Welcoming Naomi Anne!

Naomi Anne! 

Naomi Anne is here! Earlier than any of us was expecting! And we're delighted to be graced by her presence all the sooner! And equally thrilled that by not entering the world on a Saturday, she's already shaking things up in our family.

It was a bright and sunny Tuesday and the big girls and I were going about our usual business, as I was pretty confident we'd have at least until the end of the week before our new little one made her debut. We enjoyed a park playdate with friends in the morning, then checking off a few more of the tasks on my, "Much easier to do pre-newborn" to-do list. This had me trekking through Target with a full cart, and may have contributed in some small way to our baby's appearance. I noticed myself feeling increasingly contraction-y and crummy (as I had been for a couple days prior), and enough so that I mentioned to Matt that we weren't necessarily not having a baby that night.

When you suspect you're in labor the first time, you drink plenty of water, time contractions, rest up and Facebook your friends. When it's the third time around, you put in a load of laundry, run the dishwasher, straighten the house a bit, put fresh batteries in the camera, finish prepping the carseat and pack your hospital bag (after all, the baby wasn't supposed to come until the weekend). So it wasn't until my head hit the pillow at 10:30 that I paid much attention to the fact that contractions were coming every 4-5 minutes.

But the baby wasn't supposed to come until Saturday! Why do I keep mentioning this? Because both of my previous deliveries happened at about 39 weeks, laboring on Friday night and delivering on a Saturday. Like clockwork. This would've put me in labor on my birthday, I should add.

So I worked on getting to sleep, which I did succeed in for about an hour (more than for any of my previous kids). Not too long after I woke up from that, Grandpa was arriving and Matt and I were leaving for the hospital.

The weigh-in!

I was surprised to find that my contractions were still quite bearable. I was even more surprised when they stopped the second we walked onto the labor and delivery floor. And quite annoyed when I almost got sent home (after all, I'm a third-time mommy, I know when I'm in labor and as long as I'm going to be up all night, let's have a baby instead of doing this again tomorrow night!). Unfortunately, the monitor showed that the baby's heart rate was dipping occasionally, but fortunately, that and the fact that I was, actually, having regular contractions 3-4 minutes apart (just not very painful) made them admit me.

Newly born

The moon was full that night, and possibly not out of sheer coincidence (from everything Matt could grill out of every nurse he asked), labor and delivery was a hopping place. I was lucky to get a room, (and even luckier later on to get a nice recovery room). In very little pain, I dozed. This made my contractions go away again. I wondered if I should just go home.

But my doctor and nurse had other ideas when I consulted them a while later. For one, the weak contractions had actually made progress! They were real, they just didn't hurt much at all. The next news was that my doctor wanted me to go ahead and get the epidural, and start me on a trickle of Pitocin to get things going a little better. The baby, by the way, was doing just fine.

Look what I have! A baby!

The fact that I had a shot at a relatively pain-free labor actually took a while to sink in. I was opposed to the idea at first, having had much more painful labors than I'd hoped for with the first two. Could it really be this easy? Should it? Then I realized that I was the crazy one, not them. The anesthesiologist was in my room within 30 minutes.

Epidural safely in place, however, I briefly engaged in a somewhat alarming struggle against low blood pressure. We fixed the problem soon enough, and shortly after I was  reading, dozing and watching The Price is Right as the baby did the hard work of getting ready to be born. The attentive nurse helped keep me comfortable.

When it was almost time, my doctor arrived for a casual chat. She was early because she'd had several cancellations in her schedule. But in reality, she was just about right on time, and after less than 5 minutes of catching up about our kids, it was time to push.

At 5, Kalina is a lot more eager to
hold a newborn than she was at 2!

Naomi was out within 10 pushes, crying nicely (the only time I like to hear crying!), more than Kalina and less intensely than Elise. She had a short little umbilical cord, but it was enough to make her the first cord blood donor in our family (the other girls having been born on Saturdays where, in Durham, they didn't have anyone to collect the cord blood). Good plan being born on a Wednesday, Baby!

Naomi Anne was born at 1:30 p.m., weighing 6 lbs. 1 oz., and 18 inches long. The smallest of our three small babies! (But in her defense, the earliest!)

She has dark brown hair, very dark blue eyes, very light eyelashes and--most surprising--a dimple on each cheek! But where did they come from?

The big sisters (and Grandpa) descended upon us in the evening for dinner! Kalina and Elise were overjoyed to meet the new baby, and tossed around lots of "sweet!" "cute!" and "baby!" Kalina noted that the baby's feet looked cold, and expertly covered them up with a blanket. And Elise grinned proudly, ear to ear, the whole time it was her turn to hold Naomi. I wonder if little Naomi knows how excited we all are to have her join our little family!

The bundle is twice as big as the
baby!

We also worked on pronouncing Naomi, a name they distrusted at first, but quickly fell in love with. Thank goodness for the practice: otherwise, the poor girl might grow up thinking she's to be called, "Meeomi!"

Naomi's first couple of days have been lovely. She's perfectly healthy and perfectly beautiful. Her only hardship in life, so far, is that she seems to have been born with a tummy full of amniotic fluid that she spent her first 18 hours or so spitting up and enduring some tummy pain over. Poor thing! She still seems to have some gas pains, but hopefully they'll calm down as her tummy gets used to having something other than amniotic fluid in it. She also gets really fussy when she needs to sleep. But don't we all?

Pancakes, yogurt, fruit and a cookie,
our first meal together as a family
of 5!

I have learned a few things about Naomi already. First, the spasmodic tapping I felt coming from her in-utero is her foot. It just kicks like that sometimes. She likes to cuddle and thought being on her tummy was just the best for her newborn photo shoot yesterday (pictures to come--she's already proving herself extremely photogenic). And she slept well last night--I was worried she had adjusted her sleep-to-eating ratio a little too far toward the sleep end, but her final weighing at the hospital showed her weight at 5 lbs. 11 oz., which means she only lost 5% of her birthweight. The nurse assured me that was excellent!

And, as the best birthday gift ever, I got to bring her home today. No, I did not put a bow on her. Yes, I am tempted to.

Look at my beautiful eyes!

Kalina, when we brought Naomi home: "Ooooohhhh look at her cute little outfit! Isn't she adorable?!?"

Elise: (sniffing her little sister) "She smells like a baby!"

Now, we're all taking turns holding the cuddly little bundle, and she's alternating between tolerating and enjoying the attention.

 We're all so grateful to God for this newest little blessing! We can't wait to see what life has in store for her--and what she has in store for us!

Ready or not?

This is why I love having
girls.

People often, kindly, ask me how my pregnancy is going, and whether or not I'm ready for a new baby. It's such a big question, that second one.

So I'll answer the first one first. The pregnancy is going fine. I'm only just entering the achy, insomniac stage--a month or two later than last time, for which I'm grateful every day. That doesn't mean I don't have my share of weird symptoms and issues (why is my foot swollen and hurting? Why all the indigestion? Why do the kids need something, or try to crawl on me, every single time I sit down?!?)

I had a doctor appointment Friday, and brought the girls for the first time since the big ultrasound. Except for the super-annoying, super-common chant of, "I'm bored, I'm tired, I'm hungry," they behaved like princesses (the good kind, not the snobby kind) and enjoyed seeing Mommy in the hot seat for once (I wonder if they wished I'd gotten a shot).

College friends!

