Update!

When I first started the Peanut Gallery, it was for the purpose of giving all our friends and family updates on the pregnancy and the coming of the baby.

Well, Alice Marguerite has been here for 2 months today. Now that things are starting to calm down (a little at least... I still don't know whether I am coming or going) I am going to make an effort to keep updating on her progress and life. Hopefully one day she'll be able to see this... that is if the T-2s haven't taken over the world.

At Alice's one month appointment she weighed 7lbs 12 ozs, so her weight gain was steady. Her two month appointment is on Thursday. When we weigh her on our not-so-accurate scale, she is nearing 10lbs.

Over the past few weeks she has started to smile in response when you smile at her or laugh. She has her own particular "coo-ing" noise that she makes now when she wants to talk. I can't believe she has already grown so much and so quickly.

Favorite play thing at the moment: Baby Einstein Mat - particularly Monsieur Poisson.

Beautiful Arrival.

Alice Marguerite Price, October 11, 2011, 12:05am.

5lbs, 9oz   19 in.

She's been a sleepy girl after mom's 28 hours of labor that turned into a c-section. We'll get some pics of her with her eyes open soon!

35 weeks tomorrow, 35 days to go!

No matter how many ultrasounds I've had, I just haven't gotten tired of seeing this baby! Rob and I went to her September ultrasound yesterday. The little Peanut is now estimated to weigh 5lbs 6ozs, and I feel those pounds when I try to waddle around... I mean walk around.

She has decided that it's better to be head down (Mom agrees!) so hopefully the acrobatics will begin to slow as she runs out of space. Her Non-Stress Test was wonderful, her heart rate responds exactly as it should and she is still pretty active for a 5lber.

We'll be seeing the doctor every week now, and having a Non-Stress Test weekly as well. All things considered, we've been pretty blessed so far.

Look out world, the Peanut is coming!

Baby Acrobatics

Peanut and I had our second Non-Stress Test today and all went really well. Her heart rate response to movement was just as it should be! Next week she'll get measured and weighed again.

We also found out today that our little girl has quite the head of hair! This halo of white fluff was all around her head. My sister and I were born with a full head of jet black hair. It was so long that the nurses were able to put little bows in it. We didn't lose it, it just kinda kept on growing. So we'll see if the little one takes after her Mom and Auntie.

Peanut also decided that head down was no fun, there is no way to kick Mom's bladder that way. So she decided to flip again and we're now feet first once more. No worries, they said she has plenty of fluid and time to  move back to head down. Might as well play while you can!

Her latest close up, cute profile pic with her two little hands up.

8 Weeks to go!

The Peanut had her BPP today, biophysical profile. They measured her stats and she got a perfect score on them 8/8! She is progressing and growing right on target with no signs at this time of struggling to breath, move, swallow, etc. Her heart rate was also great and still strong, 144.

Tomorrow she will be 31 weeks along, I can't believe it. It feels like we just found out about her! It looks as though she'll be on time for eviction the week of October 16th. They will still induce before her date, but her growth rate indicates that it won't have to be any earlier than that. Her weight was 3lbs 12oz. That's my little lady!

We did get some ultrasound pics, but none were really great. This is her profile, you can see a little nose stuck up. She is going to be the best 30th birthday present ever.

The Baby's Lazy Days of Summer

Peanut has taken to lounging around during the hot and lazy days of summer speckled with spurts of practicing martial arts inside of mom's tummy! I didn't think at almost 26 weeks she would be able to kick that hard, but sometimes they startle me because I am just not expecting it. Ahhh young grasshopper has mastered the element of surprise....

In other news, Peanut is doing wonderfully. She has one more fetal echocardiogram to go in just under two weeks and then we will be out of the woods on the heart block issue. Her heart rate was a thumping 161 on Tuesday. She decided to sleep through this echo, not that I blame her.

Her last fundal height measurement was at the top of "normal," so little missy is packing on the pounds and headed for the top of the weight class. They were very happy with this since sometimes auto-immune moms can produce too-small babies. Not my girl!

13 weeks to go!

Here is her latest snap shot. She is facing forward, her little face is over toward the top right. Belly is round and on the left. :)

Happy 6 months!

Peanut and I (and Rob by extension!) are starting the beginning of our 6th month today. She is still continuing to do really well, her weight and heart are on target, which is a huge blessing.

In four more weeks she will be clear of any heart block issues that could arise, so fingers crossed and prayers sent (with our thanks). I am also doing really well so far, no weight gain, no indications of gestational diabetes yet, and my platelets are good.

Happy 22 weeks Peanut!

Peanut is 22 weeks into development today and looking pretty good! Her heart is doing just fine so far. Mommy, Daddy, and Peanut get to hear her heartbeat every week now to check on it.

We also got to see her a lot at her 20 week appointment including kidneys, stomach sack, spine & vertebrae, ribs, girly parts (she was not being shy!), the two hemispheres of her brain, heart with valves and chambers, all meaning that the ultrasound was amazingly detailed and really cool!

Right now she weighs in around 1 pound and is about 10 inches long from head to toes. Whoa!

We're still shooting for around October 14th for her first appearance.

Profile pic - Her legs wouldn't fit in the picture, her head is over on the right side, she is laying on her back.

And here is her foot as she was kicking Mommy!

