Woooooooooooo

In honor of Halloween, here are 17 photos of animals in costume.

My favorite is the pug dressed as a pug:

Followed by the Mariachi hedgehog:

And the lizard dressed as a flying lizard:

The dog dressed as a horse is entirely too creepy:

I dumped a bag of candy in a bowl and turned the porch light on, but I'm not too optimistic about trick-or-treaters.  Happy Halloween!  Anyone doing anything fun tonight?

What I learned in baby classes...

Last weekend/Monday and yesterday evening we attended the first four of our baby classes at the hospital where I will deliver.  We had "Caring for your Newborn" last Saturday morning, the labor and delivery floor tour last Sunday, "Post-partum Care"  last Monday evening and "Breastfeeding" last night.  I probably could have skipped all the classes and just read this helpful cartoon...

but I'll share with you the more interesting tidbits we picked up.

• Your baby will probably come out looking weird.  It's probably okay.  We went through a list of probably a dozen unfortunately-named conditions a baby can be born with: stork bites, baby acne, mongoloid spots, cone head...  All named to strike fear in the heart of a new mother but none particularly serious.

If the first 30 minutes are any indication, life is rough.  [source]  

• While the vibe at the hospital is "hotel with reclining beds and flashing lights", there's some pretty hard-core security going on.  After the baby is born, he gets a security tag clamped on his umbilical cord that automatically locks all the doors and elevators when he goes by.  They haven't lost one yet...
• Everything about post-partum care is gross.  You will be a tired, deflated, leaky water balloon.  Ew.
• Breast feeding is harder than you would think.  There are more holding positions than a wrestling match.  Anyone who does it until their kid is 5 is in serious need of a new hobby.

We have our final class - labor and delivery - on Saturday morning.  It's an all day event and we're supposed to bring pillows, blankets, and an exercise/birth ball if we have one.  Should be interesting...

Scenes from the weekend

My parents were in town visiting this weekend, and they had such a good time, they've decided to stay indefinitely*.

Saturday afternoon we went to the Wisconsin vs. Michigan St. game.  We parked on the west side of campus and walked through Union South and down Regent St. to say happy birthday to a friend who was out tailgating and see all the revelry.  A fair number of people were dressed in Halloween costumes, although   I didn't see any binders of women, Lance Armstrongs on steroids or chubby Gangnam-stype Korean guys.

We had great seats to the game - 10th row in the south end zone in the medical alumni association block.  

The one funny thing was that this year we had guy who sat behind us who seemed to be deeply offended on a personal level by the opposing team - especially their mascot.  I can only imagine how he yells when he's at work.  "You s*ck, atherosclerosis!  You wear a skirt!".  We stayed until we thought we were going to turn in to popsicles (the start of the 4th quarter) and then headed back home.  Unfortunately we missed the most exciting part of the game.  Fortunately it was the part where the Badgers lost.

Sunday we went out to Devil's Lake, a state park northwest of town.  Even though all the leaves had fallen from the trees, it was still really pretty to hike around the lake, and it was peaceful because there weren't many people around.  No pictures from there (yet) because they're on my dad's camera.  You can actually hike along the bluffs around the lake, but considering how poor my balance and coordination are right now we decided it was not a great idea and stuck to the flat trails near the water.

On the way home we took the Merrimac Ferry across the Wisconsin River.  It was the first time any(?) of us had been on a car ferry before.  

It was actually quite unnerving to get out of the car while the ferry was moving because it still looked like the car was moving, even though you knew it wasn't.

I think a good time was had by all.  It's kind of crazy that the next time we have visitors, we'll be parents!

*Their original flight was through Baltimore this morning, but it sounds like they were able to rebook and get a flight out through Atlanta tomorrow.  Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected by the storm.

32 weeks

Honestly there's not much new to say about me.  I'm starting to get curious and excited about "meeting" the baby.  I want to see this little person I've been carrying around for the last 7 months.  What still feels crazy and a bit overwhelming is that he could come anytime between 5 weeks (or really even 3 weeks wouldn't be crazy) from now when I'm full-term or 9 weeks from now when they induce me at 41 weeks.  When I think about having 8 or 9 weeks to go, actually being prepared for the baby seems manageable  but 3  - 5 weeks from now... yikes.  Must buy car seat NEXT WEEK.

