4 Inserts

Our daughter went through 4 inserts in 1 diaper change!  Every time I put a new insert under her she pooped again!  I didn't realize so much poop could come out of a single baby!  She can't weigh 8 pounds anymore because she had to have pooped out at least half a pound!  Hahaha!  Oh the joys of motherhood!  :P

I realize that someday she's going to be old enough to see and read these stories.  She'll probably be mortified that I'm posting these stories on the internet for anyone to read.  That's ok.  ;)  I want to have record of all these fun memories.  :)

Love you, Avey Baby!  :D

Newborn Photos!

Courtney got the newborn photos up on her blog!  Hooray!!!!

http://www.zaophotographyblog.com/archives/2012/10/17/avery-rosenewborn/

Sleep

I'm not sure my beautiful daughter understands that I prefer to sleep in the night and early morning.  :P  She is not very condusive to the schedule I'm accustomed to.  ;)

But boy is she ever cute!!  :D  I guess I'm willing to give up a little sleep for such an angelic face.  ;)

She has all of my heart and doesn't even know it.  :)

Cleaning

I was thinking today that it's difficult to focus on my housework with a beautiful baby girl in my home.  :)  All I want to do is lay in bed and hold her and rock her and stare at her.  She's so perfect and beautiful.  I love her so very much.  :)

So I posted on my facebook about not focusing on my housework and a friend posted part of a poem.  I got online and looked up the whole poem.  It's great.  :)  Made me feel better about the idea of my house being not perfectly clean.  ;)

Song For a Fith Child, by Ruth Hamilton. 1958

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

I think I'll rock and stare at my little girl a little longer.  The rest of the stuff can wait.  :)  It won't be like this for long.  I'm going to enjoy it.  :)  Love my baby girl.  :)

Beautiful

We have the most beautiful, precious, wonderful baby girl.  :)  I am so incredibly in love with her.  Life is so amazingly good right now.  I am so very happy.  :)

1 week down

Well, here's how our first week has gone with Avery.  :)

In the hospital she did really well, only waking up a couple times at night when the nurse came in to check on her.  This was good because Michael and I were VERY tired after having been up since early Thursday morning when my contractions started.

We brought her home and were very excited to finally have her here.  We got to use her crib and her swaddles.  We got to dress her.  We gave her baths.  And we started using the cloth diapers after a few days getting used to how to care for her.

The first couple nights she was up every 1-2 hours.  Leaving her with two very sleepy parents.  Then, Michael and I wised up and learned how to swaddle her properly, and her sleeping improved a lot.  She's now up to about 3 hours of sleep at a time before she wakes up and wants fed.  The first time on each of our shifts in the middle of the night isn't so bad, but having to get up more than once gets tough.  Looking forward to the time when she's sleeping through the night.

She went to the doctor twice this week.  Once for her initial appointment to check on how she was doing after coming home.  She had lost 7 ounces and remained 20 inches long.  By our visit on Friday she was back up 1 ounce and had grown 0.25 inches!  :D  We see the doctor again this coming Friday (and every Friday after that) until she gets back up to her birth weight.  But the doctor said she's looking good and healthy.

We went on a few outtings this week.  We took her to church on Sunday to show her off and also to my work to introduce her to the girls.  We took her to Michael's work on Thursday, as well as to a wedding.  :)  As long as she has a clean diaper and a full belly, she sleeps right through these trips.  She's doing great!

Michael has to go back to work tomorrow.  That's a bummer.  It's been really nice having him home to help with Avery.  He's been really great at helping me and making sure that her and I are both cared for.  He's absolutely wonderful.  :)  I love my amazing hubby.  I wouldn't survive without him.

I think that's been about all that's gone on this week.  It's been a crazy and tiring first week as a family of 3, but it's been fun.  We love Avery so very much and are looking forward to what the future holds for our sweet little family.  :)  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Much Love,
Michael, Jen, and Avery

PS
PICTURES!!!!!!!  :D
Enjoy!!!!!

