Nielson Family...sort of

In November 2007, we got a knock on our door from a guy that worked for a company called Arbitron. They are sorta like Nielson with ratings and things like that. He asked if we wanted to carry around some meters, earn money and be part of the ratings for tv and radio. This sounded like my dream job. Getting paid to watch tv! And maybe helping the shows that I like stay on the air. Sold! Sign us up. So we got set up with these nifty "meters" which we renamed beepers, cause that's what they looked like.

Meters:


All we had to do was wear them from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed. Then we put them in some chargers over night so they could recharge the battery and then download the info.

Meters in their overnight chargers:



Easy right? Well, it was pretty easy, but kinda got to be a pain to have to wear these beepers everywhere. You couldn't set them down, they always had to be in motion, otherwise they would shut down and wouldn't record anything. And the longer you had it on, the more points you earned, which dictated how much money you would get for the month. Now, it wasn't a ton of money, but we did get little bonuses here and there and we each got our own checks, so it did add up. All in all, it was a fun experience. Only a few people knew about it, because you were supposed to keep it a secret that you had them so no one could take advantage of the fact that you had these and use it to their benefit. IE if you knew someone that worked for a radio station, they could try to get their radio station around you as much as possible so they could get more ratings. Whatever. We didn't know anyone that works for a tv or radio station, so we really didn't see that as a big deal. But anyway, you can do this for up to 2 years. We were coming up on our 2 year mark in November, but I got a call around the beginning of September saying that they are leaving the Houston Market, so we are done. So I packed up the meters and the chargers and sent them back. All in all it was a fun experience and not one many people get to do. We like to think that some of the shows that were in danger of being cancelled, were not because of us!

Almost ready...

Last week we got some more things done in the baby's room. We hung the quilt and some shelves. Getting close!

Who would have thought...

that keeping a '79 Camaro in your garage would warrant a free pizza? But that's just what happened on Wednesday. I heard that the founder of Papa John's pizza had sold his old Camaro in the 70's to start up his pizza business and that he had recently found the exact one that he sold all these years ago. I think he sold it for around $2500 or so and bought it back for $250,000! In honor of that, he said that anyone that drove to a Papa John's store in their Camaro would get a free large 1 topping pizza. So I informed Jeff of this and he fired up the car, drove to the store and brought us back some dinner. They even took his picture. Pretty cool!

More on Baby...

Wednesday I had my regular 32 week checkup. Everything is still looking good. I only gained 1 pound since the previous appointment 2 weeks before (I was happy about that!). We have started a plan since we are getting down to weeks before delivery. Next week I will get the steroid shots, which are 2 shots given 24 hours apart. Those will be given at the hospital on Thursday and Friday of next week, but it will be a quick get the shot and then leave, no biggie. I will get my ct scan at MD Anderson on Sept 14, with results given to me on Sept. 15. I am supposed to also meet with my surgeon that day, but that has not been scheduled yet. I'm still waiting on that one. I have a scheduled 34 week checkup on Sept. 16. We have tentatively scheduled my amnio for Sept 23 with the high risk doctor, with another appointment with my regular OB that day as well for my 36 week appointment. This could also be induction day depending on the amnio results. Jeff and I (and I think my oncologist is as well), are thinking that we should wait until I'm at least 37 weeks before we induce. The induction would start on the night of Sept 30, with delivery by Oct. 1. Wow! That's not too far away. So we have narrowed down the delivery to a week. My OB is on call on Thursday's so she would like to start my induction on a Wednesday night, either Sept 23 or Sept 30. We won't know for sure until after my ct scan results and/or amnio results.

We did get to have an ultrasound yesterday afternoon. Good news is that he is no longer breech and is head down. Yay! Let's hope he stays that way. He is also measuring about a week and a half bigger than my dates, but that is fine since he will be coming early, I would rather him be a bit bigger. His estimated weight is 4 pounds 10 ounces. My amniotic fluid level is normal as well. All in all, good news. I think that is about all the news I have at this point. We are in the home stretch now...

Grandpa Bratton's 85th Birthday

Wednesday was Grandpa Bratton's birthday (Jeff's grandpa). We went to a local cajun restaurant called Floyd's and had a wonderful feast. Then we went back to their house to have cake and ice cream and open presents. Aunt Nancy made a beautiful and yummy chocolate cake for the occassion. Grandpa looked great and we all had a great time. Here are a few pictures:

Grandpa at the ready!:


Blowing out the candles:


Yummy cake!:


Grandpa and Jeff:


Grandma Bratton:



And ME at 31 weeks!:

Baby Update

Just a quick update on the plan so far. Since we are going to have to induce the baby, more than likely before he is "finished cooking" I want to take every precaution I can to make sure he is as healthy as he can be so he doesn't wind up in the NICU. White males have a reputation in the NICU, we call them "wimpy, white boys" and tend to need a little extra help the earlier they are. So to try to prevent this, I am going to get some steroid shots to boost his lung maturity. I will get these around 33 weeks. This will give plenty of time for them to kick in. I have a ct scan scheduled at MD Anderson for Sept. 14 (I'll be 34 weeks then), with Dr appointments the following day to discuss results and surgery. The outcome of the ct scan determines if we need to press for delivery sooner rather than later, or we can wait on surgery until around mid October. We plan on doing an amnio around 36weeks to see if his lungs are mature and possibly deliver then if his lungs are mature, or if not, wait until I am 37 weeks. Clear as mud? :) The only other kink in this plan is that currently, the baby is breech, which means butt first. Not exactly the position we need him to be in. But he has time to turn and we are praying he figures it out and does it on his own soon! If he is still breech when we need to deliver, I will have to have a c-section, which is not ideal since I'm having another major surgery 1-2 weeks after delivery. So we are REALLY hoping he turns! But no matter what way he decides to come is fine with us. We will work around him. We are getting really excited and I know these next weeks will fly by. He'll be here before we know it!

A house full...

This past weekend, we had Jeff's family come in town for my baby shower and then a BBQ at our house. His brother arrived on Thursday and his sister in law, parents, grandparents and sister and brother in law arrived on Friday. We had the shower on Saturday early afternoon, then when that was over, the Bratton girls came over to our house to meet the rest of the boys and have a good BBQ and a chance to have a mini reunion. It turned out great! We had about 27 people at the BBQ and Jeff cooked his famous ribs (along with some chicken and sausage). We had tons of food and great company. I am so happy so many people were able to join us. It's nice to get the family together every once and a while. So I have two slide shows. One from the shower and one from the BBQ.








And here is a link to the pictures Kasuen took