Baby's Coming!

In honor of the near arrival of our baby, we put together a little video of Kristin over the last nine months. Hope you enjoy.

On another note, THE BABY'S COMING! We are scheduled for an induction on Wednesday, 9/9/09. It may be earlier, but it's going to be Wednesday at the latest. We can't wait to meet our little princess, and we'll put up pictures as soon as we can!

38 weeks

Well, we've made it to 38 weeks which means baby is full-term and can arrive any time. Personally, I'm hoping she decides to come sooner rather than later but we shall see! It's just a waiting game at this point. I think we've gotten everything prepared around the house and we are more than ready for this little girl to make her entrance. We'll keep you updated!

Kristin

35 Weeks!

Hey friends and family!

35 Weeks has come and gone, and we are hanging in there. Actually, Kristin is hanging in there. I'm kind of just hanging out. Baby is still growing well and no problems so far. We can't wait to meet her, and we're definitely ready. We made the big trip to Babies R Us and now have officially no room in the house at all. The baby stuff has taken over!

Please pray for Kristin as we go into the last month. Keep praying for a healthy baby and a healthy mom.

-Jon

32 Weeks!

Getting closer. We are T minus 8 weeks and counting. Baby Girl is moving all the time and now it's getting to the point where other people can see Kristin's belly moving. Kind of weird. Enjoy the pictures.

Baby Stuff

We are starting to accumulate a bunch of baby stuff around the house! Here are some pictures of the latest acquisitions!

Baby sweater and blanket that Jon's mom crocheted for us:

Tessa enjoying the bouncer. She keeps getting in there no matter how many times we kick her out! :

Jon working on putting together the pack 'n' play:

The finished product! :

Baby Hands and Feet!

Hi all,

We had another ultrasound just to check and make sure that everything was going well with the baby. They tried to get us some 4D pictures of the baby's face, but she was not cooperating. Looks like our little darling is going to have a mind of her own.

Failing to get a picture of the face, we did get pictures of her hands and feet, which look perfect. She currently weighs in at 3 pounds 9 ounces and has lots of hair! She's right on the 50th percentile for everything, and looks great.

Baby Fingers!

Baby Toes!

27 Weeks!

Here are the promised 27 week pictures. I am starting to feel huge and I can't believe I have three more months of growing to do :-) Everything is still going well, though, and I have nothing to complain about. Baby girl and I are both healthy!

26 Week Ultrasound

We had another ultrasound at 26 weeks to check the position of the placenta. The ultrasound tech was also nice enough to give us another peek at our little girl and even a couple of pictures! The good news is that the placenta has moved to where it is supposed to be so no more worries about that. Also, baby girl looks very healthy and is growing right on track!

She moves constantly now and is especially good at giving good, swift kicks to my bladder ;-) Jon is convinced she will be a soccer player but I think she must have gymnastics in her future with the way she tumbles around in there !These past couple of weeks Jon and I have even started being able to see the baby's movements from the outside which is kind of weird and cool at the same time.

Here are the pictures from the ultrasound:

Oh, we also forgot to take a picture of my belly at 26 weeks but we did get one at 27 weeks so I'll be sure to post that soon!

24 Weeks

Hey all,

We're at 25 weeks now. These pictures are from 24 weeks. Starting to get big! Everything is going well with the pregnancy. We have another ultrasound this week, so we'll put more pictures up soon.

Kristin had a baby shower at work, thanks to everyone who came and who gave presents. Kristin has 10 days of work left before she retires (at least temporarily). We're packing up to move- two weeks and we'll be in Columbia. We'll keep you posted with new pictures soon!

-Jon

Jonathan Virkler, M.D.

He did it!! Jon graduated this past weekend and is now officially a doctor. We had a very busy but very fun weekend of graduation events and loved having a lot of our family here to celebrate with us! I think the baby had a great time too and she definitely enjoyed meeting so much of her extended family :-) Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Awards Ceremony 5/15/09

Hooding Ceremony 5/17/09

Commencement 5/18/09

Dr. Jon with his degree and new class ring:

Graduation Party 5/18/09

22 weeks

We're at 22 weeks! Baby's just growing, all the major parts are formed already. Everything's going well, baby kicks pretty hard now!

