Week 13!!!

Almost the second Trimester...can't nail down whether it begins in week 13 or 14, but I hear I should be getting more energy and stamina!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Under the direction of my dear friend Hollie - Overstock just delivered some awesome classical music for our bambino: we've now got Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, Grieg, Mozart and many more...these are wonderful to listen to at night! I also ordered a book titled Baby Bites - I'm going to try to learn some baby food recipes as I don't think I'll be buying Gerber or Carnation off the store shelves!!!

We're getting more and more excited as each day goes by...it means we're getting closer to meeting our new little Skelly!!! Will our bambino be skinny, chunky, bald, freckled, green-eyed, long-lashed, have an inny or an outy...well, only the good Lord knows!!!

Now, about the growth of our precious bambino this week!!!

"Your baby can make a fist and even suck his or her thumb this week—both skills that are über-cute during infancy. If you're really lucky, you might catch a glimpse of baby's thumb sucking on an ultrasound photo. That's a framer! Other exciting developments include:

Your baby's eyelids are fused shut to protect his eyes as they develop. His bones and skull are solidifying and soon itsy-bitsy ribs may appear. (Baby ribs! How cute is that?!) Baby's intestines are finally right where you want them—in his or her belly instead of poking out into the umbilical cord. Baby's tooth sockets are all loaded and ready to pop out baby teeth six or seven months after baby is born (causing baby alot of pain and you a lot of lost sleep).

Who's that singing? Could be your baby: His vocal cords and larynx are completed now. (Perhaps we'll have a singer in the family???)

Your baby-to-be now weighs about 20 grams and is nearly 3 inches long, or about the size of a Nutter Butter."

Courtesy of: http://3dpregnancy.parentsconnect.com/calendar/13-weeks-pregnant.html

13 Weeks Pregnant

12 weeks, 2 days & counting...Mommy-to-be is feeling...

The mornings and days are going fine, it is the evenings that are the hardest! Occasionally at the end of the work day my eyes get so heavy I feel like I'm going to crash right on my desk. I am reading articles that say this is all normal because of hormonal changes going on in my body.

Apparently in the first trimester there's a spike in progesterone, which helps to contribute to a feeling of tiredness and sluggishness. You got that right! Then I read that feeling anxious or nervous about being pregnant can also make you tired. All of this is very helpful!!!

The most encouraging thing I've read is "Finally, you may have trouble sleeping in the first trimester, due to hormones, worry, or just the increased need to urinate frequently." Yeah, try about 4 times a night!

Something else that has kind of made me laugh is that I'll be reading in "What to Expect When You're Expecting" or an article that's been emailed to me from Parents.com and the very next week or so whatever was mentioned will happen exactly as they say. I had lunch with Hollie the other day and while in the restroom I blew my nose to find it bleeding pretty bad...about 4 days ago I read an article titled "SOS for Pregnancy Nosebleeds, Getting Nosebleeds? Here's What To Do!"

All of this is quite an adventure! I told Kevin last night, "If I'm having bad lower back pain now when the baby is only 2 1/2 ounces, what will it be like in 5 months when the little one is 4 lbs and growing!" We both laughed and I got a back massage!!!

I will be calling Violet this week! She's the most amazing deep-tissue masseuse on the planet!

Love you all and have a safe and healthy week.

Birthday for Mommy-to-be & Grandpa-to-be's Knee Surgery

Christmas decorations are finally coming down off the Skelly house ... that can only mean two things:
It’s finally Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend
-AND-
it’s Kelly’s Birthday!!

We take great pride in not rushing to yank down the garland, mammoth artificial tree and countless toy-soldier Nutcrackers shoved in every conceivable nook & cranny of the house. We savor the season... because, as we see it... the holidays are not over until all the exchanging at department stores is complete.

While Kelly marked one more year of wisdom today, grandpa-to-be, Jerome, marked day-one of post-op following his Friday morning knee surgery.
So we did celebrate Kel’s __th birthday in a dinner with family earlier this week so both sets of soon-to-be-Grandparents could be present.

