7/6/06: Well I got home last night from a trip to WI for my stepbrother's funeral and low and behold, no sign of my period yet. And to be honest I've been feeling a little run down and kind of queasy for the past week or so...so I was kind of assuming, but not wanting to get my hopes up... There was a point the other day where I was standing out in the sunshine at Pat's funeral and I hadn't had anything to eat that day and I had to go sit in the car for a bit, before I fainted. So I was pretty sure then.

I took a test around midnight last night (the day after the 4th of July) and sure nuf. It was a positive one. Hip Hip! We're having another baby. It's kind of cool that we found out the day after Christmas (2003) that we were going to have Simon and the day after the 4th that we're going to have this new sweet little bundle. I guess the due date will be right around March 9th? I think. We'll be calling Sandhano sometime very soon to meet with her, so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that she's available when the time comes. We decided a while back that we'd like to try and do a homebirth this time around, so I think that's the plan. Sandhano is a midwife that has gotten rave reviews in the birth community in Missoula, so I'm pretty excited to get the opportunity to have a baby with her assistance.

We told Simon in the shower this morning, and he didn't say a word. Then when we got to the store this morning he got out the baby nursery (one of the toys that I sell) and has been playing with it all day long. I talked to him about it again and said "Did you know that Mama has a baby in her belly that is going to come live at our house soon?" and he just responded with "Yeah." Like he already knew all about it. It'll maybe start sinking in as the belly starts growing.

I've been having really crazy dreams the past month, so I'm going to go ahead and chalk it up to the littlest Beaner growing in me. I don't remember any crazy dreams with Simon.

Pregnancy tests have changed in the past couple of years. I got an EPT test and I had to read the instructions to do the test. You put some pieces together and it's all digital and flashes, while you are waiting for the results a picture of the test shows on the screen just flashing over and over and then it says "pregnant" or "not pregnant" and it immediately said "Pregnant". We're pretty excited! It doesn't feel quite real yet though. Certainly not like the first time. It feels much more peaceful this time. It really wasn't the shock it was with Simon. It was the best shock that ever happened to us though, so I know this will be much the same. I'm excited to see how the pregnancies vary. It'll be fun to compare journals. So that's our big news!

7/15/06: So I'm 6 weeks today, or 6 weeks and a day or so. We met with Sandhano on Thurs. night (a couple of days ago) and she is awesome!!! We are so excited about our decision. She was very encouraging and told me to make sure I know that I'm not crazy for wanting a homebirth after a C-Section. She was also really reassuring about how I'm still pretty sad about my C-Section, she told me it is very common...so that too really set me at ease. She told us birth stories about other VBACs she's had...and made it sound like it wasn't really that big of a deal. It'll be nice to be at home in a safe, cozy and nice environment. She was so sweet with Simon too. We went to her house and he was in heaven hanging out in her yard and playing with all of her toys. She has three kids, so she has a lot of fun toys! We got some different paperwork and she lent us a few good books to read, one is called Silent Knife. I've already started reading that one, when I can keep my eyes open at least. I told Shane this baby is already sucking the life out of me. heh. I forgot how much it stinks to feel sick and be soooo tired. It's a little more tricky taking naps with a toddler around. Oh well, this part only lasts a few months.

I've got to have my first prenatal, and some lab work done between 8-10 weeks, so maybe we'll schedule a time to do it right before we head to WI on vacation. We're leaving around the 9th or 10th to head back for Abbey's baptism. Anna is coming with us, so that'll be a great Simon help! It'll be so fun too, we'll be at our cabin for the majority of the visit, so that'll be relaxing. I guess we'll just plan to tell everyone then. Unless we can't wait that long.

8/5/06: 9 weeks today. I've had a rough bout with feeling really queasy and soooo tired, but the queasy has eased up over the past few days, so that has been a nice break. We had our first prenatal appointment last night. We went to Sandhano's house again, we go there for our next appt. on the 1st and then she starts coming to our house for our prenatals, so that'll be fun. We won't have to even leave home!

Everything looked good yesterday. She tested my urine - it was kind of cool to see what exactly they test you for, because at the regular doctor they would never show you the actual procedure. She had this big long strip that tested for about 8 different things. I can't remember most of them, but the two that weren't looking as great were calorie intake and hydration basically. So I need to be drinking way more water than I am and eating more calories, she said maybe especially protein. I just haven't had much of an appetite since I've been feeling so yucky. It is much more intense this time than it was the last time too. Although, like I said, it has really eased up the past couple of days. So, I just need to eat more cheeseburgers and drink more water. I weighed in at 151. I don't know exactly how much I normally weigh, I think somewhere around 158. So I've lost a little bit of weight, but that happened with Simon and she said that's fairly normal to lose around 5 lbs at the beginning.

