Forecast, St. Louis : Icy and Snowy, Baby Aidan: Clear, Warm...

... and perfect for a swim in his full swimming "pool"!

That was the news today from the Doctor! Emmy's amniotic fluid has drastically rebounded from last week's low value to now being a concern no more! The doctor was running the ultrasound this time and found three pockets of fluid that measured 44 mm, 47 mm and 41 mm, which would have eventually lead to an Amniotic Fluid Index score of 12+, which is near perfect at 35 weeks. Such a relief! Doctor T has approved her for part-time at home work and a part-time at work work. Next Wednesday we go again, and when her fluid is good then, she'll be cleared for full-time at work work. Thanks for all your prayers and thank you Emmy for drinking a gallon of water yesterday! I'm sure that helped!

Speaking of help, it's going to be downright nasty here tomorrow. Ice accumulating up to 0.25" and then snow overnight up to 12", yes that's twelve inches. It's difficult to predict right now because of various factors, so let's hope that the current forecast is a bit conservative. A very interesting story has come up though....listen to this....

The last major snowstorm to his St. Louis was in 1982. Between the 30th and 31st of January, 13.9 inches of snow fell at St. Louis. This is the 3rd greatest 24-hour snowfall total on record for this location. That being said, the last time that the Cardinals won the World Series was in 1982. Of course, as you know, they won again this year. Could we be in for another "big one"?

Let's hope it's not as bad as what Emmy and I experienced in March of 2003 in Colorado, check this out....32 inches in a day and a half!!!!



Our apartment was "protected" somewhat, but look my feet are at the top of the wheel well!



Em and I up to our thighs in snow. Yikes!

Be safe all you St. Louisans!!

Ty

Baby News

Our ultrasound went fine today. Aidan was still measuring a little big, but smaller than what was taken on Wednesday. He is very low in Emmy's pelvis, almost to the point of entering the birth canal. Emmy's aminotic fluid was up (nearly doubled from 4 cm to 7 cm) from Wednesday, but still lower than normal, so the doctor on duty (not our normal doctor) has put her on no-work/limited bedrest until further notice. She's been instructed to drink as much water as possible and lay low. We see our full-time doc on Wednesday for a full assessment of the situation.

It's a bummer because if this bedrest continues, Emmy's time off work will start today, meaning that Aidan will not be 12 weeks by the time she goes back to work. I know through the loving support of our family and whatever help that I can do, we'll make sure that he doesn't start daycare until he's 12 weeks. I thank you for that!

The key to all this is that he is showing no signs of distress due to the lower than normal fluid, his heart rate today measured at 158 bpm, which is perfect and his diaphragm is still moving up and down, strengthening itself for his first breath. We also saw indication today that he has hair, which was quite exciting!

Keep all of us in your prayers, as we will you and your families.

Ty, Em and Aid

Week 35 - Giving Thanks to All!

We had such a great time this extended holiday weekend with my Mom, Sister and Brother all coming into town to celebrate Thanksgiving. I fried up the turk while Emmy and Natalie made all the fixin's. Mom's pumpkin pie and pumpkin roll were just the icing on the cake to a wonderful food experience.

The weather here was outstanding this weekend, highs in the upper 60's with light winds and high clouds. I was able to get all our outside Christmas lights up and everyone helped decorate the inside to make it look wonderful for the holiday season. I'd say that all went just perfect until today, when I got the McFood Poisoning from the Golden Arches. But that was rectified with loving, compassiate service from my own personal nurse (who I might add is now 3 weeks away from being full term!).

Speaking of the baby....last night was a banner night as he and I played "push on the foot". This kid was CRAZY! I'd push on Emmy's belly and he would push back HARD! He was rollin' and pushin' and doing all sorts of crazy things inside there. Amazing. It's so good to feel that as it tells us that he's doing just fine. Tomorrow we go for another ultrasound, say a prayer for us that all goes well and that the ultrasound tech takes her time in making accurate measurements. Thanks! Here's what's going on with him this week!

