Annelise is...

Annelise is...

... 1 month and 6 days old (or, 5 weeks and 1 day!)

... waking 2-3 times a night to eat. Often, these are short feedings since she stockpiles in the evenings.

... smiling in response to us! She likes "chin choppers" and kisses on the face. She bit me while nursing this morning, causing me to cry out suddenly in pain. Her reaction to my outburst: a big ol' grin!

... very much loved by her kitties. They often join us in bed for family cuddles; and give

Lise gentle kisses on her head, and affectionate head butts. :)

... just getting over her first cold. Saline drops and the 'snot sucker' are not her favs.

... putting on the chunk. I adore every new crease and am amazed with each outgrown outfit (and is it hard to pack away those little clothes!). Her last weigh-in at 2 weeks clocked her at 7 lbs 4 oz. She's certainly well over 8 lbs now, I'm sure.

... alert and observant, craning her neck to check out her surroundings. Lately, she gazes at the Christmas tree.

... going to be stringing words together any day now! Ok, not really... but she is itching to "talk". She loves to sit tummy-to-tummy with us, as we hold her face toward ours. We have our best conversations this way!

... known for her "OHHH!" face

... holding her head up very well, for several seconds at a time.

... SO well loved!!

A Late Announcement

Yup, I'm no longer pregnant... and haven't been for nearly a month. Wow, where does the time go?!

We went in for induction the evening of November 3, had a c-section November 5, and came home November 8 with a beautiful baby GIRL!

ANNELISE KAYTE

born November 5, 2010

at 12:29 am

7 lbs 1.5 oz, 20 inches

Tomorrow, Annelise will be four weeks old. In some ways, it feels like we just came home with her, as we are still trying to get in the swing of this whole parenthood thing. In other ways, she's been with us forever and it's weird to think it has ONLY been four weeks. She is sooo well loved by the two of us, and our family and friends. I can't wait to watch her grow.

2 days overdue

Still here, still pregnant.

A massage is on this morning's to-do list. We're strongly hoping it brings on labor.

If I'm still preggo midweek, I will be induced. We'd go in Wednesday night for a cervical-softening agent, then start pitocin Thursday morning. Induction is, by far, not our preferred route. As such, we are doing whatever we can---within reason--- to get me to go into labor and have this baby on my own.

Hopefully our next post is a birth announcement :-)

Like father, like fetus.

I felt the first tiny kicks on a Friday in late June, at just over 22 weeks pregnant. I was visiting my mom that weekend, and she was able to feel those first flutters just above my belly button. At home in Omaha working, Stephen he was unable to be present for that milestone.

Since that weekend, I have been trying with futility to get Daddy in on the action. However, Erfurt was still so small then that it took a great deal of patience to feel anything on the outside; and most of the time, these kicks occurred for a couple of seconds, and not again for hours. So no such luck. By 28 weeks, those tiny infrequent kicks had evolved into belly-rocking jabs. I'd call Stephen over, thinking "surely he'll feel these!", but our faces would slowly fall as we'd sit in continued silence, his hand on my belly, waiting, waiting, waiting...

Stephen joked that Erfurt must hate him. We both knew that couldn't be further from the truth; but still, we were a bit discouraged. Feeling the baby move is usually the first chance daddies-to-be have to experience the reality of fatherhood.

As time zoomed forward and my belly grew further outward, we began seeing the humor in Erfurt's consistent Daddy-evasions. You see, Stephen has a nimble and wacky sense of humor. If you didn't catch it the first time, you're out of luck. Often, I'd ask him to "do that again" so as to prolong or relive the laughter. 99% of the time, he refuses. "I don't perform".

Like father, like fetus.

My OB has commented during 3 different check-ups that our baby is a trickster and always gives her a run for her money. It is now routine to take several minutes to pick up Erfurt's heartbeat. He (or she) is either darting away from the doppler, or curled up in the most awkward positions. We even had to resort to an ultrasound once because he (or she) was being such a stinker.

So Daddy's vain attempts to feel the baby have turned into bonding moments nevertheless. Each venture only confirmed all the more that this kid has personality!

Two nights ago, I was watching a movie in bed, and the child was going nuts. It felt like he (or she) was going to punch himself (or herself) out my ribs. If I can stay perfectly quiet and make sure Stephen doesn't talk, surely he'll get to feel it this time, right? I slowly reached for my phone and texted Stephen to come in the room but DON'T TALK. Well, he followed orders, but the kid was still. Darn, stumped again! I guess my slow reach for my phone let him (or her) know something was up...

But we are happy to say tonight, exactly 12 weeks from the initial quickening, Stephen was able to finally catch Erfurt in action! We had to trick him (or her) by me maintaining a consistent breath rate and refraining from all movement. I discreetly beckoned Stephen over to my side of the couch with my index finger; silently, he scooted over. I lightly placed his hand just under my ribs.

Bump. "Was that it??" I nodded my head, grinning.

Bump bump bump. "That too?" YES!

Then Erfurt gave an emphatic kick that visibly rocked my belly. "Whoa that was weird!!"

Gotcha, Erf!

33 weeks and counting down!

According to my tickers plastered all over the internet, we have 47 days to go until our due date.

