39 week update

Well, B and I went on Friday to my 39 week apt, and it was a little more than we expected.  We first had a growth ultrasound as Spencer was relatively big at 9 lbs 2 oz, so they wanted to see how this little man was shaping up.  We found out that he is tiny in comparison, currently weighing in at around 7 lbs.  This is good news in that I would love to VBAC (that stands for vaginal birth after cesarean), and a smaller baby is better for this.  They did all the other measurements and were able to get a darling shot of his little face in 3D (he has Spencer's nose!!), and then sent us back to the waiting room to wait for the OB. 

The nurse walked us back and my blood pressure and weight are good (only 0.5 lbs in the last 3.5 weeks- yea!!!) and then we got some unexpected news.  It turns out that on the ultrasound the tech (who is great at her job, btw) noticed that our little guy has one "abnormally small" kidney.  The other looks okay at this time.  They did look back at the 20 week ultrasound pictures, and both kidneys were the same size at that time, so one of them has stopped growing while the other continued to grow.  We were able to see that the heart is fine, the diaphragm and bladder are fine, the spine is fine and the brain is fine.  These  are all really good things.

Here's what this means and what we know so far:
1.  This is a pediatric issue, not an OB issue.  So, essentially, I can deliver whenever and it will cause no problems in the delivery or post-partum period.  Unless something else is drastically wrong, he will not have to go to the NICU right after birth.  They do not have to do an emergency c-section right now as my fluid levels are good (they can be low when kidney issues are present), so we're still waiting patiently to see when he decides to come.

2.  He will have to have an ultrasound soon after he is born to determine the severity of the kidney issue.  It could be that one kidney is just smaller than the other by a little bit but is still functioning or that there is actually a significant problem that needs to be dealt with.  We have NO idea yet and won't until after the birth.  We will meet with one of the pediatric nephrologists while in the hospital (more than likely) to see what all this means. 

3.  If it is a significant injury to the kidney, the only thing we know right now is that little guy won't be able to play contact sports.   Any person who has only one functioning kidney (btw, you can totally life a long, successful life with only one kidney, thank God!) cannot take the risk of having any damage to that kidney, so things like football, hockey, rugby, lacrosse, basketball, and probably soccer are out.  I don't mind football (too many head injuries anyway), but it has always been B's dream that his kids would play hockey, so I know this is hard on him.  Truthfully, though, there are many, many other activities that don't involve direct contact, so we'll just have to steer him towards those.

4.  While we know that the other major organs are in good shape right now, we don't know if there are any other concerns present, and we won't know until he is born.  We don't know if the "abnormally small" kidney will have to be removed or if there are other concerns associated with this.

So, we're in a holding pattern for now.  I am blessed that I work at our pediatric hospital, so I am going to be able to talk to one of our pediatric nephrologists on Monday (she was out on Friday afternoon) to see what she thinks about this.  Having a bit more information will help me process this better.  I know there is absolutely nothing we can do now but pray that all is well or that the concern is only minimal, so I am continuing to pray!  One of the besties said that it is probably better that I found out this late as I only have (at maximum) 2 weeks left of worrying; whereas if we had found out at 20 weeks, it would have been 20 weeks of worrying.  I agree completely. 

I told B yesterday that I wasn't sure if I was more anxious to give birth so that I could meet him, feel more comfortable myself (it's getting really hard to be pregnant in the past few days), or so that we could get the dang ultrasound and just know where we are going from here.  I'm sure it's pieces of all of the above. 

I don't know if I've mentioned it here already but my back up c-section date is May 10th (5 days after the official due date), so that's the longest it'll be until we meet our newest son.  If it takes that long, and I'm praying it doesn't, it's going to be a long 11 days.  Not only just the physical aches that come in the last week or so (not sleeping well, dry heaving with my stupid vitamins, achy feet and lower back at the end of the day, etc), but the mental/emotional worry that we are now facing.  We are definitely hoping for the best possible outcome.  Who knows, maybe the ultrasound will be completely wrong!  We're just going to have to cross that bridge when it gets here.  If you don't mind, though, can you say a prayer that things work out for the best?  We can definitely manage the issue of one kidney but can you pray that that is all it is?  B, SYT and I would all really appreciate it. 

As we know more, I'll update you all.  We're in the home stretch and are very excited about that!

A few Spencer favorites

*Currently loving "alks" in the stroller

*Always asks for "Alleluia" as his bedtime song.  Cracks me up to think that my little guy would rather hear a church anthem than any of our other bedtime songs.

