Spring Cleaning

So we found this amazing guy to clean our house. He worked for EVMS and only charged $80 for a 3 hour house cleaning and did a great job. But, then he fell off the face of this earth (taking our house key with him!) and we went back to doing all of the cleaning ourselves each week. Normally I don't mind cleaning, but now I'm not allowed to use cleaning products. Sometimes I love being pregnant :)  After a little arm-twisting, Jonathan cleaned his first bathroom. I had to teach him about the cleaning products and where to scrub, etc. He did a FABULOUS job and will continue to do so over the next six months!

Jonathan's ideas for baby names

I'm not a huge blogger so I'll leave the important aspects of this blog to my lovely wife Heather since she is doing such a great job.   But I figured since we are going to have a blaby, I could use this blog to explore some blaby names to see what the general public thinks.

If we have a girl, I think LaPrecious would be a beautiful name.  We could even spell it LaPreshus in order to be unique since LaPrecious is a really common name these days, especially here in Norfolk.  Also by coincidence, Lapreshus happens to be our dog Lincoln's middle name.  A popular one at the hospital tends to be L-a, which is pronounced Ladasha, so that could be nice too.  Another popular one over at the children's hospital is Imapressuzusangel which of course is pronounced "I'm a precious angel." I also like Contessa or Mercedes because that would obviously be very classy.  We have also talked about names like Rachel or Taylor if the above suggestions don't work out.

Now if we have a boy, I think the obvious choices would be Lloyd or Floyd.  Heather seems very partial to both of these.  I like Lincoln Byrne II since we love our dog so much, but I'm not sure if we could name the child "the second" since he and Link would not be related by blood and I think in the end this would create more confusion around the house than it would be worth.  I met a patient the other day at the hospital named General, which sounds to me like the name of a born leader.  Can you picture, it- General Byrne?  I don't think Gaylord is quite the popular name it once was which is a shame.  I think Dorcas is a woman's name, is it not?  If not, then that would be an option as well. Other options we've been considering are Benny, Jermaine and Kobe.   We have also discussed the names Jackson, Thomas, or Taylor for a boy if the above selections prove too popular and we decide to be original.  What if we made Jackson the middle name and General the first name?

Luckily we still have many more months to daydream about baby names, but I think all of these are good options and Heather wholeheartedly agrees.

The perks of being married to an ER resident

I was not a huge fan of residency when Jonathan started. 80 hour work weeks, rude attendings, stressful shifts that start or end at 3am, etc.  Over the past 10 months, I have begun to discover some of the perks of being married to an ED resident. One of them is meeting great friends from all over the country. Another, dressing up and going to fancy parties. Best of all and most useful to us at the current point in time is Jonathan has access to an ultrasound machine 24/7! 

On March 5, 2011, when I was around 4 weeks we went into the ER while he was off duty. I felt so strange, as all of the nurses and doctors turned to look as we walked by. Hmmm, they mused...I wonder what they are going to do as they sneak into a back room and bring in the ultrasound machine. So much for keeping it a secret from Jonathan's co-workers. The results were too small to print the first time but Jonathan did find something (he has excellent US skills!).  When we went back on March 5th, at the end of my 5th week, we got the picture below.  In the words of Jonathan, "Well, I can't officially say that it's a baby but there is something floating around in there. Probably some product of pregnancy".  Official doctor terms :) 

 Then, on March 17, we had our first official ultrasound at the doctors office. Originally they gave me a due date of October 16th but I was positive it was going to be later than that. Turns out, based on all of their measurements and the doctors physical exam that it was bumped back to October 22nd. So, I had the joy of reliving the 7th and 8th weeks of pregnancy twice!  Look how much has changed from the 6th to the 8th week (and having a really skilled US tech with a good machine also doesn't hurt).  There are cute arm and leg buds and a great looking head! The baby was wiggling around the whole time during the ultrasound.

Jonathan did another one at week 12 and we got a top down view in which our little baby was fist pumping! We have either a dancer or a sports fan in there! It's so amazing to see so much movement!

We're hoping to do a quick one at week 14 (next Sunday!) and 16 to get a head start on determining the gender. Will keep you posted!

My (slowly) Growing Belly

 Week 7

 Week 8

Week 9 - still able to do a 1/2 Marathon 

 Week 10

Week 11 - at a shower for my dear friend Kara (in front) who is due in May. Christina is right  behind her in July and I'm following things up in October. Looking for lots of good advice from them! Hopefully having a belly soon will make knowing what to do with my hands much easier! 

We've been busy!

Normally, I am not a big fan of Valentines Day.  This year, however, we were thrilled to find out we are going to be parents! After 4 inconclusive tests, we finally saw a strong "+" on Sunday morning!  We celebrated with an Italian dinner (no wine for me....bummer!) and new conversations about names, strollers and what in the world this adventure would be like for us!

It was hard to contain the surprise, especially since we found out at 2 weeks.  I was incredibly tired; who knew that such fatigue was possible. Quickly gone were the days of getting up at 4:30 to run or bike and staying up until 11 with Jonathan.  I started to occupy a fairly permanent spot on the couch and discovered American Idol (I'm finally getting into it, only 12ish seasons behind everyone else), Modern Family and Minute to Win It.

The only cravings I had in the beginning were for goldfish (downing almost a whole bag in one sitting!), tomato soup and frozen yogurt (well, that was a pre-existing craving).  My strong aversions actually worked in my favor, including alcohol and coffee. If anyone wants a Costco-sized bag of delicious Sumatra coffee, let me know. I made it through approximately 1/118 of it before the pregnancy-induced nausea set in!

The biggest challenge was keeping my eyes open and staying focused at work. I told Jonathan that working 40 hours was getting in the way of my napping! Some of my patients and co-workers noticed that I was unusually exhausted and I was beginning to run out of excuses: we had a late night, church stuff, Lincoln was sick, Jonathan got up at 3:30am, etc.

We had a chance to tell Jonathan's parents during dinner at Snappers when I was at week 8.  We handed them an ultrasound and said, "look what Jonathan found while he was working at the emergency room".  They could not contain their surprise, or their desire to call their best friends right away!! My parents came to town 2 weeks later and we had a chance to tell them in person, even though it was later than we wished.  They immediately wanted to pick out grandparent names and know how we were feeling.  Matt and Chase heard the good news that afternoon while they were visiting Christian's new baby (their nephew).  What a lucky pair - they got engaged, became an aunt and uncle and will be getting married soon (super excited for you two!!!).

We have slowly told our friends over phone calls, lunches and emails and have had such a great response. Many of our friends have a baby(s) or are currently pregnant (5 delivering in May and July!), and I am excited to have so many people to go to for advice or stroller jogs at the Boardwalk.

We will keep you updated on our new adventure!!!! Pictures to come soon.