Week 15

I will be posting weekly news about the baby's growth from a site that emails McKenna and I. The gender specific words (he/she) are their's not ours. We do NOT know the sex of the baby yet.

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam. There's not much for your baby to taste at this point, but she is forming taste buds. Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")

Lemonade

McKenna and Dave went to the monthly OB appointment this week and here is the news they'd like to share: they heard the HEARTBEAT for the very first time! 155 bpm which is healthy and the baby is the size of a lemon at approximately 3.5 inches long. I guess we can call it Lemonade this month instead of Peanut, hm? And McKenna is so happy to be starting her second trimester. She's looking forward to more energy and no more nausea. In fact, she climbed 13 flights of stairs the other day with one of her clients. This is the first workout she's done since she got pregnant.

Cravings this week: Mashed potatoes

Cousins!

McKenna and Dave's neice Samantha gets to learn about her new cousin...

I've got some 'splaining to do....

I have been saving up all these posts for you to catch up on current events. I will NOT be posting every single day. There just isn't that much happening visibly. When I take her monthly baby bump picture, I'll post it here. When she sees the doctor, I'll let you know what's happening on that front. The best way for you to know when there is a new post is to subscribe to an RSS feeder. I use Google desktop as it gives me more than just blog updates. You might want to look into their free download.

The Wonder Years

How many of you remember the tv show The Wonder Years? Bob and I loved it as it was a chance to revisit our youth. One scene has Kevin Arnold in his very first sex education class. The teacher draws the female sex organs. This is what McKenna's uterus DOES NOT look like...hers in more heart shaped. But this scene has always stayed with me. I hope it makes you giggle.

The Specialist

Here is "our" little one's ultra sound picture taken at the specialist's office. There is no second uterus. The baby is absolutely fine and so is Mama. McKenna's uterus is not a regular shape, though. It is more heart shaped. And an irregular shaped uterus can bring on pre-term labor. I'm sure that there will be more ultra sounds in her future.

This picture needs some explaning for those of you who normally don't view black and white ultrasounds.....the baby's head is in profile looking upwards. You can see the shoulders and the top half of it's chest. Eyes, nose, mouth, and eyes...yippee!


I got to go with Kenna to this doctor's visit. When they were doing the scan we could see the baby moving around, waving it's fist and kicking. Kenna didn't feel a thing. But me? I felt the earth move.

Baby Bump, month three

Starting to feel a little bit better, not quite as sick ALL DAY LONG, but still having bouts of nausea. And that little pooch? The baby is all of two inches from head to butt.

Baby Bump, month two

McKenna is getting a little excited at the fact that she has what looks like a little pooch going on here. I had to laugh....you have no idea what that little pooch will do......

Baby Bump, month one

Here she is in all her pregnancy glory at one month! And really sick........

Telling the parents, part two

With all this excitement going on, Kenna had another doctor's appointment. And this time another Ultra sound. They could see the baby's heart beat but not hear it yet. The baby needed to be a little bit bigger and not the size of a lentil in order to hear the heartbeat. And this time around, the doctor saw something that needed further checking out. The baby was fine, McKenna was fine but in certain frames of the ultra sound, it looked like she had another uterus. I know! But it happens. So an appointment with a specialist was up next but that wouldn't happen until after our vacation....two whole weeks of waiting. As long as the doctor said that everyone was fine we shouldn't worry. So we didn't.

Now the planning began on how to tell Dave's family. I'm so glad that Dave and McKenna bought a new truck two days before vacation started because I'm sure that they put 10,000 miles on it in one week. Here's the itinerary: Reno to Ogden to tell brother Jerome and Maria. Ogden to Laramie to tell friend Jeremy. Laramie to Cheyenne to tell brother Craig and Courtney and finally tell mom and dad, Dee and Bob. It was to be a surprise for Dee's birthday with Dave and McKenna showing up to celebrate it with her. In her birthday card McKenna had put a copy of the ultra sound in it.
But before Dee could react to what she was looking at, sister-in-law Courtney saw it, realized what it was and jumped up screaming.

Appropriately, all hell broke loose again!

