Baby is hungry for...

Here I'll keep a list of the foods I am currently "off" of and ones that are abnormal for me, but are totally what I've "gotta have". To make this list, the "off" foods need to make my stomach turn at the mere thought. The "on" foods need to have been a craving.

I will update it since it will be short right now.


OFF: Dr. Pepper, DDP, cheeses, meat, chocolate, chili

ON: Double Bubble rock hard gum, Cream Soda and fresh strawberries, Tazo Passion tea, hot breakfast foods like hash browns and French Toast, Asian pickled cabbage and/or Phat Thai with tofu, pizza, wheat berry bread

13 Week Pictures

Here are the aforementioned pictures! I have had a bit of a hectic week, and I just got to scanning them tonight, though they were taken on Tuesday afternoon.

In the first picture, I am taken by the crossed ankles. That's how I sit! Okay, maybe all babies do that. But, I've done that ever since I was in the Grape and Fall Festival Queen Pageant and was coached in the interviewing process. Crossing legs at the ankles is classy and will never give you varicose vein issues, like crossing legs at the knees, she said. (I think that advice was echoed in Princess Diaries, when Mia is first learning of her royalty.)

I also notice that the abdomen looks like a belly. A real, normal looking human belly!



This next image is taken as the baby lays in profile. Its easy to see the spine down along the bottom of the image. There is also clear evidence of a nose, lips, and chin! The large object near the mouth is the hand. The baby kept that hand near or above the head the entire time. The blurry area just right of the neck and left of the huge belly is the heart. During the ultrasound, the heart is similarly blurry, but with rapid pulsations that indicate a heart beat!


Speaking of heart rate, the baby's heart rate was a quick *though normal* 168 bpm. That's twice the rate of mine.

Here's a conversation from shortly after the photos were taken:

Dr. Kimberly: Things are going beautifully! Do you have any questions?

Me: Um, can you be specific about things are going well? Can you tell me what you can see from the image and information about the wellness of the baby?

Dr. K: Okay, I see a dark area surrounding the baby which suggests that he or she is making urine and that his or her kidneys are functioning. The level of fluid appears to be normal and healthy. I can tell that the baby's heart is in the upper abdomen and doesn't appear to be outside the body. That's good. I can see two halves of the brain, so I know that the baby's brain is forming correctly. There are two arms and two legs, and all are moving. Good signs that the extremities are developing properly. I don't have information about the baby's bowels, spinal development, or exact measurements, but those things will become more apparent and will be measured individually at the next appointment for 16 weeks and again at 20 weeks. So we're ruling out a lot of major deformities now, as well as conditions like anencephaly and intestines forming outside the body.

Me: Okay, thanks.

So all in all, a great appointment!

Post with pix coming soon.

(disclaimer: I hate abbreviations like pix. Baby, you are not allowed to use slang or computer lingo like that. Its SPL. Lol. But seriously...)

1 in 200,000 Chance

That baby will be born with a chromosomal disorder, such as Trisomy 21 or 18. This means very little chance for Down's Syndrome or lethal chromosome related stillbirths.

So, good news!

Letter to Baby

Dear Baby,

Every day, people ask about you. How is the baby? Have you had any more tests? Any new Baby H pictures? I hear these questions probably a dozen times every day.

Mostly, my students are the ones that ask with the most frequency. I don't know if I was as interested in fetal development during high school as they are, and you and I are going to be guest speakers in two weeks for a child development class. I'll probably tell them about how un-fun this first trimester has been.

I think its very cool that I am the only one who knows the answers to all those questions. I guess I know you better than any other person, except perhaps Dr. G and Nurse Mary.

See you in 27 weeks or so,
-Mom

First Trimester Appetite

Many of my students have asked me if I have had any "cravings". While I haven't had any bizarre combinations of food or urges for a certain sweet, y appetite the past few months has shifted.

Prior to pregnancy, I enjoyed fall and winter comfort foods, such as Curry Pumpkin Soup and Stuffing. I am currently hungry for blueberries, strawberries, and watermelon. I'm also really enjoying wheat bread with the whole wheat kernels.

