Am I a Poodle?

There are a couple of companies that will test a dog's DNA to determine what breed it is. Since Charlotte is so unique, we thought it might be fun to have hers tested. We got the results the other day and we think we wasted our money. Or that the lab mixed up Charlotte's sample with that of another dog. Here are the results:

• 37-74% Poodle
• 10-19% Pug
• 10-19% Siberian Husky
• Less than 10% Bichon Frise
  

The database for the testing company we used has 63 dog breeds including Australian Shepherd, Golden Retriever, Border Collie, English Setter, and many others that we thought we might see in Charlotte. I'm thinking of sending the company a picture of Charlotte and either asking for a retest or for our money back.

Beating up the snail

Carter doesn't like snails. Or he has figured out his hands and just likes punching the one that hangs on his bouncer. At first, Carter would just accidentally hit the snail when he was moving his arms around. But today he seemed to be hitting it on purpose to make it move.


Carter is also randomly smiling more and more over the last few days. I think it's just a new facial expression he's learned, but it's still really cool to see.

Grandparents

Here are Carter's grandparents each holding him for the first time the day he was born ...

Brian's Mom:


Brian's Dad:


My Mom:


My Dad:

Stylin'

We got Carter in something other than a sleeper today. These clothes are still huge and look like they are about to fall off of him, but they are cute! He has a ton of three months size clothes that I'm sure he'll fit in to in no time.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope everyone had a great holiday today! We fried a turkey and had a laid back meal at the kitchen table. Brian's parents and my sister, Karey, are visiting this weekend and spending some time with the little guy. Carter slept through his first Thanksgiving dinner in his bouncer.

Carter is still a tiny guy. We brought a newborn and 3 month size outfit to the hospital since we weren't sure how big he was going to be. We gave the nurse his newborn outfit to put him in for his pictures at the hospital and were worried it might be too small. We were surprised when she brought Carter back and the outfit was huge on him. We had only bought a couple of newborn things before Carter was born so my mom had to go out and buy some more newborn sleepers for him to wear for now. Here's a picture of Carter in one of his newborn sleepers and hat. The hat is obviously a bit big.


Carter has such a small little head, but a perfect head. He didn't get the typical cone head shape during delivery. I keep getting asked if he was born via C-section because his head is so well shaped.

Charlotte & Carter

Charlotte finally licked Carter today. She licked one of his ears about 5 times. Hopefully this means she's starting to accept him. She's been really good with him so far but also somewhat uninterested. Up until today, she would only sniff him occasionally. She's been acting like the jealous older sibling that is mad at me for not giving her all my attention anymore. She'll play with me some when I don't have Carter with me, but if I have him, she usually walks away from me. I'm glad that she may be getting used to the idea that Carter is now part of the family.

Jaundice

Carter's jaundice seems all cleared up. The whites of his eyes now look white instead of yellow. And he no longer looks so tan which was the yellow coming through.

I didn't know what jaundice was (other than you turn yellow) before our birthing classes. Jaundice is caused by excess bilirubin in the blood. Bilirubin is produced by the normal breakdown of red blood cells. Normally, bilirubin passes through the liver and is excreted as bile through the intestines. Jaundice occurs when bilirubin builds up faster than a newborn's liver can break it down and pass it from the body.

We were told Carter had a little bit of jaundice on Sunday morning after he was born (though we already suspected that he did). Carter had a blood test to determine his bilirubin level that morning, and his test result was 11.2. This was a low enough number to not have to do anything about it at that point. We were told that they start getting concerned at a level of 15 and at 18, light therapy is required to aid in clearing up the jaundice.

Carter was tested again on Monday morning before we left the hospital, and his level then was 11.8. Since it was going up, the pediatrician wanted to see us on Wednesday so he could do a visual assessment of Carter.

