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Meet "Thor"
 After
years of enjoyable effort, Diane and Preston are finally expecting a baby.
Thor (she or he initially looks like a little Asgard) is due to make
the big debut on September 29th. Or October 2nd, depending upon
whether you believe the doctors or not.
Diane and Preston will both be 39 (barely) and are REALLY
looking forward to this.
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Here's an ultrasound of Thor's face on August 3rd.
This ultrasound was quite interesting
because you could really see limbs move, the heart beat,
the space between ventricles in the brain, winking,
mouthing, and such.
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Other Pages on This
Website:
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Book Review:
we've been devouring all sorts of information on the
process of having kids. Go to this page to see what
we've thought of them all.
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Names: so who
knew there were so many possibilities?
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Projects:
Diane accuses Preston of nesting in preparation for
Thor's arrival. Preston figures he's catching up
on years of work that he hasn't done since he started
volunteering as a fire fighter. Either way,
there's a LOT going on.
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Steps Along the Way
As we proceed along the way, we'll keep adding
various thoughts and comments at different
milestones.
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UPCOMING and Ongoing
 | Home Projects |
| Pick a name |
| A fifth ultrasound (to check on his size at
the end of
the 37th week; 9/14/04) |
| Due Date: 9/29/04 (considered Full Term on
9/7/04) |
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9/3/04 - The baby continues to be in a
head-down position, so that's good. We're
now in the home stretch having complete 9 months
of the typical 10-month cycle (note: these are
LUNAR months, not calendar months). Since
the remodeling is wrapping up we're now working
things like the birth plan, packing for the
hospital, and so forth. Diane's measuring 40
cm, so young Thor continues to be a large boy.
We'll find out just how large in 11 days when we
go in for the next ultrasound.
Every now and then Diane is asked whether or not
she's been uncomfortable since she's been big
through the heat of summer. Fortunately, it
hasn't been that bad. Today the Gazette
published this article
about our weather this summer. It turns out
that this summer has been the coolest (and
second-wettest) on record. We "only" got 10
inches of rain up here in Black Forest, but that's
still a lot for us. Preston hasn't been able
to use ANY of the wildland fire training yet this
year because it's been so wet. |
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9/1/04 - Unless the boy's late, this is
finally the big month. We should manage to
wrap up all of the hands-on remodeling work during
this Labor Day weekend. Then we can start
cleaning and organizing. And we'll have time
to focus on getting out for walks, starting a
college savings program, updating our wills, and
coming up with a name.
Tonight is FINALLY the last Lamaze Class.
Most of the Memorial Hospital classes that we've
taken have been pretty good, but THIS class was
terrible. For the most part it's been a
touchy-feely, fru-fru, social bonding session with
a minimum of useful information (ALL qualitative,
none quantitative). If the younger students
had ever picked up a book, then each class could
have been accomplished in about 15-30 minutes.
Finally, we've got another ultrasound on the 3rd
and will see how big he looks at this point. |
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8/31/04 - We're SOOOOO close now.
This last weekend we rehung the bathroom door, put
up towel bars, touched up paint, cut & painted
molding, installed a lock on the computer
networking cabinet, sealed the rest of the grout,
and so on. This trim work is great fun
because it goes relatively quickly and you see the
results immediately. Tonight Diane took her
first soak in the new tub while Preston put up
window trim in Thor's room. Then the
curtains that Cathy made went up and one of the
rockers went into the corner.
We're also still working on the Thor's permanant name.
On Sunday Preston the Geek gathered data to
support his quest for an unusual-but-not-weird
name. He went to the Social Security
Administration website and downloaded the
1000-most-popular children names for each of the
past 5 years. After some excel manipulation
he derived a 5-year popularity ranking for each of
the 1133-most-popular boys names since 1999.
After highlighting each of the names that we've
been considering he was able to adjust his scores
and started feeling better about his current
preferences. See the
names page for the updated listing.
We're also SEVEN DAYS from having a full-term (37
week) baby. Even though Diane's due date
isn't until September 29th, we could theoretically
have a rug-rat crying here next week. |
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8/24/04 - HUZZAH! Things are really
pulling together. After some tile sealing
and paint touch up we were able to install the
last cabinet, the sink, and the bathroom toilet
(actually, 1 toilet uninstall from the master
bathroom and then two toilet installations).
MANY thanks to Rich Hobbs for helping with the
last cabinet! |
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8/23/04 - It was another long weekend, but
OH what progress was made. Still no name for
little Thor, but his room and bathroom are really
coming together. Diane finished up the
stenciling so we were able to move some furniture
into his room and play with the arrangement.
We also got his big "moon light" installed (see
pictures under Projects).
