Six Days Overdue - Patience and Pictures of the Nursery

First, I want everyone to know that I have come to terms with being induced Saturday night, although we still pray that Baby comes naturally on his or her own tonight or tomorrow! I have been having a lot more regular cramping today, but it mostly feels like menstrual cramps so I think it's more of Braxton-Hicks than real contractions. However, my aunt said this could be the beginning of labor so we're keeping our fingers crossed! Hopefully tonight's the night! :-) If not, I am satisfied with being induced and have decided that having this week off has not only allowed for me to get healthy, but it has also kept me away from even more germs I could have picked up at work this week. SOOOOOOOOOO, I am feeling much better today about everything. In general, Dom and I feel like we are ALMOST over our colds/flu whatever it was and Amber and Jeremy are feeling great again ... so it's all good news here! However, I am not sure how my parents are doing. I haven't talked to them yet today.

I made lunch plans with Mandy and Danielle thinking that maybe if I actually made plans something would happen. No such luck, but it was very nice to dine with them on a weekday (something I would normally never be able to do) and see Aiden and Allison. They are growing up so fast! Then Mandy and I went to a couple of stores and did some walking. I started having more and more cramps and Mandy got excited thinking I was going into labor, but I'm still here typing this so no such luck yet!

Since there really isn't anything else new to talk about today, I decided to post some pictures of our nursery now that it's finally as finished as it's going to be before Baby arrives. Enjoy! We're off to dine with Amber and Jeremy who are bringing over a nice casserole dish for dinner! :-)

 

Our crib and bedding.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for the crib, mattress, and mobile.

Thanks to Sarah, Audrey, Emma, and Judy for the bedding.

Thanks to Grandma Schreiner for the crib soother.

Thanks to Traci for the rug!

Our hamper and shelf and bookshelf we had painted.

Thanks to Melissa for recommending Mia Isaacson to me!!!

Thanks to Mia Isaacson for painting the shelf and bookshelf.

Check her work out at www.funkybrushdesigns.com

 A closer view of Mia's handwork!

Note the picture of Baby's grandparents and the ultrasound of Baby at 20 weeks pregnant!

Thanks to Cathy for the Willow Tree figurine.

Thanks to my Masters classmates and a few family members, friends, and coworkers for pretty much filling our Baby's bookshelf.

Our tall dresser and rocker/glider.

Thanks to Mom for the matching lamp.

Thanks to Lisa for the teddy bear.

Thanks to Jessica for the recommendation of the sound machine/projector. It's so cool!

Thanks to Michelle for the matching blanket.

 

Our second dresser/changing table.

Thanks to Michelle for the diaper stacker.

Thanks to Jeanna and Grandma Krupp for the Diaper Genie! (Sorry, we had to take one back but we proibably should have kept it for the downstairs!)

Thanks to all of our friends and family who bought us wipes and diapers!!!

AND OF COURSE THANKS TO DOMINIC FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK IN THE NURSERY!!!! Love you, Babe! And to Mike for carrying the furniture upstairs with Dom and to my girlfriends Michelle, Jackie, and Kim who helped put it all together!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed looking at our Baby's nursery. Hopefully the next time I post pictures there will actually be a BABY in them!

Love to all!

Four Days Overdue - Doctor's Appointment and Frustrations

I hate to whine, but I HAVE to. I just returned from seeing the doctor and having to listen to even more people pour pity over us for not having our baby yet with statements such as, "Don't you wish you weren't here right now?", "Man, I hate to say it but it's sad to see you made it another week!", "Wow... we weren't expecting you." and blah blah blah. I know I am annoyed right now for a plethora of reasons, but why do people have to share every single thought with you when you are pregnant? For over nine months I've been listening to complete strangers talk about if it's a boy or a girl, recall their favorite cravings, and tell me that I've dropped. It's sort of nice to get all of this attention, but most of the time I just want to ask people why they feel like expressing every little detail of their thoughts is important to me... especially when I don't even know them!!! I'm not talking about people I am friends with or related to; I'm talking about complete strangers. I know it's only going to get worse once we have the baby and people want to comment about the baby's outfits, or yell at you for having the baby in the sun (happened to my friend), or touch your little girl's leg at the mall (happened to Dom's cousin) SERIOUSLY PEOPLE - Why do you think you have this sort of "free reign" over babies and pregnant women? I can't even go to the grocery store and get through the aisle anymore without three to five comments flying my way. OK... I am just irritated right now and it's showing in my little rant. My apologies. I'm over it.

