Our Doctor Moves

Yesterday, Dr. Hosier informed us that he is moving to Birmingham, Alabama. He did a good job of assisting us during the pregnancy. Without him, we may not have had Skylar. It would have been nice to have him here in Lexington if we choose to have another baby.

Gall Bladder Attacks

After giving birth, Brandi started having gall bladder attacks. They say that this is common for women who have just given birth. I'm not sure that anyone knows why. Friday, Brandi had surgery. She was in great pain over the weekend but seems to be doing much better now.

Blog Conclusion

Skylar is now three weeks old. Isn't he gorgeous?

I have not had to travel with work for about a month! And, I have been allowed to work out of my house during this entire time! While I usually lock myself in the guest bedroom to work, it is nice to see Skylar and my wife during breaks and at lunch. I feel very blessed by the entire arrangement. Due to changes at work, my future travel will probably be reduced to one or two weeks a month. I will be in Nashville for four days next week and possibly in France the first week of June.

Sabastian, our chocolate lab, is also doing great. He is already very protective of Skylar. Each time Skylar makes a noise, Sabastian runs over to check on him. He's being very gentle and only steeling an occasional puppy dog kiss.

I am now going to call this blog complete. My wife and I greatly appreciate all of your e-mails and comments. It was very comforting to know that we were not alone. Please feel free to post comments and continue to write e-mails. If my wife ever becomes pregnant, I will begin posting again. For updates on how Skylar is doing, please click on this link to his new blog: http://skylarjoseph.blogspot.com/

Skylar Joseph is born

Fantastic news! Our son, Skylar Joseph ___ was born this morning at 4:06 AM.

Weight: 7 lbs, 5 oz.
Length: 20 in.
Head: 33 cm
Chest: 32 cm

He is perfectly healthy. We get to take him home Saturday morning.




Brandi, my wife, is doing well also. We'll give more details in a future post.

Week 37 - Easter Photo

Looking at this picture, it is hard to tell which of us is pregnant.

More Preparations...

Yesterday, we went to our doctor's appointment. Brandi is hardly dilated, so the doctor is telling us to prepare for a long induction. To help move things on more smoothly, he has recommended that she put hot compresses on her brests and to tweak her nippples. She is also told to rock in a chair as much as possible. And, we are to have lots of intercoarse. Apparently there is something in seamen that is supposed to help the cervix and labor process.

Today has been very busy. I went to Brandi's work to help pack up her things and carry them home. When we got home, I put in our car seat bases. Then, we washed the dog. And, now at 8:30 PM, we are just finishing cleaning the upstairs of our house. The bathrooms will have to wait. Tomorrow, we go to Florence, KY to see my family for Easter. I will be working from home on Monday and Tuesday. Brandi's mom will be coming up Tuesday. Wednesday morning, we have an appointment at 7:30 AM to begin the labor induction.

In all of our haste to get everything ready, we've forgotten something very important. We have not selected a pediatrician! Labor is to be induced on Wednesday. Yet, we completely forgot to ask our OBGYN for a recommendation. I guess we'll have to call him on Monday...

(some words in this post are intentionally misspelled to avoid adolt content blockers)

5 days to go...

Today is Good Friday. I am on holiday, doing laundry, and cleaning house. Brandi is at work. She is a middle school teacher and is about to begin summer break one month early. We have a doctor's appointment this afternoon. Labor will be induced in 5 days. We have come a long way and are about to become parents!

This afternoon, I picked up a glider that Brandi had picked out. It isn't a perfect match for the room, but it's a nice piece of furniture.

Nursery Room Almost Ready

Today, we worked on finishing up our nursery room. It is almost ready for our baby. Brandi's Dad had done most of the work putting up the ice board and painting the walls green. My father caulked and painted the trim. Brandi's mom scrubbed everything clean. My parents shampooed the carpets. My brother's family donated the crib. I equipped the crib with a night-vision video baby monitor! Brandi and I refurbished the dresser by re-painting an old one that we bought at Goodwill. It may be hard to see in the pictures, but we have a farm theme. The bedding, rug, lamp shade, hamper, and wall hangings all have matching farm animals.


Here is a picture of the room from the other side. As you can see, we still have plenty of space for Brandi's glider chair... that is if we ever pick one out. Most of these chairs have between a 6 and 18 week leadtime. And, we've still not ordered one!


These two wooden art items were in my own nursery when I was little. My aunt Vickie painted them in 1973. The lower one is designed to hold two baseballs, two bats, and has pegs for a baseball glove to hang on. I think it's really neat that they match the nursery color scheme so well. And, I really like that there is something of my own to be passed on at such an early age. It sort of makes the room span a couple generations.

