Baby showers that is.. There are 2 in the near future and we’ve had to come up with the obligatory registries. We’ve gotten quite a few requests for list of what we want so we finally had a chance to put it together last weekend.
You can see a synopsis of what we’re looking for, and links to registries at this google doc. We appreciate any advice on things we may not have thought of that might be useful. We appreciate all gifts whatever their size or shape (especially those that come in the form of loving friendship and support) from all our friends and family.
We had our 29 week check up yesterday and not too much to report.
I passed the glucose tolerance test by one point, which was great since I was on call the night before and ate a big meal less than an hour before I drank the orange goo. My hemaglobin was good. My belly is measuring 27cm- which is 2 less than predicted, but the extra is hanging out on my hips so its all good :) Weight gain has been good and I’ve finially made it into the expected range… although just barely.
The baby is already head down. Apparently its still small enough to flip a whole bunch, but the doc doesn’t think it will cause its head is nestled pretty snuggly in my pelvis. The back is on my left side, and the feet are regularly looking for a way out in my right side. We’ve been telling it that it can’t come out that way, but its not listening just yet.
The belly is big enough to be uncomfortable but nothing is particularly painful. Aches and pains in the back and pelvis, a bit of discomfort if I eat too much, but nothing too bad. I’m going to try going to a chiropracter that the OB recommends for some of the back/pelvic pain and see how that goes. I’m also going to get some better shoes to wear at the hospital.
I started my ICU rotation this week. I’m on call overnight every 4th night. For those of you not in medicine, on call for residents and students means you are in the hospital-awake- and running the show all night. The doctor on call sleeps at home and only comes in if there is a problem. I’ll probably get a little sleep most nights, but its going to be a really exhausting month.
As far as getting ready for baby… well we haven’t done a whole lot yet. Its kinda starting to sink in that we might want to get on that. We’re starting a registry on babies r us. I don’t even know where to shop for baby stuff here in Burlington. Obviously we have some work to do 
So it’s been a while since we took or posted any pictures to prove/document growth of cleatus. We took some yesterday and i thought they were pretty funny, especially when you put them side by side with the beginning
Not only can Katie not see her feet, they can’t see her either.
It’s been a while since we’ve updated this. Been quite busy with Katie doing her acting internship in medicine and now in the intensive care unit.
One thing I’ve found quite amusing about the whole med school thing here is the notion of being “on call”. For example, tonight Katie has “overnight” call. In the real world, “on call” means just that, you are available by phone or pager “to be called” in. In medical school, however, “on call” means that you’re “there”. Why don’t they just call it “at work”.
Anyway, things are coming along well for the 2 and fraction of us! We just got a new room mate and things are going well. CS PhD student at UVM, so I’ve got a friend to geek out with (not that Katie wasn’t able or interested in providing stimulating engineering discussion).
A quick update for everyone, 5/31/08 was my last day at myomo. I’m optimistic about the prospects for the technology and the effort and will continue to remain involved as a Board member and consultant, but am no longer engaged as a full time employee.
So, what now? Robots and other ideas!
You may know of the other company John and I have, Xitome Design, that builds robots and various things. We’re going to be making more of the MDS (mobile, dextrous, sociable) robots, similar to the latest internet star, Nexi (a robot we built the head, power system and did system integration for).
Got some other ideas too that we’ll be pursuing so stay tuned to see where it all goes!
Due to great fortune I ended up with a free week off at the end of May and we decided the best thing to do would be to go on one last vacation. After much research done on the floor of the travel section at Barnes and Nobel we chose the national parks in southern Utah- Arches, Bryce, and Zion.
We started the trip by heading out to California for a bit to attend a family reunion and visit friends. The reunion was fun and it’s always great to see everyone. It’s interesting to see how everyone has grown up and which directions they’re going. We had a great outing planned, but the weather didn’t really cooperate. Also got to meet up with a group of friends that have transplanted to the bay area, which was also really fun. All that crammed into a single weekend, whew!
Arches was AMAZING! We spent 2 full days there and camped in the park overnight. We did pretty much every hike on the map, including the ranger guided hike into the Firey Furnace that was considered strenuous. That was actually our favorite hike because it took us into narrow canyons between the beautiful red rock formations.