Besides, I would have found it to be cruel and unusual punishment to be savoring the Copeland’s steak, seafood & Birthday desert experience while my father-in-law, a “carnivorous-officionatis” remain laid-up in a Northside Hospital room with nothing more than a boring sectional tray containing a brown-gravy mass masquerading as salisbury steak along side something reminiscent of grade school cafeteria mashed potato paste and the ubiquitous jello cup.

So we did Copeland’s on Thursday night, as his last hearty meal before surgery and birthday tribute to Kel.

For her actual birthDAY, as any good and loving daughter, who is state-side [not to dig on you, Heather] would do, Kel wanted to spend time with grandpa-to-be while he nurses the now-bionic knee in the hospital for a couple of days. Grandpa is the best in his physical therapy class, and we'll talk more about that when we have his permission.

And since this is a pregnancy blog, Daddy-to-be thought he might clue you all into what’s going in Kel’s body this week [cue the News Room intro music]...

Our Baby’s face is looking more human as eyes have moved to the front of the head and the ears are in place... great this kid will LISTEN to his mother.

Other baby highlights of the week: According to sources close to the baby...

Our little one can swallow this week. Good, because no son or daughter of mine is going to have a hard time eating. Also, our little one can breathe in all that fluid because he/she is getting oxygen from the blood pumped into their body by the placenta - there is no breathing with their lungs. The fingers and toenails are forming this week and the chin and nose are becoming more defined.

Also, little Gummy Junior has doubled in size (almost 1/2 of an ounce and 2 1/2 inches long) and should be the size of my pinky finger or a good-sized vienna sausage. The next part is gross, albeit fascinating. Our little gummy bear’s intestines are well underway but aren’t where we’d expect them to be.

We’ll leave it at that so readers may continue to enjoy their respective lunch breaks this week.

Our cute little 2-inch Gummy Bear

“Yesss Dear?”
“Where are you,” Kelly hastily inquires after I casually answer my cell phone trying to play cool and not to burst with anticipation,
“I’m just coming past the South Loop exit... I’ll be there in less 10 minutes.”

Okay ... by ‘there’ I thought I meant the Doctor’s Office behind Kennestone Hospital. What I found (and that Kelly found first by arriving before me), was an homage to world travel, an eccentric collection of vintage furniture, sports and other framed memorabilia not to mention a Who’s Who of a celebrity-autographed photo gallery that would rival any Sunset Blvd diner. Wow. This was not an OBGYN’s office. This was Sotheby's... in nurse’s scrubs.

Getting checked-in was accomplished in the 3 minutes I had not yet been there by my lightning-fast wife and the hot mommy-to-be. Then we entertain ourselves with the list of questions we had drawn up over the past few weeks. Including...

“Can mommy have soy milk?”

“How much should mommy lift?”

“Is it true mommy only needs 300 extra calories a day?”

“Should mommy buy daddy a Toyota Tacoma SR5 Pre-Runner Crew-Cab?”

I am pretty sure I was going to get a professional’s opinion on that last one.

Anyhoo, after 2 other Kelly’s are called by the nurses - inciting joint chest palpitations each time - we finally get the “Kelly Skelly?” from the nurse abridging the doorway to the examining areas. With a uniformity and near military precision, we pop to our feet and scurry ... yes I said ‘scurry’ ... over to where we were called.

I see this as an opportunity to clue all readers in that in my 30 years, I don’t believe I have ever ‘scurried’ - Sauntered? Yes, Moseyed? Sure. Scampered? Not since I was 6-years-old. This was my first time scurrying.
Moving on ...
Meandering down these presidentially adorned hallways with the sorts of artifacts and memorabilia I was threatened never to touch as guest in other people’s homes growing up, we arrive to the this cozy examining room that felt more like Aunt Pat’s upstair’s guest room ...except this one had a sonography machine the size of a decent-sized cat condo in the corner. Turning to put down the coats and the documentation we’ve accumulated to this point, I realized that we’ll have the company of Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson & Harrison Ford all in their framed and autographed majesty - staring at us as we learn the greatest news we’ll ever receive.

This was it, we were going to find out that we were really pregnant... not partially pregnant ...not just 10 weeks of indigestion-and-discomfort-for-nothing but really pregnant.

