Update from L&D...

I love technology! I'm typing my update while in bed at Winnie Palmer. We got here at 9 am and got checked in. They brought us up to L&D and Jill (RN) got my IV started in my hand, and the doctor arrived soon after. Dr. Diebel is super nice and he went ahead and broke my water right away. We'll see how I progress on my own. If things don't progress, then they'll go ahead and start Pitocin in a few hours. Then things should start moving for sure. I'm hoping Katelyn will make progress without the Pit, but we'll have to wait and see how it goes. It's 11 am now, and my parents have been here since we arrived. I've updated everyone by e-mail, sent some texts, updated my Facebook and now the blog. We're keeping everyone in the loop, and it's so nice to hear everyone is so excited for us! We're excited too! Shawn's trying to stay distracted with t.v., and e-mails (and he's also responding to calls and texts from family and friends), so he doesn't get too anxious! ha ha!

39 weeks 1 day...and tomorrow's THE DAY!

So...despite our best efforts at walking, drinking red raspberry leaf tea, eating spicy foods, eating pineapple, etc., baby Katelyn has decided to wait until her scheduled arrival appointment date, tomorrow, May 26th. Our appointment is at 9 am, and they will hopefully start with breaking my water first (per my request) before starting Pitocin, but we'll see how it goes. We'll keep everyone posted. We can't wait to meet our baby!!

INDUCTION SET - HOLY COW...

We're set for an induction - next Tuesday, May 26th at 9 am. WOW! In 5 days, we'll have a baby! EEEEeeeeks!!

I hope now that we know a date, baby Katelyn will come on her own between now and then. Keep praying she does!!

I'll keep you posted...

Update, more progress & news!

So our doctor's visit today was very informative! Baby Katelyn is measuring a week ahead, as usual, at 39 weeks 2 days instead of 38 weeks 2 days, and they are "guestimating" her weight to be at about 8 pounds 6 ounces. I had another internal and I have progressed to 4 centimeters dilated, still 80% effaced.

The doctor I saw this week commented again that the baby's head "is right there", again, which is normal, because she has been "right there" since February. The doctor seemed to indicate this was a good sign, along with the progress, that I would be a good candidate for induction next week. She said she thought I would "go on my own" but that's why my doctor said last week - so who really knows. The good thing, is that if the induction happens, and they break my water before resorting to drugs...then just the water breaking alone could cause the dilation to increase and the effacement to get to 100% pretty quickly. The doctor said if I even thought I was having a contraction or that my water might have broken, to go ahead and head to the hospital. I'm apparently further along than a lot of first time moms that rush in to the hospital. Good thing!

I will be getting a call this week from my OB's office to set the induction date for some time next week. If I don't go on my own prior, then I will have them break my water first to see if I can progress on my own. If not, then I'm sure they'll start the Pitocin. I was told that generally Pitocin makes for very difficult contractions and more pain than your body working naturally; however, it was said that since I am already 80% effaced, it shouldn't be as bad as someone coming in not dilated and not effaced. Let's hope this is the case. Better yet, let's hope that Katelyn comes on her own and we don't have to worry about an induction.

HOLY COW we will have a baby in a week or less!! YAY! And, EEEEEEEEks!

:)

38 weeks 2 days...

I thought I'd post a pic before my doctor appointment today, just in case!! :)

38 weeks...

Progress, shmogress. This is why doctors should not tell us that we are dilated and effaced, because the "it could be three days or three weeks" qualifier messes with our heads! lol! I'm not impatient, really, I think I'm just ready, and excited to get this show on the road!! :) (I'm sure I will be thinking differently when contractions actually start!!)

We have a doctor appointment tomorrow and we'll have a sonogram, so I'm really looking forward to that! I'm not looking forward to an internal, should she decide to do THAT again.

Here's the update for 38 weeks...

"Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long. 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.) Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development."

- - I love the last two lines...I HOPE our baby is in the "general" range - lol!

Once again, I don't have a pic - but I will try to post one this week for sure.

UPDATE & progress!!

So yesterday's doctor appointment was totally not what Ihad expected. I did have the Group B test, loveliness indeed - BUT because I was "already naked" my doctor decided she was going to perform my first internal. YOWEEE!! Not good. But the result was shocking to both her and me...I'm 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. HOLY CRAP.

Now, this could mean nothing and I could be like this for another three days or three weeks. But when you hear this about YOURSELF, it's a little surreal! lol! So, the fact that the baby's head is and has been on my cervix since February, the doctor says if I go, it will probablybe pretty quick and that I should go immediately to the hospital if my water breaks.

