enjoying the weather

now that the weather is warming up (consistently), jack gets to see his friend jaxson from down the street nearly every day when we play outside. they have quite the time together, sharing (and fighting over) toys. they always seem to be satisfied with a wagon ride together, too. here are some fun photos, as well as some of jack with the new puppies across the street:








one of the neighborhood girls has a small motorized barbie jeep, and jack and jaxson took a ride today

Dear God, MORE BPA news???!!

Yes, I've received yet another email from one of the listservs I'm on with regard to BPA research. I hadn't heard this one yet-- it turns out BPA is found in many cans out of which we eat canned goods, INCLUDING many manufacturers of infant formula. According to one article, http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/bpa-danger-from-cans.php the BPA in cans is an even greater concern than what is in polycarbonate plastics. The following website has a short list of both organic and non-organic companies, and tells whether they do or don't use BPA in the lining of their cans: http://organicgrace.com/node/316 It appears that Campbell's soup *does*, as well as Carnation, Bush's beans, and others. Yikes....is anything safe anymore?

nothing new to report

just hanging out since that's all there is to do right now. mike and i are both starting to get the "haven't you had the baby yet?" thing, which we never experienced the first time around. grandparents, neighbors, friends, even patients at his pharmacy are calling to find out if there is a new case haub. they must think we'll forget to let them know??! i think in this case it's safe to assume that no news is just that-- no news.

i'm actually hoping not to go into labor today. i'm feeling pretty low with this cold jack passed on, and i don't imagine how i'd have the energy or good attitude to take on labor in this condition. if it takes me as long as it is taking him to get over it, i may need another week! i'm freaking out about strange things, too. the cough is pretty bad, and every time i get into a coughing fit, it feels like the muscles in my abdomen are literally ripping open. i keep wondering, "can i cause placenta abruptia by coughing?" and stuff like that. sigh. realistically, though, i have a great faith in the human body to know what it can and can't do, so i figure i won't go into labor till this cold is on it's way out and i can handle birthing. let's hope that's true....

Nice weekend. But still pregnant.

Still pregnant! 4 days till due date (contrary to the baby gaga ticker.... i think at some point my midwives started counting back from my due date instead of forward from my last menstrual cycle, so the day by day countdown is now different). who knows, we may have had one early baby, and be on our way to one late one. i'm feeling fine; not very uncomfortable and sleeping okay. just waiting!

my friend mariel came this weekend to visit, and it was a nice and fun way to pass the time. she went to drake with me, and is from puerto rico. she is finishing her pediatric residency in PR right now, but is in Iowa City for 4 weeks doing an allergy and immunology rotation at UI hospitals. it was great to see her, as it had been since we lived in PR that we had gotten together. unfortunately i carried the camera around all weekend but never remembered to take a photo! my friends shelly and alicia also came for brunch on saturday, and we all went out together. it was so nice to hang out with friendly faces during this waiting time. too bad jack is still sick and was a bit of a crank the whole time. he's finally feeling better, though his cough still sounds like he's got t.b. and he managed to pass on the illness to me. i'm now coughing up a lung. so it may be okay if ben waits another couple days till i'm better and re-energized enough to take on labor!

feeling proud of my little brother....again :)

i just learned a few things about what's been happening with my little brother's life as of late, and some make me proud, while others are frustrating. he recently won a community service award for excellence in care toward patients and their families from the Medical Scientist Training Program at UI.

http://www.medicine.uiowa.edu/mstp/New/mstp/News/index.htm

he also had an article written about him and his approach to medicine on the UI medical education's website, which is a pretty cool article and shows a few photos, including one of him and patch adams:

http://medcom.uiowa.edu/meded/?p=26#more-26

the irony of it all is that while some sources are praising his humanitarian approach to the practice of medicine, and spotlighting him for the extra time and care he gives patients, he has just been fired from his position as a child life volunteer at the UI hospitals, where he works 1 night a week and volunteers many others to visit kids with various cancers and other terminal ailments to help brighten their days in the hospital. the reasons for his termination were that the childlife specialists were worried about his lack of "boundaries," that he spent more time with patients than other volunteers (including coming in christmas day, weekends, etc.), and seemed to "care too much." ahh, the rules and restrictions of hospitals...businesses.

