Fetus' First Christmas

Baby Marshall would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  She had a wonderful holiday and is very much looking forward to her first Christmas out of the womb.  It's amazing... she may only be a tiny little fetus, but she still managed to get her daddy a very special Christmas present that he was very excited about... the Back to the Future Trilogy DVD set.  She even got a few of her own presents today.  GiGi (her grandmother on my side) got her all kinds of baby bath products and two little stuffed dalmatians (of course).  I hope the dalmatians get along with the stuffed lamb that Aunt Sarah & Uncle Chris got her a few weeks ago.  I guess only time will tell.  ;)

Well, a very sleepy Marshall family wishes everyone a Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year!  It's time to go to bed now... we've got a very busy day ahead of us tomorrow... it's finally time to pick up the nursery furniture and start getting the room ready.  Hooray!

It Is a Christmas Miracle!

Yes, it's true... the furniture has arrived! If I would have known that it would just take a simple post about my frustrations over the furniture taking so long to arrive for it to come in, I would have posted about it weeks ago. But alas, this weekend I received a call from Babies R Us that our dresser had arrived and we could call and schedule a time for pick up. Unfortunately, I don't think we'll have time this week to pick it up until Friday, but at least it's here and we have a 4 day weekend this week to start getting the nursery set up. See... it is a Christmas miracle!

Will the furniture ever come in?

As you may remember, we ordered our furniture back in early November. At the time, they told us it would take approximately 7 - 10 business days to be shipped from the warehouse. Well, it's been 6 weeks and we still don't have our furniture for the nursery.

I first got a call about a week after we placed the order telling us that the crib had been delivered, but they shipped the wrong dresser. So the store was going to send back the wrong dresser and reorder the right one. Then I get a call after another week telling us that the right dresser had arrived, but after careful inspection it was damaaged. Kudos to Babies R Us for actually inspecting it before having us come pick it up. But now they needed to send back the damaged dresser and reorder another one.

I was feeling optimistic at first because at least we were getting regular status updates about once a week. But that stopped after the last call. I have not heard from the store in about 4 weeks. I tried calling about 2 weeks ago to see if they had any information, but all that they could tell me was that the dresser had not been delivered yet and they didn't know when it would.

Needless to say, I am really glad we ordered our furniture early and didn't wait until the last minute. Now I'm just getting impatient to start setting everything up. Keep your fingers crossed that our furniture is delivered soon. Maybe it will be a Christmas miracle!

Another Successful Appointment

This morning Jason & I had our monthly doctor's appointment to check up on the little one. I know everyone will be happy to know that everything went well and we are progressing right on schedule.

This week also marks the point of viability in the pregnancy. This means that if our baby was born today she would actually have a chance at survivial outside the womb. It's a very big milestone and we are all very excited! Of course, we would prefer for her to keep baking for at least another 14 - 16 weeks, just to be safe.

On another note, Jason finally felt the baby kick this week. Hooray! She even kicked him in the head last night when he was trying to tell her a story. I guess we know who needs a little practice with his storytelling skills. ;)

Baby College

In case there was ever a parent-to-be who liked to be prepared and learn as much as they could about the newest addition about to join their family, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital has it covered! I guess it's a good thing that we are that type of parents and we're delivering at Jeff.

The Parent Education program at Jeff offers so many different classes, it's almost overwhelming. Ok... it's completely overwhelming. There's One Day Lamaze, Childbirth Lamaze Series, Breast Feeding, Getting Ready for Baby, Car Seat Safety, Infant CPR and Pediatrician's Night. Then there's also Sibling Class, Hospital Tours, and Expectant Grandparents Night.

How is a pregnant lady to choose... especially when the person who works in the Parent Education office never answers her phone when I call?

Dear Baby

Dear Baby,

I hope you are comfy and cozy in there. I know you haven't run out of room quite yet because I can still feel you moving all around, doing somersaults and backflips. However, can we please talk about the kicking?

