8 to go????

Today (Monday), Inga had another appointment with the baby doctor to check on Little Barak's progress. Inga has been cramping this week, so she told the doc this. Then he started talking about not letting her go past 39 weeks for sure, so I started lobbying for Thursday, July 2. We almost had him convinced, but he said since the baby is a boy, he wants to go as far along as possible before inducing. Personally, I think he just wants to wait until after July 4 so his weekend doesn't get interrupted by a delivery that might have problems, so he is saying next week. Whatever the reason, her next appointment is Monday, and he will determine which day next week to put her in the horsepistol. We are thinking he may have her go in on Tuesday afternoon, then induce Wednesday, July 8. We will know for sure next Monday, unless Baby Barak decides to come early.

It was a little comical trying to hook up the fetal monitor today. Usually, Baby Barak doesn't move that much, so Inga ate a piece of candy. Doctor T had trouble keeping the heartbeat on the ultrasound, since the candy apparently made the little fella move around. Well, on the machine, it was even worse. The nurse worked and worked, finally found a heartbeat, kept it for a few seconds, then he moved again. This went on for a good 10 minutes, until he finally went to sleep, as Dr T put it. It took a while, but we finally got the information he needed from that test, and all was well with baby. But, no contractions at all at this point.

Grandma, Uncle Craig, Aunt Kim, and Cuz Jessi were all down this weekend. Kim, Inga, and Karen worked on lots of sewing - blankets and such. Karen made a pattern for a changing pad cover, and made one out of some monkey fabric. Jessica worked on some airplane appliques on canvas, and then she and I hung them up in Barak's room. Just need to hang some curtains now, and the room is done!

Baby Barak is now up to 7 pounds 4 ounces.

15 Days and Counting!

July 9 is 15 days away - almost inside of 2 weeks to go! We are getting pretty nervous and excited about the ever-closer arrival of Little Barak (Keltan for you that don't like his soon-to-be name).


We have been working hard to make sure the room is all ready - it is, thanks to Greta and Grandma. Inga's mom and grandma decided to pitch in and pay for a cleaning service to completly dust and mop and everything else that I ain't doing, and they are set up to come in the morning (Thursday). Of course, I am not seeing the purpose - with our not-so-tight house and a very busy road out front, the floors and furniture and everything else will be covered with dust again before the cleaning ladies leave.....oh, well....


Uncle Craig, Aunt Kim, and Cousin J are coming down this weekend, and hopefully Grandma will be along as well. So, I mowed grandma's yard today. The guest house is all ready for guests!


Inga is still pretty swollen - if I painted her orange she could be a Cheese Puff, or if I put black stripes on her, I could call her Spalding and maybe shoot some hoops.... It is quite entertaining to watch her attempt to remove herself from a restaurant booth, the bed, the couch - just about anywhere. For some reason, she doesn't get quite the entertainment I do. I guess she just doesn't know how to find humor (excuse me while I dodge a shoe - she can still throw with those puffy little hands!).


She has been busy finding daycare, and hopefully will get busy finding a pediatrician. We found a lady in our church who does daycare here in Terrell, and we will probably go with that option.


On a more solemn note, Fathers' Day got me to really thinking about fatherhood, more so than I have. Of course, since Dad's death, I have really been thinking about it a lot! Anyway, I'm seeing more and more how important it is for a kid to have a father that will be there, will teach him/her a lot of stuff about life, and about believing in God. I'm not 100% sure I'm up to the task, but I guess I'm gonna have to give it all I have - not much option now! Anyway, I hope and pray I can be at least 1/2 the father my dad was to Craig and me...

We should have a more definite on D-day after Monday. That is Inga's next appointment where the Dr will do a very extensive checkout - baby vitals, momma vitals. We are hoping to be able to have the kid on July 2, but so far we haven't convinced him to induce that early. But, we'll see.....
Till next time.....

17 Days to Go!

The countdown is at 17! Inga had an appointment with Dr T today, while I enjoyed the day listening to lawyers argue about nothingness (AKA jury duty). Seems like a lot of trivial arguing when a fella's life is in the balance.

Anyway, the appointment was a shorty. Just looked at her, weighed her, took her vitals...nothing big. However, it was big in that everything was given a clean bill of health! She was able to go into the office for a couple hours to work on some appliances for upcoming surgeries, and she will return tomorrow for about 3 hours to finish up. She is not seeing patients, so she doesn't have to be up on her feet, moving around, etc...

Finally, I convinced her to make sure her bag was all packed for the hospital trip, seeing as how it could be any day now. Got it in the van, along with the baby seat......exciting, eh?

We continue to give her shots - up to 2x/day now for Heparin. She is such a brave girl for enduring this. We have been doing shots for 1 year now! Only 2 weeks to go! YAY!!!!!!

This news is a bit old, but since I just started this, I will include it. I had been talking to Dad about getting an RV spot set up in my back lot so that he and Karen could bring the RV here and not stay at the RV park about 4 miles away. He really liked this idea. Well, after he died, Craig and I decided to go ahead with the idea. Karen agreed. So, he and David Bell came down about a week and a half ago and we worked (along with Neihbor Eddie) to get it done. Well, it is done, save for a few cosmetic things. So, we now have a "guest house!"

As always, we still continue to appreciate prayers for a healthy baby, a healthy mommy, and a sane daddy!

18 Days to Go!

We are looking at 18 days to the date that Dr T has mentioned as D-Day, July 9. Baby Barak and Barak Omama are doing great. Inga's feet and hands have a tendency to swell easily at this time, but her blood pressure is under control. Her next appointment is tomorrow (Monday, June 22) at 9 AM. She remains off work throughout the remainder of the pregnancy.

We've been working on getting the room ready. Last week, Grandma (Karen) was down, and got a LOT done - cleaning, painting, and furniture put in place. This weekend, Inga's sister Greta was down, and they worked on organizing stuff, and Greta got Inga's closet organized better to where we can use it for Keltan's stuff. The room is absolutely looking great - it is only missing a baby!

We are really excited at this point. Keep praying for us so that everything will go as well as possible.