The baby is about the size of a squash, which seems seasonally appropriate.

[source]

The ultrasound estimated his weight at 3.25 lbs (I typed 3.5 lbs yesterday, but that's incorrect), which is right on target.  The next weeks are all about plumping up and putting the finishing touches on all the reflexes and functions he needs to live on the outside.  I got to watch him take some practice breaths during the ultrasound yesterday, which was cool, but made it hard for the technician to get good measurements on him.

The only thing that still concerns me a bit is that he's still upside down or right side up depending on your perspective - thought everything I've read and the PA I saw today confirmed - that he still has plenty of time to turn.  If he doesn't turn by 37 weeks, then the options are to try to turn him or to do a C-section.  I'm leaning toward the "try to turn him" option if it comes to it.  The PA said that to do that, they'd bring me into the hospital and hook the baby up to a fetal monitor just in case he had any distress, and then try to push him around from the outside until he aims head down.  She said she had that done with one of her pregnancies, and, while it wasn't comfortable, it wasn't too painful either.    

That's about it... if you didn't see it, yesterday I did a post about my sonogram and included a couple pictures of the babe.

Baby pictures

I had a second ultrasound this afternoon, and, although the baby was being shy and spent the entire 30 minutes trying to hide behind my spinal column, we did get a couple good pictures.

Here's his little arms:

I think he has a future as a boxer.  The entire time he wasn't punching me, he was covering his face.

This is the only profile shot she was able to get.  You can see his fists up there in front of his face.

Although it was hard for me to tell what we were looking at, the woman doing the ultrasound said that he had  a full head of hair.  I guess that thing about heartburn = hair is true, at least in this case.

He's about 3.5lbs now and is in a jackknife position with his head and feet still pointing up.  I'll get more info at my regular OB appointment tomorrow, but the woman doing the ultrasound said that there's still plenty of time and room for him to turn head down.  Otherwise everything is a-ok.  I did ask her to check and make sure he was still a boy... he is :).

 

If you're tired of political ads interrupting your favorite shows on network TV or feeling uninspired by the next DVD in your Netflix queue, let me suggest an episode of the American Idol of Senegal... featuring sheep.

This YouTube video is 30 minutes long, and I know you wouldn't want to miss a moment of this incredibly popular TV show (really... its evidently a huge hit in Senegal), but if you just can't wait to see the winner, skip to about 32 minutes in.  Not that I know anything about sheep, but he's quite an impressive specimen.   I might have to tune in for next season.

Hat tip: NPR

You're doing it wrong

I'm guessing most people have seen this already, but if not, some of these are pretty ingenious (all images are from Buzzfeed).

Some of my favorites are:

1. Add a teaspoon of baking soda to the water so your hard boiled eggs peel like this:

Instead of this:

Editors note: I haven't actually tried this to see if it works, but I'm curious.

2. Clean a blender without having to actually wash it:

3. Make a BLT that actually has bacon in every bite.

I don't really like bacon, but that's a work of art.

4. Eat a cupcake without ODing on frosting:

5. Keep a Popsicle from dripping all over you:

6. Make a PB&J sandwich so the jelly won't drip all over you (Does this happen a lot?  I don't make PB&J often, but I don't remember ever having the "jelly bath" problem).

7. Instead of heating up your house by turning on the oven, use solar power to bake cookies in the summer (This one has "risk of food poisoning written all over it.)

The only one I take issue with is "how to squeeze a lemon":

I think the tongs are a good idea, but you're supposed to turn the lemon so the cut side is facing up.  The way she's squeezing it now, all the juice AND all the seeds would go right into the pitcher.

Oh, and there's also one about folding a fitted sheet but I don't think the pictures make the method very clear:

I guess I'll keep using the "ball it up" method of folding fitted sheets for now.

Hope you have a good Tuesday.