We also had the great fortune of meeting up with our friend Sara and her family who just happened to be visiting the park at the same time as us! Fun times! We did the hike to delicate arch together to check it out a sunset, totally spectacular!
Bryce was pretty awesome too. We failed to realize that it was at a high altitude and the temp dropped into the 30s at night. We were nice and cozy in our sleeping bags at night, but getting up to pee… not so much fun. The landscapes at Bryce are spectacular.
Zion was beautiful but dissapointing. It was really crowded and we felt like we were being herded through a list of set things that we were supposed to see on the shuttle bus and staying on all paved trails. We wanted to go onto a trail called the Narrows. You basically walk up a river bed into a canyon that gets really narrow. We were told the river was chest deep and we couldn’t do it. When we arrived it was only knee deep with a few small spots here and there that were chest deep. We were pretty annoyed that we had been told that we couldn’t do it and proceded to walk up the river about a half mile barefoot. Apparently there is a HUGE section of Zion that is excellent backcountry hiking. The problem is that with me being pregnant we didn’t want to be 4 miles out into the back country. So we were stuck with the masses.
All in all, the trip was a great break from the grind. We got some time to spend together away from everything (for the most part) and get out and stretch our legs a bit. We’ve seen some spectacular stuff around the world at very exotic locations, but the scenery of utah rivals the best of them (and it’s right in our back yard!). Something we’ll definitely visit again to see things in more detail.
I’ve wondered how long it would take before random strangers started asking me if I were pregnant, and how long before my belly would extend beyond the area that is considered my personal space and invite perfect stranger to cop a feel…
My expectation was that the first person to ask would be a middle aged woman, who is one of my patients at the hospital and has a psych diagnosis in addition to whatever medical condition landed her in the hospital. The only question for me was when that would happen. Well the first was last week (week 25) and I was right on! Since then every patient I have taken are of, with the exception of the senile old man that flirts with me, has asked. His roommate however did ask. I’ve been asked by 4 people in the last 2 days, so I guess its officially obvious now.
No strangers have attempted to touch my belly yet, but I have a feeling its just around the corner.
Well we still don’t know. We went for another ultrasound to find out on June 2nd and the little bugger still has its legs crossed. It was pretty neat to see it moving and feel it at the same time. I had imagined that it was moving a lot more than it was for me to feel it, but I could feel every little twitch of an elbow, knee, or foot.
So the big question… are we going to try to find out again? We decided to wait and let it be a suprise. There is no medical reason to do any more ultrasounds so we feel thats the best thing to do. If a reason comes up then we might find out, but if we make it to month 8 without knowing whats another month? I hope this kid likes yellow and green! I’m actually kinda happy… I was trying to figure out how I was going to convince people not to buy anything pink if its a girl :)
If you haven’t already voted boy or girl, scroll down and place your vote. There’s no hurry now!
After a long 2 months, we’re back home in VT. Finally have the computer setup again and we’re getting back into the swing of things here.
We’ll be posting pictures and updates about our trip and other things soon.
Ok its a cutsie lame title and it doen’t feel anything like butterfiles. So everyone wants to know… Can you feel the baby move yet. And the answer is yes, I’ve been feeling it for about a month or so now. It was subtle and very infrequent at first, but now its pretty unmistakable. Kailas has been able to feel it for about a week now.
So what does it fee like? Well nothing what I imagine butterfiles feeling like… how would butterflies get in there anyway, ew. At first it was a slight tapping, like gas, but not followed by a fart. I couldn’t be sure I was feeling the baby move at first and I had to be still and concentrate to feel it. Its gotten stronger over time and now it gets my attention when I’m occupied by other things. I can feel it kicking, elbowing, head butting, and rolling around. Its pretty interesting how the varied movements are.
Kailas has felt it kick several times now. I’m getting better at feeling it start to move and getting his hand in the right spot in time for the big show. One day he felt it roll over under his hand. That was pretty exciting.
For anyone who wants the info to guess boy/girl… Its mostly living in the right upper side of my uterus. It looks pretty funny when I lay on my back. There is a big lop-sided bump in the middle of my belly. Its most active around 11pm, but its starting to branch out to all times of the day.
