Baby Has a Name

Alan and I decided on Cortland Burke Christensen.

Not Quite the Skull and Bones

Lookie what I learned today. Memphis has it's own not so secret group societies that celebrate with a carnival every year. It's going to take me a minute to reconcile my view of Memphis and the image of a bunch of adults secretly selecting a King, Queen, and Royal Court of Carnival Memphis.

I recognize that Carnival Memphis is mostly viewed as a dying tradition put on by a bunch elitest groups, but I bet the crab puffs are to die for.

Click here to learn about Carnival Memphis

Click here for current Royalty

Link to charities Carnival Memphis supports

Went to the Doctor Today

We just got back from my appointment and everything is good.

Baby is estimated to weigh 3.7 lbs. He's a total wiggle bop. They tried to see his face with a 3D ultrasound but there was too much fluid directly over his little face making it too dark to see much of anything. We did get a little glimpse and he is so handsome.

My glucose test came back 137. The doctor said that was fine and no special diet is needed at this time. Yay! I still get bread and sugar!

My iron is up from the 31 - 34 range to 37. So even though those stupid red iron pills make sick, sick, sick, I'll keep taking them. It's only for 10 more weeks, right?

Last night I woke up in a sweat with pains radiating from both sides into my belly button. The doctor said those were Braxton Hicks contractions and she told me how to measure them to make sure they were the fake contractions and not the real contractions. She also gave suggestions on what to do to make them go away.

As for my placenta, it's still low-lying. The ultrasound shows that it is right on the edge of the cervix now. It's creeped just a tiny bit lower than it was in the hospital. I'm going to be a little more still this week than last week since the car seat isn't here yet. Hospital rules; no car seat, no baby.

Trouble with Blogger

There has been issues with posting on Blogger for the last week. I'll catch up ASAP!

Painters are Here

The paint has been bought. Tanya, this wonderful artist friend of mine, came over last night and helped me pick the perfect creamy color for the bathroom. The little square looks great against the tile, but the name of the color has me a little worried.

Orange Foam. What image does that conjure up for you? For me it's Push-up Popsicles that my Aunt Jeannie used to get from the Schwanns man. It should look neutralish next to the green tile.. If not then $15 will fix it.

Is it paranoid that I locked the office door while the guys are working in the bathroom? The key is just a little stick of metal and it's sitting on top of the door frame, so the lock is really not any good at all. But, by golly, if they do try that doorknob they will get the satisfaction of knowing I don't trust them no matter how nice I may seem and they'll get to think I'm a fakey-fake-fake.

My fits of paranoia are random. I wasn't paranoid yesterday when the office door was all open and beckoning and I slept on the couch all non-responsive and drooling. Crap. You know they heard me snoring. How embarrassing.

I get sort of weird once in awhile - like the time I was on the computer at 3 in the morning and thought someone had hacked into my Yahoo account so I changed ALLLLLLL of my passwords for everything. In the morning I couldn't log into anything because I couldn't remember any of the new passwords.

I guess that's enough for today on the strange workings on my mind.

One more thing, now I'm worried that the door won't unlock since I've never actually tried the lock before. Oops. I can't exactly go bopping in there and see it the metal stick works, because that would blow my cover. I have created my own conundrum.

News of The Duck

Hospital updates, blah, blah, baby, blah, blah. Here's the post that everyone's REALLY been waiting for.

A Ducky update.







By day 6 Ducky's water is getting a little muddy. And through the bowl, from the side, he looks a little bloaty.

I think it's time to dump the water and see if Ducky will shrink back down. I know I need to do this before the water gets a moldy skin across the top, and it it's already sooo gross.... But sometimes we have to sacrifice and do gross stuff in the name of science.

I'll do it later.
Day 1 -

Day 6 -

Update

I got to go home this afternoon.

Hospital 4.1

Good morning everyone.

As some of you know I'm blogging from Methodist Hospital this morning. Yesterday afternoon I coughed and started a little bleeding. They kept me overnight to see if the bleeding would stop. If it does, I get to go home this morning. If it doesn't, well, I don't want to talk about that right now. It's 50/50. I had a little blood this morning, but not very much.

I hope to have the shortest stay on the "forever-and-ever floor" in history. Even the people who bring lunch talk to you like a full time resident. I know that the lunch person will be off until Saturday and the supper guy's shift ends at 7, but it's really more like 7:30 by the time he gets all of the trays returned to the kitchen.