Last but not least, she said if I make it to my appointment next Tuesday (5/19) that she would go ahead and schedule an induction for the following week. Which seems CRAZY to me...but I guess I'll take it. I hope to go on my own, but wes hall see...

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH...where are the paper bags!!!???!!!

P.S. Car seat inspection was done today. I would like to take a CPR class prior to baby coming, but we'll see if that can happen. Lastly, we HAVE to find a pediatrician ASAP and I am going to work on that this week! :)

FULL TERM!!

Eeeks, from that pic - let's hope closer to 6.2 lbs rather than 9.2 lbs. ::gulp::

That's right, as of Sunday 5/10, Mother's Day, I'm 37 weeks. Full-term. Which means, baby can come now any day and that would be just fine! We'll see what she decides to do...

Here is the info from the e-mails that I receive...

"Baby's now the size of a watermelon!You're full-term (yay!) and baby is gaining about 1/2 ounce a day and getting her first sticky poop (called meconium) ready. She's also brushing up on skills for the outside world: blinking, sucking, inhaling, exhaling, and gripping (it's getting strong!).

At week 37, your pregnancy is considered full term, meaning baby is likely to thrive after birth. Baby spends these last weeks in preparation for the outside world. If you worry about giving birth, consider what it’s like for the little one. During the journey out of your womb, baby will produce more stress hormones than any other time in life."

I have pics from our church baby shower this past Saturday that my mom took. Here's the link...

http://s636.photobucket.com/albums/uu81/anntoni_g/christ%20church%20shower/

I'll post a 37 weeks pic this week some time.

We have a doctor appointment this afternoon. I don't expect anything exciting to come from it...I don't think my doctor does internals (at least not until you're already in labor)...so I think it will be the usual belly measurement (outside), weight and blood pressure check.

We got some last minute shopping done this weekend, so we don't really have anything else to get. We're as prepared as we can be and now actually have about 200 to 300 diapers. Which I'm told will last all of a month. lol! CRAZY!!

36w5d

It's a small pic, but it's from a friend's cell phone at work. I had "outfit fail" because I wore the same thing last Friday apparently and I didn't want it to be that obvious in the pic. But now I've told you, so it's out of the bag anyway. I don't think there's been much of a change this week.


We're being thrown a co-ed baby shower tomorrow at church, which is very sweet! We can't wait! I hope to have pics to post next week from that - and I will TRY TRY TRY my hardest to get a pic on Sunday, Mother's Day, when I will be 37 weeks - FULL TERM!!

::breathes into paper bag::

The Invisible Mother...

We get many forwards in our e-mails every day, but this one was sent by a friend, and I felt I should post it for later days. I think it's an amazing story...

The Invisible Mother

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response,the way one of the kids would walk into the room while I'm on thephone and ask to be taken somewhere. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?!' Obviously not. No one can see if I'm on the phone or cooking or sweeping the floor or even standing on my head in the corner because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible; the Invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: "Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?"

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car ride to somewhere 'Right around 5:30 please.'

One night a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. Iwas sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'To Charlotte,with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read, no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

1 - No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no recordof their names.
2 - These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
3 - They made great sacrifices and expected no credit whatsoever.
4 - The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit thec athedral while it was being built and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Whyare you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will becovered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied,'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life; in fact, it is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished,to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals couldever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my daughter to tell the friend she's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. Instead, I justwant her to want to come home. If she says anything at all to her friend I would like it to be 'You're gonna love it here.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot see if we're doing it right. And one day it is very possible that the world will marvel not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

36 weeks update...

Baby should soon descend into your pelvis, which will give your lungs a little room to breathe (literally). The bad news: This puts the brunt of baby's weight on your hips and pelvis, and will make them pretty sore. Add in your ever-loosening ligaments, and you may soon be taking on that oh-so-adorable pregnancy waddle.

- - So, I'm not waddling yet. I do feel like I've dropped a little, but I really can't tell. There are definitely times though when I have the "been ridin' a horse all day" feeling though. But I'm holding firm against the waddle! :) Baby is still supposedly the size of a honeydew. Next week though...the update says "watermelon". YIKES! :)

Baby's skin is getting smooth and soft, her gums are rigid, her liver and kidneys are in working order, and her circulation and immune system are basically good to go. Her lungs are the only organs that still need to fully mature, but every day she gets a little closer to breathing on her own.

Baby’s senses are continuing to improve -- when light peeks in through your (extremely) stretched belly, those tiny eyelids and irises blink and dilate. And, baby can now recognize and react to simple songs… time to start practicing your lullabies! Growth (at least inside your womb) is starting to slow, and you may notice baby descend into your pelvis at the end of this month.

35w5dys...