We Have A Date! And Other Random Musings...

39 weeks.  In one more week, the baby will be full term.  That is so crazy to think back when Lisa was SO sick...that seems like ages ago, yet just like it was yesterday.  Seriously, where does the time go?  This is almost scary!  Below is a 39 weeks "bump" picture (please ignore the hair and outfit...it is all about comfort these days!):

Side view @ 39 weeks...no, that is not Lisa's belly button, just the drawstring on the over-sized shorts!

Front view @ 39 weeks - dang, those shorts are baggy!

Lisa had another appointment today and everything went really well.  She is still just 1 cm dilated, so not much progress from last week.  Lisa thinks that since she spent so much time telling the Chickpea not to come early so she could finish her masters program that the Chickpea has taken this job very seriously and is not ready to make an appearance at all.  What a good, obedient baby we already have! 

The doctor wanted us to set a date for induction at this appointment.  We had already discussed this and it was decided that anytime after Monday the 7th would be just fine.  So, earlier this afternoon the doctor emailed and we will be induced on Tuesday, May 8th...if the Chickpea doesn't decide to make an appearance before then.  When Lisa told Tuna what the date was, he jokingly said, "So should I take the day off?"  What a funny Tuna!

There will still be an appointment on May 7th and Lisa will be checked to see how dilated she is, there will be an ultrasound to see if the fluid levels are good (this is really starting to sound like a NASCAR pitstop...), and other preparations will be done to get ready for delivery the next day.  We will then check into the hospital by 10 pm on Monday night.  After that, we are not really sure what will happen, but hopefully it will all go smoothly and the Chickpea will be here - healthy and happy - on May 8th!

And how about this for a coincidence...Lisa's cousin Kim and Tuna share the exact same birthday (same year, too).  Kim's son, Connor (he is 10...soon to be 11) and Chickpea could possibly have the same birthday - May 8th!  Two generations of parents who share a birthday and their kids with the same birthday!  What a wonderful story!

Easter weekend we received a very special item.  Lisa's family, on her mom's side, has a "going home" outfit that has been in use since the 1930's when her Uncle Ronnie was the first baby to come home in the outfit.  Since then, most of Lisa's family members have come home in this same outfit.  Here is just her immediately family who have come home in the outfit:

• Frankie - 1948
• Lisa - 1974
• Jace - 1977
• Tre - 2001
• Caden - 2005
• "Chickpea" - 2012

What a neat family tradition to keep going.  We are trying to get a master list of everyone in the family who has come home in the outfit so we can have it for the records.  Below is a picture of the outfit:

Going home outfit...it is just about as fragile as the tissue paper it rests on!

It would probably be funny to be a fly on the wall in our house right now.  We keep having conversations that go something like this..."I wonder if the next time we put fresh sheets on the bed we will be parents?" or "This time next week we might be sitting here on the couch with a baby in the Nap Nanny."  That has been the gist of our conversations over the past week or so.

And we did get a laugh last night when we realized we have the same "biggest" fear.  Our biggest fear is that we will come in from being out somewhere, relaxing on the couch, and then it will hit us that we left the baby in the baby carrier in the car!  Seriously, since it has been "just us" for almost 13 years we are paranoid about leaving the baby somewhere!  Lord help us!

Here is a list of the things that Lisa can't wait to do once the Chickpea is here:

• Go back to sleeping on her stomach (yes, yes, with what little sleep we will be getting).
• Getting rid of constant heartburn...who knew water could give you heartburn?
• Have a glass of a nice, effervescent, bubbling champagne.  Sigh...
• Be able to belch a real, loud belch (yes, this is not lady-like, but gosh it is nice to do every now and then!).
• Shave her legs in a non-contorted manner.
• Stretch each morning without having to deal with horrible leg, toe, foot, etc. cramps (by the way...drinking a Gatorade a day has really helped with this).
• There are probably many more, but these are the big ones!

