Posted by Lily on Oct 31, 2008 in
Birth,
Bogey One question I’ve had is whether or not this blog will continue now that Bogey has arrived. The answer is yes. It will just transform from a blog about the pregnancy of Bogey to a blog about the baby Cameron and how he has completely taken over the lives of his parents. So for those of you who could care less about too many pictures and too much inane detail about something that just sleeps (sometimes), eats (all the time), and poops (with such force he could propel himself into space) feel free to retire from the blog. For the rest of you, welcome to the next chapter of our lives. The blog will retain its name because after all, it is still about our life plus one.
Another question I’ve had is about the birth. So I’ve been debating. Do I do one of those birth story posts or not? John is a big supporter of this as he feels there were a lot of things we learned during the labor experience that could potentially be helpful to people who choose to propel a human out of their body. I didn’t think people would really want to hear about the nitty gritty details of my body exploding. It was pointed out to me that nitty gritty details are what I’m all about and when have I ever held back? That thought, combined with multiple requests from people for a birth story post, have pushed me over the edge and I will be posting about the birth. It will be clearly labeled so those of you who would rather skip over that post can do so without permanently scarring themselves.
I’ve also been informed that no post would be complete anymore without at least one picture. We have a few million, most of which are on our other computer which I’m not quite up to using yet. So here is a picture to tide you over until I can post more.
The picture is of me as a newborn. John feels there is a strong resemblance. I’ll let you decide.
Posted by Lily on Oct 17, 2008 in
Birth,
Bogey O.k. o.k. so all the important stuff was left out of the last post. John was helping me get the word out that Bogey had arrived. Promise we are calling him Cameron, with the occasional Bogey slip-up. Here are the vitals:
John Cameron
Born 10/14/08 at 4:43pm
Weight: 7lbs 2oz
Length: 20 inches
Lots more to share, but I am exhausted and just happy to find time for this post. One of the characteristics most commented on so far is his serious expression and furrowed brow. This comes directly from his mother, something that drives John nuts. This is serious Cameron:
But there is also reflexively smiling Cameron:
He is pretty darn cute, so we’ve decided to keep him.
Posted by Lily on Oct 16, 2008 in
Birth,
Bogey Hi, this is John, I am posting for Lily. She apologizes for the lack of posts but she has a good excuse, she birthed a child. The fetus that was Bogey in now the baby named John Cameron. Lily and child are happy, healthy, and home. The delivery wiped Lily out, hence me writing this post, so she has not made any calls since the birth. Pictures will be posted soon, amazingly Cameron has Lily’s ears.
Posted by Lily on Oct 1, 2008 in
Bogey,
pregnancy Bogey had his demonstration debut Monday night with the midwife students. It was a time for him to show off what a fabulous baby he is, and for me to continue to show off what a fabulously terrible pregnant woman I am.
There were four of us pregnant ladies. I was the only one who apparently did not get the memo for the cute pregnancy outfits. Casual yet chic. Hmmm… Sounds familiar. Ah, yes because I missed that memo in childbirth class too. I’m guessing perhaps I missed that memo entirely as it was sent out to all pregnant ladies upon the moment of conception. I had been proud of myself that I actually put on my cargo pants and not my sweats for the class.
The instructor asked (before the students got there) how far along everyone was. The other three knew to the day how far along they were. I tried to be definitive, but really had no idea exactly how far along I was and had to fall back on my midwife, who was able to answer for me. That’s why I keep her around.
There was one midwife there who looked at me and another woman who was a couple of weeks behind me and said late October huh? My first baby was due in late October. He was born near Thanksgiving. I had him at 43 weeks. He was 10 lbs. chirp, chirp, chirp, giggle, giggle, giggle. I just stared at her and asked very calmly if she was one of the midwives who attended deliveries. She said oh gosh no, only an instructor right now, she was taking a break from deliveries. I smiled and thought good, because if I was at 40 weeks and she told me oh chirp, chirp, chirp, giggle, giggle, giggle you have three more weeks and your kid will be the size of a toddler I’m pretty sure I would force her into my uterus at gunpoint to retrieve my child for me.