I was rather charmed that when the doctor pulled out the tape measure and the heartbeat thingy, and two smiling faces peered over the table. The girls, up unprompted off the chair they'd been nicely sharing under threat of having to stand instead, were pretty excited to check on their baby sister! It was their favorite part, of course, aside from introducing their stuffed animals to the surprisingly interested nurse and the doctor.

I'm measuring 32 weeks (I'm 35 along) and didn't gain weight despite my food tour of Durham with Aunt Nancy. Has the baby dropped? Is it just because it was morning and I'm smaller in the mornings? I'll have an ultrasound next time to make sure everything's okay; I'm not really worried.

And onto the second question: are we ready?

ISU: the next generation.

Are we ever ready? Is it even possible? The truth is, we are definitely not ready in a practical sense. Definitely not. If the baby comes now, she'll be sleeping in a drawer, wearing outfits that have not recently been washed and wearing her sister's size 5 diapers (they're just for nighttime), plus whatever we can nab from the hospital. Oh, the horror.

The children have stopped asking me if I'm going to have the baby today, but they'd probably better start up again in the next few weeks. And we've been working a lot on getting ready for the little one.

For instance, we've thoroughly scrutinized photos of Baby Kalina and Baby Elise, read a few "I'm a big sister now" types of books, ensured that the baby has a "soft blankie" (this is a big one for Elise), covered "baby etiquette" in minor detail (so far), and stocked her room with a few presents people have given us (Elise is very protective of the baby's things for her).

We took our houseguests to the
botanical garden!

Still to do:
-Take a picture of my growing belly
-Fill the freezer
-Get the baby's room, clothes and diapers ready
-Track down all the baby equipment that's scattered throughout 3 different areas of the house
-Clean, clean, clean
-Visit the zoo, the children's museum and all the other fun places for the "last time." (Ever?!? I can't help but wonder)
-Finish all my freelance work to the best of my ability
-Give kids a crash course in all the "self care" items I've been neglecting for months
-Pack the hospital bag
-Finish Elise's and Kalina's baby books (eek! but I have this blog, right?)

In short, it does feel like I'm preparing for the end of the world. "It's not the end, it's the beginning!" I try to tell myself. We'll do it all in August: there's time, right?

The kids are getting ready in their own ways, which includes asking lots of good questions (Will the baby have hair? Kalina thinks no, Elise and Mommy think yes. "Will the baby fall on the floor when she pops out of your tummy?" -Kalina) and making lots of assumptions ("If the baby crawls toward bath water that's too hot, I will scoop it up and pull it away!" -Elise "I will catch the baby when she pops out of your tummy!" -Elise). They are excited for the baby to walk, run ("It'll be the slowest runner!" -Kalina), talk, toddle, sing, laugh, smile, eat mushed-up food, eat birthday cake, and all the rest. Me too. Kalina has also just begun to be on the lookout for things the baby shouldn't put in her mouth. I have a feeling she will be an annoyingly vigilant big sister (much to her mommy's delight). They do anticipate her being very cute--a unanimous sentiment in our family.

They're prepared to laugh at the baby's antics, from expecting her to "sing cute little songs" to swing in the baby swing. They anticipate that a highlight will be having her grab their fingers (they're not far off, honestly!). Elise also anticipates a lot of waaah-waaaaahing (as she calls it). 

[Elise, as an aside, also has a baby in her tummy. It used to be Ellie, her doll, who was born on her birthday (so the story goes), but now it's a boy baby. Ask her if you can feel the baby move sometime...]

And they're already starting to bond. They like to say hi through my tummy and, occasionally, into my mouth (they think that'll help the baby hear them). 

But I don't think they have any idea how much their world will be changed (they think they're tired now!). Oh well, they like surprises. Right??

The Little Sister we've all been waiting for...

Elise Jane Odegaard is here, and we couldn't be happier to welcome her! Here's how she made her entrance:

On Friday evening after dinner two contractions stopped me in my tracks. So we went to the park with Kalina and played in a giant sandpit. The contractions stopped, but we nevertheless warned Kalina that sometime soon, she might wake up in the morning to find Grandpa or Aunt Nancy greeting her instead of Mommy and Daddy.

"And Grandpa will talk to Camel and Skunk and Chicken," said Kalina of some of her favorite puppets. Eager to ease the girl's mind, we heartily agreed.

The contractions began again around 9:00. How convenient! The very beginning of a weekend, Kalina forewarned, and a whole evening to figure out whether or not to go to the hospital, without having to smile through the pain so the toddler wouldn't get upset. I hoped this was it.

After finishing packing, we headed off to bed, where I surprised myself by falling asleep for half an hour.

The contractions intensified enough that by 3:00, we were blinking sleepily at the night staff at the hospital, who were blinking back at us. Having a second baby is a lot less exhilarating than having a first baby (but fortunately, much calmer and more enjoyable in general).

Labor and Delivery was quite full, but we were settled into a room by a very nice nurse.

When my water broke at 4:00, I was a mere 1 centimeter along. I asked the doctor offhand at what point I could get the epidural, remembering last time how long I'd labored on pitocin without one thanks to a certain nurse, and how I'd sworn, and made Matt swear, that I'd never be doing that again. My contractions subsided on their own a bit when the doctor cheerfully told me I could get one at any time since there was no doubt I'd be having a baby today. My humor improved remarkably, and I may have even smiled.

Not one to be a complete baby myself (only 95%, really), I decided to walk the halls first, knowing I wouldn't be able to after I was hooked up. After 30 minutes, I gave in and requested the epidural, which was finally administered 1 hour and 45 minutes later. Good thing I asked when I did.

And as the anesthesiologist was finishing up, the nurses changed shifts, and in walked the exact same nurse I'd endured last time. Seriously?!?!?! She was famous (in my mind) for her complete lack of sympathy to pain and for delaying my epidural last time far beyond my comfort zone.

"Hah!" I thought triumphantly. The epidural is in! And you can't do anything about it!" She did, however, remark to my comment about "I can still feel some contractions," that "early epidurals" sometimes don't do as well as blocking out pain. Fine, I will happily accept the fact that I'm an "early epidural" type, now that the needle is happily planted in my back.

I couldn't wait to be one of those people I hear about, who relax, take it easy, laugh and even nap while their bodies prepare for delivery without so much as a hiccup to make them uncomfortable. Call it nurses revenge, but I was only allowed to lay on my side, a position that got old after about 15 minutes. Additionally, the epidural never fully "took" on my left side, while my right side maintained an annoying tingly feeling for hours even after delivery. Yuck. Still, I was able to relax for a short time.

A very short time, in fact. An hour and a half later, I noticed the contractions I was feeling with my not-completely-numb left side were starting to get worse. I casually asked for a nurse. And then they got even worse. I demanded Matt simultaneously stay by my side and run to the nurse's station between contractions and insist, not taking no for an answer, that they "turn up" the epidural. (Is that even possible?)

And then they got even worse, as my nurse finally walked in the door. As we were flipping me to my left side in an attempt to solve the problem, she completely and totally redeemed all her prior shortcomings by getting the bright idea to check on the baby.

Who she immediately determined was now completely ready to be pushed out. It was only 9:00 a.m.--I'd figured I had until at least noon, second pregnancy notwithstanding. Matt had only recently walked back in the door after having breakfast in the cafeteria.

The nurse scurried around the room, readying the equipment and calling a doctor while Matt did his utmost to help me relax through the contractions--a mighty task in the panic that ensued from hearing point-blank from the nurse that not only was my epidural wasn't working correctly, but that there was nothing that could be done for the pain at this point. And then in a flood of relief and only a few pushes, with the doctor barely arriving in time (I almost had to beg the nurse to deliver the baby instead), little Elise popped out, crying happily (to her Mommy, anyway) and was plopped onto my tummy. And just like that, I was no longer in pain and was instead entranced with my new little baby girl.

