No longer a stranger

Meet Holden, the new addition to the Campbell-Murawski household!

Our little guy was born at 10:01 pm on Nov. 4, after two and a half crazy days of an induced labor. It all started when Mr. Stranger misbehaved at the biophysical ultrasound test on Monday, 11/2, choosing not to "practice breathe" for the amount of time allotted. Because he was past due, our doc decided not to take chances and have me induced in a "slow process" that started with 12 hours of cervidal, a drug designed to soften the cervix, and then a pitocin drip. But Holden/Short Stranger was not ready to arrive quite yet. After two 8-hour rounds of pitocin that didn't really work, the docs broke my water on Wed. morning, and all went smoothly that day.

Or almost--after a quick period of active labor that progressed beautifully, it took 3 1/2 hours of pushing, plus a suction vacuum to get the little guy out. After all this hard work, our little boy arrived absolutely perfect, beautiful, sweet, and ittie bittie, only 6 lbs. 4 oz., 19 1/2 inches long.

The hard labor took a bit of a toll on the little guy, and on Friday night he had to stay an extra night due to jaundice and catch some rays in a billie-bed. But we're now home, happy, and getting to know each other.

Some pictures of the new member of our family:

Playing it cool under the billie-bed while he caught some rays on Friday night:

On the big ride home:
More to come soon!

Short Stranger photo shoots

I present to you some of pictures from the big 20 week photo shoot, when we found out the Short Stranger was a Mr., and a pic from a 14 week ultrasound. The Short Stranger was not in the mood for pictures at the 20-weeker, and I had to get up and walk around to get him to turn around for these shots.

The pumpkin baby in profile at 20 weeks:

Again, at 20 weeks, all aglow:

From top of his head, waving hi! at 20 weeks:

And all button nose at 14 weeks:

How many months along are you anyway?

Two questions I often get are the above one, and, "why do they track in weeks?"

In the world of a pregnant woman, each week is a momentous step that culminates in a 40 week adventure (give or take). Doctors track pregnancy along this time line because something new happens each week. This is especially true in the very beginning, when important hormonal levels can leap from day to day, as the fetus quickly develops into something that represents human form.

For example, in this ultrasound from 7.5 weeks, Short Stranger barely registers (though in the video we did get to see his heartbeat!). This is the moment when the technician looks at you and says, "he/she pretty much looks like a bean."

But two weeks later, at 9.5 weeks, he has a head and body! Pretty cool, right?
All very exciting, but for the rest of the world, a woman is pregnant not forty weeks, but NINE MONTHS, right?

So how to make the conversion from weeks to months? This is trickier than it might seem, since each month (save one) is comprised of a more than four weeks. Thanks to the fabulous internet, though, there are several websites with week-to-month conversions. According to these calculations, at week 26, I was 5.98 months along, or ...almost exactly 6 months prego.

20 Weeks: Halfway!

Today we hit the 20 week mark, which means we're halfway to the big d-day on Halloween (this also means we could be over halfway if the Short Stranger is impatient and arrives early). It's been a pretty awesome week all around for us and the Short Stranger. Two days after I returned from my lovely research trip to DC, we learned through our big ultrasound that the Short Stranger is a boy, so he now goes by Mr. Stranger. We also got a peek at all his body parts, as he danced about on the screen for us (mostly face down, so we didn't get to see much of his profile). It's truly amazing that you can see the four chambers of the heart at this point! I'm also feeling his movements much more regularly this week, including an occasional tapping sensation that seems a lot more specific than the vague flitters I usually feel. And--as our friend Jen had predicted--I'm having to say goodbye to a lot of my non-maternity clothes this week. Hello bump!

And in other news, I also started prenatal yoga at the YMCA last night, which is run by this cool chick with wild tattoos running up both of her arms. She's totally South City! The class will be a great respite after working at the St. Louis Art Museum every Thursday.

So we know from the ultrasound this week that the Mr. is around 10 oz, but in babycenter.com food-talk, this means he's apparently about the length of a banana. I'm thinking that the website has run out of round mid-sized fruits and vegetables. And speaking of food, babycenter.com has decided to focus on digestion this week. Incidentally, we also know from the ultrasound that Mr. Stranger's stomach and kidney's are working well.

Here's what the website has to say:

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).