She felt my uterus, and then I did after she did, and you can feel a distinct lump in there already. Then we decided to try and listen for the heartbeat. Simon was playing (minding his own business) until I laid down on the floor for this part. Then first he got mad because he thought the pillow I was laying on was his, so I just gave it to him. Then we started hearing some sounds when she was trying to find the heartbeat and he got pretty curious. He came over and looked at me and sat down beside me and grinned and said "Hi Mama." heh. I said "Hi Bear" and  he just watched. I told him we were going to try and hear the baby in Mama's Belly and he listened and sat there. It was so cute. We didn't end up hearing a heartbeat, but we heard lots of cool placenta sounds. She explained to us that the placenta sounds are part baby's/part Mama's heartbeat. There is a side that belongs to the Bean II and a side that belongs to the Mama. So we could hear whooshing sounds for a while. She said that typically when the baby is so small he/she snuggles up close to the placenta and as they get a little bit bigger they'll swing out from behind it so we can hear their heartbeat. Pretty cool. Simon thought it was pretty cool. He wanted us to listen to his baby after we were done. It was pretty stinkin' cute. I love that he'll be able to be around all of this as it happens and not be shooed from the room as he would be in another setting. Ah homebirth, so nice!

Oh she did a quick measure too and my uterus measured at 9 inches which she said is totally normal for this stage, so things looked good. Everything is going well...and I'm healthy, so things should be good. She said my muscles felt good and firm and she wasn't worried a bit. Oh and my blood pressure was great. I think 114/70 and my pulse was good too 87. So on the 1st when we go in, she'll draw some blood (actually Charlotte will). Charlotte is Sandhano's apprentice (she was going to be our doula last time we were pregnant, but we decided to do things on our own). She'll be at the birth, at our house, this time around. So she'll be at most of my prenatals with Sandhano. So all is well! More on the 1st after our trip to WI.

8/28/06: Just one little sweet note. Simon is the cutest ever. He loves laying on my belly and blowing zerberts on my belly constantly. He likes to lift my shirt up and see the baby and gets frustrated if he can't for some reason. I am not showing at all at this point, just 12 weeks a few days ago. We have an appointment on Friday so I'll have much more to report soon. Just wanted to leave a little message about the sweetest big brother ever!

9/1/06: We just got done with our prenatal at Sandhano's house. Kia was walking out the door when we got there, she's due in November. And right when we went in the door they excitedly told us that Cindy is in labor! Yay! It's just funny that some of our closest friends are Sandhano's clients? er I don't know what you'd call them.

Sandhano's so awesome, she's the most soothing person. Charlotte was there with us today. She will be at our birth too. She was going to draw my blood today, so they can do some lab work, but we gave it two tries and she wasn't able to get any, so then Sandhano took over. So I got poked a little today, no biggie. They were so apologetic and just feeling so bad about it. Silly. I peed in a cup again, like usual. Everything looked fine. They just said it looked like I'd let myself get hungry, and I shouldn't do that. I need to eat every couple of hours. I'm not so good at that. It's amazing how much you can tell from one tiny cup of urine. I weighed 153. And the baby measured at 12. We got to hear the baby's sweet sweet heartbeat. He/she was kicking and moving around a bunch so at first it was kind of hard to find, but we found it. Simon cuddled right up next to me while we were listening. He likes to call the baby "Baby Gus or Baby Nora." He's got it all figured out. He was a little concerned about my owies from the blood drawing, but then he showed me his and we told him mine were getting better. He was less concerned. Plus Kit, Sandhano's son, was there and that was all the entertainment Simon needed. He's older than Simon and really really cool!

So everything seems to be going swimmingly. The baby is getting bigger and doing fine as far as we can tell. I've been worried lately because I don't really feel like I'm pregnant, with the exception of the morning sickness. I guess I still am. All's well. Our next appt is on the 29th and she'll come here for the prenatal this time. So that'll be fun, I told Simon he could show her all of his toys. I don't know if he'll be as stoked though. He really likes to play with all of her toys. He was excited about "going to Sandhano's house!"

