Presenting little Zoe Mae Costello...

 The wait is over, and the wee babe child is here!  Cara and I headed into the hospital on Friday afternoon -- actually, we walked there.  Cara was keen to keep things moving, and the best way to help move the baby on down is to walk... So, with two miles and a great park ahead of us, I played the role of a sherpa and carried all the requisite stuff while Cara necessarily carried the baby, and off we went.   The weather was beautiful, and all the walking really helped the contractions build some steam.

We'll spare you all the details but, to borrow a phrase, nobody said it'd be easy.  Cara was an absolute champ, the Midwives at Magee were fabulous, and we had several wonderful doctors and nurses along the way.  (We labored through three midwife shifts, and had one great nurse at the end who spent at least 11 hours of her 12hr shift at our side!) We did, of course, encounter a few of the obligatory medical types who had probably skipped one too many bedside-manner classes, but on the whole, the experience was a good one.  We've long doted on Pittsburgh since moving here, and the fact that we were able to walk down the street to deliver at a world-class women's hospital is nothing short of amazing.  As is little miss Zoe:

Enjoy these few photos as a primer...  They were taken a few hours after Zoe was born, as she was splayed out enjoying the warmer in our room.  We'll post more photos in the coming days and weeks - including some featuring the proud parents.  Enjoy.

Where's the baby??

38 weeks. The good midwives and doctors tell us that baby is coming next week. Ready or not- here we go!

Slow and steady...

It's the waiting game now. I'm officially "full term" at 37 weeks- so if baby were to come now, all would be well. I still think I have a ways to go, but I guess you never know. I've been having a pretty worry free pregnancy, but I'm starting to understand the complaints and woes of those who have been pregnant before me. Swollen ankles and feet make wearing shoes a challenge, an increasingly heavy baby makes sleeping a challenge, and my built-in heater makes dealing with an unseasonably warm spring a challenge (85 degrees in April? Really??).

A few weeks ago, I started sleeping with a pillow under my feet to help with the swelling, and last night, I gave in and grabbed yet another pillow to support my legs/belly and help with circulation. Needless to say, our double bed is getting quite cozy; poor Tommy has almost been knocked off a few times. There haven't been any casualties yet though-- and let's hope it stays that way.

Sigh. But... I suppose that if this is as bad as it gets, then I've had it pretty good. Even though baby packs a good punch these days, I'm glad to feel him/her moving about and getting stronger. So, we're still chugging along. Slow and steady wins the race- right?

And yes, I know we're long overdue for another belly photo. For those with good imaginations, just add another few inches to the last photo- and there you have it. Daddy-to-be has been pretty busy with school and studying for comps, but I might be able to convince him to snap a picture later on tonight (assuming that I don't kill him for trying... I mean, I don't exactly feel like Miss America these days...) As always- stay tuned.

Ducks in a Row

Baby Costello has been officially showered. We had our third, and final, baby shower here in Pittsburgh 2 weekends ago. Baby now has more than enough goods to be well fed, diapered, cleaned, clothed and cared for. It really is amazing how much stuff one wee babe can have. After some hard work this past weekend, the baby/guest room in our house is finally more in order. The guest bed, crib and cradle had previously been piled high with all of the shower presents and hand-me-downs we had received. Every time I went to put it all away- I'd just stare at the mounds, feel completely overwhelmed, and end up closing the door to pretend it wasn't all there. But... thanks to Craigslist, we bought some under-bed storage boxes which helped free up some much needed space for baby's things. So- I'm proud to report that I can now see the guest bed and crib-- a vast improvement.

We had our final lamaze class last night-- and while I don't think it will make a huge difference on the kind of labor and delivery that I'll have, I'm glad that we took the course. If nothing else, it was a good place to air our questions and concerns, and I especially enjoyed the part where Tommy had to massage my back and arms. However, as wonderful and informative as the class was, I'll be glad to have my Monday nights back!

