Picture Update

asleep at the park, with socks on his hands to keep them warm

asleep at home

wide awake on the changing table

with his godfather, Skyler

with his godmother, Mary

Jonah has been getting so big so quickly that it's hard to keep up with him. It seems like I'm constantly putting clothes back into the "too small" box. We bought 6-12 month socks last week and he's already outgrown them. How is that possible!? He's not even 7 weeks old.

We took him to the pediatrician to assess a rash he got on his chest. While we were there, we asked to weigh him because Kevin and I had bets going on how much he'd gained. (I thought he was around 12 lb, Kevin thought 15). Jonah is 14lb, 5oz!! I thought Kevin was crazy for thinking a six week old baby could be 15 pounds but he wasn't too far off! We have ourselves a big baby boy. He's cute, though, right? He's so happy most of the time, always cooing and giggling. He can really entertain himself, now, too. It's nice because we can put him on the playmats for a while and make dinner or pick up the living room and he'll just play with his rattles and talk to his stuffed animals. It's very cute (and convenient!) . We took him to visit the nursing home where I had clinicals last semester and I have to agree with a nurse there: "You make good babies. You need to make more."

Jonah is so awesome I can actually contemplate having more babies at some point, although not anytime soon.

Jonah's New Noise

Jonah Laughs

Jonah was a little angel at the play last night. He didn't fuss once, even when he woke up. Today's another good day. Jonah's all smiles and coos and giggles. He's so cute I almost can't stand it.

I spoke too soon yesterday. Jonah had a terrible evening, night, and now day today. He cries constantly unless he's eating, and he can't seem to get enough. We had to give him formula twice today because he emptied me out and still cried for more. He must be going through a growth spurt, but that seems almost impossible since we measured him yesterday and he's already 25 inches long! We looked it up on the growth chart and it's over the 100th percentile, given that he's not even six weeks old. He's too long for his 3 month clothes and we had to go up another size in diapers. He's growing so fast, no wonder he's grumpy. Poor little guy. Last night, his godparents came over but he wouldn't let them hold him. He wouldn't even let Kevin hold him. He insisted that it be me, all evening and all night. It was equal parts endearing and annoying. I felt bad today because I think it started to hurt Kevin's feelings a little bit this morning. I had Kevin give him a bottle earlier and that seemed to help Jonah remember that he has two parents who can comfort him.

The thing about Jonah is that when he won't stop crying, it seems like he can sense when you're getting ready to toss him out the window. Just as my patience is about to run out, he'll flash me this big smile and give me a little giggle and all the hours of crying suddenly don't seem so bad. Which is good, because after that giggle is through, there's always more crying coming up. But he's just so darn cute, even when he's upset, it's hard to get too irritated with him.

Tonight we're going with our neighbors and Mary&Skyler to Shakespeare in the Park. I'm doubly nervous now that Jonah's so fussy, but he's finally asleep so we'll have to keep our fingers crossed that maybe this bad spell has passed.

Kevin worked yesterday and today. A couple of weeks ago, these would have been long, hard days to get through on my own. This week, however, they've been kind of wonderful. First off, the baby is sleeping better and for longer stretches. This makes a huge difference! He still rarely sleeps longer than 3 hours at a stretch, but he does the three hours pretty consistently now and at night he goes right back to sleep after eating. He's also getting better about sleeping in his crib. In fact, he's sleeping there right now. Though when he wakes up and realizes he's alone in his crib, he is NOT a happy camper.

The other thing that makes him so much more fun these days is that he's a lot more interactive. He watches our faces now and sometimes will imitate our facial expressions. He thinks certain songs are funny (especially one about a fly on his nose). He almost always grins when we take his hands to swat at the fly on his nose. Jonah still thinks Kevin is hilarious and he still thinks the wall in the living room is funnier than both of us put together. He doesn't talk to us that much, but he loves to talk to his stuffed Monkey and Duck. You can see in the picture, they're pretty much his best friends.

I've been taking him on more outings. He and I went to Target by ourselves and he was really well behaved. Having the baby sling works wonders. He just sits in it, wide eyed and takes in everything around him. We were at Target for an hour and he didn't cry at all. We also took him out for ice cream with his godparents and he behaved beautifully. He just watched everything and then fell asleep against me while we were eating. What a good baby! Tomorrow we're going to attempt taking him with us to Shakespeare in the Park. It's family friendly and outside, so I don't think anyone will mind us having a baby with us. There's usually a lot of kids there. Hopefully since it will be dark and past his bedtime, he will sleep for most of it, but we're going to arm ourselves with the pacifier and nursing cover, just in case!

What a difference a month makes! The top picture is Jonah a day after we brought him home. The bottom picture is him on his one month birthday in the same outfit.