* I should mention that I am mostly irritated with this cold & flu season. Dom and I are STILL sick - but we're a little bit better every day, my Mom is feeling a bit better today, my Dad is feeling the same if not worse, and now I hear my sister and Jeremy are ill. Arg!!!!! It's no one's fault, but it's so frustrating b/c I know they all want to be there for us and the baby, and who knows if they will be permitted or not. *

So no real news from the doc except for the fact that the ultrasound could be a pound off either way and that she really doesn't think I'm hiding a baby that's 8lbs 11ounces like they said I was yesterday.  She said she predicts upper 7lbs, which is fine by me. Other than that, I haven't dilated any more than last week and the baby seems to be content staying where he or she is. Sooooooooooooo, we scheduled an induction. Trust me I'm none too pleased, and I'm still praying that the little one comes on his or her own. We could have been induced this evening, but we decided to give the baby a few more days to make his or her grand appearance on their own. Plus, I know this is stupid, but I really don't want our baby to be born on Friday the 13th IF I can help it. If he or she wants to be born that day, that's fine, but I don't want to schedule it that day or tonight (if it's going to take up to two days to deliver once the petocin sets in.)  Instead, we chose to be induced Friday night (so delivery would happen Sat or Sunday) and apparently that didn't work for St. Luke's, so we are going in Saturday night at 8PM instead which mens the baby should be born Sunday or Monday. I guess we could have a  Sunday baby afterall. (Dom and I were both born on a Sunday and our bdays fell on Sundays this year. I just thought we'd have the baby LAST Sunday, not Sunday the 15th!)

Until today I didn't really know much about getting induced, but I learned that I'll have to sleep with something in me for about 12 hours to "kick things into motion" and then the labor process begins. After labor begins, it can take one to two days. Apparently being induced makes labor a lot longer (on average) than a natural birth. GREATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. Just what I wanted. So, long story short, if your guess on our Baby Guessing Game is either Nov. 14th or 15th you could be our big winner. Thinking about that game, I am not sure anyone guessed those dates. I know Brett guessed Christmas morning as a joke, but at this rate he may actually WIN. Or Marie, who guessed what she called an "outrageous" guess at Nov. 17th just because it was her niece's birthday... or someone else close to her.

Wow, as I type this I am already second-guessing our decision to wait until Saturday to be induced. Perhaps we should have chosen tonight. My Mom is off work Thursday and Friday, so that would have allowed her to come up and visit for a few days. I'm just so confused, lost, frustrated. Dominic and I are not God, and we don't enjoy playing Him. Why should we have the ability to decide when the baby will be born? But on the other hand I don't want this baby to get any bigger than it already is! And of course I don't want to waste any more days of my maternity leave. I don't like this predicament at all. I guess I'll just continue to pray that the baby debuts on his or her own when he or she is good and ready to. Hopefully tonight... or tomorrow.

BTW, I appreciate all of the advice on how to make this baby come see us earlier and I think I've taken about every piece of it that has been given to me... except the scrubbing of the floors. I may end up breaking down and scrubbing them tonight, but it is seemingly THE most uncomfortable and undesirable thing to do right now at almost 41 weeks pregnant. I took a 45 minute walk this morning, and I suppose I'll take another one tonight and tomorrow morning.

Until tomorrow . . .

Three Days Overdue - H1N1 Drama and Fourth Ultrasound Today!

Well, well, well, here I post again as a childless mother.

I am feeling pretty downtrodden right now about everything. Not just because I am spinning my wheels and wasting my maternity leave, but because of this entire H1N1 scare. I had thought about getting the H1N1 vaccine for quite some time, but there hadn't been a clinic I could attend until Oct. 24th, two weeks before my due date. When I called the doctor about going to it, he said to wait it out because he was concerned about potential side effects and thought it was too close to my delivery.

Then I started getting a bad cough two Sundays ago (Nov. 1st) when Dom's parents and grandparents were in town and by the time they left, I felt absolutely lousy. I battled an "elevated temp" for a few days, called the doctor on a few different occasions, and took a lot of Tylenol Cold to make it through my last three days with my students and then parent/teacher conferences which were last Thursday and Friday. I started feeling a bit better on Friday, but by then Dom had come down with whatever it was I had (I am still calling it a nasty head-cold, but with 22% of the students at one of our elementery schools sick and 18% of our students at the junior high... who knows what it was.)

My due date came and went on Saturday the 7th without any fanfare. This was also the day after that the news announced the death of the mother who delivered her twins and then died a few days later, most likely from H1N1. Now I was potentially only hours away from delivery and hadn't protected myself or my baby. Fortunately, I saw that St. Luke's hospital was going to have a clinic on Sunday afternoon. So I called the doctor's office again and this time a different doc was on call and he strongly urged me to get the shot no matter HOW close I was to delivering, even despite the fact that it was the day AFTER my due date. So Dom and I went to the hospital and stood in a line behind about 2,000 people. It was the nicest day I can ever recall in Nov. (70 degrees!!!) so that was fine, but it was EXTRA special that after about an hour's wait the pregnant women were sent to a "backdoor" entrance to get priority shots.... yes, there are many pluses to being a pregnant lady!!! So although we should have had to wait for about 4 hours or more, we were in and out in an hour and forty-five minutes. It was SO NICE! Dom and I were still sick, but we didn't have a fever so they allowed us to get the shot. I felt better about protecting my baby, and I thought that would be the key to going into labor ... as if the final puzzle piece was in place. No such luck!

