Little Spud

Can you believe it's just 8 weeks until little spud's estimated arrival? ...just one month after Maryn turns 2!

No, we don't know if it's a boy or girl. Of course we want to know ... we are so excited to find out, but we are waiting.

My younger sister is due with her 2nd in late March. She's having another little boy and we are all so excited. So, I did get a chance to buy a gendered baby gift... for her ... so fun.

I honestly didn't think I could have such a different experience with this pregnancy- but that has certainly been the case.

I was miserable with "all day sickness" for about 6 months when I was pregnant with M. With this one there was a little nausea at the beginning, but it was more of an annoyance than anything -definitely doable. Smells haven't bothered me, I'm not as swollen (knock on wood) which means no carpal tunnel and my shoes still fit, and I've hardly had any headaches.

Complete exhaustion and feeling physically uncomfortable best describe this time around. My back started hurting much earlier, I'm out of breath often, I recently started experiencing heartburn on a regular basis and my skin is much drier and itches with an intensity that I've never experienced.

Of course I've been followed much more closely this time around. With M I only had 2 ultrasounds. The first at 9 weeks and the second around 30 or 32 weeks just to check positioning and estimated size.

Yes, complete ACC is typically visible on an ultrasound (partial ACC could be missed) and would likely have been seen in Maryn's case if the ventricles of the brain had been measured. I can appreciate that there are cases when it's best to know a condition ahead of time. For us ... personally, no, I'm not upset that this wasn't caught before she was born. A number of people that have asked have been shocked by this. I'm actually thankful. The end result would have been the same only we would have been sick with worry for 4 & 1/2 more months. When you feel like you've been to hell you don't want to extend your stay. And having heard many other stories from parents of kids with ACC who did find out earlier, the scared out of your mind level would have likely reached unbelievable proportions. No one pressured me to have an abortion (which happened to a number of parents) or told me my baby might not survive until birth. We didn't spend the last months of my pregnancy wondering if she would be able to breathe on her own, or ever be independent. Instead we spent those months eagerly anticipating her arrival blissfully unaware of the challenges ahead.

None of the plethora of M's genetic tests have suggested an inherited component, but we may never know for sure. That being said it made sense to take a closer look this time around.

This li'l spud has been on camera 4 times so far with at least one more performance scheduled. Twice now spud has been checked for ACC and various other things. And although there can never be any guarantees with this sort of thing, at this point they haven't found anything concerning.

Next week is spud's 5th ultrasound.

and it feels good to say that number 5 ... is just to check positioning and get an estimated size.

Can't wait to meet you little spud!

Nature Walk

M's First Trick or Treat

Last Sunday was the first time Maryn went door to door on Halloween. She wasn't walking last year and it was very cold so we decided against it.

This year we hadn't put too much thought into a costume. M has a SPIO (looks like a unitard) for physical and occupational therapy and her daycare provider remarked once how she looked a bit like a mime when she wore the pants and shirt together. Perfect, we'll just paint her face and she'll be a mime.

The week of Halloween came and I saw the forecast for Sunday. It looked like it would be sunny, but pretty chilly. I started rethinking the mime. As luck would have it, that Friday I had lunch with a co-worker (at a yummy Thai place I didn't know existed). As we left I noticed the consignment shop a couple stores down had their Halloween costumes 1/2 off. Eeyore for $6 --cheap, easy, and WARM!

We started the day at the Children's Garden and after a late afternoon nap it was time to hit the streets. First we headed down our short street, M pushing her shopping cart with her trick or treat bag inside. Our first few stops were fun. She'd look at the offered bowl of candy, at us, and back to the face of the neighbor. We thought, okay, we'll choose for her and she can put it in her bag. Nope, she'd promptly toss it back into the big bowl of candy. How curious this process must have seemed to her. We'd chat with the neighbor a bit and then head to the next house. She kept looking back over her shoulder at the previous neighbor's house probably wondering why we were leaving so soon.

Once we hit the few houses on our street we drove the mile over to her daycare provider. She had set up a table on her porch with about 8 different selections of full size candy bars, packs of gum, snack packs, dog treats and baby food jars for the little ones. M was so excited to see Ms. Jo and probably felt a bit more comfortable. She reached for a Milky Way and dropped it in her basket. She then proceeded to go right down the row ... the next Milky Way, clump-- into her basket. She definitely has the hang of it now and hopefully next year she'll actually be able to eat some of her loot.