12 Weeks Today

My little Owen Thomas is 12 weeks old today. Man, time sure flies. He is great! At his last Dr. apt he was in the 96% in height and 57% in weight. At 5 weeks he began sleeping through the night, that sure was a huge blessing and next week we will work on dropping his 10pm feeding. He is such a happy little boy, I love him so much.

He Finally Arrived

Mr Owen Thomas Capuano made his entry into this crazy life on September 27th at 1:24 am, weighing 7lbs 14 oz and was 21 in long. I was in labor for 24 hours with 3 of those pushing to get my little guy out.

Owen is two weeks and 1 day old today. He is such a blessing and we enjoy him and love him more then words could ever express!

39 Weeks

I am now dialated to 3 1/2, more thinned out and the baby is at station 0, which means she was probably able to touch the head.

She said it could happen at any time :)

38 Weeks

I had my apt yesterday and I was told that I was 2-3 cm dialated and 80% effaced. I was not expecting to hear that because I am not feeling the contractions. My Dr. said the baby could come at any time!

36 Weeks and counting

Baby is in launching position!!!!!!!

35 Weeks

I am 35 weeks and am feeling pretty good. The only time I am really uncomfortable is when it is really not out and I literally feel like I am expanding by the second. I have not gained too much weight and when my leave starts next week (praise the Lord) I will begin walking again in the mornings when it is cool.

Brandon may be changing jobs soon we are working through that right now. We are trusting the Lord will provide for all of our needs as my income will be coming in at 65% for the next several weeks.

I am happy to announce that me and my friends will be in Parents magazine. They are featuring moms who have "girls nights" get togethers. We have been doing this for about a year now and once every month or two we all get together with no kids and eat dinner, learn how to do something, I.E. crocheting, lots of good laughs and games. Its a relaxing time. My sister sent some pictures in of these nights and they loved them. She will submit about 5 or 6 pictures and they will interview each of us and we will be featured in the magazine. We are pretty excited and love these nights so much!!!!

Baby seems to be doing fine, at my next apt, which is this Friday, we will see what position he is in and go from there. At this point he may be in the position he needs to be :)

32 Weeks

I have begun my 8th month. I seriously cannot believe this. We are going to have a little man in no time :)

Nameless

Still no name has been decided upon

Way too long

I usually post on here when I am at work but for some reason it rejects my password and then I forget to post when I come home.

So I have a long over due update.

Next Friday I will be starting my 8th month. I cannot believe how fast things have going lately. I have had two showers with one more to go. Everyone has been so generous. It has been such a huge blessing. We will for sure have everything we need.

I have 6 more weeks of work left until I start my leave and I am counting down every second. Our place is so small that there is not that much really to do but I still want to clean and organize as much as possible. I will be reading a lot as well.

Things have been going pretty good with my pregnancy. My placenta has moved up, the baby flipped for the day anyways and anything that was a concern is now no longer. I do have to go in to have my suger retested. My first blood test came back high so now I go in for a 3 hr test to make sure things are ok.

We are so excited for our little man to get get here. We had a 3D ultrasound which was amazing compared the traditional ultrasounds. We were able to see more definition of his face and body.

So that is what is new with us.

Moving Right Along

I am 25 weeks today, things seem to be flying right along now. I go in for my 6month apt on Tues. We will figure out when to do my second "survey" ultrasound which will accomplish a few things. I think our little man is still breech from the way he has been kicking.

No name is decided yet, I like Owen and Aiden but we will see

in two weeks we will have a 4D ultrasound so I am pretty excited about that.

I still feel really good and get around fairly well. If I stand just right I cannot see my feet anymore.

Our little man is about 13 1/2 inches long and weighs about 1 1/2 lb.

How much longer?

I am counting down the days until my maternity leave begins, I have no idea when that is but I cant wait!!! :)

21 Weeks

How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long. His eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed. And you can certainly feel him move. He's oblivious to your schedule, though, so don't be surprised if he starts working out just when you're settling down for the night.

I am wearing maternity pants here and there. I do not like them a whole lot but they sure do feel better on my belly. :)

We will be getting a 3D/4D ultrasound in about a month. We are excited.