Jonah is officially one month old! The colic seems to be getting better, although maybe I shouldn't speak too soon - Kevin works again tonight and I don't need any bad luck...

Jonah has started talking, mostly to himself. He's getting better about entertaining himself and will play for 10 or 15 minutes now on his little stack of blankets we've made for him. It's so cute to hear him cooing and gurgling to himself and Monkey while I grab a quick meal or take a bathroom break.

Jonah also now has official godparents! Mary and Skyler agreed to be his godmother/father yesterday, his one month birthday. We were all very happy and will be going out for ice cream to celebrate soon.

Jonah has had a much better day today. He's catching up on all the sleep he missed out on the last two days. Kevin kept him overnight while I slept and he said Jonah slept pretty well. He's been sleeping all day today, too. It's like heaven, having a sleeping baby again. He's probably just storing up again for his next bout of colic, but I don't care - I'll take whatever peace he'll give me.

I'm looking at him and I can't get over how gorgeous his is, colic and all. He holds his head up a lot now and makes all kinds of noises, like he's experimenting to find out what that voice box can do. My favorite are the little cooing noises he makes when he's calm and sometimes in his sleep. I have no idea what he weighs now, but as you can clearly see, he is getting huge! I can't believe my tiny little baby is no longer tiny at all. He'll be four weeks old on Monday and he's outgrown all his newborn clothes and many of the 0-3 month onsies. Thank goodness for hand me downs from his older cousins! Without them we'd be destitute, wrapping our poor baby in grocery bags.

We took a very long walk today, the longest since the baby. We had a big thunderstorm earlier in the day, so the air was nice and cool. We walked through the community garden at my favorite park. The baby slept in the carrier and Kevin and I were able to talk to each other like real people. It was lovely.

It's been a rough couple of days over here. Jonah's colic has hit full force. He has cried around the clock, rarely going more than an hour without fussing. So that means rarely sleeping for more than an hour at a time. It's manageable when Kevin's here to take turns, but he was working the last two nights and then sleeping during the day, which left me alone with the baby for two days and nights. By this afternoon I was pretty sure I was going crazy, maybe hallucinating. But then it turned out that I'd put in a Looney Tunes DVD that had the really early black and white cartoons on it. Do you have any idea how weird those are? Not something you want to watch when you haven't been sleeping. It's terrifying. Probably not something you want to watch when you have been sleeping. Yikes.

I need a nap.

Kevin's at work now, working his first shift since Jonah arrived - a night shift as luck would have it. We dropped him off at 7 and Jonah cried for the first two hours his dad was gone. Nothing soothed him, not even nursing. He's finally asleep now, though, and looking so sweet I think I'll forgive him for his earlier fussy spell.

Jonah's tummy troubles have been getting worse the last couple of days. I just hate that he's so uncomfortable. We're going to try this gripe water that the pediatrician recommended. We bought some yesterday but the seal was broken on the bottle so we're going to exchange it today. Hopefully this will ease some of his discomfort. A couple of days ago he was crying for a long time and big fat tears rolled down his cheek - his first real tears. I thought my heart would break.

Jonah's also smiling more. The pediatrician says he's too young to smile on purpose, but look at that picture! Kevin was playing with him and he kept smiling right at his dad. Could be coincidence I suppose, but I'll go ahead and believe he's just advanced for his age.

Jonah changes so much every day. He is really turning into his own little person instead of a floppy pooping machine. He now moves his arms a lot more and grabs onto everything that comes into reach. Given enough time, he can get out of any swaddle, even the fancy swaddling blankets that velcro shut. He honks like a goose when he eats, bleats like a lamb when he sleeps and squeaks like a mouse when he wants something. I tell Kevin it's like having our own personal little barnyard. He sleeps a lot, but he fights falling asleep tooth and nail. His eyes will start to drop closed and then he'll snap them back open and cry. He just doesn't want to miss out on anything!

Jonah did not take too well to the bottle. There was lots of crying and sputtering, but he did manage to get most of it down. I think it will just take some getting used to. I'm glad we started with the pumping now so we can slowly introduce it to him. Seeing how much he hates eating from a bottle, it would have been kind of terrible to wait until I needed to go back to school and then suddenly spring several bottles a day on him. The good news from all this is that the pump we got works like a dream. I can get five ounces in ten minutes, which is much faster than when Jonah decides to have a meal.

We're still dealing with a touch of colic, which can be kind of heartbreaking. He cries when he nurses, when he's rocked, and even in his sleep. It really seems like his tummy his hurting him and I wish so much that I could make it better. The one thing that seems to calm him down is putting him in his carseat on the floor. I don't know if it's the angle of the seat or what, but he sleeps better there than anywhere else.

