Juice dilemma

This morning I poured Ben a half cup of grapefruit juice into a wash or toss sippy. He promptly took a drink, looked at the cup, tried again, then looked at me and said 'Juice isn't goin' into Ben!'. Sure enough the pulp had plugged the holes of the lid and therefore juice wasn't going into Ben.

Week 18: First belly pics!

Not too much to see, but the bump is beginning to grow (so it should, since I've put on about 10 lbs so far!).

So here we are at 17 weeks and 1 day:

Week 18: Got my IPS results today!

Refresher: IPS stands for 'integrated prenatal screening'. It consists of an ultrasound and blood test between 11 weeks and 13 weeks 6 days (I had mine done at 12 weeks 4 days), followed by a second blood test between 15 weeks and 18 weeks (I had mine done at 15 weeks 4 days).

And it's all good news! :D

Screening result: screen negative
Risk of Down's: <1:20000 (apparently the average for my age group, based on age alone, is 1:350, so we're very low risk)
Risk of NTD (neural tube defects): 1:2200

So yay!! Relief.

Week 17: A little pregnancy update

To say there's not much to update on! I'm feeling pretty well, despite needing a little more sleep than I'm getting. My hormones are leaving me cranky. Fun fun stuff. For everyone. Other than that my energy is better and I'm not feeling the least bit ill.

Another difference I've noticed between my pregnancy with Ben and this baby is that I haven't had much in the way of abdominal discomfort. With Ben I had lots of round ligament pain and stuff starting around week 12, but nothing obviously uncomfortable this time. I guess because my body's been through this before...?

On Thursday I'll see the doctor for my IPS results. I'll update more then.

Ben's becoming quite a little monkey

His climbing skills are really coming along. Today at the playground he climbed up his first ladder - and I'm talking bars not steps - without any help or even encouragement from me at all (it was entirely his idea). And he did it with such confidence. After climbing it a few times he started climbing it with one hand (so he could transport piles of dirt with the other, of course).

Then he climbed a large, steep spiral slide from the ground up. Twice! I was totally impressed.

My only regret is I'd left my camera at home.

Early language development is so cute!

And so I have to share.

Tonight at bedtime Ben finds an old stuffy in his room - Mr. Googly-Eyes. He hasn't seen Mr. Googly-Eyes in ages. So he holds him up and asks "Mr. Googly-Eyes, what are you doin' here??"... and he continued to ask this several times.

Then finally he chucks Mr. Googly-Eyes out his bedroom door, looks at me and says "Mr. Googly-Eyes not doin' here any mo'!"

Cracked me right up!

Results of Ben's egg allergy test today

Well, he tested negative. I'm puzzled. The allergist is very confident in the negative result and thinks perhaps he could have a sensitivity, rather than a full-blown allergy, which means it's not life-threatening. I've requested a food challenge (Ben would be fed amounts of egg in a medical environment and observed for a reaction), and fortunately he's willing to offer the challenge despite his confidence in the test results.

So that's it.

I'm interested to see how the challenge goes (and mostly what the allergist thinks of Ben's 'reaction' to egg). I'll update when we have an appointment, and again when we have the results.

Week 15: I felt the baby move!

Much earlier this time too. The other day was the first time I was sure it was the baby. A week or two leading prior I thought I felt the baby move, but that early on it's difficult to be sure.

With Ben I didn't notice until ~18 weeks, and so I guess it's true when they say you notice sooner the second time around because you know what the baby feels like.

Before I know it my belly will be moving around as if a scene out of Alien.

Another appointment with the allergist next Friday

Ben's being retested for eggs. If it's negative again I will ask for a food challenge (where Ben would be fed increasing amounts of egg over time and monitored for a reaction). I'm pretty convinced he's still reacting, but perhaps not as strongly as he used to. He *definitely* reacted to the cookie he ate yesterday though - no question. I feel I need a set of professional eyes watching him because the thought of us missing an allergic reaction (or conversely, worrying for nothing) is bothersome, so the reassurance either way will be very helpful. I'll update with the results ASAP.

I am absolutely crushed.

My computer totally crapped out and I had to 'repair' it, which I thought would be exactly that: a repair of the damaged files. But no, it completely formatted my system and reinstalled everything... meaning I've lost a year's worth of photos of Ben. I'm so so so incredibly upset. Fortunately I have a few uploaded to other places, but tonnes of photos that I'll never get back, from our visit to Cape Breton, one with my Uncle Archie (who recently passed), Ben's 2nd birthday, his 2nd Christmas... and so many more. I just feel sick about it. :*(

I think Ben's still allergic to eggs, even cooked.

I've been sort of noticing that he gets a little red around his upper lip when eating anything with egg in it, but this just seems to happen inexplicably sometimes so I just tried to shrug it off. Today, however, we were at an indoor playground and a mom offered a home baked peanut-free cookie (her son is also allergic to peanut). When Ben finished I wiped his face and noticed he was red above his lip and had what appeared to be two small hives. I called his allergist's office when we got home requesting an egg retest. I'm wondering if he was properly scratched last time we were in, and is he wasn't then it would result in a false negative. Either way, I really want him retested for the sake of his safety.

The allergist wasn't in this afternoon and so I won't hear back until tomorrow about how we're going to proceed. I really hope I don't have to do battle to get a retest because with my raging pregnancy hormones I don't think can take it.

Ben's drawings

Ben's not terribly big on drawing and/or colouring, but once in a while I'll get him going. Once he gets going he'll stick with it a while and he does quite well!

Here's a photo from May 10th. I drew the circles for the faces and Ben drew the rest at my request... eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hair. (He seems to be anti-text and so he usually scribbles out any words I write... perhaps I was cramping his style.) And really, I'm not nearly as pinch-faced as Ben's depiction would have you believe. ;)

A couple of weeks later, to keep Ben occupied while I got something done, I asked him to draw a picture of me; here's what he drew, all on his own.

What a memory!

After lunchtime today (shortly before naptime) Ben requested a cookie. I told him he could have one after his nap. He also wanted to play with Play-Doh, and again, I told him after his nap. So, he has his nap, wakes up, and when I went upstairs to get him he immediately, and groggily, requested his cookie and Play-Doh.

Now if he could just make breakfast that'd be great!

This morning Ben wakes up, climbs into bed with me, we had a cuddle, then I turned the TV on for him while I hopped into the shower. I left him comfortably tucked into my side of the bed watching Treehouse.

I get out of the shower, no Ben. I walk out of the room expecting he's playing in his room or something. Nope. The safety gate at the top of the stairs is wide opened and I hear Cars blaring from downstairs. I go downstairs to find Ben sitting on the sofa, watching Cars, lights on, and the gas fireplace burning. This kid knows how to make himself comfortable!