At the doctor's appointment, the pediatrician decided Carter's jaundice wasn't clearing up yet and sent us over to Parkwest Hospital to have another bilirubin test. I think we were sent there since their lab would be able to have the results within an hour. Carter did not like having blood drawn for that test. I held him while they pricked his foot and squeezed blood into a little vial. He is not a quick bleeder. He screamed the whole time. But once they were done, he calmed back down quickly. Anyway, his level after that test was 12.2. So it was still going up, but at least it wasn't high enough to have to do anything about it yet.

We went back to the pediatrician on Friday so that they could do a visual assessment again of Carter, and they decided that he was starting to look better and we didn't need to get his bilirubin level tested again.

We're glad he's healthy!

Developmental Stuff

Carter is starting to do some cool stuff.

Starting yesterday, when doing tummy time on the floor, he can lift his head up enough to switch from looking right to left and vice versa. He's still somewhat dragging his face along as he does it, but it's still cool.

Carter can track with his eyes pretty well. He can track a toy or our finger from side to side and up and down. Actually, he's always been able to do this, but he's getting better at doing it for a longer time.

He'll look at a book too as I read it to him. Even if I put it off to the side somewhat, he'll move his head to look at it.

Carter gets hiccups at a least a few times a day. It doesn't seem to bother him, but he seems surprised a little by each one as he jumps. It's really cute.

Black & White Photos

Still Gaining Weight

Carter had another weight check today. He's up to 7 lbs, 6 oz!!! He's gained 2 ounces a day since Friday which is a lot. The doctor wanted him gaining 0.5 to 1 ounce a day. He's going to be a little fatty if he's not careful! It's good to know though that he's getting enough to eat since we were having so much trouble with breast feeding. Also, when they measured him today, he was 19.5 inches long (they told us he was 20.25 inches long when he was born). The nurse said babies always "shrink" because the measurement that is done at birth is difficult to do.

Carter went for his first walk yesterday since it finally warmed up to 50. We just went down the street and back. Here are a couple of pictures.

I'm Back

I'm finally back online! We haven't had internet, cable, or phone since Saturday night. A temporary line has been run to our house, and Comcast plans to dig up our yard in a week or two to put in a new line. I can't wait to see the damage they do.

Cute Face and Turtle

I haven't captured any pictures yet, but Carter makes the cutest face when he pinches his lips together in a little pucker and gets huge eyes. It's like an "Oh, no! What did I just do?!?" look.

Also, Carter has this move where he looks just like a turtle. He'll push on your chest and lift his head back and turn it side to side. He'll lift his eyebrows and make is face really long. He has such a long neck that he looks like a turtle stretching out of his shell.

I'm learning to type one handed since I'm holding Carter at the same time. It sure takes a lot longer to write anything!

A few more pictures ...

Here are a few more pictures from this week ...

Carter's Very First Pictures

Here are some pictures taken of Carter minutes after he was born ...

Family Photo

Weight Check

Carter had a doctor's appointment this morning to check his weight. He's up to 7lbs! Three ounces in two days is awesome. He's getting closer to his birth weight. He also had a visual check to assess his jaundice. The doctor we saw today thought he was looking good and the jaundice wasn't at a level that required him to have any more lab work.

I get to take Carter back to the doctor on Monday for another weight check on my own. Brian's been helping with everything so far so that's a little scary.

More Pictures

Carter is doing great. He had a doctor's appointment yesterday (Wednesday) morning. When we left the hospital on Monday, he was down to 6 lbs, 11 oz and he's up to 6 lbs, 13 oz. Which is perfect since we want him to gain about an ounce a day. I was worried because we're having a lot of trouble breast feeding. I'll get into that in another post. We're doing a little better today. Also, Carter left the hospital with a little bit of jaundice. He had that tested yesterday, and it's at about the same level so he isn't requiring any light therapy so far. Again, I'll do a separate post about his jaundice later. We're going back to the doctor tomorrow for a weight check and visual jaundice check.

I need to go feed Carter now - I'll try to post more soon.

Here are some pictures of Carter from the last few days.

