Karen, Erik and Jack

Hi everyone! It’s another week, another email. Here’s what’s going on with our family.

From head to toes, Kraken is about 13.5 inches and weighs about 1.5 lbs. This week’s food comparison is “an average rutabaga” – a vegetable I have never seen in person, so I can neither confirm or deny the comparison. He’s filling out and gaining weight, so his skin is less translucent. His hair, which has already grown in as much as it will for birth but was snow white, has started to turn to a color. Will it be dark brown like mine at birth, or blonde like baby Erik’s? Only 14 weeks and change until we find out! His lungs continue to develop and get ready for his first breath of air. His nostrils, previously plugged up, are beginning to open, and his vocal chords are becoming more developed to make that first big wail.

As for me, I’m luckily doing fine with the summer heat. That’s the one thing everyone (family, friends, co-workers, people on the street, the cashier at the grocery store, the mail man, etc.) have said would be horrible for me. But I’m not spending too much time outside, and I’m usually cold-natured anyway. In fact, I’m still sleeping with an extra blanket! I do have a distinct “pregnancy waddle” now – I tried to walk as I used to, but my legs hurt from compensating. So now I fully embrace my pregnancy waddle, and take my sweet time walking from one place to another. This is hard though when I still need to rush to the bathroom to vomit, which has happened several times since last week. There’s also been an increase in round ligament pains and general achiness.

Earlier this week, I had strong abdominal cramps and had not felt Kraken move for a few hours. Under my doctor’s advice, we drove over to the Labor & Delivery unit at our local hospital (the same place we will deliver at) and got checked out. Luckily, the cramps were NOT labor pains, and the doctor confirmed after a few tests that I was not at risk to go into pre-term delivery anytime soon. The abdominal cramps prevented me from feeling Kraken move, but once I heard his heartbeat from the monitor and relaxed a bit, I could feel him again. The cramps were diagnosed as “probably gas, with round ligament pains and/or some Braxton-Hicks pains”, and we went back home after a few hours. One good thing was that we got a sneak peek at the birthing center, and I was pleased that the staff was incredibly friendly – LOVED my nurse – and they worked hard to make us comfortable.

Now we are working hard to schedule birthing classes, tours of daycare/nursery facilities, find a pediatrician, and get everything organized as much as we can. I start my third trimester in less than two weeks – I can’t believe that’s almost here! – and soon will have more frequent OB appointments. They are currently every four weeks, but will be every two weeks and then every week as the due date approaches.

Have a great week, everyone!

Love,
Karen, Erik and Kraken

Hi everyone – sorry this is late, but this time it’s on purpose. I wanted to wait until after today’s OB appointment to give an update.

This week, Kraken is about a foot long from head to toe, and weighs 1.4 lbs (this was his measurement at the appointment today). By next week, he will grow another half inch and gain about 4-6 more ounces.  His brain is growing quickly, and his taste buds are developing. His lungs are starting to create surfectant, a substance that helps the air sacs in his lungs inflate once he is born. He continues to fill out and gain weight, and his skin is beginning to turn opaque. My uterus/his home is about the size of a soccer ball now.

As for me, I am doing well. My trip to Texas went well, and flying wasn’t a problem at all. I’m still getting nausea/vomiting spells, but I take it all in stride now. The nursery is moving along very well – the painting and wainscoting is done, and the floor has arrived and will be installed the weekend after next! My first baby shower will be in just over two weeks at my best friend’s house, and we also have friends in Ohio throwing us one two weeks after that – we are so lucky to have such great friends!

Hope you all have a great week,
Love,
Karen, Erik and Kraken

HI everyone! Hope you’re all doing well and had a great holiday weekend.

This week, Kraken continues to grow and gain weight. He’s about 11 and a half inches long from head to toe, and will be about a foot long by the end of the week. He weighs about a pound and will gain another 3-4 ounces by the end of the week. His lungs are now doing a lot of development as blood vessels grow to prepare , which is good news – after next week, his chances of surviving outside of the womb increase. His kicks get stronger every day – they are now strong enough for Erik to feel them (he got three strong kicks last night) and to visibly make my stomach jump – during the very strong kicks, you can see lumps rise up from my stomach. In fact, as I write this, he’s kicking like crazy and making my stomach touch the laptop!