New Pics

Check out my sisters photography website for my 20th week pictures.

kristinrogersphotography.

go to portfolio and then pregnancy

20 Weeks

How your baby's growing: Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. She's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom, and about 10 inches from head to heel. (For the first 20 weeks, we use measurements taken from the top of the baby's head to her bottom — known as the "crown to rump" measurement. After that, we use measurements from head to toe. This is because a baby's legs are curled up against her torso during the first half of pregnancy and are very hard to measure.)A greasy white substance called vernix caseosa coats her entire body to protect her skin during its long submersion in amniotic fluid. (This slick coating also eases the journey down the birth canal.)Your baby is swallowing more, which is good practice for her digestive system. She's also producing meconium, a black, sticky substance that's the result of cell loss, digestive secretion, and swallowed amniotic fluid. This meconium will accumulate in her bowels, and you'll see it in her first messy diaper (although a few babies pass it in utero or during delivery).

Survey Ultrasound

I had my survey ultrasound on the 25Th which did all the measurements of the baby. They count all the toes and fingers and look for any abnormalities. They scared me because they spent a lot of time looking at the heart and they would not give me any info at the time of the apt. I got a call two hours later and about had a heart attack. It turns out the baby is fine, he is growing well, is about in the 55% in size and they saw no abnormalities. They did see that my placenta is about 2 centimeters away from my cervix and she said it was going to be enough for them to worry about. Worry meaning if I have any bleeding of any kind or of any amount I need to go to labor and delivery right away. Besides that I will redo the test in about 10 weeks to see if placenta has moved up. I read that in 90% of the cases the placenta moves and everything is fine. For some reason it doesn't and moves over the cervix I will have a mandatory C-Section. I am just happy we are having a healthy little munchkin so far!!!

Brandon was able to feel the baby kick for the first time last night!!

...And May Their First Child Be a Masculine Child

Shannon and I went to the doctors today to see our baby in an ultrasound. I don't care how many of those ultra sounds I see, I am always amazed with the fact that there is a tiny human growing in my wife.
The ultrasound technician was looking around in there, she gave us a good view of the hands, the feet, the head...absolutely brilliant. She then got a view looking straight between the legs of the baby. In the vast space of amniotic fluid, there was something waving around like a stalk of wheat blowing in a summer's breeze. Some would assume it was the umbilical cord; they would be wrong. It wasn't an umbilical cord nor a stalk of wheat. It was...a sign of his masculinity. The child has a penis, we are having a boy.
Sorry, had to say "it." I better get used to it. I know there will come a day when my boy looks up at me and says, "Daddy, what's this?"
At any rate, if you can tell me what the quote from the movie above is, you win.
Thanks for checking in. We're doing well and the baby is healthy; HE is in the 55th percentile in size. I guess when I say "we" are doing healthy, your only concern is for the baby and for Shannon. I know I have nothing to do with it except for making the little guy. Beyond that I am just chopped liver, I know.
Oh, and Shannon's belly is really cute right now. We will try to post some pictures on here, both of her belly and of the new ultrasounds.
Much love, peace and blessings to all of you.

I felt it!!!

Tonight for the first time I felt the baby move. It feels like little punches and I still feel them right now. What an amazing thing.

The countdown!

A week and a half until we find out the sex of the baby, I cant wait!!!

It is so wierd to watch my belly button slowly get pushed out :)

4 Month Dr Apt

I had my 4 month Dr apt yesterday. All is well. Blood pressure is good and weight gain is good. I think we have decided to get the blood test done to see if any birth defects are noticable. I am having a hard time with this because if for some reason they find something, I will the thought will never leave my mind for the remaining 5 months and that I will not enjoy the rest of my pregnancy. On the other hand if something was to be detected we would be able to be prepared as possible. I need to get the test done before I am 20 weeks. I was given the ok to fly, we will get a written note just in case the airlines have any issue. NY here we come. I think that is all I can remember to say. :)

15 weeks

http://picasaweb.google.com/chozngirl/InOurLives

To see my little tummy go to this link, it has some additional pics of us as well

4 months today!

I go in for my 4 month apt on Monday, Brandon will be there for this one. Our baby is the size of an avacado and is 4 1/2 inches long. I soon should be feeling movement :) I am feeling really good and am so excited the first 3 months is over.

