Keller Jeffrey

My dad spoke on parenting at his church this past weekend so Justin and I went to hear it. He talked a little bit about me and the unknowns of raising a child etc. They put up the ultrasound picture of Keller so he could announce that he was going to have a grandson soon. It was really fun and special to hear dad talk on parenting from a biblical perspective.

As he was wrapping up the sermon he told everyone that his grandson's name is going to be Keller Jeffrey Johnson. He then went into a detail Justin and I didn't even know. The name Keller is a German surname meaning "basement" or "cellar". It originated from the people who's job it was to look after the treasure that was held in the cellar of castles back in the day. They were keepers of the treasure. Jeffrey's meaning is "peace". Dad's challenge to the congregation was that (in honor of his unborn grandson) they would be Keepers of Peace in their families. It was such a special time to hear that! I wish we could say we planned his name that way but..... :)

34 weeks

I think I'm just going to have to resign myself to the fact that Justin will be the "entertaining" blogger and I will be the "factual" blogger. :) He may be quiet to some people in person, but his personality really comes out via the internet...

So this is me at 34 weeks:

As you can probably guess, I'm not getting many of the "You're so small for how far along you are!" comments anymore. I'm getting new movements from Keller too. It's like he's trying to break out of the top of my stomach through my skin. It's a very interesting feeling! I think he's running out of room.

The Braxton Hicks are still here and going strong! I'm trying to "take it easy" but that's a little hard when you're at work all day and constantly moving. Hopefully they'll tone down soon on their own!

Freezing False Alarms

So I got a call this morning from Beth at about 10:00 saying that her Braxton Hicks contractions were lasting for extended periods of time (20 minutes straight) and she just really didn't feel good (which had occurred for a few days before as well). She called her doctor and the nurse advised that she go to Labor & Delivery right away, just to be safe. We got checked in and waited for a while in Triage for a room to open up so she could be monitored. While waiting, I went to the cafeteria and grabbed a Peanut Butter-Chocolate-Banana smoothie for lunch.

Once admitted to the room, she got hooked up to a fetal monitor and contraction sensor, and Nurse Joy said she would be keeping tabs on the data for the next 20 minutes from her desk.

Cut to: 1.5 hours later... no Nurse Joy

Apparently, keeping a woman with pre-labor contractions in a room at 45 degrees will slow things down. I was shivering within 3 minutes of entering the room while Beth was suffering in heat. By the end I had pulled a blanket out of the cupboard and wrapped up like an Xbox on Christmas. I couldn't feel my fingers and toes.

Evidently, eating a Peanut Butter-Chocolate-Banana smoothie for lunch - after only having a bowl of Special K for breakfast - isn't the most substantial thing. That frozen sugary goodness, in combination with the inappropriate cold of the room, made my stomach turn inside out and my head start pounding.

Possibly the most intense sound to listen to for 90 minutes on a amplified speaker is the sound of your unborn kid's heartbeat at around 150/bpm. I love the little guy, but after 30 minutes it was tough... 90 was just absurd. Pair that with the icy sugar headache I was already rockin', and I've had better hospital visits.

While Winnie Palmer Hospital was likely designed by the Department of Defense and NASA, unfortunately, they spared a lot of expense on chairs. I sat in a plastic torture chamber shifting, rotating, and slouching endlessly. I would have rather had a cinder block and baseball bat to work with. Exactly.

So to keep things interesting, we decided to play a game. Every time Keller's heartbeat went over 160/bpm I got to check my gmail on the fetal monitor computer. Nurse Joy obviously didn't need it. But every time his heartbeat dropped below 125, I had to take a triple gulp of my smoothie and hold my breath for 45 seconds. The kicker was that if he got up to 170/bpm, I was allowed to beat down Nurse Joy with my molded plastic seat of death for forgetting about us in the meat locker for an hour and a half. No luck.

Oh yeah, Beth and baby are fine. She's got another appointment on Friday and will follow up on everything.