So- all of our ducks are getting in row. Baby's room ready? Check. Childbirth classes? Check. Pediatrician chosen? Check. Baby? Well.... that's the one thing we can't quite schedule in. Who knows when baby will decide to come? My coworkers have started a pool, and the dates range from April 23 to Cinco de Mayo.... Any guesses?

Catch up time

We had our 34 week appointment a few days ago- and the good news is that all of my worrying about the baby's position was for naught. Baby is head-down-- although the midwife had to do an ultrasound to confirm. She thought she felt a head down low-- but when she listened for the heartbeat- she didn't find it where she expected to. But then again, the little rascal was moving around quite a bit during the whole procedure. So yes- baby is right where he/she should be at this stage in the game-- and we're cleared for take-off (regardless of my increasingly swollen ankles/feet).

It's been a busy week! We had a baby shower back in Neversink last weekend and came home with lots of good and useful stuff for baby. There's no way I could list it all-- but I can say that there's not that much left on our registries! We also got an assortment of fun handmade baby blankets, including a quilt made by Grandma Phillips. We're slowly trying to organize and put away all the goods we've received- but it's still a work in progress!

In addition to the shower- we had our Lamaze class as usual, our 34 week checkup, and we just got back from taking a baby CPR/first aid class. This coming week- we're meeting with two different pediatricians to decide on a doctor for the wee one. Then... maybe things will slow down a little. It's getting harder and harder for me to keep up my normal pace. One thing is for sure- this whole third trimester thing has taught me to live with a little more dust and clutter around the house. Somehow, I think it's a sign of times to come.

Making room for one more...

As you can see, we're working on baby-dog bonding already. Judging from prior experiences with nieces and nephews, we're pretty sure that Rocco will be a-ok with a baby in the house. In fact, I'm sure he'll even love the baby once the wee one starts dropping food around the house.

As you can also see- my belly continues to grow. I'm almost at 32 weeks now- well past the 7 month mark. My newest obsession is worrying about the baby's position. At our checkup last week, he/she was still positioned head-up. We were told that the baby has a few more weeks to move around before it gets too crowded in there- but I still worry that baby won't get the memo to move head down in time. Ah well- I guess we'll just wait and see.

In other news, I feel like I've been pregnant so long now that I can't remember what it feels like NOT to be pregnant. I've even gotten to the point where it seems strange that everyone else isn't pregnant. I'm even pregnant in my dreams. Is parenthood like this too?

With that said- this preggo lady is going to indulge in some ice-cream and bed. G'night!

The Baby Welcome Committee

Today is 30 weeks, 5 days... but who's counting? Our house is rapidly beginning to fill up with baby stuff- thanks in part to my sister (for all her fabulous hand-me-down goods) and in part to my New York (and Jersey) friends. Tommy and I had our first baby shower last weekend, hosted by the lovely Kate Navin (otherwise known as Katie or Sputnick) in her Jersey home. It was a long drive, but it was great to catch up good friends! The little guys pictured above were hand-crocheted gifts from Katie herself- who knew she was so talented? We received many other fabulous things at the shower, including a "revolutionary" car seat (which I hear is necessary if you want to take your baby revolutionary home from the hospital), organic baby swaddlers (which my friend Carrie lovingly called "baby straight jackets"), a thermometer (that is equipped with a "fever light bar" and attachments for taking temperatures from every body part imaginable), and a groovy baby wrap carrier (so that I can "wear" my baby like all the movie stars do these days...) This is not an exhaustive list by any means-- so as you can see, Baby Costello is well on his/her way to becoming a well cared for, entertained and fashionable baby!

At the shower, my belly even got the seal of approval from Doctor Hobbs herself. She said my belly was the most perfect belly she's ever seen. Now Kumari has seen a lot of pregnant bellies in her line of work- so this seems like high praise... but she might be just a tad biased :) At any rate, my belly is now a proper pregnant belly- in fact, it's hard to believe that I have 2 months of growth left- how can I possibly stretch any more?? The wee babe's movements are getting stronger- it's down right surprising sometimes. I mean, how can I focus on teaching English stress/intonation patterns when my belly is visibly moving from side to side? It's all very strange, but all very wonderful at the same time.