Our little boy is getting very big very fast. He had his second pediatrician appointment today and he already weighs 9lb 13oz! Just eleven days ago he was 8lb, 3oz. He'd been looking a lot bigger to me and he does eat every 1-2 hours around the clock so I wasn't terribly surprised. The doctor said it may be a personal record for him though - he'd never seen a kid in his office gain that much weight that quickly! We're going to start doing one bottle a day just so I can get a break and a little sleep. I think the deprivation is starting to catch up with me - I feel a little more like a zombie and a little less like a person every day. The pediatrician said I should be getting at least one four hour stretch of sleep a day. I told him, "I haven't had that since Jonah was born!" He said we should start with a bottle today. I think Kevin and I both are looking forward to his feeding the baby.

Jonah took his first little walk today. It was a very short walk to accommodate his mother, but it was so nice to get out of the house and get a little sunshine. He seemed to really like the Baby Bjorn and Kevin loved toting the baby around in it.

We're still still in full swing parenthood over here. It's nothing like I thought it would be. I assumed I would be overwhelmed most of the time and feel these huge rushes of new love for my baby. Instead, most of the time I feel peaceful about my new role, like this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I feel the same way about Jonah - he doesn't feel new and overwhelming but like someone who's been here all along. The first time Kevin and I were alone with him in the hospital I said, "I can't imagine ever not knowing what he looked like." I felt like I'd known that little face my whole life and that feeling has never really left me.

I think we may have the cutest baby. I'm still working on getting better and may have to make yet another trip to the midwives tomorrow, but it really doesn't seem so bad when Jonah shows off his little dimples.

Things have been very busy around here lately. We got out of the hospital on the 9th, the same day we were supposed to start moving back in to the apartment. Kevin and Mom worked very hard the next couple of days moving everything back in and unpacking boxes while taking care of Jonah and me. I seemed to be getting worse instead of better in terms of recovery and returned to the midwives last Friday to find out I was probably having a bad reaction to my stitches. They wanted me to keep them in over the weekend, though, to facilitate long term healing. It was my decision - they offered to take them out that day if I wanted, but then my healing might now go as smoothly. So I stuck it out for a couple of pretty rough days. Kevin and Mom were both amazing, putting the apartment back together while waiting on me hand and foot since I couldn't get out of bed. This morning, I had most of them out, and am now on pain medicine and antibiotics to hopefully get to feeling better soon. I am feeling better already, I think, or at least I seem to be moving around better. I sat in the rocking chair with Jonah for over an hour with hardly any pain. I am optimistic that the next few days will see me in much better health.

Jonah himself is doing very, very well. He has the most alert little eyes. He just watches you when you talk to him like he understands everything you're saying. He is obviously very, very smart. He's also very cute, but the pictures show you that. He's "flying through his developmental milestones" according to his pediatrician. We were not surprised - he has easily mastered all of his bodily functions. He is an excellent nurser and pooper, sometimes almost too much so (he goes through several outfits a day). We are very proud of our little boy. Kevin is great with him. On our first day in the hospital, Kevin was too afraid to change his diaper by himself, but he's already a pro now. Because I can't change diapers too well from bed, Kevin's learned to do it in record time. He also remains very good at calming Jonah down, just like he was when Jonah was still in my tummy. Jonah just loves to listen to his daddy's voice.

Jonah Blair Hove

Jonah Blair Hove was born at 1:54pm on July 7th. He is 8lb 5.5oz and absolutely perfect. We're all healthy and happy (and maybe a little bit sore). I'll post more pictures later.

Today is my due date. No baby yet, though. Not even a good sign he'll be here anytime soon. I would be depressed except my mom is here keeping me busy. We just got back from the new Indiana Jones movie and agree that though he is quite a bit older than he was in the last one, he is still a total dreamboat.

In case I haven't complained to you directly yet, my midwife told me to be prepared for Jonah to be 10 days late at least. Apparently, first babies generally take their time arriving. Am I the only one that was completely unaware of this? My body isn't really giving much sign that it plans on laboring any time soon, but I still stubbornly cling to my little hope that Jonah will be the exception to the rule.

Kevin and I went to a wedding last Friday for a guy that he works with. I felt a little weird at first about going to an event that would be packed with people I didn't know, but it turned out to be a good time. I dressed in black in hopes of seeming less enormous and awkward but I think that effort was entirely useless. The ceremony was held in the old chapel on campus (very pretty), the food was awesome, and Kevin and I even danced some, which was just as funny as it was fun. How do you dip a woman who is nine months pregnant? YOU DON'T. Lesson learned.
(Picture provided in case you thought I was kidding about being enormous and awkward. See what I mean about the snowman phenomenon?)

