Neil Oliver: What a Shopper!

Neil made out like a bandit today (with some help from his thrifty mom).  After going to the doctor's office to drop off a jug with 24-hours worth of mommy urine and give a few vials of blood for testing, we went to Goodwill in Lebanon.  They have a much larger selection of baby clothes than the one in Campbellsville, and their pricing was better.  We bought a few receiving blankets, some pants, some one-piece outfits, and a really cute dress up outfit with a vest and tie (picture below) for $10.  Then we went to Walmart and found that the Lebanon Walmart carries some nursing bras and tanks.  We got a couple to try, and if we need more, we know where to find them.  We love shopping in Lebanon!

A super-cute outfit for pictures.  All he needs is a little book, and he'll look like a professor!  The pieces are separate, so he may be able to wear the tie even after the shirt and pants are too small.  And he got it all for $3.













After we got home and ate a peanut butter sandwich with a cup of milk (and did a happy meal dance), we went out to run more errands.  We picked up Matt's suit at the cleaners, went to the bank and post office, and went to the courthouse to ask about our car title now that the car is paid off (hurray!).  While trying to find a parking spot around the courthouse, we came across a consignment shop that had baby gear out on the sidewalk.  So we checked it out and got a stroller and bouncy seat for $15.  The stroller is a little rusty, but it has some really great features and is really easy to use (pictures below).  So for $25, Neil got a bag full of clothes, a bouncy seat, and a stroller.  What a shopper!

By pulling a few levers, the stroller converts to a baby carriage.  And because the levers for reclining and handle angle are separate, we have options in addition to traditional stroller or carriage: he can lie down and face away from us or sit up and face us.  And the whole thing collapses quickly by pressing a foot lever and fits nicely in our car's trunk. A super buy for only $10!  


The Precious Moments bouncy seat is to the right of the stroller.


Health Update:  We probably won't hear the results of the urine and blood tests until early next week if at all.  We have another ultrasound next Thursday, so if I don't hear anything before then, I'll ask about the results.  I'm hoping that Neil gains half a pound this week and that the test results are favorable.  The doctor had us schedule weekly ultrasounds for the rest of the pregnancy, which seems a little excessive if there's nothing actually wrong.  Matt thinks that Neil is being persecuted for being small. :)  Unfortunately, his parents are the ones who are "suffering" with medical testing and weekly drives to the doctor's office.

Travels

Last weekend we went to Louisville because Matt had a paper accepted at a conference there.  While we were there, we decided to try out some restaurants and hit some bookstores and used children stores (where you go when you decide that a new child is too expensive).  We had a good time.  I had done quite a bit of research so that we knew what restaurants we wanted to try and where the stores were, and it paid off.  Over two days, we tried Queen of Sheba (Ethiopian), Havana Rumba (Cuban), and J Gumbo.  All were yummy.  We were going to try a Filipino buffet at Sari Sari, but it was closed on Saturday.  I have really missed African food since we moved.  I got a combo platter with a collard green dish, a carrot and cabbage dish, a chili chicken drumstick, a chili lentil dish and a beef and potato stew all served on a huge piece of injira bread.  I didn't care for the chili dishes, but the other stuff was super.  Neil didn't like it so much.  He didn't do his happy meal dance.  He liked the Cuban and gumbo much better.  We'll work on his appreciation of ethnic cuisine after he arrives.  My friend Stacy watches a little boy whose mom put spices like curry in his homemade baby food, and he loved it.  As long as it doesn't add fat, salt or sugar and the baby will eat it, I think "why not?"  It would be great to have a kid who likes to try new flavors.

Shopping for Neil was pretty productive.  He got a baby monitor and a used Bumbo chair.  He also got a Sandra Boynton board book (because I love them) and most of an outfit for possible Christmas pictures.  There are sweater vest outfits on clearance at Walmart right now for $11.  I found the outfit I wanted minus the shirt used for $4.50.  I'd like to get a set from Walmart in the 9-12 month size, then I could use the shirt from that set in Christmas pictures even if it's a little big.  We looked for the monster onesies at Target, but they are no longer in stock, which is disappointing.  I did get him some clothes, including a sweater vest for next Easter, at Goodwill after we got home.  And while we're on the subject of shopping for Neil, thank you to Mom and Dad Oliver and Aunt Arlene for their contribution to the rocker-recliner fund.  Since feeding will occur in the chair, I'm sure it will cause a happy meal dance after he arrives.