9/30/06: We had another prenatal yesterday. This time Sandhano and Charlotte came to our house. It was really great! It's nice to not even have to leave home at all, Shane just came upstairs from working and Simon got to show off all of his fun toys. Nevica came along with Charlotte (she's Charlotte's baby who is almost 1), so Simon got to play with her and all of his toys. He likes to share until he gets overtired and then it's over pretty much. But he went right to sleep on Mama and Papa's bed while they were still here. It's nice that he's as comfortable as he is around them, that's a good feeling. They make themselves right at home. We got to hear the heartbeat again, and everyone felt the baby moving around - Papa, Charlotte and Sandhano. It was pretty awesome. I've been feeling movement for a little over a week now, I'll be 17 weeks tomorrow. My belly is starting to pop out a bit. I can definitely feel a little one down there now. It's pretty amazing. Sandhano was commenting on how big it was getting, I didn't think it was much bigger, and she said, "Oh did you just think you were getting a beer belly?" I just thought it was probably from a lack of exercise, heh. I haven't felt like doing much at all, up until a couple of weeks ago, and now I have quite a bit of energy again. Simon and I have been going on walks through Greenough the past couple of days, it's been beautiful fall weather, perfect for walking and being outside!

I measured at 20" yesterday and weighed 158. My pee looked like "good pregnant pee". My blood pressure was good and the baby is growing really well. The baby's heart rate was between 150 and 152. Everything looks great. Sandhano doesn't really care if you have a sonogram or not, but I think we might have one to find out the baby's sex. She recommended if we have one that perfect time is between 20-24 weeks, and so she said 22 would be perfect. That's right around November 5th, so we'll probably do that. Things are going well, I'm feeling good, and re-energized, which is great. I'm still going to bed a lot earlier than I did with Simon, but Sandhano reminded me that's because I have to get up with him in the morning and actually have some energy to be with him all day long. She said she finds second pregnancies are usually healthier than the first because of that first child - feeding, chasing and playing with them is a good workout. Plus it forces the Mama to eat more healthy.

Our next prenatal is the 27th of October, at home again, which is so awesome. I can't get over how fun it is to stay in our own house instead of going to some cold examination room and having the shortest in and out visit ever. Sandhano was here for almost 2 hours yesterday. Looking at our pictures, and checking out our house, Shane's computers, and just talking. We talked about where the birth would happen, I've just been reading that you should be able to visualize it and I've been having a very hard time doing that, but she said it was fine, it wasn't really necessary, they would make me a little nest where ever I decided I wanted to birth when we got to that point. She also said we should probably get the pool (which is only $25) and if I didn't birth in there at least I could labor in there if I felt like it. We also talked about preserving the blood cord (stem cells) which I think we're going to do. It's pretty inexpensive, much less expensive than it was when we had Simon, so I think we'll probably do that as well. I'll try and write more about that as I learn more down the road.

Overall things are going really well! We love Sandhano and I'm feeling really really great and confident about the decision that we made to do a homebirth, and a huge huge part of me wishes we'd done it the first time around, it was just hard to know anything at all with the first baby. I love how involved Simon is, he loves listening for the baby's heartbeat, he likes to hear his baby's heartbeat too. So far we haven't found one in Simon's belly.

10/14/06: Letter to baby: I'm not quite as good about writing in your journal as I was about writing in Simon's...but I promise I'll work on it. I started showing about 2 weeks ago and my belly feels bigger today than yesterday, so I think you are growing like a little madman/woman. I'm pretty anxious to find out if you'll be "Baby Gus" or "Baby Nora". It's pretty fun to have a little swollen belly again. I've had strangers and some people that I know ask me if I'm pregnant, so I know it isn't my imagination. In fact the first woman that asked me, didn't ask, she was talking about busy Simon at the store and just said "Oh, and you're pregnant." So I know it's pretty easy to tell now. I guess tomorrow you'll be 19 weeks old. Pretty crazy it has flown right on by, only 1 week til 1/2 way day! That seems like a pretty special day. When I was pregnant with your big brother, we were in Wisconsin on 1/2 way day, but we sent Papa flowers to celebrate because he wasn't with us.