Baby Elise was born at 9:31 a.m., weighing 6 lbs, 3.8 oz and 19.5 inches in length. She's spunky and sweet. Her dark, dark hair is soft and plentiful, and her little mouth is a perfect deep pink and nicely shaped. Her eyes are dark blue. Her skin is clear and rosy, and she's just beautiful. After lots of examination, I believe of all of us, she looks most like Kalina. Go figure. She smells nice, too.

Except for some serious napping yesterday afternoon, Elise has been quite alert--a little too alert for our determination that "this one just has to sleep better than Kalina." However, it's cute to see her little eyes looking around.

I haven't had nearly enough time to play with her (she's sleeping in my arms right now), and am itching to learn her little personality, having discovered that that's the fun part of having kids.

And the heart murmur? It's left doctors, residents and nurses all a bit confused--no one can really hear it! Has it already closed? An echocardiogram tomorrow will tell.

We couldn't help but comment on how similar (relatively) my two deliveries have been. With each, labor started as we were winding down on a Friday evening. Contractions were always predictable and 4-5 minutes apart to begin. My water broke at 4:00 a.m.-ish in both cases. I progressed quite quickly once I got started, and pushing was no big deal either time. Kalina was delivered at 39 weeks 1 day, whereas Elise was at 39 weeks even.

Kalina visited (along with Grandpa and Aunt Nancy) in the afternoon. Scared of the IV tube still in my arm, she wouldn't let me hold or hug her, preferring instead to smile and wave and lightly touch my hand. She also waved many times at her little sister, gestures of peace and goodwill that I hope will last them at least through the first few months, if not their lifetimes. Elise, for her part, slept through most of the visit and only cried a tiny bit, thus not traumatizing her older sister too much.

Second-time motherhood has so far been calm and nice. Why is it that now getting a "break" is eating hospital cafeteria food while only caring for a newborn, whereas last time it really took my and Matt's full-time attention to keep our household running? I'm sure there will be a whole blog dedicated to this idea in the future.

Meanwhile, it hasn't taken Elise long to wrap us both around her little finger--she's quite endearing, as I'm sure you can imagine. We're so proud and grateful to God for our two wonderful little girls, and we can't wait to see how our little family takes shape.

More pictures to come--and we promise that Kalina was smiling just before the shutter clicked in our family picture!

The nursery! Doctor visit!

Little Sister's nursery was supposed to look almost exactly like Big Sister's nursery, except with a white crib instead of brown (since we were buying a new one anyway, we figured we might as well switch it up).

As you may remember from a previous blog post, however, Mommy is never satisfied with status quo (for better or worse), and so there's very little in this room that's reminiscent of Kalina, save for the changing table, which you can only see the very corner of since it's not too exciting. However, thanks to sales and especially to some kind gifts, I managed not to go any more overboard than is fitting for a mommy who's just really excited about her second-born.

This nursery is girlier than Kalina's was--I discovered with her that I really like girly stuff, and especially pink. Perhaps as a result of all the pink I pulled over her head from ages 3 months to 23 months, Kalina's favorite color is now very firmly blue, so Little Sister will have to give me my pink fix for now, at least before she's old enough to complain about it in words I can't pretend not to understand.

On the shelves, you can see some of the lovely hand-made gifts Little Sister has received, as well as the newborn-to-toddler diaper bag I made for the girls to share (Kalina's "leakproof" sippy cups having leaked milk all over my giant purse one too many times).

Kalina is intensely proud of the room, by the way, having had a hand in almost all of it. She helped Daddy set up the crib and the nightstand (we might owe Daddy more kudos than Kalina for that feat, but don't tell the girl that!), and she helped me sort clothes and diapers, find a place for everything and generally tidy up. She's overjoyed to show "the baby's room" to anyone who demonstrates the least bit of interest. I find her interest in where the baby will "sleep" quite ironic.

The room is slightly bigger than Kalina's (but don't tell Kalina that), and the room-darkening curtain really works. We plan to get Kalina one to replace the awful blanket we've had draped over her curtain ever since we started to get smart about her early sleep issues.

Of course, Kalina's room has been slightly redone, too, with the addition of a toy cabinet my grandpa made decades ago, in hopes that maybe someday Kalina would actually play in her room, and a bean-bag chair that Kalina loves diving into and has readily adopted for storytime.

Matt and I find it ironic that you'd never know each of these rooms had once housed his creepiest hobbies (I'm sure he won't mind my using that word). We're completely and thoroughly out of space in our house, but chances are our next one will have room for Daddy's critters once again. Fortunately, as Kalina is always willing to go fishing, look for lizards and spiders, and even hang empty cicada shells from her shirt (much to Mommy's horror), he's more than content with his trade.

Until then, he's seconds away from bringing home a nice, fluffy bunny for his girls if one of them so much as points a particularly cute one out in a pet store. It would only take the tiniest nudge. The only question is, whose room would the bunny live in?

Doctor visit:

Wednesday's doctor appointment was quite routine, including the long wait for a five-minute chat. The baby's heartrate was about 120 (which seemed low to me, but fine to the doctor), and I'm measuring at 35 weeks, same as last week. I think at this point I was measuring at 33 weeks with Kalina, so I'm certainly not worried; however, the doctor mentioned that I also measured at 35 weeks last week, which could either mean the baby has dropped a bit (a good sign that labor may actually happen sometime!) or that her growth has slowed quite a bit. We'll check next week and if the measurement is the same, I'll get another ultrasound to make sure everything's okay.

I asked the doctor if I'm likely to deliver earlier than I did with Kalina, and she agreed with the doctor I'd asked previously in saying that that's just an old wives' tale. However, she did mention that usually they're around the same time.

To give you some perspective, with Kalina I went into labor at 39 weeks, 0 days, and Kalina was born at 39 weeks, 1 day. Tomorrow I'll be 39 weeks. You do the math...

As long as we're talking about delivery timing, if the baby is born on her due date, the 25th, our whole family will have been born on Saturdays in successive months in the 20s. Cool, huh? And yet still, I'm hoping not to have to wait that long.

Doctor visit!

Does it sometimes seem like I go to the doctor all the time? It does for me.

However, I do always enjoy my visits, especially since I've been able to leave Kalina home lately and focus just on the little one (no offense, Kalina, but you do kind of take center stage the vast majority of the time--like a true firstborn!).

In a nutshell, all is well. I've even finally gained the weight the doctors have been nagging me about! However, it seems as if I'm not quite as far along as I was last time--the baby's head was a bit higher than last time. I attribute it to a different doctor (I'm at a group practice), or possibly the fact that now that the horrendous weather has cooled slightly, my body isn't in such a rush to eject this baby so that I can breathe/move again.

This did, however, earn me another quick ultrasound as the doctor wasn't positive Little Sister was indeed head-down. I neglected to tell her I'd had an ultrasound last week, partly because I knew I'd worry, partly because I feel like any opportunity to check in on the baby is probably a good thing, and partly because Little Sister had been spending the week practicing not sleeping (so she'll be good and ready to stay awake for nights/naptimes at a time once she's born) and instead was readying herself to compete in Olympic gymnastics in 12 years (over my dead body, of course).

And fortunately, all is well.