This weekend we're taking one last visit to see family before the baby is born.  We'll spend time in southeast Missouri, staying with Grandma and meeting Audrey's baby brother Aiden Michael, on Thursday night and Friday.  Then we'll head to Springfield for a few days to see Matt's family and my sister Ashley, who has discovered single serving Icees that you keep in your freezer.  Woohoo!  She knows me so well. :)  I'll also check out Other Mother's used children's stores while we're in Springfield.  I got some great stuff while we were there at Christmas.  Maybe we can mark a few more things off of Neil's wishlist.

After we get back home, I'll go for my next ultrasound, get some more housework done, install the car seat that's just sitting in our car, finish packing for the hospital, and wait for my baby to arrive.  The next sunny Saturday we get, I want to visit the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, only half an hour away.  And we may make one more trip to Elizabethtown during Spring Break so that we can stock up at Aldi again.  That should keep us occupied but not exhausted as we enjoy our last weeks without children.

Such a Fuss Over a Little Boy

I had another ultrasound and check up today.  My blood pressure was great: 123/80.  I gained 6 pounds in 3 weeks, a little faster than I'd like but reasonable, especially since we've done a lot of travelling recently.  The baby is still head-down and seems to have all his parts; they're just small.  Well, not his "boy parts."  Those seem to be well developed. :)  Overall, he's just small, about 3.5 pounds.  One "your baby this week" email I got says that he should be about 4.5 pounds.  Actually, if he gains half a pound a week like he's supposed to at this stage, he'll be 7 pounds by 40 weeks, which is a fine birth weight.  But he's not within the desired growth percentiles right now, so they're going to do some tests.  Low weight is typically caused by a mother's smoking or high blood pressure, neither of which applies to me.  So they want to make sure there's no other problem, particularly a problem with blood flow to the baby.  They have no reason other than his size to think there's a problem.  My placenta looks good, and what they could see of the umbilical cord also looked fine.  My uterus was a little low on fluid, so I'm supposed to drink more.  Travelling probably affected how much I drink, too.  We could see Neil sucking, so he seemed fine.

The ultrasound tech and the nurse practitioner asked me if he's active.  I told them his movements are more regular but not terribly frequent.  The nurse practitioner specifically asked about nighttime movement and was very impressed that he calms down when I tell him it's bedtime.  He wasn't very active during the ultrasound.  Other than his sucking lips, only his feet moved a little.  However, after the ultrasound I ate a granola bar in the waiting room and he did his "happy meal dance."  Next time, I'll eat a granola bar during the ultrasound so we can see the dance.  The nurse practitioner said I should feel him move 4 times per hour.  I'm not sure he does that.  Maybe if I ate a peanut butter sandwich (he gets really excited when I eat peanut butter) and then put my computer desk against my belly, I could provoke him to move more than 4 times in one hour.  And I'd have to make sure I didn't talk to him, which would make him stop moving.  I typically acknowledge his movements by talking to him, and I talk to him while I do housework.  Perhaps if his mother would shut up long enough, he'd get some exercise.

So I've got some tests this week to prove we're OK.  I was given a jug for a 24-hour urine test to check my kidney function.  Unfortunately, I stocked up on groceries at Aldi on Saturday, so I'm going to have to figure out where to put my pee jug during the 24 hours of testing.  Fortunately, I didn't have any away-from-home plans for Tuesday, so the test won't affect my life too much.  On Wednesday morning, I'll take my urine jug to the doctor and have a blood test.  Hopefully, everything will be OK.  We'll also have another ultrasound next week after we get back from Missouri.  Of course, I'll post more when I know more.

The nurse practitioner is very reassuring and does a good job of explaining what's going on and why.  She let us know that there's no reason to worry at this point.  And though Matt and I had quite a few questions for her, mostly because we like to understand things, I don't think either of us is worried.  That's a good thing because worry could increase my blood pressure, and I've heard that's not good for a baby's birth weight.