Lastly, we want to note that our backyard has been bombarded with Cardinals over the last couple of weeks.  While we typically see them around this time of year...we haven't seen and heard so many in our backyard - ever!  This is significant because we both believe that Cardinals are a sign that things are OK or will be OK.  This comes from Lisa's grandfather, "Bang" and his always being visited by Mr. and Mrs. Red in his backyard up at the lake house in Crockett.  They would visit everyday - never alone, but always together.  Cardinals were always significant to him.  When Lisa's grandmother was in hospice for the last few days of her life her room was on the second floor and overlooked a beautiful courtyard filled with trees.  And on the last day of her life Mr. Red flew around the trees and window and finally perched himself perfectly in our sight.  We believe that it was Bang telling Nana that it was OK to let go and "come home".  Cardinals have always been significant, but this event 100% confirmed to us that they are a sign of protection and peace.  They represent all that is good.  And seeing and hearing so many around our backyard has given us so much solace in the past few weeks.  We know we have the protection and reassurance that everything will be OK and that we are being looked over by our loved ones who are not here with us.

OK, now we need a hanky!

Thank you again for reading and sharing our journey...and we would be remiss if we didn't say this..."The next time we write this blog we might be parents!"  :)

xoxo,
Tuna and Lisa

Less Then 2 Weeks Left of "Expectant Mom" Parking...

As this blog is being written we are currently 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant.  It is unreal how fast time has gone by.  It makes us both nervous that time will go that fast with our Chickpea and the next thing you know we will be blogging about first steps, lost teeth, soccer games, 8th grade dances, college graduations, wedding days... 

Starting at 36 weeks Lisa has had weekly appointments.  All the reports are very good and everything looks great.  Her blood pressure is excellent - 118/75 at the last appointment.  Her doctor said that she will "give" her 1 cm of dilation at the 36 weeks appointment...and nothing has changed from that appointment.  The doctor will not let us go more than 1 week past our due date of May7th.  So if nothing has changed by that appointment we will actually pick a date to be induced.  It seems so strange to think that we might be picking our kiddo's birthday!  The next appointment is Monday the 30th - 39 weeks.

The Chickpea is moving lots everyday.  Hiccups are setting in at least 2-3 times per day.  We feel so bad because they last for so long.  Poor baby!

We got the car seat installed.  The directions were not very helpful as the first time we put the base in it was so loose we were certain it was done incorrectly.  Well, thanks to YouTube, Tuna found the exact car seat model and a very easy to follow instruction.  It turns out that the instructions fail to tell you about literally sitting on the base and tightening the belts to get it nice and snug.  Thank you, YouTube!

A lot of people have been asking us if we are ready.  We have come to realize that that question is really hard to answer.  We have never done this before, so we think we are ready.  But really, can anyone be REALLY ready for the arrival of a baby?  Especially the first?  We don't think so!

We have started looking at day care options.  So far, this has been the one thing that has gotten Tuna really emotional.  He is starting to realize how tough it is going to be to leave our sweet little Chickpea in someone else's care - come August.   But with starting a new company there are sacrifices that have to be made.  The good news is that with Lisa (hopefully) getting a library job in (hopefully) a nearby district she will be much closer and will be able to pick the Chickpea up at a very reasonable time.  Plus, by going back to teaching the holiday and summer schedule is great for our new family.  At least that is what we are telling ourselves...

Here are some other details we have been asked:

1. We are delivering at Memorial Hermann Katy (99 and I-10).
2. No, we still aren't telling our name choices...there are still 3 girl names and 1 boy.
3. Yes, we realize we are never going to sleep again.
4. No, we still don't know if it is a boy or a girl.
5. Yes, Tuna will be changing diapers.
6. The room is ready...there are still cosmetic things to be done, but we will get those done at some point.

Lisa has finished her internship and turned in her graduate studies final portfolio on Monday.  There has been A LOT going on this semester...school related and other things too.  She found out this week that she passed the state certification exam.  Short of a few other assignments she should be graduating with a 4.0 come May.  Of course, she won't be walking, but we might hold our own little ceremony in the backyard to commemorate graduation!  Now all we need is for her to find a library job!! 

