New Diaper Bag

I had no idea how hard it would be to find something as simple as a diaper bag! Granted I am just a tad on the picky side when it comes to finding the perfect ‘thing.’ So after searching lots of stores (hoping I could find one to register for) I started the never-ending online search. I guess the problem was that I didn’t want one that wouldn’t be boy/girl specific, I didn’t want one with a cartoon/looked to baby-ish (yes I know it’s for the baby) and I wanted one that Matthew would feel ok carrying around too. So I knew what I didn’t want, just not what I did want. I FINALLY found one that I really, really liked, so I ordered it! It just came in the mail the other day. See, even Matthew looks good holding it! And you can tell how much he likes it! I was super excited to get it. I already want (but haven’t) to fill it with baby stuff… though now that I think of it, I’m not really even sure what I need to fill it with. For now, just lots diapers, wipes, creams and clothes… right? Anything else?
Oh, Matthew left this morning (at 3:30 am) to drive with the Rugby team to Idaho! Keep him in your thoughts and prayers this weekend as they drive and play.

A Fun Afternoon Lunch

I just finished a really nice lunch! My dad came to Healdsburg during my lunch hour, so he, Tyler and I all went to El Farolito... mom picked up an extra shift so she couldn't be there (and was missed)!!!! But it was so nice to have lunch with Dad and Ty, I don't know if just the 3 of us have ever done that. It's really neat to watch Tyler grow into the man that he is. I really enjoy spending time with him... though we don't do enough of that either. Right now he has this really subtle mo-hock hair style. Nothing obnoxious, just fun. Boys are very lucky in the fact that they can practically change their hair style on a daily basis, and if they don't like it, they can just shave it off! I think that people would think I went nuts if I shaved off my hair. After lunch we walked over to Powel’s and got a few sweets then went to the flying goat for coffee. It was such a nice afternoon... especially considering that I only have 3 appointments for the rest of the day.... Boring!

A VERY short night away

This past weekend Matthew and I got to go on a little over night get-away! The best part was that the whole day and night was paid for by someone else! Let me elaborate... I need ‘X’ many continuing education units a year, so lots of time different companies or school will put on C.E. events for the vets in the area. This was a special one though, because instead of just taking us out to dinner, this one company offered to take about 30 vets and their significant others to Napa for the talk and appetizers, then bus us over to a fancy winery AND pay for us to stay at a fancy hotel! How could we say no!
The talks were actually really, really good (a few of the best speakers that I have heard). Matthew drove over to Napa after winning in his rugby game, just in time to shower and get on the bus. We were then taken to Markham Winery in St. Helena where everyone wine tasted (or wine smelled) and nibbled on hors d'oeuvres for an hour. We were then all ushered into the candle-lit wine barrel room for dinner. The servers were all dressed in black suits and treated us like royalty! The food (needless to say) was delicious!!!!!!! After the dinner we were taken back to the hotel (which was a beautiful place). Sadly, this was the worst past of the whole event. Apparently the man that was in the room next to ours must be the world’s loudest snorer, so despite the fact that the beds were really comfy and I had ear plugs in and the a.c unit going, Matthew (who typically sleeps through anything) and I were both tossing and turning all night thanks to Mr. Snory-face! So neither of us felt very rested come Sunday morning! Oh well. Not everything can be perfect!

Third Trimester

Can you believe that this week I am officially entering into my third trimester?!?!?! It’s crazy! I have less then 13 weeks to go! Our little on is 27 weeks old now, and about 14 ½ inches long… which is roughly the size of a leek. Coincidentally that is just what my bladder feels like doing most of the time! The little baby is about 2 pounds now (about the same weight as a cauliflower), and its head is around 2 ½ inches in diameter. Its little retinas are beginning to develop and is getting more and more responsive to light, sound and touch. Speaking of touch, whenever people want to feel it move around, I’ll just poke around a little until it wakes up and whacks at me… I probably should stop that because with my luck it’s keeping track of all the times I’ve woken it up and it’s planning to retaliate! If our little one was born this week, it would have an 80% chance of survival! Oh, and one last interesting fact…. Weight gain is an inevitable and necessary part of pregnancy (as I know), and I was just reading that on average prior to pregnancy the average breasts each weigh about 7 ounces, during pregnancy they each will end up weighing around 14 ounces! That’s almost 2 pounds in breast tissue alone! The body is truly and amazing creation!