A Sneak Peek at Neil's Room

I seriously cleaned the nursery today (dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, mopping) and arranged the furniture a bit, so I thought I'd offer an online tour of the nursery.  I've embedded a tiny slideshow without captions (you may need to mouse over the image below and click play), but I'm also including links to a larger slideshow and the online album so you have the option of seeing larger photos and captions so you can really see and understand what the nursery is like.  We still need a few things, but I'm feeling much better now that the room is clean.  I even baby-proofed the electrical outlets while I was at it.

Nursery Tour Album: View at your own pace

Larger Nursery Tour Slide Show: Use the control pad to play, pause, or move forward or backward through the show

Kentucky Chiropractor

Due to a lifetime of injuries, I have chronic back problems that send me to the chiropractor about every two months.  I was afraid that the extra weight of pregnancy, especially the uneven distribution of weight, would be hard on my back, but I haven't gone to the chiropractor since we left Wisconsin.  Earlier in the pregnancy, I had some problems with sciatica, but that resolved itself after several days.  During the last month, I've been having some rib pain that interferes with my sleep when lie on my side.  The rib issue isn't pregnancy-related.  I fell while working at K-Mart 10 years ago, and a rib popped out of place when the trunk of my body caught my entire weight.  Yes, it was as painful as it sounds.  Occasionally, I need someone to crunch the middle of my back so that it stops putting pressure on my ribs.  And yesterday my neck felt like I slept on it crooked, but the feeling didn't go away like a crick in the neck should.  So Matt got chiropractor recommendations from the last English department meeting, and the unanimous choice was Dr. Roberts in Campbellsville.  The recommendation from the nurses at my OB (in Lebanon) was Dr. Roberts in Lebanon, a different Dr. Roberts.  I went to see the Campbellsville Dr. Roberts today.

Visiting a new chiropractor is kind of scary.  You have to trust someone you don't know not to paralyze or kill you when they put their hands around your neck and wrench it.  Unfortunately, I saw a Columbo episode years ago where the victim was killed when the guy massaging her neck intentionally broke it.  It's an image that sticks with you and pops up at inopportune times, like when you're meeting a new chiropractor.  I have become reasonably adept at relaxing for new chiropractors because I had three of them in Madison.  I just saw whichever HMO chiropractor was available when I needed an adjustment, and all three were super.

Dr. Roberts pressed on my neck and shoulders to make sure I didn't have disk problems, and then we got right to the adjustment.  I told him before he started that he wouldn't have to apply a lot of pressure to make my joints move.  One of my Madison chiropractors, Dr. Fuch, kept making me feel like I had whiplash after every appointment.  When I told him that I had Matt drive me because I had trouble turning my head to back out of parking spots after he got through with me, he felt really bad and stopped crunching my neck so hard.  His adjustments worked just as good without the whiplash.  When I told Dr. Roberts this, he told me he would treat me like a "princess."  The word "princess" made me feel dismissed and unheard, but soon after he started pressing on me he said, "Whoa, you do adjust easily!"  After the adjustment, he put a couple of wedges under my hips and let my spinal fluid settle.  Never heard of the spinal fluid thing before, but it was comfy.

I also had him check out my wrists.  I think pregnancy is causing carpal tunnel, so I popped my wrists about a week ago.  One popped OK, but the other popped twice and then hurt and continued to hurt.  This has happened before, and I was able to pull on my thumb until my wrist stopped hurting.  Pulling on my thumb didn't work for me this time, so I decided to have the chiropractor try.  He told me that there are a couple of bones in the hand that can get separated from the wrist, which explains why I felt like something was dislocated and why pulling on my thumb might help fix the problem.  He massaged and wiggled both wrists and palms a bit and seemed to think it would help.

When I got home, I made a snack and sat in Matt's big comfy chair with my feet propped up and rested and let my body settle.  I felt a bit better when I got up to heat some soup for lunch.  After lunch, Matt and I took a nap, and I woke up feeling even better.  My neck and wrist are still a little stiff and sore, but I think I'll sleep better tonight.  Last night I hurt every time I turned over and had trouble getting comfortable again.  It will be good to sleep more soundly.