Avery's Labor and Delivery Story

Alrighty, I'm awake and ready for a decently long blog, so I figure I should start at the beginning.  Over the next week or so I'll try to catch up on all the events and things that have gone on since Avery's birth, but for now, I'll just tell you her birth story.  :)  (I'll try to keep the gory details to a minimum)  ;)

Thursday morning I woke up around 2am like I'd been doing for the past several months.  I went to the bathroom, and when I couldn't fall back asleep (a curse that had only begun to plague me a few days before) I got on my phone to blog.  I wrote for a while, still anxious and excited to meet Avery for the first time.  I almost wished for those painful contractions to start because I was so impatient to see her.  But in the end, I knew that on Friday morning we were being induced, and that we would see her very soon!  :)

Well, around 3am I began having contractions.  A few of them were strong and powerful.  Most of them were pretty managabled, but they were still contractions!  I began timing them and grew VERY excited as they got closer together.  They eventually got close enough together that Michael and I decided we could make a trip to the hospital.  We packed everything up in the car and headed out.

When we got to the hospital (around 5-6am) we filled out the paperwork and they set us up in a room.  They monitored Avery's heartbeat with one monitor, and my contractions with another.  Although, they were having a hard time picking up my contractions on the monitor.  They checked my cervix and said it was still at 3.5cm and 70% effaced (my doctor told me 80% on Tuesday, I think he felt sorry for me).  They told me they would be back to check me an hour later to see if I was progressing.  I had a very hard time getting comfortable and moved and wiggled over the next hour, making it difficult for the monitor's to do thei jobs.  Eventually I got some sleep.  The doctors came in again an hour later to check the progress of my cervix.  It hadn't changed any in the hour we'd been there.  We were given the option of staying another hour to see if things would change, or to go home and rest and come back the next day for our induction.  We decided we would be more comfortable at home, so they discharged us and we left.

It was about 10-11am Thursday morning when we left the hospital.  We were both hungry, so I suggested we got to Ihop for pnacakes for brunch.  (Mind you, I was still having contractions through all of this.  Some strong ones, some weaker ones, but they continued all day)  We had a lovely lunch.  I had pumpkin pancakes!  They were amazing!  I also had hash browns, eggs, some of Michael's bacon, and coffee.  :)  It was nice going out to eat with Michael.  Since I was still having contractions, Michael decided to stay home from work and be with me in case Avery decided to speed things along and go ahead and come on Thursday.  After lunch we went home.  I had a lot of cleaning I needed to do (I knew I was on my last day before I had a baby), but I was also sore and in a decent amount of pain.  So my knight in shining armor came to my rescue!  I laid in bed with a heating pad on my back, side, and front, and Michael worked on tidying up the house for me.  :)