Inducing Wed. April 19th, 2006

We went to the doctor today. They did various tests and another sonogram. The baby is no longer breech. His head is down and he is facing toward Brandi's back. They couldn't get any good pictures of his face, so they gave us a print of his foot instead. So, now we have a nice picture of our baby's foot. I can't wait to show it to my parents! We are told that everything looks great. The baby is perfect, exactly they way he should be at this stage. The doctor says that at 37 weeks, he will be just as ready to be on the outside as if he went to his due date. The doctor re-iterated that MTHFR is a fairly new type of diagnosis and that doctors don't really know or agree on how it should be treated. He suggests that we induce labor early, on April 19th. The reasoning is that he will be perfectly healthy and ready to live on the outside and that inside of her he is at some risk. We are to go off of the blood thinners 3 days prior to induction. This will help protect Brandi from excessive bleeding. He says that there is some risk that the baby's lungs might not yet be fully developed or that he could get jaundice. But, he says that the chances are low and that he can be given oxygen if needed. The doctor seems to think that this risk is lower than the risk of waiting for the birth to occur naturally. And, induction is safer for my wife because she won't go into labor while on the blood thinners.

The week of April 17th, I was scheduled to be in Nashville for a planning week. We were supposed to be working on developing project plans for the next phase of our projects. My boss was originally to be away that week because his wife was pregnant and due April 20th. But, his baby was born early. Therefore, my boss will take my place during the week of April 17th. It's not the ideal week to miss, but there's no way they'd be able to make me go. I'll probably take a week's vacation when the baby is born and then work from home one or two weeks thereafter.

After the doctor's appointment, Brandi, her mother, her sister, and myself went shopping. We bought several items from our registry that we'd not yet received as gifts. I think that we've got the necessities covered. It seems like no matter how much stuff we buy that there is always more stuff we supposedly need. We live in such a materialistic society. I keep thinking back to my cultural anthropology class in college. In that class, we studied many different culture's perspectives on childbirth and child rearing. I don't know if he's lucky to be born in our culture or if all of our materialistic stuff will simply weigh him down and spoil him rotten.

More sick days...

I have been sick for a week. Even though I had a fever, I chose to leave town on business. I thought it'd be better to be away and sick than to infect my pregnant wife. Regardless, she became sick while I was gone. She doesn't seem to have it as bad as I did. But she has a cough, runny nose, and sore throat. Hopefully it will run its course quickly without a high fever. We're going to the doctor tomorrow for another visit. We'll have a sonogram done while we are there. We're getting so close! Only 4 weeks to go!

Question: Treatment Results

I have been getting many e-mails from viewers of this blog. Most are from people who are either pregnant or trying to get pregnant. I would like to hear from some people who have tried blood thinners and vitamins as treatments. What is the success rate?

Week 34 - Another Doctor's Visit

We are now on week 34! We have only about 6 weeks until the due date.

Friday, we went for another doctors visit. Our prescription was changed from one shot of Lovenox daily to two shots of Heparin daily. We are having trouble getting the prescription filled because it calls for pre-filled needles and nobody seems to stock it this way. So, we're continuing with the left-over Lovenox until Monday when we discuss the prescription with our doctor. The advantage of the Heparin is that it is supposed to be easily reversed if there is much bleeding during the birth.

We're still working on getting the nursery room ready. I'll post pictures when it is done.

In 2 weeks, we will go back and have another ultrasound done.

The Shower

Saturday, we had our baby shower in Clay County, Kentucky, where my wife is from. Both of her parents are from huge families. I've included some pictures of the crowd, the presents, and the diaper cake. It was a very nice day. It's good to have so many people who care about us and our baby.

Baby Shower this Weekend

Today is Thursday. I got home from Nashville this evening. My wife and I went to dinner with her mother and sister (age 13). Tomorrow, we leave for Clay County (1 1/2 hours away). Her mother is throwing us a baby shower this weekend. You are all invited! J/K... My wife wants me to attend. It aught to be interesting. I'll post more this weekend.

Childbirth Class

Last week, my wife and I, attended an all day childbirth class. She was a bit upset with me when I actually fell asleep during the film that told how fathers should pamper their partners. In my defense, I was really, really tired to begin with. I am curious whether or not there is anything to the breathing exercises. All the guys at work say that the lessons go out the window when you are in the delivery room. They say that if you try to coach as instructed in these classes that you'll quickly get told to shut up. For those of you who have been through the childbirth experience, I'd love to hear your comments about whether or not the breathing helps. Also, I'd like your advise as to how to make the experience better for my wife. Any tips and advise will be appreciated.

The Father Dreams

Last night, I had a dream. In this dream, my pregnant wife and I were in someone's mobile home. As we were leaving, we stepped out from the door onto a very small wooden deck. The deck had no rails. Brandi, unable to see her feet, stepped over the side of the deck. She completely missed the stairs and fell about five feet to the ground. I heard her scream as she fell but was unable to catch her. A vicious dog in the yard came running. I was going to have to make a split second decision. Do I fight back the dog to keep it away from my wife. Or, do I ignore the dog and see to my wife's injuries in hopes that the dog keeps its distance. At this point, I awoke.

"At First Sight" by Nicholas Sparks

I just finished reading the book "At First Sight" by Nicholas Sparks. My wife read it about a month ago. This is the sequel to "True Believer". The book is about a pregnant couple who gets married. He is from New York and she is from a small town in South Carolina. They have quite a bit of problems toward the end of the pregnancy. The end was very shocking and sad. Brandi cried, and cried when she finished reading it. It's probably not the best type of book for the two of us to be reading right now. But, I highly recommend it.