*Preferring long picture books to the shorter board books.  He pays attention all the way through and can pick out which books he wants that night by telling us the characters in the book. 

*Is starting to get picky about which socks, which shirt, which outfit he wants to wear.  Seriously, he's only two.  I thought I had at LEAST one more year of getting to dress him however I wanted.  Luckily he has no concept that character outfits exist, so I never get asked for an Elmo shirt or Cookie socks.  He does ask for his "dolf shorts" when it's 34 degrees out, so we still need to work on appropriate dressing for the weather.

*Loves his Little Tykes golf set.  He's actually improving quite a bit with making contact with the ball.  It's super cute to watch.

*Vocab is still growing daily.  "Tookie Momert" is now 100% Cookie Monster; says things like "Daddy has it" and "Help you" (can mean help me or help you). 

*Still loves to watch all the videos we take of him on the ipad.  His current favorite is of him "making" (baking) in the kitchen. 

Fill in the blank.....

QBS filled out this tag last week, so I decided I'd fill it out too!

1.  Today is a great day because......Our bedroom and bathroom are spotless, 6 loads of laundry got done, and my hospital bag is packed.  Very productive Sunday!

2.  Tomorrow I will be.............going to work.  Hopefully the second to last Monday I'll be there for 12 weeks! 

3.  My favorite time of the day is.........the end of the work day.  I get to pick up SYT from daycare, love on him, make dinner with B, and get Spence ready for bed.  It's a busy time of the day but the best time to spend with my two favorite people!

4.  Sometimes you just have to..........sit down!!!  Lately my body is just aching and tired from carrying around this babe, and it's getting hard to stay on my feet all day long.  I do it because it's necessary most days, but after Spence is down, there is nothing better than some down time on the couch.

5.  A song I just can't get enough of lately is...........Rumor Has It.  Adele is amazing and pretty much rocks my world. 

6.  My favorite accessory is.................my "Due in May" necklace.  2nd favorite is a tie between my large monogrammed silver necklace and my pearl stud earrings.

7.  My favorite thing about this week was...........feeling the baby move a little lower.  Hopefully this means he'll come meet his mommy, daddy, and big brother sooner than later!!

Have a great Monday!!

Ooooohhhhh......good deals today!!

Plum District (another shopping site) has both KEP Designs ($50 for $100) AND Erin Condren ($25 for $50) as deals today.  I know preppy bloggers love them both, so head over and check out the deals.

All fabulous stuff, right?  Don't forget about all the birthdays and Mother's Day that May brings!!Here is an invite if you need it!!  Have a great Friday! 

Weekend checklist

This weekend and the next two are all about checking things off my mental to-do list so that we can have as much done as possible before the baby arrives.  So this weekend we were able to......

1.  Get 75% of the nursery done.  We're not changing much in there, but I needed to get all the baby clothes washed, put into drawers, hung in the closet, and organized.  I got almost all that done.  I still need to make sure the swaddle blankets are ready, the diapers and wipes are organized, the upper shelves of the closets are clean, and the painting that says Spencer is taken down and one for the new baby is put into place.  I'm happy with the progress we have made so far, and I don't think it'll take much more work in there.

2.  Put fertilizer and compost into the front garden bed and the vegetable garden bed.  It rained a lot today, so I'm glad we were able to get that done prior to the rain.  I also was able to get a ton of old leaves raked up in the backyard that fell after our last fall raking.  It was a lot of work going up and down our hill with the wheelbarrow and Spencer "helping" push, but it looks a lot better and it was worth it.

3.  Go on a date!!!  Sat night B and I went to see The Hunger Games finally and then went to dinner afterwards.  We both liked the movie (I've read it, he hasn't) and enjoyed our last dinner out for awhile too!! 

4.  Make cupcakes for one of my co-worker's birthday.  They're lemon blueberry with a lemon curd marscapone frosting.  Yes, they are as delicious as they sound.  I really hope she likes them!!

5.  Typical weekend stuff- church, dinner menu, grocery store, laundry, cleaning the kitchen multiple times, etc. 

6.  Got my car detailed.  I had a groupon for it, and my car looks amazing now.  Soooo much cleaner and the dirty, yucky smell that has acquired over the past 9 years is gone.  I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

Now I am sitting on the couch with B, watching the Amazing Race, and finally off my feet.  It is wonderful to be sitting down at the end of a task oriented weekend.  I have more to get done during the weeknights and more next weekend, but, for now, I'm just going to be happy with all that I got done over the last two days. 

What was the most productive part of your weekend??? 