As for me, I’m feeling ok. Still throwing up (twice over the weekend) but dealing with it just fine. What’s new is that the relaxin hormone my body is producing to loosen the joints in my hips and pelvis (to prepare for labor) has loosened every joint – so my lower back feels a bit out of joint. Sleeping can be tough because my hips and back hurt after a bit, so I need to change positions every hour or so. It’s a miracle Erik gets any sleep with all of my rolling around and blanket thievery. Our poor cat Fred keeps trying to sleep on my torso, and I shoo him off as soon as I wake up. Stanley keeps trying to sit on my lap like he did before I was pregnant, and he doesn’t quite understand why he’s not allowed to.

This weekend, I am heading to Texas to see the Fort Worth family – everyone is getting together for Chrissy’s medical school graduation! I am SO proud of her, and I know she’s going to do great things at Johns Hopkins. It’s going to be great to see everyone!

Until next week,
Love,
Karen, Erik and Kraken

Hi everyone! Here’s the weekly update.

This week, Kraken weighs about a pound, and will be 1.25 lbs by the end of the week. He’s about 11 inches from head to toe! His sweat glands have developed, and his skin is becoming more opaque. His hearing has almost completely developed, and he can probably hear the difference between my voice, Erik’s voice, and everyone else’s voice. Inside, his pancreas is developing steadily and his eyes are fully formed (although the irises won’t develop pigment for a while). He’s still got a lot of growing to do – but he’s starting a growth spurt and will double in weight in the next few weeks! His kicks, which used to be soft and only felt a few times a day, are getting stronger and constant. I can feel him throughout the day kicking away, although he definitely has distinct rest cycles.

As for me, I’m doing ok and getting bigger by the day. Erik had a work trip out of town this week and is coming back tonight – I think my belly has noticeably grown in the couple of days he has been away! I’m still getting exhausted – I don’t think I’ll be getting that “second trimester burst of energy” that the books tell me I should have experienced by now. Of course, they also said my nausea/vomiting would stop in the first trimester, so what do they know? This weekend, Erik will be doing a lot of work on the nursery. The fabric I ordered for curtains and nursery accessories has arrived, and I can’t wait to see them in the nursery. We’re just 4 months away from my due date, and there’s so much to do!

I’ve attached a picture of me that Erik took when I was about 19 weeks. It’s my favorite maternity picture so far – Stanley’s in it!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Hey everyone – sorry this is late!

This week, Kraken is 7 inches from head to butt (10.5 from head to toe) and will be 8 inches from head to butt (11 inches head to toe) by the end of the week. He almost weighs a full pound now! Kraken is continuing to get bigger and develop his systems more, and he now has eyebrows and fully formed eyelids (which are still closed).  He’s definitely kicking hard enough for me to feel from the outside, but not enough for Erik to feel yet.

As for me, I’m still battling nausea and vomiting, and am exhausted. In fact, tonight when I got home from work, I had to take a nap to get the energy to make dinner and write this. This week I have been sitting at a different desk temporarily and the chair has been bothering me a lot. Since I’ve been sitting there, I am incredibly sore by the end of the day – like I’ve walked 10 miles. I look forward to getting in my regular, comfy chair by next Tuesday. Hopefully, that will help the aches and pains. Today at work, someone visiting for a meeting said I looked like I was about 8 months along, and was quite surprised when I told her I was only 5 months along. After that, I went into the bathroom and cried for 30 seconds, and called her some names in my head and got over it.

Hope you’re all doing well and have a great week!

Love,
Karen, Erik and Kraken

Hi everyone! We’re at week 20 – HALFWAY THERE!!