So... we anxiously await baby's arrival as our house fills with stuff and I frantically try to make space for it all. Next month's activities include: more baby showers, childbirth classes and interviews with pediatricians. Stay tuned!

Snow Days...

Here we are the day of the storm (Saturday), and we're now gearing up for snow day #3. Surely this is a record for the universities in Pittsburgh-- they usually don't close for anything. Heck, Carnegie Mellon doesn't even close for MLK day-- it's a "day on", not a day off. Anyway, as you can see from the photo, the city doesn't have much of a plan for this much snow. Tommy thought that their plan was to simply let the cars pack the snow down, but then a plow finally went down our street (well, one lane of it) yesterday. The roads are still the mess, and with more snow on the way, the city has strongly urged the universities to close for yet another day.

The current report is that it's raining, so I'm hoping that it switches back to snow so that we don't wake up to a very wet mess tomorrow... I know that the snow has shut down the city and all-- but who doesn't love a snow day (or 3) now and then? Over the past few days, we've enjoyed visiting with our neighbors, pushing cars out of slick spots, battling for milk in the grocery store, wandering around the snowy streets of our neighborhood and snuggling up with a blanket and book at home. It's been a blast. Sometimes mother nature gives you just what you've been needing.

The Expanding Belly

28 weeks preggo. We've officially entered the home stretch- hello 3rd trimester!

Registration Frustration

Here we are-- 26 weeks and counting. This pregnancy seems all at once to be speeding by and moving incredibly slowly... Mama and baby are still doing good, and parents-t0-be are busy with preparations. The first stumbling block was registering. I quickly became amazed and overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that is out there and the amount of information. Every choice seems like a test we can fail. Which mattress pad will be waterproof without off-gassing dangerous chemicals? Which bottle system will offer the most boob-like nipples while reducing painful gas for baby? Which car seat system will work best for our baby and car? Everyone has something to say about it all-- and no one seems to agree. Needless to say, we've made some decisions- some are more confident than others. We ended up registering at Target, Amazon and (begrudgingly) at Babies R Us. The one perk to registering in actual stores is that we now have a few newborn diapers, wipes and bags of formula. Check.

Stumbling block number 2-- childbirth classes. Again-- there are way to many choices out there! There's the Bradley method, Lamaze, hospital run classes (which I like to call the Epidural classes), and even something called Hypnobirthing. Yes-- some people will tell you that through self-hypnosis you can actually convince yourself that labor doesn't hurt. Call me cynical, but I'm not willing to put all of my eggs in that basket. Once we finally figured out what my insurance would cover and decided on a specific Lamaze class at our hospital- we then had the challenge of finding a class time that would jive with both of our schedules. I could go on and on about the subject, but I think we finally have it figured out-- as long as the class hasn't filled already...

So! That's where we're at now. But baby is doing swimmingly. His/her heart is still chugging along in the 150's and my belly is growing right on track. Once there's a noticeable change-- more pictures will be posted!

Bellies Я Us

24 weeks and counting, and the baby is growing by the day.  We can not only feel the wee child squirming around, but we can watch it dance as well.  Seems as though Cara's belly has quite the little mind of its own, because, well, it kinda does.

The Wee Box BOOM!

 

Alas, some newt hit our Wee Box!!!  Let's put this into perspective:  Cara, a very nice and PREGNANT lady was minding her own business and safely driving over to VOLUNTEER at the local pet shelter.  Then some bloke pulled out of a parallel parking spot without looking and rammed right into the side of the Wee Box.  Boo hiss!

Cara is fine - since there was no frontal impact she didn't even feel it - she just heard the crunching scrape along the side of the car.  Thankfully nobody was hurt in the newt's car either, so the damage was just to the vehicles and, presumably, to the newt's pride.

However the Wee Box is now battered and bruised...  You can see where his out-turned tire caught the side of the Box's bumper before he pulled out into the tire/fender.  Needless to say the hubcap was shattered, the fender will need to be replaced, and the scratches run the full length of the Box.  The passenger door is a little banged up, wheel is well bent - amazing the tire didn't lose air - and I picked a fair amount of the newt's headlight out of the, now enlarged, door/fender gap. Argh.

