My blog began as a way to vent my frustrations surrounding our struggle with infertility. I am now ELATED that it has moved from an infertility to pregnancy blog and finally our baby blog! The scars of infertility will never fade completely, and truthfully I don't want them to. Infertility has impacted our lives in a way nothing else ever could, and I'm very grateful for all it has taught me. At some point we will probably be traveling down this road again in order to complete our family, but for now we are enjoying our amazing little guy! He's so much more perfect than we ever imagined he could be. I guess it's true what they say...good things DO come to those who wait! :o)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

31 Weeks!

The days just keep rolling by!  It won't be much longer until pregnancy is just a memory.  How crazy is that?!  Every time I look at the calendar and realize that October is almost over I'm blown away.  I just can't believe how quickly time is passing.  When I'm sleep deprived and exhausted in a few months, I'm sure I'll probably be wishing I could go back to right now :o)  Oh well, that will be a fun adventure as well! 

I don't have much to post today.  The big news from this week was the u/s on Monday.  It's so nice to know how he is positioned, because now when I feel movements I have a better idea of what part of him is causing it.  He definitely likes to moon me a lot.  lol!  This afternoon I had a little butt protruding from my belly.  It looks hilarious.

Well anyway, here is this week's picture!  31 weeks, holy cow!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Baby K's latest photo shoot :o)

Today was my growth ultrasound that Dr. M wanted.  As a special treat, since Matthew couldn't come this time, my mom came instead.  She got a live sneak peek of her first grandchild :o)  I am so happy to report that Baby is doing great!  He measured right on target, no concerns of growth problems at all.  Such a relief!  The ultrasound tech estimated his weight at 3lbs6oz.  She said he looks perfect!  I also had my usual check up.  I saw one of the midwives and she said everything was measuring out fine as well.  So glad that all is well with our little guy, and to see that he is DEFINITELY still a boy.  ha!  She said there was no question there.  No need to exchange blue items for pink.  LOL! 

Below are the latest pics of our little guy.  I had really hoped to get a good pic of his face, but he's still being shy.  She was able to get two great profile shots in 2D mode, but in the 15 seconds it took to switch to 3D he covered his face with his hands and refused to move them.  What a little stinker!  I guess he needs a little tag that says "Do not open till Xmas" since we probably won't see his little face until then.  I have one more u/s around 37 or 38 weeks to estimate weight upon delivery, but with his track record we still probably won't see his face.  Oh well, I guess his cute little face will just have to be our surprise since we already know he is a he!

Without further adieu here are little man's latest photos!

Sorry Mom, no pictures!

Side Profile:  nose, pursed lips, and chin


Side profile again

Still a boy!

I honestly don't know what this is a picture of....lol!

Heart rate 150bpm.  Nice and strong!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

30 Weeks! Only 10 more to go!

Yikes!  10 Weeks left?!?!  Doesn't seem possible!  I don't have a whole lot to say today since I had a long post yesterday about all of our baby gear.  So I guess today is just basically going to be the weekly pic :o)


Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Baby Gear!

We have been invaded by baby gear and I LOVE it!  My parents so generously bought several large items for us and they were all delivered this week!  It's been like Christmas around the Kuntz household, and the UPS guy is now my Santa.  ha!  On Monday our Pack-n-Play arrived, and today our infant car seat and highchair arrived!  As if those things weren't fun enough, I got a call today from Babies R Us saying that our stroller had arrived in store and we could come pick it up whenever we had time.  I guess my slight panic about my pattern being discontinued was REALLY unnecessary.  Thank you pregnancy hormones for making me freak out about it all.  Lol!

We also have 2 of our 4 nursery furniture pieces!  I mentioned in a previous post that my aunt so generously bought a dresser for us.  The furniture is absolutely gorgeous and I love it!  We bought the changing table/dresser combo, and both of them are in Baby K's room now.  They've each been against every wall in the room to find the best layout for the furniture.  I'm sure they'll be moved again once we get the crib, but I think we MIGHT have finally found the perfect arrangement.

The pictures below are of all of our new gear.  The highchair is so impressive!  It's really 4 seats in one, and when the times come for Baby K 2.0 we will be able to use the highchair again and the booster seat it changes into, at the same time.  No need to buy a second booster for the original Baby K!  I was kind of giddy putting all this stuff together this week.  Sophie definitely thought I'd lost my mind. 

