Welcome, cousin Michael!

Well, Aly's twin cousin Michael wasn't supposed to say hello to the world until June 3, which is when Aly is due to make her appearance. But, well, nature had other plans. Amniotic banding caused his right arm to stop growing after his elbow, and lately it was cutting off his nourishment from the placenta. If he'd stayed inside his mommie even one more week, he would have died. Thank goodness for modern medicine. The little miracle baby was born six weeks early and is obviously a fighter!


Michael Allyn Dimock joined this world on April 22, 2009, weighing in at a whopping 3lb 11oz, and measuring 16 inches in length. He was breathing on his own, but it was labored, so he is getting a little supplemental oxygen. He started getting jaundice today, so he's under powerful heating lamps with his little baby goggles on (it's like he's in a tanning bed). He's feeding through a tube, but his intake has already doubled per feeding since yesterday. He's a good sucker and loves his pacifier. His mama, my sister Rachel, will be leaving the hospital tomorrow, but Michael must stay in his current accommodations until he holds his body temperature on his own, feeds without a tube, and breathes without oxygen. It'll probably be a few weeks yet, but I'm positive he'll be just fine. He's such a strong little guy. I can't wait to meet him!

Third Trimester Pains

I have always been a huge whiner, and people get sick of it, so for the most part I've tried not to whine to excess during this pregnancy... but... UGH! I am in so much pain!!

I think the relaxin and the weight gain have finally caught up with me, because my knees, hips and back are killing me! My knees are especially noticeable for the first time today. I have bad knees (had surgery on the left one when I was 15), and the last time they felt this bad was when I was in Ireland in September after walking around Dublin for a week (just ask Meg about all that whining!). I feel like I need to get a brace for both knees and apply heat therapy to all my joints. Tylenol never works for me, so I'm not bothering with it.

I REALLY hope this pain does not last the remainder of the pregnancy. I may only have 5.5 weeks left, but that is 5.5 weeks too long to go without narcotics for this kind of pain! Somebody shoot me!! I think I'll start researching ways to self-induce...

Baby shower fun! x2

I had my second baby shower on Friday, which means I'm all done now. Next week I'm going to hit the baby stores with my dad (who hasn't gotten me anything) to pick up items I still need... like more bottles, bath time stuff, diapering accessories, etc.

I had such a blast at my party. I had one of my pregnant sisters in attendance (the other is on bed rest in Illinois), my 3yo nephew, my grandmother, my mother, my bro's gf of 6 years, and my three best friends from different eras of my life (high school, college, and my first job). I enjoyed the intimate gathering, the games (and I usually hate baby shower games), and of course the gifts. I got quite a haul considering the size of the party. Below is a sneak peek of one of the games we played. You can see all my pictures on facebook.

Fun Photoshoot!

A freelance designer I work with on and off is also a part-time photographer, and she wanted maternity shots for her portfolio... so I got tons of awesome artsy photos taken of me for free! So far she's just sent me a few of the photos, but I love them. I can't wait to see more and more and more and more! Too bad she has more to do with her life than sift through all the pics and retouch them. I suppose I'll get all the good ones within a few weeks, but these were my sneak peeks. :)

I'm 31 weeks, 4 days.

View more photos on her blog.