Happy Birthday, Maksim!

We welcomed our BIG boy, Maksim Alexander Kroger, into the world on April 30th at 4:29am!  Although he weighed a record breaking (for our birth center) 11lb-2 ounces, we managed to still have the hospital/drug/intervention free, natural birth that we'd hoped for!


Here's how Maks measured up:
11lb 2oz
15" head
18 1/2" shoulders (which decided to come out simultaneously, instead of one at a time!)
21.5" long

Just a few hours old, and already practicing flexing his muscles for body-builder Grandpa Ralph.

He was perfectly healthy and we were all on the road back from TX within four hours!  

Daddy is a master swaddler.

Kira saying "hi" to her little brother.

We're so glad to have him here with us and cannot wait to introduce him to everyone!

Due Date

40 weeks

My ever-expanding belly coupled with unseasonably high temperatures in Louisiana is making the baby wait almost unbearable.  Sometime in the next two weeks our little bundle will be in our arms!

Third Trimester

Final stretch!

As the weeks continue to pass, I get more and more kicks that are becoming stronger and stronger!  It's hard to believe that just a couple of months ago I wasn't experiencing any detectable movement at all!  I"m growing each and every single day - which hopefully means a properly developing little one on the inside!

30.5 weeks

Valentine's Day is usually just another day in our house.  However, the weekend before, both Bryon and I happened to be off of work.  Bryon got up early and said he needed to run some errands and would pick up some breakfast to bring home for us, too.  Once 10am rolled around, I was extremely hungry and wondering what was taking him so long/when he'd be back.  At about 10:30 he finally made if back home with some food - and our infant car seat...complete with a V-day stuffed animal monkey strapped in!  Of course, he'd thought that the baby store opened at 9am, but it actually didn't open until 10.  He knew which brand infant seat we'd decided to purchase, but he was able to also pick out his favorite fabric/color (which I happen to love!).  A car seat has been the one thing I've been adamant about needing to purchase sometime soon to be sure that we have one once it's needed.  I'm so glad we've got that item crossed off the list!  Now I just need to convince Bryon that it would be fun to drive around with the car seat installed...and the stuffed animal monkey strapped in!  He's hesitant, so for now we're slowly exposing Kira to the monkey and teaching her that not all toys/stuffed animals in our house are fair game for her to chew on anymore.  Wish us luck!

31 weeks

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate our growing family by attending our baby shower!  It was so nice to have the friends we've made in Louisiana come over and spend the afternoon with us!  We can't wait to introduce everyone to our new addition in just a few short weeks!

Approximately 2 weeks to go until my EDD and I'm starting to feel like I can't possibly expand any farther!  We're happy to have found a midwife and birthing center that we'll be utilizing in East Texas (assuming all goes as planned) and couldn't be happier with this opportunity given our current residence in non-midwife-friendly Louisiana.  As for now, we're counting down the days until our little Texas-born baby makes his/her debut!

35 weeks

37.5 weeks

Second Trimester

Spreading the news!

My second trimester flew by just as quickly as the first!  The weeks consisted on monthly prenatal visits which remained relatively boring.  We passed up our opportunity to discover the sex of the child (we are opting against ultrasounds), so the exciting 18 or 20 week checkup was nothing more than a visit consisting of  our Dr. asking "How are you feeling?" to which I generally replied, "Just fine, and yourself?"

Both Bryon and myself had been anxiously anticipating our trip to visit family over Thanksgiving.  That is when we'd hoped to finally share the news that we were expecting a child with our extended family.  Since we live so far away from friends and family, it seems like all of our "big life events" are shared via phone/email/Facebook.  I wanted to be able to experience first-hand the reactions of others as I told them that I was pregnant!  However, the military had different plans for us.  A last minute change of schedule meant that we wouldn't travel back to the Midwest for Thanksgiving.

I convinced myself that I'd already kept our secret for this long - what was another 3.5 weeks?  We decided to wait it out to tell our relatives about our pregnancy in person when we traveled home over the Holidays.  Whether the Air Force suddenly decided to keep Bryon back in Louisiana over Christmas/New Years or not - I was going to take some vacation and make the trek back to Iowa and Minnesota to spend time with loved ones and share our exciting news!

As the end of the year approached, my co-workers continually joked that I'd need a shirt with writing explaining that we were expecting since I was still barely showing.  Luckily, I "popped" just before the end of December!  There would be no second guessing what was going on when people saw me!

Bryon and I both were able to travel over the Holidays.  We were so glad to share the news of our pregnancy in person.  I know it was a difficult secret for our immediate family members to keep - so thanks to all of you who celebrated silently with us for so many weeks!  We were extremely happy that everyone (or as many people as possible) were able to hear our news simultaneously and first-hand from the two of us!