Here are some of the better pictures we got from this weekend. Thank you all for coming up/over to see us. I hope you enjoyed your stay...we enjoyed your company!



Giving the turk his shots and toasting to Baby Aidan!



The Family and the Siblings



Just the five of us (Frosty included) and someone who has had WAY TOO much Christmas music!

I'll have an update tomorrow on the baby sonogram situation.

Have a good night from St. Louis,

Ty, Emmy, Aidan and Allie


P.S.: Nat, sorry about Brianne and your flat tire! ;)

January Hopefuls for Baby Aidan's Arrival....

....he ain't comin' then. This kid is big. And he's going to be ready to go way before January!!

The sonogram machine has predicted his weight to be 6 lbs 3 oz at 34 weeks! Now granted, the machine's prediction is based on side-to-side length of head, total circumference, femur length and torso width. Aidan's head measured very big, however, because of his position, head down very low (which is good at this stage), it was tough for the tech to get a good circumferential measurement, and the one she got probably has error in it.

So our best estimate is that he's weighing about 5 and a half pounds as is. This would probably put his new due date before Christmas, and we now fully expect that Emmy could be induced as early as December 11th! Yikes!

Here are some pictures from today's events! As he gets bigger the pictures aren't as good, but you can still make out the face, eyes, and open mouth in some of these. Also there's a foot picture....he's got all 5 toes! Also, as most important, I should mention that he most definitely is a boy still!



Looking straight on and from the side (mouth open) Both hands visible one on his head!



From the side again and a foot!



And another side-guy, mouth open...probably hungry for Daddy's Fried Turkey!

We also got to see that his heart is working very well and has all necessary chambers. His bladder, stomach and diaphragm (which was moving up and down (meaning that its strengthening to take its first breath)) were all looking very good.

We go back on Monday for another ultrasound because Dr. Thompson was a little concerned with the quantity of amniotic fluid for Baby A. He suspects Emmy is a little bit dehydrated and has told her to sleep on her left side (increases flow to the uterus) and to drink plenty of water. We'll post the new pictures if any on Monday!

Have a wonderful, safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving everyone!

Ty, Emmy and Tank-man

Week 34 - Part II - YEE-HAW!!

Late Breaking News out of Nashville, Tennessee....

"Grandma Peggy's Home renamed "The Ranch" after unnamed rocking horse arrives!"

Check it out....Aidan's rocking horse has made a home at Grandma's. Complete with neighing, shaking tail, galloping sounds and bobbing head...this one will make a cowboy out of him! And we can't wait to see him ride it into the sunset....

Thank you Jim and Grandma Peggy, our little cowboy will love his horsey!



~Cow-Dad, Cow-Mama, and lil Cowboy

Week 34 - Football Madness!

OK, so the Buckeyes did their thing and did it well against the hated Wolverines, awesome job!...but lest we forget...there WAS another HUGE win in Ohio yesterday!

Our alma mater, the lowly Cincinnati Bearcats destroyed the #7 Nationally Ranked Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 30-11. Now I admit, I can't name one player on the Bearcats, but it does feel great to see our team do so well! Go Bearcats!

Speaking of football, Emmy's been telling me that Aidan has been running his own passing and running plays inside her belly. As I type, he just ran the "I-formation Belly up 2 on 2" right into her ribs. Before we know it he'll be here, calling the shots in the real world.

We have a big day this week on Wednesday with our final ultrasound and cervix check of the Momma. Plus Grandma Tanya, Aunt Natalie and ol Uncle Spenso are coming in to celebrate Thanksgiving. And boy oh boy do we have a wonderful thing to celebrate and be thankful for this year!! We love you Baby A!

Here's what's happening this week with the little tailback!

Another special Happy 75th Birthday to my Grandpa Bert, we love ya lots Grandpa!

Love ya all,

Tyler, Emmy, Aidan and Allie

The Little Turkey is almost done!

That's the news from today's Doctor's appointment.