The beginnings

I have laughed myself silly over talking about pregnancy and childbirth and babies with McKenna these past few years. She never really babysat as a teenager so her experience with infants and now toddlers has been with her niece, Samantha. And now? Now, my baby is pregnant with their first child. Words escape me regarding the joys that being a grandparent has given me. Dave and McKenna are giving all of us a blessing now. This blog that I will be writing will contain pictures and descriptions of events that they are going through. This will not be a daily journal of her pregnancy but more of a timeline journal. I'm writing this before any of you know about it and will be published only when they say 'ok, time to let the cat out of the bag'. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

In early May of this year, they took a brief trip to Vancouver, Canada. They fell in love with the city and it's environs. Hiking, relaxing, dining, exploring, getting pregnant, it all happened here. Many of you will wonder, 'were they trying to get pregnant?' The answer is that they were not not trying, as McKenna expertly sidetracks the question each and every time. Their c'est la vie attitude was refreshing in that they didn't stress over it each month. If it happens, it happens. And 'it' did. She sent me these photos of their trip once they knew they were pregnant and had told us all about it. She wants these photos always to be a part of their pregnancy photos. These mean a lot to her.

After taking a pregnancy test, how was she to tell Dave of their pending parentdom? Well, several years ago, all six of us went on a birthday trip to Napa to do some wine tasting. While we there, we visited a great winery called Reverie. It was a beautiful winery up in the side mountains of northern Napa. They offered many different types of wine, and we ended up really liking two of them, both reds. In fact, we liked them so much we ended up buying two cases of them. The folks at the winery called the Merlot by a special nickname, "Panty dropper". Each time Dave and McKenna came over, we made sure that we served them that wine. Why? Well, six months later they became engaged. The second wine, the Cabernet Sauvignon, was called "Baby Maker". Why? Well, one year later after serving McKenna's brother Chris and his wife Shaina that each time they came over, we now have Samantha as our first grandchild. Now we only refer to those wines with those nicknames. On with the story. Dave called McKenna on the way home from work and said that he'd like to share a bottle of wine with her that evening. "Ah Ha!", she thought. "I'll get out our bottle of Baby Maker." She went to the store for a Father's Day card and a little book called "A Father's Legacy". She also bought some hamburger buns. She put one BUN IN THE OVEN along with the little book, put the Father's Day card up with the wine glasses and set out the bottle of wine. When Dave got home, he greeted her and saw the bottle ready to be opened. She told him to grab the wine glasses (in the cabinet above the oven) but something caught his eye while grabbing for the glasses. "What's this? Why do we have a hamburger bun here?" McKenna told him again, a bit more firmly, "Get the GLASSES!" He closed the oven door, reached for the wine glasses, and saw the card. In the card, she had written, "Look in the oven". His face was indescribable when he saw the book and then realized they had a BUN IN THE OVEN....he was in shock, but then so was she!

Now the question was, 'how do we tell our parents?'. Fast forward to Father's Day AND her Dad's birthday bbq dinner. All of us were there, including McKenna's sole grandparent, Gramma Jeanne. We all passed the pre-requisite cards over to Bob for opening. One by one, he read them and then McKenna handed their birthday card over for him to open. He read it slowly, tears gathering in his eyes and asked, 'Does your mom know?'

'Know WHAT?' I asked, startled by his tears, by Dave clicking photos from his camera phone, and McKenna's quivering smile as well. I stared at her willing her to say the words out loud when Bob handed me the card to read. [tearing up here writing this, folks] As I read their words to him, my heart flipped over because she wrote,

"Well, Dad, it's Father's Day, too and since you've been a wonderful Dad to me and wonderful Grumpa to Sammy, Dave and I both know you will be a wonderful Grumpa to our little one. Congratulations, you have a second grandchild on the way!"

Christopher had my camera so he was unaware of the importance of Bob reading the card but caught on immediately so that when I started reading the card he was shooting away. Blurry, but I think you understand...

All hell broke loose by now, everyone screaming, asking questions, congratulating them...oh me, oh my. They were only too happy to answer all of our questions. To this day, I'm still in shock, trying to wrap my head around the fact the Kenna is pregnant.

Which brings us now to how she is feeling. Well, that all depends on the day and time of day. First thing in the morning, not so good. But I have stressed that I learned the hard way in my pregnancies. If you don't keep something on your stomach, you're gonna hurl. So she has been keeping Wheat Thins handy. I was very ill with both of my kids and I was hoping that McKenna would take after Bob's side of the family without having the morning sickness. No such luck.

They have interviewed/visited with their brand new obstetrician and like him very much. He has answered the first barrage of questions they had for him and most importantly, saw the heartbeat. And now you will understand the meaning behind this blog title. They are calling their 6.44cm bundle of joy Peanut for the time being. Take a look. Can you tell what side of the family it favors?