First couple days...

Things here are going pretty good. Jacob is being a really good big brother. He always seemed so skinny and little to me and suddenly he appears THICK! It's crazy! We compared the two boys birth records today and here is how they measured up to each other:

Jacob

5/20/06 @ 23:49 (11:49pm)

8lbs, 8oz

21.5inches

head - 13.5"

chest - 14"

Brody

3/26/08 @ 18:11 (6:11pm)

8lbs, 11oz

21.5inches (although we have another document that shows 20.5... we will have to see what the peds records from the hospital say, I guess)

head - 14.5"

chest - 13.5"

Also, we compared their little footprints from birth and while they are just about the same length, Jacob's little feet are MUCH wider! It's pretty funny looking.

We took Brody to the doctor on Friday and learned that his weight was down to 8lbs 1oz, but my milk just came in on Sat/Sun and I think he is on the upward swing of things now. (It's normal for a baby to lose 10% of their birth weight, the goal is to regain it by 1wk). We will get an appointment with the lactation consultant this week to do another weight check to make sure Brody is back on track. If it is, then his next doctor appointment will be his 2 week checkup on the 9th. Brody is nursing like a champ though and my bbs have been quite sore. It's also been a little rough because the past few nights he was 'cluster feeding' and nursing just about every hour. Thankfully last night we had a couple hours stretched out and were able to get some good zzz's in. Needless to say, we ALL nap daily when Jacob naps. Everyone except Aaron, that is. He returned to work today for a half day (12-4) during nap time. He will continue that schedule on Tues and Friday and work all day Weds, Sat and Sun. Thursday he has completely off as a "pass day" for working the weekend. Hopefully the lack of naps won't affect him too much. Brody is just a sweetheart of a baby and only fusses when he is ready to eat or has a little bubble issue he is trying to resolve. I just love him to pieces and hold him way too much.

The Brothers...

Jacob seems to be transitioning fairly well, although we definitely do see signs of jealousy! My favorite thing is when Jacob kisses Brody's head, it's sooo sweet :)

So in love...

Welcome Brody Ryan Switzer!!!

Thanks for updating, Grandma!! His stats are 8lbs 11oz, 21.5 inches, born on 3.26 at 6:11pm! He has blue eyes and a blonde hair. At first I didn't think he looked at all like Jacob, but now I do see some similarities in pictures. He scored 9 and 9 on his apgars and is just perfect in every way. He was born in the same room Jacob was born in! The induction went great... I'll post a birth story when I get a chance to write it. We arrived home yesterday around 8pm and had a pretty good night, it was GREAT to be back in my own bed. Jacob is being a great big brother and seems like he has matured so much to me! Here are a few pictures from the hospital - I'm going to work on taking some better ones here at home.

Induction set!

We have decided to go in for the induction tomorrow morning at 7am! It was a difficult decision, but not only did our doctor recommend it, but also the doctor that delivered Jacob. The deciding factor was the doctors notes from Jacob's delivery stated that his shoulders were extremely snug and that the doctor really had to work to get them out. Knowing that (most likely) Brody is already bigger than Jacob, we didn't really want to take any chances. So most likely, tomorrow will be Brody's birthday! (There is a chance that I may not progress with the induction, in which case we would try again this weekend.) We will make calls after Brody is born. You aren't supposed to use your cell phone in the hospital though, so call us back at the hospital (231) 935-5000.

Good thoughts and prayers for a healthy baby and safe delivery are much appreciated!!

39wks

Let's hope these are the last belly photos!! I'm feeling very pregnant, grumpy and uncomfortable. And now I am coming down with a cold/sore throat. Blah.