Second Trimester

So far I am loving being in my 2nd trimester. I am 15 weeks pregnant today. Next Friday I will be 4 months. Almost all of my nausousness is gone and I feel really really good except for being tired. We are counting down the days until April 25th to find out the sex of our baby. I for sure have a little belly now. I get to go out and buy a few longer shirts this weekend which will be fun. My pants all still fit it the shirts that are creeping up my belly. Our baby is about 4 inches long. I still cant wait to feel it move :)

Good Good Good

Friday I will be 3 1/2 pregnant and most of my first trimester quirks have died down. I am sleeping better, I havent gotten sick in almost two weeks and I am feeling less tired during the day (kind of). I am now in the fun part of pregnancy and looking forward to my tummy growing and feeling the baby move. :)

My 3 month Dr apt.

Last Friday I had my 3 month apt. with my new Dr. with my new insurance. I will be meeting with a midwife for the duration of my pregnancy. She is awesome and I actually can understand her. She helped me understand more about the hormones I was on which put me at ease. I was able to hear the heartbeat for the first time and was able to see the baby more. I saw its hands, spine, the two hemispheres of the brain, the dr said it has big feet and is very active. It was so awesome to see. Bran missed that apt so he was bummed. Sometime between April 23 and May 5th I will set up an apt to go to the hospital to see the sex of the baby and they will do some measurments of my cervex to make sure everything is ok there. I am getting excited to feel the baby move. I think I have a little belly and the I will wake up and my stomach will look like it did before I got pregnant. Our pastor asked on Sunday " Are you sure you are pregnant" So things are going well, I still get sick a lot but the overall yucky feeling of being nausous is dying down and if I take my tummy tune up I am good to go. I am looking forward to moving into my 2nd trimester.

We are still needing prayer for a good job for bran so I can stay home and so we can move into a bigger place. Our little home it outgrowing us quickly. If the Lord permits we would love a 2nd car so I will not be stuck at home all day.

I am 3 months along.

Its been awhile

I forgot our login information so I have not been posting, then Bran reminded me that our computer at home had our info saved so here I am. A little update. I have stopped taking the hormones, most of the nauseousness has passed though I still have my days. Everything seems to flow in days. I have a few really good days and then a bad 3 days and so on. The latest thing I have been experiencing is that I do not sleep throughout the night. I fall asleep right away and for a few hours and then wake up about 10 times before I get up for the day. That has been really had as I have to work each day. Last night was the best nights sleep I have had in weeks. I am not sure if it was because I was just really tired or what. We also got a new mattress which I love but that sure didn't cure me !!!! I think my belly is starting to show a little bit. When I eat watch out, it looks like I am five months. ehehhe. I have my new apt with my new dr/ins on the 12th so I am looking forward to that. The biggest thing I am waiting to pass is the throwing up. I still get sick almost every day. All in all my pregnancy so far has not been that bad :)

A Good Week

Since last Monday I have been feeling good. I am still nauseous everyday but I am not miserable. I started taking my tummy tune up again and my additional suppliment called Juice Plus. I think both of these have helped. I have two more weeks of hormones and then I can finally be done with those. At 3 months the placenta takes over and everything should be fine.

Praising the Lord right now.

This is a praise and a half. When Brandon signed us up for his ins, we missed the cut off date to bump up to the better ins so we now have the accident plan. so far i have had to pay one copay and i will get a bill for lab work. not too bad. but the killer was that there was a 700 copay for me when the baby is born and a 700 copay for the baby on top of paying 30% for labor and delivery. we were freaking out about that. i remembered that i get ins through my work which kicks in on the 1st of march. i was talking to this lady today who just had a baby and she paid nothing for visits and had to pay for lab work which i think was 10 bucks and then had to pay 100 day for being in the hospital when the baby was born. i called kaiser tonight to see if it mattered if i got pregnant before and it does not so now i have really good ins and i will not have this crazy copay. I am so thankful tonight.

i thought i was funny how clueless i was on how maternity leave went. i thought that when you took off before that you didnt get paid, well you do. so i will get 4 months plus 6 weeks of baby bonding on top of that. bran will also get baby bonding through his work!!! this is awesome.

Things change so quickely

I had my third Dr.'s apt and my third ultra sound. It is crazy how things change within two weeks. Two weeks ago we could only see a blinking light which was the heart and we could not see the body at all. Yesterday I saw the shape of the body and saw the beating heart within the body. It was so cool. Everything is looking good so now I can resume the monthly apts.