Neil didn't seem to mind the adjustment.  He hasn't always approved of my popping my own back, but he was quiet while we were at the doctor's office.  And he got pretty excited about snack time in the big comfy chair.  His movements are becoming a bit more regular.  I get a "good morning" thump.  Meals and large snacks are cause for celebration in my uterus.  He still hates my computer desk and kicks it away from my belly.  He's still quiet at bedtime but gives me a "hi there" thump if I wake up in the night.  He stops moving when I talk to him.  And I still find his movements funny.  Between Neil's thumps and Matt's expressive and conversational moans while he sleeps--a new development since this latest round of coughing began--bedtime keeps me in stitches.  My boys are so funny!

Family Traditions

Sometimes I feel like my family doesn't have many traditions, especially the big holiday ones.  We've had stir fry for Thanksgiving dinner and chimichangas for Christmas.  But I've realized that there were a lot of little everyday traditions.  I've been thinking about the traditions that I want to pass on to my children, and special home-made birthday cakes are one of them.  I think I'll make Neil the bunny cake I had for my first birthday party.  He won't care on his birthday, but I know that the cake is meaningful to me now.  Maybe it will eventually be meaningful to him, too.  I think I'd also like to sometimes make pancakes in shapes like Grandma Natta used to do.  I like that Grandma Tanner had a particular song she always sang to us when she rocked us: "Still Sweeter Every Day" (#474 in the Hymns of Glorious Praise hymnal).  Grandma tried a different song with Kristin one time, and Kristin corrected her and started singing Grandma's song just in case she had forgotten how it went.  This morning I was thinking about the "head acher, eye peeper" game that my family plays with babies.  I don't remember where it came from, but it's part of my childhood and it's unique. It will be interesting to find out what family traditions Matt has, too. 

I'm eager to teach Neil how to do things.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are of people teaching me to do things, and the skills have been valuable, too.  Dad and Grandpa taught me about fishing.  Dad also taught me softball skills and how not to "hammer like a girl."  Grandpa taught me to blow in my hands to whistle (like a conch shell).  Grandmother Wilmoth taught me to whistle by blowing into empty bottles.  Mom taught me to follow a recipe, to sew and to crochet.  Grandma let me experiment with all sorts of things--typing, cooking (I made tomato soup out of ketchup packets, attempted cooking pancakes over pans heated with hot tap water, and created a really nasty mass of microwaved cheddar cheese and graham crackers), embroidering--even though I made messes.  Everyone in the family encouraged my many hobbies no matter how unusual: photography, costume making, first aid, soap carving, candy making, weaving, and many, many more.  I come from a family of makers, and I hope Neil is one, too.

Matt has told me that he sometimes thinks about explaining to Neil how things work.  I tend to think about explaining how people work: emotions, social customs, behaviors, and manners.  For example, why did people laugh when he said something serious?  Why poopoo jokes are not appropriate at the dinner table.  How using polite words like "please" and "thank you" make people more likely to do what you want.  I think we're both hoping our son is curious about the world, and we're eager to encourage him.

Month 8: So Far, So Good

Valentine's Day is the beginning of week 32.  One more month and Neil won't be a preemie.  Two more months and he'll be here.  I'm not sure how to count months in pregnancy because the doctors deals with weeks, so I've decided to claim 8 months.  At 32 weeks, I've technically completed 8 months.  Or if you consider pregnancy to last 9 months because you're not actually pregnant for all of the first month, I'm beginning the 8th month.  Either way I feel a sense of achievement.  It's the kind of achievement you feel on your birthday.  You didn't actually do anything more than continue to live, but it feels good.  Maybe I should make myself an 8th month cake to celebrate.  I have a spice cake mix and a jar of cream cheese icing.  If I feel ambitious and clean the kitchen first, I may get out my food coloring and decorating tips and try piping the icing to make the cake pretty.  I'll take a picture to share if I actually carry out my ambitious and unnecessary plan.  Speaking of pictures, in about two weeks we have another doctor's appointment and ultrasound.  It will be nice to get another look at him and see if he's outgrown his alien phase like he outgrew his turtle phase.  We can only hope. :)

And His Name Shall Be Called...