Introducing Carter Michael

Our newest family member is here! And a day early!!! Carter was born on Saturday, November 15th at 12:38 am. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 5 oz and is 20.25 inches long. I'll be sure to post the "birth story" soon for those of you that want to know all the details. Here are a couple of the pictures taken at the hospital ...

It's getting old

Why does every sales person have to ask me the same 3 questions? (It was 2 questions but lately a third has been added.) I have been asked these questions for the past four months or so at every single store I go to. I need to start wearing a sign with the answers because it's getting old.

• When are you due?
• Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?
• Are you excited?

The last one is the best. It's the new question. It's just such a stupid question because if you say anything other than "yes", the person asking would be shocked. I just don't have the boldness to say what I think would be funny ...

• Not really.
• I'm putting him up for adoption so it doesn't really matter.
• Yes, because then I can hopefully figure out who the father is!

I am just not the type of person that likes talking about myself to random people that I'm never going to see again. I hate when I get stuck in line and someone then proceeds to tell me all about when their sister was due and when she actually had her baby. I try really hard to be nice, but I don't have the energy anymore and don't care.

Luckily, I haven't been assaulted like a lot of other woman I've known that live in east Tennessee. Apparently, people around here think it's okay to come up to pregnant women they don't even know and start rubbing their bellies without permission. This only happened to me once at a Mexican restaurant when I was already seated and our waitress did it before leaving our table. I was so startled that I didn't even say anything. I kept telling Brian that if anyone did this to me they'd risk losing their hand. I do not understand why people think that pregnant women don't have to be treated like normal people. No one would go up to stranger that isn't pregnant and just start rubbing one of their body parts. That gets people punched, arrested, or shot! Besides, what are you accomplishing by rubbing someone's belly? You're most likely not going to feel the baby kick, so what's the point?

Does it sound like I'm tired of being pregnant and am ready for this little guy to arrive?

The History of Charlotte

We adopted Charlotte from Almost Home Animal Rescue on August 5, 2006. Our best guess is that she was born in April 2005. We were told that the rescue got her from a local kill shelter on her last day. Then she was at the rescue for six months when we adopted her. The rescue was so bad that she needed to be rescued from the rescue. It seems that the woman that runs the rescue tries to adopt too many dogs and then can't provide them with very good living conditions or care.

We wonder if she was at the rescue for so long because she was so shy. The rescue has a five-day "return policy" for their dogs. She's so cute so we think that she may have been adopted a few times and then "returned" because she wasn't playful enough. It took a lot of patience, but Charlotte eventually learned to trust us. She's still shy with new people, but she's gotten a lot better. There's a lot of stuff Charlotte is still scared of (such as cameras), but I think she's generally a lot happier now that she's gained some confidence.

Charlotte has been to the vet A LOT since we've gotten her. Sometimes it seems like we're just overprotective dog owners, but every time it's been something that actually needed medicine or a procedure to fix. Here's a rundown of her major ailments ...

• Ear Infection (Aug 06) - When we got Charlotte, she had ear mites and yeast infection in both of her ears. It was so bad she's lucky she didn't lose her hearing.
• Tapeworm (Aug 06)
• Tooth Extraction (Sept 06) - Charlotte had a tooth that was rotting. Her gum around the tooth was gray and smelled awful. She also got her teeth cleaned because there was so much build up on all her teeth.
• Tick Removed (Nov 06) - Charlotte had a tick attach to her belly on a hike that we removed the day she got it, but it was infected and required antibiotics.
  
• Bladder Infection (Feb 08) - Charlotte started licking herself a lot. She went to the vet several times for tests, but a bladder infection was the only thing they could diagnose. We could of had some more tests done at the UT vet school, but the cost would be insane and she eventually stopped doing it so much.
  