I am determined it is a boy by the way!!!!!!

Christmas presents

Well, no need to worry about multiple packages sent to California. Shannon does not have twins, she went to the doctor today. So, go to Outback all you'd like and don't worry about the wombal ramifications.
We'll try to post the new ultrasound sometime in the next couple of days.
Good night.
Papa.

Outback

Mom and Dad Capuano bought Shannon and I a nice gift card to Outback Steakhouse for our Anniversary (THANK YOU!). Although, the card said it was from mom only, no dad mentioned, and it was in Jonnie's handwriting. Oh, and it was also in Jonnie's car for 5 days before it was sent out. Very important information there.
For all of those following the story of Baby Capuano, you know that his presence in the belly of The Shannon was discovered on the eve of our last visit to Outback, which, incidentally, was also paid for by way of a gift card. Shannon has a doctors appointment tomorrow. Just as she did on the eve of Baby's discovery, Shannon's meal tonight included shrimp. History has a wonderful way of repeating itself so, if we come on here tomorrow telling you all that Shannon has twins, your response should be threefold-
1-Be very excited
2-If you want to become pregnant, ask for Outback Steakhouse gift cards for Christmas, Anniversaries or birthdays, and
3-Please stop sending us Outback gift cards or you will be buying more Christmas presents for all the little Baby Capuanos than you would prefer to buy!
Good Night,
Papa.

No News

No news to report right now. Thanks for checking in. Oh, and Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl. Shannon's a happy camper. The baby is bummed, though, because the Bills didn't make it again.

Feeling good

The past 3 days now I have felt really good for the most part. My nauseousness has settled down a bit. I do not know if this roller coaster if normal or not. What is normal with a pregnant women and her hormones? Maybe things are dying down, who knows, I am just thankful as it has made work a little better.

A Decision

I finally decided to take the hormones.

God has excellent fine motor skills

For you created me in my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
-Psalm 139.13
Kristin gave Shannon and I a journal that tracks what's going on with the baby while it is in your womb. We were behind a few days, so we read 4 day's worth of entries. Here's what struck me as crazy today...
The spleen is beginning to develop...the pituitary gland is forming in the baby's brain...pigment is beginning to form in the retina of the eye...the "lower limb paddles" will develop into foot plates in four days...the windpipe and voice box are beginning to form...and the baby now measures .3-.43 inch in length.
I read this tonight and was amazed, but it did not sink in until we prayed together tonight. As I was praying, my mind recalled David's words in Psalm 139. No, God does not have literal fingers, but think about this. God almighty, who created the universe, transcends time and space and is everywhere all of the time, is currently forming pigment in the retina of my baby's eyes, developing its windpipe and voice box and turning its paddles into foot plates, all while the baby is less than a half of an inch long. God is dealing with the problems of our earth, like hunger and AIDS, is holding all things together everywhere, and has the time, the love and the grace to form my baby in my wife's womb.
The personal nature of God's love and concern for us is overwhelming, which is the point of Psalm 139. As I go to sleep tonight, I will rest easy as my mind is speculating and my heart is celebrating the nearness of God.

A little rough

Today has been a little more rough for me. I am having trouble keeping food down, I am also not fighting as hard as I have been to hold my food in. I am not feeling miserable just the wanting to throw up. Who knows! I will speak to the Dr today about the Rx.

A little Break

I feel really good today, it is a nice little break from the past two weeks. I am trying to get all my housework done. We are watching my neice tonight and I will need all of my energy for that. I am praising and thanking the Lord for feeling well today!!

I am still not decided on the hormone pills yet :(

Parenting

The Lord has sure been preparing me for parenting for quite some time. I have been reading book after book on the topic and as the last set of friends to have kids I have been surrounded by those that have gone before me. I have had many models and I am so thankful that I have friends who have modeled the parenting we want to enforce. All of there children are well behaved and love their parents. I follow closely the ministry from Mike and Debbie Peal, they have a website call NoGreaterJoy.org. They have produced the best marriage book I have read and some of the best parenting books. The parenting books are very small but give great practical advice on how to train your children. I also will be using babywise when out new little one gets home. It puts the baby on a schedule which should produce a baby that sleeps throughout the night at 6 weeks along with some other great scheduling discipline. My sister asked me the other day what is something I am most excited about when the baby comes home. Beside holding my little baby I am so excited to train and discipline so my child will grow up to be a disciplined person, will love us and love the Lord. So much work to do and I know it will be hard but it will be worth it!

p.s. if anyone happens to visit nogreaterjoy.org please know that some things said need to be taken with a grain of salt. you will not agree with all things said and some things will just need to go in one ear and out the other. But many of their practices I have been in action and I have the wonderful result in the children.

