Tech Talk - Flip Video

By Mike Clark

Flip Camera – The Easy way to share video!



My wife bought me a Flip Camera for Christmas (www.theflip.com). This is the gadget that every parent must have. It’s about the size of a digital camera, but it takes video. And the coolest part about it is it has a flip switch that pops out a USB connector and you connect it to your computer. Then the magic happens…

The first time you plug it in, it asks you to install the software. How easy is that? No downloads or CDs to worry about. Then it copies all the files from your camera to your hard drive. You can even trim the length of the video. Then you click the video you want and click share and it uploads it to YouTube for you. How cool is that? Of course you have to sign up for an account at YouTube by choosing a username and password, but that only takes one minute. Next time you upload, no account creating necessary (just remember your username and password).

Once it is on YouTube, you can easily share it by putting it on MySpace, FaceBook, or just email it to a friend. This has got to be the easiest way to share your video EVER!

Of course, I’m not suggesting the Flip Camera replace your video recorder. The quality will not be the same. But if you just want to keep something in your pocket and easily share video with friends and family, this is the way to go.

Here is one of my favorites that I call “Kayla Makes a Funny Face”.



Mike Clark is the Director of Operations at ConvExx , show producers of BabyTime Expo, and a father of three.

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The Birth

by Kate Peterson

As with the rest of this experience, the birth of my son did not go as planned. At the 37-week mark they brought me in to be induced since Luke was not “thriving”.

I changed into the ugly gown, feeling full from my “last supper” thinking it would be a long night. My doctor put in the cervadil to help bring on labor. 15 minutes into the process, she came flying into the room saying that the baby’s heart rate was dropping & we were going to have a c-section. She kept apologizing – as if I cared. I guess some people do, but I had been through enough not care how the birth process happened. My immediate concern was that dinner – I had to go, bad. My doc said there was no time. I later found out, she, um, did it for me. Pretty, huh? (If you have a c-section, be sure to ask for the gas pain meds, trust me.)

I barely felt the spinal they gave me, I suppose I was in shock. The anesthesiologist said my chest would start to feel heavy & I would think I couldn’t breathe, but I could – he was right. I felt the scalpel slide across my belly, but other than some tugging, that was it. Lucas Xavier Peterson was born at 10:13 that night, a short 73 minutes after we checked into the hospital. He weighed in at a tiny 4 pounds, 15 ounces.

That night was a bit of a blur. I recall my husband leaving to be with Luke in the NICU until he was breathing on his own. He came back to my room to try to get some sleep, but it was super cold & all sorts of monitors kept going off throughout the night & I had the shakes something fierce from all the drugs pumped into me. He asked me if he could leave around 1am. I gave him the “look of death” & he parked it on the small bed. A couple of hours later he was still not sleeping, so when he asked to go home I said okay.

Without telling the full story, my husband sent pictures out to everyone & they all figured out I had had a c-section (freaking out my mother). We checked out of the hospital 3 days after Lucas was born, again using my “look of death”, at anyone who dared to tailgate us on our very slow drive home (with a quick stop at Capriotti’s).

IT’S A BOY! YEAH!!! – Maybe not so much

I have finally reached my 4 month mark... well a little over 4 months and I have been advised by my Perinatologist for the 3rd time that we are having a boy. I have to admit I was hoping for a girl because I already have a boy, but I am starting to turn my negative attitude around and accept the fact that YES... Michelle you are going to have a boy!

If you look closely you will see the word - "Pee Pee"

My husband is quite thrilled and he should be… this is his first child. I, on the other hand, need to be grateful for the fact that the baby is healthy and many people would kill to be in my position. I just had my hopes up for a girl and so I feel a little let down. I need to get out of this funk because I don’t want to drag my husband into my emotional web.

My Baby’s Faux-Hawk in Utero

By Kate Peterson


My second visit to the Perinatologist did not go as expected. It started out having to wait 45 minutes & then they said that my insurance had yet to approve the visit. The appointment had been on the books for 6 weeks. Annoyed with waiting, I went ahead with the appointment & figured we would sort out the insurance issues later (a few hundred bucks out of pocket & it took them 6 months to pay me back).

The doctor then dealt me the bigger blow – my cervix was “short” & he suggested a cerclage. He would basically sew up my cervix so the baby wouldn’t fall out. On my drive back to the office, I called my OBGYN to get her take on it. She deferred to the Perinatologist – he was the specialist. Still feeling uneasy, I made one more call to a friend who is an OBGYN is California.

He did not agree with my doctor, but said he would call around to get the opinion of other Perinatologists. He said a cerclage was typically done around weeks 12-14. I was already 22 weeks. Two other Perinatologists agreed with my friend & he found me a new specialist to see here in Vegas. My new doc had done some work at Hopkins (I had lived in Baltimore for years & respected any doctor that had done time there!)

I had a Fetal Fibronectin Test done every 2 weeks to make sure I was not I danger of going into labor. I passed every test & had a ton of ultrasounds. We ended up getting creative with our pics! (see picture & recall Sanjaya from American Idol) The doctor did recommend that I not travel, so my baby shower back east had to be canceled. I was bummed, but the BABY outranked the baby SHOWER.




About 8 weeks before my due date, I was put on bed rest. The baby was not growing & my fluid levels were low. How much “Bringing Home Baby” & “A Baby Story” could I watch???