38wk appt

We had our 38week appointment yesterday and luckily, no tears! I'm now a good 1cm dilated and doctor could feel the head. Heart rate was loud and clear this time and weight gain was another 2lbs. Oh, and my fundal height is at 41cm. She went over my u/s and said that the amniotic fluid is still within normal range, just on the high side of the normal range. Brody is estimated to be in the 93% for size, so we can induce Tuesday if I/we want. We told her our preference is to wait it out, but we have until next appt on Tuesday to decide. I feel like Brody is going to come next weekend when I'll be right about 40wks, but I know the only reason I say that is because Jacob came right at 40wks, so I just expect this one too as well (totally NOT scientific). To tell you the truth, I am ok with waiting it out until 40wks, but after THAT then I'm ok inducing. Problem is, since she is going on vacation, my next opportunity to induce would be at 41+wks (like the eve of April 8th), which probably only seems like a couple days to someone who isn't 9 months pregnant with a baby in the 90th percentile, but to me... well, it's frightening. Ultimately though, I feel pretty confident that he will come on his own in the next 14 days. That being said, we will have our hospital bag packed and in the car when we go to our next appt...

It's all fun and games until someone...

Here is a belly pic from 38wks taken today:

And here is one from 38wks with Jacob. I don't think there is too much difference, despite measuring bigger:Jacob's First Official Day of Snowboarding, he LOVED it!!!

Jacob had a great time at Crystal. From snowboarding to playing with Cori to swimming in the pool, he was ALL SMILES!! The only bad part of the day was when he and Cori were having a ball in the huge jacuzzi tub and well... poo happens. Thankfully, Cori wasn't mortified at all, she just couldn't figure out why bathtime had to end so abruptly! Jacob was also VERY upset that bathtime had to end too and still has no idea what the big deal was... Lesson learned, we should have kept the swim diapers ON, despite Jacob's protesting.

My bathing suit issue was only slightly embarrassing. I think ALL of crystal decided to go to the pool at the exact moment we did and there was an unfortunate experience of the suit floating up to the top of the water, exposing all belly and stretch marks when I was in the water. But luckily, just being in the water helped to conceal things for the most part.

All in all, we had a great time and we are SO glad we were able to get out there for an overnight this year. The only thing we would change is to stay another night!

Balls. Big ones.

Well, I'm sitting here packing my stuff for our overnight at crystal.mountain when I came across my newly purchased maternity bathing suit. And then it occurred to me... what kind of fool puts on a bathing suit 38wks pregnant? In public? Around other people? I guess the same one that buys a non-returnable maternity bathing suit when they are 37wks pregnant, knowing well that they will only wear it once IF they are lucky and baby doesn't come before then! I've been so eager to take Jacob swimming since last fall and I know he is going to love a pool since he has been loving baths so much lately. My eagerness has apparently completely blinded me to the fact that... uh, ya... that means that I too have to get into a bathing suit! You think I would have realized this when I was shopping, but nope. It didn't occur to me until I was folding up my bathing suit and realized I probably have entire dresses made from less fabric then my new bathing suit. Oh boy!

Last day of work!!

I'm officially a free woman! It is completely surreal at the moment and I don't think it will really hit me for a few weeks. In the meantime, I am going to be asking Aaron "Why are we so poor again? Oh ya...." Friday was super busy just trying to do as much as I could before leaving that I didn't even get out of there on time, how bad is that? Everyone was super nice and I received a gift card to the mall and Brody received some cute clothes.

Aaron's Interview

Aaron has an interview for the hatch mngr position at the hatchery in Thompson on Monday. Which is really far away, in the UP. Like 4+hrs from the nearest Target and Olive Garden. Oh, and family, too. We aren't stressing ourselves out with any decisions as of yet, since there are no decisions to make at this point. Right now, it is just a good opportunity to practice interviewing skills. The interview is in Marquette, so send some good thoughts and prayers for a good drive (he is going up and coming back the same day)... and maybe some good interview vibes... I think? We will keep you posted.

