BABY TOBIAS RYAN HAS ARRIVED!

 So usually the first picture you would see with a baby announcement is a picture of a brand new, naked baby. However I am a little bit different so we are starting with the surprise knot in the umbilical cord that we discovered when Toby was born. Luckily he never went into distress or if he did, it didn't show up on the monitors. The cord was also wrapped around his neck, though that is not uncommon. Ben said that it was a super long umbilical cord.

Now you can have the new, naked baby picture. 

Baby Tobias Ryan was born December 30th at 1:15 AM PST, 8 pounds and 7.8 ounces, 21 and .26 inches long.

Everyone says Toby looks just like Ben in this one. 

Baby footprints. (Oooops the lady missed a toe on the right one.) 

Proud papa holding the baby. 

And proud mama too.

37 Week Ultrasound

Babywatch 2014 has officially begun! Baby bunny could decide to come any day now and it would be "normal".  Final preparations are being made and I only have a week left at work.

At my last few checkups my belly has been measuring a few weeks larger than it should be. So Tuesday, in the middle of the storm of the century, we went for an ultrasound to check on baby bunny's growth. The doctor was nervous that we might be dealing with a  "big baby". Luckily the technician said it looked like baby was about 7 and a half pounds and perfectly normal in the 61st growth percentile.

He does have some chubby cheeks though!

The tech was also nice enough to look and see if baby bunny was still a boy since he was shy and hid at the last ultrasound I had where we checked to see if he was positioned correctly.

Survey says he is still a boy!

And now we wait....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is turkey day! It should be a time of reflection on all the things that I am grateful for. Trust me, I see what other ladies write online and Ben and I are super lucky to have the relations and friends we do. People have sent clothes and books and beautiful cards, no one has complained about name choices, or really complained about anything. But I honestly don't think you are here to read about how thrilled I am that my families are super great and supportive, I am guessing you are here for baby stuff.

Yesterday I went for the 35 week checkup with my OB Doctor H. She has been super sweet but is leaving at the end of December, so depending on when baby bunny comes she may or may not be delivering him. (Think December vibes!)

Dr. H always answers my questions and yesterday I had a really weird question for her. Tuesday my toilet seat was a normal white color and Wednesday morning there was a big blue butt-print on it. I did a quick google search and apparently this is a pregnant thing that just basically has no good explanation. I'm her first toilet seat turner!

I am sparing you a picture of my toilet, (this one is from google) so now you have something to be thankful for too...

After the toilet seat question we proceeded with the rest of the appointment.  She did an ultrasound to check the position baby bunny was in. Everything looks good including his position and heartbeat. He is head down and at the time his spine was aligned with my right side. I got to see a profile of his head, and little hands, and the spine. We could see the amniotic fluid looked good and even chunks of the vernix floating in it. We tried looking to confirm baby bunny was in fact still a boy, but he kept shoving a foot in front so we couldn't get a clear shot.

After the ultrasound they did a swab for group B strep (20% of women test positive for it). And I was free to go until next week. Dr. H is out so I will be meeting with Dr. L who will take over for Dr. H when she leaves.

Baby Bunny Loves Opera

The other day baby bunny was really excited to listen to Ben's opera. I was trying to get him on camera and I thought he might move a little more if I gave him some music to dance to.

I am trying to hold my breath for a lot of the video so almost all of that movement is actually the baby.

Predicting the Arrival of Baby Bunny

Today I discovered a new due date calculator on the internet. The data for the algorithm is based off of user-submitted birth, conception, and menstrual period information. Here are my results:

Estimated birth weight of your baby is 7 pounds, 10 ounces

True due date: Wednesday December 24th, 2014 when you are 39 weeks, 4 days pregnant

There is an 80% chance your baby's birth weight will be between 6 pounds, 7 ounces and 8 pounds, 13 ounces

Most likely week (27% chance): Monday December 22nd, 2014 to Sunday December 28th, 2014

Fifty percent chance of being born: Wednesday December 17th, 2014 to Tuesday December 30th, 2014

Eighty percent chance of being born: Tuesday December 9th, 2014 to Tuesday January 6th, 2015

Double Digits

We have reached double digits! I guess if bottles of beer are your thing you can start the countdown now, otherwise you just have to be patient like me. Keep in mind that the 29th is just a number and baby bunny will come when he decides he wants too but it feels good to be under 100! 

Viability!

Week 24 is an important week because this is the tipping point of viability, or baby bunny surviving outside the womb in some kind of emergency. Obviously I want Bunny to stay in there as long as he is safe and comfortable but sometimes things just happen. On my baby forums there are some women who are on total bed rest because their waters have broken and even some people with December due dates who have delivered already due to early labor, or issues with the placenta, low amniotic fluid, etc. Here is a little bit more about the subject from Wikipedia:

21 and less -  0%
22 - 0-10%
23 - 10-35% - We have completed here
24 - 40-70% - We are currently here
25 - 50-80%
26 - 80-90%
27 - 90%
30 - 95%
34 - 98% 

A baby's chances for survival increases 3-4% per day between 23 and 24 weeks of gestation and about 2-3% per day between 24 and 26 weeks of gestation. After 26 weeks the rate of survival increases at a much slower rate because survival is high already.


To celebrate our increasing chances of survival here is a picture of my cat in baby clothes.