Things haven't changed too much since my last post. I'm still very pregnant - so much so that I cannot leave the house without a stranger or two making a comment to me. I have varying levels of patience for this sort of thing. Generally, if someone uses the word "pop" in reference to my stomach I react less favorably. I haven't told anyone that I hope I "pop" all over their shoes, but I sure have thought it.

I'm treating myself to a fancy haircut today in hopes that it will lift my spirits a bit - it's hard to feel presentable when my body is this awkward; with my big tank of a torso and stick arms and legs I feel like a snowman. A very uncomfortable, clumsy snowman. At least after today, my hair will look good...

The weather was finally warm enough to go swimming yesterday and though the water was still so cold it took my breath away, it was totally worth it. I finally had a break from this heavy load! It felt like heaven and I swam until I was too tired to swim any more (which wasn't very long). I told Kevin it was a life changing experience. Probably that's an exaggeration but it didn't feel like it yesterday.

I would write more but I'm almost completely incapable of writing or talking about anything except how ready I am to meet this baby I've been hauling around for so long! Cross your fingers for me that he comes next week (after Tuesday so my mom will be here).

It's been a couple of days and now I've adjusted to the new move-in date. I don't like being "displaced" while I'm going through such a huge change in my life, but there are certainly worse things than clean sheets and dishwashers and a whole extra bathroom.

We found a pediatrician that we really like. He's within walking distance of our apartment in a charming old house that he shares with our dentist. There are only two exam rooms and ancient wooden building blocks in the waiting room. There are four physicians in the practice, but Jonah would only seen this one guy unless it was a weekend or emergency visit. I like that the office isn't jumping on the trend of rotating doctors in an office. We much prefer our doctor to know us! He's a very patient, very engaged doctor and the only drawback is I can't for the life of me pronounce or spell his name. Small price to pay, though, for feeling so comfortable with the man who will be caring for our little boy for the next year.

Speaking of that little boy, still no indication he intends to arrive anytime soon. As I become increasingly uncomfortable (and grumpy), I have to remind myself that even if I don't know what day he'll be here, each day that passes is one day closer!

Things at the hotel have been moving right along.  The time has passed quickly and I found myself surprised to realize we've already been here two weeks.  Having hit the halfway point, the novelty has worn off and I find myself ready to get back to the apartment.

A bit of a wrench was thrown in those plans today as I recieved an email notifying me that our stay has to be extended due to "unforseen complications" in the construction project.  Kevin and I had prepared ourselves for this possibility, knowing that with big projects like this delays are almost inevitable.  Still, I was disappointed.  I thought I would embrace extra days of lounging poolside and taking advantage of a dishwasher, but the things is... we're not home.  This isn't home.  I'm going to be bringing my baby from the hospital to a hotel.  And it just doesn't feel right.  I know this isn't a terrible thing and that everything is fine and will be fine.  I just need some time to get used to the idea.

We're all moved into the hotel, which has been really great so far. The accommodations are nice, the staff have been wonderful, and having two bathrooms may be the reason Kevin survives this last month of pregnancy. I should really take up residence in one of the bathrooms because I don't think there will ever be a time when I don't have to pee until this baby finally comes out. The good news is that two days ago he officially dropped, which means I can eat and breathe better. I was hoping this also meant that I would deliver sometime soon. However the midwife says that while the baby dropping is a good sign, it doesn't really say much about when Jonah will be born. So more waiting ahead!

I'm 36 weeks and getting bigger by the second. I can definitely tell there's a whole baby in there now. Feet, hands, back and butt are all very apparent through my skin. Kevin's so excited to meet our son; sometimes I don't think he can handle any more waiting. He's always talking about how cute Jonah will be, the things they he will teach Jonah, the games they will play... He checked out several books from the library and has been reading up on parenting. It's all very, very sweet. I have been reading up on babies some, but mostly I have been napping. I have never been this exhausted!

Kevin's been good about taking me on walk every day. The hotel is very close to this park on the shore and when the weather is nice we drive the quarter mile or so to walk along the ocean. When it's raining (which it has been frequently lately), we drive the quarter mile or so over to Ikea and do a walk through that giant maze of a store. I'd like to do some swimming in the hotel pool but the water is still freezing and I'm worried it would be too much of a shock to little Jonah's system.

Here are some pictures of our temporary home. There's a bedroom and bathroom downstairs and then upstairs there's another bedroom/bathroom which we mainly use to store all of Jonah's stuff. It's pretty nice, right? The best part is the maid that comes every day. I hate to think of moving back to our apartment - I don't think I can learn to live without her.

I would say that Kevin and I are frantically getting ready to move this Sunday, but that would be pretty far from the truth. A more accurate version would be: Kevin and I have a million things left to do and are mainly sluggishly looking around the apartment from our excellent vantage point of the couch. I'm hoping we become motivated soon.