We are now on the every week visit to the Doctor to check up on Baby Aidan. Plus, even more exciting, next week we're going to get to see him again with our final ultrasound! Doctor Thompson knew that we'd be having people in town for the holiday so he said we could go ahead and schedule it for Wednesday! Awesome!

Emmy is doing very well as expected. Again, her blood pressure, size, and weight are all very good. Doctor Thompson felt around a little bit and said that he believes that Aidan is now head down, which is exactly how he needs to be oriented at this time. He could still however flip back to be heads up, but he's losing space everyday in his little "oven".

Special thanks to all my Mom's wonderful friends; Beth, Angie, Mary, Debbie, April, Jeanie, Jane, Marna, Jean and Becky. Your gift was very appreciated, and your friendship to my Mom is so special. Thank you.

The reality of this miracle is really starting to set in. We sat for about an hour (because the Doc was running way behind), laughing with a little 14 month old and I was just struck at how amazing they are. All I had to do was look over and she'd light up like I had carrots growing out of my head. I can not believe that about a year from now, Aidan will almost be that baby; smiling, enjoying his life and his parents and family! We are so thankful and blessed for having this Little Turkey. Thank you to all who have helped us prepare for his arrival....we love you.

Ty, Emmy, and Aidan

Week 33 - Two of a Kind!

So....Macy's was having a big sale on baby clothes this weekend (like 75% off) and we got some great stuff for the little guy, including the baby version of one of my Polo shirts. I can't wait for he and I to be stylin' together! Oh yeah! Definitely, two of a kind!

Well, 50 days from today is our due date. FIFTY DAYS!!?!!?!!?!! HOLY SMOKES! It seems just like yesterday that I was posting the 100 day countdown!

Emmy is still feeling very well, we think she had her first (Toni) Braxton-(Taylor) Hicks contraction yesterday (what, you didn't know that they were named after those two?!? Duh!) , so it seems like her body is moving right along with the plans. We have another doctor's appointment this week to check up on the little guy and make sure everthing is A-OK.

Here is what's going on with the little guy this week! This week is extremely important as, according to the link, Aidan's head circumference will grow a half an inch this week because of increase brain growth. Wow, that's a lot.

So many thanks to My Mom's (Tanya) friends this weekend for that very special event that you planned. I know it meant so much to her and we thank you for all the kind gifts for Baby Aidan. Mom mentioned that another gift is in the mail, so thank you for that as well!!

Everyone have a great week. We love you all!

Ty, Emmy, and Aidan

Week 32 - Showering Baby Aidan with Gifts

What time we had on Saturday at Emmy's co-worker Baby Shower! Great food, great games and great gifts from all of Emmy's co-workers and friends who gave their love to Baby Aidan. It was so nice to see Grandma Peggy who drove all the way up from Tennessee to take us out to Babies 'R' Us on Saturday and then enjoy Emmy's shower with us! Here's some pictures from the "Rubber Ducky themed" shower:



The tables and cake, wow awesome! ...and quacky!



Emmy's friend Elizabeth, who was a gracious host, had everyone decorate burp cloths with markers and paint stamps as a "creative" gift for Baby A. Here's some of the one's people made:





One guess on who did the "My Daddy is a catch". Ha!

Finally Grandma Peggy, and the Happy Frost Family!

Here's what's going on with the "less than 2 months away" little man this week!

Thanks again so much to all of Emmy's friends, co-workers and family, who from a far in Ohio or here with us in Missouri were able to make Saturday's day so special for her and baby Aidan. We love all of you dearly.

Have a wonderful week!

~Ty, Emmy and Aidan

Baby Aidan Soundin' good!

Today's checkup went without issue. All of Emmy's parameters (blood pressure, weight, belly size, etc.) were all good. Baby Aidan's heartbeat was tickin' away and he even punched the Doppler mic while we were listening! We're now on the every two weeks visit to the Doc, so time is running out on cookin' up the lil punkin.

~Later
Ty