July 30, 2008

Our new little one arrived on Wednesday morning. I'll post details and pictures tomorrow since it's very late and I'm going to bed. We are SO glad she's here!

To Induce or Not to Induce

Sure, I'm 4 days "past due" right now. Would my OB induce me if I wanted her to? Absolutely. Do I want her to? Absolutely not.

I had a appointment today and found out that my baby is positioned very well, there is still plenty of amniotic fluid in there, and she is *estimated* to be just over 7 lbs. I'm at a healthy weight, my blood pressure is good and I still have plenty of energy. Seems to me like this girl just needs a little extra time to finish up before joining the family. I figure that if I just hold out a few more days until my body is actually ready for labor, that it will be a much better experience. I'm not interested in super hard contractions from Pitocin or laboring the full time at the hospital. You can just forget about that pesky epidural - I wouldn't let that needle NEAR me. My baby and I can work together just fine. I was designed for birth and I am bound and determined to enjoy the experience however the Lord decides to give it to me.

Even if it IS a few days later than I expected it to be.

Hats off to Katie

This post needs no explanation - well almost.
My mom just told Katie that she was "the cute one".
Katie was putty in her hands.

Spider Man

Ryan still thinks he is Spiderman
My mom captured these.
Frankly - we think Ryan is cuter than Spiderman.

New Milestone

Yes, it was my very first call to Poison Control tonight. Grandma discovered that Ryan had eaten her entire tube of toothpaste (travel sized). For some reason the boy has an unusual attraction to anything small enough to fit in his pocket, AND anything mint flavored. It was too tempting for him to resist apparently. Luckily, poison control informed me that it was much too small of an amount to cause him any trouble. I'm glad because I am REALLY not feeling up to a visit to the hospital tonight for anyone but myself.

Baby Ticker

I HAD to take that baby ticker off of my sidebar today. Yesterday, the countdown said, "0 days to go" and then today, it said "1 day to go." I'm sorry, but that's just rude.

GRANDMA IS HERE!!

Seriously, I LOVE this woman. If only I could convince she and my Dad to move here, my life would be SO much nicer. ;) Here's a little sneak preview of some of the millions of great pictures she's going to be taking of my kids over the next week.

I should add that my Mom was the one who took the pictures on my sidebar too. I can't get a good picture of my kids to save my life. I have to count on my Mom to do it.

A New Baby Girl (but not ours)

Congratulations to Derek's sister and her husband whose baby girl arrived this morning! Our daughters aren't going to share a birthday, but hopefully they aren't more than a few days apart.

39 Weeks and 5 days

Here's my most recent pregnancy shot. Taken this morning. Yes, it's the same shirt I was wearing in the previous post. I only have about 3 shirts that are comfortable currently. It's a shame but I'm dealing with it.

Now one with the kiddos.

Just came back from my Dr. appointment. She still hasn't dropped at all. No dilation OR effacement going on. At least I've had some Braxton Hicks this week. But I think it means that my Mom will arrive before this baby does, which makes me VERY happy.

Model Train Rides

This is something that we did last month and maybe it's a little boring, but I just figured I'd put SOMETHING on my blog so you all don't assume I'm giving birth or something crazy like that. ;)

There is a club nearby of Model Engineers. They build and run miniature working steam, diesel, and locomotive engines. Once a month, they give out free rides to the public and this was our second time going. The track takes us over a bridge and under another bridge and it's plenty of fun for our train lover. It's a nice little family activity for free.

This day was particularly hot, so they didn't have very many people show up for rides. There was also a lot fewer engines on the track. We love to see the little steam engines but didn't get to see any this time.

Cousins Come to Visit

Even though Gina was in the midst of buying a new home and moving in, she graciously came to visit us for a couple of days. It was short, but at least the weather mostly behaved for her and she got to enjoy some non-Arizona summer time.

We weren't running around like tourists, but we DID go and check out the Orange County Great Park Balloon. It's a large helium balloon ride for free. It was short but a fun enough thing to do rather than sitting around at home.

Here's the basic balloon setup. Get in the round basket, go up about 500 feet, look around for a few minutes, and come back down.

Here we are posing for the camera. Derek came along too - he's just taking the picture.

The balloon from inside the basket.

I haven't posed for a picture of my pregnant belly for a while so this will have to do for anyone curious about how big I am these days.

This is the view from up top.

That funny shaped red building is actually just a few blocks from where we live. We couldn't exactly see our house, but pretty close.

Ryan "riding" on one of the bike racks.

Best picture ever. Check out that cute Judy.

Still Here

In the case that you all are checking my blog each day for an annoucement, I feel the need to reassure you that birth does not appear to be iminent.

Last week I was feeling pretty uncomfortable, but this week I am feeling like a million dollars. If I continued feeling like this I would be fine being pregnant for another month. I'm not dilating at all, she still hasn't dropped, I don't think she'll come a day earlier than my due date. And that's okay.

Getting Ready

Good news. She's head down! Still not dropped so she has the potential to keep flipping, but it's not very common for them to flip after 37 weeks so we're optimistic.

Honestly, I can't tell you if any of the "techniques" I used did it or if she decided to flip on her own. Each time I did something to try and turn her, she seemed to be completely still. She'd get pretty active afterward, but I didn't expect her to be head down at my appointment so that goes to show how much I know.

All is going well. We have 3 weeks left before her due date and I'm very excited but not impatient. I am looking forward to being able to bend over again and for my vericose vein to go away (MUCH more painful than I had imagined), but I can't do much complaining.

Ryan was praying the other night and said, "..and bless that Millie (that's what we've been calling her) will have a fun time swimming in the bag of water."
Yep, I doubt she's got much room for "swimming" anymore, but I hope she's having fun.