Tomato Soup - Part 2

I rambled on about my tomato soup conflicts with Carter not too long ago. Well, soon after he proved me wrong. I was eating at the table in the kitchen and he took my bowl away and ate some himself. It was a huge mess, but he seemedto enjoy it. At least he let me put a bib on him, he usually protests that.

Baby Bickel Update #3

Here is a quick update, b/c I am very tired today and going to try to nap (not good at napping).

The baby's "breathing" is really good. She has gained almost a pound and a half. When they told us two weeks ago that she was about 4 pounds, she was actually only 3 lb and 10 oz. I think the doctor was trying to not scare us. She is right at 5 pounds now. If she keeps gaining at that rate we may have a bigger baby than expected...which is fine. I had gained three pounds over the last two weeks and most of it went to her. So, I get to keep eating alot for now.

We found out last week that from here on out we can have her at Piedmont Fayette hospital which is on the other side of Peachtree City from us...that saves us another 30 to 45 minutes of driving to Southern Regional. Piedmont has a neo-natal unit as well, just not as advanced as Southern Regional, but she is far enough along that she would be good in their neo-natal unit if necessary.

We get to skip our regular OB visit this week and I'll have another update on Monday after our visit with the specialist again. Thursday will be 35 weeks, so we are slowly getting there.

Pictures

I noticed most of my blog entries end with "will post pictures soon." If you click on the "Bickel Family Pictures" link on the left side of the homepage, you'll be able to see all our pictures. Maybe not all, but a lot! Each picture on the first page is an album of more, so happy browsing.

Baby Bickel Update #2

Monday (4/7) was our visit to the specialist. They tested the baby's lungs again and she was "breathing" very well. We won't get her weight checked until next Monday's visit. While we were doing the ultrasound, we got a really good view of her face. It looked like she was facing the camera and showing off. She acted pretty silly and made fishy kiss faces at us. (I know she was just practicing sucking, but it was really funny!)

Other than that, I'm still bored and still sitting around. Daytime TV is terrible and full of reruns and there are only so many websites you can look at!

Above is Carter in his new room, he has done quite well sleeping in his big boy bed. He had breakfast in bed that morning...

Little Butterbeans

Coleen has updated the Little Butterbeans site: http://www.littlebutterbeans.com/

It has a new look and is very cute.

Here is a picture of Carter modeling a lounge wear set Coleen made him...it is full of monkeys of course.

Baby Bickel Update #1

Some of you are aware that our little girl has been a trouble maker from day one. Our latest complications have me on complete bed rest. Technical term: I have a placental abruption. ( I asked for more definitive rules last week on bed rest- I was told choose upstairs or down/couch or bed. And no, I can't go to Babies R Us).

We spent a few days in the hospital and this is my 2nd week at home. We are at 32 weeks now (33 is Thursday) and my doctors are hopeful that we make it to 39 weeks. We are now going to our specialist every Monday and our regular OB each week. Yesterday our doctor ran some test to see how the baby is progressing. She is only up to 4 lbs now, which is the 11th percentile. They also check to see how her lungs are progressing. I learned yesterday that even though babies don't breathe until the are born, they practice breathing at this age. She started hiccupping and that counts as practice breathing. With her being too skinny, I have to eat a lot more. I am supposed to eat alot of extra dairy and protein. That sounds like fun, but not so much. I haven't gained much weight yet, but the next few weeks I think I will become a beach whale.

Every Monday we will run tests and if she is gaining weight and practicing her breathing, we will stay pregnant. If not, I'll have to go back into the hospital. Our next milestone is 36 weeks, which is April 24th. If we make it that long she probably would not need neo-natal care at the hospital.

I'll send pictures later, but when we got home we were still in the process of moving Carter to his new room and then painting/decorating/setting up the baby's room. Ryan has gone into over drive getting everything done. Carter's room is done and the baby's room isn't missing much at all. He also has all of her clothes 0-6 months ready and waiting in the closet or dresser. He has been great! And it has driven me crazy that I can't help. On his request, I do bark orders, but even a bossy person like me feels guilty for doing so! Thanks for all the well wishes we've received. I'll update again soon.