In other news, we found a place in Columbia! Jon graduates this weekend and everyone's coming up for the party. We'll be moving in about a month so Jon can start residency.

Also, this week an awkward situation came up. Tybalt (our brilliant fur-son) realized that his mommy was growing quite a belly (yeah, not the brightest, that one). He asked what was going on, so we explained to him that he was going to get a baby sister. He did not appreciate that news one bit. This is what he looked like

Whoa Baby! Halfway Cooked!

So we're halfway there! We've hit 20 weeks and everything's going well. Kristin feels okay, but it's definitely getting a little harder to get around. She can feel the baby most of the time now, and the baby is definitely kicking hard! I can feel her moving around at least once a day or so. I heard the baby's heartbeat with a stethoscope a couple of days ago. Nice to know that everything's going okay. We'll keep you posted. Enjoy the pictures!

It's a.......................GIRL!!

We had our second trimester ultrasound today and found out that the baby is a girl! Bring on the pink!! Everything else looks good with the baby. Development is right on track and all fingers and toes are present and accounted for. All the measurements came out very average except for the baby's head which was pretty large (73rd percentile)!! We're hoping this just means that the baby will be extra smart :-)

The ultrasound also looked at the position of the placenta in the uterus and it turns out I have Placenta Previa. The doctor assured us that this is nothing to worry about and that there is still time for the Placenta to move and the issue to resolve itself. If not, I will just have to deliver through a C-section but there should be no risk posed to the baby. I go for another ultrasound in 6 weeks to see if the placenta has moved any.

Here are some pictures of our little girl:

Front view:

Bottom view:

Side view:

18 Weeks!

We're almost halfway there! We're at 18 weeks and counting. Had a doctor's appointment this week and everything looks good so far. We have our ultrasound scheduled for the end of April, and we should find out the sex then.

Kristin's still feeling pretty good, although at this point it is obvious she is pregnant. She can't fit into most of her regular pants, and has started to wear some maternity clothes. She's not really excited about that, but I think it's cute.

Happy Easter,

Jon

Baby Bump Denial?

You be the judge: Baby bump or not?

I think it's there, Kristin still denies it. Despite the fact that she can no longer button most of her pants, she still insists that she's not much bigger than before she was pregnant. I think it's maybe a phobia or something. I might have to take her to Motherhood Maternity for some exposure therapy.
We're at 16 weeks and counting. About a month and we get the big ultrasound and find out the sex. We'll keep you guys all posted.

It's official -- we're moving!

Match Day was last Thursday and after many months of crossing our fingers, praying, and wondering about our future, we found out where we will be spending the next three years of our lives. For those of you who are lucky enough not to be immersed in med school culture, "Match Day" is the day that 4th year medical students across the country find out where they are being sent for residency training. The day is filled with parties, luncheons, speeches, and strange traditions but, eventually, you do get to find out what your future holds.

Jon matched into Emergency Medicine at Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia, South Carolina! This was his first-choice program so we are very excited for what the next three years will bring. We will be moving to Columbia towards the end of June - right after the school year ends for me here. Our Winston-Salem townhouse is for sale so hopefully it will sell in time for us to move :-)

Everything with the pregnancy is going fine. I should have a new picture up this weekend. I'm still not really showing but you may be able to see a little bit of a bump!

Kristin

Match Day Pictures:

Pregercize: My Kind of Workout

I've decided that I want to be pregnant, at least for the workouts. When I work out, there's a lot of grunting, sweating, and testosterone involved. There are typically pulled muscles, pain, and (if no one is watching) tears. My workouts are manly. Occasionally, I will find that after working out, I have actually grown more chest hair. That's a workout.

Kristin, however, is now doing pregnancy workouts. This typically involves medium-range walks, but this week it has been raining enough for Noah to float an ark. So she decided to do her pregnancy workout video today, and I was lucky enough to watch. It was quite a riot.