Top 10 Reasons Keller Will Be the Coolest Geek in School

10- He already has his own email address (talktokeller@gmail.com)

9- His nursery was home to his dad's office and equipment, even while crib/rocking chair/and dresser were present. That has since changed at the behest of his mother.

8- His dad created an event on Google Calendar for his due date and invited his mother. She accepted, citing that she would be bringing 1 other person (she's so witty).

7- His first words will likely deviate from the norm and will most likely be "GoDaddy". So his father has a problem with buying domain names. At least he's admitted it's a problem!

6- He moves and kicks extra hard when any BT song is playing.

5- Come game time, the "Labor Mix" created for the hospital will be loaded and ready in the iPod. A little Trentemoller, a little Angels & Airwaves, some Armin Van Buren, a little Massive Attack, a little Bjork, some Mutemath... Hopefully Beth does OK while her husband is walking the halls listening to it all.

4- He already attended his first Birthday Massacre concert while mom was pregnant, but unaware.

3- His Grandpa Johnson is a computer programming and math teacher

3.1- His mom can't multiply her way out of a paper bag, so this nullifies previous item.

3.2- His mom keeps wanting to know the Google Analytics results of his blog so she can measure his popularity by page views.

2- At some point before he turns 2, his father will (repeat... WILL) sneak him to the barber for his first faux-hawk.

1- Look at him all cute in his Sennheiser HD 435s. *sigh* Makes daddy proud.

Change to Blog

By the way - I changed our settings so that those of you without a profile can post comments.

Ft. Wayne Shower

So, like I mentioned, my mother-in-law threw a shower for me up in Ft. Wayne! It was such a special time because a lot of Justin's family were able to come. Both his grandmothers, 3 Aunts and a cousin and then friends of the family as well. I loved that 3 of my girlfriends were able to come and meet the other side of my family.

Nancy of course did a great job with food, decorations etc. (like always). Everything was so beautiful!

Nancy and Me (sorry, there's a lot of pattern in this picture!)



Both of Justin's Grandmas, Nancy and Me. This will be the first greatgrandchild for both Grandma Johnson and Swanson. It's kind of fun because Justin was the first grandchild for both of them as well.



My girlfriends and Me



A good shot of my belly at 33 weeks



~Beth

Girl's Weekend

My mother-in-law threw me a shower in Ft. Wayne this past weekend (more about that later) so I was able to take a trip up to Indianapolis and spend a few days with my college girlfriends who went up to the shower with me. It was so much fun (as always) to reconnect. When we get together it feels just like "old times" :) It's hard to believe we've been friends for almost 10 years.

They surprised me the first night and had these gorgeous (and delicious) cupcakes there to celebrate Keller!



Heidi is also pregnant - either with Keller's best friend or wife. Her baby will be only four months younger than Keller.



Julia and Me



Me, Heidi, Kelly



One more of Heids and Me :)



~Beth

Mock Contractions, Pain Stimulus , and Payback

So one of the things we were told was a must after Lamaze class was practicing contractions and the breathing routine that accompanies it. The idea is for the spouse to surprise momma by saying "Contraction Begins" without warning. This signals the start of the coached breathing. There are two types to alternate between, and we're supposed to do 15 each every day and each is supposed to last about 60 seconds.

So far, I've successfully thrown contractions at her in a variety of manners, which has been entertaining to say the least. She's cooking dinner in the kitchen, I sneak up behind "CONTRACTION BEGINS!" - on the verge of falling asleep in bed while watching TV, "CONTRACTION BEGINS!!" - she's on instant messenger at her office, "ctrxn bgns!!" - driving home on the Turnpike *ring* "CONTRACTION BEGINS!!" - I forgot to take the garbage out the night before and now the living area stinks to high hell and she's mad, "CONTRACTION BEGINS!!" - she walks in the door carrying laptop, purse, and food to find me creepily standing ready just inside "CONTRACTION BEGINS!!" *crash *ow!

