Up, up and away

This is going to be my last post for a little while. Darn it! Matthew, the entire fam and I have to spend the next 10 days in Hawaii! Life is so hard! Dad is bringing his laptop, so maybe if I get sick of laying on the beach, hiking, swimming and snorkeling I might try to add a post or two. We'll see. Any way try not to miss me too much! ALOHA!

The Little "Stinker"

Big news...on Friday night I felt the little Gremlin move for the first time! Matthew, Dad and I were at a crab feed, and I looked over at Matthew all wide-eyed and said; "I think I just felt the baby!" The baby must like crab! Now every day since then I have been feeling it more and more. I don't know if it's because I now know what it is I am supped to feel, or if it's that the baby is getting bigger... probably a combo of them both. People say that it's the best feeling... but I'm not convincedIt's such a new/different feeling (that doesn't really feel natural yet) that each time it happens I get a little nervous.!
I'm sure as I feel the little one more and the movement becomes more defined I'll start enjoying it. I can't help but have that momentary worry that something is wrong when I feel a strange twingey/fluttery feeling inside. STRANGESo our little one is now 17 weeks old. Can you believe it? This week I have dubbed it "the little stinker" because it's about 5.1 inches long, the size of a large onion! Stretched out it would be 9 inches! WOW! It weighs about 5 1/2 oz now (which is a HUGE jump form the 3 1/2 that it weighed only a week ago)! The reason for the jump in weight is that it's soft cartilage-like bones are turning to hard bone! I'm not sure how the babies bones hardening has transferred to my derriere getting larger... but I figure if Matthew is not complaining then I shouldn't either... right? So the baby is also swallowing about 1 liter of amniotic fluid each day, as a result it's starting to accumulate meconium. (I guess we need to start getting ready for poo. Lots and lots of poo). The babies retinas are now very sensitive to light (though the eyelids still are fused closed), and it's sweat glands are developing.
Oh I have a question... have any of you heard of "G diapers"? What do you think? Sounds like a great compromise of disposable and cloth.

Rock n' Rollin'

In the hour or so between when MAtthew and I got off work and when Matthew had to go to rugby practice (and I got to go get fed AGAIN at Liz's house... THANK YOU LIZ) we thought that we should FINALLY put together a beautiful Rocking Chair that Mom and Dad had given me for a Birthday gift (yes, for 2 months it's been in a box). The story with it was that mom had been asking me about what furniture I thought that I would want/need in the Babys room. She kept mentoning a Rocker and I kept saying that I didn't think we could afford one, so no, no rocker for the babys room (unles I found it used somewhere). Any way when my b-day came there was this little box from mom and dad and insdie was a real Rock with ".....R" writen on it with a sharpie... They got me a rockeR. Get it?! Cute, huh? So we had fun putting it together last night. It is SO nice, I really love it! Thank you guys for WONDERFUL gift! I love it. I'm sure there will be MANY sleepless night spent in that rocker.

Small animal world

So this posting is not meant to brag (ok, maybe a little), no but really, it's just so that you all can share in my excitement of work. 8 months ago I started working as a full time small animal vet, after ONLY doing large animals (and swearing that I would only ever do large animals) God had different plans. :) Any way I had a new client come in yesterday with her new dog (she only wanted to see ME)!
Which was exciting enough... but when I walked into the room and introduced myself to her and her pup, she said "so this is the infamous Dr. Klein..." I just smiled and laughed... but then she explained that for the past 4 weeks she has been going to one of our local dog parks and apparently the buzz at the park is all about the "new young vet" and how good I am!!!!!!!! I think that after she told me that I turned many shades of red, and you all know me, I DO NOT get embarrassed! Through the course of appointment she continued to say what she had heard and comment on how she really agrees/how she has enjoyed her visit and that she wished she would have gotten a pet earlier so that she could have come in before yesterday to meet me! Cute Huh?
As if that clients visit didn't put me in a grant enough mood, I got a call from one of the very well know/highly esteemed referral vets in our area. I had transferred a patient to him yesterday (along with the animals history/radiographs/blood work...) because I had reached the end of what I could do here (we don't have an endoscope). Any way, the other Dr. was just calling me to not only update me on what was (or wasn't in this case) going on with the patient, but he also really wanted to talk to me and tell me what a great work up I did on this case!!!! He went on about my history/ultrasound technique/interpretations/diagnosis... and wanted to tell me that he was really happy to be working with me and assisting in this case.
Those 2 encounters REALLY made me feel so good! Because there are many times that I think to myself, "I hope that I am doing everything that I can for the patient AND still making the client happy." Things are SO much different in the small animal world, it has been a very fun and sometimes frightening transition. I am just happy to get that sort of positive reinforcement!
Ok, I'm done bragging!