Well here are the pics of all of our gear so far.  Enjoy!

Changing table/dresser

Tall dresser from Aunt Jean
Infant car seat and base, Pack-n-Play, Highchair

Infant Highchair
Infant Feeding Booster

Toddler booster with the back.  The back piece has a harness so it's safe for kids under 3.  Once he's over 3 we can use the booster seat by itself without the back piece.

Youth chair.  The back from the toddler booster will also attach to the youth chair.

I told you this was the most versatile highchair EVER!  I absolutely love it and all the options!

Infant car seat.  It's SO soft!  :o)

BIG, HUGE thanks again to my mom and dad for all of our incredible things, and BIG, HUGE thanks to my Aunt Jean for the dresser.  Baby K is way spoiled already, and he still has 2 more months of cooking to do!  I really can't put into words how grateful Matthew and I both are for everything our families are doing/have done for us and our little guy.  We have to be the luckiest parents-to-be out there!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

29 Weeks! Lots of updates :o)

Wow...I know I say this every week, but I can't believe how far along I am!  Monday I had my 28 week appt which also included my glucose tolerance test.  I was actually pleasantly surprised by the whole thing.  I've heard and read all kinds of horror stories about how awful the drink is and things.  It was nothing like I expected.  I wouldn't want to drink it all the time by any means, but a one time thing isn't a big deal.  The worst part was having my blood drawn 3 times in 2 hours.  My OB office does a 2 hr glucose test instead of a 1 hr test.  They start by doing a fasting blood draw, then you drink the stuff, they draw blood at 1 hr after the drink, and again at 2 hrs after the drink.  If any of the 3 blood tests comes back abnormal you're considered a gestational diabetic.  Hopefully my results will be totally normal :o)

While I was waiting in between blood draws I also had my routine appt.  I saw one of the doctors in the practice again this time.  He did the quick doppler, belly measurement, and Q&A session like always.  He asked when my last ultrasound had been, and I told him the anatomy scan.  He told me he wanted me to have another in 2 weeks to make sure that baby is growing on track.  He said that for some unknown reason IVF babies sometimes have slowed growth in the 3rd trimester.  They don't know why it's more prevalent in IVF babies than "natural conception" babies, but he wanted to be safe instead of sorry.  I, of course, needed NO convincing what so ever to have another ultrasound done!  I am glad that he's being proactive and making sure that everything is just as it should be.  When he measured my belly he said it was spot on for my gestational age, so he wasn't overly concerned about the growth issue, but wanted to check things out to be safe. 

I really like this particular doctor, and really hope baby decides to come a week early.  The week of my due date, he is on vacation, so there's no way he could deliver if I go into labor that week.  Matthew hasn't met this doctor yet, but he decided that between my glowing reviews of him and the fact that he went to Notre Dame for undergrad he has to be a stand up guy.  ha! 

Now on to our baby gear and registry drama...lol!  Last Saturday we went to Babies R Us and picked up the changing table/dresser combo unit we purchased for baby's room.  I get more and more excited with every new piece of furniture that goes into his room!  Thanks to my aunt Jean's incredible generosity we have the other dresser that matches the furniture set as well!  The only thing that was making me nervous was his crib.  We apparently picked out the most popular bedroom suit that they've had in a long time.  The crib has only been out about 6 months but they've barely had it in stock because it sells out so fast.  I really don't think the manufacturer realized how popular it was going to be, and just hasn't been able to keep up with the demand.  Anyway, we have had our name on the waiting list at the Peoria Babies R Us for at least a month now.  Matthew's parents also have their name on the list because his grandma and money from his late grandpa's estate are going to buy the crib for us.  The waiting list in Peoria is about 10 people long, so I was really starting to worry that there would be no crib available when he gets here.  Matthew's parents went to Iowa last weekend and while they were there they stopped at the BRU to see if they had any cribs available.  They didn't, but their waiting list was MUCH shorter, and they said they were expecting a shipment soon.  So his mom and dad put their name on the waiting list in that store as well.  On Tuesday they get a phone call from the Iowa store and there is a crib for us!  Matthew's mom placed the order for it and it should be here in a week or two!  Such a relief :o)  Baby has a bed!!! 