The day was pretty good if you can overlook the contractions (you can, I couldn't). :P While Michael worked around the house I got some much needed rest. It was a nice last day getting ready for our angel to arrive. I wanted to look decent when we were in the hospital. So often you see pictures of moms right after giving birth and they look like they were hit by a train. :P Well, now that I've gone through it, I understand why they look that way. ;) Towards the end of your pregnancy you don't feel like getting up and doing your hair and makeup every day. It's just a lot of work and you're already tired. You anxious and impatient, and the last thing you really want to mess with (especially through contractions) is your hair and makeup. But I knew there would be pictures taken there in the hospital after she was born, and I did not want to be one of those women. So I texted Sis and asked her to come over and dry and straighten my hair. She very generously agreed to come over. :) Thanks so much, Dude. I definitely owe you one! Sis got to our house around 9pm on Thursday to work on my hair for me. I was still having contractions, but wasn't timing them because they hadn't been closer or harder than before. So Sis began working on my hair. Over the course of the hour that she was there, my contractions began getting harder and closer together. Around 9:45 I began timing them, quickly realizing that they were consistently under 5 minutes apart, more commonly 2-3 minutes apart. So shortly after Sis left at 10pm, Michael and I began packing our things into the car one more time to go to the hospital. I hoped that since we were supposed to be there only 9 hours later for our induction anyway, that they wouldn't send us home. But we wouldn't know for sure until we went back to the hospital. We got to the hospital around 10:30-11pm. They put me into a labor and delivery room instead of a triage room like they had the morning before. They checked my cervix and said I was dilated to 4cm. Now, while this was progress, it was still a little disappointing, because I was definitely in some pain and I was ready to get this show on the road. But they needed to know I was progressing, and that meant waiting for an hour and checking my dilation again. That hour and the next hour after that were probably the worst 2 hours of my life. The contractions were quick and painful. They were also a minute long or more, so I had very little time to rest between them. I was hollaring loud enough to make people in the hallway uncomfortable (which was my goal). I REALLY wanted that epidural! But, until they knew I was progressing, no epidural. After the hour was over, they checked me again and said I was dilated to 4.5cm. This was frustrating because again, I was in pain and thought things should have been moving faster. Well, since I was progressing, they decided to go ahead and keep us. But before I could get the epidural, since my platelets were low, they had to draw blood again and send it off to be checked (the second hour of the longest 2 hours of my life). When the test came back my platelets were at 94,000 and the anesthesiologist felt comfortable with that number and giving me the epidural. They got it in and waited for it to take effect. Too bad, though, that it only numbed half my body. My left side got numb, but nothing happened to my right side. They tried upping my dose, but no luck. So, we had to do another epidural. They left the one in that numbed my left side and put in a second epidural to numb my right side. After it took effect, I could FINALLY get comfortable. Eventually I didn't feel the contractions at all!!! I cannot tell you what a relief that was. I think people who go all natural are just a little crazy. But then again, I have a low tollerance for pain, so I knew in the beginning that plan was not for me. Once I was comfortable we just had to wait for the contractions to move things along enough so that I could push. In the meantime, Michael and I were able to get some much needed sleep (it was after 3am at this point). The doctors and nurses came in periodically to check on my dilation and effacement and to make sure the epidural was still working properly. Otherwise, our rest was uninterupted. Finally I got dilated to 9.5 cm. My doctor decided instead of waiting for that last centimeter, to go ahead and have me push a little to finish the dilation. I did and we got to 10cm. My doctor told me I would be pushing in about 20 minutes. I texted and updated on facebook letting everyone know what was going on. It was 9:30am when I started pushing. It was hard to do. I held my breath and pushed for 8 seconds, then I'd get a breath and have to do it again, another breath, another 8 second push. I did 3 pushes for each contraction. Luckily, my contractions were spaced far enough apart (3-5 minutes) that I had time to rest in between them. This was good because the pushing made me nausiated. One time between the contractions I even threw up. :( It was not fun. Eventually she was crowning and I got to stop and wait for the doctor to get to the room to deliver. It was very exciting, but I hoped the doctor would take his time because I needed a rest. When he got there, everyone suited up. Everyone got clothes on like they were going into surgery. There were tons of people in the room, nurses, nursing students, medical students, residents, doctors on call, my doctor, more doctors and nurses for the baby... It was a mad house! But after everyone got ready they just waited for another contraction and it would be time for Avery to meet the world. That moment finally came and they told me that another contraction was starting. I took a deep breath and pushed for the first 8 seconds, breath, pushed for another 8 seconds, breath, pushed for another 8 seconds. My doctor asked if I had one more in me. I said yes and pushed for another 8 seconds. She still wasn't here, so this time I volunteered, I can do another one if I need to. He let me. I pushed for another 8 seconds, was told to stop, something happened that I couldn't see, and then I heard her voice. :) Avery Rose Voss was born at 10:55am on Friday, October 5th, 2012. She did not need pitocin to make her come out. She chose her birthday (her due date) on her own. :) The rest of the story doesn't really matter. They stitched me up, cleaned Avery up, weighed her and checked her out. My wonderful epidural was still working, so I just watched her as they cared for her and as Michael looked over her in total awe. It was an amazing moment. :) Later the epidural would be removed and I would begin to feel the trainwreck of what my body had just been through, but by that time I had a sweet baby girl in my arms and I could care less. ;) So now you know the whole story. :) We couldn't be happier to have Avery in our lives. She is the world to us and we look forward to raising her and seeing the amazing and wonderful woman that she will become. :)

Doc Stats

We had our first doctor's appointment today! She measured in length in the 74th percentile. Her weight is a little lower at 6lb 15oz which is the 34th percentile.  Her head measured in the 75th percentile! We just need to fatten her up a bit!

Fatherhood

This is pretty awesome so far. One key I have learned is to take lots of naps so that I am not so tired at night. It is a lot easier to hold your own newborn baby than someone elses. I immediately started showing her off To anyone that would listen. I was showing her off to the doctors  and they were like ya, we just delivered her... Jen and I were really tired because we didn't sleep the night before. I don't even mind her crying. Maybe I will eventually, but I just want to calm her whenever she is crying. Reading and singing to her are some of my favorite things to do with her. She had the hiccups last night and it was the cutest thing ever. She would surprise herself everytime and it woke her up. Her eyes were the widest open I have ever seen them. Usually they are barely open.
Thanks for reading my totally random thoughts! For a reward, here are some pictures of her!

Pictures!!

