Merry Christmas

Rogue's first visit with Santa Claus aka Grandpa Koeman. Grandpa has been gone trucking since Rogue was born and then with the weather he hasn't been able to see her until today. That's one cute Christmas present if you ask me!

Camo

Not just camo, but matching camo.

Home Sweet Home

It seems like a lot has happend since we posted last, sorry!! Its amazing how busy a little one can keep you.
We got home Saturday and have been loving it! I don't get a whole lot of sleep at night but I guess thats to be expected. However, I did get two 4 hour stretches last night and woke up feeling like a new person.
Rogue is doing very good. She is a little jaundice so we have been going in to the hospital for blood draws every day to make sure her bilirubin level is decreasing, which it has each time but it goes down just by a little. She handles the pokes in her heel much better than mom and dad do!

The Hospital Stay

Here is a slide show of Rogue's Hospital stay.

Bath Time

Here is a video of Rogue's first bath. I think she handled it pretty well. I am just hoping that she will behave this well for us when we are trying to bath her. We are planning on being here at the hospital until Saturday so anybody is welcomed to come visit. It gets kind of boring here but there are benefits to it. For example, I don't have to change any diapers and Katy is being weighted on hand and foot.

More Pics

For more pics visit my facebook photo album.

RMK Is Finally Here!!!

Well, it seems like its been a long time coming, but Krack Baby is finally here. We went to the hospital Tuesday evening (12/9) at 5:00 pm. There were no changes since our visit last week (shocker). So at about 6:30pm Katy recieved a pill of Citotech hoping that it would cause some dialation. She was checked at 11:00pm again and there were still no chages. Needless to say, we were getting very frustrated. Katy was administered another pill to help induce dialation. Finally, at 3:15am the doctor checked the progress one more time and as you can guess there was no change. At this point Katy and I decided we were going to go with a C-section. The doctor agreed that it was a good decision and we were scheduled for 6:00am on Wendsday 12/10. The surgery went great and Rogue McKenzie Kraker was born at 6:23am. She weighed 8 pounds 5 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.
P.S. Mom and baby are doing good and dad didn't faint!

New

Last night Bryan and I had the pleasure of meeting our newest nephew, Jace H. Velderman. You can read more about him over at The Veldermans. He is a big boy!!

Non-Stress Test

This afternoon I went in for a non-stress test since I am one week past my due date. Thankfully everything checked out normally and I got to see little Krack baby on the ultrasound. It was kind of neat to see her again. I'll see if Bryan will update the blog later with her picture. I don't know how to scan it in.

I'm not sure what the next step is yet. Jimmy is supposed to call me either today or Monday to see where we go from here. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!!

Her story....this far

As most of you know I was at the hospital yesterday (and today) to be induced. Tuesday morning I had what I had hoped to be my last pre-natal doctors appointment. Everything looked good yet except I still wasn't dilated. So Jimmy and I made the decision that it was time to force her out. I guess she had different plans.

I was submitted to the hospital around 12:00p.m. As soon as I was in my room and hooked up to monitors they inserted a pill behind my cervix to help dilate it. The pill works up to 4 hours, so after the first 4 hours I was checked and the pill had softened the cervix but not dilated it. So it was on to the next dose and another 4 hours. After the next 4 hours there still wasn't much change but I was having regular contractions so I couldn't have another pill. This now brings us to approximately 11:00p.m. Around 2:00 a.m. I was checked again and still no change. The nurse came back around 2:30a.m. with orders from Jimmy to start a low dose of pitocin to see if that would help things along. I was on pitocin from about 2:30a.m. till 12:30p.m. with no luck. My contractions never got much stronger despite how much pitocin I was getting and my cervix never dilated. When Jimmy checked me for the last time and found that there was no change he gave me three options. I could go home and come back another day, stop the pitocin and start the cervix pills again, or have a c-section. As much as I wanted to hold my baby girl I figured it would be best to wait and since we were both doing fine decided not to go with the c-section. So I'm home, still waiting.

Here's hoping that I go back soon.

Feel free to ask questions. I'm tired frustrated and dirty but I think I covered most of the story. Sorry to keep you all waiting.

39 1/2 weeks

Still nothing on the baby front. No change. I'm getting a bit frustrated over here. It sucks just waiting. Everything checked out good though so I shouldn't complain but I'm ready to be done. I go back to the doctor next Tuesday and if there is still no change of even if there is change we will discuss the next step to get this kid out of my uterus!! Everyone say a little prayer that I don't make it to my next appointment.

Who Goes Fishing During Deer Hunting Season?

