Welcome to the World, Son

This is Jude Daniel Klooster. He was born on November 20 at 12:43 a.m. He weighed 6 lbs, 10 oz. and was 20 inches tall.

Jude means "praise". His middle name is for his uncle Dan Steven (1976 - 2002).

Hey Jude. We love you already.

I'll post his birth story soon :)

The 50/50 chance...

We had our 20-week ultrasound this morning. I was instructed to drink 16 oz. of water in the span of an hour right before I came to increase the quality of the footage. I was nervous about having to pee so badly I wouldn't be able to concentrate on the baby, so I paced myself.

When we got there, the technician brought us into a dark room and had me lay on a table next to the ultrasound screen. First she asked if we "wanted to know". We eagerly said yes.

She worked quickly, squirting the goop on my stomach and moving the little sensor around. First she checked my ovaries, placenta and the umbilical cord. It was hard to tell what anything was. Then she moved to the baby, and we saw it's little face! I could hardly breathe. I wanted to look behind me at Jono to see his reaction, but I didn't dare look away from the screen. I heard him laugh a little.

She moved to the top of the head and made all of these little measurements with her tools. She slowly worked her way down the body, making sure everything was there and functioning: arms, legs, fingers, toes, spine, heart, kidneys. She told us what we were looking at as she went, but for the most part we could tell what things were before she said it.

I kept thinking "private parts, private parts, get to the private parts..." even though I was loving the entire process. I noticed I'd been clenching the towel she had draped over me in my fists and my legs were fully flexed and straight as boards. I tried to relax. She stopped giving us the play-by-play as she moved around to the baby's bum. We had a full view and both of us thought the same thing:

"Hmm. Is that...?"

....

"Looks like it's a boy," said the technician, in a nonchalant, "I-do-this-every-day" sort of way.

!!!!

I started laughing, and the ultrasound screen got all blurry as my uterus moved around. "Sorry," I said, and tried to stop. But all I wanted to do was laugh. I laughed the first time I heard his heartbeat too and the doctor lost track of it.

Afterwards she gave us five pictures of him and told us he is about the size he should be for his age, and his heart rate is normal. When she left the room we were all giggly and smirky about it. Both of us secretly felt more comfortable with the idea of our first being a boy, since we have six brothers between us and wouldn't know quite what to do with a little girl. (Of course we're hoping we have one eventually, and we'll love her to pieces if and when we get her). Last week I had two vivid dreams that he would be a boy, but as my dad pointed out, "There's a 50/50 chance, so I don't see why people think it's so great when they guess right." So true.

Anyways, HERE HE IS!!!
















Isn't he cute? And I think he's sucking his thumb in this one. See his little hand? (You can click on the picture to see a full-size version).

The other four pictures are of his profile (sans the hand), arm, feet, and "gender". It's on our fridge if you want to come over.

Over the past few days his movements have been getting stronger, and I've been able to feel him on the outside too. He wasn't doing much during the ultrasound, but when I woke up this morning at around 6:00 he was engaged in some serious acrobatics. I woke Jono up and put his hand on my stomach -- he felt him at least three times. I feel him moving around in there five or six times a day for a few minutes each time. We've been joking that he is "squirrelly" like his dad and that I'm in for another few months of interior pummeling. I don't mind. It's nice to know he's alive.

So that's that. I guess this means Jono's step-mom Jan can stop buying "gender neutral" clothing at garage sales, which I'm sure she is relieved about :)

The Quickening

The other night Jono and I were talking about how I would probably be able to feel the baby move soon. When there was a lull in the conversation he said ominously, "the quickening". I told him that had always sounded like the title of a horror film to me (imagine a big booming voice saying "the quickening" for a movie trailer). Ha ha.

I'd been told that you're supposed to feel the baby move between 18 and 22 weeks. I just hit the 19-week mark, so I've been trying to concentrate on what might be going on in my abdomen. Two nights ago while lying in bed I felt what seemed to be a little bubble or a sporadic muscle twitch moving around just below my belly button. At first I wrote it off because everyone has been telling me "It feels just like a butterfly fluttering gently in your stomach." Hmm. This wasn't really that gentle or fluttery. It was kind of firm and meant business, at least moreso than a butterfly. So I mentioned it briefly to Jono but decided I needed to wait a few days to see what else came along before getting too excited about it.

Today at work I was kind of slouching in front of my computer as I typed. My tummy was pressed against my desk, and I started feeling that little bubble stirring around in there again. I stopped typing and concentrated on it for a few minutes. This time it felt a bit stronger and was in the same general area as before. It pretty much felt like you would think it would feel to have a tiny organism rolling around in a little pouch and kicking in different directions. That's when I remembered my mom saying it didn't feel like a butterfly for her - but instead like....a GAS BUBBLE. I had a little moment of truth and called her up. She confirmed that the butterfly comparison didn't apply to her either and that the movement was too strong to feel fluttery. She then told me about the first time she felt Brett move. Tyler was sitting on her lap and kind of squishing her tummy. Brett gave him one swift kick and Mom knew exactly what it was. And so began a long rivalry... ha ha ha.

So I think we've confirmed today that what I am feeling is most likely the little dude or dudette exercising in my womb (!)