This week, Kraken is 6.5 inches from head to butt, and 10 inches from head to toes. By the end of the week, he’ll be 7 inches from head to butt, or 10.5 inches from head to toe. I’ve heard various food comparisons about his size for this week – a butternut squash, the length of a banana or a carrot, or the size of a cantaloupe. Take your pick, I suppose! Kraken also weighs about 10.5 ounces now and will be about 12 ounces by the end of the week. He’s also working on his digestive system by swallowing and hiccuping. He still has a great deal of room in the womb, so he has plenty of space for twisting, turning and flipping around. Between gymnastics, he’s sleeping about 12-14 hours of the day. I can occasionally feel his movements from the outside, but we’re still a ways off before Erik can feel the baby.

As for me, I am thrilled to have survived to the halfway point of the pregnancy! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel – and by that, I mean I can start to see the bottom of my belly button rising up. I normally have a pretty deep navel, and it’s now about 1/3 of an inch deep. Erik doesn’t think I’ll actually get an “outie”, but I do. I also have the “dark” line running down from my belly button. It showed up around 14 weeks and has not become much darker so far. As for the morning sickness, it’s unfortunately still here – I spent my “almost” Mother’s Day throwing up for the first half of the day. I spent the rest of it cleaning, because I think the “nesting” is kicking in. Erik worked on the nursery this weekend, and it’s really starting to come along!

Hope you have a great week!

Love, Karen, Erik, and Kraken

Hi everyone,
Can you believe we’re almost halfway through the pregnancy? In some ways, it feels like we were just sharing the news with you all yesterday.

This week, Kraken (sorry Dad and Nana, Erik wants to go back to that nickname in the emails) is about 6 1/2 inches long from the top of his head to his butt. Soon, standard measurements for Kraken will be bigger because they will be from crown to feet, as fetuses this size aren’t curled up as much and average measurements are easier to ascertain. By the end of this week, he will be about 7 inches from crown to butt (about the length of a banana) and 10 inches from crown to toes. Kraken is working on his sensory development this week – the brain is designating specialized areas for smell, sound, touch, taste, hearing and vision (hopefully, Erik’s 20/15 vision instead of my 20/400 vision). He is able to hear voices now (not just bass sounds and loud noises from outside of the womb), so he’s listening to his mommy and daddy. His arms and legs are now in the correct proportion to the rest of his body. Kidneys continue to produce urine, and the scalp is starting to produce hair. His skin is covered with a waxy substance called vernix caseosa, to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid (and we all know how much I hate pickles).

As for me, I continue to feel his kicks and movements. What was a flurry of soft tickles now feels like there’s a pinball machine in my abdomen. Sometimes, I can feel the movement from the outside if I have my hand on my belly (especially around 5:00 pm, when he starts to get really active) but Erik has not been able to feel them yet. Hopefully soon the kicks will be strong enough for him to feel. My nausea continues – I have not had much of an appetite in the past few days but am eating anyway – and I’m still tired. While I’ve had weird dreams during my entire pregnancy, this week has had some real winners. For example, I dreamt that Tiger Woods was breaking into my hotel room (not to attack me, just… because) and I had to join a “Tiger Woods Violated My Personal Space And The Law” support group.  So I hope Tiger Woods stays out of my dreams and my hotel room from now on.

Also new, we have done our baby registry! We registered this past weekend at Buy Buy Baby (www.buybuybaby.com) and tried not to let ourselves be completely overwhelmed. I’m sure we’ll make adjustments and edits to the registry, but it is now up if you’re interested in looking at it. My closest girl friends are throwing a shower for me at the end of June, and I can’t wait!

Have a wonderful week everyone,
Love,
Karen, Erik and Kraken

Hi everyone! Sorry this is a day late – I got very busy yesterday!

This week, Baby Boy Garrett is just about 6 inches from the top of his head to his butt, and weighs about 7-8 ounces. He’s about the size of a large mango and will be the size of a large heirloom tomato by the end of the week (seriously, the fruit/veggie comparisons just get more ridiculous from here on out) He’s moving like crazy by now, and I can usually feel it every day (and it TICKLES!). Blood vessels are visible through the skin, and the ears are now in their final position, although they stick out quite a bit from the rest of his head. A protective coating of myelin is developing around his nerves (this process will continue even after birth). He can also get the hiccups now, although I haven’t felt them yet.