Yesterday was more exciting than it should have been. We started off the morning right with a bloody, urgent trip to the doctor's office. Our dishes have been in bad shape for a while and now they've begun to spontaneously break. Kevin picked up a bowl yesterday morning and it broke in his hand, slicing through his thumb. There was some debate in the doctor's office about whether or not they could stitch it there or whether it was deep enough that he needed to go to the ER. After multiple doctors' opinions, it was settled that they would stitch it up there. I was so relieved! The hospital here is notorious for long, long, long waits. I'm pretty sure we'd still be there if we'd been sent to the ER.

We celebrated our anniversary last night since Kevin worked on our actual day. He was grumpy because his thumb hurt and I was grumpy because lately everything hurts, but the food was good and we did get some laughs out of the ridiculous mans sitting behind us. Note: if you're at dinner with a publishing representative trying to peddle your book, don't spend half an hour listing all the reasons its been rejected in the past and then follow it only with "but they were wrong."

We have two days left to prepare to move. There's been some drama at the apartments which I'm getting very tired of dealing with. I think sometimes people forget that I am a person too, who is trying to get ready to move along with everyone else and that I really have no control over the whole renovation project. I'm trying to take care of myself, but it's hard sometimes when I'm so stressed out about everything going on. Thank goodness for Kevin, who makes sure I eat and sleep regularly. I just forget when I'm busy and I hadn't gained any weight at my last appointment so I'm trying to do better especially with the eating. It will be much better once we're at the hotel and have free, hot food available mornings and afternoons. I'm really looking forward to sitting poolside with a good book and not bothering with much else. I just have to get through two more days!

Baby Moving

Here's Jonah at 34 weeks rolling around in my stomach. He does this every night, which has really been cutting into my sleep time. Thank goodness for naps! Towards the end of the video, if you look at the right side of my stomach, you can see he has the hiccups.

I've adjusted to being on vacation over the last week. I've done a lot of sitting, reading, and napping, which has been kind of nice once I got used to it. The weather's been a lot nicer the last couple of days (it finally stopped raining), so I've been taking long walks with Kevin in the afternoons. We've also slowly been packing up our apartment which is tedious - who knew we had so much stuff?

Speaking of stuff, we had our third and final baby shower on Thursday. The nurses on Kevin's floor threw it for us and it was really nice. I was glad there was a shower that was focused on Kevin - it was all his friends and he opened the gifts and I didn't have to do much of anything besides coo over the cute baby clothes. We officially have more onsies than I think one child could possibly ever wear, but I also think we have all the big stuff we'll need. We went on a shopping trip together and spent all our gift cards, which was fun.

Everything with Jonah is still going well. He seems to be very healthy and strong rolling around in there. I've been feeling less great with every passing week, but I've heard that's pretty normal. It's getting a little crowded in my torso area and things like eating, breathing, and sleeping have become more difficult and less pleasant. I keep telling him that it's ok if he wants to come at 38 weeks instead of 40 (and that there's really no reason to hang out longer than 40 weeks) but I guess time will tell how well he's been listening.

School has been out for a few days and I find myself in a strange transition period. I have this overwhelming need to get everything ready for the baby, but I can't really do that because we'll be moving two weeks from today. We have a changing table, play pen and swing all waiting to be opened and assembled and it is killing me to keep them all boxed up! In the meantime, I'm trying to get ready as best I can for the apartment renovations, but it's difficult to know what to box up and what to pack to bring with us. We drove over to the hotel and looked at one of the suites and it's a bit smaller than we anticipated. We won't really have room to take a lot of stuff with us. But it was a really nice space and I do think it will be an ok place to be for a month (hopefully just a month!).

There's not really a lot else going on. I'd like to get outside and go for a walk - anything to get out of this apartment. But the weather's not cooperating, Kevin's at work, and my friends all have real jobs, so it may be another afternoon spent listlessly drifting from one project to the next.

I took my last final this afternoon, which means I am officially done with this semester. What a relief! I can now concentrate on getting things ready for the big move. They're renovating our apartment, which means we're being moved into a hotel suite for a month (or maybe longer - I'm not convinced they're going to wrap this up on time). There's lots of packing and organizing to do, especially given all of the baby things we have. We've been given a list of instructions a mile long as to how our apartment must be prepared (everything off the walls, nothing on any shelves, all furniture in the middle of the rooms, etc.). It will be plenty of work and I'm glad I have the next two weeks to do fully concentrate on it. And there should be plenty of time leftover for reading and napping. I'd also like to sew the layers of Jonah's quilt together before we move so that I can work on getting the borders done while we're at the hotel. I can't believe I haven't finished it yet - he'll be here so soon!