Spencer's big boy room

It's FINALLY done!! All the little details have come together, and we are finished with Spencer's nautical big boy room. He's been sleeping in their for over a month now with no difficulty, but it's taken us awhile to pull together the last little details.

This is the main wall.  We painted it navy as we wanted the sail to really stand out against the wall.  The sail is a full sized sail (that we actually had to cut down because it was too big!).  The beds are antiques that we found at a great antique store up in Petoskey.  We didn't want to pay the price they were asking, so we walked away.  Two weeks later they went on sale, my mom offered an even lower price, and they took the offer.  We were beyond thrilled and know they'll stay in our family forever!!

The nightstand was one we had around the house that was hideously ugly.  We sanded it down and painted it the same color as the white walls.  It's a touch smaller than I would ideally want, but it was free, it holds tons of books, and the lamp and the sleep sheep fit on it perfectly.

This is the wall that is in the front of the house.  I made the seersucker curtains out of the table runners we made for our wedding.  We had 28 of them sitting in our basement collecting dust, so I took 8 of them, made larger panels, made a pocket for the rod, and love the way they look in the room.  They aren't blackout shades, obviously, but Spencer has never slept with blackout shades, so I didn't think it would be a big deal.  Normally I would have hung them to opposite sides (as is typical with curtains), but the built-in bookshelf didn't allow for that, so we had to go to the left on both.  I am totally okay with it!

The sailboat oil painting hanging between the windows.

We hung the painting with a cleat and line.  B's idea, and it was the perfect thing to do.  It just ties in the nautical-ness throughout the room.

We used the same line (it's red, blue and white) for the curtains and used the same cleats for the tie backs.

The wall across from the beds.  We hired someone to build the built-in.  There was a weird cut out space in the wall that was begging for something, and we decided that a built-in was the way to go.  Both of us think it was sooooo worth the money.  There is so much storage which we aren't in need of now, but I'm sure we will be in the future as toys start to overwhelm us, and as the boys share a room in the future (they don't have to share as we have plenty of bedrooms, but I love the idea of them sharing for a few years).

SYT's dresser.  We repurposed an old dresser- stripped it and painted it the same blue as the accent wall.  I painted the knobs to look like nautical flags, and I ordered really reasonable wood letters from Etsy to hang the monogram over top of the dresser.

The bed linens are from Company Kids.  Solid yellow fitted sheets for the box springs and the mattresses and solid yellow duvet covers with yellow gingham flat sheets and pillowcases.  I love the color and the softness of the linens, but gosh do they wrinkle so badly.  Even when I pull them out of the dryer when they're just barely dry.  I suppose Spencer isn't going to care though!

A shot from another corner.  The artwork on the wall is 5x7 canvases that I picked up at Joann's and painted with blue, red, and yellow craft paint.  If you "read" it in nautical terms, it spells out Spencer's name.

S-P-E

N-C-E

star-R-star.

The stars were added for balance as his name doesn't divide evenly.  I love, love, love it!!  The wood you see in the corner is his closet.  You can also see his toddler bed rails on the bed.  Not necessarily the most flattering decor but definitely a necessity as he is all over the bed when he sleeps!!

B and I are so proud of this room.  We really put a lot of thought into making it toddler enough for now, but we also know that it will transition well over the next 10 years.  We're also happy that it's DONE!!!  Yea!!

My favorite purchase over the last 8 months (ie- perfect pregnancy gift!)

I bought this necklace when I was 11 weeks pregnant.  I found it at a small store in Petoskey and just couldn't resist.  I am so glad I bought it as I wear it at least 5 days a week and have throughout my entire pregnancy.  As SYT says, it's my "baby neckneck".  I  get compliments on it all the time.  It's funny because I haven't worn pearls in ages and the only other necklace I'll wear right now is my gold locket when my outfit demands gold accessories. 

I found the same necklace (or at least very similar) on Etsy right here.  At this price, it's a perfect present for a new mom to be!  Mine has tarnished just a bit over the past 8 months (I got mine for around $20, so that's not too surprising), but I actually like the way it looks with the little bit of tarnishing on it.  It makes it look antiquey and goes well with the typescript.

I love my necklace and hope that you, or a friend of yours, will too!!

Easter 2012

Easter morning with Spencer's first Easter basket.  He received monkey jammies, an Elmo cup and snack container, sidewalk chalk, Elmo eggs filled with change for his piggy bank (he LOVES putting change in his piggy bank), and two new Elmo bibs.  Yes, our world revolves around Elmo!!

 

My big boy right before church

Before the Easter egg hunt during the "eggercizes"

Spencer's first egg.  He could not have cared less until he found out there was candy inside.  Then he was all about it!