the universe knows what it's doing

I guess things are meant to be sometimes, and I'm thinking that my disappointment over finding out this baby may come a little later than expected is now by far outweighed by the fact that I need to focus on my older baby. Jack has croup and has been off and on miserable for the last 3 days. I can't imagine leaving him with my parents to go to the hospital for 3 days, when at this point I can barely put him down for 30 seconds to run to the bathroom without him falling apart. 20 1/2 months and we had to make our first "sick" visit to the pediatrician this week. I guess that's a good run! Too bad there's not much they can do for him, other than the one-time oral steroid dose they gave him. He's not sleeping well, so we aren't sleeping well, and he has no coping skills. Since it's viral, he could be contagious--especially to a newborn--so I guess this is all going the way it needs to, for now...

Maybe a MAY baby after all...

Well, my 39-week prenatal appt. today was not what I expected! Here I had contractions all night Saturday, and have had some here and there since then, I figured they'd say I was likely to go into labor sooner rather than later. But it turns out I'm only 1-2 cent. dilated, and my cervix is both very thick and very high above the baby's head. The midwife that I saw today said it might not be a great thing to have my water break or go into labor today since it would take a longer labor to thin my cervix out to where it needs to be at this point. So I wait. I'm all for him coming when he is ready, but I was secretly (okay, maybe not so secretly) hoping he was ready now. Anyway, she told me to make an appt. for one week from now, and that "We'll be seeing you then, I have a feeling." Hmmpth. Good thing I have several friends coming to visit this weekend to help me pass the time so I don't just twiddle my thumbs waiting for baby!!

more BPA news (for those interested)

thanks to carrie, samantha, and stephanie for keeping up with this better than i. i keep putting it off and half forgetting about it, but then i read stuff like this and realize this is bigger than i originally expected. here are links to 2 articles about BPA and what is being done:

http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2008/04/canada-may-desi.html?EXTKEY=I72RSBB

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=plastics-in-baby-bottles-may-pose-health-risk

i ordered a new nalgene bottle that is BPA-free, but i keep finding things (travel coffee mugs, spoons, etc.) that are of the bad sort. a big question i have is what we can do with all that bpa-ridden plastic that we are getting rid of? i hate to just dump it in the garbage. is there a safe way to dispose of it? california people, can you recycle plastic numbers 3, 6, and 7?

false alarm leaves me anxious!

last night mike and i went out to eat to cafe di scala, a locally-owned italian bistro that is housed in an old victorian house in the sherman hill area (for those of you post-desmoinesers, it is where chat noir coffeehouse used to be). it was really fantastic. while there, i began having contractions and even a little back pain. i was estatic! my parents were already watching jack, and we were literally 30 seconds away from the door to the maternity ward. not only that, but one of my favorite midwives is on call this weekend, which would've sweetened the deal considerably. unfortunately, the contractions continued through about 10pm but never got uncomfortable, nor grew in any sort of intensity. i went to bed hoping to wake up with more severe labor pains, but no such luck. i'm back to normal today, with not even one contraction. bummer! i know he'll come when he's ready and i'm all for that, but i have to admit that after that little false alarm, i'm feeling READY and excited now. come on baby, come on!

hanging out

Nothing much happening these days, as Jack and I hang out waiting for his little brother to arrive. Mike's co-workers have decided he shouldn't be scheduled for nights anymore (so that if I go into labor one evening, they won't have to stay through his night shift after already working since 8am that day), so each day finds the three of us from 4pm-on just doing normal stuff. Wednesday we wore shorts as it was 79 degrees, but since then it's been raining and yucky. Jack's neighbor friend Jaxson came over yesterday to help pass the rainy day.

Ah, hugs!


Shhh, baby is sleeping! (I only hope they will be so good when baby IS sleeping)


At some point along the way my midwives began counting weeks back from my due date (May 1st) instead of forward from my last menstural period. So now I'm apparently 13 days out instead of 11 days out, as the gaga ticker shows. Either way it hardly matters at this point, since he'll come when he's ready and we are so close now. I'd actually rather them be more conservative, so that IF I were to go overdue, I'd have more time before they'd induce. I realllllly want to avoid that again if at all possible. I've had some Braxton Hicks contractions today off and on, so maybe my body is gearing up!