The steelhead are in the Kalamazoo River! I felt it was about time to get a fish blog out there again. I know you guys have been missing it.
My neighbor Ted and I decided to go out fishing last Monday morning and it actually turned out to be quite a productive morning. While driving out to the river, I couldn't help but think to myself, "why am I waking up early to go sit in the cold and go fishing when I could be out in the woods waiting for a deer". Well, it turned out to be well worth missing a morning of deer hunting. We had two poles with Hot'n'Tots on them and two poles sporting one year old steelhead spawn that I tied while trolling up the river. The first two hits were on the spawn sacks and got us excited, but we reeled them in to find that they were just catfish (exciting and fun, but not what we were hoping for). The next two hits produced the two steelhead you see in the picture. They were also on the spawn sacks. Not the biggest steelhead, but they will taste just fine. Finally, we got one more hit, this time on a Hot'N'Tot. It turned out to be a nice size smallmouth bass. All in all, in was a fun morning.

Update

I had my doctors appointment early this week since Jimmy will be gone Thursday and Friday of this week. Again, there is nothing to report. Absolutely no change. Yippee. Looks like I'm in this for the long haul. At least I sleep great.

38 weeks

Well, no big news to report. I had another appointment this morning and there is no change other than the baby is lower. Still not dialated, still not effaced. Shucks! I've been feeling a lot more contractions this week so I thought there might be a chance I was dilated. Jimmy did do a weight check this morning and said she was weighing in at about 6lbs right now and should gain about 1/2lb a week until she makes her appearance. Lets just hope she comes soon.

Almost 37 weeks

Another doctors appointment today but unfortunately there is no big change for me to report to everyone today. Her heartbeat was a little slower this week at 137bpm instead of 150. All systems go according to Jimmy but I'm not dialated so it could be awhile yet. I'll leave you with this beautiful shot of my belly I took this morning.

Contest

Since its getting closer to D day I thought it would be fun to see everyones guesses on when we might get to meet our new little (or big)bundle. Just click on the link below to enter your guess.

Almost 35 weeks

We had another doctors appointment this morning. Everything still looks good. Krack baby is head down so that's a step in the right direction. Her heartbeat was at 150 again. She likes to be consistent I guess. I've also had some leg cramping at night so I asked Jimmy about that and he recommended calcium supplements, not just drinking more milk, other than that I really can't complain too much although I am getting a little sick of being pregnant. It would be nice not having to go to the bathroom every 2-3 hours every night but as soon as that stops I will be up feeding a baby and I'm sure that takes a little bit longer than a trip to the toilet. I have another appointment in 2 weeks then I start my weekly visits. Hopefully at the next one they tell me I'm dilated and I don't have strep B!!

She's Famous!

Well, kind of. Visit here and see my precious 4 legged daughter. My brother-in-law took that picture last Christmas I believe. Thanks Andrew for making her famous.

33 weeks

Just a quick update on how our doctor appointment went this morning. Everything went fine nothing abnormal. I'm didn't measure big this time so maybe Krack baby won't be a monster. I was pretty excited about that. Her heart beat was going strong at her usual 150 bpm. I go back in another 2 weeks then after that its weekly with internal exams. Woo hoo!

Hildee Claire

This is Hildee demanding to be petted. Every once in a while if you stop petting her she throws this little "tantrum". She's not spoiled at all.

30 almost 31 weeks

I had my 30 week doctors appointment this morning so I thought I would give you all a quick update. Nothing really exciting other than my weight stayed the same from two weeks ago so I was pretty excited about that. At my last appointment I had gained 4 pounds in two weeks so I really didn't want to keep that pace for very long. I am measuring a bit big today I was measuring about 31-32 weeks along. I have been feeling really good lately and I sleep extremely well. I can't believe I only have about 9 more weeks to meet this little princess!

New Wheels

Bryan is finally moving up in the car world. No more junkers! We picked this Honda Accord up from someone I work with who is moving out of state, so we got a sweet deal. Now I don't have to worry that the car door will fall off when Krack baby is inside. Say good bye to the loud Buick!!

Neighborly Love

Sunday Bryan and I decided to pick grapes on the back side of our property. Since our bridge to get across the creek is out we had to take the long way back. Everything was going fine and we harvested 2 5 gallon buckets of grapes to make jelly. On our way back this happened:

The neighbor dogs decided they didn't want us going that way home. One started the fight which wasn't too intense until the second dog came and attacked Hildee from the side. Bryan and I dropped her off this morning at the vet. I can't believe how anxious I was the whole time she was there. This was the first time she has stayed at the vet without me there. I can't imagine what it would be like having a human child in the hospital. I'll be a wreck! Now she sporting a nice hair cut and stitches here and there. Poor dog.