My little nurse last was a man who reminded me of someone from Lord of the Rings. Like those little people that lived in round houses like this:


Or this:

He was just sweet as can be. I could also tell he was working his behind off by the little bits of sweat under his sideburns. My Prwecioussssss.

Thanks Tanya for the link to the neat community where I got the pictures above. Here's a link to The Shire Concept, if anyone would like to look into a different kind of neighborhood.

The baby is doing great. His heartbeat is 160 bpm and he's kicking at the monitors on my tummy.

Cleaning Day

Soon the floor will no longer look like it's growing fur around the edges.

There are four people in my house making all kinds of cleaning noises. It's such a weird feeling. One question, can I kick them out of the bathroom so I can use it? Pregnancy is fun.

ETA*** They came and went like angels that smell like pledge. I love them.

Visitor From a Far Away Land

Ciara showed up 5 hours early yesterday! What a wonderful surprise! And she brought a huge assortment of couch toys for days of entertainment from both her and Kiwi. I will never need another coloring or puzzle book again. They thought of everything; cross-stich, paint by numbers, a puzzle, paint your own sun-catchers, markers and pens and crayons, a journal...

AND THIS!

I can GROW MY OWN DUCKY!

I can't wait until someone else besides me is awake so we can get a glass of water and watch it grow! And notice it's going to be distorted and have a "slimy, icky texture". Apparently that's part of the fun! Cool!
And Alan just noticed the best Disclaimer of all:

Disclaimer: This toy is in no way intended to represent living people.
Any resembblance is purely coincidental and not intended to harm people.

WHAT????

Thank you ladies. You have made my day and my presents will keep me busy for many hours.

Tightening

ETA: My experience so far is just the baby doing impressive flips in my belly! No worrying please!

I have a question for all the women who have given birth, what does tightening feel like?

The doctor keeps asking if I feel tightening. I asked her what tightening feels like because, since I've never done this baby thing before, how in the world would I know what tightening feels like? My doctor is not terribly imaginative and just keeps answering, "It's feels like, you know, tightening." Very helpful.

So even if you have never replied to a blog before, please help a girl out and tell me what tightening felt like to you. I would hate to head up to the hospital with what I think is tightening only to find out that it was bad meatloaf.

More about Jello

Blending Cool Whip with peanut butter makes a light and fluffy apple dip that is to die for.

No bake strawberry cheesecake made with Cool Whip is a yummy summer treat.

But the very best is still Kimjello with Cool Whip on top. But not just any Cool Whip. This Cool Whip has to be mixed with something to make it taste sooooo good. Alan thinks it tastes like caramel. My possible mix list includes - but is not limited to - heaven, angel smiles, fluffy stuff of goodness, or puffed up bits of love.

I just want to lick it all off the top of the orange Jello right now, except Alan won't bring the the serving dish into the living room and I'm not allowed to leave the couch. Oh, the humanity.

Shhhh. Don't tell! It's a secret!

I think I'm going to get this rug for my mom for Christmas!


It's a rug for an X-Ray tech that takes his work home with him.


And one for the taxidermist hidden deep inside each and every one of us.


And finally The Rain Man rug. Or maybe for the Firestarter or The Little Match Girl themed room. Yup, something for everyone.

Update from Doctor's Appointment

We just got back from the doctor's office and she said that everything looks good and that baby sounds good.

I have been given a few more privileges.

I can go to the baby classes we have scheduled, but while there I can't practice breathing or pushing. She said she heard about a couple that walked out of their baby class because the video of the birth was too graphic. Alan and I looked at each other and told her that yeah, we would need to discuss things such as Alan does not get to see the baby crowning, or really anything below my waist during the delivery. And that mommy/baby bonding can be just as wonderful after the baby has all of the birth-juice cleaned off of him. Ick.

Back to my new privileges - I can do short bits of ironing. This is important because I need to iron the hems on my 2/3 finished crib ruffle.

I can't float in the pool, but I can soak in the bathtub. Well, I'll be able to soak in the tub as soon as the drywall is cleaned out of it. On the way home I asked Alan why he thought it was okay for me to soak in a tub but not float in a pool. His answer was because the doctor is smart and knows that it's never just floating in the pool. There would be stretching to get on the float and paddling and kicking involved and all of those things are no-no's. Good thinking.

I am still on rest. She warned me to not walk around if I don't need to and if I do need to walk I can't go very far. I am also still on restriction from cleaning and carrying. But health-wise everything is looking positive.