little_small_1

Well, she is two months old! It's amazing to watch her. She is so much fun. And I'm sorry to say to some of my friends who had a hard time, she's really easy going and mellow - kind of how she was inside mom's tummy! She's been sleeping through the night for the past two weeks! Rather nice since I've started back at school.

Stats: 10lbs 5 oz (50%) 23" (75%) head 15" (50%)

she smiles and it's beautiful! We had another shower with the hardanger fiddle ladies last week. They brought a balloon and it's the best toy! Joe puts the ribbon in her hand and she stares at it! She realizes that her hand is moving the balloon. It's kept her entertained for a good half hour.

For those of you who were not there to see it on Friday night, we took her out for her first swim! She was calm through the swim (we even dunked her underwater a few times). Joe said that when he took her back upstairs she was all smiles!

It's nice that I began back at school for just two short weeks and one full week. It's a good way to start to adjust. Miriam is at a daycare just a few blocks from Karin & Travis's church, so nice and close. She takes only 4 kids total and Miriam makes 3 right now.

Well, we are preparing for Thanksgiving! Have a great weekend with family you all!

Well, okay, so she's a week old now, but still so new!

Miriam Joy!

I love saying her name.

Let's start from the beginning.

I was on bedrest last week, trying to do nothing (which is really hard when you feel just fine). I did some knitting and worked on the flag. Last Tuesday night, while I was watching biggest loser and painting on the floor, I felt some strange twinges. About an hour later, I was sure it was contractions, Joe started timing them, after an hour and a half of them being between 2 and 6 minutes apart, we called in and since I was already 4cm as of Monday, they told us to come in right away. We both took showers, grabbed a few things and headed out. We got in, I was monitered for an hour and wasn't active labor. They gave us a choice, to be admitted or to go home. When the nurse left for us  to decide, it suddenly became busy and they didn't come back for another hour. I know God had a hand in this because in that hour, I went into active labor! I was admitted at 1:30am. My labor nurse was fabulous! She had her baby last year, delivered by my OB - which was great. He would come in and give us some info and when he left she would give her opinions. Sometimes it was interpreting what he said and sometimes it was what I should really do. She was great! Joe was a big help, I definately couldn't do it without him. Some time (don't remember when) I was ready to take something to take the edge off and she checked me saying that when I contracted, I was about 9cm. It was too late, I couldn't take any meds! At 3am, they told me that I'll be pushing in an hour or so. Joe called our families then. Around 4:15, I started pushing and Miriam made her entrance into the world at 5:18am.

Everyone was so happy! She came out with tons of hair, which was totally unexpected. She was 7lbs, 6oz, 20". Absolutely perfect! Both families came to visit an hour after she was born. Lilli was so very excited. She loved her little nose. My mom was the first person I saw and it was so awesome! I think my mom is the most excited of anyone.

Our time at the hospital was fabulous, all of our nurses were extremely helpful. We had one who was there both nights and really helped us out during the feedings. Lots of visitors came, which was just awesome. 

Since we've been home for a week now, of course there is a lot of adjustments. Sleep and eating (for us all) is a learning experience. Nights were difficult because she was hard to wake up, but since she's already begun to gain her weight back very well, the nurse we saw at her appointment on Tuesday said that we shouldn't fight it too much. That was a relief. Except for one night, she tends to sleep one 4 hour period and often times another 3hour period. I feel pretty well. I think my healing time has been better than expected. We even went on a walk on Tuesday. Our sleep two nights ago was terrible, so we laid low yesterday. However, we felt great today, so we went into church and I worked for 3 hours. 

Our new jr. high pastor's wife, Rachel, took it upon herself to start a dinner list for us. Nothing really had been happening in the past. With our friends who had babies in the past year or so, a few of us would try to give some meals. She arranged meals for us for two weeks. It's been such a blessing. 

Till next post... pictures next time. This has been long enough!

Okay, so she is offically 3 days late.  

And I'm on bedrest.

Why aren't they inducing me - a lot of people are asking me.

It's just my blood pressure. My blood work both times last week came back fine. After 20-30 min of rest, my blood pressure was fine. The nurse practitioner that I saw said that my dr is not as conservative as the others. I expect that if my blood pressure is fine today that we'll stick with the same plan and wait till next Monday to induce. We'll see what he does say when I see him this afternoon.