Photo: I took a "belly shot" first thing this morning with Kalina. She still in her jammies, me in my lovely, wonderful, favorite maternity jeans (I know, they don't look anything special in the photo) that I've been able to wear all of maybe twice due to the insufferable heat during the entire time I've even needed maternity clothes. Not fair.

Waiting patiently

One thing I've been working on with Kalina is the concept of "waiting patiently." Patience is such a lovely virtue, and especially in a toddler, and especially, especially in a toddler who is expecting a new sibling any minute. I knew Kalina had mastered the technique today as she made her stuffed cow and donkey wait patiently as we built them fire trucks out of blocks (Cow had to wait even longer than Donkey, since we built Donkey's fire truck first). Eventually both animals were happily situated in their fire engines, but each had endured a patient wait.

Nowadays, it seems like we're all waiting patiently. Every night is like Christmas Eve, but we have no idea whether "Santa" will come or decide to hold off for another day, and whether we'll get the fun new toy we wanted, or will be stuck with coal. (I'm pretty sure we'll get the toy.)

It's hard to know what to tell Kalina:

"Sometime soon, when the baby decides to come, Mommy and Daddy will go to the doctor at the hospital. Mommy will have to stay a few days."
*Frown,* said Kalina. And then bravely, "And Kalina will stay back home with Grandpa."
I could've kissed her for making that connection, and I probably did. What a trooper.

But then, every day the poor girl reminds me that I'll be going to the doctor. Which I do once a week, but not necessarily to have the baby, and I'm back in an hour or so, and so you can see where there might be some confusion.

It's also always strange saying goodnight to Kalina every evening not knowing whether I'll see her in the morning. How do you explain that to an extremely attached 2-year-old? (I don't even try.) Or to an admittedly also very attached Mommy, for that matter?

We've also been reading "big sister" and "new baby" books, which Kalina seems to enjoy. Today she effectively fed Lamby a "bottle," which was actually a toy bowling pin. I think she's picking up on the whole idea of having a baby around the house.

As for me, the fact that we'll be embarking on more newborn adventures first hit a few months ago when I held one. A brand-new, 2-day-old, teeny-tiny, wobbly-headed little boy. The sweet little guy slept peacefully in my arms for almost an hour, and was easily calmed by his mommy when he decided to fuss a little. I kind of missed newborn Kalina.

The experience couldn't have been nicer, and yet it left me shaking in my flip-flops at the prospect of actually having one of my own. The memories pelted me like shrapnel, the middle-of-the-night feedings first and then the crying and then the middle-of-the-night feedings again. And the diaper changes, which are endless and complicated and always messy.

And perhaps most of all, the complete inability to just hand the baby off to someone else who can make all her problems go away, because I'm the end of the road.

Besides, newborn Kalina was nothing like the newborn I'd held. Calming her generally required the likes of patting my head while rubbing my stomach while riding a unicycle with a flat tire, as well as extensive amounts of paperwork and a clone of myself. At least that's what it seemed like at the time.

It just happens that Kalina and I get along so much better now than we did back then. And no wonder. Based on her preferences about music, wearing socks and where the cats are at any and all times, we were getting it all wrong when she was a newborn. Good thing she can (and does) tell us what's bugging her now.

And here I am starting over. And I know exactly what I'm getting myself into, except for the fact that now my 1 hour of sleep/free time each day will be eaten up by my voracious, albeit adorable, toddler, who I'm sometimes convinced is only a sweetheart because I can take her to the park anytime we want and I rarely withhold stories from her when asked.

Fortunately, Matt and I are mostly prepared. Our freezer is stocked with nutritious home-made meals. Our house and cars are clean and relatively clutter-free. We've talked many times about what we'll do differently with this baby (and have spent about 5 seconds addressing what we'll do the same). We've discussed our roles, including Kalina's. We've discussed labor. We have almost all the supplies, and almost all of them are clean and fresh and nice for Little Sister. Nursery pictures to come.

I think we're both looking forward to the challenge of seeing if we can get this one to sleep like a normal child, and whether all kids hate:
-changing clothes
-tummy time
-"after-bath"
-being set down anywhere, at anytime
as much as Kalina did. It will be nice, in a way, to have new issues.

I have not packed the hospital bag, but I've at least started a list of what needs to be in it. I realized this was very irresponsible last night as I was experiencing regular cramping while drifting off to sleep. Eh, I'll pack tomorrow.

As for the book, all 72,000 words of the first draft are written and approved by the client, and I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be officially on maternity leave after this Friday as planned (having wrapped up a few additional loose ends).

And with most of our work complete, we've been able to have some fun as well (see the previous post). At the risk of utterly spoiling Kalina, we've been heading out to parks and on walks, reading lots of books and just goofing off. The other day, for instance, we all played in a giant sandpit and caught imaginary fish (made out of either Kalina-sized handfuls of sand or pure air) with imaginary rods (made out of the same materials), tossing them into the "livewell" (which was originally a "swimming pool" that Daddy dug in the sand) and finally eating them. Do you think Little Sister will fit in with our loony little family?

Matt thinks the baby will come any day, I'm thinking I have at least a week. What do you think? (Vote in the poll!)

Photo: Hanging out at the EPA lake, where Daddy works. (Having seen Daddy take a fishing pole to work recently--going in on a weekend--Kalina now seems to think that fishing is Daddy's job.)

Zoo visit! Doctor visit!

Today, Matt, Kalina and I went to the zoo. We really probably shouldn't have:

1.) I spent lots of yesterday achy and contracting (the fake kind, not the real kind), especially when I wasn't sitting down in air conditioning with my feet up. As a side note, are we bad parents for making a bet on whether or not I'd go into labor at the zoo? If I won (I said I wouldn't), I'd get a box of donuts (to share with a hungry hubby and a toddler who loves sprinkles). If Matt won, he'd get the new fishing pole he's had his eye on (we figured the odds were in my favor, but he was willing to risk a box of donuts on it).
2.) Matt has a cold (Kalina and I had it earlier in the week).
3.) Kalina skipped her nap yesterday (right on cue--she skips one every 6th day nowadays) and we knew she'd be likely to skip it today, too, resulting in a trip that might be more trouble than it's worth.

But we're glad we did!

It was a lovely day. The animals at the zoo far, far, far outnumbered the people, and the weather was downright comfortable, at least in the shade. We had fun.

We've finally gotten so we no longer dread a 1 1/2-hour car ride with Kalina with every inch of our beings (or maybe that's just me). We got to be those people I'd always envied who simply "just pack some snacks, books and toys" and hop in the car for a longish drive with their happy child. We saw several fire trucks, fire truck signs, bike signs and deer signs along the way, and those helped keep us all relatively content. We also practiced a few of our animal sounds. We didn't even have to sing a note (although Kalina made up a song or two for us), and we arrived right as the zoo was opening at 9:00.

The zoo is made for walking, and you can begin either at the North America entrance or the Africa entrance. It's quite the trek in between, but they have buses that can take weary/pregnant/toddling visitors back and forth. We started in North America, since the giraffe feeding station in Africa (the thing Kalina was most looking forward to) didn't open until 10:00.

Our first stop was the seals. They weren't home--until we went to an underwater viewing area, and Kalina was able to see the creatures soar past the window.

"A seal!" she'd exclaim proudly (we'd asked her to let us know if she saw any) every time any of them swam by. I think she could've stayed there all day, but Mommy and Daddy wanted to see more so we moved on.

Next came the polar bears (we got a side view of one--not too exciting) and then the puffins. We were fortunate enough to have timed our visit to the puffins to be during feeding time, so Kalina helped the birds find their breakfast by pointing out the small, dead fish as they were flung into the water. Irritated when a fish wasn't eaten before it reached the bottom, she nevertheless had a great time watching.