I can feel you moving around like crazy...all of the time. Flipping and pushing and kicking...I forgot how great that feels, I'm pretty excited for the big rolls where everyone can see you move. Simon has been really into riding Piggy Back lately, so we got a new Ergo Pack for you to share and when I wear him on my back right now, the belt part on my belly makes you a little bit irritated at first I think, it's pushing on you and you'd rather it didn't. It's kind of fun to think about though because your brother couldn't be any closer to you, well besides when he lays on you. He asks to do that sometimes. "Lay on Mama's baby."

I think you can hear now too, so you can probably hear Simon talking to you and singing and terrorizing the kitties...and I'm sure you can hear your Papa's deep voice. I hope you can. And we went to a parade this morning so you probably heard the marching bands, you were moving around like crazy anyway, so I'm assuming you did. I'm sure your Papa will start playing special songs for you too now. And we just got a new hot tub, so you'll be spending a lot of time in the water! Lucky!

I wanted to be sure and let you know that you also went to a very special rock show on the 4th of October (10 days ago). The Rolling Stones came to Missoula, MT and Papa and I went to the show...and of course you did too. I think you could hear it by then, but I'm not positive. Papa said we'd just ask you when you were born, so hopefully you can let us know then. Our next prenatal is almost 2 weeks away, and Mama still needs to make an appointment for a sonogram, but that will be very soon too! I'll also get some pictures up here, you don't have any yet. I think BeBop got some good ones this weekend (Lina Lou and BeBop are visiting right now) so I'll post a couple of Mama's belly on here so you can see how you've grown all of a sudden.

10/24/06: Sunday 10/22 was half-way-day. We got Papa some pretty flowers yesterday to keep up the tradition. Simon got a special balloon too. Although he had no idea what the occasion was. I just wanted to talk about how much the baby is moving around. Like crazy! I'm pretty sure a few days ago we had our first case of the hiccups too (at least that I could feel) and then again after that, and again this morning. The movement is strong enough for Simon and Papa to feel too. And you can feel it up on top of my belly now too, not just down low anymore. If you push in a spot, the baby will usually react to your touch, and start kicking that particular spot within a few seconds.. It's getting to be pretty fun. The baby seems to like our hot tub. I could feel a ton of movement last night when we were hanging out in the "big big big bath tub" (as Simon refers to it).  We've got another prenatal on Friday (so in just a few days) and then we've got an ultrasound scheduled on the 6th of November...and I called yesterday and Simon gets to come along with us...so that'll be soooo fun and exciting for him. He'll actually get to see the baby, just like he always asks to. We get to take a videotape and I'm sure they'll print some pictures for us too. And, we're going to find out the sex, so we'll know if we're having "Baby Gus or Baby Nora." Baby Eleanor or Baby August are the names we think we like at this point. We were hoping that would be helpful for Simon Alton, to give the baby a name instead of two. He'd probably be wondering where the other one was at the birth when only one came out.

The first official belly shot. Right around 20 weeks.

10/27/06: Our prenatal got rescheduled due to sick kids...so it'll be next Wednesday the 1st. Doug and Kia's due date. So I'll update then.

11/1/06: We had our prenatal (the rescheduled one) today. It was just a regular old prenatal. Everything looked good. Sandhano forgot her scale, so I didn't have the weigh in. She's going to bring it next time though so it'll be a big ol' weight gain. heh. I really wanted to weigh Simon to see how much he's weighin' in at these days, but I'll just have to wait til November 22nd. She checked my hemoglobin and did an insulin test, I think that was what the two of them were and things looked really good. She said that normal hemoglobin is between 80 and 120 and mine was 88, and it's the day after Halloween! Hiyo! So she was pretty impressed. I measured at 23 1/2 and we heard the baby's heartbeat again, it was right around 140. She's said the baby is growing really good, his/her head was down and she could feel the little bootie and limbs. She said everything seemed great. She asked if I was having any weird stuff happen and I've been feeling really good, nothing strange that I can think of. Simon was in Mama and Papa's room watching a movie, because he was pretty tired, but I told him I'd come and get him for the heartbeat. He's so sweet when we listen to the heartbeat. Today he put his hand around his ear. "Mama, can you hear it?" He had a look of interest on his face. So stinkin' cute. Then he just cuddled with my belly the rest of the time I laid on the floor. Whenever Nevica comes near either Shane or I he likes to make sure that she knows that we're his Mama and Papa, not hers. So it was another awesome prenatal right on our living room rug. It's so dreamy and nice to be in our own house.