What's a baby update without tons of pictures of the sweet munchkin???  :P  Here are some good ones of out very photogenic little girl.

Update

Hey all, sorry it's been so long since I've blogged.  I'm sure you're all dieing to know how we're doing!  Well, this will be short, but I'll try to get all the major highlights in.  :)

We made it home on Saturday.  Glenn, Linda, Nick, and Maggie came to visit and got to be there when we brought her home.  Mama also came by to see her again.  :)  Later Sis and Adam came by and so did Uncle Ed and Cathy.  So it was a busy first day home.

Michael and I are getting the hang of things.  Avery wakes up about every 1-2 hours.  Michael takes the 10pm-2am shift.  I take the 2am-6am shift.  That way at least one of us is getting some sleep.  We're getting the hang of taking naps when she does. 

I did want to say one more thing, and then Avery wants to eat...  But Michael and I were talking and decided that we don't mind having company, even in this first week when we're getting things firgured out.  We like showing her off.  :)  So if you want to come and visit, just give us a heads up that you're on your way and we'd love to have you.  :)

Happy Monday!
Love,
Michael, Jen, and Avery

Avery Rose Voss is here!!!! :D

Well, it took exactly 9 months, and our perfect baby girl arrived right on her due date.  We didn't even have to be induced!  She decided to come all on her own.  :)  I'll type out the whole story later.  Too tired now.  All I really wanted to say is that she's perfect and beautiful and all ours.  We love her very much.  Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!  :D

Middle of the night... We meet again...

Well, I guess I can blame this pregnancy insomnia stuff on the fact that I've got a lot on my mind with the baby coming tomorrow.  (Watching Walking Dead before going to sleep doesn't help much either.)  In about 28 hours from now we'll be at the hospital getting the pitocin hooked up and gearing up for labor and delivery.  I can't wait!!  Sis had a very good experience with her induction.  I'm hoping mine goes just as well.  I think that from the time she started to the time Dayton was born was only around 7 hours.  And she didn't feel anything or hurt from that (until later) because she also got the epidural.  I pray my induction goes just as well.  :)  I guess we will see tomorrow!!!  :D  I still can't believe our day is almost here and we get to meet our daughter very soon.  :)  It's very surreal.  We've been waiting for her for so long now, it almost seemed like she would never get here.  But I know no one has been pregnant forever, so I knew she would get here eventually.  Glad we're finally getting to that day.  I'm starting to get a little nervous for the labor and delivery, but Michael's staying very calm.  He's going to do great and help me through very well.  :)  I was having a couple of contractions (the painful kind) before we went to sleep last night and he was very sweet about telling me I was doing great.  :)  He's going to be awesome when it comes time for me to deliver.  Speaking of contractions, I've been having some since I woke up.  I'm timing them to see if maybe we'll go into the hospital today instead of tomorrow, but they haven't normalized yet, still too random on how long they take and the intervals between them.  But they are definitely getting more painful, so I'm pretty sure these are the real ones.  We will see...  Can't believe this is the 3rd night in a row I've ended up blogging between 2 and 5am because I wake up and can't sleep.  :P  Maybe my body is just getting me ready for those middle of the night feedings.  ;)  Only 1 more day to get stuff ready!  I'm going to do laundry, dishes, and pick up around the house today (after I get done hanging out with Sis at her school this morning).  Because it won't be long now until we're bringing a beautiful baby girl home!  :D  I can't wait!!!!  Alright, I think I'm going to call it good on the blogging for now and hope I can get some more sleep.  ;)  Have a great Thursday, everyone!  Tomorrow is my baby girl's birthday!  :D

Induction Scheduled!

We're going into Wesley Medical Center at 7:30am on Friday, October 5th, to FINALLY meet our little girl!  I got the call this morning!  We are scheduled!  I'm excited that she will be here on her due date, so we won't have to memorize a new date or anything.  She'll be here the exact date we've been planning on and counting down to all along.  :)

Friends and Family, you are welcome to come hang out in the hospital waiting room if you'd like.  You can be there all day or you can wait to show up closer to the time of her birth.  It doesn't matter to Michael and I.  We would like you to get to see her on her birthday, but the rest of the day is entirely up to you.  :)

Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers the last 9 months.  We have been very blessed!  We will be even more blessed on Friday to finally see our beautiful baby girl!  :)  It is an exciting time!  Please continue to pray for us as we enter a new stage in our lives: parenthood.  :)  We love you all very much and can't wait to introduce you to our little girl!  More news to follow!

