Sibling love

Reese is practicing cuddling with her new sibling...if only all of their future moments could be this peaceful :) Hope everyone had as nice a Thanksgiving as we did.

"Walking" with Dad

Reese is beginning to show some interest in walking. She will now come over and grab your fingers so she can "walk". Below are some pictures as illustration:Come on, Dad...keep up
This is pretty exciting stuff

Weekend in Malta

We spent last weekend up in Malta and had a good time playing poker and hanging out with Grandma Jan and Grandpa Craig. Reese showing how big she is
Reese clapping with Great Grandpa Gay
Once the poker game was over, Reese decided she needed to be the new center of attention...
Being chased by Grandma
We celebrated Val's 30th birthday on the 11th; here is the cake that CK decorated...just a few more days and Dan will join us in the 30s as well :)
CK and Reese catching some nap time
18 days to go and everything is looking great. Had another NST and ultrasound today and everything looks fine. Now we just wait until baby is ready to make his/her appearance...

On the housing front, we are still staying with Jen and her family (thanks Jennifer!) while we wait to sign a lease on the apartment we've found. It's actually a condo that they were trying to sell but we offered them a 12 month lease and they accepted. However, because it's currently under a construction loan, the need to actually purchase the property under a mortgage (which they have to do under an LLC b/c they already own one of the other condos in the complex) before we can rent it. Suffice to say there's a bunch of paperwork and we likely won't be in until early December. Only time will tell if that occurs before or after the new addition.

VBAC in Helena?

We are up in Malta for the weekend so CK can get some hunting in before the season ends and we can visit family before travel becomes a bit more of a "challenge". Reese and I are still battling colds which is more annoying than anything else but at least I am home battling a runny nose and cough in my sweatpants and not on an airplane :) Apparently my immune system had no problem keeping me healthy through 8 months of airplanes, the daily challenge of working in a hospital and traveling but as soon as I get home and relax...bam, the body relaxes a bit too much and the result is a 2+ week illness. Oh well.

On the new baby front, we've seen my doctor in Helena twice now and he has consulted on my case with the high risk specialist in Great Falls. We really trust my doctor in Helena and feel like he provides us with a lot of good information but allows us to ultimately make the decisions, which is nice. Anyway, after talking with him our current plan is to deliver the baby in Helena, ideally via VBAC. Although the hospital does not officially "do VBACs", we have the option to refuse a C-section (basically sign a form that says we don't want the c-section and understand we are going against medical advice). In my research over the last few months, I knew that this was an option, but not necessarily a good one if the doctor didn't support it. My OB, however, supports going this route, especially when compared with the alternative of traveling 90 miles to Great Falls while in labor with nothing really in between here and there to help if something were to go wrong. He has also discussed this with the other OBs in town (all 4 of them) and they are all supportive. It also helps that my OB is the medical staff chief at the hospital, so he clearly has some pull with administration.

So the plan is to go into labor naturally, stay at home as long as possible, show up in labor, refuse a c-section and have a baby. Of course, that was the plan last time, too and we know how that turned out. So if we end up with another c-section it won't be the end of the world but I would really like to give the VBAC a fair try. Things currently in our favor: my amniotic fluid levels are looking great, the non-stress tests and biophysical profiles I've had all look great so far, my OB is supportive of my choice and since I didn't go into labor last time at all I have no reason to think I shouldn't be able to deliver this baby normally. Things that could make this a bit more complicated: my OB could be out of town when I go into labor (he plans to be out of town both for Thanksgiving and on my actual due date) and we definitely feel more comfortable with him than another doctor, the baby is currently measuring in the 94th percentile and clearly a big baby might be a bit harder to deliver and I'm on Lovenox which makes things a bit more complicated/risky so the doctors likely won't be thrilled with me going too far past my due date. So we'll see.

We are also 3 weeks away and still don't have names picked out. Hmmm...sounds familiar. We are accepting any and all suggestions.

Back in Montana

Well, we are officially back in Montana likely for the foreseeable future (but at least for the next 4 months). It was nice not to get on an airplane Monday morning for a change :)

I apologize for not posting since we've been back but I managed to pick up a nasty cold (possibly from Reese, possibly from my trip to Vegas last week) and it has been getting worse every day. I spent most of last weekend in bed or on the couch watching football. Being sick is never fun, but being sick when you're 35 weeks pregnant and can't get comfortable in bed nor take any real medicine to make yourself feel better is really the pits. Oh well, the upside is I am sick now so hopefully that means I can avoid it when the baby arrives. I don't have a fever so it doesn't appear to be the flu which I guess is also a good thing.

Reese's cold from a few weeks ago turned into her first ear infection so she has been on antibiotics for a week or so. She still has a lingering cough and runny nose but seems to be feeling much better (interested in eating again). All 3 of us got our H1N1 vaccines this week so hopefully we can avoid the flu this winter.

We've been back in Montana for almost a week and have managed to use the camera so here are some pictures from Halloween (which I missed because I was in bed) and this week.

Kaitlyn and her crazy static head
Reese showing off the back of her bunny costume while playing with Lindsey
A happy moment (without the bunny ears)

On her way to becoming a pink bunny, she had a few phone calls to make...

Austyn stopped by for a quick visit so we got a shot with all the kids
(from L to R: Austyn, Reese, Tanner, Kaitlyn, Andrew, Lindsey)CK and all the kids trick-or-treating

She didn't seem to mind the bunny ears while she was outside

Dad and the pink bunny (notice Dad's "sacrifice" of holding- and later eating- Reese's candy for her)

Reese and her friend Tyler in one of the few moments where one wasn't trying to kiss or tackle the other