The baby didn’t seem to thrive from my lack of activity, but maybe with activity it would have been worse. At 37 weeks, I checked into the hospital to get induced. All the doctors agreed that hopefully the baby would grow better outside than in my tiny belly. I did learn something from watching all those shows though – those women ended up starving through labor. So I made sure to eat a nice meal before I went into the hospital. Big mistake – stay tuned….

My Story of Getting Pregnant, the Unconventional Way

By Kate Peterson

Before my husband Larry and I got married, we both knew that having a child would not happen the traditional way. Larry had been married before, had kids and thought he was done, so he had had a vasectomy. We did have options; adoption, vasectomy reversal and IVF. We went the route of least expense, vasectomy reversal.

His procedure took twice the amount of time it should have and the urologist said he could only hook one line back up. Larry actually had 4 to start where most men have 2. One was better than none, I thought. Month after month, Larry would leave a “deposit” at the urologist’s office and each time we would get the same call – no sperm.

We gave in and made an appointment with the IVF specialist. He was pretty matter-of-fact in his discussion with us. Shouldn't he have been more in tune with our emotions? He let us know our chances based on our ages and what procedure would work best given our circumstances (the ICSI method). No time to waste – our doctor would be going on vacation soon. Oh and by the way, payment is required in full within 10 days. Hi – anyone have $17,000 sitting around in a piggy bank anywhere??

We found something called Care Credit. Basically you can get a credit card for medical expenses with zero interest if paid back within a short period of time. So I put $9,000 on that and the rest went on the good old Discover Card. In the end, my parents ended up pay the bill for our greatest gift. Our health insurance didn't cover anything. Check your policies boys and girls - you never know. Some actually do cover IVF entirely and some cover the cost of the drugs.

The fertility center provided special classes on how to administer the drugs I needed to swallow, attach, insert and inject into my body. Did I mention my fear and hatred of needles?? My husband was out of town so the nurse kindly drew circles on my hips with a Sharpie to show him where he would need to inject me. At least it was not swimsuit season.

No doubt, shots suck. I did find that icing up the injection area before the shot helped. We also found that applying heat and massaging the area after the progesterone shots did a world of good.

All during the process I was monitored by the fertility center to check on how my follicles were growing. They could see 6. Not bad, I thought. Although other women I knew going through the same process had more. I was jealous of their follicles. Pathetic, I know. Upon retrieval day, they knocked me out and when I came to, I was told they got 7 eggs from the 6 follicles.

Larry did not get the same luxury of anesthesia. His, so called “painless” procedure was not exactly painless. (Men, close your eyes here) They inserted a needle into his testicle and removed the sperm. Oh and the doctor performing this on him – the same urologist he had used for the first two vasectomies and the reversal. Unfortunately, there were no discounts for customer loyalty.

6 days later 2 of the 7 eggs had fertilized and reached the blastocyst stage and were implanted back in me. For 10 days we had to continue the progesterone injections, oral medications and putting patches on my abdomen knowing that it could all be for nothing. No point in cheating and getting a home pregnancy test, all the hormone injections would throw it off.

Then P-day came – Pregnant or not, December 20 was upon us. The phone rang. I sat down on the couch. Prepared myself for the worst. My doctor told me I was pregnant! First try – thank God. We didn't know if it was a single or twins yet, but we didn't care. We were lucky and we knew it. Many friends had gone through multiple rounds and still were not pregnant. And by the way, if you are having pregnancy challenges, speak up. You are not alone! You will come to find out, as we did, that so many of your friends have already gone through or are going through the same process. IVF is financially and emotionally taxing. When you can share the experience with other people, it seems less so, at least for me it did.

I’ll write more in future blogs, so stay tuned…..

New Experience - Vacation without Sleep

I'm a first-time father with an 8 month old girl, and recently got to spend the holidays on a vacation with my whole family at a rented home in the mountains. It was a great time for my whole family to spend time together, ski, play in the snow and of course, spoil my baby Amanda. Unfortunately, it was also our first time taking a vacation and getting to experience sleeping in the same room with Amanda for an extended period of time. Talk about lack of sleep!

We were prepared for the week. We read the books on how to get Amanda to sleep and stay sleep throughout the night. We brought all the blankets and toys we have for her at home to make her nighttime as routine as possible, but the pack-n-play we put her in just didn't work. She was constantly waking up throughout the night, crying and waking up the whole family. We even had a sound machine in the room that we picked up at last year's BabyTime Expo, which helped her fall asleep. The sounds of either a heartbeat or continuous playing of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, however, are not conducive for either my wife or me to sleep to.

When Dr. Karp presented his Happiest Baby on the Block at last year's BabyTime Expo, we learned precisely how to get our baby to stop crying. His swaddling and shushing advice works! We no longer swaddle, but the way we hold her and talk to her got her to stop crying very quickly. However, how were we to keep her sleeping throughout the night? Whatever we did, it didn't work. My wife was an angel, however, and let me sleep in my nephews' room (they are ages 7 and 10) for a couple of nights so I could get some sleep (of course, I then got to hear them talk about sports and listen to them play their DS games under their covers).

When we got home, my wife and I were thrilled to have our room back and put Amanda back in her own room and in her crib. However, Amanda was so far removed from her routine after the vacation that we basically had to start all over with getting her to sleep through the night. We are back to only 1 night-waking a night, which is a big accomplishment.

However, my wife and I are now trying to figure out how we are going to take our next vacation and take Amanda's entire nursery with us!

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