Awake Again...

Middle of the night, got up to pee, my brain turned on, and here I am blogging at 5:15am again because I can't turn it off.  I suppose this is ok, because I only have a couple more days like this, and then I'm sure I'll take advantage of all my sleep time after the baby gets here.  ;)

Here's what happened yesterday at the doctor's appointment...  I hadn't dilated or effaced much more, up to 3.5cm and 80% effaced.  I told my doctor I was ready to be done.  He stripped my membranes again (didn't work last week, but I guess we might as well give it another shot).  Last week in my blood work my platelets dipped down to 98,000.  (Remember, they SHOULD BE between 150,000 and 400,000)  This was the first time the whole pregnancy that they got below 100.  So, that being noted, a few things changed. 
1- I can't go to the Birthcare Center with a platelet count below 100 because I could end up bleeding out (platelets cause your blood to clot).  I will end up delivering at the hospital instead.
2- My doctor was ok with inducing anytime because of the platelet level and because I'm so close to my due date.
3 - My doctor decided that it might be for the best to go ahead and induce as soon as possible as opposed to letting my platelets drop any farther, putting me more at risk for needing an emergency c-section under general anesthesia.
So, all that being said, we are going to be hearing from the hospital today to plan our induction.  :)  There is little to no chance that we'll be scheduled for today (Wednesday) just because it's too short of notice and the hospital is probably already at capacity on their daily inductions.  What is more likely is that they will schedule us for sometime on Thursday, or Friday at the latest.  :)  This means that by this weekend Michael and I will be parents of a beautiful baby girl and we'll be on our way back home!  :D

We were overjoyed yesterday at the doctor when we heard the news that she would be here no later than Friday!  I could still have gone into labor last night or today, but due to the low platelet count, the Birthcare Center was still off the table.  Since we're going to be induced with our first, we have to be at the hospital anyway.  They will induce you at the Birthcare Center if it's not your first baby, but before that, it's safer for mom and baby at the hospital in case there are any complications with the induction.  I don't even care where I have her anymore.  I just want her here and healthy.  :)  I'm VERY excited that we won't have to wait any farther than our due date.  :)  Everything is falling into place!

Michael and I have been truly blessed with a very healthy pregnancy.  :)  The platelets have been a bit of an issue here at the end, but as they have not yet combined with any other symptom (until yesterday with a slightly elevated blood pressure) their complications have been fairly small.  It has been a wonderful 9 months!  :)  We are sooooo excited to meet our baby girl, FINALLY!!!!!  She has been long awaited and anxiously anticipated!  I'm sure people are excited for her to get here so that they can learn her name.  :)  It's been hard keeping it a secret for so long.  It's slipped a couple times and a few people have been lucky enough to catch it.  But she'll be here soon and then the secret's out.  :)  I just can't believe I'm going to be a Mommy by Friday.  It completely blows my mind.  I am very excited for our little girl, but also nervous about the delivery.  Now that it's got a definite time frame, it's becoming more real and a little more scary.  I'm just trying to relax in the idea that I will be getting an epidural.  ;)  I am so excited for this new life stage that Michael and I are going through together.  I could not have asked for a better man to share my life with, and to share this experience with.  So even though neither of us have any idea what we're doing, we'll be learning and figuring it out together.  :)  Michael is nervous about not knowing what to do to take care of her.  He seems to think that I have it all figured out and have all the answers, but I'm just as clueless as he is!  :P  But that's an advantage to having an amazing husband who is partnering with you to make and raise a family, we will be figuring it all out together.  And there's no place or person I'd rather be doing that with.  :)

Ok, enough with all the mushy stuff.  ;)  I'll keep you all informed about the induction and when it's scheduled for and such.  We would love to have visitors there in the hospital if you're comfortable with that and able.  :)  Otherwise, it sounds like we'll be having guests on and off through the weekend.  But next week is us time, so come early or you'll have to come late to meet our little lady.  :)  We LOVE you guys!!!  Very soon we'll be a family of 3!  Cannot wait!!!!!!  :D  Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday!!  :D

If it's not one thing, it's another....

First and foremost, I am very glad that Michael has a job.  They have been very good to him.  He got this job right after Dell let him go because they didn't have any more projects for him to work on.  It was great that they were willing to give him a chance, even though my uncle works for the same company.  They let him off for my appointments and are giving him a week of paid leave when the baby is born.  It has been a good job.  He gets to use SolidWorks, which is the program he taught a class for at K-State.  It's been a good job.  He enjoys it for the most part.  And best of all, it's a solid and stable job.  We don't have to worry about him losing it because the company ran out of work.  The company always has work for him to do.  It's been a good job.

All of that being said....  After over 4 months with the company, he is FINALLY getting his 90 day review.  (Took them long enough, right??)  Michael can do and has done for that company, things that no one else there can do.  No one else knows how.  His bosses seek his assistance on projects because he is so well versed in the program they are running.  Michael thought it would take him a year or so to get the hang of things and become an asset to the company.  Clearly, he has done that far sooner than he originally anticipated.  So after his 90 day review we were expecting his salary to be increased to the level of his value and his performance.  We were expecting for him to make up the gap that was created when he took this job and took a 12.5% annual pay cut.  But that didn't happen today.

They gave him a 5% raise, which is good, I suppose, but it just doesn't seem like enough.  It still makes our mortgage payments a struggle.  It still makes money tight.  It doesn't leave much wiggle room (if any) for me to possibly be able to quit working and stay home with our little girl.  It's just disappointing.  He's worth so much more than that.  We were in no position to ask for more when he started working here, he needed a job.  But now he's got experience and he's showed that he's valuable to the company, and it just doesn't seem like they are appreciating him.

So now I'm torn.  This job has been great, but a starting engineer fresh out of school (which Michael is not) is still making 15% more than he is.  They are not even getting close to paying him what he's worth.  He has turned down at least half a dozen interviews with great, reputible companies since taking this job.  Many of those companies would be willing to pay him what he's worth, or at least get closer than AeTR is.  So I'm torn on what to do.  We're stable (enough) financially (for the moment).  But we are going to have medical bills very soon and a significantly reduced income (while I'm on maternity leave).  Not to mention, I don't want to return to work full-time after the baby arrives.  So would it be better for Michael to entertain some of those other job offers to keep us in a better place financially?  Who knows.  I guess we'll have some things to discuss when he gets home from work.

*sigh*  I wanted today to turn out better than this.  :(

Sweet Moment, Caught in the Act

Every morning Michael gets up and gets ready for work.  Then he kissed me goodbye, tells me to sleep well, and heads off for the day.  Some days I'm more awake in the morning and I open my eyes and talk to him.  Other days I feel more like resting, so I kiss him back, but leave my eyes closed so that I can keep sleeping.  I have a bad habit that once I open my eyes up for more than a few seconds, I can't get back to sleep (which is why I'm on here blogging so early every morning).  Well today I caught a very sweet moment when I opened my eyes to kiss Michael and wish him a nice day.  He had come over to my side of the bed where I was facing, and he was down at my tummy, whispering to it.  :)  I couldn't hear what he was saying, only that he was talking.  It was so sweet so see.  :)  He loves our little girl very much, and I know he's very excited to meet her.  I feel so blessed to have witnessed that moment between them where he didn't know that I saw.  It was just him being real and talking to his baby.  Not being told to do it, but just leaning over to whisper something to her before he left for the day.  :)  It was a beautiful moment.  I married such an incredible man.  I am so fortunate and blessed.  :)  Thank you, Lord, for my sweet and kind husband and for our baby that we each love so much.  :)  We can't wait to see the beautiful creation You have handcrafted over the last 9 months.  :)

Insomnia

I never really bought in to the pregnancy insomnia thing.  I've been able to sleep as well as any other beached whale the last few months.  But as we get closer and closer to the end of our pregnancy, I've struggled with it a few times.  The trouble comes when I wake up in the middle of the night to go yo the bathroom.  I sometimes allow my brain to wake up and begin thinking about things.  When I do this, I can't seem to shut it off.  Ugh.  When that happens, I end up here, blogging at 3:45 in the morning.  :P 

So here's what I'm thinking about tonight...  Our due date is officially 3 days away.  I have been counting down the months, weeks, and days for so long.  It seems like I've been counting for so long, that it's just not going to happen.  Now I know, no one has been pregnant forever.  I know she will come when she's ready.  I know God has a plan and has her birthday and everything all planned out.  But with all this waiting, I'm starting to lose focus on the goal, the finish line, the end that's clearly in sight.  Is she ever going to get here?  Not only that, but am I going to get any symptoms that things are moving along or any closer to her arriving?