I like that number. It is much smaller than 250. :-)

The Knittels are deep in baby-preparation. We are trying not to leave socks on the living room floor and underwear in the bathroom. Dishes are done immediately after meals, our fridge only houses non-expired food items from now on, and our pantry is (slowly) getting organized. Stephen made a massive batch of beef jerky that should get us through our short hospital stay, weeks of baby bootcamp, Christmas, and 2011 in its entirety. I've prepared a few soups and stews for our freezer. We obliterated the mountain of laundry in our bedroom. All clothes are clean, and either folded or hung up. Erfurt's room is organized to satisfaction. Our first load of baby laundry (NB & 0-3 whites) whirls in the washer as I type.

The kitties completed sniffing all baby items by mid-August, but remain curious about the co-sleeper that took up residence next to our bed this last week. They believe with certainty Erfurt's first bed is theirs to test out. Naturally.

We still have a few little things to accomplish in the weeks ahead, but we are confident a newborn wouldn't get lost in this apartment should it choose to arrive early.

Erfurt him-/herself is very obviously growing. Movement is not be as frequent as it was when swimming in utero was a daily activity for our little fetus, but now a single kick or jab reverberates throughout my whole belly. I do experience the typical discomforts of late pregnancy, but still nothing that compels me to wish the pregnancy over. I even wonder if I'll get to that point. I truly love being pregnant, and am even a little sad that this phase will be behind us in a few short weeks (as an even better one begins).

On my honor...

I promise I'm going to update this blog very soon. Really.

Stay tuned!

Gifts

We are still several weeks away from starting physical preparations for this baby, but in the meantime, we are being blessed by family. Here are a few of our early gifts:

I received this insightful book last weekend from Uncle John, Aunt Carol, and Cousin Roniah

From Aunt Kristen, a zoo animals unisuit w/ bib and a bath set; so sweet!

This weekend, we received by mail this beautiful, handmade baby quilt lovingly crafted by Stephen's Aunt Peggy. It's so soft and already very cherished!

THANK YOU!!!

In response to the inquiries about the baby's nickname: Stephen's nickname in utero was "Erfurt", so we thought it would be fun to carry on the namesake. It wasn't until after the fact that we learned Stephen's dad was also called "Erfurt" as a bun in the oven. We have no idea how Grandpa and Grandma Knittel came up with this name; little did they know that "Erfurt" would stick around generation after generation. The usual nicknames-"Peanut", "Bean", "Gummy Bear"- never really appealed to me, but you tend to want to call your kid SOMETHING to avoid references to him or her as an "it". I love that our baby has a special name right off the bat!

We're back-- with one more in tow!!

Valentine's Day we received the best news of our life. We are finally, gratefully, blissfully PREGNANT!

I'm writing this to provide a background on how we came to receive this blessed gift, for this pregnancy was long sought after. The journey here has been bumpy and certainly no fun. We've spent five years hoping for a surprise, but receiving disappointment month after month, year after year. For "not trying but not preventing", I became VERY well-acquainted with negative pregnancy tests. I do believe I held up quite strong in spite of it all, due to my faith.

I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2006 with longish and/or missing cycles, but only [very] recently did we come to accept something was truly physiologically amiss. Ideally, I wanted this baby to come without any thought on our part, but the more time skipped away, the more we warmed up to seeking help. I had been ovulating unmedicated for nearly a year (due to weight loss), but still no baby. I felt something more had to be going on.

In October, we started our first cycle of Clomid 50 mg with my OBGYN-- no success.

We repeated the protocol in November--- again, no success.

November/December we consulted with a group of Reproductive Endocrinologists (I'll use "RE" for short) at the wonderful Heartland Reproductive Center here in Omaha. We underwent a battery of tests, including bloodwork for each of us, a hysterosalpingogram for me (ouch.) and a semen analysis for him (blush.) Things with me looked as they should, but Stephen had an interesting issue with "the troops". Their number was exponentially massive (>1 billion --- when "normal" is 20-60 million), but only a straggling few (8%) were in good shape. The screwed up boys were blocking the way for our good-looking stragglers. Apparently, crowding was our problem all along. (I googled the heck out of this, btw, and couldn't find a case like it!)

January, we started our first protocol with the RE. I took Clomid 5o mg again. I visited the clinic for a series of ultrasounds to make sure my follicle was growing as it should (it was!). At the beginning of February, I gave myself a shot of hCG to ensure the egg's release was nice and strong. The following day, I went in for an intrauterine insemination (IUI), lovingly called "the turkey baster method". The RE "cleaned" the troops before the insemination so ONLY the good guys would get through. It was easy and painless-not a big deal in the slightest. I was actually shocked at how fuss-less the procedure turned out to be, less significant than a pap.

Two weeks later, I returned home from visiting my sister in Colorado Springs, accompanied by car-sickness-prone-nausea, sore breasts, and a weird knot sensation in my abdomen. Stephen prodded me to test-- even though it was late at night--- and so I did. For him. For laughs. And, boy, did we laugh when we saw that second line! We couldn't stop laughing! Test after test, that second line appeared. On the 15th we read the word "Pregnant" on a digital test and our world hasn't been the same since.

6 weeks - a tiny speck of baby at barely 3 cm

7 weeks and almost a whole cm long, with beautiful beating heart!

"Erfurt" is expected to arrive October 28, and is perfect as can be, currently the size of a raspberry. We are approaching 8 weeks Thursday- very smooth sailing so far with mild symptoms. I do need a nap most days, and smells tend to be a bother. Some days I eat like a pig; other days I would happily do without food, if not for growing a person. It's hard to believe we have only a month left of the first trimester!

*We have a new widget on our blog's right sidebar - watch Erfurt grow!