We were then all separated into exam rooms with one instructor. Luckily, I had a different instructor with me. During the first exam, the students were feeling for position of the baby, after a lot of poking and prodding the instructor looked at me and said oh, are you having a contraction? I looked at her, and the student, desperately hoping one of them would answer for me, because as far as I knew, I hadn’t been having any contractions, but alas, they both just stared at me. So I hedged my bets and tentatively said, yes…because why else would she have asked? She immediately dove in to tell the student how she could tell and that when the uterus is stimulated as much as it was tonight, it was common for it to contract, blah, blah, blah.
While she was sharing all of this with the student I pulled out my failed pregnant lady passport and put another stamp in it. This time because that “movement” I’ve been feeling from Bogey? Where it feels kind of tight across my already tight abdomen? That would be a contraction. Whoops. Been having those for awhile now.
Back to the exam. The students LOVED Bogey. Well, all of them except the one that looked like she thought she might break me if she touched me in any way. She was a little scary and Bogey made her night pretty miserable. He kept moving when she touched him so she couldn’t figure out where he was. Then when she got the doppler out to listen for his heartbeat, as soon as she got it, he shifted away from the doppler so his heartbeat would drop out. The instructor finally told her to just let it be because obviously he was not going to cooperate with her. But he was perfect for everyone else. They said his positioning was textbook and made it super easy to figure out. My pelvic muscles are apparently rock hard strong, making it nearly impossible for them to figure out where his head was. Hopefully this means those muscles will shoot Bogey out like a torpedo. John said he’ll have the catcher’s mitt ready.
I left Monday night proud of my baby and his stellar cooperation. I also gloated to John how I actually had been having contractions, but they did not hurt one bit, it was just like tightening a muscle a little. Oh happy day happy pregnant lady with your happy baby and happy uterus.
Then Tuesday hit. Apparently, Bogey did not actually like all that poking and prodding. Or at least my super painless happy uterus didn’t like it. I could not sit down for more than about ten minutes without the pain from the constant contractions forcing me up and walking around. That felt better, but eventually my feet got sore from all the walking and standing so I’d sit, only to be greeted by waves of painful contractions. This went on all day long until I finally got home, laid down, and apologized to the pregnancy gods I’d offended.
Today was better, all back to normal, so don’t get excited that I’m imminently going to go into labor. I’m perhaps wishing that was true, but it is not going to happen for a little while longer.
Midwife appt. tomorrow, more updates about how we’re both doing then.
Posted by Lily on Aug 25, 2008 in
Bogey I have very exciting news. No we did not pick a name, but the nursery is painted. Those of you who know me might think it is odd for me to gush over finishing a nursery. Knowing that the word “nursery” sends chills down my spine as I imagine the perfectly coiffed and manicured mother who has a perfect round pregnant belly and not an ounce of other fat on her holding up fabric samples based on her nursery theme, which she picked out three years before pregnancy.
Don’t worry, I haven’t put on my Stepford dress. My excitement stems from the fact that we completed something in regards to Bogey. We haven’t come up with a name. We haven’t come up with a plan for childcare when he is born. We haven’t picked a pediatrician. We haven’t started a college fund. We haven’t read all the books. We haven’t started our childbirth class yet (although we have finally signed up for one). There are all of these “haven’ts” that it feels so good to “have.”
We had friends come over Saturday and help paint and then we cleared out all the painting junk and drop clothes and such yesterday. We put his newly painted changing table/dresser (which used to be mine when I was a baby) in there and it works perfectly. That’s it. We haven’t moved anything else in, but that’s o.k. There is now a completed room for stuff to be moved into.
I will post pictures in the next couple of days. Apparently in all the excitement of the weekend Bogey decided to take up Tae Kwon Do night classes and my sleeping has been severely compromised. Then a cat started projectile vomiting at 4:00am this morning. I’m exhausted and don’t feel like taking pics and posting them this evening. But I promise there will be some. Even before and after shots.
I’ll leave the projectile vomit pictures out for now.
Posted by Lily on Jul 23, 2008 in
Bogey .jpg)
I have gotten some feedback saying people want to know about the actual being INSIDE The Pregnant One. Really? I don’t know why. I’m about to spend the next 23 or 24 years (I figure I’ll give him two years post-college before I boot him out of the house) boring all of you with endless stories about my child and the many mundane, repetitive accomplishments that I think are totally awesome and why he is The Smartest and The Best and The Fastest and The Funniest. Well, he will be The Funniest. I’m convinced. But I’ll play along. Technically the blog is about him.
The next midwife
appt. is not for a couple of weeks, so I have no official things to report, but I’ll give an unofficial rundown.