The other major registry drama had to do with the pattern we'd picked out for our infant seat, stroller, and pack-n-play.  All of the items were available at the Peoria store when we registered.  Well over the weekend I get an email from one of my aunts that said the store in Evansville didn't have the stroller or infant seat and they told her that the pattern was being phased out.  I called our store, and sure enough they're discontinuing the pattern.  The lady I talked to said she'd just marked down the last stroller they had in the store.  I was so bummed, because I LOVED the pattern we picked out.  So I reluctantly removed the items from our registry and after A LOT of online searching, and a few more calls to BRU, I picked out a different pattern in things and added it to our registry.  I was telling my mom about everything on Tuesday, and how frustrated I was about it.  Everything but the stroller were still available online, they just weren't readily available at stores any longer.  Once the stores sold out they were out for good.  She talked to my dad and since they hadn't decided on anything specific to get as a baby present yet, they told me that if I could still get the stroller they would order the other 3 items from the website as their baby gift to us!  I couldn't believe it.  It was so generous of them, and we are so grateful!  I called our BRU and they sold the one stroller they had, but the salesgirl was super nice and checked several other stores.  A few in the Chicago area still had some left.  I asked if they would be able to ship one to us or if we'd need to go to Chicago to pick it up, and she offered to call the stores to see if any of them would do a store to store transfer.  About 15 minutes later she called me back and said that one of the stores had a couple strollers left and also had a truck coming on Thursday to pick up things that needed to be returned to the warehouse.  They are going to put the stroller on the truck and have the warehouse ship it to Peoria after that!  We should have it in a couple of weeks, so when I told my mom that news, she told me to order the car seat, pack-n-play, and highchair and it would be from them. 

 I am so blown away at how generous our families have been already.  I knew he was going to be VERY loved and adored, but this is even more than I imagined!  I can't wait for all the stuff to get here.  I seriously feel like a little kid those on those last few days leading up to Christmas or birthday. 

Whew...that was the longest update I've had in a VERY long time!  I hope you made it through.  LOL!  Well here is this week's pic, hope it was worth reading the big long post to see it.  :o)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

28 Weeks!

Well the 3rd trimester is officially underway!  I really can't believe that it's already here.  Every time I look at the ticker and see the days left until my due date I'm shocked at how little time is really left.

Monday evening was our first Lamaze class.  Matthew was in Chicago for a work conference, so Angie went with me instead.  I actually really enjoyed it.  I think it's going to be a really good class.  Even though 3 hours every week is kind of a long time, it went really quickly and she gave us lots of good info.  Next Monday is our tour of Labor and Delivery...thankfully we will be there for a different reason than our last trip there!  Husbands are also going to learn some prenatal massage techniques.  Yes!  I can't wait for that :o)

Monday is also my next OB appointment.  We're officially at the every other week appt mark!  This appointment is the lovely glucose screening.  I can't say I'm excited about it at all, but most people have said it isn't all that bad.  Hopefully I feel the same way on Monday. 

Well here we go.  Here is this week's token picture!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

27 Weeks...On to the 3rd Trimester!

Wow, I honestly can't believe I just typed 3rd TRIMESTER!  It doesn't seem possible that we're closer to the end of this journey than the beginning.  It has really gone very fast.  I know, I know come December I won't be thinking or saying this anymore, but for now it does seem like it's really flown by.

Next Monday is the first of 4 Lamaze classes I have signed us up for.  Too bad Matthew is going to be in Chicago that night.  Thankfully a friend is going with me so I'm not alone.  Matthew will definitely get his fill of other classes though!  Lamaze is a total of 4 classes, then there is a breastfeeding class, newborn care, epidural anesthesia, and infant/child CPR.  Oh yes, he gets to attend them all with me!  :o)  He does seem to be kind of excited about learning things about babies so that's good!

Sophie won't enjoy all the evenings we're going to be gone over the next few months, but I guess she'll get used to it.  It's definitely starting to hit me that she's going to get a LOT less attention once the baby is here.  I hate that.  Some people may think I'm crazy for saying this, but she really was our first baby, and especially with all the infertility stuff was dragging me down, she was such a great comfort.  When I was upset she'd crawl up in my lap and lick the tears from my face.  Hopefully she doesn't go through too rough of an adjustment period once he's here.  We've been talking about him and using his name a lot around her so she gets used to hearing it, but she won't fully understand it until there's a little person attached to that name.  She's great with other people's kids, so I hope she's the same way with her little brother!

Well now that I'm off that soap box, here's this week's belly shot.