So great that the lowly puffins became the highlight of our zoo trip. Every five minutes we had to tell the poor girl "We can see the puffins again on the way out, Sweetie! Now, let's go see the lions!" And whatnot.

We finally managed to convince Kalina that there were, in fact, other animals at the zoo. We then boarded a bus (Kalina's first bus ride!) to take us to Africa, and the giraffes.

Kalina was "all done" with the bus about 5 seconds into the ride, but fortunately Daddy was able to distract her well enough that by the end, Lamby, at least, "liked the bus."

We high-tailed it to the giraffes, excited to see how Kalina would like feeding them.







Unfortunately, the giraffes took a distant second place to the puffins--especially since none of them felt particularly like getting handed bunches of lettuce leaves by a toddler (or anyone, for that matter--they had plenty of food elsewhere). Heartless creatures.








We moved on to elephants, lions, baboons and the rest before realizing that 2 out of 3 of us needed to rest and eat. Kalina was close to falling asleep in her stroller, it seemed like (although that would never happen, her enthusiasm, even when the elephant splashed in some water National Geographic style, was waning fast), and I was getting quite dizzy from heat and lack of food.

The respite helped, and although Kalina, our little homebody, probably would've been fine heading home then and there (with one more stop "back to the puffins," of course), we pushed on for quite a while longer.

Some of the biggest hits were the statues, large and small, scattered throughout the park. I'm not quite sure why they have animal statues at a zoo, except maybe they know little kids like them. At any rate, Kalina had a blast scaling them. Even though the rhino (pictured) was a little high and scary, Kalina knew the photo would be worth a little worry, and bravely asked to climb onto its back with Daddy's help. "Down!" she demanded as soon as the shutter clicked, and then she immediately wanted to see the photo of that time she was so brave.

Three identical baby elephant statues were also a huge hit. Although only one is pictured here, we do, indeed, have a photo of Kalina on each, by her request. I'm really glad cameras have gone digital.

Smaller pedestal-top statues all warranted a nice petting by Kalina--she takes care of all the animals she sees, it seems.


We saw snakes, otters (sleeping, unfortunately), gorillas, chimpanzees, bobcats (which Kalina tried to feed a rock--fortunately the cats were behind glass), and plenty more cool animals, in addition to plenty of random caterpillars and frogs and such along the path, before we decided that it really was, for real, time to call it quits. At which point we headed to the aviary, where Kalina worriedly watched a Victoria Crowned Pigeon ("peacock," to Kalina) strut within 2 feet of us as Daddy reassured her that everything was okay. One stop at the flamingos later (flamingos sleep standing up! Can you imagine? And Kalina obliged our funny sense of humor by standing up and deciding "Kalina's sleeping!"), and we were off to a final viewing of the puffins (what luck--feeding time again!) before heading back to the car.

We were hoping (and planning, really), that Kalina would sleep on the way home, but her response to anyone, even Mommy, napping was a firm "no, no, no, no!" Oh well.

We stopped and got Mommy's box of donuts, which Kalina related later as one of her favorite parts of the trip.

Puffins, sprinkles--what a day! Early bedtimes for all.

Doctor Visit:

I visited the doctor on Tuesday for my 36-week appointment. I also had an ultrasound to check the baby's size and make sure she's growing.

She is! The baby is now supposedly 5 lbs. 11 oz. I wouldn't put too much stock in that estimate, though. The ultrasound was fun, it's cute to see the baby.

The doctor was happy to see that the irregular heartbeat had cleared up, and also that we now know in advance about the little hole. No worries whatsoever.

The baby is sitting pretty low, and signs point to me delivering early again. Of course, there's no scientific way to tell, but from what I know about myself, and the fact that I spent a lot of yesterday having fake-yet-uncomfortable contractions, I'm pretty sure Little Sister will be out in the world to greet her due date.

And we're almost ready! Except for packing the hospital bag, writing Kalina Kare instructions, pre-registering at the hospital, another load or two of baby laundry, another trip to Babies R Us, cleaning the house, wrapping a present for the baby to give to Kalina, finishing the book and other freelance projects, and a few other minor details, we're good to go!

All about Little Sister

It's high time we all got to know Baby #2 a little better. So, let's begin. We'll start with what we can surmise based on the world around her.

Perhaps most intriguing is the comment made to me by an acquaintance recently. He told me that whatever the first one is like, the next one will be the opposite. His theory was that God does it that way to maintain a happy balance in the home.

Don't get me wrong--I don't want to base my personality prediction of #2 solely on #1, but the man has a point. In this case, Little Sister will be:
-Outgoing
-Independent
-Strong-willed
-A good sleeper (*cheers*)
-A bad eater
-Whatever the opposite of sensitive is
-A Daddy's girl
-Destructive and disorderly

Hmm. I may have my work cut out for me, but at least I'll be relatively well rested.

As far as family dynamics are concerned, my family has been discussing lately how Little Sister will be very well managed--and also very well taken care of--by Big Sis. And yet, I'm also expecting that Little Sister, with her outgoing, extroverted personality (because we desperately, desperately need an extrovert in this family!), will draw Kalina out of her shell a bit.

"Don't be silly," she'll say. "8-month-olds aren't scary, even if they can crawl. You could totally take 'em. Let's go say hi." And Kalina will get dragged into all kinds of terrifying social situations by her tiny sister, and will be better off for it.

But maybe, with Little Sister's strong will, she won't want to be "managed" by her older sister? After all, most kids don't like to be told "You can use the green shovel and the red shovel. Now, dig. I want to see that bucket getting filled." Or will she put up with it because she'll be social and will want to play with her bigger sister? Maybe she'll happily humor Kalina because anything to an extrovert is better than playing alone? Only time will tell.

Judging by Little Sister's kicks and rolls and bounces, she'll walk a bit later and therefore, I assume, talk earlier. But I betcha when she does start walking, we'll finally have to put away our fireplace tools and potentially our cats (if we haven't already done so). And I bet when she starts talking, she won't ever stop (not that her big sister won't give her a run for her money!).

Based on the baby's relative lack of hiccups, she won't cry as much as Kalina did. I don't know if the two are related, but Kalina sure did hiccup a lot and then she sure did cry a lot. And both require lots of lung action, I believe. Little Sister has gotten the hiccups only maybe 14-ish times, as far as I can tell, so maybe she'll be a bit quieter (read: happier) in the early months, anyway.

And from my relatively normal pregnancy (i.e., the morning sickness actually ended), I bet Little Sister will be developmentally right on track. Which will have her eating far more sand than Kalina ever did, but probably also occasionally allowing me to leave the room without an entourage. I'm guardedly, guardedly optimistic that we may even be able to leave her in the church nursery at some point. A mommy can dream, right?

A future career path? Well, Kalina seems to be the straight-and-narrow type so it's likely that Little Sister, as a second child, will be a bit more out there. Which for our family, would probably mean something like law or social work, or possibly politics (heaven forbid).

And how will she manage life as an Odegaard? I bet she'll think we're all a bit boring, and will go through a phase in which she thinks she's adopted. Extroverts never understand introverts, after all.

Whatever form Little Sister's personality takes, we'll be so excited to meet her!

The value of sleep (plus, a Doctor Visit!)

As I'm sure you remember (who can forget?), I basically didn't get much of anything you could call sleep between late April of 2008 (thank you, pregnancy) and March of 2009.