Phew!

After sitting through 3 hours of blood draws and having to watch Dora the Explorer my glucose tolerance test came back normal! Yay for no diabetes.

Near Completion

We did it. The nursery is now nearing completion. I started painting Friday night but it was a lot more work than I thought it would be. I guess being 7 months pregnant makes things a little more difficult. I put the final coat on Sunday morning while Bryan went for a cruise on his motocycle with a friend. When he came back I put him to work putting the crib together. Looks like Bryan just needs to build the dresser/changing table and I need to get the glider in the room with some wall hangings and we will be all set. Now we just have to wait for Krack baby!

Glucose schmoocose

Well I had my 27 week doctors appointment today with the glucose tolerance test. I failed, but just barely. If I have to go through all that bloodwork I would have liked to fail a little bit better. I guess your glucose level can be up to 141 and mine was 144. So be thinking of me next Thursday when I have to sit through 3 hours of bloodwork. The rest of my appointment went well so I'm happy about that. Krack babys heartbeat was 148 and she kicked through the whole thing. Since I'm entering my last trimester I know go to the doctor every 2 weeks. Its kind of exciting to be talking about labor signs now and if she was born right now she would have a 90% survival rate. I rather like those odds!

I will leave you know with some before pictures of the nursery. This is my project for this weekend. As you can see I started taping the trim off. Tonight I hope to pick up the paint and possibly start painting. We have a very busy weekend but my goal is to have it painted with the crib set up by Monday come hell or high water as my mother says.

Oops!

As most of you know when you are pregnant certain things just slip your mind. Today I did two very dumb things.

I had to change my clothes at work because I decided to wear a dress this morning and forgot I had a breast feeding class tonight that started at 6 (thanks Bryan for bringing me a change of clothes). So I was in the bathroom and had gotten out of my dress and into my shirt. Before I put my pants on I decided I should go to the bathroom. I sat on the toilet and thought huh, this is weird. Luckily I figured out that I had forgotten to pull my underwear down. At least I didn't start to go before I figured that out.

Every night I take my prenatal vitamins before I go to bed. Hildee also gets her pill for incontinence at this time. No, I didn't take the dogs pills but if Hildee is pregnant or lactating she should be good on her vitamins for a day!

Preggo Feet

Robin and I thought it would be kind of neat to take a picture of our swollen feet last Saturday while we were at a friends cottage. The picture doesn't really capture the worst of my feet but poor Robin, I feel as though there is no helping her. SheVB must come out soon. Please take notice to Robin's right leg. Yes, those are her finger prints indented into her leg.

Nothing has been new with Krack baby. She has been moving like crazy though. Our next appointment is on the 28th and I will have to take my glucose tolerance test. Here's hoping I pass!

Soggy

I had the pleasure of watching Rain almost all day today. My sister in law's dog was having puppies so I decided it would be nice to take care of Rain while all the chaos was going on. By the time we made it to the pool it was a little cloudy but still very warm. I didn't have a swim suit so it was diaper only for this girl. Needless to say the diaper got just a little soggy!!

Take over? and Krack baby update

Since Bryan has done all the hard work in setting up the blog and so faithfully blogged I thought I would join in the fun. I'm not sure I'll be any better at posting than him, but can I be any worse?

Just thought I would give an update on Krack baby. We had our 22 week appointment with Jimmy this morning. We went over the results of the ultrasound and all came back good. I was measuring at 22cm which is right on for 22 weeks. Jimmy and I also discussed the question about our due date. According to him and the internet my due date is November 29 and according to the ultrasound its December 6. Since that's exactly a week difference he decided not to change it but to play it by ear. So that means if I go over due he won't induce me for awhile unless there is medical reason. I then informed him of the Kraker baby's being 10 pounders. So I guess we will see what November brings.

Sorry there are no fun pictures with this post. I'm hoping I can scan in some ultrasound pics. Some of you have asked for belly shots too. I have only taken two so far, and I'm pretty self conscious about how big I am so we will see about posting them.