The best part however is that starting yesterday, we were to introduce a pain stimulus at the start of the fake contraction by squeezing the upper arm as hard as possible. This will evolve into squeezing both arms, then squeezing while she has to grasp an ice cube in one hand, then two hands. This will cause a need to distract herself from the pain, preparing for the real deal.

Well, Beth thought it would be a riot to give me a sinus infection yesterday and then jump on a plane to Indiana this morning for the weekend. Now I've gotta sneeze and snot my way through the next few days while the cats make my tea. Just wait til she walks out of the terminal Sunday night at the airport and I'm waiting by the car with vice grips and a jar of angry bees.

Love you sweetheart!

~Justin

Lamaze Class

Ahhh - the famous Lamaze Class. We decided to take ours over Saturday and Sunday and did it this past weekend. The class was much more interesting than I thought it would be and we both really enjoyed it. My favorite was the model of a woman's pelvis and the "cabbage patch" like doll that she used to show us how the kid gets through. It looks so simple and yet I know it will be so much more than that. :)

Our instructor was an older woman who has been a nurse for 35 years. She was HILARIOUS. Seriously --- she has such a good sense of humor. We were pleasantly surprised. The craziest thing I think she told us is that she doesn't get novacaine when she goes to the dentist. She just practices the breathing and relaxation techniques they teach in Lamaze. Uh....are you kidding me?

I'm wondering if we had a little too much fun. We got each other laughing so hard at a couple points that we had tears streaming down our faces. It was the kind of laughter where nothing funny is going on in the room and everyone is quiet listening to the instructor and you know you should stop, but all you can think about is how hilarious whatever it is you just said to each other.

Anyway, I think Justin is going to post about his personal experience. He was so attentive and learned a lot. He's a great coach and has been diligent about having practice sessions for contractions. He only looked pale / nauseous once during our time there. :)

~Beth

Visit from the In-Laws

Justin's parent's Jeff and Nancy visited us for a week last week! It was Jeff's spring break from school and to follow in the tradition - since we first moved to FL in 2004, they come every year for spring break - they were with us for the week. It was a great preview to see what it will be like when Nancy comes a few weeks after the baby gets here. She cooked us dinner every night, they both helped around the house, ran errands etc. It was awesome! Especially for a pregnant lady. :) Here are some pictures of our time. Oh - and also my belly shots for 31 weeks.

Hiccups

Just in the last week I've realized that the consistent "jabs" I occassionally feel aren't Keller kicking me - they're hiccups! I'm experiencing them right now at my desk at work and I just think it's amazing. The hiccups will be consistent, then he'll move like they're annoying him and it goes on like that in a pattern. It is so crazy!

As of yesterday I am 31 weeks --- I have belly pics to post, just waiting on my wonderful husband to get them to me.

Baby Shower!

Two of my friends - Jessica and Erin - threw me a shower on Saturday! It was so much fun. My mother-in-law happened to be in town so she was able to attend and there was a good mix of my friends there. Girls from my Bible Study, work, church and my one friend that I still have from High School - Carmen :) My mom of course was there and an aunt that happened to be in town. It was such a special time.

Jessica (the one on the left) had everything "themed" out. It was amazing! She even wore the colors of our nursery. The food was awesome - she made cupcakes from scratch and she even made a diaper cake.




Friends of mine from Bible Study:



Carmen:



The two Grandmas:



Some more pictures from the event:

Pregnant and Sick

I was SO hoping to avoid this during pregnancy. I had gotten a wicked cold right before I got pregnant so I was thinking I would be able to go the whole pregnancy without getting sick again. No luck. This thing came on quickly and with a force. Basic nasty head cold / sinus infection. I would have LOVED to taken Nyquill --- but you know how that goes when you're with child! Hopefully it will pass quickly. I'm feeling a little bit better, but it has been 3 days already!

~Beth