I made Matthew take a picture of me last night when I got home from work.... not only to please all you people who were asking for a picture, but because yesterday for the FIRST time I was asked 'How far along are you..." without any talk of babies, pregnancy.... or anything baby related! So that was fun and I thought that I would commemorate it with this stunning picture! :) My belly is really getting big, it's like our little one finally got the notice that it is supposed to be growing. It has been doing the funniest thing these past 2 days. Picture yourself throwing your face and body against a sliding glass door and pressing your whole body there for like 30 seconds. THAT is just what it seems like this one it doing. I'll feel this huge thump inside, then I can take my hands and feel every couture of the baby's body, just like it has thrown and pressed itself against my womb! Its SO funny and kind of tickles in a very startling way! Any one else know what I'm talking about or is our baby just 'special'?

Week 26 (and 3 days)

Sorry that it took so long to write about the weekly progress of our growing baby... I know you all are just lost without it! :) Our little one is over 26 weeks now and roughly 14 inches long (head to toe) and weighs about 1 3/4 pounds! It's starting to get hard to find fruit and veggies that are as long as our baby! You can picture me walking around the produce department with a ruler measuring any and every possibility! So this week our baby is about the size of a Bok-choy! mmmmmmmmm! Delicious! Its little feet are supposed to be about 2 inches long, but with the genes that Matthew and I are bringing to the table, the feet are probably more like 5inches :) The little eyelids are now able to be opened and closed, so it will be practicing blinking over the next 13 1/2 weeks. It has really started to respond to touching/pressure on the tummy and will kick/wiggle around. It has also started to respond to sound like crazy, voices, music, the alarm, it's really fun to try and figure out if its moving because it's happy or annoyed with what's going on around it! If our little one is a boy (which I still think it is, despite the dream I head last night of it being a girl), then its testicles will have started their 3 day descent into his scrotum this week. I'm sure you were all dieing to know that! I have noticed that I can no longer sit up straight now! I always wondered why pregnant lady's were reclining back, and now I know that it's because if you stay sitting up straight for any length of time the little baby will whack you in the ribs! Ahhhh the joys of pregnancy!

Strange Poeple

I know, I know, I haven't written about the 26 week mark, sorry. I just haven't had a chance to get to the store and get this weeks fruit/veggie. Hopefully I'll get there tonight after work. But I did want to tell you all ANOTHER annoying client story. Maybe I am just uber sensitive because of the little one inside, but when you read this story I think that you all will be horrified too! :) Then you can join in my pain.
Yesterday after talking with a client I went out to the front desk to fishing things up with them. When I left, the lady said to Debbie (the receptionist) "Don't you think pregnant women look funny?" Debby thought that she miss heard her, so said, "what?" The lady repeated herself and Debbie told her that she thought that pregnant ladies looked beautiful. The client then said "but you know it's strange how they bump into things will their belly and open things into them." Debbie defended me saying that she didn't know what the lady was talking about and that I don't do any of those things.
Strange, huh? People are so rude and tactless. Thank goodness for Debbie setting her straight! Poor baby is already getting picked on and it's not even here to defend itself.

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

I just have to take a second to vent! I get so stinking frustrated when people come to me, as a veterinarian, asking for the answer to their animals many issues, THEN when I find out what's wrong with the animal and offer the owners a solution, the owners proceed to tell ME what wrong and how it should be fixed! Pretty sure that if they went to vet school and know all the things that are wrong and how to magical fix them all, they wouldn't have made the appointment in the first place! Grrrrrrrrr! If you want to know what's wrong and want it fix then LISTEN to what I say and STOP arguing with me! Either that or just don't bring in your sick animal in the first place, then I don't have to feel bad/guilty that the owners are not going to treat then poor animal appropriately! I mean seriously do these same people show up to the mechanic and tell THEM what's wrong with their car and how to fix it? Stinkin' people!

What a day!

