Two weeks and ten pounds!

Just a quick update here while Maggie is sleeping. I want to thank everyone for all their e-mails and notes and apologize that I haven't been able to reply to many yet. We are still getting adjusted to parenthood and tending to the little one's needs before our own, which has zapped most of our time so far. Things are going pretty well at Casa Easter, and we finally seem to be settling into a bit of a rhythm. Steve went back to work today, so this was my first day with Maggie on my own.

Maggie Jo had her two week doctor's check up today, and everything checked out fabulously. Steve and I had been a bit worried about nursing and wondering if she might have colic/reflux due to spit up and screeching issues. After they weighed her though, it became apparent she's getting plenty of food. At her four day appointment, she'd weighed 8 lbs 13 oz, one ounce above her hospital discharge weight. Ten days later, she's surpassed her birth weight and then some, putting on basically 2 ounces a day, well above the 1 ounce the doctors want babies to gain each day. She's also grown another 3/4 inch in those ten days, putting her at 21 3/4 inches long. She's 90-95% on height and weight. She is also a pretty good sleeper, giving us about one four hour stretch of sleep each night. We're still working on a routine and getting adequate sleep with all the feedings, but I feel pretty fortunate so far.

So basically, she seems to be changing at lightning speed. Steve thought I was being a bit silly wanting to take tons of pictures and video of her this week, but I think we are starting to realize that our time with her as a newborn is fleeting. I'm trying to memorize all the cute little expressions and movements as much as I can. Of course there are still a few things that are challenging (projectile spit-up on our new couch and diaper blowouts come to mind), but she is a wonderful baby so far and we feel truly blessed.

My sister helped me take a few profile pictures when she was down last weekend, and here's one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Home with Maggie Jo

Only have a few minutes here while the little one is sleeping, but I wanted to let you all know that we came home Sunday afternoon and are doing well. First night was a little challenging, but nothing compared to some of the Bringing Home Baby episodes I have watched lately!

The last few days have been somewhat of a blur in an incredibly exciting and joyful way. I'll save a post about our labor experience for another day, but let's just say that it was so surprising and quick, all the planning was thrown out the window. And she came safely and quickly and in one piece -- so it seems all the anxieties the past couple months have worked out for the best. Although next time, we will not be sending Steve to pick up a few things because we have plenty of time! We had about four hours from my water really breaking to delivery. He got back for the fun part though.

After about nine of hours of debate once she arrived, her name is Margaret Josephine. Many of you know Josephine was my grandmother's name and is my middle name. Margaret is actually my great-grandmother's name, and we really liked the nickname Maggie. So Maggie Jo it is! Sophie Gretchen was the runner-up. We also considered Josephine, Madeline, and Paige for first names.

I'm off to give "sleep while the baby sleeps" a try, but here's a Picasa slideshow with a few pictures. Enjoy!

Baby E finally arrives

Erin was in labor for less than 5 hours in the middle of the night on Friday, August 15, 2008. The baby was born at 3:37am at 9 pounds 4 ounces. As you might guess, all of us are tired after this momentus night

Good news, bad news

Well, we headed into meet the other doctor in the practice Tuesday. She was very nice and somewhat encouraging. Her feel-around exam prediction was the baby was somewhere in the 8 lb range, likely less than 9 lbs, which really put us much more at ease. She also didn't seem to think the size of the shoulders was a big deal -- basically my pelvic structure is plenty big to handle it, a backhanded but welcome comment at that point. :) We finally had a little more progress towards labor too - still at 2 cm but over 80% effaced and -1 station. My BP was up slightly to around 130/70, borderline but okay. Overall, I left feeling pretty optimistic - even though we found out it may be yet another doctor delivering the baby if she comes over the weekend. At this point, there's not much we can do about that though.

