Happy Birthday Amy!

Anna has been enjoying singing and blowing out candles. In celebration of her godmother's birthday today, here is her rendition of "Happy Birthday!"



Happy 30th, Amy!!

Goofballs!

Here are some pictures of Anna (and accomplices) goofing off last weekend. Anna got herself into a spare car seat we have stored in our room.



Nanny and Poppy came over to watch the LSU game last Saturday night. First, we started off dancing in Anna's room. Anna insisted that Poppy put on her tutu.



Then, we put on Anna's favorite song, "Autumn" from Glazunov's "The Seasons". Poppy danced with her first.



Then, handed her to Nanny.



Nanny and Anna danced some more!



A video of Anna and Poppy (and tutu) dancing to Anna's favorite song.




This is a video of Anna dancing to the same song in her "ballerina dress" last Sunday morning.

Baby Scare

Here are some new pics of the baby. I wasn't supposed to have any more ultrasounds until about 20 weeks, but this little turkey has been up to no good. In the ultrasound technician's words, "it must be a little boy to be causing you so much trouble". I guess we'll see! It is impossible to determine the sex by looking at the pics, so don't even bother.


In the middle of the night on Thursday, I woke up with some heavy bleeding. Convinced I was having a miscarriage, Shaun and I didn't get much sleep for the rest of the night. A trip to the doctor's office and an ultrasound revealed that the baby is fine, but I have placenta previa. That means that the placenta is growing over my cervix and is easily jostled, causing red, scary, heavy bleeding.

So, I am now on pelvic rest until the placenta moves. That could be in two weeks or not at all. The doctor said that it is pretty common this early in pregnancy and that 95% of the time it will move eventually. Luckily, I am not on complete bed rest. However, I cannot exercise and have to take it easy. Shaun has been VERY helpful and is making sure I follow doctor's orders- because y'all know I'm going to push it.

This is an excerpt from our conversation:

Dr. D: "Ok, so Carolyn, you HAVE to take it easy. (thinking fast) No jazzercise... (thinking faster because he sees the look on my face) No long walks... (even faster, because he knows I'm looking for the exceptions) No running outside with Anna... (it's Thanksgiving soon) No traveling."

Me, looking for the loophole: "Can I swim?

Dr. D: "Absolutely not. That would jar the pelvis"

Me: "Can I lift weights?"

Dr. D, slightly amused: "NO! You can't exercise or move around much"

Me: "Can I walk up stairs?"

Dr. D, throwing his hands up and laughing: "NO, NO, NO!!! Don't do anything! Get some rest!!"

Sometimes, I think I drive him crazy. But he puts up with it because he knows we think he's the best OB/GYN ever.

Halloween

Anna decided to be a cowgirl for Halloween. She was VERY excited about the Halloween experience this year! Every year, our neighborhood has a parade that culminates at the park for a hot dog party. We started out walking.



But quickly fell behind because everyone else was riding in wagons.



Shaun ran inside quickly and got our wagon. It helps that our house is on the parade route.



Anna spent the party swinging.



And eating LOTS of Chee-tos.




Trick-or-treating was moved an hour forward so it didn't conflict with the LSU game.



She did a good job saying "thank you" but never did say, "trick-or-treat!" She just held out her pumpkin bag.



We walked down our street and the street behind us. Anna's bag was so full that she was dragging it by the end. When we asked her if she was ready to go home, she replied, "No, I want big candy! More!"


All in all, Anna had a good haul. We have enjoyed it. Grandpa, we're saving the Baby Ruth bars for you when we see you at Thanksgiving!!

Ultrasound and Bio Lesson

Ok, so I scanned in the ultrasound that we had on Wednesday below. If it doesn't look like a baby to you, that's good. It's SUPPOSED to look like a dinosaur...

We saw and heard the heartbeat- it was at 167, which is a really good number for this stage of development. It wasn't really moving around much, but it can't. The baby is actually on its head (the head is on the bottom, tail on the top). You can also see the yolk sac, which is important for sustaining the baby until the placenta takes over, at about 12 weeks. The baby was about 1.5 cm, or about the size of a raspberry.



Below is an image I took off of a website showing the Carnegie stages of embryonic development. Our baby was at stage 17 in the ultrasound. You can see the head at the top with eyes forming. Just right of the eye is the pharyngeal pouch (gills, of a sort). The big bulge in the middle is the heart and liver. You can see the arm bud with the beginnings of fingers, as well as the beginnings of a leg towards the bottom. The spine is forming (and is marked with arrows in the ultrasound), and you can see the protrusion of a little tail past the leg bud. You can also see the umbilical cord forming.

Obviously, we couldn't see all of what I have described on our ultrasound, but some things were easier to see because there was some movement. To all of my doctor friends, if I have made any mistakes, please correct me! You obviously know what you're looking at better than me. I teach this stuff to my kids, but not in that kind of detail. It's so awesome, I've got the coolest Biology project going on right inside of me! I am such a nerd!

Big Weekend Fun!!

Last weekend was Sara's 3rd birthday party. She had a spacewalk that looked like a castle!



Lots of family were present, as this was the first event Kristen and Mike have held at their house! They spent last year in Boston, and were in Tallahassee before that. We were so excited that we could be there!



Jill and her two kids, Julie and Andy, traveled from Ohio for the big event! We were thrilled to FINALLY meet them!



Mommas had to have some fun in the spacewalk too... but I felt that it probably would NOT help my tummy, so I relegated myself to being the photographer.



Jill and Kristen played Ring Around the Rosy about 8 million times with Sara, Julie, and Anna.



Doesn't Kristen look STUNNING in Sara's bow??



On Sunday, we drove up to Amite to go to the Corn Maze. Ok, well, we did a little bit of the corn maze, then we took a short cut to the attractions.




They had this cow train to ride on and Anna was SO excited!



Afterwards, we did some rubber ducky races with manual water pumps.



Anna and Daddy went down the super duper slide. We're not really sure if she liked it or not. It was really bumpy!



I know it has taken me quite some time to update. I have been feeling very poorly and am having trouble finding the time and energy to keep up with the blog. Hopefully I will only have another 4 weeks of this (though it seems like it's been an eternity!) If you have any hints for relief from all day nausea, PLEASE help me! Nothing that I have tried has assuaged it :-(

Is it over yet?

At least it's almost Friday! I'm having lots of nausea and exhaustion. We'll go for an ultrasound on Wednesday and should see some hand paddles and a heartbeat! I don't have any good pictures of Anna- she's running me ragged and has definitely hit the terrible twos. I'll try to get some this weekend :-)