Matt sympathetically referred to this time period as sleep torture. "Even criminals and war prisoners of civilized nations are allowed a full night of sleep," he'd remind me. "That's one of the ways they torture people--they wake you up every hour." I did appreciate his comments, they made a lovely excuse for why I felt less than human for most of a year. Ugh.

When you endure sleep torture for almost a year, you don't forget it. Which is why we've unabashedly shushed houseguests, married a schedule, refused to travel for 6 months after Kalina started sleeping through the night, and still occasionally whisper out of habit even if Kalina's sleeping upstairs and we're in the kitchen. We realize we're a bit ridiculous, but neither of us has the heart to change anything. Imagine being locked in an isolation cell for 11 months. How long would it take for you to willingly walk into a closet and shut the door?

And thanks in part to our efforts (and probably in part to prayer and general maturity as well), our little girl now more-or-less happily helps gather all her animals and then heads up the stairs whenever we mention the fact that "it's naptime" or "it's nighttime." After a 20-minute-or-less routine, she sleeps at least 10 hours for one and generally at least 2 hours for the other, falling asleep on her own (along with Lamby, Mountain Lion, Farm Animals, Cats and Frog, of course) and generally doesn't wake up in the middle, and we're all quite content.

But what can be more disruptive to a good nap and a good night of sleep than a newborn? We have yet to find out what damage, exactly, our new addition will do to our well-laid plans, let alone our psyches (and what damage we all will do to hers), but at least our past experiences have taught us a few things.

For one, that good sleep is worth more than money. To that end, we're shelling out the big bucks to protect every night of sleep we possibly can. This has ranged from buying a new crib and mattress so we don't have to transition Kalina to a big-girl bed and risk a sleep fiasco until she's older (not to mention the fact that cribs fit better in our house than twin-sized beds, and it didn't cost us quite a fortune since we're savvy shoppers), to purchasing a window air conditioner on a whim when our air conditioning went out. It'd be hard to place a real number on how much sleep is worth to us, but I think if given the chance, we'd gladly trade a check with 3 zeros on it for the knowledge that our baby would sleep through the night by 8 weeks of age. (We've heard of these types of children--they're the same ones who are entertained by handing them a toy and aren't terrified of everyone over 6 months of age.)

Other things we've learned: We must have some sort of sound machine at least in Kalina's room, we must have a routine, and we must not travel just when we've finally made some progress with sleeping through the night. And one day, maybe within the next year, the sun will come up and we won't be there to greet it.

It's funny, but you'd think that with all our past experience, we'd have discussed the sleep issue more thoroughly. In truth, there hasn't been much to say--we know and agree to everything above instinctively, as the only options that will allow us to survive this whole newborn business. The new crib/mattress and air conditioner decisions were no-brainers. And one time I openly wondered "will you still help me at night, even though you have a real job now?" and Matt said he'd do what he could, and we left it at that. After all, what more is there to discuss? Inwardly, though, I know we're both resolved that it has to be better than last time. Or else the Odegaard species will go extinct.

I do want to make sure I'm prepared, though. I've heard that you can figure out your newborn's natural schedule by keeping track of when she's active in utero. I liked this idea until I realized that while Little Sister's on a fairly pleasant schedule during the day (read: sleeping a lot), she rivals Big Sister's toddler dancing/twirling between the hours of 11 pm and 5 am. We're all in trouble. And yes, Kalina is already waking her sister up--the occasional elbow to the belly will do that, even to a child who hasn't even been born yet!

Pregnancy sleep has, unfortunately, been much ruder to me this time than last time. With Kalina, I remember that once week 33 hit, we were all done sleeping. I think this time it's been very hit-and-miss since maybe week 25? It's all a bit of a fog. Fortunately, I'm also used to managing with less. I've also noticed that when I sleep particularly poorly, I take it really easy on myself and Kalina the next day (if at all possible) and we end up having a lovely day together.

"Do you nap when Kalina naps?" I was asked yesterday. "No, I'm writing a book," I managed to laugh. Who has time to nap? Even Kalina doesn't at times, busy girl. I'm just hoping that her naps last through the first draft. Lamby, for her part, takes the occasional adorable catnap in Kalina's arms. At least one family member is well-rested.

Doctor Visit!

I think this doctor visit was the easiest yet. I'll admit that I was so relieved not to have a really long wait with a toddler, or bad news once I got to talk to the doctor, that I forgot to ask how I'm measuring and how much weight I've gained (which I think is a perfect 2 pounds).

Grandpa babysat Kalina again, and Kalina took the news in stride. "Daddy's at work. Mommy's off to the doctor. Kalina stays home with Grandpa," she recited throughout the morning, without crying or even frowning. The situation was complicated ever so slightly by a 100-degree fever, but Kalina if anything just mellows out when she's sick, and loses her appetite, so it was a non-issue after all. Whew.

The parking lot was empty when I arrived. Despite being 7 minutes early, I was shooed into an exam room immediately and assured the doctor was already ready for me. With the recent baby boom, I'm not used to this treatment. It was lovely, although I wouldn't have minded a 10-minute wait, seeing as I like reading pregnancy magazines and sipping water. And sitting down.

I did end up with a wait, and I'm not sure why except the doctor must have been finishing some paperwork. I got to browse pregnancy magazines after all, where I read that sometimes newborns don't sleep well, and you can help the situation by keeping the lights dim at night.

I assume I'm still measuring small and was glad that the doctor found no cause for concern. The heartbeat sounded just fine to both of us. The several contractions I've had are nothing to worry about. Nor is labor: everything is faster, easier and less stressful the second time. I should "breeze through it," and my nurse had no business telling me that she had me "pegged for a c-section" last time. Hmph. Baby is positioned just fine.

And so, that was it! I got to leave without scheduling any more worrisome appointments (although my next one is an ultrasound to check the baby's growth--it had already been scheduled), and I felt very good about everything.

Photo: Matt's 3 girls at 34 1/2 weeks! Yes, Kalina and I like to dress alike nowadays. We both think it's fun. I don't care what anyone else thinks--it helps facilitate dressing the toddler in the morning. And we only have a few clothes that "match," anyway, so it's not like we do it every day.

The echocardiogram

Yesterday was Little Sister's fetal echocardiogram. I'll admit that this whole time, I've been more worried about getting lost on the way than I was about finding anything wrong. After all, from everything I'd heard, it was all going to be just fine. There was no sense in worrying about something I couldn't change, anyway. Getting lost was much more likely.

However, getting lost (which happened, as anticipated) does not preclude heart problems, and as it turns out, you can not only have to pull over and consult a map on the way to a fetal echocardiogram, but you might also hear bad news once you're there.

I'll tell the rest of the story, but in the interest of not driving all of you crazy, I'll start with the end: the baby's heart has a small hole in it that will cause a heart murmur when she's born. It'll very likely heal on its own within a few months. It's a relatively common problem, and if you're going to have a heart defect, this is probably the one you'd want to have. Should really be no big deal and, on the plus side, it didn't look like anything else was wrong, and it's unrelated to the arrhythmia we heard last time, which had disappeared. So it's kind of good news and bad news, right?

And please don't freak out on me. If you freak out, I will too, and that's the last thing any of us need right now. I want you all to remain level-headed. We wouldn't have even known about this for another month and a half if it hadn't been for the completely unrelated arrhythmia, so no one's allowed to worry, openly, around me, anyway at least until 2-3 days after the baby's birth, which is when it would've showed up. And it's not a tragedy, just a little thing we have to face. In the meantime, you are allowed (and encouraged) to pray--that's the best thing for all of us right now, anyway.