For starters, pregnancy workout videos are very lenient. The most common phrase I overheard was "If you feel like it, you can sit down for a little while". Or "Don't do anything you don't feel up to". Love these phrases- you would never find them on six minute abs.

And in case you thought they might be driving these women way too hard (which is why they would need all the breaks), don't worry. It seems that pregnant women are capable of walking in place, arching their backs, and breathing in and out. Mash together a combination of those moves, and you've got a workout video. For extra challenge, you can raise your arms up and down.

I've decided that tomorrow, instead of jogging, I'm going to do pregercize. And I'll take breaks when I need to.

Moving Right Along

We've hit the 14 week mark and things still seem to be going well. We had a doctor's appointment last week and got a good report. Everything is right on track and I've gained two pounds in the last five weeks. The doctor was very happy about that. I still pretty much look the same but some of my pants are getting harder to button and Jon swears he can see a "bump." :-) I'm sure it won't be long before I have a full-fledged baby bump though. We got to hear the heart beating at a healthy 147 bpm which was very exciting. This was the first time Jon got to hear the heartbeat since he missed the 7 week ultrasound appointment (pesky medical school rotations....) so he was excited. He's just holding out until the baby is big enough for him to be able to hear the heart with his stethoscope!

Check out the 14 week picture below. Oh, I'm also putting in a picture of the cookie cake our friends John and Lisa got us to celebrate the pregnancy. John is also in medical school with Jon and, of course, wanted to be accurate by calling the baby by it's proper designation of a "fetus." He did say the man at the store gave him some strange looks when he asked for "Happy Fetus" to be written on the cake but we got a kick out of it. :-)

12 weeks and still hot!

Hey all,

Kristin is now 12 weeks along, and as evidenced by the picture, still skinny as a post. I swear, I've gained more baby weight than she has.

We are officially in the middle of a blizzard, and Kristin has a snow day tomorrow. Good day to stay in and sit by the fire. See ya'll later.

Pregnancy: A Little Like Tuberculosis?

So let's play mystery diagnosis:

26 year old white female, presents with night sweats, irrational behavior, food cravings, sensitivity to smell, and increasing abdominal girth. Exam non-contributory except for distressed affect (she yells a lot when I mess with her) and some bruising about the knuckles where she has beaten her husband for not cooking dinner quickly enough. Labs and images: not available (this is a townhouse and a cheap blog- you get what you pay for). Differential diagnosis includes:

(Here's a hint)

Could be: (Isn't this fun?)

tuberculosis

syphillis (unlikely)

Sarcoid with neurologic involvement

Atypical seizures

or PREGNANCY!

Osler once called tuberculosis the great pretender, because it could mimic any symptom. I'm starting to think pregnancy could do the same thing. Weird things happen during pregnancy, and I can't even begin to explain some of them. My stock answer is "hormones". This becomes increasingly difficult to use as the pregnancy progresses. Such as: It is difficult to answer hormones when Kristin says, "Why am I so hungry that even the cat is looking appetizing?"

It's kind of fun being on the medical side of this pregnancy, but sometimes I wish I didn't know as much. I kind of wish I got to be the dad who was like "Is that normal? Shouldn't there be two feet instead of three?". It's kind of no fun knowing exactly what should be going on. I'm sure it's just going to get worse as we get farther and farther. That baby is going to get listened to with a stethoscope more before it gets born than after. I half-jokingly looked up portable ultrasound machines for sale today.

I never realized how nerve-racking this could be. I'm sure it's worse on Kristin than on me, since she feels every twinge and pang. I guess the point of this whole post (and you thought it didn't have one) is to ask you guys to continue to pray for us, and just pray for peace throughout the whole pregnancy. I'm so antsy, and we've barely gotten started. I just want to see a happy, healthy baby. Oh well, six more months. Oh yeah, for the curious:

Tuberculosis

Pregnancy

~Jon

P.S. Kristin would like to direct everyone's attention to the disclaimer under the "welcome" section of the blog. :-)

