New Arrival (slightly belated) - Sunday, 09.10.06

Oops... I just realized that I haven't even mentioned the birth of my daughter!

Rowan Elizabeth McGrath was born on May 25th at 11.04am. She weighed 8lbs 2.3oz and was 21 inches long.

Now, 3.5 months on, she is 15lbs 7oz and 25 inches long (at last measurement). Yikes.

We are keeping a photo journal which I update far more frequently. I can't believe how quickly she is growing up. I am loving every second of it.

It's tough being a stay home Mom as well as continuing my writing. Working does keep me sane and reminds me that I have a brain. But being a Mom really is a full time job. OKay, so here's a list of 1st's that have happened so far...

1st day at the beach: June 7th
1st proper bath: June 8th
1st cold: June 19th - July 4th
1st Smile: July 1st
1st plane journey: July 4th
1st laugh: sometime in late August
1st full roll over: Sept 1st
1st tummy bug: September 5th

Rowan is the most wonderful child. She sleeps through the night (now) and even tolerates her medicine. Unfortunately she has GERD which means it is painful for her to eat and she throws up an awful lot. She's been on medication since she was 3 weeks old and it does seem to help. A couple of weeks ago we discovered that she is milk protein intolerant and also soy protein intolerant. This meant I had to stop breastfeeding which is probably the hardest decision I have made. She is now a formula baby through medical necessity. She's a hypoallergenic formula (Similac Alimentum) and we have to add cereal to thicken it so more of it stays in her stomach. The Pediatrician says she should hopefully get over the GERD by 6 months. The allergies may stay with her for much longer.

Nicknames for my daughter - Sunday, 09.10.06

I know it's been forever since I posted. I guess that's what a 3 month old will do to you!

I noticed today that in addition to her actual name (Rowan) we have many nicknames for her:

1. Wiggly Baby
2. Stinky Butt
3. Baby Kins
4. Munchkin
5. Baby Butt
6. Little Wriggler (stolen from my nephew)
7. Sweetums

I guess this is a theme in our household because our yellow Labrador, Chester, also has many nicknames. And I have no idea where some of these came from.

1. Da' puppy
2. Der Popen Flofen
3. Der Vagen Dogen
4. The Moochen Poochen
5. The Pupinator

Mood: Content

Music: Baby Einstein Lullabies

What my laptop can and can not withstand - Saturday, 03.18.06

I bought a Dell C640 laptop last June from an eBay seller. Usually I am a huge advocate of eBay, but this time I got burned. Unfortunately, I needed the laptop badly for a live event I was about to cover and didn't have time to return it and get a new one from a different seller, so I was stuck with it. Granted I only paid $550 for it, but it certainly was not as described.

In the past 9 months I have learned that my laptop cannot handle being shut down over night. If I do this, it then takes at least 20 tries to get it to boot in the morning. Neither, unfortunately, can it handle being left on over night because it overheats. So my morning routine has become sitting by the laptop reading a book while hitting the ON button every 15 seconds until it finally boots up.

It cannot handle the wireless card being on the opposite side of the laptop from my router. So I had to move my working area to compensate.

It cannot handle being unplugged for more than about 2 hours (and I have two extended life batteries in it). Which makes it really useful when I am travelling.

It CAN however, survive an 80lb dog landing on it.

I was working in bed yesterday evening (ah the joys of freelance) and my husband and Chester, my 80lb labrador, decided that our bed was going to become the arena for some rough-housing play. I quickly moved the laptop off the bed so it would not get damaged. About 30 seconds later, Chester fell off the bed and landed on his back on top of my laptop. Luckily the screen was closed. Of course it shut itself down immediately (thinking it had been dropped) and amazingly booted up first time.

So the moral of this for me is, my laptop cannot handle many usual laptop functions, but it can handle my dog, which is more than most people can.

- Wednesday, 03.15.06

Wow. In the space of three weeks I have gone from "incubator" to "trampoline." I swear my daughter is just jumping up and down. The good news is that I have been released from high risk status after her heart checked out (the second time).

So, I did the glucose tolerance test last week. This is one of those "wonderful" tests to see if you have gestational diabetes, and not something people warn you about BEFORE you get pregnant. I swear I feel like a pin cushion.

Basically, I went to the lab and had to drink a bottle of the most disgusting liquid I have ever tasted (within 5 minutes) and then wait an hour in the lab to have my blood drawn. They had run out of the orange flavor, so I got stuck with the lemon and lime. Apparently the orange is much better. I don't think it could have been worse. It tasted like uncarbonated 7up syrup. Yuck!!

Well, I managed it, but then true to form I got a phone call from my midwife that evening saying I had hit a positive on that test and also for anemia. Great. The anemia is easy to control - take 2 iron tablets and 2 calcium tablets every day. But hitting a postive on the GTT meant the wonderful 3 hour test.

For 3 days before the test I had to carb-load with extra bread and orange juice. Okay, I can do that. Then at 10pm the night before, I had to start fasting. Hmmm... keeping a pregnant woman away from food is not a good idea.

At 7am I had to show up at the lab and get my fasting blood drawn. Then I had to wait an hour for the results. They say it is a 3 hour test, but it is actually 4 hours. After it came back as okay to do the test, they handed me 2 bottles of the disgusting liquid! Luckily they had the orange back in stock so it was a little easier. This one tasted like very strong Sunkist or Orange Fanta (and was carbonated). Have you ever tried to chug soda? It's not easy. I haven't had soda for months, so this was a particular challenge for me. They still only give you 5 minutes to get it all down even though they double the quantity, but somehow I managed it. Then the waiting began. Every hour for 3 more hours I had my blood drawn. I actually got "stuck" 5 times because my veins started rolling by the last one.