Just Chillin'

The last fetal echocardiogram went well. Little Peanut was just hanging out most of the time. Her heartbeat was very steady and strong. Nothing indicates, at this point, that she has/will have heart block. They could see the four chambers pumping furiously.

After they did the necessary checks (and rechecked the confirmation of little girl parts!) we just watched Peanut suck her thumb for a few minutes. Her little legs were curled up and she looked very content, it was adorable. Next week she'll be about the size of a Subway 6-inch!

The ultrasound pic below she is laying on her back with her head on the right side of the picture. You can see her little nose sticking out. The white line toward that nose is her arm, the other darker white line on the bottom is her left arm.

And it's a.........

Baby. That's right, it's a little baby, about as long as a traditional deli pickle (5.5 in. in length!). Peanut has been doing pretty well down in the belly. Our first fetal echocardiogram was this past week and so far the baby's heart looks and sounds great with no indication yet of heart block. It's early, and the SSA (mom's antibodies) will start to hit the baby more this week, so more echos to come. It was kinda cool to see the valves of the heart opening and closing.

Oh by the way, it's a girl!! At this point they are 80% positive. They were able to identify the labia line and surrounding girl parts. I'm more familiar with older ultrasound technology where they just look for the absence of boy parts, but now they actually can confirm female genitalia, which is pretty cool.

Boy or girl, there is gonna be a whole lotta purple going on! ;)

2 of 3!

We are officially in the beginning of the second trimester. Woohoo! One down.

The little one had it's 12 week peak, while mom got to give about 9 tubes of blood. The result? Well the baby's heart rate was 156. A little lower than last time, but when we looked in on the little monkey, they were sleeping. In order to get measurements we had to jiggle my belly a little (and switch rooms since the ultrasound machine broke) to wake up the little one. Who had a mini hissy fit of kicking legs and flailing arms upon waking, it was precious. (It also, incidentally, looked a little like when Rob has a hissy fit....though he would disagree. ;)  ) So we're at 6.4cm long at 12 weeks.

The baby and I are going to have to go form fetal echocaridograms. I am intrigued that they have a doctor that just does only this! some of my bloodwork came back with an antibody for Lupus, which we knew I had (the antibody, not Lupus itself, which I don't have.) While it was not exactly a surprise, it's hard knowing that the baby could, in rare cases, develop congenital heart block because of it. But, that's why they will keep testing, because the condition, if it does arise, can be reversed.

In slightly more fun news, we bought a pack and play w/ removable bassinet! AND....it has WINNIE THE POOH, eeeeek! Those of you who have known me most of my life know that I have been a Winnie the Pooh addict from the first time I saw the movie as a tot, way before Pooh became popular on merchandise. I'm excited!

(As for the picture, if you look for the little 'x' with the dotted line going down, that 'x' is above the baby's rather hulking cranium. Which in time will undoubtedly become more proportioned!)

aaaaand..... the pack and play!

The Good, The Bad, and The Baby

Let's start with the good! Rob and I went to this awesome fundraiser at church - with incredible French food! - and entered a raffle. It was a cheap raffle and for a good cause, so what the heck. What did we win? A brand new baby car-seat!! Yay little one!

Ok, the bad. Peanut and I have been dealing, together, with a bit of a stomach virus this week, which has been a less than pleasant experience to have while pregnant. Luckily it was no more than a virus, so the baby is doing fine. I think it may be getting a little perturbed by the lack of food entering the gullet, but as soon as I feel better more provisions WILL be on the way. Fear not little piglet.

As for Peanut, everything is going really well. Rob and I got to hear the heartbeat in the ultrasound today and it was right on target, what a beautiful sound. Peanut measures about 6.3cm right now and could easily snooze in the palm of our hands. Basically, the baby is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Ultrasound pics to come.

We decided today that since things are going well with the baby (at just over 10 weeks our doctor is very secure in a full-term pregnancy) that we would make some first purchases!

I'm sure some parents think of necessities with first purchases - cribs, clothes, bottles, etc. To us, our first purchase is more important than any of these in a way..... BOOKS!

Having two nerdy parents can insure that things of this nature will happen. So, here is a list of books we have bought, please feel free if you have any awesome or essential childrens' book selection to tack them on in a comment.

Fox in Sox
Green Eggs and Ham
The Lorax
The Cat in the Hat
One Fish Two Fish
Hop on Pop
(Yes we love our Dr. Seuss)
Anatoule - The story of a mouse in France
Goodnight Moon :)

Introducing Peanut Price - AKA Sprout, Peanut Pirate, Inez....

A blog was suggested to me by several people as a way to track the happenings of this pregnancy as well as giving the people we love, some of whom are quite far, a means of keeping track of Peanut. So voila! The Peanut Gallery is born.

Let's back up a bit, just in case some of you are behind on the times. Rob (the Peanut daddy) and I (Erica the Peanut mommy) found out about a month ago that we were blessed with a little one growing furiously inside me. Being that we have been married almost 8 years without having any children, this was - as you might expect, a surprise. But nonetheless here we are. Peanut is almost 10 weeks old and will be making a grand debut in this world on approximately October 21st.

I would personally like it if Peanut waited a little before that debut being that it is my week of PhD comprehensive exams and I would like to have my 30th birthday before the little one is born. But alas, Peanut will do what Peanut has to do.

To my Peanut: This world is waiting for you and very excited, there are already so very many people who love you.