Onto the story.

I got lost on the way to the appointment, and I blame it on the fact that the area I was driving to was cut off on the map and continued on a completely different page, as are most of the unknown places I drive to. I had looked up directions in advance, but that made no difference. I can get lost in a tent.

Fortunately, I had allowed plenty of time and made it to the gorgeous lobby of the Duke Children's Health Center with minutes to spare. I opened the book I'd brought, and kind of hoped the wait would be longer rather than shorter.

It wasn't: within 15 minutes or so they'd come to get me. The ultrasonographer was a far cry from the brisk, businesslike professional I'd convinced myself to expect. We chatted like old friends as she began the ultrasound.

"Wow, your little girl takes great pictures!" she enthusiastically commented.
"My girl at home does, too!" I enthusiastically responded.

This became a common theme through the ultrasound--apparently, Little Sister was cooperating so well that the images we got were pretty much textbook quality.

"I could look at these all day," the ultrasonographer often said. I had my answer for why this was taking so long (not that I minded).

I, myself, enjoyed watching the baby's heart pump away--it was very rhythmic and calming. We could see the blood flowing around, and hear how each section of the heart had its own unique sound. Amazing. I think in another life I would become an ultrasonographer.

She also noticed at one time that Little Sister seemed to be exercising her lungs. The baby of course doesn't have any air in there yet, but she was kind of moving her abdomen where they are. Keep up the good work, Sweetie! You'll need those! Cute.

And then it was time for the doctor to come in, to take another look and answer all my questions. I tried to doze as I waited, relieved that the ultrasonographer was still upbeat and happy. Nothing could be too wrong, right?

I again expected a brisk, businesslike doctor and was instead met with a nice, friendly guy who had a great rapport with the ultrasonographer. We discussed our Norwegian spouses (the name is always a dead giveaway) and nuances of the Norwegian culture. I was impressed by his ability to make interesting smalltalk while potentially diagnosing heart issues in my unborn child.

And diagnose he did. After the scanning was over, he sat down for a chat with me:
"The arrhythmia has entirely disappeared," he said, just as I expected. But he wasn't smiling as he continued, "However, there is something we need to talk about."

Sometimes sentences take entirely too long to say. And the pause between sentences can be even longer, and then the sentences that follow, until you get to the part that states, "but the hole in the baby's heart will most likely heal on its own and cause no problems," can be excruciating.

But fortunately we did, eventually, get to this final sentence fragment (or something like it--I wasn't thinking clearly at the time), and then the doctor used as many words as it took to reassure me that everything really, truly, for real should be just fine.

Little Sister has a birth defect called Ventricular Septum Defect. It's a small hole between the two ventricular chambers that is allowing blood to flow back and forth between them (more or less). The septum is a muscle, with lots of muscle fibers, and what happened is that some didn't seal up completely as the heart was being formed. As the heart grows, the hole should naturally seal. The only thing that's a tiny bit worrisome is that the hole is close to the very bottom of the heart, where there's less muscle that can join together. Still, the doctor wasn't worried.

This shouldn't become a problem, but if it does, it'll manifest itself in difficulty feeding and gaining weight. However, the baby will be monitored with extra appointments and such, so we'll make sure she's okay. And even then, there are "things we can do." I didn't ask what those were.

He added that the only way he could even determine there's a hole was because the pictures were so clear that he could see the blood flow rushing back into the ventricle it'd come from. This is what produces the murmur, which should be audible by 2-3 days after birth. He said that it's nice we'd caught it before birth (even though normally we wouldn't have), because once anyone hears it on a stethoscope, they'll start freaking out--but we'll already know it's just a small hole, and we'll already be planning follow-up care.

The follow-up care will include an echocardiogram before Little Sister leaves the hospital, as well as a visit with him probably 2-4 weeks after birth, and another probably 3 months after birth. It's nice to live so close to a respected health system, and to already be under the care of an expert.

And even though I didn't ask, the doctor also made sure that I understood (and practically had me repeat it back) that there's nothing I did to cause this--not even a genetic factor. It happens. It's fairly common--one of the top 2 conditions they see. It's really no big deal.

He also stressed that we're not allowed to Google this--VSD can be associated with lots of scary things that he's confirmed Little Sister does not have. I will take his advice and I'd strongly encourage you to do the same.

Finally, the doctor said that this won't affect the rest of my pregnancy or my delivery. I think I have his leave to continue to celebrate a mostly healthy baby, or one that should be completely fine by the time she's solidly into 6-month onesies. That's my plan, anyway.

And the arrythmia? It's completely gone, and was probably caused either by my stress at the time or the fact that I'd overdosed on M&Ms in the week or so before my last doctor appointment. But the M&Ms have been out of the picture for a while now, and I've been working to keep my stress levels low (is that an oxymoron?), so we likely won't have to worry about that again.

It was a strange evening last night as the news sunk in for all of us, but there was a toddler to care for and supper to make and my sister's dog to walk as happy distraction. For some reason, we decided we'd all feel better if we had hot fudge sundaes at McDonald's, even at the expense of Kalina's timely bedtime. It worked, at least in the short term, and now the only things left to do are wait and pray that this doesn't turn into a bigger deal than the doctor promised it would.

Preparing a toddler for a baby

There are several options for telling your toddler that there's going to be a newborn in the house. They are:

1. Include the toddler in every detail of welcoming the new baby, for the full 9 months.
2. Wait until she asks why Mommy's bigger than Daddy nowadays.
3. Let the newborn do it.

We've leaned most closely toward #1. We waffle between making a big deal of expecting a baby, so that Kalina is prepared for the huge change, and trying not to make a big deal out of it, so that Kalina's not freaked. But is there really anything we can do to prepare her?

I've read the following tips for easing the transition:
1. Have the toddler and the newborn exchange gifts.
2. Spend plenty of quality one-on-one time with the toddler after the baby is born.
3. Let the toddler "help" with the baby as much as possible.

We will be doing all of these. What we still need advice on is:
1. How do you get one child to sleep while the other is screaming?
2. How will I open doors, use the bathroom, or cook dinner, assuming Little Sister is as needy as Big Sister was/still is at times?
3. If Big Sister is riding in the basket of the grocery cart, and Little Sister is on the seat, what's the point of even going grocery shopping? Do we have to go twice a day to stock enough food?

Despite my misgivings, I don't think the transition will be 100% painful, after labor and delivery, anyway. Here's why there's hope:

1. It doesn't seem to bother Kalina when I hold other babies, as long as I still pay attention to her.
2. Kalina seems to think babies are cute, mostly because they're little (or "teeny tiny," as she says in her cutest little voice). She likes to wave at them, and she would potentially even let one hold her hand (however, anyone between the ages of 6 months and Mommy is not to be trusted).
3. Kalina is generally content as long as she's within 3 feet of me and I can half-focus on her. I think that fits most of the parameters of caring for a newborn.
4. Kalina is a caretaker. She makes sure Lamby gets to enjoy the same privileges she gets, and also that Lamby naps, is hugged, eats, drinks, potties and helps pick up. She also is a rule-follower, and an orderly little soul. If anyone tries to feed the newborn Cheerios, for instance, I'm sure to hear about it.
5. Kalina is a big help. She enjoys contributing. I take advantage of this whenever and wherever I can, and am hoping to pass diaper duty off on her entirely by her 3rd birthday (hah!).

