Pregnancy Update and New Names for Baby Biggs

I am very happy to report that we have hit the 7 month mark for this pregnancy! Baby Biggs is officially due two months from yesterday and I am feeling like I'm in the home stretch. However, I did just read some interesting stats. Apparently the average length of gestation is not 40 weeks, as we are often told, but 41 weeks and 1 day! I'm not too excited at the idea of adding an extra week to this pregnancy but seeing as I am against artificially inducing labor, I suppose I should plan on it! I'm actually feeling pretty amazing overall. My complaints are lack of sleep and less energy to keep up with Jack but things could certainly be a lot worse.

We will be meeting with our midwife for the first time on Friday. I am anxious to interview her and make sure that this is the route we would like to go. As far as delivering at OU, we received some bad news recently. Due to the H1N1 virus and it's prevalence, the hospital is limiting patients to only two visitors at a time and no children under the age of 14 are allowed to visit at all! This of course means that our families won't be able to wait in the waiting room like they did when Jack was born, but even worse, it means that Jack will not be able to meet his little brother or sister until we come home!! I am very upset about this and am hoping the policy will ease up by January. I am afraid the "epidemic" will only be worse by then, though...

I posted some possible names a few weeks ago and we've already changed our minds since then! We are having the worst time with names this time around. As of today, here are our name choices: If we have a girl, she will most likely be named: Vivian Kaye Biggs or Eliza Kaye Biggs. And a boy will be: Henry Arthur Biggs, Harrison Arthur Biggs, or Graham Arthur Biggs.

Here is the latest pregnancy pic, taken at 31 1/2 weeks:

If You're Happy and You Know It... Don't Clap

Jack has always loved playing the piano. His latest hobby, however, is pretending to play the piano. He sits on his bed on a pillow and faces the foot board, putting his feet down in between the mattress and the foot board. Then he uses the foot board as his pretend piano and "plays" his songs. He could seriously do this all day! I guess it feels more like a real piano (size wise) than his little baby toy piano (hint, hint, Santa Clause!)

Anyway, he has an entire repertoire of songs that he plays but his favorite lately is "If You're Happy and You Know It." However, he changes it up just a bit. Here is his version:

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

(whispers to me, to the beat of "clap, clap") Don't clap

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

Don't clap

If you're happy and you know it, then you're face will surely show it,

if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!

Don't clap

What a silly boy!! Not sure why he insists on the no clapping rule, but in my opinion, it really takes away from the song's charm... :)

Pregnancy Pics

Here is the latest, taken at 29 1/2 weeks. The second picture is me pregnant with Jack at 30 weeks. I think I'm carrying about the same... okay, maybe I was slightly smaller last time!

Halloween Fun- Trick-or-Treat!

I think last night was the best night of our little guy's life. The progression kind of reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld's bit:

"What's that? Who's giving away candy?! EVERYONE WE KNOW is just giving away candy?! What do I have to do? ...I can wear that!"

We've been talking about Halloween for awhile and Jack had decided to be Super Why. For those that are not aware, Super Why is a show on PBS in which the Super Readers jump into books to find the answers to their questions. It's actually pretty cute and although I figured no one would know who he was, Jack turned out to be quite the celebrity on our street. Everywhere we went, we heard children shouting out, "Look, it's Super Why!!!"

So, once he was dressed, we headed out the door to our first neighbor's house. He was excited just to ring the doorbell and see Arlene, the sweet lady who lives next door. He knew to say "trick-or-treat," but was quite surprised when she just started piling candy into his jack-o-lantern bucket. We left that house and headed to the next and he was getting really excited at this point. "I ring the door bell and say trick-or-treat and I get some treats!!" By the third house or so, he was still in awe and even told one lady, "Thank you. I love you!" Needless to say, even though we had been building this up for quite some time, Jack was amazed by the actual experience. What a joy to see life through the eyes of a child. I believe he enjoyed this night so much more than Storybook Forest and Haunt the Zoo because he had more interaction with people. He loved to ring the doorbell and greet each person. He was never quite ready to leave one house and head to another as he would have preferred to get more acquainted with each neighbor! Our little guy is just so sweet and has such a love for people!

After awhile we decided that Jack had enough treats (he really only eats the suckers anyway) and we headed back home, where Aunt A and Bebe were ready with some cake. One piece of cake and one sucker later, he was ready to crash. What a perfect night for a little boy!

Halloween Fun- Haunt the Zoo

On Friday, Jack joined his friends Parker and Max for Haunt the Zoo. Again, it was VERY crowded and we felt like we were being herded like cattle, but overall the kids had fun. Jack wasn't nearly as into the trail trick-or-treating as he was the carousel and the bouncy house. He especially loved riding in the wagon with Parker and getting a glow necklace!

Halloween Fun- Storybook Forest

Last Saturday, Randy and I took Jack to Storybook Forest at Lake Arcadia (along with the Spurgeons). It was quite crowded and Jack wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but we had a good time!

Pregnancy Update and a Name for Baby Biggs?!

We had a follow up ultrasound yesterday at 28 weeks to find out if I still had placenta previa and what we saw was that the placenta has corrected itself and is completely out of the way! This is such good news. Randy and I are still enjoying our Bradley Method classes and are very much prepared for a natural (drug free/intervention free) birth so the possibility of a c-section was very disappointing. Now that things look perfectly healthy, we can go back to focusing on our goal of natural. We are even planning on switching from my current doctor to a midwife and would therefore be delivering at OU Medical Center instead of Mercy. This is all just to ensure that we have the best support available when I am in labor. Most doctors in this country are not at all familiar with natural birth (which is truly sad) and therefore aren't much help/support for a laboring woman who isn't drugged. A midwife is much more educated in this area. I have received so many great recommendations for the midwives at OU and can't wait to have my first appointment!

As for Baby Biggs, the ultrasound showed a perfectly healthy little baby measuring about a week or so ahead of schedule. The baby was kicking and moving like crazy, as usual, and we could even see that he/she is in a very awkward sideways position, which is why I'm feeling so uncomfortable with each and every kick! Much different from Jack, who cooperated and was head down from about 20 weeks on. Hopefully, this little one will turn and be in proper position in the next few weeks. There is still plenty of time!

Of course, we are still holding out for the surprise as far as the gender is concerned! The ultrasound tech. said he had a very clear picture if we change our minds! It felt like torture to not be able to sneak a peek, but I figure we've made it this far. It will be worth it!

Randy and I have struggled GREATLY with names this time around. We just love Jack's name and want to love this little one's name just as much. Finally, we have pretty much narrowed it down to two for each gender:

Jocelyn Kaye Biggs
Evelyn Kaye Biggs (Evie)

Samuel Arthur Biggs
Henry Arthur Biggs

As you can see, we appreciate classic/traditional names! Nothing too new or trendy sounding. Kaye is my middle name and my mother in law's middle name. I love that it is from both sides of the family. Arthur is the name of Randy's late grandfather, whom we would really love to honor. I think we're leaning toward Evelyn and Henry, but we'll see!