I’m at the end of my second trimester and about to start the third and final one. For those who think saying a fourth trimester is funny, just bite it because this kid will be out by the end of three. Truly. I will take him out myself.
I swear that Bogey is actually aware we are transitioning into the third trimester because all of a sudden during this week, he has decided to act like a third trimester old creature. His movements and kicks are moving from awwwww, that’s so cute and bubbly! to oh my god, did my rib actually just poke through my abdomen? Just look, John. Look. Sew it back together. And Bogey is only about 2 lbs at this point. 2lbs of straight up flexed arms and legs. I have this image of him in there floating around like a starfish with his arms and legs sticking straight out, occasionally bending to get enough momentum to rearrange my internal organs when he straightens them back out.
He has also found a new hot spot to take all his peeps. Until a couple of weeks ago he seemed to be unaware there was a right side to my uterus. Now, not only has he discovered his living space is twice as big as he thought, but that there is a rockin‘ dance club in there. With a catchy name. El Bladdero. That’s right, we’re raising him bilingual. Apparently he has a VIP pass and likes to party all night. I know this is just going to get worse. But I figure soon he’ll be too big to do quite as much free movement in the club. He’ll end up just sitting on it, which may be worse, we’ll see.
My sleeping is starting to lessen, perhaps due to the late night operations of Club Bladdero, but I’m also going to have to put a lot of that on the dogs as Serena has decided to mimic me peeing two, three times at night. Not to be outdone, Sam has taken up avid hunting in the middle of the night, successfully bagging a young opossum last night in fact.
I try to stretch everyday and that combined with wearing only supportive shoes (bye, bye flops) and the prenatal massage has helped my back tremendously. I think John appreciates this maybe even more than me as the constant heating and massaging of my back he happily did at my constant bidding has dropped off significantly.
Finally, my brain. Nothing washed for awhile. My new thing is apparently with feeding the dogs, who due to medical reasons have different foods that the other cannot eat. I have now NUMEROUS times taken both dishes over to their food containers, filled up one dish, taken the empty dish to the other container and filled up the FIRST DISH THAT ALREADY HAD FOOD IN IT. All the while holding the empty one in my hand.
And the other day? I walked into the bathroom because I knew I had to pee, but forgot that I actually had just peed about five minutes before.
It’s an accomplishment that I haven’t peed in the dog food. Yet.
Posted by Lily on Jun 30, 2008 in
Bogey As we come towards the end of the second trimester and October starts to actually be a real date, I decided I needed to get out and do some of those things that will be more difficult to do once Bogey arrives. So I lived it up. Went to a gay bar until late Friday night followed by IHOP even later that night, rested on Saturday, and then to balance it off, some church on Sunday, followed by a visit to a winery Sunday afternoon.
It was a fun weekend, but I am exhausted today. And to be completely honest, it really wasn’t as exciting I would like to sell it. I did do all of those things, but the only one that was done purely for the sake of doing it because we might not do it again for awhile was IHOP. The bar and church was purely a work thing. I did Syphilis testing at the bar and HIV testing at the church. As for the winery, I was drug along as the designated driver.
When I got home from the bar it was after midnight (for those of you who don’t know, I like being in bed at oh, gosh, about 9) and I, of course, was starving. Like wanting a full meal starving. At the bar we all had been talking about all the late night places we used to go in high school and college such as Waffle House and IHOP. That conversation planted the seed. I suggested IHOP to John when I got home as we have one about three minutes from our house. He looked at me like I told him I thought we should move into an IHOP. I told him that first of all we never were up past midnight, second of all if we were I almost never was hungry, and third of all, if the first two ever happened again we could not take our young baby into an IHOP. Really? John asked. Really, I said. Because while we are in the South, I’m not actually to the redneck point of my baby at IHOP in the middle of the night.
I of course have no problem taking him to a gay bar, however. Important distinction in my child rearing beliefs.
I convince John I was serious, he lovingly gets into the car with me and we arrive at IHOP. Across from the table with the young couple with their new baby. Not kidding. IHOP was exactly what I had been hoping for and I don’t need to go again until Bogey can drive me.