We talked a little bit about siblings at birth, and she told us a couple of stories about different births that she has assisted with where there have been other kids, so now I'm even more excited about Simon being at the birth. I think we've decided we'll have someone here to get him food, take him outside to play, etc. Basically be focused completely on him while Mama and Papa are "kinda busy". Then there is always the option of taking him down to Dave and Janet's house, but I don't know that we'll need to do that if we have a friend for him here. So we'll be asking someone really soon. Most likely it'll be Auntie Shell.

We decided to bank the baby's cord blood also, so we registered with a place yesterday. So that's one thing that is taken care of. I'm 3 days into my 22nd week now, so movin' right along. We are going to have our ultrasound on Monday the 6th, to determine the sex. Simon gets to come along with us, so that'll be really exciting for him, well and us too, we didn't find out the sex the last time around. It'll be fun to know if we're having Baby August "Gus" or Baby Eleanor "Nora". The next prenatal will be when Maynah is here, so that'll be fun. It's the day before Thanksgiving. We're planning to have a whole bunch of people for Thanksgiving, it should be a fun one! So, all's well with the baby bean. Girl or Boy? hmm.

11/6/06: We had our ultrasound today and found out that Baby Bean II is a boy. So we'll be having a little baby Gus (I think). I guess I'm not totally sure we've decided on the name. The doctor that performed the ultrasound said that everything looked great and he'd be sending a report over to Sandhano that said the same. He did head measurements and arm measurements and we got to check out his healthy little heart and he said everything looked beautiful. So that's great news, not that we were too concerned, but it's definitely nice to hear that you have a healthy baby. Simon was pretty excited about the adventure. He was also pretty into the toys in the waiting room and then in our room where the ultrasound happened. He wasn't shy at all, in fact he started making his silly face in the middle of the ultrasound for the nurse  that was in the room with us. He thought it was pretty cool to hear the heartbeat, and he asked where Sandhano was? The doctor turned the heartbeat on while he was performing the ultrasound just because Simon asked about it. Then when he shut it off Simon said "Again." So we told him it was a boy. He was pretty sure it was going to be Baby Nora. I think Papa was too. I've been thinking boy for a while, just because the pregnancy has been so similar to the first time around.

Everything looked great though and Baby Gus looks really healthy. I saw his cute little skeletal mug and his tiny little feet, but we didn't get any pictures this time. We also forgot to get a videotape but we brought our video camera in, so we'll see if that captured anything great, and we'll put it up here or on Simon's site most likely. Our next prenatal is the 22nd, so we'll have more updates then. The baby feels good to me and my belly is definitely growing, so I know the baby is too. Oh he told us today that the baby is approx. 1 lb 9 oz. I guess that is based on the measurements.

Here is a little Gus picture from the ultrasound video. It's not quite the same as a printed picture, but it's all we got. Look at that cute little face!

11/24/06: Well little August is growing well. We had another appointment on the 22nd, the day before Thanksgiving. Auntie Maynah was here for our appointment this time, so that was fun. My belly measured at 27 this time around. We heard the heart beat and it was between 140-150. Simon wouldn't take his nap until he got to hear the heartbeat. The baby felt good, Sandhano always feels my belly for a while. She told us his head is down and his little buns were up, Simon was pretty excited that his little bootie was up. He told me later that "Baby Gus has a little bootie and I have a really big bootie." Sandhano brought her scale this time but I don't even remember how much I weighed, it was either 167 or 172? My belly has gotten a bit bigger with each day lately. I've been feeling a little bit more sore this time around and I'm sure it has a lot to do with my lack of exercise. It is just nearly impossible to find the time with Mr. Man and my work schedule. It's just a really busy time of year too. Sandhano said that I should start walking a couple of times a week at least, so I've got to work on that! Nothing out of the ordinary, Sandhano thought things were going really well, so that's good. The baby moves around like crazy. Especially at night, so he's already got his schedule all backwards. There were some sweet pictures of Simon laying on my belly that Maynah took the night of the prenatal, so I'll put those up here. And, I'll write more later!