Hormonal

We had our 37wk ob appointment yesterday and things went pretty good. Except that I told the doctor that I've had a big decrease in movement the past couple days - which I'm sure she was about to tell me is normal considering the baby is running out of room to move - that is until I started crying and overreacting. I mean, I AM concerned, but I think the concerns are normal at this point... to have come this far and don't want anything to go wrong... but I think most of it is just my hormones making me all emotional. Anyways, the doctor told me that she thinks everything is just fine, but will send me right over to the hosp for a NST (non-stress test) to check on baby. Then she checked the heart tones at the office and had trouble picking them up clearly, so that really solidified the need for the NST for her. Brody did perfectly on the NST and was moving around, great heartbeat and even had the hiccups. It was very quick and we were in and out in about 20 minutes. I feel silly, but I'm glad to have the reassurance that Brody is doing just fine.

My ob did not have the u/s results yet, but I told her the size estimate and the possibility of excessive fluid and she didn't seem too concerned. She seemed pretty open to induction (eventually - I think she is thinking 39wks, although she didn't specify) because of 1, size, 2, my anxiety and 3, her vacation is approaching (and I don't like the doctor that will be covering for her), but at this time we will ride it out. I like the idea of Brody picking his own birthday and the "honey, it's time!" moment, not to mention that inductions suck. I just hope my anxiety level will relax a bit so I can survive the next few days/weeks.

Other than that, pretty uneventful appt. No weight gain (finally) and I'm still a fingertip dilated and very soft, but thick. Our next appt is on Tuesday. It was supposed to be Monday, but Aaron has an interview then so we pushed it back a day. More on that later...

Here is a pic of the wall letters we just received for Brody's room!

Jacob news:

Jacob has been so cute lately. He is saying more and more words (bubbles, dozer) and starting to put two words together ie - "where go?" when he is looking for something. He knows many animal sounds and just learned to howl like a coyote which makes me smile no matter how moody I am at the moment. We had a great day at Kindergym today. Jacob participated about 80% of the time during the group activities - a HUGE improvement! I think he was grinning ear to ear from the moment we walked in to the moment we left, he loved it there. I think he is ready to move on to the bigger kids class though. His class is for 10-26months and the next class is 26months and up. He really didn't interact much with the kids in his own class, but when the kids from the next class arrived he was running around playing chase and interacting really well. I had to carry him out of there! We also had his hair trimmed today and he looks cute :) I swear his haircuts should cost more than mine... it does NOT look like an easy job! He doesn't cry, but he moves his head all around and will try to reach his hands up. Good thing she is quick!

Ultrasound Update

We got to see our little peanut again! We didn't get any great views, just because he is big at this point and his face is up against my placenta, but he still looked cute :) He is measuring 7lbs 13oz right now, which can be off +/- by a pound. Generally, babies gain a half pound a week at this rate. It does put him in the 90 something percentile, but it sounds about right to me given Jacob's size at birth and I think usually subsequent babies weigh a tad more than the one before. The technician did also mention that the amniotic fluid may be slightly excessive, so we will see what the ob thinks of these results on Wednesday.

Here is a pic at 37wks with the new haircut. Charissa... where did my butt go? I was kinda wondering where my bbs went?!?! Lol - I guess they will reappear a few days postpartum in Pam.Anderson fashion..... :)

Bittersweet News...

Joint Venture is going to have a new owner :( The parents have had her for sale since last year. They realized that living in a house on a golf course, with a beach and dipping pool didn't allow them to put in the time at the boat that would make it worth keeping around (and paying for). It will be sad to see her go, we had some GREAT times! But, ultimately it is a good thing. I'm trying to convince the parents I was partially responsible for the sale (I helped place an ad on the net - yes, I'm still kicking myself). I'll let you know how my commission negotiations go ;)

We have a fun week ahead of us... first off, it is my LAST week of work, YEAH!!! Monday we have our ultrasound and maternity prepared stay visit where we will get pre-admitted to the hospital and let them know all of our birth preferences (epidural, please!). Wednesday will be our next OB appt and Jacob's last "official" day of daycare with Grandma. Thursday Kingergym starts back up and Jacob has a haircut scheduled (my stylist couldn't fit him in last Thurs.). Friday is my last day (and Aaron has that day off) and then Saturday we are staying overnight at Crystal.Mtn. That just might be Jacob's first official day snowboarding on the bunny hill! But if we don't get him out on the slopes, we will for sure get him in the pool. We will be staying overnight in a 2bedroom condo with Dennis, Kyra and Cori and are really looking forward to it. Jacob and Cori play GREAT together so it will allow for the parents to get a few card games in ;)

I'll update tomorrow and throughout the week!