It's at the collision shop now, and while I'm sure it'll be fixed up just fine, there's undeniably something lost.  The wonderful new machine has been roughed up, violated, after only a few months in our hands.  And, curiously, as the Wee Box was hauled away, someone moved into an apartment across the street with the exact same car.  Same year (2006.5) and same color (Thunder Cloud Metallic). Very strange indeed.  Every day as we walk Rocco or stroll up to the grocery store we pass it parked near our house and it just seems like it should be our car!

Also funny, is that for the past week Pittsburgh has been getting some pretty good snowfall.  Every day - except Sunday.  The day when the newt hit Cara and the Wee Box, there was not a snowflake in the air and the roads were perfectly clear and dry.  Hmpf. Newt.

It's Sexy Time!!!

We found another quiz on the baby sex - and it gave detailed results. Here's the official verdict:

You have a 38% chance of having a boy.
And you have a 61% chance of having a girl.

And Here's Why...

• You are carrying the extra weight out front, so it's a boy.
• The hair on your legs is not growing any faster during your preganacy, so it's a girl.
• Girls are carried high. You are going to have a girl.
• Your feet are not colder than they were before pregnancy. You are having a girl.
• You refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread. You are having a girl.
• Dad-to-be hasn't been gaining weight along with Mom-to-be, so it will be a girl.
• The maternal grandmother doesn't have gray hair (dyed or natural), so a girl will be born.
• You didn't have morning sickness early in pregnancy, so it will be a boy.
• You are looking particularly good during pregnancy. Therefore, it must be a boy, because girls steal their mother's good looks.
• Your chest development has not been very dramatic during pregnancy. You should expect a boy.
• Since the sum of the mother's age at conception and the number of the month of conception is even, it will be a boy.
• Your pee is a dull yellow color, so you will have a girl.
• You have a craving for salty or sour foods, which means that it is a boy.
• Your nose hasn't changed during pregnancy, which indicates a girl.
• You have been craving meats or cheeses, so it is a boy.
• Your baby's heart rate is 140 or more beats per minute, so it's a girl. (...just like Tommy?)
  
• You must have orange juice every day, so it's a girl.
• You are having headaches, so it's a boy.
• Your belly looks like a watermelon, so it's a girl.
• You use the body of the mug, so it's a girl.

Isn't science amazing?!?!

Baby it's cold outside...

Five whole months in, and all's well. Baby Costello is swimming around in Cara's rapidly expanding belly just fine, and the babe has developed a serious knack for yoga... At Cara's prenatal yoga class, the baby gets right into it – particularly after the leg-lifts. Apparently Frank Lloyd Wright was onto something with the whole “compress and release” design theme. Baby Costello loves it.

And baby it's cold outside, but baby momma is well prepared. Cara is now equipped with a wonderful, expandable, down coat so she and baby are warm as can be even in the coldest cold, and Santa brought them some YakTrax, so Cara's as sure-footed in the slippery stuff as she's ever been – despite her rapidly changing center-of-gravity!

And as requests for baby-belly pictures continue to pour in, rest assured that we're working in it... Cara's growing the belly admirably, and one of these days Tommy will snap the aforementioned photo.

In terms of timing ans size and whatnot, Cara's at 22 weeks, or roughly 5 months. Baby's now about the size of a good european beer: A proper pint-size kid if there ever was one.

20 weeks and growing....

As I write this, I'm using our very first Chrismas present: a brand spanking new netbook. Tommy bought it for "us" so that I could be better about posting on our blog while he works on his papers for school. I've already claimed it as mine-- and it's been pretty darn handy so far!

So here's the baby/mama update: I'm now at 20 weeks which is officially the half-way point! I've started to feel some baby kicks/punches/headbutts. At first I wasn't so sure what the tiny pops I was feeling were... but now there's no mistaking it. It's a strange sensation, but very reassuring all the same!