You may think I'm going to ask you to stop kicking me, but it's actually the opposite. Could you please start kicking me a little harder and a little more frequently? While I have the joy of feeling you move around and kick and punch all day long, your daddy hasn't gotten to feel you move yet. I think it would be very nice if you could say hello to him with a little nudge or whack. I think he would like it very much too.

Oh, and one more thing... if we happen to have the opportunity to get another ultrasound so we can peek in on how you're doing in there, could you please share with us if you really are a little girl? Now, in the future, I may encourage you to be modest and at least somewhat proper, but now is not the time to start.

Love,
Your Mommy

New Ultrasound Pics

Baby's profile

Baby's leg and tiny little toes

Baby's face, tilted left

It's a girl (probably)!

We went for our ultrasound this morning and everything is looking good. The baby is measuring and growing right on track. We also got to see some really cute pictures (which we'll post right away, of course).

At the end we asked the technician if she was able to tell the sex of the baby. She said that it looks like a girl. She couldn't tell definitively since the baby was sitting on it's legs, but she said that since she didn't see anything between the legs she would guess girl. But she also said not to run out and buy all pink since she couldn't tell for sure.

So, it looks like we'll be sticking to a mostly neutral decor and anything that is pink we'll just have to keep the tags on, just in case. At least the baby is healthy and that's the most important thing.

We ordered the furniture!

We ordered the furniture for the nursery this past weekend. It might be a little early for this kind of stuff, but we were a little worried because the Babies R Us website was saying that quanities were low and it was no longer available online. So we went out to one of the stores in NJ and sure enough they were out of stock of the dresser and didn't really know when it would be back in stock. But luckily there were a few other stores in the area that are serviced by another warehouse, which actually had both pieces in stock! So we got on the phone, ordered the furniture, and voila... it should arrive in 7 to 14 days!

Here are some pictures of the dresser and the crib. Now we just need the mattress and the bedding and the glider and the clothes and the... ok, now we just need everything else.

Updates

We've added a couple of options to the baby names list.  We also added the registry links to the sidebar on the right side of the page.  Oh!  And vote on whether you think we're going to have a boy or a girl.  We'll find out for sure on November 21, so get your guess in now.

Love,

Jason and Lindsey

Our trip to Labor & Delivery

It started out as a normal Sunday afternoon. Jason & I planned on getting some grocery shopping done, maybe a few loads of laundry, and then we were off to Quakertown. Well, it started out normal... but that's definitely not how it ended up.

While we were on our way to the grocery store I started having sharp pains in my left side. I figured it was probably nothing, just gas or something, so I ignored it and continued shopping. When I got home I thought I would lay down for a bit before we headed up to Q-town. But the pain got worse. So I put a call into the doctors office. 30 minutes later... no call back. So I tried again. Another 20 minutes and I just couldn't take it anymore, we were off to the ER.

Luckily at our hospital they take anyone over 16 weeks straight up to Labor & Delivery. I was 16 weeks 4 days... whew! So I was whisked straight upstairs where they tested my urine and did an ultrasound. The urine looked clean (no UTI or bladder infection) and the ultrasound showed that the baby was a-ok. They also ruled out kidney stones since there was no blood in my urine. So at that point, no one knew what the heck was wrong with me.

They thought it might be round ligament pain (RLP) which is when the ligaments that hold the uterus to the abdominal wall stretch when the uterus grows. But they wanted to do a more high-tech ultrasound to make sure it wasn't an ovarian cysts or something else. By the time the ultrasound tech from radiology made it up to our room we had been in the hospital for 6 hours and we were exhausted!

The tech said everything looked ok, but the doctor needed to look at the pictures. Apparently that takes 2 hours. Finally one of the residents came in and told us we could go home. "Um... so what's wrong with me?" She said it probably was just the RLP and to take some tylenol. So with that, we were off and on our way back home.

The highlight of the evening had to be on our drive home... the Phillies had just won Game 4 of the World Series, giving them a 3 to 1 advantage over the Tampa Bay Rays. The crowds were pouring into the streets. Everyone was screaming and cars were honking their horns. It was so cool to see the city so excited! Only 1 more win to go!

Don't smoke crack

During our most recent visit to the doctor, we met a different physician.  I think they want you to meet a few different doctors, because they can't predict which one will be delivering the baby.

This lady had a more relaxed attitude than our last doctor.  She was funny and a little sarcastic.  Here are a couple examples:

The doctor took a look at Lindsey's charts and said, "Well, this looks boring.  Nothing to see here.  In preganancy, when everything's normal and the charts are boring, that's a good thing.  And you guys are definitely boring."

Later, she asked if we had any other questions.  I said, "Just curious... We've heard a few different things... What's your opinion on drinking a glass of wine every once in a while during pregnancy?"  I asked because Lindsey has been very careful and conservative.  I was honestly wondering if the doctor thought it was necessary to be so cautious.  

The doctor responded, "There's no evidence that shows a single glass of wine will affect a baby's development.  There is evidence that shows drinking heavily is clearly a problem.  And we know for sure that not drinking is fine.  So - I'd never tell a patient it's okay to drink every day, but I think it's safe to say a glass of wine every once in a while is probably okay.  Oh - also... don't smoke crack."

Babies are big business

I'm learning a thing or two about the economics of parenthood.  Lindsey and I went to Babies R' Us and Buy Buy Baby this weekend to take a look at cribs and strollers and whatnot.  Lindsey has been researching online and keeping me in the loop - so we had a list of a few things we wanted to see.  But as much as we knew about this segment of the US marketplace, I had no idea what I was in for.

These stores are gigantic.  Like Best Buy or a Walmart - except they're filled with exclusively with baby stuff.  At first it seemed like these places were cutting down their target demographic dramatically.  The only people who might want to shop there are expectant parents and parents of very young children (and anyone who is provided a registry, I guess).  What I failed to consider was the fact that people LOVE to buy baby-related products.  By "people", I mean just about anyone who has ever been a parent or wants to be a parent.

The customers in these places had huge smiles on their faces as they tested out the glider chairs specifically marketed to nursing mommies.  They giggled as they played with the colorful, beeping, flashing "learning centers".  And they boasted about how very easy it is to collapse their favorite stroller with one arm while holding their baby in the other.

The sales reps were even more chipper.  They appeared to genuinely love their jobs.  They were encouraging, polite, and extremely helpful.  All that happiness was a little overwhelming.

We wandered around the store, taking a closer look at the products we picked out online.  Our list is pretty short.  We want what we need - not anything and everything that new parents could possibly own.   If every new parent were like us, the store would have been much smaller.  For example: you could buy an infant carseat, a stroller compatible with that carseat, a second carseat base for the other car, a bigger carseat for when your kid is bigger, a bigger stroller, an umbrella stroller for quick jaunts, and a jogging stroller (I almost forgot stroller toys and stroller accessories).  That's where Lindsey's research has been paying off.  She's been able to figure out what we really need and what would just be excessive.

Overall, I'm glad we had a chance to see all of these things up close.  And we'll definitely be back a few more times as we get closer to our due date.  But there's one thing I learned for sure: these baby-product megastores must be raking in the cash.

Maternity clothes are for suckers!

I finally broke down and bought some maternity clothes last weekend.  This was not as easy of a task as it sounds.  There are a lot of what I will now refer to as "regular people" stores that advertise that they also carry maternity clothes, but the selection is definitely not abundant.  I was already warned to stay away from the maternity specialty stores like Motherhood because the quality stinks and A Pea in the Pod because everything is extremely overpriced.  So with that in mind and a 15% off coupon for Old Navy/Gap/Banana Republic in hand, I decided to give the Cherry Hill Mall a shot.

All in all, the trip was not a complete failure.  I'm really hoping that it's ok if I only wear cordouroy's for the next 6 months because they are the only maternity pants that aren't jeans and that I don't think look hideous.  Jason assures me that I'll find some khaki's or dress pants that I like soon enough, but I'm not so convinced.

There was one silver lining to the trip... sizing in maternity clothes is AWESOME!  I've heard people say to buy the same size that you normally wear, but that is ridiculous.  If I did that I would be swimming in my clothes for the next few months.  I know I'll need a bigger size eventually, but I figure by then it'll be a lot colder and I'll need different clothes anyway.

I think Jason was a little shocked when I came home 4 hours later with an armful of bags.  I guess I should probably tell him about the package that's being shipped to his office (I did mention that the selection in the stores isn't great, right?).

Such A Fast Heartbeat!

This morning was our second appointment with the baby doctor.

It started out a little rocky with the receptionist telling me I could go back and use the restroom whenever I was ready. Um... ok?!? After seeing the confused and bewildered look on my face, Jason graciously went back to the receptionist and asked her if there was something we needed to do, because obviously there was something we were missing. Well, they wanted a urine sample. Ok, that's easy... I can do that (thanks for being so vague)!

Well, I walked back to the area the receptionist pointed me towards and there were 3 nurses all standing around. Not one of them looked up. It took about a minute before someone looked at me and I was finally able to ask what I was supposed to do. So they hand me a cup and point me towards a door. And... LOCKED! Dammit! Luckily a very nice lady in a white coat, I'm going to assume she was a doctor, walked by and told me there was another bathroom down the hall. Success! I pee in a cup... but now what?

I come out of the bathroom, holding a cup of my own urine and having no clue what to do. When I ask one of the nurses she tells me to write my name on the label and put the cup in the pink bin. Wouldn't it have been easier if I wrote my name on the side of the cup before I peed in it? Just a thought...

Ok, so I got that wretched experience out of the way (and now next time I'll know what to do) and I'm back in the waiting room sitting next to Jason. This is when we overhear the nurse talking to the someone in the medical records room, looking for my chart. They can't find it! I know I could get up and offer some assistance (I have had 3 different last names now), but at this point why help them when they are so unhelpful. Eventually, the nurse just calls me back, no chart in hand, only the paperwork for today.

After we get all the standard stuff out of the way (I've only gained 3 lbs since last time... woohoo!) the good part starts. The doctor wants to try to listen to the heartbeat! She tries for a few minutes and then there it is! Our baby's heartbeat! About 160 beats per minute. Our baby is 12 weeks and healthy and growing! This was truly the greatest sound in the world. Only 4 more weeks until we get to hear it again. And only 6 to 8 more weeks until we can find out if it's a little boy or a little girl. Stay tuned...

Ultrasound Pics!

Our First Visit to the Doctor

We had our first doctor's appointment this past Wednesday and it's official... we're having a baby!

The good doc put our estimated due date (EDD) at April 8, 2009. That puts us at 7 weeks 4 days pregnant today. We are so excited and have just started telling our friends and family.

Our first ultrasound is scheduled for Wednesday, September 3rd. Hopefully we'll be able to hear the heartbeat or see the baby, but it may still be too early to see it clearly. We will definitely post pictures if we get any.

Until then... we've started talking about possible names. Click here to vote on your favorites.

Speaking of a wedding present...

I thought since I mentioned that our little bundle of joy was the most wonderful wedding present ever, I might post a wedding picture too.

Check out the rest of our pics here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/thechurning/WeddingPhotos?authkey=_hcfJqSm4xc

It's Positive!

Our first confirmation that our entire lives were going to change... the $7.99 pregnancy test from the Sandals Ocho Rios gift shop. Now that's one hell of a wedding present.

Welcome to our baby blog!

This is going to be fun!