Once my belly started to grow, it really grew!  Sometimes I wish it'd just take a minute or two and slow down already!  At our last visit, Dr. Bellmann jokingly made the comment that we might even have twins...but she'll find out for sure when we do - near the end of April in the delivery room!  We've been planning on a singleton, but so long as our child(ren) is/are healthy, we'll be happy!

19 weeks

27.5 weeks

Pregnancy Milestones

On Thanksgiving night (18 weeks pregnant), I felt the baby kick for the first time!  I never experienced any flutters or butterflies, so the first time I felt anything - it was a kick that couldn't have been mistaken for anything else!  Finally, I had some reassurance that I was really pregnant!  I quickly told Bryon to feel my stomach right where I'd felt the kick, and sure enough our little one gave one more kick so that Bryon could experience it as well.  It was so fun for both Bryon and myself feel the kicks for the first time on the same night!

2 weeks later (20 weeks pregnant), I witnessed my stomach move while our little one wiggled about on the inside!

Since we decided to not use a Doppler, we hadn't experienced hearing our baby's heart beat.  The anticipation for a heart beat wasn't as strong anymore since we'd both felt the baby move.  However, Bryon had been testing using a stethoscope at night every now and then to see if he could hear anything at all.  At 21.5 weeks pregnant, Bryon heard the baby's heartbeat using a regular stethoscope!  I was unable to hear anything due to the baby moving, but I could tell by the look on Bryon's face that he didn't second guess what he'd heard!

Over Christmas, Andrea brought home a fetoscope (stethoscope specifically designed for listening to the heartbeat of a fetus) for us to use.  One week after Bryon heard the heartbeat (22.5 weeks pregnant), Mama was able to hear her little one's heart pumping away, too!  In fact, it was fun to have everybody present (Bryon, myself, Andrea, Matt, my Mom and my Dad) successfully hear the heart beat.  Andrea even received a special gift - a swift kick to the forehead (you rest your forehead on the fetoscope while listing) from little Baby K.  Talk about a memorable way to celebrate Christmas Eve!

21 weeks

First Trimester

Is pregnancy really this easy?

My first trimester was rather uneventful.  Bryon was gone in Texas for the majority of this period of time, but he didn't miss out on too much.  Fortunately, I didn't experience any of the common pregnancy side effects and symptoms.  Not a single day of morning sickness, no nausea, no mood swings, no food aversions, no cravings and no fatigue (not enough to interfere with my day at least).  

The most stressful part of the first trimester was deciding who to see and where I would deliver my baby.  Prior to becoming pregnant, we'd researched different birthing options and knew we wanted to pursue a natural, drug-free childbirth.  However, given where the military has stationed us (Barksdale AFB, LA), our options are pretty much non-existent.  I toured the most recommended hospital in town or "natural-friendly" birthing.  After being berated by the nurse and having her try to convince me that I was about to experience the most painful event of my life, as well as receiving a list of all of the "musts" that the hospital required (IV drip, electronic fetal monitoring, etc.), I nearly started to cry as I walked out of the hospital doors.  This wasn't what I wanted.

I'd have loved to have pursued a midwife, but there isn't a single midwife (CNM or CPM) in the area.  No midwives, no birthing centers.  I visited the closest birthing center with a midwife - which was able an hour away and across the TX border.  She was the only option within an hour radius of town, but I felt uneasy about not having a handful of midwives to choose from.  I also felt uneasy about the hour drive it would take just to get to her birthing center for delivery.  Add to that, the fact that she prefers driving emergency births back to Shreveport, if possible, because the local hospital that is across the street from her birthing center isn't the greatest.  Needless to say, I just couldn't bring myself to feel comfortable with her services/center for my delivery either.

I decided instead to research OB's in the area that were open to natural birthing techniques.  There were about 4 that were recommended - and of those, I'd say none were as open to "natural" of a birthing experience as we would have liked.  I contacted the OB who was the #1 recommendation by everyone I'd spoken with - just to find out that she was retiring at the end of 2011.  ("Of course she is!")  I quickly pursued a referral from our insurance to the #2 recommendation.  I was able to get my referral, but by the time it came in the mail, the doctor said I was too far along for her to see me (I was approaching my last week of my 1st trimester and she couldn't get me in that week, and she did not see patients who hadn't been in for prenatal exams during their 1st trimester).  I was ready to give up.  I simply picked a random OB from the remainder of the list, called in to Tricare for my referral and booked my appointment - hoping for the best.

Bryon flew back to Louisiana on the day of my first prenatal appointment.  After sitting for 1 1/2 hours in the waiting room, he became impatient and asked what was going on.  The receptionist replied, "Lindsey's up next in line for her ultrasound."  "Wait, what?  Ultrasound?!?!"  That was almost the end of our experience at this OB!  We quickly informed the girl that we didn't want an ultrasound, but she kept insisting that EVERYONE is required to get an ultrasound on their first visit.  We were able to convince the receptionist that we just wanted to speak with the OB and have a consult prior to agreeing to any tests or screenings.  Luckily, we were able to meet Dr. Bellmann.