Bedrest. Oh, did you know that it's hard to do nothing and be lazy on purpose for several days? Saturday was okay. I think I did pretty well. But I couldn't be at home yesterday, I really wanted to be at church and see people. I told Joe that I would not work. And basically I didn't. I looked in on my preschool classrooms and got snacks for one room. Other than that, I was able to be in Sunday School, sit in the worship service and eat at the rally day lunch. 

One "bedrest project" that I have is to finish a flag for school. It's called 'procrastiation'. I've had this project on my dock since Jan. I've finally been working on it over the past 2-3 weeks. Joe helped design it and I'm painting it. It'll be really cool when it's done, but definately last min. 

Well, we'll see what the dr says this afternoon. If I have to keep up this bedrest, you might read more posts of mine in the next few days.

Yep, so much done, yet so much to do in so little time.

We are about 6.5 weeks away from my due date. Everything with us is going well. Our last ultrasound looked great. Her kidney's are both functioning correctly, so we probably won't see her until we can actually hold her. On July 14th - they said that she weighed 3 lbs 7 oz.  

At the beginning of July, my mother convinced us to make the 2nd bedroom her room. That meant a lot of work in such little time. And I mean a lot of work! Since then, our house has been exploding with stuff - some baby stuff, some tools, some computer things, some books. I have big goals of getting the majority done by Friday, since we are having people over Friday and then my small group girls next Wednesday. Joe has been working hard on getting himself organized, but I'm afraid it's a really big job for him. He's been getting overwhelmed. Poor guy. 

I had a family shower on Sunday. I feel so blessed by everything and everyone. We seem to be getting fairly well set for our little girl. I tried to stay away from head to toe pink, but that's not working too well. It's all super cute, though. I finished my baby blanket - it turned out really well. My grandmother brought to the shower a partly finished quilt that she is making - I believe totally on her own. She does belong to two quilting groups (if you go the arboretum, she quilted the part with the morels on this year's quilt), but I think she's doing this one on her own. The whole top is done. The pattern is called falling blocks, I think? It's many different blue pattern blocks with one pink block in the center. I'm so blesssed!

I almost posted yesterday, but I knew that I woud have more to say today, so I thought I'd just post it all together.

Exciting news! And silly people! I found my bedding early, after I figured out which blanket I would knit.  http://www.beyond-bedding.com/stars-and-moons-chenille-blue-and-yellow-boy-baby-bedding-crib-set.html

I know it says boy bedding, but we like the bolder colors and with yellow accent colors, I think it'll work well! But this is a very silly company. I found the website and was excited that it was about $30-40 off! The other day, I looked on ebay, just to see. The same company was selling it on ebay for $50 plus $20 shipping. We bid for it and got it all for $70 with shipping! So, we paid half of what the company's website asked for! What a silly thing to do. Joe started putting the crib together on Wednesday night and I like it! Though it doesn't have drop sides, it's very low and I won't even need a stool to get her out! He was putting it together too late for him to keep pounding away, so he plans to finish it tomorrow. 

Wednesday was a hard day and if I had known that canoeing down the canon river would have been such hard work, I would have planned differently. Easy, right, 12 miles down a flowing river, nice currant and sharing a canoe with a young former marine. No problem! That was the first 4 miles. But after we had to wait an hour for the last 3 canoes because they were inexperienced and capsizing a lot! Will and I split up, he took one girl and I took the other. After stopping for lunch, we left again. The jr. high girl I was with was so tired, she didn't paddle for the first mile. Later, I found, that would have been the best bet. When she put her paddle in, it was more hurtful than helpful. There was one point that the river got wider, so the currant was less and the wind picked up. We actually went up stream for quite some time. It was such hard work! I hurt and was so tired that night. Ugh! We did see many bald eagles fly over us, many trout jumping in the river and we scared off a great blue heron. That was really cool.

Last night was my church shower. Wow! A lot of people and an hour and a half of unwrapping gifts! Now, can you believe we need to find room for it all? Oh, my. One of my former small group girls had started a quilt for us when she was in high school and finished it when she found out that we were finally pregnant. It's lovely and has a great story! Lots of very cute clothes, of course. Lots of pink, despite my efforts! One of my other former small group girls (from way, way back - when I worked with jr high group in college) made a 5 tier diaper cake with so many baby items! I'm thinking about have a small group activity with my girls having them help me wash and put away all these clothes. What High schooler wouldn't want to play with baby clothes. Since there isn't a Baby's R Us nearby church, the ladies pretty much exhausted our Target list. But I expected it.

