Month 6

Seriously, I cannot believe that my belly is that big and our baby is estimated to weigh just over a pound! What I do know is that he/she is loving all that room because throughout the day I can feel him/her moving here, there, and everywhere. People are always asking me why my hands are always on my belly and it is just because I am so amazed at this little life inside. I am continuing to feel well and just cannot imagine people who do not love being pregnant... though if I were puking, I probably wouldn't love it. Despite the new onset of some low back discomfort (on occassion after long days) and more difficulty finding that perfect sleeping position, I am just truckin' right along. This month's doctors visit was just a weight check, blood pressure check, measurements, and a listen for heart tones. We passed with flying colors. Next month is the glucose tolerance test. I hope there is no sign of diabetes because I certainly am enjoying a sweet treat more often than I used to!


I do have to share with you one of the cutest things that has happened at work recently. One of my 2 year-old patients apparently loves pregnant women. Now that I am showing, she likes to pat my belly then her mom will ask her to wave to the baby and she will wave at my belly and say "bye bye" to it when I leave. It is absolutely adorable.

Comedy and Cardinals

Nearly a month ago now... yes, I know I am still very behind... Ari and I drove over to St. Louis for a whirlwind visit. We got into town late Friday night and mom and I got up early Saturday to get some shopping done. I was looking for some maternity dresses for weddings we are attending in November. Then we had to get back because we had plans for dinner on the Hill followed by seeing Jim Gaffigan at the Fox. Ari has long complained that despite our many trips to St. Louis, I have never taken him to eat Italian on the Hill. I picked a new restaurant for all of us: LoRusso's Cucina. It was superb. The ciopino (basically the best fish stew ever) was phenomenal and warranted a picture... I know I am strange. Everyone else enjoyed their meals as well. Then we were off to the Fox and what should have been a ten minute drive turned into a 45 minute drive because of SLU homecoming. There were cars everywhere, streets blocked off, and not a cop in sight to direct traffic. Needless to say we missed most of the opening act but were in time for the main show. Ari and I have seen Jim Gaffigan in the past and absolutely love him. I personally find it refreshing to see a comedian who can do two hours of stand up with out any crude jokes or cursing... do I sound like an old woman or what? After the show, it was again a traffic disaster. We sat in the parking garage for 40 minutes before John got out to see what the problem was. Shortly after he left, things started moving... apparently because he started directing traffic!

The next day we were up and out early again so we could meet Laura, Tim, Audrey, and new baby Drew for breakfast. We brought over Panera and Laura made a fruit salad. It was so nice to catch up since we only see them about once per year. Baby Drew is beautiful and looks like the male version of Audrey. We played for a while and Ari practiced his art skills for Audrey until it was time to head off to the Cardinal game. It was much warmer in our bleacher seats than I had expected and I only had brought maternity jeans! We baked for the majority of the game but it was great to see a win and lots of offense! After the game we sadly parted with mom and John and headed home.

Octoberfest

Well it seems as though we have moved from one very German town to another! Octoberfest is a huge deal in Cincinnati and the second largest in the world to Munich. Blocks and blocks of streets are partitioned off for fair rides and countless vendors doling out German favorites including beer, brats, sauerkraut, and potato pancakes. The food isn't just limited to those, however, we also saw perogies (a favorite of Ari's), bbq, and classic funnel cakes. We went to see what the celebration was all about with our new friends Corey and Ericka. Ericka is a first year pediatric endocrine fellow at Cincinnati Children's and was the first person I met here. Believe it or not, her husband is in Ari's emergency medicine group at Miami Valley... what are the chances?! Needless to say we have a lot in common. The three non-preggers people enjoyed the beer while I had a delicious brat and water... next year, I get to partake!

The fun didn't stop after the street fest. About a week later, a bunch of the bone marrow transplant folks decided to meet at the Hofbrauhaus on the levy. Everyone was in good spirits as we listened to polka and stuffed ourselves with more sauerkraut and sausage! We ended the night doing the chicken dance on our table... what a sight!

Hurricane Part II

So here is a photo of the tree that caused us to lose power and nearly our minds for a week. Seriously, how did people exist before electricity? Click on the blog title for more interesting pictures. The pine tree that was uprooted down the street from us is just amazing... thank goodness it fell away from the house!

Five Months - Half Way There!!

Another month, another shot of my expanding belly. It is so strange to see pictures of my tummy because it doesn't feel as big as it clearly looks in the photos. This past month has brought lots of exciting changes. The best is actually feeling the baby start to move... clearly the most amazing thing that a woman can experience (sorry guys!). We also had our "big" ultrasound. So after a little while of letting our ultrasound tech show us how cute the baby is, I finally told her that I wanted to see a four chambered heart. The pediatrician in me has been worrying about that for weeks. So after learning that there were two docs in the room she showed us everything we wanted to see: a lovely brain without hydrocephalus, no cleft lip, a four chambered heart, an intact diaphragm, closed spinal cord, working kidneys, and a 3 vessel umbilical cord. Hooray!! We were most impressed that she was able to do this without showing us what was in between (or not in between) the baby's legs. From here on out, I will refer to the baby as he... because I think it is a boy (Ari thinks its a girl). Regardless we can hardly wait for the next 20 weeks to pass so we can meet him. I think the hardest part about the last month as been the increased pressure on my feet. I literally am on my feet all day and my feet are taking a beating. Though I thought the day would never come, high heels are out and flats are in. Other than that and a little heart burn I feel great!