 

Look, I can even find the ones under the tree.

Notice the sweater in honor of Master's Sunday.  Golf cart intarsia knit with madras plaid pants.  This is, without a doubt, B's favorite outfit I have ever put on SYT. 

After the egg hunt

36 weeks with my almost 2 year old.  Yikes!!  The belly is large and in charge ;)

Not the most flattering picture, but a family picture none the less!

I love, love, love this picture of my two favorite men.  Can't wait to meet the newest addition to the "boys" in just a short time.

I hope you all had a blessed Easter and enjoyed the weekend.  We had a great dinner all three nights, we enjoyed a lot of time just playing with Spence, AND we got a lot of stuff done around the house.  It was so nice on Saturday that we even got our lawn mowed and the flowerbeds weeded for the first time this season!!  We loved watching the Masters, and we loved our ice cream that we ate for lunch dessert even more :)  Have a great week (and the Easter treats you may have received!!).

Way to go, Bubba!!

The winner of the 2012 Masters is Bubba Watson.  Congrats, sir, you played your heart out and totally deserved the win.  It was a great, great, great match among the world's best players in golf, and YOU made it your day.

Just going to say it, though, I think it was the pink driver that did it for you :) 

Awesome golf weekend.  B and I were sooooo happy to be watching it!

What's on "par" for the weekend...............

BIG weekend around the T household!  It's Easter and our favorite sporting event of the year all combined into one glorious weekend.  We've already set the DVR to tape today and tomorrow's rounds of golf and plan on not missing a second on Saturday or Sunday. 

B has to sing tonight at church and has rehearsal afterwards- it's a big week for the choir!!  Tomorrow he has to sing at noon for the Good Friday service.  Spence and I will not be attending either, unfortunately.  I can barely keep my eyes open this week and slept horribly last night, so we are headed home after work today for a quick and easy dinner, bathtime, bedtime, a few small things around the house for me to look after and an early bedtime for me as well.  Tomorrow night we will be watching the golf we've DVR'd, eating butter chicken (a pinterest recipe in the crockpot- sooooo good), and finishing up the painting we are doing to some bookshelves for the playroom.

Saturday is supposed to be beautiful here (mid 60s and sunny), so in the morning I hope that we can get some yardwork done.  B needs to mow the front yard, and I really need to weed the gardens out front.  I'm hoping to buy more perrenials next weekend, and I need to get the weeds out in order to have somewhere to plant them!  We also need to take pictures of Spence's big boy room so that I can post them here and work in the playroom a bit.  It is coming along, and I'm really excited about it.  We'll watch golf (and hopefully I will sneak in a nap) Saturday afternoon.  We're having pork tenderloin on the grill for dinner that night- yum!!

Sunday we will head to church- B early for rehearsal and SYT and I a little later.  His little Easter/Master's Sunday outfit is TDF, so you know I'll be pimping him out here on Sunday or Monday.  There's an egg hunt after church for the little ones, so we'll stay for that and then bring him home for his nap.  We were hoping to be able to swing brunch too, but we'd be pressing our luck with the timing and the nap, and it's just not worth it.  We'll do brunch another year!  I've already picked up Ben and Jerry's and jelly beans for our afternoon Master's/Lenten/it's finally Easter (and why would a pregnant woman give up ice cream and candy) treat, and both of us are chomping at the bit for the ice cream :) 

B is excited to watch Hunter Mahan this weekend as he's the top ranked American going into the Masters, and he won last weekend so is coming in feeling good today.  He is still a huge Tiger fan (though he obviously doesn't agree with his personal decisions that got him into the last few crazy years), so he'll be rooting for him as well.  I always root for the same people: Phil, Luke Donald, and Ian Poulter.  I will often pick my person of the day based on the color of their pants.  It's my favorite part of golf (hence the reason I love Ian) :)  It'll be fun to watch Rory and see how he does.  I love, love, love that golfers can be so good but have such bad days because you never know what's going to happen.  Sometimes it makes for not exciting wins (it's really boring to see two guys that aren't "popular" who are on the top of the leader board, especially if they're both in khacki, black, or navy pants!), but it just proves that anything can happen. 

What's on par for your weekend plans?  Will you be watching golf?  Shopping?  Visiting with family or friends for the holiday?  Enjoying a long awaited visit with your darling mom?  I hope that whatever you have planned is absolutely fabulous and that the weather is equally wonderful.  I also hope that all of you have picked up your favorite Easter candy as a treat to yourself!!