As for me, I’m getting bigger every day. The nausea/vomiting has been better, but I refuse to say “it’s over” for fear of jinxing it back. Our baby is definitely growing – every day, it feels like there is a balloon in my stomach that is inflating a little more every day, and I can feel my skin and muscles stretching to accommodate it. Two days ago, I visited my friend Kat whose baby Jackson is now 10 weeks old (his delivery is the one I attended when I was 8 weeks along). Jackson and our baby are going to be great buddies, and Kat has been a wonderful source of information and advice for me! Kat took a picture of me while I was there, and I’ve attached it to this email so you can see how big I am already. If I keep growing at this rate, I’ll be the size of the Titanic by the time I deliver. Erik has been taking pictures of my growth as well, but we have not uploaded them yet.

We hope you’re all doing well and have a wonderful week!
Love, Karen, Erik and Baby Boy Garrett

Hi everyone, I wanted to give an update from this week.

We just got back from the appointment. First, we met with a genetic counselor who explained the NT test results, and went though our medical history to identify any other possible conditions they need to test for. She also explained that an ultrasound COULD show evidence of Down’s Syndrome, but that 50% of DS cases do not show up in ultrasound. So all the ultrasound could do would be to lower our risk, but could not say definitively whether the baby has DS or not. Only an amnio could do that. We opted out of doing an amniocentesis, because no matter what we would still have this baby, and my need to prepare as much as possible with information did not trump the possibility of a miscarriage with the amniocentesis.

Then we had the ultrasound, and the very first thing was saw was the baby’s sex (more on that in a minute) – this baby was ready to show off! Everything else checked out great – healthy heart, healthy bones, 10 fingers and toes. We saw the baby waving its arms and legs, smiling, swallowing amniotic fluid, and moving all around. The doctor said that there was nothing in the ultrasound that gave suspicion of DS, but again stressed that this does not mean the baby does not have it. But our risk was lowered from 1:125 to 1:250.

As for the sex…. lock up your daughters, we’re having a boy!

Hi everyone, hope you’re doing well. Here’s the weekly Baby Garrett update…

Kraken is a bit over 5 inches now and weighs about 5 ounces. By the end of the week, S/he will be just under 6 inches and weigh as much as 7 ounces. In a few weeks, the baby’s weight will have doubled.  Sweat glands are beginning to develop, and all joints can now move. The startle reflex has also developed, so when Stanley randomly barks at a falling leaf or Fred knocks something off the counter, Kraken is likely jumping at the sound. Starting now, Kraken will begin to develop brown fat deposits which help regulate temperature and give the skin a less transparent look. Kraken is also beginning to develop its sleep cycles (hopefully as long as possible through the night) and improved muscle control allows him/her to grasp things with its hands.

Today was a big day – Kraken must have known that we would be sending an update to you all today! First, I got my very first Braxton-Hicks contraction. These are “practice” contractions which get the uterus ready for labor. Typically they begin around 6 weeks but are not felt until about halfway through the pregnancy. Then about a half hour later, it felt like I was being tickled from the inside – it was the baby moving! It was such an odd but amazing sensation.

As I mentioned in previous weekly updates, I had a Nuchal Translucency test (ultrasound to measure the back of the neck, and a blood test – the results are combined to determine the Kraken’s risk ratio for having chromosomal abnormalities, such as Down’s Syndrome). During last week’s appointment, I had the second part of the test done, and the results came back today. Typically, the risk ratio for a woman of my age is 1:500 risk of chromosomal abnormalities. My risk came back as 1:125. My ob stressed that this is still a good number, but it is a “positive” result for increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities. He is recommending that I have a level II ultrasound, which is a more detailed ultrasound that will look for specific anatomical abnormalities that come with chromosomal disease. This ultrasound should take place this week (he called me after 5 pm, after his staff had left, so they will call me first thing tomorrow morning to schedule it). At the ultrasound, they will also counsel about amniocentesis, to see if that is a test we want to pursue. That test carries a small risk of miscarriage, as it is an invasive procedure.

We’ll keep you updated about the tests. Hopefully we’ll be able to send an update later this week, if the ultrasound really can be scheduled for this week.

Have a good week,
Love, Karen, Erik & Baby Garrett