We've got another doctor's appointment this afternoon when Michael gets off work.  Last week I stopped working after our appointment.  Last week I had a couple contractions after our appointment, probably due to the membrane strip, that faded and quit.  Last week I was full of hope that I had dilated and effaced even more and that her arrival would be "any day now".  Then my doctor completed my exam and I had no moredilation, no more effacement, and the baby was in the same pelvic station that she was the week before.  It just kind of took the wind out of my sails.  Now it's a week later and I still don't have my baby in my arms.  I'm beginning to lose hope that she'll come on her own.

I should have just accepted it at the beginning when people said, "Oh, it's your first, you'll go past your due date."  But I didn't want to believe them.  I wanted to think I was different.  Never mind the family hisgory, everyone else being induced, I wanted my experience to be different, and I believed that if I stayed positive and wished that my experience were different...  Then it really would be.  But it doesn't look like that's the case.  I guess it takes more than just a little positive thinking to make things happen.

So I'm not terribly hopeful on the progress we've made this last week.  I've had fewer contractions and don't feel like the baby's moving down into the pelvis any more.  So if my doctor tells me today that I'm still at 3cm and 70% effaced and that the baby may not come this week, I won't be too terribly surprised.  There's something to be said about keeping your expectations low.  You are less likely to be disappointed, and if something does surprise you, at least it can be a pleasant surprise.  So today as we head towards our doctor's appointmenr, I'm keeping my expectations low.

In the event that things have not progressed enough in the last week, I'm sure we'll begin today to talk about alternate plans to get the baby out.  If we have to medically intervene, we will not be able to have our little girl at the Birthcare Center.  If we induce, we have to be at the hospital.  Not to mention, my platelets last week had fallen to 98,000, so the Birthcare Center may be out of the question anyway.  If she hasn't arrived on her own ny Friday morning, I would like to be induced that day anyway.  I'm not sure if my doctor will be willing to do this, but I guess it's the one little piece of hope I'm holding onto.  I'm tired of waiting.  I'm ready for my baby to be here.

Man...  I am kind of negative here in the middle of the night....  I'm going to try to go back to sleep now.  Maybe my glass will be half full in the morning.  ;)  If not, I'll definitely try to update again later today or early tomorrow on how the doctor's appointment goes.  Wish me luck.  Thanks, guys.  :)

We're getting a fence!!!!

Well, we've been putting it off since we moved in, but it's finally time for us to get a fence!  In the last 2 weeks I have had to go looking for Harlee 2 different mornings.  One day she pulled out of her collar and ran off.  Today she pulled her entire lead out of the ground and ran off dragging it behind her.  These are not isolated incidents.  Harlee has managed to get out of our yard at least 4 times since we've moved in.  Those of you who have pets wouldn't understand.  For those of you who have furry babies, fuzzy family members, you can recognize how terrible it is to get up and look outside and see your baby gone.  I have thought twice now that Harlee was going to send me into labor with worry as I searched the neighborhood for her.  Today after I found her I called Michael and told him we had to get the fence installed.  Today it's not a big deal, I can run around the neighborhood looking for her.  But when I have a baby sleeping in the house, I can't take off and run down my dog.  I love her, but I just won't be able to do it.  So I made some calls and got someone out for an estimate...  Ouch.  Fences are expensive!!!  Not to mention, with our strict HOA, we have to have powder coated aluminum or wrought iron.  Even more expensive.  However, Lowe's has a 7 year financing at the moment for large projects like ours.  We'll have to pay interest on it, but at least we'll be able to space it out over a longer period of time and get it paid off at our pace and within our price range.  God is good that way, always making an option available.  :)  So I signed everything this morning, and in 3 weeks (or less) we should have a brand new fence to keep our pesky pets contained!  :)  Praise the Lord!  I knew being a home-owner was going to be expensive.  :P  Oh well.  ;)  It's worth it to keep our girls safe.  :)  Thank you, Lord, for providing once again.  :)