Busy Baby

Our little one is going to be doing SOOOOOO much this week. (It's not even born and already it's schedule is packed)! Now that the baby is 16 weeks it is about the size of an Avocado (about 4 1/2 inches)... BUT I just learned something that I had been neglecting to tell you all... that length is the crown to rump length (better known as top of head to bottom of the bottom length) so that 4 1/2 inches does NOT include the legs! WOW! So all stretched out our little gremlin is even longer then I thought! It weighs about 3 1/2 oz. (around 100 paper clips) and has started to go through sleep, dreaming and wake cycles. It's little heart is now pumping around 25 quarts of blood every day and is urinating ever 45 minutes (hey, just like me)! :) The bones in the inner ear are forming so it is picking up even more sounds, oh and the ears are now migrating to their spot on the head (and are no longer on the neck... which would be a strange place to have ears). The eyebrows and eye lashes are growing/filling in and it's toenails are starting to grow! The little baby now has taste buds (though I can't imagine that the amniotic fluid tastes very good). Also, or little baby as started to store/form fat under its skin and is working on regulating it's own temperature some. If it takes after me then my uterus can't get hot enough for it, but if it takes after Matthew then it's going to be searching for the A/C button! I warned you that it's schedule was full!

Belly Pictures

Ok, It's that time. The 16 week mark, so as promised here are the Infamous Belly Pictures. I know that some of you are going to be mildly disappointed (since you were hoping for some MEGA PREGGER pics), don't worry, I'm a little disappointed too. I really want that "hi I'm pregnant" look. And yes, I know it'll come soon enough, but I have never been the most patient of ladies. My belly is getting to that point that I feel like it is sticking out now though... especially after a meal. It's like there is no room for food and THEN i really do look pregnant. A few hours after Matthew took the 16 week picture yesterday we had dinner, then he looked at me and said "see, you're showing now!" But I thought that would be cheating to take/swap pictures with as after a meal picture. I have yet to start wearing my maternity clothes (which I bought months ago because I was sooooooooo excited to get to wear them). They are still all folded up in the bags I came home with them in. Sad. When I found out I was pregnant I was sure that I would be showing be now. See there I going trying to plan things that I have no control over again. Where is patients that I have been working on?
So this is the 12 week picture... just a little bump (I swear it's there)




This is the 16 week picture... The bump is growing! I still have not felt the baby move, so at this point I am second guessing any tummy growling/gas/other bodily functions, thinking "was that just the baby?"

Sick :(

Ok, so I think as of now the worst past about being pregnant is the fact that I am not allowed to take cold medication! Yesterday morning I started feeling a little sick, so I loaded up on a bunch of different forms of Vitamin C. By the afternoon my head was full, my nose clogged, my throat soar and my joints achy. After talking with a pharmacist and a midwife (at moms work) it sounded like my best option was to take Tylenol and cough/throat lozenges. I have been taking those, still doing the vit. C thing, drinking lots of fluid (tea, water, juice) and tyring to sleep lots (but I was/am so achy that it didn't matter what position I was in I just couldn't sleep)... any one have any good tricks for getting through being sick while pregnant? This is a bummer! Help!

Girl Time

It's always nice when us ladies can get together and do something really girly (not that I wouldn't pay to see Matthew sitting in one of these chairs getting all dolled up). But sometimes it's just nice to take an hour or 2 and enjoy the girls. Sunday after lunch Brie, Michelle (Shira) and I all got our nails and toes done. Sadly my darn nail polish is already chipping. Dang having to wash my hands all the time! :) Thanks for the fun afternoon ladies. Baker, see what you're missing out on... ??? There was even an extra chair for you!

15 weeks down, only 25 to go! Wow, I'm almost 1/2 way through. Time really flies. So this week I forgot to take the picture of out little Gremlin on Sunday and Matthew thought that it was funny that I would forget about our baby. Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come! Any way, Here is this weeks fruit... Drum-roll please.... A Naval Orange! Ooooooo Ahhhhhhhh! It's really growing now. So the milestones that the little one is making now are; It is about 4 inches long and weighs about 70-75 grams (that's about 70-75 paper clips OR the weight of a normal apple... which totally accounts for the 8 pounds that I have gained, right?). It's legs are now longer then it's arm (though it might be doubtful if you have ever noticed the freakishly long arms that both Matthew and I have). It's body is now longer then the length of its head (as Matthew so sweetly put it: "It's no longer a Bobble-head"), All of it's joints are now working and it should be able to move them all!!! I now have 30% more blood going through my body (which means my heart is getting buff)! My belly is starting to stick out a little more each day (any yes, I'll put some pictures up next week...at the 16 week mark). Maybe I will actually look preggers by the time we go to Hawaii!

Saturday's a Rugby Day

It's so true... Saturday IS a Rugby day... an ALL day Rugby day! But I swear, you will never see Matthew smile as much as he smiles on Rugby days! The Santa Rosa Mens Rugby had their first league game and they won!
It was a close one though. The final score was 30-28 (a nail biter towards the end)! But they won, so that's good. Matthew was number 12 (for this game).

Not Matthew, but still a very neat picture.

The other fun thing, was that after the game we all go over to "The Zoo" for a social with the other team. The boys then all eat, drink and sing songs. It's quite the sight.

One of Matthews best friends (since childhood) Jared, just happened to come into the Zoo that night too. So they had a blast hanging out and catching up. It was a long, but fun day.