Holly cow! I am exhausted! Yesterday, after our birthing class (which is going great), Matthew and I registered for baby things! Who knew that this little bundle needs SOOOOOOO much stuff!!!!! I think I called three of my girlfriends in the course of the day to ask if we REALLY needed this or that! I mean honestly it's pure craziness! But we have successfully registered at both Burlington Coat Factory's Baby Depot and Target! I was really proud of both Matthew and I for sticking it out. Towards the end though we were looking at things going, "do we need it?" "I don't know, sure, why not!" So we would just click it and move on (don't worry I went back and did a little editing this morning, now that I have my second wind)! Thanks ladies for the help and advice!

Empty Bed

It's funny how used to something we, as humans get. Last night Matthew drove to Sacramento (and stayed with his brother) so that he would already be in Sac bright and early for his test today... but that meant that I had the entire California king bed to myself. Some of you may be thinking that that sounds like heaven, but it was WAY to big and felt so cold and sad to sleep in there without him. I'm not really a snuggler at night, but even just knowing that Matthew is close by makes me sleep better. So needless to say my sleep wasn't great last night. I'll have to nap today! :) If everyone could send Matthew loads of prayers and positive thoughts today during his test, that would be great!
Also, for all you local folks, tonight my younger brother Tyler and his AMAZING band Jungle Under Kings are playing a gig at 'Chrome Lotus' in Santa Rosa at 9 pm. I think it's like a $5 cover if any of you want to go with my family and me! :)

Belly Sounds

Ok, so I know I'm a dork. I won’t need everyone writing in to tell me I am after I’m finished telling this story. :) You know how they make those stuffed animals for babies that play a recording of what the sounds of the womb are? I think that I need one! Honestly. The other night I was lying in bed and I had been reading how you can start to hear the baby’s heartbeat with just a stethoscope. So I grabbed mine (yes, it just so happened to be right next to the bed... and no, it wasn't from playing 'doctor' earlier), and started placing the bell of the stethoscope around my belly... listening to all the different sounds, until finally I found our little ones quick little heartbeat. I probably laid there listening/relaxing for 10 minutes. I LOVED it! It was so relaxing to just ear our baby moving and swishing inside and to listen to its soft, steady heartbeat! Silly, huh? So the rest of the story... Matthew came in and I wanted him to listen to the heartbeat too. He put the ear pieces in and listened for a while then said, "Hey it just burped!" I started laughing because, as I explained to him, it was all my belly/intestinal sounds NOT the baby burping (since there is no air in the womb). I was also then informed by Matthew that my uterus sounds like the ocean. My question now is, if you can hear the ocean when you hold my belly to your ear, do you hear our baby when you hold a conch shell to your ear? :) Hmmmmmmm!

25 Weeks!

It’s so funny that each week that goes by seems like such a big deal to me. I mean counting is not that big of a deal, yet each week I'm like, "Wow, NOW I'm 25 weeks pregnant..." like some how I am surprised that it's the next number! It makes me laugh. :) ANY WAY, yes, now I'm 25 weeks along and this little one is growing so much its CRAZY. I think it's new favorite past time is ‘lets see how many times in a row I can kick mommy under the ribs and in the bladder before she gets annoyed.’ The baby’s winning! The little one is about 13.5 inches long (roughly the size of a English Cucumber) and weighs about 1 1/2 pounds! At least the baby is now finally taking up some of the burden of this excess weight that I have been packing around for it! :) The little bones are almost totally ossified and its' brain cells are continuing to mature. The hands are fully developed and all the nerves in the hands are still growing and developing. Because if this, the little one is touching and exploring EVERYTHING inside its little home... the inside of my uterus, its face and toe, its own hands and even the umbilical cord! Its little nostrils are opening and the smallest little superficial blood vessels under the skin are growing rapidly, giving the baby a pink tint. My once small uterus is now stretched to the size of a football (almost the size of a Rugby ball). Yikes!

Call Me Marth Stewart

Look! I have finished my first baby sweater! Actually it's my first sweater ever! As soon as I found out I was preggers I wanted to knit something for the little one, and finally I found a pattern I liked, yarn that would work for either gender, oh and the most important thing... time! Once the knitting part was complete the next big hurdle was finding buttons that I thought were worthy of not only the baby, but of being on MY first sweater. (Can you tell I'm excited about it)? The pattern was for a 6 month old... but looking at how it came out, it seems more likely to fit a 1 year old. Oh well, hopefully it just means that it will be used for a couple of winters! :)

John Milton

Yesterday we had a beautiful service for Matthews grandpa John Milt, at Golden Gate Cemetery. I had never been there before, but it is a beautiful cemetery. A bunch of the family from both sides were there, honoring the life of Milt. It was an official military funeral, with the flag at half-mass, Navy men soluting him, flag folding and the playing of Taps. There wasn't a dry eye in the room!


After the service we all went to Malloys (an Irish pub), and toasted Milt a time or two. There we told about our favorite memories of this wonderful man. We all then caravaned over and visited the grave site of Roberts parents and grandparents, then back over to the golden gate cemetery to visit Milts grave site and Milts fathers grave site, who was also in the military. Then it was off to dinner at on of Milts favorite S.F restaurants. It was an emotionally sad and wonderful day all at once. It's always amazing how tears and smiles can go so easily together.

24 weeks (and 2 days)

Time is just flying by, I can't believe that I am already 6 months pregnant! So fun and scary all at once! Our little baby is now about 11.8 inches long... so roughly the size of a stock of celery! I know, it's getting big! I'm not sure that the little one ever sleeps, it always seems to be moving about, it really likes to kick while I'm going surgery or concentrating! It must know that at that moment I'm not thinking about it, so I get a little jab, just to get my attention back on it! :)

It weights about 1.3 pounds and this week and it's working on producing surfactant (which is the 'stuff' that keeps all those small air sacs in the lungs from collapsing). It is also working on creating all of the little branches to the respiratory tree. It's amazing to me that with technology today if our little one was born right now (God forbid) at ONLY 24 weeks it would still have a 36% chance of survival! Amazing!
Now that the baby’s taste buds are fully developed it can start actually 'tasting' what I eat! Incredible! Mmmmm, I think the baby would like to try a custard filled chocolate doughnut! Mmmmmmmmm! Sweat glands are also being created this week. Oh and have I mentioned that now my uterus should be about the size of a soccer ball?! No wonder I have to pee all the time and when I bend over it feels like I can's breath!
See I told you I was looking pregnant!

A Sad Day

On Friday, April 2nd, Matthew's Grandpa John Milton passed away! He was an amazingly smart and sweet man and I feel honored to have known him for the past 12 years. We sent alot of the weekend honoring his memory and talking about his life with his wife Helen and the rest of the family. He is going to have a military funeral this Wednesday in San Francisco. As someone mentioned this weekend, Milt had to have special connections with God, seeing as how he was born on Christmas day and passed away on Good Friday! :)

Seder Dinner

Last night I went over to my friend Sara's house for a Christian-scued Seder Dinner. This was the second one that I have been to, and it is such a great way to truly remember the real meaning behind both the Passover and a powerful way to think about the Resurrection (Easter). Thank you to the Mileys for having me come over and be a past of such an incredible night and such delicious food!

Lost and Found

The baby Dr. appointment went great yesterday! I told her about my Botox (I mean Braxton Hicks contractions) and she told me that I really just need to listen to my body, and that means that I may have to take it easy (and maybe not mow the lawn/do hard gym workouts). To which I reluctantly agreed. We got to hear out sweet little babies heartbeat again (still right around 140) and my uterus is measuring perfectly. Which I am happy about because 4 weeks ago I was about 2 centimeters too small... but now after our little ones growth spurt we are right on track. She took a feel of my ever growing stomach (ok, uterus) and looked over at me with wide eyes and said "no wonder you can feel every little movement all you have in there is baby! So I guess our little one is actually fairly big right now and literally filling me up! Matthew and I brought in the 3-D pictures from the 20 week ultrasound to show her (yes, apparently we are THOSE annoying parents that force others to look at our babys pictures and say how cute it is) :) Any way, after the appointment we had a few other papers in our hands and were driving over to grab some lunch when we got a phone call saying that the ultrasound picture had fall out of our paper stack and they had it at the front desk. After lunch I went back over to grab it. Most of the office was empty because of lunch, so I went right over to the secretary and said "It's pretty sad, this poor kid isn't even born yet and we are already forgetting it places!" She was cracking up, I think I made her day with my irresponsible parenting! :) Hey at least something good came from it!