My parents came to visit us Sunday evening and they didn't stay too long, but by that night my Mom was ill and she felt worse Monday (yesterday). Today she stayed home from work and reported my Dad was getting a cough. Here I am feeling the best I've felt in over a week and thinking the baby was just waiting for Dom and I to get better when BAM! now my parents are ill. Perhaps we gave it to them, or perhaps my Mom got it at work like she thinks she did. Either way, my heart goes out to her because she is terribly worried she will not be able to visit us whenever the baby finally comes since the hospital rules are so strict now. I can't fathom the sadness one would feel if they were unable to see their first grandchild on the day of his or her birth, so I am so sorry about my parents' illnesses and my heart is breaking for them both. I was thinking that the baby really wanted to wait until we were all better, but at the rate of this disease spreading throughout my entire family and the fact that it takes so long to overcome (I am STILL battling it 9 days later and so is Dom who RARELY gets ill) that I am starting to think that baby wouldn't be able to come out until springtime ... and we can't have that!

So now I'm left with the inducing dilemma that I am certain to be presented with tomorrow at the doctor's appointment we have scheduled (if we don't have the baby between now and then.) Do I go through with it and spend my maternity leave with my baby instead of sitting around WAITING for the next few days or WEEKS? Or do I just give it to God and trust that the baby will come when he or she is good and ready and everyone is healthy enough to see him or her... but possibly waste a good 5-10 of my maternity leave days? It's such a Catch 22. The timing of all of this couldn't seem worse, but I do know that God does have a plan for us and that it will all work out in the end.

We were scheduled for another ultrasound today at St. Luke's, which was nice but we wish we would have already had the baby instead. I thought it was interesting that they now have a "Well Waiting Area" and a "Sick Waiting Area" so I took a picture. I decided since we were coughing into our elbows when we walked in the door, we would have to sit in the "Sick Waiting Area" but then I wondered - how often to they clean these sick chairs? Ewwwwwww....

If he looks sick, it's because he is.

First we did the regular 2-D pics. Our ultrasound tech informed us that the baby is measuring around 8 lbs 11 ounces, which is FAR MORE than both Dom and I weighed at birth, with a head-size of 9.77 centimeters - YIKES!!! Hence another reason for my hesitation to wait for the baby to be born on his or her own - how much larger will it get? And I really, really, really do NOT want to have to have a C-Section if at ALL possible. And yes, I know, the ultrasound measurements are not known to be extremely accurate, but what if baby is BIGGER than those measurements??? EEEEEEEEK!

St. Luke's is just starting to play around with 4-D technology, so after she got all her necessary measurements from the 2-D images the tech had us work with her for about another 1/2 hour to get some practice in with the 4-D machine. Baby's hands were in his or her face most of the time, so the pictures aren't the greatest, but they are still cute. If you have never seen 4-D ultrasounds before, they are a bit "alien-esque", so I'll warn you now!

Check out that thumb in his or her eye!

See... he or she wasn't cooperating. The hand is in front of the face.

 

 He or she was probably sleeping. Lazy baby, come on out and play with us!

OK, well that's all for now. I am off to make some homemade chicken noodle soup for Dom and myself.  If you are a praying person, please please pray for the health of our baby, my parents, and even us. And throw in a prayer to get this baby out of my womb ASAP! :-P Love to all!

Two Days Overdue - Waiting for Baby!

Well, this is my first blog post about the family Dominic and I have created, but there really isn't too much to share. Today marks day one of my maternity leave, but there's no maternity about it so far.

I wish I could tell you all that we were in the hospital holding our new bundle of boy or girl, but that's not the case. Our first baby was due two days ago (Nov. 7th) and now all we can do is wait. So it's said that "a watched pot never boils", and perhaps I should have stayed at work until the baby came but last week was conferences so it was the perfect little "break" in the quarter to go on leave. Dom and I have both been very ill, so the time off is beneficial for me to rest and relax ... it's just that I wish I was able to call today a SICK day and not the first day of my maternity leave. These days off are just so precious, and I don't want to waste them! Please pray that tonight or tomorrow our little baby comes to join us and everything will be JUST fine.

OK, it's dinner time. Hopefully the meal of spaghetti and meatballs will be enough to carb me up for an evening of labor. Fingers crossed!!!

BTW - We are scheduled to have a fourth ultrasound tomorrow at 1:30, so I can post pictures of that if I haven't had the baby yet. For now, I'll leave you with a picture taken of me this weekend when we hit 40 weeks pregnant!