So, tomorrow is put away, clean up and organize day. Joe and I have a lot of work to do.

Okay, that's about it for now, till our ultrasound on Tuesday and SonShine!!!!

Now our little girl moves quite more often these days. I'm so thankful that she doesn't wake me up in the middle of the night, but she is very active any time after 8pm, she's pretty consistant. Last night was really fun! I felt her in the middle of of my belly - a foot I think - and when I pressed on it, she would move it away. It was almost a game, she did it a good 6-7 times, enough for Joe to try it! How wild!

Joe and I went to see the fireworks, a little for us and mostly to see how she would react. Joe's mom was concerned about us going because when she was pregnant with his sister, Shelly, they went and moved a lot and gave birth the next day! Shelly didn't like fireworks for years. I'm beginning to wonder if our girl will be a very mellow girl. She was not phased by the fireworks. She moved once or twice, but that was about it!

My movement is becoming less so these days. I can't imagine if I were teaching! We decided about 2 weeks ago to actually make the 2nd bedroom into our little girl's room. That means a lot of work for us. People have asked us if we want help, unfortunately, it's not that kind of work. I can't even do much of it. I did move 2 of our bookshelves into our bedroom. Ugh, I couldn't move those books very fast, had to take many breaks.  Most of the work that has to be done is up to Joe. We've decided to get  a storage unit to help us store some things until we have a house. That might be a place that we can have help with eventually.

For our anniversary, we got $ for our crib from my parents. Yesterday, we went to IKEA and picked it up! But it'll have to stay in the box till the room gets cleaned out. My aunt and uncle were up from Wheaton this weekend and they brought up gifts from my mom's side of the family. They were a blessing to us! We got our carseat! Now, we can at least get her home and let her sleep. My cousin (who got married a month after us and has 3 children already!) has begun to sew and made me a nursing cover. It's beautful.

Only a little more than 2 months left and it seems that there is so much to do, especially since we made a decision to clean out the 2nd bedroom....

So, I am now in my third  trimester and I'm beginning to understand the uncomfortableness of pregnancy. This weekend, Joe and I went up north to Duluth for our 5th anniversary. It was a great weekend and we had  a blast! We did a lot of walking and geocaching. However, I hurt and ache where I didn't know I could. My belly aches in the evening and getting out of bed can be a bit of a chore now. 

Now that day camp is over, which was fun, but hard, long work. It took work to not work over 40 hours/week. Last week was harder than the first week. It was unfortunate. I love going on the field trips and playing with the kids. This year I had to be a bystander at the waterparks and the rollerskate place. 

We had our 2nd ultrasound. It was once again very beautiful! It's amazing technology! We absolutely confirmed that it's a girl. I could even tell on the screen. Her kidneys are getting better as thought. One had completely fixed itself and the other is getting there. Since the other kidney isn't quite there, we will have another in July. I feel so lucky that we get to keep seeing her. The most amazing thing was as the u/s guy was checking things, he picked up a different device, pushed a few buttons and suddenly, we were seeing a 3D u/s!!! It was so surprising and exciting. We caught her yawning and looking like she was snuggling next to my belly! 

I have another shower, at church this time, next week. It will be exciting and fun....

Now life will be a little bit easier. I'm so thankful that I'm not teaching right now. It would be difficult. I can't imagine what September will be like. If she's a week or two late, I'll be teaching for 2-3 weeks. You just never know what will happen. 

Today was my first shower - at school. As I said before, there are two of us who are due within 10 days of each other. It's interesting, we have so much in common. Our moms worked together at the Kindergarten center in Chaska for 12 years (and both of them were there today, so they had fun talking again), I've heard that Anika has had a similiar difficult situation as Joe and I in getting pregnant, we are both giving birth at Southdale. It's all so funny!

I feel so blessed by this new school. I often feel that I don't quite fit in, but it was amazing to see how people really wanted to bless our family. Perhaps all will be okay. One teacher gave what I found out his usual gift - it's a onesie that says "Question Authority". So interesting...