We would like to thank everyone who has showered us with gifts.  Due to Lisa's ending school she hasn't been able to send that many thank yous just yet.  But please be patient and we promise we will get them out!

Here is a funny picture that Lisa took the other night.  It is her perspective when she is laying in bed.  The bump is HUGE!

Lastly, we want to put out in the cosmos our current prediction for the sex of the baby...

Drumroll please....

Tuna says - GIRL
Lisa says - BOY

Yikes!  There it is...but don't hold us to it.  We reserve the right to change our mind!  Feel free to leave your predictions in FB comments...and no, we won't hold you to them!

Thanks again for following us on this journey.  We love all of you and are so happy to share our journey.

Much love,
Tuna and Lisa

In the Home Stretch!

It is truly hard to believe that we are in the home stretch!  On Monday Lisa was 35 weeks along...only 5 more weeks to go! 

Now that Rodeo is over she is focusing on getting her internship and portfolio finished up.  Her internship will be finished after next week and then she will spend a couple of days at the Texas Library Association's annual conference which is here in Houston this year.  Exciting stuff!  Her portfolio is due April 23rd, so that is right around the corner too.  Then all she needs to do is find a job as a librarian!  Anyone know of a school that is hiring??

Tuna is starting to get very busy with Prestige Green.  He has gotten quite a few nice jobs in the past few weeks along with his regular maintenance contracts...so that has kept him working from sun up to sun down.  We are very happy at the progress of the company!

Chickpea has been spoiled rotten these past few weeks with lots of love and lots of shower gifts.  We are so overwhelmed at the generosity of our friends and family.  The room is coming along.  The crib is set-up and most everything is washed and put away.  We feel like if Baby Nguyen came sooner rather than later we would have enough to get by.  But let's not hope for the sooner part...later is MUCH better! 

Lisa had an appointment on March 26th.  This was the 34 weeks check-up.  Everything looked good for both Lisa and the Chickpea.  We are so thankful!  The doctor encouraged us to go to birthing classes, but we have decided to not do that.  We have watched a few videos and have pretty much decided to expect the unexpected.  In an ideal world Lisa's water would break, we would head to the hospital, Lisa would get an epidural, and the Chickpea would be born.  But if it doesn't go that way, we are OK with that.  If the doctor recommends a c-section, we are OK with that.  Bottom line is we want a healthy baby and a healthy mom!  I mean, can you really prepare for birth?  Maybe to an extent...

After the check-up Lisa headed over the hematologist upon the recommendation of her OB.  As you may recall, blood work from October and February came back a little concerning and so off she went to the specialist.  He was very nice and looked at the results that were sent over, asked a lot of questions, and drew more blood (Lisa is getting very good at this giving blood thing!).  He got some preliminary results back and he was not overly concerned.  He suspects that Lisa has been anemic for along while.  His recommendation was to go on iron supplements.  He also recommended that Lisa's OB run another set of tests closer to delivery to make sure that certain blood levels were not too low.  It was a scary visit for Lisa as she was at an oncology center and Leukemia was talked about during the visit.  But she was assured by the doctor that everything was OK and not at that level of concern.  The doctor called the next day and confirmed that an iron supplement was the prescribed course of action.  He also mentioned that this may be a supplement that may need to be a lifetime commitment (which is not a pleasant thought as iron supplements can have some lovely side effects).  But overall everything is A-OK!

Chickpea has taken to getting the hiccups at least twice a day now.  And they last for so long!  We always feel so bad that they last so long!  The baby has pretty much abandoned little twitches and kicks and has moved on to a full-on internal assault on Lisa's ribs!  She jokes that she is so uncomfortable when driving that she has resorted to a "gangsta lean" in the car in order to be comfortable! 

The next appointment is Monday the 9th of April.  Lisa was informed that the doctor will be checking to see if she is dilated!  Oh my!  This is getting really real!  After this appointment it will be every week.  WOW!

Thanks for reading our blog!

xoxo,
Tuna and Lisa