Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Viability

In a few short minutes I will be 24 weeks pregnant.

If you've been pregnant recently or know someone who has been you may have heard of the term "viability." This word means so much to many of us who are pregnant. At 24 weeks a fetus is consider viable meaning that doctors are to preform procedures to save the life of a child born at this gestational age.

The survival rate for a baby born at 24 weeks is between 40-70% dependent on factors (gender, weight, etc.) Statistically white males do fair worse when born premature.

Despite the promise of a chance no one actually wants their child born at this age, I certainly don't. But it is still a comforting though considering my history of preterm labor with Sam.

24 weeks also means I have 15 short weeks (remember I will be taken for a repeat at 39 weeks provided I don't go into labor on my own) left until Saul makes an appearance. This is a little terrifying to me.

Of course between now and then I have my anniversary, my birthday, Samuel's 1st birthday, and Sophia's 2nd birthday among other things so I have no doubt those 15 weeks will move extremely quick.

There really isn't much to do. The biggest will be moving Sam unto the same bedroom as Sophie. Other than that we're putting on new bedding for Saul and getting a few items that didn't survive Samuel.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Menu: June '12


Mon 6/4- spinach lasagna
Weds 6/6- Cheeseburgers
Thurs 6/7- Corn chowder*
Fri 6/8- Chicken and Dumplings *


Mon 6/11- veggie burger
Tues 6/12- chicken and shrimp gumbo*
Weds 6/13- spaghetti and meatballs*
Fri 6/15- Arroz con Pollo*


Weds 6/20- Taco Salad
Thurs 6/21- Bacon Spaghetti
Fri 6/22- Southwestern Chicken (modified)*


Fri 6/29- Sloppy Joes *


*From "Montel's Living Well Pressure Cooking" cookbook

Monthly dinner menus

So my dear Carl and I have decided to plan out our menu a month in advanced in hopes of making one large shopping trip and only stocking up on the little things for the rest of the month.

Well I'll share my menu with you guys. I'll add links to the menu to note where I got the recipes from in case you're interested. And no I'm not creative enough to make a recipe... yet. Maybe in a little.

Oh also did I mention I just bought Carl a pressure cooker? We had it for all of two days and it was used for dinner twice. So needless to say sometimes it is okay to buy your spouse a kitchen appliance for your anniversary.

So our first issue when deciding to plan a menu is being given so many options! While yes I love having options sometimes when they're limitless its intimidating. So we decided to be lame and make a daily "theme"... okay usually its the meat (or lack there of) dictating the theme.

Monday- meatless
Tuesday- chicken
Wednesday- beef (or cow product)
Thursday- pork (or pig product)
Friday- pressure cooker night!

Now you might stop and realize "Wait that's only 5 of 7 days" well, yes it is. Truth be told Carl is gone from 5:15am on Saturday morning until approximately 1am Monday morning. Our weekends are already pretty scheduled. Saturday we eat grilled cheese (don't judge!). And well Sunday my loving, wonderful, mother comes and rescues me us from the children being alone for the whole weekend and they feed my kids.

Baby #3 is!!!

A healthy baby boy.

We went to the maternal fetal medicine doctors on Wednesday to to a retake of our anatomy scan.

Baby boy was measuring 24 1/2ish weeks and was expected to weigh in at 1lb 5oz. He had all his fingers and toes. His heart, brain, spine, kidneys and every other organ looked perfect.

We've decided to go with the name Saul Nathaniel.

I'm so extremely happy everything is going well with our little man. I was worried, how could I not be? Its never comforting when the ultrasound tech tells you they can't see much.

I did also get an ultrasound picture of his head but unfortunately I lack a printer (and therefor a scanner).

I didn't see any really distinguishable features during the ultrasound but I imagine he'll look just like his older siblings (who look just like each other) when he's born. It's hard to believe I have less than 4 months to go!

Monday, May 14, 2012

S3's progress

I know I haven't really posted anything on our awaited arrival of S3 for a while.

Honestly there isn't much I know.

We didn't have the NT scan at 12 weeks.
We went in for our big anatomy scan but it was the biggest flop ever.

We went and the tech couldn't see much of baby's organs and the measurements came back different how what week baby is measuring.

I'm not truly concerned. While yes it is frightening to be told "I can't see 3 of 4 heart chambers" or "well I have no clue where the kidneys are." I'm not worrying until there is a reason to worry. The machine wasn't picking up baby well and to be honest the ultrasound tech didn't really seem that skilled. And no we have no clue what gender our #3 is.

So in about a week we're going to go for a bigger, better ultrasound with the Maternal Fetal Medicine people at the hospital.

I should have at least a picture to share and a more detailed description of how my bean is growing.

As of right now I do know baby is alive and seemingly well and probably bigger than my supposed almost 22 weeks.

And for right now that's all that really matters.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

What I did on Mother's Day

For me the thought of Mother's Day leaves me with a simple image in my head.

An image of mom lying in bed greeted by her beautiful children, husband and of course a tray full of delicious breakfast.

The mom in my head eats her breakfast alone, maybe while reading some of her book. When she gets up her husband has cleaned the kitchen and the children give her little hand crafted gifts.  She spends the day doing no real work, going out to eat lunch and spending time with her own mother.



In reality. Mother's Day is just another freaking day.

So I lived it like just another day. Plus a sense of bubbling resentment sent me off into a cleaning frenzy this weekend.

So I cleaned































Now you might be thinking.

Uh big deal?
Well actually considering my house looked like 200x worse on Friday evening it is a big deal.

Oh and I made brownies...


Happy Mother's Day.