Per nurses instructions, Kelly, as modestly as possible, dons her new paper-ish drapery, takes the ‘implement’ connected to the sonography machine thing ... abracadabra ... there’s an image on the screen. AMAZING.
The nurse makes a few adjustments to the lighting & shading and voila! We now have a clear picture of our gorgeous, adorable, mono-chromatic 2-inch-long bundle of joy ...that Kelly later determined, looks like a Gummy Bear. The nurse then proceeds to do something that I would be slapped for even attempting. She takes the heel of her hand to push & jiggle my wife's mid-section to 'wake-up' the little Gummy Junior. As a result, our little Gummy Junior begins sprinting in place and shadow-boxing. This was wicked cool to say the least.

"Pow, p-pow, pow, p-pow!" ... that of course, is the heartbeat.164 beats-per-minute. Whoa! Okay yeah, I'm totally a dad. Totally awesome warm fuzziness begins taking control of my body.

This is amazing. This was the coolest thing on a TV screen since watching New England get shut-out of a playoff spot. I’m holding my gorgeous wife’s hand and seeing her beaming ...as much as one can beam given her vulnerable, and I can only imagine, uncomfy position.

She looks up at me with a glistening fore-head and loving smile. In addition to warm fuzziness, there was a wave of “Holy cow, this is as real as it gets...” that came over me. While the nurse is making the adjustments to the ...um... device that is providing these images to

the screen, she’s also clicking the ‘print’ button about half-a-dozen times to produce a photo-booth strip of images of our gorgeous little gummy bear.

So, yes. We are very pregnant and very excited... especially to have shared this moment of discovery with Dirty Harry, William Wallace and Indiana Jones. Afterwards, we met with one the mid-wives in the practice. We answered a good number of questions. We got our questions answered. We drove home, feeling just a little warmer and more giddy than we might otherwise have been on a January Monday afternoon.

What does our bambino look like this week?

Week 10 has begun

"Your baby weighs only 4 grams and measures 1½ inches, about the size of a mondo Brazil nut.

Your baby now has discernible fingers and toes, which will explain the steady stream of kicks and punches you'll feel down the line.

Junior's skeleton is starting to grow and harden. The ears are beginning to take shape and the eyelids are no longer transparent. Tooth buds are forming, although your baby won't get any teeth until six or seven months after birth.

Baby's brain will make an incredible 25,000 new neurons every minute this week. If you're baby is a boy, he's started producing that macho hormone testosterone. And whether your baby is a boy or a girl, the kidneys are creating copious amounts of urine. Lucky for you, you won't have to change a diaper for another 30 weeks."

Courtesy of: http://3dpregnancy.parentsconnect.com/calendar/10-weeks-pregnant.html

10 Weeks Pregnant

9 Weeks, 6 days...and counting!!!

Good evening!
Today is January 4th, 2010 and I have begun a blog in order to journal and make accounts for the next 30 weeks of our lives. Lots will be changing and lots will be growing! I hope this will allow for you to come along on the journey with us!

Ah yes, if you are late to the table you may not have heard that Kevin and I are expecting our very own bambino/a!

We learned of this exciting news on December 3rd, but swore each other to secrecy until we felt the appropriate time came to share the happy news with our family and friends.

That special time came on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! To which both sets of our parents said they could not have received a more wonderful and surprising gift!!!

So, we are 9 weeks and 6 days along and so far I only feel preggers because I have not had that certain annoying visitor that comes to us gals each month (well every 28 days for me to be exact)! Let me just say that I am not missing this visitor right now and to be honest will be glad she'll be on vacation for the next 30 weeks! Instead I will get to experience the vast array of changes in my body and in my environment! Ahhhh! A very wise woman told be last week that "Nothing in the world worth having comes easy". Very true indeed!

Sweet Kevin is ecstatic! He is convinced the bundle of joy will be a sweet bambino! So, he can be a big brother - Kevin is, however, totally happy to have a bambina! Thank goodness :)

So, please feel free to comment, post messages to us, or just poke around to catch up!

Love you all and thank you dearly for your support and unfailing love!!!

Mz. Skelly
Mom-To-Be :)