I started this blog so that I could share information and avoid answering the same questions over and over.  So far it's worked really well, but I am getting questions about the baby's name.  Here's the best answer we have: we're 80% sure his name will be Neil Cameron Oliver.  We like the name a lot; it's the favorite of our three options, but we think there might be something better out there that we haven't considered.  And there's always the chance we'll take one look at him and be certain is name is Godric.

80% sure is enough to start calling him Neil but isn't enough to invest in items with the name Neil on them.  I/We have started calling him Neil just to make sure we like it enough to say it all of the time for the rest of our lives.  Every once in a while I still think his name is Miles, but most of the time I'm pretty sure he's Neil.  Most people should be happy with naming him "Neil."  From our Christmas polling, I know that Ashley, Grandma Tanner and Aunt Sandra preferred "Neil."  And really, if those three like it, it's got to be good.

On an unrelated note, the Krusteaz pecan bars are pretty good, but not as magical as the coffee cake.  And they're more work.  You have to cut butter into the crust mix and pre-bake the crust before adding and baking the pecan topping.  I don't like cutting fat into flour.  It's tedious.  It's why I use baking mix instead of making biscuits from scratch.  Though Pioneer baking mix makes better biscuits than I ever made from scratch and waaaaaay better than Bisquick.  I do still have some Bisquick in my pantry for making raspberry oat bars, a bar good all day--breakfast (biscuit mix, oatmeal and raspberry jelly sounds like breakfast to me) to midnight snack.  I'll try to remember to post the recipe.  The recipe does call for cutting butter into Bisquick, but the result is soooo worth it.  Actually, I think Krusteaz makes a raspberry oat bar mix.  Hmm...

We're Still A-OK

We had another check-up today, and the baby and I are fine.  My blood pressure was a little higher this month (139/81), but it's supposed to go up a little in the 7th month.  I gained about 5 pounds in three weeks.  The half of a 9x9" cinnamon coffee cake I ate yesterday probably didn't help. :)  By the way the Krusteaz brand cinnamon coffee cake mix is AWESOME!  It only takes 1 egg and 2/3 cups water and no electric mixer.  Even before I got pregnant I had cinnamon cravings that were difficult to satisfy.  This will satisfy.  I got the mix at Big Lots, but I've seen the brand at Walmart.  I'm going to get more coffee cake mix at Big Lots and try another Krusteaz mix from Walmart, probably the pecan pie bars.  Yum!  The coffee cake was not made because of a cinnamon craving.  So far, I have had fewer cravings than I did before I was pregnant.  It makes it easier to follow my weekly meal plans and to eat leftovers when I'm not battling powerful cravings.  Pregnancy has it's benefits.

The nurse had a hard time finding the baby's heartbeat, and she had to leave to assist the doctor in another room in the middle of searching for the heartbeat.  I was pretty sure the baby was OK.  He had kicked me a time or two in the waiting room.  When she did eventually find him, his heartbeat was a strong 160 beats per minute and my belly was sore from having the little "doppler" wand jabbed into it so hard for so long.  The doctor also mashed on my belly to find the baby and judge his size.  Dr. Reynolds says the baby is head down with his back facing my right side.  Dr. Reynolds asked how much I weighed when I was born.  When I told him 6 lbs., 12 oz., he told me my boy would be heavier than I was.  I asked for an estimate.  He said 7-7.5 pounds, not too big, no reason to worry.  We'll see.

I asked about how long I'll be allowed to travel.  Grandpa Tanner is not well, and I want to know when I can visit.  The doctor said I can take long car trips until week 36 (mid-March).  We've planned a trip to Missouri for late February, one last chance to see family (including new nephew Aiden) before I'm confined.  Matt is reading at a conference in Louisville February 20, so we're going to spend that weekend exploring Louisville.  I'm hoping to hit a few second-hand children's goods stores, and Matt's interested in used book stores.  It will be good to get away together.

My next appointment is in about 2 1/2 weeks, and I'm schedule to have another ultrasound.  Maybe baby Oliver will look less like an alien this time.