a bio, resume, and current events that I may be attending in a professional environment.

It has been fun and I will miss writing articles of new adventures that Gavin and Cooper experience, and Baby #3 will never exist on this site which is sad. However, I now have a Flickr Pro account where I can upload as many pictures as I desire, and Colleen always has her site to get family updates.

-Justin

Category: General | 2 Comments »
Tags: End of an Era, Justin, justinrummel.com