We have our next OB appointment on Tuesday, so we'll see how things go then. I'm finally looking pregnant. The kids at school are noticing. They are so funny about it. The girls are always excited to hear that it's a girl and boys are always disapointed. 

Two weeks ago, we had our ultrasound. That was probably the most amazing thing I had ever seen! Wow! You can see everything! The big burly ultrasound guy was fabulous! Joe would ask lots of questions and he would show us everything and tell Joe all that he could see. He pointed out the femur and it looked just like a femur. We saw the heart beating, the entire spine, everything! and it's a girl!!!! We are so excited!!!

The doctor said that I'm doing just great. We do have to go in again in 6 weeks from now to check out her kidneys. He noticed a little extra space in her kidneys that usually means that the center output area is backing up (the valve perhaps isn't fully developed). Not much to worry about, though. He said that he usually refers 30+people a year for another ultrasound to check it out. In 12 years, he's only had one that didn't fix itself in time for delivery. Joe and I are just excited to see her again!

The ultrasound tech was very surprised how high I was carrying her. During week 19, I was thinking that maybe I was feeling her kick, but it was so high, right up by my belly button. After the ultrasound, I was pretty sure that I was feeling her. Now, I'm sure it was. I feel her more often after 9pm. The past two days I've felt her a little during the day. Boy, it sure is distracting when I'm teaching. Joe felter a flutter of hers last week, on Mother's day, Lilli felt her also. This evening, I not only felt her, but saw my stomach bump and Joe felt her for the 2nd time! 

I had my first "Mother's Day", though I'm not really a mother yet. Joe got me a baby knitting book - oh the wonderful ideas I have for mine and others! He also let me and Karin wander the Shepherd's Harvest for the weekend. It was awesome to gaze at the beautiful roving, yarn, animals, spinning wheels and spindles. 

So, that's what's up here. I have my first shower at school next week...it'll be interesting...


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So, I'm beginning to look a little big, but it's hard to know the difference between my fat and my baby. I've bought some maternity clothes, but most of them are still too big to really wear comfortably. I'm beginning to wean away my choices for our registry. It's really nice and unexpected, but my new school is having a shower for me and another teacher who is due 10 days before me. That means that we have to make some decisions in the next few weeks, since my shower is a month away.

I"m a part of several communities online of mothers in their 2nd trimester or due in Sept. Since I'm almost at 19 weeks, I'm getting a little anxious to feel the baby. Our ultrasound isn't for another week and a half.. I just want to know that everything is okay. Mostly this is because 4-5 women in the past two weeks have lost their babies in weeks 17-19. 

I finally talked to my principal about next year and whether or not I would have time to pump during the day and still be able to have lunch with other adults. He's going to try, but i don't have high hopes. I'm thinking I'll have to give up the idea of breastfeeding. We'll see what he comes up with but...

It's kind of funny. I truely thought I'd write here more and I think I will when more is obvious. But, at least I'm in my 2nd trimester. There's nothing much to see yet. I did buy some maternity pajamas because mine were feeling very uncomfortable. There is a teacher at school who is due almost 2 weeks before me and she mentioned that over break she was going to register. Ugh! Does that mean that I'm behind? I feel that I'm just getting to my research. Perhaps I should step it up a notch. It seems like there is so little time to get so little done. Joe recently said that he thinks he can get the 2nd bedroom ready for the baby. I was planning on putting the baby in the bedroom with us because we have so much room in there and to get the 2nd bedroom ready would take way too much time. Yes, we did it for Kia, but we seem to have more stuff and I didn't like it with all that stuff stuffed into our bedroom and the living room. It would be nice to have the baby in their own room.... I just don't know. We do have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. 

I can't wait. This is the craziest thing! Most people ask me if I'm excited to be pregnant now, finally, after 3.5 years. I guess it feels a little more real now that we heard the heartbeat last Friday, but mostly, it's rather unreal. I'm tired, all the time and that's about it. My body is changing some, but not enough to be obviously pregnant.

When we heard the heartbeat, it was at a pacing 170! If you want to hear it, Joe recorded it and I have it one my phone, just ask, we'd love to share!

Check here for updates and pics, perhaps...we'll see how I feel about my body :p

 If you are wondering (or even if you aren't) about the journal's name - Little small 1 (one). Yes, this journal is all about my new little one, but also that is the meaning of my maiden name, either Little small one or little Ludvig.