October Baby

Well, there's no question about it now, we WILL be having an October baby!  :)  I am very excited about this, because October was what we planned on when we were planning when to get pregnant.  Back in December I remember talking to Michael and explaining that the fall was my favorite time of year, and it would make the fall even more perfect if we had our sweet baby then.  So we planned 3 months to try to get pregnant, which would make our baby born in September, October, or November if she went the full 40 weeks.  The first month was a no go.  No September baby for us unless she came early the next month.  I wasn't too shaken up about this.  October was the month I was aiming for.  And, as a last resort, if October didn't work out, we'd try for November.  If that didn't work either, we'd take a short break to make sure the baby wouldn't be born in the winter (Dec-Feb) and we'd try again for a Spring birthday.  But God had a plan, and on our second month of trying, we got 2 pink lines and found out we were pregnant and due October 5th.  :)  What a blessing to make the fall an even more magical time!  :)  When I think of a fall month, my mind instantly goes to October.  I know I've been trying to coax our little girl out for weeks now, trying to convince her and myself that September wouldn't be so bad, but I'm glad she'll be an October baby.  :)  Now the only trouble is how far into October will she go before she decides to arrive?  I know she won't be a Halloween baby, that would put her 4 weeks overdue, and that IS NOT going to happen.  I believe she'll have until about the 12th to decide on her own to come, before we make her come out.  :P  We will see how she feels about that.  I sincerely hope she comes this week so that people can come and visit her this weekend...  But who knows...

Yesterday I tried every trick in the book to try to get my labor started...  We went walking around the zoo for about 3 hours.  I came home and bounced, rocked, and swayed on my exercise ball.  I did a few squats and lunges (and realized just how out of shape I am, ugh, losing this weight will not be so much fun).  I walked up and down 10 flights of stairs.  I also did standing hip rotations.  Finally, I asked Michael to massage my ankles and try to hit the pressure points that induce labor.  And yet, here I am, still pregnant, and no contractions.  *sigh*  Obviously she is not going to listen to me when it comes to her arrival date.  I keep telling Michael to tell her to come out, maybe she'll listen to him, but then he tells her silly things like 'take your time' and 'we're ready whenever you decide you are'.  Ugh!  :P  I told him that if he had a tiny person stuck inside of him, that he would be trying a little harder to get her out.  He just laughs at me.  :P

When I left work I had 9 weeks that I was taking off before I would return back to work.  Now an entire week of that is gone, and I still have no baby.  My week off has been great!  I've got to work on the house, get a few more baby items, spend time with my mom, sister, and hubby, but not with my baby girl yet.  I'm getting more and more stir crazy and anxious as each day goes by.  What I am looking forward to, is my doctor's appointment tomorrow.  I thought last week after having my membranes stripped, that things would have been moving by now, but no such luck.  So tomorrow we have another appointment and we'll see where we are.  I forgot last week to ask him to predict when he thought she would arrive.  I'll try to remember to ask him tomorrow.  Everyone has been telling me through the whole pregnancy that since it was my first, I would probably go over my due date.  I was bound and determined to prove them all wrong.  And then at 36+4 weeks I was dilated to 2cm and 50% effaced, a week later I was at 3cm and 70% effaced.  I was just certain she was going to come early!  I knew I was going to prove them all wrong!  But I spoke too soon.  :(  And last week at our appointment nothing had changed.  Still at 3cm, still at 70% effaced.  *sigh*  Tomorrow will be 39 weeks and 4 days.  Today we are only 4 days away from her due date.  And the closer we get, the more I wonder when she'll be here, and the more I come to accept that fact that it might play out just like they said, and she will go past her due date.  :(  It's not bad if she goes past, I just want as much time with her as possible before I have to go back to work.

I know work is getting a little more difficult for Michael as well.  He's continuing to work on his projects, but he's also keeping them at a good stopping point so that when our little girl does decide to grace us with her presence, he will be able to leave for a week.  Anytime I call him while he's at work, the first thing I say when he answers the phone is, I'm not in labor.  Because this far in, I know that's what everyone is thinking when they get a phone call from me.  :P  One time, Michael didn't hear the 'I'm not in' part of that sentence.  :P  All he heard was labor.  Then I kept talking about my day and what was going on and eventually he realized that the moment had not come.  ;)  I think he listens a little closer now when I call.  ;)  We are very blessed by the job that he has right now and the fact that he'll be able to take a week off to spend with the baby and me when she arrives.  They aren't even going to charge him vacation time.  He'll be paid all week to simply stay home and learn with me how to be a parent.  :)  Is that cool or what??  :D  We have been very blessed.  :)

Well, I think that's about all I've got for this morning.  Still crossing my fingers and hope that the baby comes today, but not holding my breath.  Because if I had been, I would have been dead weeks ago when I started wanting her to come out.  :P  Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!  And I hope you have a great October!  :D  I know I will!  :)