Things have improved since my last posting (thank goodness!!). We did buy a new car and she is a beauty! We got a 2008 Honda Civic in atomic blue. It runs like a dream and should last us many years. Maybe some day we will pass it on to Jonah.


See? Isn't it pretty? This picture was taken on Sunday, when I thought Kevin was taking me out for a Mother's Day brunch. My friend called and asked if we would mind stopping by her house on the way so she could see our new car (she lives around the street from the restaurant). She asked if I would mind coming inside so she could take a picture of my belly for her mother and when I got to the top of the stairs, I was surprised by a baby shower! All of my favorite New Haven people were there. It was a wonderful surprise and a wonderful afternoon. What a great way to finish off the week!

We finally got our car back yesterday after a week of rentals and borrowing from friends. It was more expensive than it should have been as Meineke decided not to pay for labor. This morning, less than 24 hours after driving to Norwalk to retrieve it, the car gave out again - once more on the highway during rush hour on my way to clinical. This time Kevin was working and I was forced to deal with it on my own. I did this by calling various people and crying - a lot. I will spare you the details, but short version is: Meineke has the worst customer service ever and our Nissan Maxima is now sitting in a junkyard in New Britain. Now, I don't know if it would have been better to try to get the stupid thing fixed again. Meineke said they wouldn't pay for any further repairs and Kevin said he just couldn't see reason in putting more money into the car. The junkyard would come pick it up off the highway for free. We certainly weren't planning on buying a new car right before having a baby, but we decided we need a more reliable car. The only thing I can think of that might be worse than being stranded somewhere pregnant is being stranded somewhere with a baby.

So end of the story: It has been one big mess of a morning. The Nissan is dead - for good this time. We're going car shopping this weekend. I have to make up another clinical day tomorrow, which means I have to study for finals today. I am not in a great mood and could probably use a cup of tea and a nap.

31 weeks

I've done some growing the last month or two. This whole experience is so bizzare and wonderful. Now we're able to watch him kick and turn over from the outside - I feel like I belong in a science fiction movie. It's all gone by so quickly, sometimes I look down and am shocked at the size of my belly. It's hard to believe I have nine more weeks of getting bigger ahead of me... I mean, remember this? I was so excited at 16 weeks to have such a "big" belly!

Today was not a good day. It started when I dropped the water pitcher, spilling water everywhere and collapsing in tears.
"It's just water!" Kevin said, bewildered.
"It's the worst thing that could happen!!" I responded, tempting fate to prove otherwise.
To make a long story short, I ended up an hour from New Haven on I-95 stalled on the side of the road. Hugely pregnant, emotionally ill-equipped, and now unable to get to my clinical. Fortunately, Kevin had the day off and arranged everything for me so within 30 min I had a tow truck in front of my car. Minutes later, there was a three car pile up ahead, so the tow truck and I were parked on the interstate as the minutes went by and I lost more clinical time. But luck was on my side again because I ended up with the sweetest tow guy, who distracted me with stories and made me laugh. Really, how could I not cheer up when he says there's no sweeter sight than a pregnant woman smiling?

I took a taxi from the repair shop to my clinical and was able to finish out the day. Kevin spent all day on the phone with the repair shop in Norwalk and the Meineke in Branford, which repaired our car 6 months ago. It turned out the part they replaced was the part that broke - and this time it would cost $800 to fix. Excuse me while I have a stroke! The part was guaranteed by Meineke, however, and they agreed to pay for the new part and the labor - even if it was done by the shop in Norwalk - what a relief! Only bummer for us is paying for the tow truck that hauled me off the highway and the rental car I had to get in order to get back home (and to get to clinical tomorrow and my midwife appointment on Friday). Turns out that since I'm 24 and not 25, I have to pay $85/day for the car in stead of $36. Not so great. It also took almost an hour for me to actually get the car even though Kevin made a reservation for me because they didn't actually have it on the lot yet. Traffic was horrible on the way home, plus I had to pick something up for dinner; I didn't actually make it home until after 8pm.

So today was not a good day. But it wasn't so bad, I guess. My car broke down, which is lousy, but I was able to pull over to the side of the road safely - something of a miracle on I-95 during rush hour. The cost of the towing and rental car is high, but it's pretty good that Meineke is paying for the part and the labor. And finally now here I am, safe and warm, home on the couch with my husband, munching on vanilla wafers and admiring the red gerbera daisies he bought for me. Any day that ends like this, how bad can it really be?

Suddenly, the days are hurtling forward. There is so much to do every day that they seem to end before I realize they were even here. I'm still getting used to the fact that it's almost May. One day soon I'll wake up and realize classes are over for the semester. It will be an odd change, but it will be so nice to get more sleep.

