Big Brother

Austin is a big brother! We have Baby Cronk #2 on the way!

We announced it to my parents and sibs one day by putting this "big brother" shirt on Austin at dinner time. Dad's first question when he saw him was "Is that real?" They're all very excited. We've told Steve's family too, but we haven't had a chance to tell most of my extended family because we have only seen them lately when it has been other family events and we didn't want to steal anybody's spotlight on their special day! I had to make some schedule swaps in my residency to accommodate maternity leave, so they all know too. Sorry to use the blog to announce this, but unfortunately I don't get a chance to talk with many of you on a regular basis.

Our new baby!

This picture was taken at our first prenatal visit on July 2, when baby was exactly 10 weeks gestational age. Our due date was adjusted by 1 day from what we originially thought...official due date is now January 28th, 2010. In this picture, the head is on the right, the legs are the two spots on the left and you can see the arms on each side of the body. The little line below the baby's feet is the last bit of the yolk sac being absorbed away.Baby was quite squirmy in there and had a good, strong, steady heartbeat. Baby is perfect size for age. Austin was happy that he got to put the jelly for the ultrasound on mommy's tummy and keeps talking about it days later.

Austin seems to be overall excited about the baby, though he, of course, doesn't quite understand what's going on. He knows (and tells people randomly) that "mommy has a baby in her tummy." He occasionally lifts up his shirt and informs me that he has a baby in his tummy too. Daddy even has been told he has a baby in his tummy once or twice recently. When asked if he wants a sister or a brother, he states quite consistently that he wants a sister. His answer is always "I want a girl baby" or "I want a sister." We'll see....

Overall, I've been doing OK. I've been a lot more nauseous this time than with Austin and it seems that if I let myself get hungry, then the nausea is much worse, so I have to eat little bits throughout the day to keep from getting an empty stomach. I've also been much more fatigued, but this time around, I'm pregnant while doing pediatric residency and being a mom! Those are 3 big jobs all put together! Steve is, of course, taking great care of me and making sure I get some rest and take care of baby.

We headed up to the Twin Cities for the 4th of July after I got off work on overnight coverage in the PICU Friday night. Kevin and Keng came over for dinner and Austin was very excited about Kevin that night! We thought about taking Austin to fireworks, but he was soooo tired and cranky that we put him to bed and later watched fireworks from the top floor of mom and dad's house, where you can see about 7 sets of fireworks from neighboring cities.

On Sunday, Michelle and Brian arrived for dinner after their drive home from Chicago. Then on Monday morning, Ann, MaryAnn, and baby John visited. Austin was not thrilled about mommy paying attention to another kid, but it was otherwise great to see them and we had lots of fun playing with John and catching up with them. It will be nice to live closer to them when we move up here next summer.

Then back to work on nights starting Monday night.