What's in a name?

We've had a little confusion about the name of our little one so I thought I'd step in and help out a bit. Freja is pronounced "Fray-ya." Two syllables. The second syllable is pronounced like the first part of my name. So Freja = Fray-ya.

Where did we come up this name? First off, we knew that there aren't many names that go with Koorn and those that do are typically from Northern European areas like Holland, Germany or the Scandinavian countries. As most of you know, I lived in Sweden for a year and have an affinity toward Scandinavian culture and I suggested Freja. In Norse and Viking culture Freja was the goddess of love and beauty. She was also the leader of the Valkyries, the female warriors of the vikings. Additionally, it is largely believed that Freja is the origin of the word "Friday" (which is a day that all of us can agree is pretty cool :o) and our little Freja was coincidentally born on a Friday.

Maxine fit nicely between Freja and Koorn. Maxine is the feminine form of Maximilian which means "the greatest." After seeing her born I can assure you that Freja Maxine is the greatest!

Anyway, that is the background on our sweet little girl. Love you all!

-Jan

Freja Maxine Koorn!

Freja is here, she's finally here! Freja Maxine Koorn arrived on Friday, February 18 at 2:27 a.m. weighing in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces and 19.8 inches long. Jan & I are so thrilled to have her here, after all those months of wondering what will she look like and who will she be. Now we are getting to know her more and more every single day, and we honestly can't remember life before Freja.

We're taking approximately 1,000 photos of Freja every single day, and instead of uploading all of the individual pics on a how-cute-is-this basis, we decided to create an online photostream to share photos. Please check the Flickr Photostream link to the right to keep up with our latest favorites. As always comments on the blog or to the Flickr photostream are welcome!

Lots of love to all of you, thanks for checking in on the Koorn family!

And Waiting...

Today marks three days to our due date of February 15. Jan has decided this baby likes to sleep in and/or be fashionably late, just like her mom. He just might be right on both counts! Yesterday and today I went on a long walk to see if that might get things moving (the attached picture was taken today on the bike path in Emma, near our house), to no avail. Tonight we're planning to have extra spicy food for dinner. If nothing's happening by tomorrow we'll resort to a horseback ride and/or long Sunday drive on a bumpy road. Let us know if you know of any other old wives' tales to speed this thing along!

Still Waiting!

We had a checkup & ultrasound for week 39 today. Happy to report everything is just fine with mom & baby! The pic at left shows one of her chubby little feet. They tried to get a good picture of the baby's face but she had both hands up in front of her face (and one arm in her mouth for most of the time). Best guess for the baby's weight is about 7 1/2 pounds right now, give or take. Yet another reason I hope she decides to come soon - I don't want her getting much bigger than this for delivery! For now we'll just see if she does come this week, and if not we have another appointment scheduled at week 40 which is the baby's due date.

Clearly my prediction that the baby would arrive on Super Bowl Sunday was off! We've got a few hours left to meet Julie's prediction of today, otherwise our next guess is Jan & Arie's vote for Wednesday, Arie's birthday. Stay tuned.....!

Weekly baby update for week 39:
You're in the home stretch! After nine months of growth and development, your baby is ready to be born, or nearly so. At week 39, your baby is fully developed and anywhere from 17-23 inches long and weighs 6-10 pounds. Don't be frightened if your OB-GYN says your baby is large: It's extremely difficult to judge a baby's weight accurately from the outside. Your baby is adding neural connections and growing hair and still gaining weight. Researchers have theorized that when babies are ready to be born, they send a chemical signal of androgens to the placenta, which increases the production of estrogen and leads to labor. If so, it's proof of the old saying that "only a baby knows when it's ready to be born."

The Waiting Game

At 38 weeks pregnant, with just two weeks until the baby's due date to go, there is light at the end of the tunnel! Two weeks left of course means she might come later tonight, she might come in three weeks. It's really up to the baby (and my uterus) at this point. I'm as ready as I will ever be, and equally unprepared since I know I have no idea what to really expect.

Would anyone care to take a guess at the baby's arrival date and/or time?! Put it in the comments below! I'm going with Super Bowl Sunday, for no particular reason whatsoever. Mostly because that means we'll get (most of) another weekend just the two of us before baby makes three!

I read this article in an online blog on Momformation the other day, about feeling like you're carrying a huge baby. It really sums up how I am feeling at this point to a T! The whole paragraph about thinking the baby weighs about 20 pounds, 200 ounces really nails it. Fingers crossed that our girl is not as big as she seems to me!

And now your weekly baby update:
Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Thanks for following along everyone, and stay tuned!

And Now We Wait

I'm 37 weeks pregnant today - really in the home stretch! The hospital bag is packed, the carseat is in the car and the baby's clothes are washed, folded & neatly put away. I keep saying I'm just about ready to be done being pregnant, but on the other hand I don't want the baby to get here too soon! She will come when she's ready, which at this point could be later tonight or three weeks from now. And whenever she comes will be just the right time.

Jan & I were both surprised with the happy news yesterday that our friends Nika & Will (Jan's hometown friend - who was in our wedding for those of you who were there) had their baby girl yesterday morning. Nika's due date was about a week after mine - that's an early arrival! It sounds like they had a pretty fast delivery, and everyone is healthy and doing great. We are so happy for them and can't wait to meet their new addition!

This news hit close to home for both of us, that our baby really might come any day now. Whoa!

How your baby's growing at 37 weeks:
You've got what is officially considered a full-term baby, even with three weeks to go. That doesn't mean she's finished growing — in fact, she's still packing on about a half pound a week (at this age, the average fetus weighs about 6.5 pounds). That makes it a little crowded in your uterus, so she’s probably not kicking as much, though she’s probably stretching, rolling a bit, and wiggling (all of which you’ll be able to feel!). Right now, your little superstar is busy rehearsing for her big debut, inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid (to get the lungs ready for that first breath), sucking her thumb (to prepare for that first suckle of milk), blinking, and turning from side to side. Click here to see what your baby looks like this week.

For the record, our girl is very much on the move, all the time! It might not be kicks but this girl certainly packs a wollop. My belly is so tight and full of baby, now I can't imagine what it will be like when she's no longer in there! I go to the doctor on Thursday morning and will update again if anything is happening. Stay tuned...

She'll Be Comin' Around the Corner When She Comes!

With three and a half weeks to go, Baby K really is right around the corner (and apologies that you now have that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day). My hospital bag is finally packed, my weekly doctor's appointments are going just fine and Jan & I think we are as ready as we're going to be. Now it's just up to the baby to decide when she's ready. Thankfully we are past the 36 week mark, which means we are safe to have the baby in Aspen - a huge relief as we were hoping we wouldn't have to drive/fly down to Denver for the big event!

We have made a lot of progress on the baby's room, with the crib, changing table and glider all set up. It may come as no big surprise to most of you that our four-legged babies took almost no time to decide these soft new spaces were set up exclusively for them! So for now we've covered everything up to keep the kitties off of things. At some point I will get a few pictures so you all can see the nursery!

What's she up to at week 36?
Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement. At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position.

Have a great weekend everyone & stay tuned! XO