11 Weeks!

We've made it to 11 weeks and believe it or not I'm starting to feel a little more like my old self! I'm feeling a little less tired and able to get more done. My nausea is also decreasing everyday and being steadily replaced by more and more hunger :-) I've never been much of a big eater before so this ravenous state is definitely new for me. Jon finds it pretty funny, too. I just never can seem to get enough to eat! We went out to one of our favorite mom and pop pizza places for dinner on Friday (to make up for the fact that I was too tired and sick to go out on Valentine's Day) and I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my life. I made Jon agree to order the extra large veggie pizza instead of the medium or the large (there are only two of us after all) and I insisted on getting a big salad to eat before the pizza came out. Jon was sure that my eyes were bigger than my stomach but.......no such luck. I ate the whole salad and three very large pieces of pizza. And of course, I had to have a snack after we got home. Last night we had a nice, normal sized dinner at home which would normally hold me until breakfast but not now! I was hungry again almost an hour later and then again right before bed. I actually made Jon get out of bed to go downstairs and get me a snack because I couldn't fall asleep with a rumbling tummy :-) Jon now says that I have a new eating pattern: breakfast, second breakfast, snack, snack, snack, lunch, snack, 2nd lunch, snack, snack, dinner, snack, snack. I'm not sure I'm quite that bad but it's probably not too far off the mark! Hey, at least I am mostly eating healthy foods like fruit, veggies, pretzels, and cheese. I still don't have much of a taste for sweets but, now that girl scout cookies are here, that might be changing soon :-)

The baby has also been very busy using all of that extra food this week! He or she now has fingernails, toenails, and hair follicles. The body is starting to straighten out a little and the skin is becoming less transparent. Baby's kidneys and liver are now functioning which means he or she has started to urinate (what!? No one told me this was part of the deal!!) and now has about 3 tablespoons of amniotic fluid to swim around in. And swimming does seem to be part of the little one's activities now. According to all of the books I have read, the baby now kicks and moves his/her arms and little body around although I won't be able to feel it for another month or so. I also read something interesting in my pregnancy journal just this morning. According to the book, each baby has a unique muscle structure (based on inherited patterns) and shows a "distinct individuality in behavior by the end of the third month." This means that the facial expressions of the baby are already similar to the facial expressions of the parents. Cute! :-)

Love,

Kristin

My Baby the Kumquat

So we've started subscribing to all of these pregnancy websites and we get a weekly update on what's going on in the life of our fetus. It's rather exciting, since I can now proudly say that our child no longer has flippers, will be tail-less rather shortly, and has developed its sex organs (you go, fetus!). However, my one complaint with these websites is that they insist on comparing your fetus to fruit.

Last week, our child was the size of a grape. This week it's a kumquat. I actually had to google kumquat to find out what it was, then had to read wikipedia to figure out how big they are. Waayyy to many steps.

I think instead these web sites should use animals. I always read Zoobooks, so I'm much more up on my animals than my plants. There weren't any Fruitbooks. If they said my baby was the size of a tadpole, or a vole, or even an skink, I would be okay with that. Now we're on my level.

The other problem with the fruit analogy is that of size. There are only so many fruits. What happens when your kid turns 2 years old? Do we get an email saying "Your child should now be the size of one of those ridiculous pumpkins"? Much easier to say, "Your child should be the size of a medium-sized labradoodle, or a miniature pony, or some such animal. Plus, the labradoodle brings to mind a furry, lovable creature. No one wants to hug a watermelon or a plum.

We'll keep you posted with updates. Next week our child should be a tangelo. I'm hoping he grows up to be a star-fruit. At least not an ugli fruit. (Really, not being a fruit at all is preferable- we are republican after all).

Jon

Kumquat:

We're having a baby!

Yes, after 6 years of marriage we are finally going to start a family! We are 10 weeks pregnant and are expecting our new addition sometime around September 13, 2009. So far things are going well and we are very excited!

The picture below is of the first ultrasound at 7 weeks. We got to hear the heartbeat (so cool!) which was beating at a strong 156 bpm. The other pictures are self explanatory. Obviously, I haven't gained any major weight yet but I'm sure it's coming!! :-)