36wk appt update

Well, we had our 36wk ob appointment today and not too much to report. I'm now 'officially' a fingertip dilated, which I think only means that my doctor wants me to think that things are happening. I also gained a couple more pounds in just a week... I've lost count of my total weight gain at this point. And I've officially got stretch marks. They are phantom stretch marks though. Sometimes there are there and really BAD and other times you can't see them at all. Actually, they are always phantom to me, because they are only on the bottom side of my belly and I can only see them in the mirror. So as long as I'm not looking in the mirror, they don't exist. It's not all bad news though, my group B strep test came back negative, which means I won't need antibiotics during labor (yeah!) and that ultrasound that the doctor keeps dangling in front of me? Well, it's scheduled for Monday. It will be fun to see the peanut again and to see how much they estimate him to weigh at this point. My fundal height is back up to 4cm larger than expected, so I'm measuring 40cm instead of 36cm as a typical pgncy should at this point, so we are doing the u/s to see just how big of a baby I've got cooking inside me right now.

Oh, and about the babypoll link on the left... now that we are very certain we are having a boy, feel free to add a second guess in. I thought that you could amend your guess up until a certain date, but I guess that is only if you registered (which was not required) and I doubt anyone took the time to register. So you are welcome to add a post-gender ultrasound guess. And, you are welcome to wait to see what the ultrasound weight estimate is on Monday to amend your guess too! The prize will be that you will become Brody's favorite person. Unless you want to send me $5 and make it interesting!!!! Oh and FYI - my guess that is listed were all Jacob's stats.

In other news, I'm getting my haircut and highlighted on Thursday. I really like the length of my hair right now, but I'm going to get it cut to about shoulder length. It's much easier to wear wet and leave curly that way and faster to dry if I do decide to blow dry it straight, which will make my life easier once Brody comes. I'll miss it, but it will (eventually) grow back! Hopefully my stylist can fit Jacob in also... he is starting to sport the ever-popular, northern mich, hockey mullet again.

March is here!!

It's officially March! I *should* have a baby this month! Although an April baby is entirely possible, but hopefully won't be the case. I keep going from - Holy Cow, I've only got 4wks left, this is going to fly by! To overanalyzing every little cramp, twinge and leak thinking... was that my water? And then realizing the next 4wks are going to go very slow. We have our 36wk ob appt on Tuesday, I'll update again then. Oh, and one of my male coworkers told me last week that I am "finally looking pregnant" to him. Nice. I looked through a couple belly photos from the past few weeks and thought WTF? I was offended, but I'm still not sure if this was a compliment or what. Anyways...

Fun with Bathtub Crayons!

So I fear I don't allow Jacob to explore his creative side enough. I'm not really an artsy creative person, so I'm worried I don't encourage that enough from Jacob. So I was thrilled when I found bathtub crayons. Jacob can be as creative as he wants with no limitations. Here is a picture of his work:

I know I'm partial, but I was impressed! Or I WAS impressed. Until it was time for Jacob to get out of the tub and he did NOT want to part with the crayons. I could tell exactly what he was thinking... "But Mom, I've got so much work to do everywhere else in the house!!!!" So now I'm panicked that Jacob is eventually going to find a regular crayon and make more 'art' on our walls, not understanding the limitations of 'bathtub' crayons. Ugh. And I don't even have to mention how Aaron feels about all this...