Low Hormone Levels

I received a call from the Dr. tonight, my progesterone levels are low so they are asking me to take supplements for the next 2 to 3 months. I might call in and ask for a more natural route, that would make me a little more comfortable.

Dr Visit

I have been spotting for the last 3 days. I thought it was ok because the coloring was dark but today after lunch it was a bit lighter. The Dr. wanted to see me anyways if it went into the 3rd day. They took my blood to check my hormone levels which I will get the results back tomorrow. If they are low I might have to take hormones so I will not miscarry. I had to sign a consent form to take these things. That is making me feel very uneasy as the moment. I am hoping everything will be ok so I do not have to take them at all. They also did a second ultrasound (they did a first one last Friday to see how far along I was) and we saw the beating heart for the first time. That was truly amazing. That helped a bit knowing it is still in the and the heart rate is where it needs to be.
I will keep everyone posted when I get my results back.

I love to look

I closed the store tonight, something I absolutely hate doing. Shannon was in bed when I got home, which is why I hate closing. Anyway, when I came home there was a little baby outfit with a little baby blanket and a beautiful card from Chris and Laura Churchill. I just stood there and stared at it.
'We're going to put a baby in there.'
It's so awesome.
I went into the bedroom to kiss Shannon goodnight. I used to smile when I looked at her before, but now...I can't help but break my face when I look at her. She's carrying OUR child! A new human is inside of her, breathing out of its little gill looking things and eating what Shannon eats. I love to just look at her now and smile. I can't help it.

Dad

I am still in shock that I am going to be a dad. It's an amazing thing. Life is going to change more than I could have ever planned, but it is a welcomed change.
I am reading a few things right now in regards to parenting and fatherhood. It's a crash course to be sure. I would love it if, those that are fathers out there, would share your wisdom with me because I am going to need a lot of it.
With love,
Brandon.

Pics

That tiny little kidney bean is "the gestational sack." I have no idea what that means, but I sure sound smart calling it that. I have a feeling that I am going to start using a heck of a lot of unknown terms these days.

PEE TEST! I know that one! These are the pregnancy tests that we still believe are lying.

"No Way."

Shannon Capuano called Kristin Rogers after work on Wednesday January 17...
'Kristin, I know I'm not pregnant, but what does your body feel like when you are? My body's acting a little weird this month.'
(a brief explanation followed)
'That's what my body felt like when I was pregnant. You should get a pregnancy test, just to check.'
(an hour later)
'Bran, I think we should go get a pregnancy test.'
'Are you serious?'
'Yeah.'
'You're not pregnant, but whatever. Hey you want to watch a movie tonight?'
'No, let's go to Outback tonight.'
(so we went to Outback. then we went to CVS...)
'Should we get the one with two tests?'
'Yeah, that sounds fine.'
(ten minutes later...shannon's in the bathroom...brandon was logging into his yahoo mail...before his email came up, the bathroom door opened...and shannon had on 'the face.')
'
No way.'
'Bran, i think it is.'
'No, you're reading it wrong. Look at the picture.'
'Bran, the line is going up and down. That means you're pregnant'
'Yeah, but it happened so fast. There's no way. Why don't you take the other one. This one's bad...it has to be.'
'Let's wait until tomorrow, just in case it was something i ate.'
'Good idea.'
(if we're that bright, i feel bad for the kid)
(what followed was a conversation between shannon and kristin, of which all i could hear was, 'no i'm not. no i'm not. no i'm not!')
(thursday january 18, 6:30am...shannon went into the bathroom and i was making coffee)
'Bran, it's the same thing. These things are never wrong. There's no way we could get two wrong ones at once.'
'Oh my goodness...we are going to have a kid.'