12/23/06: We haven't had a prenatal in a while, it ended up getting canceled because Sandhano had a birth, but we're rescheduled for the 28th, so next Thursday we'll have a new update about Baby August. He's growing like crazy!!! Everyone told me that it's so different with the second baby, I don't think my pregnancy has been much different at all, but I've definitely been less devoted to journal entries, but maybe that has something to do with the busy season. Let's hope so. Last night I had Papa take a picture of my growing belly, we just haven't taken as many as we did the last time around. Rachel is going to take some pictures like she did last time, soon, but we just haven't had time to do it yet. So we'll have a wide array of pregnant Mama pictures again. Hopefully we can get Simon into some of them, I think that'd be sweet. So here are the big belly pics. This time around, being pregnant in the winter, I think I'm so much less swollen. I asked Sandhano how many weeks  I was yesterday on the phone and I'm 29 weeks. So, this is what a big ol' pregnant belly looks like at 29 weeks. August moves around like crazy, he's very active, I feel like he doesn't stop moving lately. Even while I'm moving around I can feel him moving...it seems like I could really really feel Simon when I was sitting still or laying down, but me moving doesn't stop little Gussy. He's getting really big! I'll have more to report next week. Oh and we're planning on making some nesting bowls, so I think we'll be doing a belly cast on Thursday also, so that'll be fun. I did one with Simon, but we didn't do nesting bowls, so I only did one, this time we'll do one at 30 weeks, one at 36 and one right around my due date. Then I think I'll also take this local artist Simon's cast so she can make one big bowl out of that. It'll be something that Simon and August can have when they grow up...and a fun thing for us to use while our family grows up. Okey doke, here he is...

12/30/06: We had another prenatal a couple of days ago. Sandhano came on the 27th and checked on Baby Gus again. Simon was very excited to see her, he couldn't stop talking to her and showing off all of his Christmas presents, he was so excited. It was adorable. Gussy checked out just fine. Mama's belly measured at 32, and I'm 30 weeks today, so the baby is growing really well. Papa and Mama are going to work on a belly cast for the first nesting bowl in the next couple of days. Apparently it is best to do the first one at 29 or 30 weeks, so we better get on it. Then the next one we'll do at 36 weeks and then again right around the due date. It's amazing how quickly this pregnancy has gone by. It's flying!

I weighed in at 175, and my pee was "great pregnant pee" according to Sandhano. Everything seemed great. August even put on some moves while everyone was feeling my belly. He moves around like a madman. As I type actually he showing us his stuff. He's a strong one! His head is down, and has been for quite a while now, but we got to feel the front and back of his head. Sandhano helped us figure out where things were, sometimes it's hard for me to tell. So his head is resting right on my bladder, which is why I peed 4 times while she was here...and why I pee 500 times each night. His heart rate was around 148. Simon loves the heartbeat part. He pretty much launched off his chair (he was playing with clay at the table) when he heard it. He likes to hold my hand while we listen. It's very adorable. He made Sandhano measure him when we were done listening to the heartbeat because he found the measuring tape. Oh and my blood pressure was great also...just like it should be! And another pretty great thing is my wedding ring still fits. I had to take it off last time, I don't really remember when, but I know it was before I was 30 weeks pregnant.

Our visits switch to every two weeks now, so she'll be back to see us again on the 10th, so we'll be seeing a lot more of her until Gus arrives. Mama is getting a little anxious/nervous about the birth, which is really normal I'm sure. I've just found myself thinking about it a lot more than I had been before. The act of giving birth seems pretty crazy to me. I know once it begins, my body will take over, but it's just hard to imagine it. I remember the last time, even though I didn't have a full "birth" it was all like a dream, before, during and after...so I'm sure it'll be much the same. The beauty of it is that I get to stay right in my own house. And, we get to have Sandhano here, she's just got this amazingly comforting way/aura about her.

So we'll have another update in the new year. We've got a big year ahead of us! Oh and we'll take pictures of the belly casting. I'm sure it'll be nice and messy!

1/1/07: Happy New Year! Welp, we finally did the cast today. It was messy alright, but it went quickly, and was pretty easy. It peeled right on off. It's a pretty bowl, that's for sure. It's not quite as pretty on, as it is drying on the table. heh. But here are a few pictures.

I didn't know that Papa was going to get my face in any of the pictures, or I would've posed for everyone! We decided to just do my belly this time around, maybe on the 3rd cast we'll do the whole torso...like I did with Simon.

I ended up taking Simon's cast out too, he wanted to see it after he saw Gussy's. He thought they were pretty cool. Hopefully someday he thinks the beautiful bowls we'll turn them into are pretty cool too.  I'm so excited to see the end result! It'll be really fun to compare the bowl sizes too. Simon's doesn't really look that much bigger than August's while they are sitting on the table. I'll have to check and see how many weeks I was when we did Simon's cast. Well I just looked and Simon's cast was done on 8/10/04. I guess I was about 38 weeks. I'll take a picture of the difference/similarity.