As my belly gets bigger, I've been increasingly curious about the little bugger in there-- including whether it's a boy or girl. I've found/been told innumerable ways to predict--- but these "methods" all seem to contradict eachother. According to the Chinese birth chart- I'm having a boy. According to the fact that I experienced morning sickness- I'm having a girl. According to my salty cravings- it's a boy. According to my juice/fruit cravings- it's a girl. The list goes on. So-- only 20 more weeks (give or take a few weeks) to know for sure!

Baby Footage!

Okay, so the quality is roughly akin to late 19th century film, but hey, all things considered, it's footage of a baby in Cara's belly!  I considered jazzing it up in post, but, well, I've got a paper to write.

Chances are you've either had a kid and your ultrasound looked, well, the same, or you haven't had a kid and this grey-on-black blob footage is what it is.  As for us, it's a first look at the baby without a tail...  Cara can now feel it dancing, and I'm trying to teach it to count.  Seriously, I read that you can teach the baby to count while it's in the womb.  We hope to be on to basic algebra by the holidays.

Jazz Hands Costello

Here it is folks- the newest ultrasound photo of Baby Costello! Baby is almost at 18 weeks in this photo. We especially liked this one because baby wanted to say hi-- or maybe baby was just practicing his/her jazz hands. Either way- it's pretty darn cute in our book.

Here's a list of some fun things we learned from the ultrasound-- baby has all ten fingers and toes, a strong heart and all the right bone development. We even got a sneak peak into baby's brain, and for some reason I couldn't stop laughing when the technician said, "...and this is looking into the top of baby's head". What can I say- it just struck me as funny, and every time I laughed the picture gave a good jiggle- which made it more funny. Ah well.

Anyway-- one thing we didn't learn was the baby's gender, and we don't plan to. We're going for the old fashioned surprise. However, we are taking votes on whether people think baby is a wee lady or lad. Look at the bottom of the side bar on our blog, and you'll find the place to vote! Happy voting!

Juicy Baby Costello

Well rumor has it that it's hard to find the perfect pair of jeans.  Double that when you're preggo...  Cara has had a good look around for some maternity jeans in stores everywhere, but none have fit quite right.  So yesterday she headed down to our little local corner store.  You see, it's a thrift shop, which specializes in kids clothing.  And where there is kids stuff, there are pregnant ladies, so they also have a maternity rack.  Smart marketing, that.

Anniewho, while having a look at their very small selection of maternity stuff, Cara found TWO pairs of maternity jeans that fit just dandy!  Imagine that, a thrift store beats out the malls again - victory is ours!

And, the icing on the cake?  One pair was Juicy Couture, and looks new.  Hilarious, to be sure, and even more so when we googled them:

Cara's Juicy Jeans at Saks 5th Avenue
The same at Belly Dance Maternity

That's right folks, these jeans were meant to cost $188.  One hundred and eighty-eight damn dollars.  For jeans with an elastic waist.  True story.

Baby Belly or Beer Belly?

So Cara and the wee babe child are now at 17weeks.  The silly pregnancy websites, of which there are MANY, tell us that the wee babe child is about 5 inches long.  Near as I can guess, that's roughly the size of a can of beer.  But the kiddo only weighs about 5 ounces...   So I guess someone up and drank half of it. Or it has a large head.  The beer I mean - if it has a large head, a can of beer might only weigh 5 ounces.  Anyway, this little kid's got the right idea.  Gotta love Google image searches...

Victory! Our first baby-goods purchase...

Well well, we've gone and purchased our first real baby thing.  Courtesy of craigslist, of course, we found this fine, shining, high chair for the bargain price of $5.  It's swell, look at it glimmer in the light!

This little folder has been keeping babies fed for a good 50 years if not more, and we hope to keep it active for another 50+.   Take that Boon, Svan, Stokke, Bloom, etc.  It's not that we don't like your fancy modern lines, but we dig old (modern) things better.  We'll see how it goes, but for now we've checked "high chair" off our shopping list...

The other contemporary contenders: