18 weeks and a special shout out!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday Aunt Lizzie, happy birthday to you!

Baby Rathert hopes you had a great birthday this week, and can't wait to meet you this summer!


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How far along?  18 weeks! Last week I said it seemed like pregnancy was going quickly, but this week I realized we aren't even halfway there. 

Total weight gain/loss: Still +5 lbs.

Maternity clothes? I tried to wear my Bear's shirt this week. It was a long shirt before... it doesn't really fit over my body anymore. Maternity clothes full time!

Stretch marks? I saw my first ones this week on the back of my hips. Wah wah...

Sleep: One day this week Ben woke me up early. Big mistake. :) Love you B!

Best moment this week: Belly painting was so fun! I hope to do it more as my belly gets bigger. And I finally got Carrie's pregnancy pillow in the mail. Thanks Carrie!

Movement: Still waiting...

Food cravings: I ate biscuits and gravy twice the other day...

Gender: Soon to find out!

Labor Signs: No sir!

Belly Button in or out? It's getting flatter and flatter! But it's still in for now.

Wedding rings on or off? Off

What I miss: Having more than 4 shirts that fit properly.

What I am looking forward to: We have an ultrasound next Wednesday and as long as baby isn't shy we will find out the gender!

Weekly Wisdom: I should not ignore slight dizziness. It will quickly becomes crazy dizziness! It's okay to sit down, even if I am in the middle of something "important".

Milestones: A cashier asked me about being pregnant this week. It's the first time a stranger has noticed enough to feel safe saying something. I guess I'm really showing!




Daddy's Thoughts: 


Another week, another list of things I've learned not to do to upset the wife.  Like coming home from work post-call and crawling into bed with her to take a nap.  In her defense I think I should have "known better" but I got caught up remembering how we used to do that and that it would probably be okay, right?  Well anyway, lessen learned.  I definitely find myself fetching a lot of stuff for her, but I've never really minded that.  I'm still amazed at how hot she gets at night.  She used to have the electric blanket on under our huge comforter, but now the comforter is gone and I find I need to turn my side of the electric blanket up to 4 just to get warm enough to sleep at night.  Hormones man, whatcha gonna do?
In other news, we're a week away from finally getting to know if it's a boy, girl, or puppy dog!  I've been telling everyone that I think it's going to be a girl (which I do).  I think it's because I think raising a girl will, in general, be harder for me than a boy.  Mostly because I have no idea what I'm doing, especially when it comes to little girls.  Man, I'm gonna have a kid soon.  And it might be a girl!  Scary...

17 Weeks

(Wasn't I just wearing this shirt a couple weeks ago?)

How far along?  17 weeks! This is going so fast!

Total weight gain/loss: +5 lbs according to my scale. Progress!

Maternity clothes? I can still fit into some men's small t-shirts, but otherwise, it is maternity all the way now. I'm now wearing Ben's scrubs to bed and to lounge around the house. Thanks Ben!

Stretch marks? Not that I have seen!

Sleep: Still a battle. I've starting taking naps every day.

Best moment this week: Ben starting reading a baby book! I'm so proud!

Movement: Nothing definite this week, but I am looking forward to when it is more regular.

Food cravings: Ben and I had to make a late-night run for Chinese food. Did we have to choose the shadiest take-out place in Peoria? I'll let you be the judge. Because we did.

Gender: TWO MORE WEEKS!

Labor Signs: No, but I did watch several graphic delivery videos on youtube. Yeah... yeah.

Belly Button in or out? I thought this was the silliest question on the survey, but it has starting to change shape this week! It's stretched out and bigger. I can see to the bottom now, where it was too small to see before. Maybe it will flip and stick out soon?

Wedding rings on or off? Off - even my turquoise ring is off, but it's mostly because of joint pain, not swelling.

What I miss: My seat belt fitting comfortably.

What I am looking forward to: Getting Carrie's maternity pillow in the mail!

Weekly Wisdom: I realized while talking to the woman I nanny for, who is an OB, that I have learned a LOT of medical terminology relating to maternity and labor. I can finally follow doctor-speak! (at least on this one topic)

Milestones: I did not cry at anything ridiculous for a whole week!




Daddy's Thoughts:


So I got this book called The Birth Partner's Handbook and have been plugging through it for the past few days.  It's pretty well written and informational, and about half of it seems to be anecdotes from (real life!) birth partners talking about their experiences during labor.  Not bad, not bad, but I'm starting to have to skim ahead to find things I'm not already familiar with.  Any resident who does OB could go on and on (and on and please shut up already...) about what they've seen on L&D and I"m certainly no exception to that.  What I have seen though, and this is starting to have more relevance to me now, is that a lot of our young teenage mothers come in with no one at all.  Maybe their mother will wander in and out during the delivery and a sister will be in attendance, but I would say a good chunk of our LSES mothers (that's low socio-economic status for all you 'lete texty online moms out there) do not have a baby daddy there to help them through what's going on.  Poor them.  No woman should have to go through this alone.  Besides it's really funny to see these young street-wise baby daddies who are man enough to be there, still be humbly standing by the bed, not saying anything, praying to Jebus that it will all be over soon.  At least they're there.


And that'll be me soon enough.  Nicki has forbade me from so much as looking down when the baby is coming out lest I put on my doctor hat and look at it from that angle.   Jebus!

16 weeks

How far along?  16 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Still only two pounds, despite my insane new eating habits.

Maternity clothes? I got some cute shirts and some leggings to wear with short dresses (now shirts) that Jackie lent me. Thanks!

Stretch marks? Nope! 

Sleep:  Still pretty rough. I'm looking forward to trying out Carrie's maternity pillow!

Best moment this week: I definitely have my appetite back. I missed food so much!