The picture on the left above is the cast we did today (on the left) and Simon's at 38 weeks (on the right). We put the cast on my sides too, which I don't think we did quite as much with Simon's. But then on the right - this picture shows Gussy's cast resting inside of Simon's...so we've still got some growing to do. Alrighty, we'll have more to report on the 10th after our next Sandhano visit. Happy New Year!

1/10/07: Welp we just had another prenatal and in 2 weeks, Gussy grew quite a bit. My belly measured at 35 ½ and it was only 32 last time. I’m 32 weeks and 5 days right now, so in just a couple of days I’ll be 33 weeks. We didn’t have a scale today, lucky me.

I guess in another few weeks we’ll do a second belly cast…since that’ll be right around 36 weeks. Then the last one we’ll do right at the end…probably on my due date.
His heart rate was in the 150s. He was pretty excited. Simon had just pretty much tackled him before we listened, so Sandhano thought he was pretty excited.
My pee looked good and blood pressure was good, so all’s going well. Just still a little nervous/anxious about the birth…and I’m sure I will be up until it’s over. Heh.
We went through a list of everything that I need to order for the birth (the birth kit) and the pool, but we’ll just wait until Sandhano comes the next time to order any of that stuff. It only takes a couple of days for it to arrive and it isn’t necessary to get it too far in advance, because a homebirth cannot even happen until after 36 ½ weeks…that is the safe zone.
Getting excited, getting anxious, getting worried about Simon losing the spotlight…not that he’ll be losing it, but it won’t be all his anymore, he’ll have to share. We talked a little bit about that today too. She told us to tell people if they come to visit to not bring the baby a present, or if they are planning on bringing the baby a present, they NEED to bring something for Simon too. He’s going to be feeling like his spot has been taken also, so we have to be very careful. She also said we needed to get him a present and have Gus get him a present and have him get a present for Gus (that Simon can unwrap for him). So we’ve got some presents to buy again, which is fun for a Mama with a toy store! I guess that’s a plus! Just figuring out where to put the new toys is going to be a little tricky. Heh. We’ll just have to get little things. Fun!

1/23/07: Sandhano came again this morning. It was good visit, probably my favorite yet. We talked a lot, which was fun. We talked about when the baby is born a little bit more and just how the whole process works.
I actually started water aerobics last night too, which was much needed! I’ll be going on Mondays now. I also started a class last night, it’s called Birth Mama. It’s just a childbirth class. It was pretty fun. I don’t know if I really need it, but it doesn’t hurt to have some refreshers. Plus, Charlotte, who is Sandhano’s apprentice, teaches it, so she’ll be at our birth. It was fun; it was all about relaxation last night. We got mini massages, made bath salts, talked about the placenta and how amazing it is. Then we did some yoga at the end, which was also very fun. I wish I had time to take a prenatal yoga class too, but it is just much too hard, just too busy.

Anyway, back to the prenatal. She checked my hemoglobin it was 11.2. Pee looked good…”good pregnant pee” that’s what she always says. She didn’t bring her scale again, it’s huge and heavy, so that’s probably why. So I have no idea how much I weigh this time around…but I guess that’s fine by me. I’m much less swollen than I was with Simon. You can still see the bones in my feet and see my ankle bones and I’ve got my wedding ring on. By May, the last time around, I wasn’t my normal self at all. I’m by no means saying I’m my normal self right now, but I’m definitely much closer.

I measured at 38 yesterday and according to her little wheel I’m 33 weeks and 4 days. I lose track each time...I’m not sure why, I guess people don’t ask me as often. They mostly just ask when I’m due.

It’s so fun to be pregnant again. I’m starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable now…which is good. I’m so glad that happens, because I feel like that eases my mind about birth a bit.
We talked a lot about the birth, Sandhano and I. She just set my mind at ease a lot. She told me she’s seen it all. Women have hit her, punched her, cussed at her, and she said when that starts to happen she usually gets excited because she can tell things are really starting to happen. So she told me I never had to feel like I should hold back.
I went through the list of supplies needed for the birth yesterday and ordered some little things. I’ll wait to order my actual birth kit until I’m about 35 weeks or so. So I figure I still have a couple of weeks before I need to do that. I think we’ll get a pool for in the house too…even though we have the hot tub. Once my waters break, if they break early on, we can’t be in the hot tub anymore.