Sunday morning was church. Full on singing/dancing/swaying/amens and hallelujahs and more lively a sermon than I’ve ever witnessed in my life. On a serious note, I was incredibly impressed with the service. The reverend was instrumental in getting the congregation to test for HIV and flawlessly intertwined the message of education, empowerment, and prevention into his sermon in way that was approachable and realistic without being preachy. For those of you who are now going to expect me in church every Sunday, don’t get excited. But I did perhaps for the first time see some benefits of the overwhelming religion in this place.
It was a full weekend. But I haven’t gotten to my favorite part. There was lots of music this weekend. All kinds of different music, but throughout it all, a constant. My child LOVES music. Goes CRAZY for music. It’s as if he is playing musical chairs with himself. As soon as the music stops, he stops. As soon as it starts, he starts. He was so tired after Friday night he slept most of Saturday. I was even becoming a little worried until Sunday morning, when the music began again (albeit of a different variety) and he started his bumpin‘ and flippin‘ all over again.
So this kid likes music, or it causes Grand Mal seizures. There is so much yet to learn about him.
Posted by Lily on May 30, 2008 in
Bogey We’re a long way off on the names, but for those of you who are sort of concerned we might just keep Bogey, I promise you we will not. In all likelihood his first name will be John, but his middle name will be different than John’s and that middle name is what we will call him by. Being from a long line of John’s and having a due date on John’s dad’s (also John) birthday, I really couldn’t break that tradition. I have a feeling this could be a long, drawn out decision so don’t anyone get too excited yet. Here are some pics of the baby boy to be! I’m not posting all of them because honestly a couple of them were kind of scary. 
In one he looked like Skeletor. They did a couple of 3-d ones which are cool in theory, but he wasn’t quite big enough so he kind of looked like a partially molded piece of clay. Kind of cute, but kind of weird too. The best part was that I was sent home with a 20 minute DVD of the ultrasound so I can sit and watch all of his moving and kicking and rolling and twisting. Because he was an active little guy. Fun to watch and I honestly could sit down and watch it on repeat pretty much endlessly. It is still just so cool to see him and think he is inside of me! The picture above I hope is pretty self explanatory. You are looking at a view of his left side. That is his head and torso and his little hand close to his mouth. He did a lot of yawning and scrunching his hands up towards his face. The next picture is actually him putting said hand into his mouth.
One of those things that I am sure is really only cute to me, but it is really the cutest thing ever. I could watch him sit there and put his hand in his mouth all day. And I can do that with the DVD. As many times as I want. All organs were intact and in working order as far as we can tell now. You can’t see many things working other than the heart, but his heart is awesome and was super fun to watch. The next picture is of the actual Bogey Bits. Now, let me just say I did not label the picture. The ultrasound tech did. And I personally love the way she labeled it because it looks like I have the most well-endowed son ever to walk the earth.
However, the label is actually over is leg. If you look under that somewhere you should be able to see his goods. I personally am still having trouble. I have been able to find it on the DVD, but this picture is beyond me. Kudos to those who can find it. The ultrasound tech seemed to think it was ultra clear. She said she was going to let us guess the sex, I figure because it was that obvious. My mom (who came to TN for the visit) thought boy but said nothing, John thought he had no idea and said girl, and I had no idea, said nothing, and still was completely enthralled with the wiggling thing on the screen being my child. She said boy and of course I nearly leapt through the ceiling. I am needless to say, incredibly excited about my baby boy. After an initial disappointment of it not being a girl and the years he’ll miss of watching the two of us duke it out, John is also thrilled. He just had to re frame his thinking from watching me be annoyed by our stubborn daughter who MUST WEAR THAT SAME PINK DRESS FOR THE EIGHTH DAY IN A ROW to watching me be annoyed by our stubborn son who MUST SAY FART AND GIGGLE FOR THE EIGHTIETH TIME IN A ROW. I think he’s adjusted.
So all in all, I’m pretty content. I’m enjoying this pregnancy thing now that I don’t require 27 hrs of sleep a day and my enormous boobs don’t actually feel like they’ve been run over by a truck and I can feel this little boy kicking and squirming and moving around inside of me. I just wish he could now be born and I could hold and squeeze him and watch him pee on John.
Posted by Lily on May 29, 2008 in
Bogey A boy! A healthy, all put together boy. Everything is how it should be, the right size, right on target for the due date. I will post some of the pictures soon, most likely not until tomorrow, but I just wanted to share for all of you who are curious. He was active and crazy moving around the entire time and being very cooperative, showing all his goods. Although I couldn’t really tell to be honest. More to come.
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