Preston also picked an inexpensive oak-looking
pier that has a cabinet underneath and bookshelf
space on top. We'll put all the home
networking equipment into the cabinet part and
install locks to keep it away from grubby prying
fingers.
On the bathroom front, we finished the grouting on
Thursday night and the touchup on Saturday.
Diane started sealing the grout last night, but
it's going to take MANY coats because the wall
grout is a chalky consistency. The old vent
fan was removed and a new one (quiet and with MORE
POWER) was installed. Preston had been
putting this one off because he HATES going up
into the above-ceiling space. We stuck a
thermometer up there with him and it read over 105
degrees in the COOL spot of the above-ceiling
space. We also hung the door, cut the
molding, and finished shimming out the frame.
Now we need to cut and install the door stop,
install the door latch, and paint everything.
As we were falling asleep last night we realized
that tomorrow marks the end of the 35th week of
pregnancy. That means that in 2 weeks the
kid would no longer be considered premature and so
any early contractions wouldn't be stopped.
Holy crap! We could be parents soon!
Actually, we're feeling pretty well prepared.
There's still a lot of things to go buy (changing
pad & cover, receiving blankets, clothes, etc.)
but we could bang all that out in an hour so we're
actually in pretty good shape. |
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8/15/04 - Well, today's our 17 Anniversary
and the tile is finally down. Grouting takes
a while too, but should be done by the end of next
Saturday. At least we got in enough grout so
that we can seal it on Thursday and then put in
both the toilet and the sink. We've also
bought more supplies so we're ready to hang to
door and do all the final plumbing. We've
now turned our planning eye towards Thor's room.
An afternoon of painting, replacing window trim,
and some light electrical work will get this one
done too. |
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8/8/04 - Whew! The end is in sight.
Only about 2 square feet of tiling left to do!
Then grout, caulk, install fan, hang cabinet,
touch up paint, install toilet, install sink,
install bathtub/shower hardware, finish painting
kid's room, trim 2 windows, install & trim two
doors, contract for linoleum, contract for wood
refinishing, contract for garage doors, clean,
start saving for college, update our wills, & pick
a name. Of course, there's an Infant Safety
class on Monday night, BFFR meetings on Tuesday
night, Lamaze on Wednesday, racquetball on
Thursday, BF Festival and Proctoring a FF2 class
at Falcon on Saturday Morning, etc..... (THIS is
why we were HOPING to get the home improvement
done in July!)
On the lighter side, Debbie Jarrell arranged a
baby shower for yesterday. Diane got to
spend a few hours with some of her work friends,
chatting, playing games, opening gifts, and having
a great time. Thanks to all! |
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8/6/04 - Yep, it's confirmed. Doc thinks
he's big too. Undoubtedly due to Preston's
genes and Diane's outstandingly nutritious
pregnancy diet. It doesn't really matter
now, but it's something to watch as we get closer
to delivery. It could indicate a c-section
if he's getting up into the 4 to 4.5 kg range. |
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8/5/04 - Upon further research, Preston is
convinced that the data shows that this is a BIG
boy (and that the tech's 60th percentile statement
was likely incorrect, or at least based on old
research). According to a paper by Fenton
published in the
December 2003 BMC Pediatrics a 5 pound, 1
ounce boy of 32 weeks gestational age is up in the
90th percentile and is likely to weigh almost 9.5
pounds at 40 weeks. All of the individual
ultrasound measurements put his gestational age at
about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. NOW the
larger fundus measurement makes a whole lot of
sense.
Again, it's all Preston's fault! |
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8/3/04 - According to the calculations during
today's ultrasound, Thor currently weighs in at 5
pounds, 1 ounce (60th percentile for the 32nd
week according to the tech). Based on the
tech's statements that babies gain 1/3rd of a
pound per week, Preston's calculations put Thor at
right around 8 pounds at 40 weeks. Neither
the baby's size nor the amount of amniotic fluid
would seem to explain the larger fundus
measurement, but we'll see what the doc says on
Friday.
Oh, and Preston FINALLY saw the baby move while
waiting for the ultrasound. |
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7/30/04 - It's amazing. Take a week off and
you can make some headway on the bathroom tiling
project. It's still slow going since we're
doing a diamond pattern with an inlaid accent tile
(see the pictures under Projects for details), but
with two people (one to cut and one to mortar) it
goes a lot faster. We HOPE to have all the
tile work done by the end of the weekend, but
don't hold your breath. |
On the baby front, today we had our first biweekly
appointment with the OB/GYN. Since we're in
week 31, the fundus measurement should be about 31
cm, but came in at 34 cm. It's been one or
two cm higher than normal for a while, but at 3 cm
the doc decided that it was worth taking a look
at. The obvious causes are things like a big
baby or excess amniotic fluid, but we'll be doing
another ultrasound on Tuesday just to make sure.