Week 29 - Doctors Visit

We went to another doctor's appointment on Friday. We did a sonogram. They said that they could see that the baby had a full head of hair already. Our revised due date is May 5th. We are continuing to take blood thinners. Everything seems to be going great during this pregnancy.

Valentines Day

This week has been insanely busy at my work. Monday morning, I had to fly to Chicago for a meeting. That evening, I flew from Chicago to Nashville. Thursday, I will be going back to Chicago. Friday night, I finally get to go home! Unfortunately, this itinerary means that I'm out of town for Valentines Day :-( This is the first time since I met Brandi that we have not been together for this holiday. When I left town, I set out candy and a card. And, I had flowers sent to her at work. But, it's just not the same as being together....

Prescription Problems

In January, my wife's employer had changed who managed her health care. The other day, she went to renew her prescription for lovenox, a blood thinner used for treating the MTHFR clotting disorder during pregnancy. The pharmacist said that the insurance company would not let her renew the prescription because it was supposed to be filled via mail-order. We only had a couple days worth of medication left. We didn't have enough medication to cover until the prescription would arrive by mail. And, we had no luck arguing with the insurance company. Ultimately, we ended up getting a prescription for five days to cover us until the mail-order shipment would arrive. We had to pay for these five days ourselves and it cost over one hundred dollars... Because the insurance company had been paying before, I hadn't realized her drugs were this expensive. Anyways, we may be a little bit poorer, but the pregnancy is secure.

To work or not to work

We've not yet decided whether or not Brandi will be working after the baby is born. Originally, she intended to continue working with no thought of being a "stay at home mom". But as we come closer to the due date, she is beginning to question whether it is such a good idea. A baby under one year seems so helpless. We are reluctant to trust just anyone to give the proper care. And, between our two schedules, we've not been able to find time to tour any child care facilities. I did call and get us on the waiting list for one of Lexington's "best". The waiting list is already until mid September, one month after she'd be starting back to work.

My wife is in her first year of teaching. Even if she continues working, the birth will lead into summer. So, the first few months are not an issue.

Another factor is that she is not currently teaching the classes she wants. Her degree is for middle school English and history. However, she got stuck teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in a rather rough neighborhood. At this school, 87% of the students qualify for free lunch and 13% qualify for discounted lunches (that's 100% qualifying for government assistance). Many of her students are simply waiting until they are old enough to drop out. Needless to say, this is a difficult job. If she gets offered a job teaching English or history, she'd probably take it.

Decisions, decisions....

Baby Registry

We have registered at Babies R Us. Registration # 50333831.

Click here to go to the website for the registry: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/babyreg/ref=ba_hp_tn_br/002-3426123-1153659

Our due date is May 7th. Room colors are green, white, and blue. Some of you were asking about our bedding. The bedding, pictured at right, is called "Barn Yard". Brandi's parents bought this for us. We have already purchased most of the accessories.

I felt it kick!

My wife has felt the baby kicking since December 24th. Last night, by placing my hand on my wife's belly, I was able to feel it kick also!

Doctors and Births

Today, I am back in Lexington. We went for a doctors visit this afternoon. Everything looks good. February 24th we'll have another ultrasound.

My wife's cousin just had a baby tonight... 9 pounds, 7 ounces. It sounds like it was a rather difficult birth. But the baby is healthy.

The Baby's Room

We are finally realizing that our May 7th due date is just around the corner and that our baby is coming whether we are ready or not. This weekend, we did some shopping for the baby. We bought a bassinet for our bedroom. My wife's parents bought us some bedding for the crib (a brightly colored farm theme). We bought some matching wall hangings, a lamp shade, and other accessories. My brother is giving us a white crib. It is not exactly the style my wife was hoping for, but it is free. The nursery was painted pink when we bought our house... not a good color for a boy. We also bought materials for redecorating. We're putting up wayne's coating on the wall and painting the upper half of the wall green. When we finish decorating, I'll post some before and after pictures. Buying things and getting his room ready makes it seem more real.

Non-Gender Specific Names

We were thinking about the name Skylar. Both of us like it. However, I am a bit concerned that it might be confusing. Please post comments to this message and tell me whether you think Skylar is a boy name or girl name.

Week 22 - Holiday Travel for Kicks

We have just returned from a week of travel. We flew to Kansas to visit my grandparents. We were a little concerned with being so far from home but knew that there were good hospitals should we need them. Everything went quite well. My wife started feeling the first kicking movements while we were gone.

I was driving down the road and she let out a little yell, "aw!". I swerved, thinking I was about to be hit by another driver. She then let out another yelp, "ew!".

I swerved again and asked, "What are you doing? Did I almost hit someone or something?"

She replied, "I think I felt it kick!".

The kicks have become a little more pronounced and more frequent. We hope to return to Kansas with a baby this summer. My grandmother is 95 years old and I'd love for her to see the baby.