Spring has been lovely so far - there are daffodils and tulips blooming out my window - a very welcome change of scenery. Kevin and I took our first trip in 2008 to the park yesterday and had a perfect afternoon lounging on my big denim blanket in the sun.

Jonah continues to grow and kick and tumble. He's hit a growth spurt the last couple of days and I'll tell you one thing: my belly button is not long for this world. He's getting really strong and he kicks and stretches like he's trying to break free. I keep telling him that it's not going to work - that babies don't just bust out of their mommies' belly button but he is determined to prove me wrong. I remind him that he still has a couple more months before he's allowed to come out anyway so he might as well take it easy, but so far no dice.

This weekend I plan to spend mostly studying for my nursing boards, which I'm set to take next Friday. The nice thing about this plan is that I can do it with my feet up, which is my preferred position these days. I thought all this exhaustion was due to pregnancy and hadn't thought much more about it until I got a call from my doctor yesterday saying I'm anemic and need to start taking some special form of iron. I went to the store yesterday but apparently I bought the wrong kind of iron. I'd been craving a hamburger anyway, so Kevin and I went to Ruby Tuesdays and got their "premium burgers." Maybe that can count as my iron supplement for the day. It tasted pretty amazing - Kevin couldn't believe I'd been craving a hamburger for three days and hadn't had one yet. But honestly, the thought of going out somewhere and then ordering and then waiting and then chewing... it wore me out just thinking about it. When you're so tired that chewing food seems like an overwhelming task, I guess that should be a sign that something may be going on...

I have my 30 week check up on Friday, so hopefully things will be straightened out by then. It's nice that I may have a little more energy soon - I could use it to get through these last few weeks of school.

Weekend in D.C.

Kevin and me (and Jonah!) with the cherry trees.

Mom and me at the Washington momument.

The tulip library (it was beautiful!)

ROAR!!!!

The crowds we fought at the Smithsonian.

The weekend in D.C. was wonderful. It was so good to get away and forget about school for a little while. The drive was a little longer than we anticipated (7 hours instead of the 5 we were expecting), but it was well worth it. The weather was beautiful while we were there and all kinds of trees and flowers were in bloom. It was nice to see Mom and Dad, if only for a short while and it was fun visiting with my mom's friends. We did a lot of walking around the city and I wasn't prepared for how exhausting it would be! The baby takes a lot out of me, and I had to stop a rest more than I would have liked. Still, we saw all the monuments and the best parts of the open Smithsonians, so I feel like we did a pretty good job for one day. I feel like I need a couple more days to rest and recover, but it's back to school tomorrow morning.

It's been a stressful week at school. I've been feeling a little overwhelmed and exhausted. It helps a little to know that everyone around me is going through the same thing - but only a little. Some nights it's all I can do to get home, eat something, and fall into bed. Now that I'm coming up on the third trimester (next week!), fatigue and nocturia are hitting pretty hard. I've never been this tired in my life - physically and emotionally. To help myself make it through this week, instead of writing about all the hard stuff that's going on I am going to make a list of the good things. I hope it will help me avoid giving into my weepy hormones and throwing a little pity party for myself.

1. Even though school sucks right now, I still like what I'm doing. That's pretty amazing.
2. There's a baby bumbling around in my tummy, constantly stretching and turning and kicking. Every day, I feel him get bigger and stronger - it's more bizarre and wonderful than I could ever have imagined.
   
3. I come home every night to a good man who cooks me a hot meal and rubs my shoulders and tells me I am smart and beautiful and loved. It's been almost four years and he's still my best friend. How many people are lucky enough to have someone like that in their life?
   
4. As much as I worry about money, I've never had to worry about money. Living where I do, I see how wealthy I am to always have a safe, warm home and plenty of food.
5. I have a pretty great family. My mom and dad still like each other and are both people I can count on, everyone in the family is usually speaking to each other, and it feels good to come home. I grew up thinking everyone had that, but the older I get the more I realize how blessed I am.
   

That helped even more than I'd hoped. I think I'm ready to go back to studying now...

I had my monthly doctor's appointment today. The doctor couldn't find a Doppler to listen to the heartbeat, so he decided to do a quick ultrasound to visualize the heartbeat. We saw it right away and Jonah was bouncing around, like usual. The doctor asked me if I'd like to see his face and of course I did! He moved the probe around on my abdomen, then paused and asked me, "Um, do big noses run in your family?"

So Jonah Blair Hove is a good name indeed! I still think he will be very cute, although now I have moments when I worry I will give birth to a giant nose with tiny arms and legs attached.