Preston was told YEARS ago that if we had a big
baby it would be his fault, so hopefully we'll
find out on Tuesday whether Preston's going to be
in the doghouse for the rest of his life.
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7/21/04 - Well, we've decided that logistically
the only way we'll be vacationing is to do it at
home & work on the nursery & bathroom. Guess
we won't be burning any frequent flier miles this
time around. |
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7/19/04 - STILL no problems. It was
suggested that this is either a very fortuitous
process OR it's the calm before the storm.
The home remodeling stalled this month with
Preston working various fire department
commitments and Diane working a proposal, but
we're slowly getting back on track. We're
still hoping to sneak in a quick vacation (and
perhaps burn some frequent flyer miles) but
haven't had many ideas. |
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7/5/04 - Things are still great. Jack and
Cathy arrived on 6/27/04 and are leaving for home
tomorrow. Diane and Preston both took most
of last week off and kicked around the house doing
various projects. Thor's room is mostly
painted and furnished now. The bathroom's
tile floor, cabinets, tub, and walls are all
installed. Once the plumber comes back to
correct an error they made, we'll be ready to
start on wall tiles and the toilet installation.
Jack helped with all the various projects while
Cathy sewed curtains, pillowcases, a mixer cover,
and such.
As for the actual baby, that's going well too.
Diane's noted that he's really starting to kick
and that she's actually seen her belly move.
After failing the initial gestational diabetes
screen, last week's full-length test revealed that
there's no issue. She's carrying very high;
after comparing weekly pictures we noted that her
waist went out very quickly and that she's just
been growing upwards ever since. |
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6/17/04 - All is still going well. Preston
felt Thor kick for the first time a few days ago.
Diane feels him all the time.
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The home fix up projects are going full swing.
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The pantry is about 90% done with final
restocking, installing a new door, and trim work
remaining. |
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The bathroom is turning out to be very involved
due to the addition of a new whirlpool tub that's
requiring changes to plumbing and a new electrical
circuit. That should all be completed in a
couple days so then we're on to final drywall
patch sanding, retexturing, priming, and painting.
And then there's the tile. We've got wall
paint, floor tiles, and wall accent tiles &
listellos ordered, but the main wall / counter
tiles have been elusive. |
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Thor's room has yet to be cleared out so painting
can commence. It doesn't look like
everything will be ready by the time Jack and
Cathy arrive, but it'll be close... |
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5/23/04 - This past Wednesday and Friday we had
the follow-up ultrasound and the latest monthly OB
visit. All is well. We spent all day
on Saturday working on the list of stuff to buy
for the baby and working on trial shopping for the
required home improvements. Sunday was spent
working demolition on the upstairs bathroom and
deciding what kind of cabinetry layout we want. |
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5/11/04 - Well, today officially marks the halfway
point of the pregnancy. 20 weeks down, 20
more to go. While Preston has been unable to
feel anything yet from the outside, Diane thinks
that she MIGHT have started feeling something last
night (though it's hard to tell). No real
progress on names yet either.
We've started tearing apart the whole house as we
shift stuff around to clear out the nursery.
Moving the office is the first big challenge; it's
back up functionally but isn't quite organized
yet. Overall, the house is a disaster area
right now, but should shape up as the summer
comes.
And then there's all of the other projects.
Just doing the nursery isn't enough; the bathroom
and pantry are also in desperate need of some
remodeling so it looks like Lowes and Home Depot
will see a lot of us this summer. We'll
probably be hiring somebody to patch up and
repaint the house (and replace the garage doors),
but the wildfire mitigation and foundation rocking
are still firmly in our court. |
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4/28/04 - It's still a boy! And he's
healthy! Today we got the amniocentesis
results back and everything is just fine.
Now we can start discussing names, preparing the
nursery, and generally go nuts... |
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 4/19/04
- Today we had the detailed ultrasound and
amniocentesis. We found out that Thor will
be our SON. So far everything is looking
just fine. Clear / yellowish amniotic fluid
is a positive indicator for no chromosomal
deformities. The amnio results should be
back within 2 weeks.
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3/19/04 - We're now in
week 12 and are at, or near, the end of the first
trimester (depending upon which source you
believe). At today's visit we heard Thor's
heartbeat and movements. Since Diane's
starting to show we also decided that we could
start telling others outside the family. |
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3/7/04 - This evening we
called and told all our families the good news.
Everyone was quite surprised, having written us
off as happy-go-lucky "Dinks." |
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 2/27/04
- Today we had an early ultrasound and were able
to see Thor and his heartbeat for the first time.
Click
here to see an annotated version of the ultrasound
(in PowerPoint). This was an important
milestone because it decreased the probability of
miscarriage to 5%. |
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