Watery Weekend

RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!! I thought it was never going to stop. It altered our landscape in a couple of different ways. First of all, you can see from the pictures that it added a nice size pond in the front of our house. If you think that it's kind of nasty that I am swimming in this chocolate colored pond, I am not doing it for enjoyment. I had a mission in mind. You see, there is a drain pipe in our front yard to prevent flooding like this from happening, and my mission was to go down and remove a rock that was plugging that drain pipe. The water was about 5 ft. deep in the deepest spot, and I had to feel around with my feet to find this rock. Once I found the rock, I had to go completely under and move the rock by hand. After I moved the rock, the water was gone in 6 or 7 hours. The funny thing is that there is a garden underneath all that water that my mom and dad and I planted the day before. I think it got enough water. The second change we noticed was a small sink hole by our retaining wall. That will be a fun one to fix. And finally, my bridge that goes over the creek in the back yard has been shifted off its foundations. This is a heavy bridge that consists of three full size telephone poles. It was a pain in the but building it and I imagine its going to be just is bad to try and move it back in place. Once it is in place I will be anchoring it down so I don't have to do this a third time.

The good news is my basement was dry and nothing majorly bad happened. Especially in comparison to some of the damage I seen at other peoples houses and places of business. Plus, Hildee had a good time fetching the Frisbee in our temporary pond.

A Nice Day To Play On The River

Memorial day was a perfect day to get out and enjoy the Kalamazoo River. Katy and I crawled out of bed bright and early (not really) and we were on the river by 12:30. The Big Curve bait shop was closed but luckily we had about 4 night crawlers that were donated to us by our neighbor Ted before we left. Katy started the day out with a sun fish which actually ended up being used for Catfish bait. After I put a chuck of that sunfish on Katy's hook, I tried bouncing a jig off the bottom of the river and happened to catch a 16" walleye. Following all that excitement, Katy felt what she described as a "nibble" and gave her rod a nice jerk and ended up setting the hook into good size snapping turtle. That's right, I said snapping turtle. At first she thought it was a snag and then a fish and then we were both surprised to see a big ugly turtle at the end of her line. Needless to say, I cut the line. We figured the turtles were hungrier than the fish in that spot so we pulled up the anchor and moved to a new location. It wasn't long and Katy had a fish on, at least we were hoping it was a fish this time. It turned out to be a nice size catfish. I talked Katy into holding it for a photo op, as you can see in the above picture. She looks like a natural, don't you think?

All in all, it was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Not to mention, we caught a variety of fish and more.

Sucker Fishing Success

It was a great weekend for sucker fishing in the Black River. Not only were the fish biting but the weather was warm and the sun was shinning, and when you put those two things together you get a perfect day to sit next to the river, drink some beer, and spend some quality time with your buddies. It’s what makes spring such a great time of year. Now I know that sucker aren’t the most desired fish to catch (as you can see from the pic), but it’s not about what kind of fish that your catching; it’s about the fact that your catching fish and having a great time doing it. Shooter (the other guy I was fishing with) said it best when he said, “you know your doing well when your fish to beer ratio is equal”.

This has been a salute to spring time; the gateway to summer!

5K update

Just an update:

The first week of training has been tough, but I have been staying strong in my dedication to working out and running (thanks to Katy). I am hitting the gym every other day for strength training (low weight high reps) and I have been running 3 miles every other day. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I ran three miles in 27 minutes and 30 seconds and then on Sunday I ran it in 26 minutes and 25 seconds. I have to thank Katy (Mic) for pushing me on Sunday; it resulted in shaving one minute off from my time.

One thing I do need to do is get my butt down to the shoe store and get me some new shoes. I have been running in my shoes from high school track. That means those puppies are more than 10 years old, and I can tell it from the pain I have in my knee. Its so bad that I was limping on Saturday and now I'm limping again today because of my other knee. Am I that old?

5K goal

I am setting a goal for myself for you all to read. I would like to be able to run a 5k this spring in a time of 24 minutes. This is a pretty tough goal for me espeacially since I am now an old man at the age of 28.

Take a look at my stats (below) from when I was just a young lad at the ripe age of 24.

Name	City	State	Zip
Kraker, Bryan	Holland	MI	49423
Overall Bib Final Time Class Age Gender 112 165 25:50 Males 20 to 24 24 M
class_place class_total gender_place pace ag_pct ag_place 4 4 78 8:20 N.A. N.A.

I intend to put myself on a pretty strict training schedule with the help of my trainer Mic (AKA my wife). On this schedule I plan to eat healthy, load up on plenty of proteins and carbs, and I will probably have to give up beer. I will also try to run at least three miles every morning and strength train in the gym at night for one month staight. Plus, there will be plenty Rocky theme music playing to keep me motivated.

Wish me luck!!!

Fishing the Kalamazoo River

I have been putting in my fair share of time on the Kalamazoo river and I am not having any luck. I have been trying Wiggle Worts, Hot n Tots, Spawn sacks, Spoons, and just about anything else you can think of that would catch steelhead. This is my first year. What am I doing wrong?

The only luck that I've had was this fall up by the Hamilton dam. You can see one of the many salmon I caught.