By this time it was 11:00am and I was starving. So, off to Firehouse Subs. When I got home, I had a message from my midwife. Now, I had been told they only call if there is a problem, so as soon as I heard her voice I assumed the worst. Luckily, however, she was calling to tell me I passed, so no more needles, no more disgusting liquids for me! Yey!!

No-one ever tells you about all of these tests ahead of time. The triple screen, cystic fibrosis test, GTT, anemia, etc. As well as all the usual ones you get at the beginning. It's crazy.

I suppose at least they can do the tests. I would just love to get through one set of routine tests without hitting a positive for something! At least I have only one more set to go (at 34 weeks).

I am amazed at how quickly the last couple of months have gone. I can hardly believe that I will be 30 weeks on Saturday. I really feel like I am nearly there!

Cars, Concrete Walls, and other things that should not go together - Tuesday, 02.28.06

It's been a little while since I posted, but I have a good reason. Basically, my husband wrecked his beautiful Mazda RX-8. I'm pretty depressed about this because I am a bit of a "car guy" and we both loved that car. He was testing out the new intake and exhaust and being responsible, he wasn't going to do that on regular roads, so he drove 3 hours to the closest 1/4 mile track. Well, it turns out they hadn't prepared the track properly and he hit a slick spot and went into the concrete wall at 70mph. Amazingly, he walked away from it. Unfortunately, because he was on a closed track, the insurance won't pay a penny. This is very depressing because it means we are stuck with one vehicle (my Toyota Matrix) which is as far as you can get from a sports car. Oh well, we'll get over it. The important thing is that he is okay.

In other news, I hit 27 weeks and I am almost into the third trimester. I did my 28 week labs a little early, and I wish I hadn't.

Every time I go in for tests, something hits a positive. I've had the Triple Screen hit for Down's Syndrome (which turns out is only a 1 in 274 chance), My daughter's ultrasound showed up an echo-conic bowel (which went away by the next appointment), the fetal echocardiogram showed some irregularities in her heart beat (which we will be monitoring at my next one on Tuesday). So I have come to expect the nightly phone call from my mid-wife after I do tests.

I should back track a little. I did the Glucose Tolerance Test (GTT) which helps determine if you have Gestational Diabetes. I went into the lab and had to drink the most disgusting liquid I have ever tasted. Think 7up syrup (before adding the carbonated water) and you'll have an idea of what I had to drink. It was a fairly big glass too and I had only 5 minutes to get it down. With my nausea, that was a challenge, but I managed it. Then I had to wait for an hour before they drew my blood for analysis.

So, it was about 7pm when I got the call from my mid-wife. Sure enough, I had hit a positive on the GTT. The cut off is 135 and I was 162 so now I get to do it all over again, but do the three hour test. Oh joy. I have to "carb load" for three days before the test (which will be next Thursday) by adding 2 slices of bread and a glass of orange juice to what I would usually eat. Then, the night before the test, I have to start fasting at 10pm. I get to the lab at 7am and they will take my fasting blood. Then, I get to drink that wonderful syrup again and get settled in for the long haul. They will take my blood every hour for 3 hours. I can't leave the lab, eat or drink anything (except sips of water if absolutely necessary). After they are done I am heading to Subway. After the results of this test come back, we will know if I have Gestational Diabetes. If I do, I should be able to control it with my diet, but it's just one more hassle.

I suppose it could be a good thing - they usually induce GD patients two weeks before their due date, so maybe I will only have ten weeks to go!

I'm also anemic apparently, so I have to take more iron supplements. If it's not one thing, it's another.

But then, in the next 3 months I am going to have a wonderful baby girl and I will forget all about the nausea, back pain, tests, etc. and get focused on being a Mum.

My "innie" has become an "outie" - Tuesday, 02.14.06

I knew it would happen at some point, and the dreaded day snuck up on me while I was not paying attention. Yes, I am talking about the transition of my belly button from innie to outie.

You see heavily pregnant women and they all have outies. I never really thought about this until mine started changing. Now mine is popping out like the rest of them and I'm only 25 weeks!

On a good note, my friend Jebbye just had her baby son yesterday. She was 4 weeks early, but he was still 6lbs 14oz so goodness knows how big he would have been if she had lasted the full 40 weeks. She had 14 hours of active labor. That is terrifying and I don't want to think about it anymore thank you very much. I visited them today and both are doing great. It was wonderful to hold a newborn. And Jeb (named after her grandfather) is the most adorable little boy ever.

There are other changes occuring in my body besides the belly button. I think my daughter is in the middle of a growth spurt because suddenly nothing (even my maternity pants) will fit me. Less than a week ago, all was fine. Now, I feel like a beeched whale. And of course I am getting wonderful comments from people with kids such as, "You've still got a lot of growing to go" and "Just you wait, you'll get much bigger before you deliver." Thanks. This is exactly what I wanted to hear. My back is straining as it is. I have no idea where I am going to put the 15 more pounds that my doctors want me to put on before May 27th.

It's Valentine's Day. I almost forgot that. My wonderful husband wanted to take me out, but honestly, there is no way I could handle waiting 2 hours for a table somewhere. There are only 3 restaurants in this town that take reservations and of course they have all been booked up for months. Oh well. I actually think it was much more romantic sitting on our bed side by side eating Heinz tomato soup and drinking chocolate milk. Yes, it appears my husband is getting a taste for weird combinations too wink