Movement: I definitely thought I felt something Sunday, but I haven't felt it since, so perhaps I was wrong.

Food cravings: Port wine cheese spread. Yum! 

Gender: ????? 

Labor Signs: No way!

Belly Button in or out? Sorry Jer, still in.

Wedding rings on or off? Off

What I miss: Fitting into my regular clothes.

What I am looking forward to: More baby movement. And finally gaining a few pounds actually! I know that seems weird, but I just want to know I'm doing the right thing and baby is growing like s/he should.

Weekly Wisdom: This week I read all about C-section rates and things I can do to dramatically lower the chances that I will have to go through that. It was very encouraging!

Milestones: Baby squirms :D




Daddy's Thoughts:


Nicki seems to be feeling a lot better, which is of course a good thing. It would seem that she is not gaining as much weight as we would expect, but I am not worried about it yet. We have made many late-night trips for food this week, which has been just fine. Dunkin' Donuts anyone?




<3

Fatherhood and All That

Fatherhood? Daddy?!? Are these really words that are going to be applied to me in the next 6 months? There are times that I feel like everything is coming together and that this all feels natural, but I’ll be honest, those moments are much more the exception than the rule.

OMG we’re having a baby and it’s going to change EVERYTHING!!!

I feel like I just got used to being married. Seriously, Nicki and I only started living together about 1 month before we got married in June 2010 (remember that?). And between us having to figure out how to co-habitate with another human being again and it being my intern year in residency, it wasn’t terribly easy on us. But by God we got through it, learned to make each other happy and learned to only fight when it’s really important (I think!). 2010-11 was a big year for us in the “growing and learning” department.

So a baby seems like the right choice, right? Nicki and I have always been super excited about raising a family together so since we’ve finally gotten our feet under us, we figured there was no time like the present. And present was exactly what we meant apparently because I think we succeeded on the first opportunity. I think our biological clocks must be timed perfectly or something. Which has been good and also weird for me. I think I was expecting to have some time to get used to the idea that I was actually attempting to sire an offspring and put a little more of myself out in the world. I didn’t really get it. Nicki pointed out that I wasn’t really convinced until I saw the ultrasound, which I hear is kind of common for a lot of new dad’s (thank goodness I’m not alone in this), and she’s absolutely right. I really feel like it’s only begun to become a reality for me in the past few weeks.

But I’m beginning to see the good in all this. I do like holding babies (Carrie, I have gotten much better at this since Tate was born), and poopy diapers don’t scare me. And now that I think about it, I’m going to have a group of kids in my life that I’m going to be able to teach all kinds of neat things to as they get older. I mean, no daughter or mine is not going to know how to change her own oil. I guess I’m just slow to accept change, because I can never say for sure if what’s coming will be as good as what I’ve got now. I did this when I went away to college, when I got new roommates, when the Vark and I got married, and I guess it shouldn’t surprise me too much that I’m doing it now. I don’t know what the future is going to hold for us and this kid! But it will probably be pretty good, and I don’t have any real reason to doubt it. I just don’t feel all that fatherly yet.

More to come!

15 weeks

How far along?  Well, technically I was 15 weeks yesterday, but what are you gonna do? So this makes me 15w1d!  

Total weight gain/loss: I've gained 2 pounds so far (since my first OB appointment), which is crazy to me considering how much I feel my body is changing.

Maternity clothes? I'm wearing maternity jeans now, but I can still wear my regular sweats and yoga pants around the house. I don't have any "maternity" tops, but my regular shirts are getting too short, so I grabbed a few new long ones that will hopefully last a few more months.

Stretch marks? Not yet! Maybe I can avoid that with a dedicated cocoa butter regimen?  

Sleep: Pretty rough - I just can't seem to get comfortable! Poor Ben - I've been bring all sorts of combinations of pillows into bed to try to find a good fit.

Best moment this week: I heard baby's heartbeat on the Doppler again! And I am starting to get some energy back - finally!

Movement: Maybe? A lot of moms have been trying to explain what those "flutters" feel like, but I still can't tell if it's just my imagination, or digestion, or if baby is finally telling me he's/she's in there! 

Food cravings: Glazed donuts - but only at night when it is incredibly inconvenient... 

Gender: We find out on February 1st! What do you guys think it is? 

Labor Signs: None! 

Belly Button in or out? In - doesn't really seem to be much different yet.

Wedding rings on or off? Off - but I am wearing my turquoise ring in their place! It felt too weird to have them off. 

What I miss: Hot dogs, being able to stay up late, and peeing at normal intervals 

What I am looking forward to: Finding out if we're having a boy or a girl! And feeling some definite signs of movement.

Weekly Wisdom: This week I learned that it is okay to give into cravings sometimes, and to not take people's comments/suggestions too seriously. 

Milestones: I finally think I am over being nauseous everyday. Hooray! 

We're Expecting!

We have actually known that we are pregnant for quite a while, but the time has come to share our journey with you. At my 15 week appointment, I heard baby's heartbeat again, and our chances of miscarriage dropped to less than 1%.

Holy cow. We're having a baby!

Ben and I have talked about having kids since before we were married, but we just decided to start trying in October. And the rest is history! We were blessed to get pregnant right away. In fact, it was so fast that when I told him he didn't believe me. Three home pregnancy tests later, and he still didn't believe me. But when we saw baby for the first time we were both very excited!

A few weeks later we were lucky enough to catch another glimpse of baby - looking much more human!

In four weeks we will (hopefully!) be finding out if baby is a boy or a girl. The whole thing still seems a little surreal to me, even though I've made it through the first trimester. Sometimes the idea that we will be in charge of a little human being in six short months is overwhelming. But for the most part we are very excited!


Welcome!