Johanna's Thoughts on Pregnancy

 

Hopefully Johanna is a little too young to remember the craziness of pregnancy.  She gets to watch a lot more TV and eat a lot more ice cream - she often asks for mommy's special treat since mommy always gets all the cool stuff like pudding and whip cream cups, or ice cream bars, or caramel corn.  And she sees a lot more tears (thanks to hormones).  One day she was standing on the bathroom counter as I was fixing her hair and I started crying because I was getting frustrated.  She turned around, and gave me a big sympathetic hug as she said "Daddy you come here?".  When daddy didn't hear her, she was telling me "It's OK mommy" and patting me on the back as she said more loudly "Daddy, we need your help in here".  Only once daddy got there, she cried a little too.

Johanna' thoughts:

What is the baby's name?  Olaf

When is baby coming?  5 minutes

What do babies do?  drink bottles, have binkies, cry, poop

What will you tell baby brother when you meet him?  Happy birthday

Where is baby?  In mommy's tummy, he getting bigger, he not ready yet

She often emphasizes that he is a baby brother, not a baby sister (perhaps she is still getting over that one).  And she often asks if she will get to hold the baby.  Most days when she leaves for school or when she goes to bed, she needs to give mommy's tummy a hug and kiss to say bye to baby.

Baby Boy Pregnancy Overall

 

Who needs month by month updates when you can take care of it all in one post!  (Belly picts from April and June - you can guess which months are which.  Ultrasound in Feb.)

Positive pregnancy test: 10/19/14

Gender reveal: 2/7/15

Felt first outside kick: 2/18/15

Due date:  6/27/15

Baby boy likes to move around and has a few different favorite positions.  In the mornings, he is tucked away so Michelle looks a month or two less pregnant.  By the end of the work day, he is hanging out so Michelle looks a month or two MORE pregnant.  And some days he is so low, Michelle walks like she is trying to carry a bowling ball between her legs.  Now towards the end of the pregnancy, she typically doesn't have to go more than 15 minutes without feeling a kick or some sort of movement - which is very reassuring, although not that comfortable.  The evenings after dinner tend to be the most active where we can sit and watch the belly move all over the place.  

The only real scare during the pregnancy was when Michelle was in a car accident at 29 weeks pregnant.  She was going through a green light and someone ran the red light hitting another car which hit Michelle's car.  The impact wasn't enough to deploy the airbags but there was enough damage to total-out the car.  Tony came to the scene (after dropping Johanna off with Grandma and Grandpa Kluesner) and took Michelle to the hospital to get checked out at the doctor's request.  She only had to stay in the hospital for 4 hours while the baby's heartbeat was monitored (and we made sure there was no rupture or leak of the waters) but all was fine - no concerns and no follow up needed.

Other than the car accident, the pregnancy overall has been very healthy.  In some ways, a little more stressful than the first with taking care of a toddler.  Not to mention that Tony and Michelle are both leading big projects at work that don't finish up until the week before the due date.  Let's just say there are many people very interested in "how is Michelle feeling".  Just like with the last pregnancy, Michelle goes for a daily walk - getting up at 5am to walk on the treadmill instead of walking outside after work like she did with Johanna, because well, Johanna has needs too!

 

Baby and Gender Reveal

Better late than never with posts like this!

There were several months where we were taking (multiple) pregnancy tests.  One false positive gave us a lot of excitement for about 12 hours.  When we did get the true positive test in Oct, Michelle was so excited she ran downstairs to tell Tony and startled him in the doorway.  We were cautiously optimistic and were so happy when we had our first appointment and got to hear the heartbeat.  

We let the rest of the family know at Christmas time, giving an ornament to the grandparents.  The Arnolds were more surprised than the Kluesners.  Grandma Karen even had a present wrapped for the baby - which she only got out after receiving the news.  It included some newborn diapers and the baby's first Christmas ornament. 

The ultrasound was in Feb and we asked the tech to write down the gender without telling us.  Our friend Natalie was once again the lucky one to open the gender envelope and put together the reveal, this time with a balloon.  The group was evenly split on thinking it was a boy or a girl.  Johanna's initial excitement was very short lived as she realized she wasn't getting a baby sister. She cried "I want a baby sister" and we even had to put the balloon away because it was too upsetting for her.  The disappointment lasted several days but we, as well as her teachers at school, encouraged her that a baby brother would be wonderful ("Your friend Drake is a boy, and he is a lot of fun") and she came around.  Michelle was also surprised to learn the baby was a boy and although not disappointed, needed a reassuring hug from Tony to deal with the shock.  And for the first time ever, Grandma Karen was mistaken in her guess!

Spring time fun

Easter egg hunts, egg coloring, cookie decorating, kite flying, biking, and even a First Communion!

Something old, Something new.

We decided to update the nursery in preparation for baby boy.  We kept some elements from the original nursery like the big tree decal (Tony only cried a little when taking down the other decals) and added a new paint color (which was supposed to be gray but looks blue).  The new dresser to match the existing crib was the big purchase with a few new wall hangings to tie it all together.  I was really impressed with Tony's paint job, and I am sure Johanna was a big help :-)