It's what they call THE QUICKENING...

kathump, kathump... 12 weeks

Yesterday was a good day.

We had our second doctor's appointment to try and find the heartbeat. She had me lay down on the table and we waited nervously as she put sonogram goo on my stomach. She put the sonogram into the goo and started gliding around, pressing into areas she thought might contain a tiny gestating creature. At first there was nothing. Just like last time, all we could hear was MY heartbeat, slow and plodding, like a sloth's compared to that of an unborn baby. Ugh. I was already feeling disappointed.

The doctor stopped and started putting the sonogram machine away. Then she said "I'm going to try another machine -- it's more sensitive than this one."

We waited hopefully as she prepared the second machine. More goo. She placed the sonogram on my stomach a second time, and hardly had to move it around at all when we heard "kathump, kathump, kathump..." Really fast. Instead of the rat-a-tat-tat I was expecting (I don't know why I bothered expecting anything since I'm completely clueless in this area), it sounded like an ACTUAL HUMAN HEARTBEAT, just a lot faster.

"Hear it?" the doctor asked. I think I had a huge grin on my face.
"Yes" I said.
"Do you hear that?" she asked.
"What?" we both said.
"That whooshing sound between heartbeats."
We listened again and we both heard it.
"That's the baby rolling around," she said.
Wow.

That was the first amazing happening of the day. I knew our doctor was leaving early that day and I was her last patient. I thought I knew where she was going -- the same place I was. "Obama rally?" I asked.
"Yep," she said, and smiled. "I met him in Chicago once. He's so good-looking. So is his wife."
We left the doctor's office simultaneously, giddy with excitement.

I sped home (at reasonable speeds) in hopes of getting downtown in time. I knew there had been a line forming since 8 am, and my brother Grant had been cut off in Seattle once the Key Arena had reached capacity, so I wasn't really expecting to get in. I parked a few blocks away and speed-walked with a bunch of other people to the end of a ridiculously long line outside the Van Andel Arena. (Jono couldn't go because he'd promised a friend he would help him build a shed, so I was by myself.) People were hawking pins and t-shirts; others were getting people to sign petitions. Thankfully the line started speeding along nicely about the time I joined it -- the doors had just opened.

When I was almost in the building, an Obama volunteer walked up to my section of the line and asked if any of us wanted to be seated behind the Senator. There were about six of us who heard him ask. We all stood there like idiots, not really understanding what he was offering.
When he saw our blank looks he said, "You could be on national television."
Oh, THOSE people.
It sunk in, and we followed him like sheep.

They put orange bracelets on us and led us through the metal detectors. As we were walking toward our section, my phone rang. It was Grant. He told me there were rumors circulating that John Edwards was going to endorse Obama at THIS rally. Seriously? I had one of those moments where you ask God, "Why do I deserve this?" And then your next thought is, "Hmm. Of course I deserve this."

So we filed in and were seated behind the stage. They gave us signs and told us to "go nuts", which we did, happily.

Not long after that, Obama came out. People were beside themselves. We were so close I could almost see the individual hairs on his head (I've always liked his hairline). Anyway, he started out by saying something like this: "I felt bad when we couldn't campaign here in Michigan during the primary, so I decided we needed to do something special for you guys." He introduced John Edwards, who proceeded to endorse him in good old Grand Rapids. For the most part, this was totally unexpected.

Both Edwards and Obama gave good speeches. I sent silent messages to the baby: "This is your first political rally. What do you think?" Then I got sappy: "This is your future he's talking about." Okay, enough already. This is what rallies will do to you.

When it was over, I was ready to book it out of there. But then I noticed Obama hadn't left the arena yet. There was a barrier right in front of us that formed a circle around the platform, and he was going around the circle slowly, shaking people's hands. I had the tiniest spark of hope at that moment that he might shake MY hand. I scooted forward toward the barrier. I was about four people away from the open circle, but I was standing above them on a step and was able to reach over their heads. As he passed, arm upraised, I grabbed his hand.

So that was my good day. Heartbeat and Obama.

After hearing the heartbeat, I feel like I'm certified pregnant. Up until this point it seemed like this wasn't real. I had thoughts like, "I'm not really pregnant, am I? I mean, other people get pregnant, not me." And then more panicky thoughts like, "What if the test was wrong? Maybe I'm just slightly bloated."

So now that's over, and I'm relieved. I'm also finished with my first tri-mester, which is a nice milestone.

Most of this blog was totally not about pregnancy, but I feel like I need to mix it up a little.

Due in November

We had our first doctor visit yesterday, and we have an official due date! The little guy/girl is predicted to enter the world on November 25, 2008, two days before Thanksgiving. This means my brothers will likely be around, which I'm excited about. They're going to be good uncles :)

Hopefully this isn't too much information, but my uterus (U) is now the size of an orange, whereas it used to be only as big as a lime. The doctor said she doesn't know why people always use fruit as a reference for women's body parts, but it works.

We were hoping to hear the heartbeat on this first visit, but no luck. Apparently my U (I'm going to start using lingo here) tilts back rather than forward, so as the doctor said "The baby is hanging out by your butt." She scheduled me for another visit in two weeks to check again.

P.S. The "due in November" shirt was a gift from Mom Lehman, who was one of the first to know :)