I've also stopped enjoying soda. For some reason, every flavor of soda seems uninteresting.

Baby H is getting room in our hearts and our house!

Our current spare bedroom has been a catch-all room. It has housed a TV, air mattress, exercise ball and free weights, Dan's clothing, boxes of textbooks and school work, bins of art supplies, and an assortment of plants.

There's little or no room for an actual human being to inhabit this room.

That is, until this weekend. Dan set out to reorganize all the closets in our house. His mission was to get rid of all or most of the items in the nursery closet.

He began by sorting through his clothes and eliminated half of the total wardrobe volume by packing away summer clothes and selecting clothes to donate to charity.

Then, Dan installed more shelving on the sides of the closet. He used wire shelves to match the ones in the home when we bought it. This significantly increased the storage capability of the closet.

Next came the difficult task of sorting through the bins and boxes stacked three deep on the closet floor. He was able to consolidate cour art supply boxes into two well organized bins. It turned out that most of the boxes in the closet were my things from college apartments that were never unpacked. He helped me sort through these old memories... something I am not good at! I get tangled up in looking through the photos, reading old letters, and recalling past events. Dan helped to put these memories into more organized boxes and to throw out unneeded items.

In total, we recycled stacks of magazines, classwork, and misc paper products. We had another trash can stuffed with non-recyclable JUNK. So much stuff left that room and will be curbside come Wednesday that the neighbors will think we're moving!

I think I'll keep track of our preparation progress with photos on this site. I'll add a photo of the renovated closet when I get batteries for our camera.

11 week photo

Eleven weeks, one day.

The baby was laying facing the "camera" at first, so we could see a top down view, with the heart in fluttering at 186 bpm in the center.

Later, the baby turned so the nurse could take some profile measurements, including measuring the fluid on the back of the neck. The thickness indicates a tendency for chromosomal abnormalities. Baby H had only a thin layer of fluid, which is good.

While laying in profile, we could see the facial features. Tiny nose, chin tucked to chest. The baby's arms and legs were flailing around and were captured as blurs on the photos.

The doctor reiterated that all is perfect and that everything is going perfectly. I think he says this to chill me out. As proof, I don't have to return for four more weeks. This is the longest time I've gone without an appointment, excluding the time from conception to the first appointment.

Our Little Friend

When we walked into the clinic today, my husband said, "Honey, we are about see our little friend again!"

Good (financial) News

At our last appointment, we had a "health care financing appointment". The practice does this routinely to inform clients about costs and discuss insurance benefits.

The lady from billing was especially helpful and friendly. Right away, she told us we had nothing to worry about - that the insurance was very generous with Pre Natal Care! I knew we've had more than three times the normal appointments, labs, tests, etc, and I was a little worried we'd have to pay for the recurrent lost diagnostic panel, as well as the metabolic and immunity screenings I'd had.

It turns out that I pay one $25 co-pay for ALL visits prior to labor check-in. At the hospital there is a $250 "cover charge" and 20% patient responsibility payment due at a later time.

This baby is cheaper than I had imagined, though not nearly as cheap as its Uncle Wes (long story, but he "cost" $10 back in 1984)

Name Suggestions from Cousin Lucas

1. Craighead
2. Olaf
3. Enew
4. Lucas Remington
5. Butch
6. Jameer
7. DeMarcus
8. JaMarcus
9. Kayden (scratched out)
10. Kaiden (scratched out)
11. Kip
12. Dwyane
13. Kaiten (scratched out)
14. Canden
15. (blank, will finish this later)

When we told our Landolt family about the baby, Lucas ran to get a pen and paper. He started making a list of names for us to choose from. Choice 4 is his own name, and the others sound like... interesting choices. There were a number of names that didn't make his list, such as Abdul, Anis, and Henry. The only thing they have in common is that they are all male.


Re: cousin Lucas is a very clever sixth grader. Or maybe seventh. I am not sure. He's so clever, caring, and funny that choosing #4 as a name choice would be a huge compliment for the baby.

Text Message from Cousin Tyler

"Do you guys know if it will be a Tyler or a Tylane?"