• Found out Charlotte was shot before we adopted her (Mar 08) - Charlotte had an x-ray to check for bladder stones and we identified at least 3 pieces of bird shot in her. Two pieces are in her back and one is in a thigh.
• Charlotte got hit by two cars (Apr 08) - Charlotte slipped out of her harness at the vet and ran into the street which has a speed limit of 45 mph. She got hit twice and then disappeared for a couple of hours before Brian spotted her on someone's porch about a mile away from the vet. Luckily, she only had a cut on her head that needed a staple and was sore for about a day.
• Removal of bird shot (Aug 08) - Charlotte had what we thought was a growth on one of her toes. The vet wanted to remove it and during the surgery, she figured out it was a piece of bird shot that was pushing itself out. The vet removed a second piece from her ankle that she discovered while shaving Charlotte's foot. Charlotte also had her teeth cleaned and was microchipped while she was under.
  

But, all this has been worth it. We love her!

39 Weeks & 1 Day Update

I had my weekly OB appointment today. By blood pressure was good (118/82) and I hadn't gained any weight since last week. My doctor mentioned that I probably hadn't gained any weight because there's just no room. That's also why I'm still getting out of breath so easily. The baby's heart rate sounded really good so he seems to be doing fine still. I am currently 2-3 centimeters dilated and about 60% effaced. However, the little guy is still "floating around" and is not engaged. This means that I can't be induced, at least not until his head is engaged. According to my doctor, he really should be engaged at this point. One possible reason that he hasn't engaged yet is that he won't "fit" - kind of like a square peg in a round hole.

We're hoping that contractions will force him down and that this will happen before my water breaks. If my water breaks before he is engaged, there's a chance the umbilical cord could come out first and this is not good so if my water breaks, we're supposed to get to the hospital ASAP. Also, if he does engage, it could happen quickly. This means there is a better chance that he could engage with his head turned sideways which would be a lot harder of a fit as well.

If I still haven't gone into labor at 41 weeks, we will definitely induce. We'll have to try to get my contractions going and get the baby to engage before we can break my water. This isn't the ideal way to induce. So at this point, the chances of having to have a c-section are a lot higher.

But, then again, everything could go normal and I go into labor on my own with the baby fully engaged! My doctor just wanted to prepare us for what could happen.

Home Office

This is our next big project - setting up our home office. Currently it is a mess of old furniture, including our old kitchen table and chairs, coffee table, and end table. It's not very easy to work at either computer right now since they are so low. The only office furniture from our old house that made it to this house is the bookshelf and office chair. We gave our desk and filing cabinet to Goodwill before we moved because we knew we wanted something different. We are a little lost in designing something for this room. We want space for both of us to be able to work in here at the same time and not feel cramped. I love the doors on the room, but they need room to open inwards so they eliminate some floor space. We'd like built-in cabinets or shelving along part of at least one wall. I'd also love to get this room done soon because it's the first one people see when entering our house. We're more or less done in all the other rooms except for some paint and hanging pictures.


If we ever get this done, we'll move on to the third floor and finish that. That's going to be a much, much bigger project, but we actually have ideas for that room!

Charlotte Loves Cheese

Charlotte HATES having her picture taken. She is scared of all cameras. Even before you hold a camera up, she knows what it is. We've never tried to take her picture with a flash so that's not the reason she's scared. But she goes running and hides whenever a camera is around. We tricked her the other day by leaving the camera on the counter while filming a video and actually got some footage of her.

View video here (link) if you get "Not Available" errors.

Merry Christmas, Baby!

We bought the baby's Christmas present last night! A treadmill! We decided it's our family present this year. The little guy isn't going to be old enough to need presents from us this year so we figured getting us something that would help keep us sane this winter would be the best gift for him. It's getting shipped to the house so we should have it in the next 2 weeks.

We got the Sole F85 (link). It's a fold up so when we do finish the attic someday, we can put the deck up and it doesn't take up as much room. It has lots of extra features (including a heart rate monitor, fans, and quick set buttons for speed and incline), a large motor (3.5 hp), and a longer deck (60" instead of 58" or 55" which the more basic models have). It's close to gym quality without being as expensive.

Feeling Good

I've been feeling really good lately - at least relative to the last several weeks. I've had more energy (for example, I'm not literally falling asleep at work). And my back doesn't hurt as much. It could be that I've just gotten used to how things are. Don't get me wrong though - I'm ready to not be pregnant anymore.