Dr. Bellmann seemed opposed to our desires to not have any ultrasounds - not to mention her reaction to us declining the use of Doppler to hear the fetal heartbeat.  She asked me, "How am I supposed to know there is a baby inside of you?"  I replied, "The same way I do.  Believing in the bloodwork and urine analysis."  She agreed to monitor my pregnancy as best as she could, without using modern technology (unless an emergency situation arises).  Ever since, our prenatal appointments have been pretty boring.  At each visit, she jokingly states, "As an OB, you two are going to be the death of me!"  We don't see sonograms; we don't hear heartbeats.  I haven't gained weight, so we don't even see physical changes yet.

Everybody always complains about the ill side effects of pregnancy.  I'm beginning to think it's all a hoax.  Is pregnancy really this easy?

Expanding our home by 2 feet!

Bryon and I have been excited to become parents since day one.  I remember always being asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, and my true answer has always been the same, "I want to me a mom."  Although we were anxious to become parents, Bryon and I decided that we needed to stabilize our lives before we jumped into raising children.  Our checklist included job security, paying off student loans/car loans/any other debts, and even raising a dog to experience the struggles related to compromising with one another and staying consistent with our "parenting decisions."

Once July 2011 rolled around, we were finally ready to begin expanding our home.  Bryon was scheduled to leave on a 7-week TDY assignment beginning August 15th.  Although I was pushing the date recommended on my pregnancy test box and risking inaccurate results from testing too early, I wanted to see if I could get an answer prior to Bryon leaving Louisiana. 

At 4AM the day Bryon's flight was scheduled to leave, I woke up needing to use the restroom.  I figured that first thing in the morning was the best time for me to take the test and sleepily opened the package using a nightlight in the bathroom.  I used the test and placed the test strip on my nightstand as I crawled back  into bed.  I let 3 minutes pass and then checked the test using the little amount of light that my iPhone provided.   "Pregnant."  

I almost didn't believe it.   I remember thinking to myself, "Don't people try for months for a positive test?"  Among those I knew, it'd seemed like the ones trying to have a baby always struggled to do so.  First time attempt: success?  I had been expecting it take up to 6 months for us to actually get pregnant.  Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled that "it worked," but I was shocked at the same time.  Were my eyes playing tricks on me due to my semi-still-asleep state?  I checked the test 5 minutes later to make sure the results hadn't magically changed.  However, the test was digital, so it wasn't really possible to misread "Pregnant."  I can't accurately describe my exact emotions - happy, excited, content, nervous...I think a little bit of everything at the same time.

I'd always expected that I'd be jumping up and down with joy over a positive pregnancy test, but that's not exactly how everything unfolded.  Maybe it's because this was my first attempt at pregnancy, so the pressure was off.  Maybe other factors were involved...

1) Bryon was still sleeping soundly.  

2) Bryon isn't the fondest of being woken up throughout the night - regardless the reason.

3) I didn't FEEL like anything had "changed."  

I most definitely was unable to fall back asleep, despite my irrational belief that sleep would be possible in this moment.  I knew Bryon needed to get up and go to work at 7AM for an hour before his flight left later that afternoon.  The remainder of my early morning was spent scrambling to brainstorm some clever way for me to tell Bryon about our good news before his plane departed.

As Bryon's alarm sounded, I kept quiet as he got up and went to work.  Unfortunately (for me), he drove our car.  So, I found myself left to come up with a plan to break the news to Bryon in an hour...using only what we had on hand at home.

I decided to have our dog, Kira, help me spread the news.  I grabbed a white tank of Bryon's and a black Sharpie marker.  Half way through my scribbling, the marker ran out.  "You've got to be kidding me!  All I could come up with is an old, dingy tank that reads, 'I AM A ___' - Putting my dog in a shirt like this will lead Bryon to fill in all sorts of blanks!"  Go figure.  Luckily, I found a silver Sharpie that would suffice as backup.  I hurried to finish making a tank for Kira to wear that exclaimed, "I AM A BIG SISTER!"

I viewed Bryon pulling up to our front yard out of a bedroom window and did my best to stay calm as Kira half-way cooperated with putting on her new tank top.  As Bryon walked in the door, he caught Kira running down the stairs to greet him.  She never wears clothes, so Bryon read the shirt right away.  I ran around the stairs from our bedroom to try and catch his reaction.  He read the shirt and knew right away when it meant - hurrying up the stairs to give me a kiss and hug.

The rest of the morning was spent telling our immediate family over the phone (we planned to wait and tell our relatives in person when we traveled home over the holidays) and then shipping Bryon off to TX for the remainder of the first trimester...