And so, while preparing Kalina for a newborn is still probably like preparing a sea squid for the Sahara, I'm usually able to convince myself to remain optimistic. For Kalina's part, she probably thinks a baby is something we'll keep in the closet and bring out for exercise and to eat from a bowl on the floor, but I'm satisfied that she seems to think it's okay for her little sister to live under the same roof.

And really, maybe the less we all know, the better off we'll be?

Photo: Eat the red part, Sweetie, red. (In a friend's backyard a few months ago, enjoying some summer fun, including the fruit Kalina has affectionately named "la-la," before this horrid humidity set in.)

Baby Update: I have a fetal echocardiogram scheduled for Friday at 2:30. I'm not really worried about it, at this point, but I'm sure I will be by then. Please pray!

A tough doctor visit

Yesterday morning as Matt and I were both getting ready for the day, I mentioned I had a doctor appointment later. He wondered how far along I was, and I proudly told him I'm 32 1/2 weeks, and that a baby born now would likely do very well. We both discussed this fact and our relief.

And then I wandered off to my appointment, leaving Kalina with her Grandpa this time (yay!) and happily read pregnancy magazines until becoming mildly irritated about how long the appointment was taking, and wondering if Kalina would be getting hungry for her lunch.

The doctor finally came in and asked if everything was going well, and I said yes, just measuring a little small (I'm at a group practice so I don't see the same doctor every time). He agreed I was measuring small and said I'd be having another ultrasound just to make sure the baby was continuing to grow. I replied that I'd look forward to it.

He decided that approximately 4 weeks from now would be a good time for an ultrasound, although he almost upped the date due to the fact that I hadn't gained any weight these past two weeks. "Are you eating well?" he wondered. "I'm pigging out!" I informed him, mentally making plans to add more ice cream into my diet.

And then we listened to the heartbeat.
"Did you hear that?" the doctor asked. "It sounded like it skipped a beat."
I'd heard it, as had the new doctor who was shadowing the one with the heartbeat-listener-gadget.
And a dozen or so beats later, "there it is again."
By this time, my heart was making up for any and all missed beats as I tried to figure out what to think. Wasn't listening to the heartbeat something we did just for fun, to make my 45-minute wait worth it? Could it instead show me something may actually be wrong?

The doctor kindly informed me that the heart wasn't actually skipping a beat, it was adding one in just before--which made it sound like it'd skipped a beat. I took his word for it. He also said that this isn't common, but it's also not rare. We'll have to do an ultrasound to look more closely, but the baby is fine, he told me.

Really? Fine? A little internet research later on confirmed for Matt and I that the baby is most likely just fine. Most likely.

In fact, she's fine as long as she's growing fine, according to one website. But what if she's not? Does that make me the world's worst mommy for not eating enough ice cream prior to this? Should I lay off my daily green salad and replace it with cheap pizza?

I am encouraged by the fact that her first two ultrasounds by our favorite experienced ultrasonographer showed absolutely no problems. And this is the first time we've heard anything strange in the heartbeat. Everything should really be just fine.

The doctor said that I'll need to get a Level 2 ultrasound at Duke Hospital so they can take a closer look at the baby's heart, and that they'll call me with a time. They haven't yet.

As if I could be sleeping any worse.

Please pray for the health of Little Sister!

Doctor visit!

I'm sure you'd all marked your calendars with the date of my latest ultrasound (today), and you'll all be thrilled to know that all is well inside Mommy's tummy! Here's how the visit went:

I was nervous about this appointment, but this time more from the fact that I'd be bringing my 2-year-old than actual concern about the baby. Call it mother's intuition, but I was pretty sure the little one would be fine.

Things were much more up in the air with the 2-year-old. Last week I gave her the choice of coming with Mommy to the doctor and waiting patiently with me, or staying with one of her little friends and his/her mommy (I named a few so she go the idea). Kalina's response was to cower close to me and gently stroke my arm. Point taken.

So this morning, we role-played being in a dark ultrasound room, discussed her options for either playing on a chair or holding Mommy's hand and the fact that I still might be able to line up babysitting for her. No takers--Kalina happily role-played along as we talked about the baby in Mommy's tummy.

Fortunately, I knew that if anyone could handle this, she could. During naptime, I packed up some favorite books and toys she hadn't played with in a while, and put together three surefire snacks (I figured we could share). I was prepared as I was ever going to be.

The ultrasound began right on time. The ultrasonographer, who we love, kindly pulled a chair up right next to the exam table so that Kalina could sit on it and hold my hand. And then we got started! Here's what we learned:

Little Sister is head-down (yay!), with her face smashed up against me a little so we couldn't really get a good picture. Her heart looked and sounded perfect. She was sitting cross-legged (except I guess she wasn't so much sitting as she was balancing on her head, but you get the idea), and we could see a little foot and a little hand. And she's still a girl!

The ultrasound was scheduled to check her size, and we learned that she's approximately 3 lbs. right now, and in the 30th percentile. Looking back at Kalina's late ultrasound, the calculations were definitely off (at 37 weeks she was estimated at being about 6 1/2 lbs., whereas 15 days later, when she was born, she was 6 lbs. 1 oz.), so I think all we really know is that Little Sister is, in fact, little. No big surprise.

What's more, I have plenty of amniotic fluid: good. Not only is this healthy for the baby, but it will cushion her well against her older sister who is still occasionally known to climb on Mommy despite Mommy's best efforts.

We all came out of the ultrasound in good spirits, as I was grateful for another look at my healthy baby, and Kalina, who did remarkably well, was just glad to be out of there. The baby, having been awoken briefly by the ultrasonographer's poking and prodding, settled back to sleep. Role-playing worked like a charm, by the way--as soon as I was on the table, Kalina looked for my hand to hold and played her part marvelously well.

And then we waited for the next doctor for my regular appointment. For about an hour. In a very small, not enclosed, waiting room. You'd think that after an hour of waiting, a toddler would be at her wit's end--but not Kalina! Granted, we had some pretty cool books and toys to look at, but I couldn't help but shine with pride at how contentedly she sat in her chair, and how she knew almost every single animal in our zoo book. I think the nurse who was working in the area was pretty impressed, too.

Once we were actually in the exam room, Kalina developed enough of a comfort level that she was ready to explore, but fortunately we still had enough toys that I could keep her sequestered in the one safe corner. We also pulled out a special snack: cheese cubes. What a treat!

The doctor finally came in, and said that everything looks fine. It was a short appointment, for all that waiting. I don't have gestational diabetes, my weight gain is still on track (4 lbs. this time, but I think part of it was because I was there in the late afternoon, plus I've actually been trying to eat a bit more, just in case).

I did have one question: I wake up achy in the middle of the night and it keeps me awake. Not cool. Can I please, please take Tylenol often-ish? To get an occasional decent night of sleep?

No dice. However, the alternative is equally appealing--I should be getting more backrubs from my hubby, and taking hot baths. I asked if he could write that out as a prescription. He chose not to take me seriously (I'll request a female doctor next time).

And then, we were out the door, with Kalina chanting "All done, doctor!" on the way out. We scheduled my next appointment, and Kalina was given a cupcake sticker by the nice receptionist. It took her a good long minute to choose the pink cupcake over green or brown, and by the time we were in the car, she'd stuck it to me (as she does with most stickers). She certainly earned that sticker, having held up her end of the bargain to "wait patiently" amazingly well.

I doubt I'll get another ultrasound, and this one didn't produce a good picture (Matt compared the image to a dinosaur), so we'll likely have to wait to meet her in person before we can figure out just how cute her little smashed button nose is. No problem--Little Sister is healthy, so I'm happy!