Brian and I have been looking at treadmills. We tested some out this weekend and last night. We may have picked one out. We're still doing some research and deciding on how much we really want to spend. We're planning on putting it in the unfinished attic along with a workout bench to go with our free weights. That is if we can get a 250-300 lb machine up two flights of stairs. Having a treadmill should allow me to run a lot more this winter and hopefully start getting back into shape. I should be able to run when the baby naps instead of having to wait until Brian gets home from work when it's dark and really cold. I'm not used to being this out of shape and going this long without really working out. I'm hoping to run the Knoxville Half-Marathon on March 29th. Most people have been laughing at me when I tell them that. I have no intention of getting anywhere near the time I did a few years ago, not that it was that great (1:55:38). I just want to finish and not be dying the entire race. But committing to this race should push me to run more miles which will help me burn more calories and lose the extra weight I've put on.

Here's another picture of me. I haven't grown out as much as I'm getting rounder as he gets bigger. My belly is sticking out higher up and my stomach is getting weird looking as it continues to stretch and go numb.

Numb Belly

Over the last week, my belly has started to go numb in the middle. It seems like it's so stretched that there aren't nerves there anymore. I asked my OB about it and she said it's okay. Today my belly has started itching really bad. It feels like it's itching from the inside so there's no way to relieve it. Pregnancy just keeps getting better and better!

I haven't been as tired the last few weeks. I haven't done nearly as much the last couple of weekends so maybe that's why. I'm still getting up about every hour at night to pee. I'm so excited when I've slept two consecutive hours. It's getting harder to get out of bed. I have to lift one leg and bring it down to get some momentum going so I can lift my upper body up. Luckily Brian is a pretty heavy sleeper and I don't wake him up very often.

I measured my waist, and it's up to 44.25". I have no idea what it used to be, but that doesn't sound too big considering how big I look. The office manager at my office kept saying to me "You're SO BIG" today. She said it five times in a row when I was in her office. Whenever I go shopping, I constantly get asked by people when I'm due and people can never believe how much longer I still have. I've been getting asked lately "Are you sure you're not having twins?" I guess I just look so big because I have what's probably a normal size pregnancy belly and a smaller frame. So, proportionally, my belly looks huge. I'll be ready for people to stop staring at me though.

Things are looking pretty good for Obama so far!!! I'm hoping that when more than 10% of each state's precincts are reporting, things will still look the same way!

Still 2 cm

I had a doctor's appointment today. I am still 2 cm dilated and the little guy's head has not locked into position (so he can still turn and be breach). Everything looked good still. My doctor said his heart beat was perfect and the size of my belly is right on. I didn't get those numbers from her though because she was in a little bit of a hurry - she needed to get to a c-section. When the nurse first measured my blood pressure, it was 138/72. But we had her measure it again at the end of my appointment and it was only 104/73. And I only put on one pound over the last week - woohoo!

The leaves seem to be at their peak right now in the valley. The maples are all sorts of brilliant colors. It was really pretty driving into work this morning on Pellissippi Parkway with the morning sun shining on all the leaves. Maybe I can get out in the next couple of days and get some pictures before they all fall to the ground.

Name for the Baby

We still don't have a name for our little guy. We're not worried though - we're good under pressure! Usually when we think of a name we like, we'll end up not liking it after a couple of days. So deciding on a name too early isn't going to work for us. One problem for us has been that we want the first name to be at least two syllables since our last name is so short. Luckily we've gotten better at not associating names to people we know or knew growing up so that's increasing the possibilities. Too bad he doesn't come named like Charlotte did!

I think I had my first real contraction last night. I've been having plenty of the Braxton Hicks for the last couple of weeks, but this one was different. I haven't had any more since.

We didn't have all that many trick-or-treaters last night, maybe 40. My favorite costume was a kid about 5 wearing an inflated sumo wrestler costume. The best "line" was a kid about 13 dressed up as a banana that asked "Do you find me appealing?"