Wednesday, December 31, 2008

New Year's Eve


Lucas had his first play date yesterday! Christine brought her 4 month old daughter, Maya, over to meet Lucas. Even though he slept through most of it, I know he had a good time. It was nice to hang out with Christine since she is going through motherhood for the first time too. She brought yummy chicken pot pie and apple crisp. Steve and I were psyched that neither of us had to cook dinner. Thank you Christine!

Last night Lucas actually slept for 2 1/2 to 3 hour increments without laying on mommy or daddy. We are trying to have him sleep either in his bouncer, crib or swing..anywhere but with us in the bed. I know things change quickly but we were both grateful for a few hours of rest last night.

Auntie Holly is going to give Lucas another baby boy cousin in May! That will make 3 boys for the Pevzner girls. It will be fun to see Theo, Lucas and the new baby Powell growing up together playing with trucks, running around or sitting quietly reading. I can't wait!

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Quick Update


Thank you for everyone who has sent cards, e-mails and phoned sorry we haven't gotten back to everyone yet. As you can imagine Steve and I have been busy adjusting to our new lives, but we appreciate all your well wishes.

Lucas went to the pediatrician today and did great. He is gaining weight and the doc didn't think he will have any hip problems (many breech babies do). He has to get an x-ray in a few weeks just to make sure, but we think it will turn out fine.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Voting is closed!











Thank you for voting for the baby's name and song but voting is now closed. You see, after I finished updating the blog on Sunday the baby decided to make an appearance. Here is the story:
At around midnight on the 21st I starting having "pain" in my stomach. Steve and I both agreed it was probably indigestion or nerves or anything but labor. Over the next few hours those pains kept coming and at regular intervals. I went to bed and then around 3 a.m. those pains started to get worse and my water broke. We finally decided we should go the hospital to check it out even though we were both convinced I couldn't be in labor 3 weeks early.

As Steve shoveled out the driveway, I was practicing the breathing techniques learned in class. We finally got in the car, called the doctor and was off to the hospital (about 30 minutes away). It was 5 a.m. at this point so we could zip right in. We got to the emergency room and walked to the maternity ward where they were expecting me. I got changed, got hooked up to monitors and the nurse asked me to rate the pain. I told the nurse on a scale of 1 to 10 it was probably a 7 or 8. She gave me this look like "Sure, lady you are probably 2 cm dilated and are just a wuss." After her examination she discovered I was 8 to 9 cm dilated! She said if the baby had turned I would have had a great delivery but, the baby hadn't turned yet so they needed to get the team ready for a c-section.
There were at least 3 people working on me at all times. I was signing papers, getting needles, getting anesthesia and at the same time having contractions (not too enjoyable). By the way, it took 3 nurses to get my belly button ring out. They actually had to cut it off because no one could figure out how to remove it!

Anyway, at 6:33 a.m. Lucas Carter Shahnamain was born. He is beautiful (but I am a little biased). He weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and is 18 inches long. Lucas will celebrate his birthday 2 days before mine -another baby who didn't want to miss out on one more Christmas! More pictures to come later.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

A+ for effort


You may be wondering what this picture is all about. To make a long story short I am trying to get the baby to turn in order to avoid being sliced open like a ripe watermelon on a hot summers day (aka avoid a c-section). My doctor wanted me to schedule a c-section on January 4th (a week before my due date) since the baby is still breech. I told her I want to wait until my due date of January 13th before making any decisions. There is still a chance the baby will turn you know! So thanks to some informative friends, I have been trying different things to get this baby to move and that's where the picture comes in. One of the techniques I read about is placing something cold on my belly where the baby's head is and placing something hot where the baby's head is suppose to be. The hope is that the baby will turn away from the coldness and toward the heat. I've been doing this plus several other things to help the baby (I haven't stood on my head yet though). Steve and I figured we at least have to try everything to get this baby to turn. If none of it works, so be it, but at least the baby can say mommy and daddy get an A+ for effort.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Updates


We (Steve, baby and I) had a busy week. I was planning on updating the site sooner but time just ran away. On Thursday, I got my (hopefully) final ultrasound. The baby weighs 5 pounds and apparently has everything it is supposed to have. The only concerning thing to me was the baby has not turned yet to get ready to exit into the world of reality tv, the first African American president, pizza delivery, etc. All the moms I talked to said not to worry about it and the baby still has a month to turn. One of my co-workers told me when she was pregnant her baby didn't turn and 2 weeks before her due date the doctor scheduled a c-section. A day before the c-section the baby turned and was delivered naturally. Steve keeps talking to the belly telling him/her to do a somersault to get ready. Who knows maybe that will work too!
We also worked on the baby's room and it is pretty much complete. It is hard to tell from the attached photo but we put up a decal right above the crib. These decal things are great for non artistic people like myself. It's like a big, fun sticker.

Here are 2 quotes of the week:

Quote 1 from one of my 3rd graders: "Ms. Pevzner did you have your baby yet?"

Quote 2 from a former student I taught in Japan: " I think that the baby must be cute because the baby is your child."

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Work Shower!


Friday was my work shower! My co-worker, Donna, hosted the festivities and she really out did herself. I kept making excuses to Steve in case not many people showed up: it may small, people may not want to drive to Donna's house, they already went to another baby shower a few weeks ago, etc. To our surprise, Donna's house was packed! Some people I expected since we talk everyday and some people impressed me with showing up. I even had 2 male co-workers show up (they never went to the other showers)! When someone asked why they came to a baby shower they replied, "Well, it's Tracy. Of course we'd go to her shower." Ahh, isn't that sweet?

We got so many great gifts. I think our child will be clothed for the next 6 months thanks to the school. Of course we got a bunch of great books, since teachers know the importance of books. Steve was also quite happy that we got the baby monitor and the humidifier.

I'm really lucky to work with such great people. Kudos go out to Donna and her husband, Joe, for hosting a terrific party/shower. It exceeded my expectations! Thank you :)