Rachel came and took some pictures the other day, Saturday, so we have some fun belly pictures from Baby Gus too. I wanted Simon to be in some of them, but he didn’t nap, so it was a little tricky. He wasn’t too into it.

2/27/07: Well I missed that talk that I mentioned above because Simon puked all over the place as I was dropping him off at Dave and Janet's. Oh well. 

We've had a couple of appointments since the last update. The last one was on Friday and that's the one I can remember, so I'll talk about that one really quickly. Auntie Shell came over so that was extra fun for Simon and Nevica. It was pretty uneventful...we've just been talking more and more about the birth. She hasn't brought her scale for a while, so I have no idea how much I weigh, my pee always looks just fine and dandy and my blood pressure has been good throughout.  I measured at 42 this last visit. She said that 40 is full term, so I should have a nice big baby...well she said she doesn't think he's enormous or anything, but I also have no signs of labor at this point, so it could be a while before I have him, who knows. He'll have some more time to get bigger and bigger. She said it felt like there was plenty of amniotic fluid (no stupid stress tests this time or ultrasounds - ah...so nice). He's in a  good position and she thought he'd moved down into my pelvis a bit more, but I think he moves up and down still...sometimes I can feel that he's down there and other times he's not down as low. 

His heartrate was in the 150s, so that sounded good too. Simon gets to push the button to turn the doppler, or little machine on each time, and he thinks that's pretty fun, oh and he gets to turn it off too. For some reason he thought Baby Gus was a squid this last visit. There is a pretty cute video on Simon and August's web site. You can see my giant belly there too. We haven't taken anymore pictures, we need to take a few belly shots for this journal. 

I ended up finally taking the belly casts that I started on over to Mer's house, so she's going to just work on Simon's until I have my third August cast. I'm planning to do that on his due date...which is only about 10 days away now. We've got all of our birth supplies and I spent one afternoon and evening organizing the boys' stuff so now Gussy's clothes all fit in Simon's dresser, they each have a drawer and 1/2. Should work for the time being. We set up the bassinet too...I remember setting up the pack and play last time (which was much much bigger than the sweet little bassinet). Anyway I set it up in hopes that would make me go into labor, heh. This time I didn't have such high hopes, it just seemed easier than finding a place to store it. Plus it is pretty stinkin' cute. Simon helped me organize. 

Maynah got August a snake toy (just like the one that Gus got for Simon) and Simon has sort of taken it in as his own. He still calls it Gussy's so maybe Gus will get it someday, but for now Simon has two snakes that sleep with him at night. He loves them! It's adorable.

Yesterday he told me that he didn't want me to push the baby out, so we'll just keep our fingers crossed that once the baby is here, he doesn't hate the whole situation, I mean I realize he'll adjust eventually, I just hope he immediately loves his new little brother. Shane and I were joking a little the other night, what if we have a girl now and the ultrasound was wrong? Heh. Not much of a chance of that, it was pretty obvious, that would just be crazy! Anyway things are good, moving along really well, I'm feeling good. August is still really active moving around a bunch! I'll keep updating until he gets here, then you can check him out on www.simonandaugust.com.

3/13/07: Still no August. We've got a prenatal this morning at 11. Sandhano is now coming every three days, so we'll be seeing a lot of her until he gets here. Which ought to be soon. I've had a lot of early labor stuff going on, but I don't think I'm officially "IN" early labor. For the last three days I've been having contractions right around every 20 minutes, if not closer together. I felt pretty crampy yesterday and actually lost my mucous plug at the store in the middle of the day. All of this is encouraging since last time I was pregnant none of those things happened. At least things are happening, and I'm only a few days past my due date. It makes me think that he'll come on his own, pretty easily...I mean I don't know about an easy labor, but at least labor will hopefully start up on its own. Sandhano said she'd start giving me homeopathic stuff to get things going when I was a week overdue. That'll be on Friday. I'm hoping I'm not even still pregnant by Friday. Who knows though, he'll come when he's good and ready. I feel like he must be ready though. Mister doesn't need to get any bigger if you ask me. heh. 

We did our last belly cast the day before Gussy's due date, so they are all over at Mer's house now and I'm just waiting to see what she does with them. She said she started on Simon's, so I hope we love it when it is done. She wanted to wait until she had the last cast before she started on August's. We took a couple of pictures on the offical due date too, so I'll put those up. You can always check out www.simonandaugust.com too. 

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