Everything else is going fine. School is keeping me pretty busy, especially now that I'm studying for the NCLEX (the nursing boards). I'm scheduled to take it on April 25th, one day after I turn 30 weeks pregnant. I hope I can reach around my belly far enough to take the exam!

I had a wonderful, wonderful trip home. The only scheduled event was a baby shower, which left lots of time for sitting, visiting, and playing cards - all things I didn't do nearly enough of the last time I was in Missouri.

The baby shower was so much fun - my mom and her friends executed the classic pooh theme to the letter - I can't imagine a more beautiful event! It was fun to be able to ooh and ahh over tiny baby things for a couple of hours among women who were just as excited as me over tiny baby booties. Here, this picture can double as a shot of my lovely shower and my 24 week belly photo. As you can see, Jonah has done some growing!


Speaking of babies, I finally got to meet my six week old nephew, Scott, who is just the most adorable, hugable baby you've ever seen. He even tolerated me playing with him and my new baby clothes. I'm a little... inexperienced at dressing babies that are so small and floppy and his mother had to come to my rescue but we did eventually get him to model one of Jonah's new outfits.

Since I've been back, I've hardly stopped moving. The apartment had to be cleaned - Kevin wasn't so great at keeping it clean on his own. There were several loads of laundry that had to be washed. And of course, there was my schoolwork waiting patiently for me. The school work has been taking a little longer than usual since I have to stop ever 3.5 seconds and blow my nose, but I did finally finish that kidney paper I've been working on for over a month! Now I just have a test and a quiz coming up on Monday to study for and I will be all set.

My cough turned into a head cold, which has not been the most fun thing. Fever, chills, congestion - the works. Luckily, since I'm pregnant, Kevin has been particularly doting. He's so worried about me and the baby being sick that he won't let me do anything for myself. I keep reassuring him that we're fine - it's just a cold, but secretly I think it's sort of sweet that he's so worried. And if he wants me to kick up my feet while he runs around cleaning and bringing me hot tea, that is just fine! I will enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

I'm feeling a little better today. This morning I got onto Kevin for eating in the rocking chair (which has always been against the rules) and he said he'd been doing it for three days with me sitting right next to him. The simple fact that I finally noticed must mean I'm on the mend! I'm keeping up the rest and fluids and I was able to eat breakfast this morning, so I have high hopes that I'll be mostly healthy for my trip home in a couple of days.

I guess my luck ran out. I was struck this afternoon by a bug that had me sleeping all afternoon and now tonight is keeping me up with an annoying, hacking cough that I am not allowed to take any medicine for. I'm drinking some hot tea, which helps for about 0.4 seconds. The overall virus seems to be pretty mild - no fever, no congestion, no puking. Hopefully it will stay that way and this irritating cough will go away soon.

I had a dentist appointment this morning, which Jonah was not a fan of. I think the buzzing sound of the woman polishing my teeth particularly scared him because he did not stop rolling over the whole time it was on. I think he can definitely hear now because he seems to respond to our voices. If he's kicking a lot, I can talk to him for a little bit and he usually stops. Kevin's voice has an especially calming effect on him. He always sits still and listens when his dad is talking. Let's hope that continues!

Spring break officially started at 5pm today, but I won't get much of a break until I fly home next Thursday. I've got some clinical hours to make up Monday and Wednesday and I've got a nice long paper to write about renal function over the weekend. It will be busy, but that just means I'll enjoy my time home that much more!

I can't believe it's already March. It doesn't feel that way - we got a couple more inches of snow last night. It wasn't much and I should have gone to yoga this morning anyway, but I overslept so instead I'm sitting on my couch eating Cap'n Crunch. That's kind of like exercise, right?

This week has been so long and so busy. I've been making up clinical days which I find exhausting. I've been going to bed around 8:30, which gives me just enough time to eat and see how Kevin's day was before I hit the sack. Hauling around a very active baby all day just takes it out of me! Now it's already the weekend and so I have two days to study for two pretty important tests. I'm glad I bought three boxes of Cap'n Crunch yesterday. I will need fortification as I study. Lately that one particular cereal is the only thing my tummy can tolerate. Isn't it awesome when morning sickness makes a surprise return at 22 weeks after two whole months of freedom? At least I had the two months off! And it really isn't as bad this time around - more like random bouts of it instead of that awful constant sickness I had my first trimester. I've been trying to eat as well as I can and take my vitamins and get lots of rest because I am determined to make it through the rest of flu season without getting sick - so far so good! This is pretty impressive considering I spent at least 16 hours a week getting up close and personal with sick people. I'm still loving clinical, even if it does make me tired and expose me to all kinds of gross germs (the other day I had a woman just narrowly miss me as she started vomiting in the sink I was washing my hands in).

Enough rambling - off to study as much as I can in the next 48 hours.