Cut to today. I felt really tired all morning and came home right after putting in my four hours at work. My swelling seems a little worse but nothing dramatic. Laid down on the couch most of the afternoon, but I got up around 3:30 with a weird string of light woven through my left field of vision, kind of like a migraine aura. I'd had a short one over the weekend, but this one didn't go away for about a half hour. Called the nurse and they had me come in to check blood pressure. It's up to 140/80, but it did come down well after they put me on my left side. They sent me to the hospital to run a pre-eclampsia lab again, although the in-office tests looked good.

So they sent me home with instructions to lay on my left side as much as possible and to head to L&D tonight if I get another visual disturbance. I think I am done with work given this, so it's just a matter of seeing if we need to induce for medical reasons here Thursday/Friday or can wait until Monday night. I know some people think it's rather silly not to induce at this point, but I wanted a shot at a more natural labor. But if it's in our best interests medically, we'll do what the doctors recommend.

Either way, I think Monday evening/Tuesday morning has to be the end of the road in light of the blood pressure issue. At this point, I think we just need this little girl to arrive! And keeping myself out of pre-eclampsia complications would be nice as well. So prayers and positive thoughts are still appreciated until we're out the woods and she's safely here. I'll have Steve post an update if anything major happens. Otherwise, I'll see you tomorrow or Friday.

Ten months today

We're still here! This baby officially has about four hours until she's past her due date. Uneventful weekend with a few painful contractions but nothing regular. I went back to work and prenatal yoga today, both of which were interesting adventures in explaining why I was still there. But that's okay! I'm feeling pretty good and would be fine with waiting if we weren't still pretty concerned about her size.

We have our appointment with the other doctor in the practice tomorrow and are going to ask her a few questions about size, opinions on inducing sooner/later, that sort of thing. At this point, I figure I'm just going to quit making accommodations just in case the baby comes....and then she'll show up at the least convenient time. Next Monday night or Tuesday morning if not sooner -- although I'm not counting on anything anymore!

Delayed - Indefinitely

Well, we got a phone call at 12:15 AM letting us know that L&D was full up. We called back at 4:30 to double-check our new 5 am time, and they still didn't have a room. We are headed in now to start the preliminary stuff, but it may be a while as we are waiting on a room to free up this morning from delivery or an observation going home.

I'm a little sad the birthdate and time with my doctor are looking less likely, but that's not what is really important at this point. After hardly sleeping the past couple nights, we're eager to get the show on the road! Will update when we can.

Updated 9:15 am -- Well so much for that idea. No 08.08.08 unless she comes the old-fashioned way and soon. As soon as we got to the hospital, they basically said they'd had a bunch more people come in whose waters had broken. We waited a couple hours and did some outpatient monitoring. Everything looked good - BP, heartrate. I am having contractions every 6-8 minutes, but they seem to be Braxton-Hicks still because they last too long and aren't "productive" according to the nurses.

They didn't have a room still though, said they were somewhat short on staff, and said it was really late in the day to start an induction. My doctor was headed out within a few hours and probably wouldn't have been around, although she did say that they could double up on the meds to make it go faster. Ouch! Given all that and the fact that I already hadn't eaten in over 12 hours and slept about 10 hours out of the past two days, we decided it'd be better to reschedule.

So we are back to hoping she makes an appearance on her own for a while. Maybe that's what nature intended. If I'm going without my usual doctor, then I might get to go on my own and use the original birth plan. We're set to see the other doctor in the practice Tuesday. If nothing else happens before then, we have an appointment to induce at a week past my due date on August 18th/19th. I guess this just demonstrates my point about not being able to control everything!

Heading in tonight

Despite my best attempts to give nature a nudge in the right direction, we are still here! My acupressure session was incredibly relaxing and made the baby kick like a mad one, but there's still no sign of true labor, although my intermittent contractions seem to have picked up a bit. Here's to hoping that makes the whole process easier tomorrow mornining.


We are headed into BroMenn around 1 am tonight. Bags are almost totally packed, and most of the essential baby gear is set up for the house awaiting our return. So hopefully there will be word sometime tomorrow, although it may take a while to get the information out on the web. (Internet access is pretty sorry at the hospital, including WiFi). There is a web nursery you can check for pictures, although I wouldn't be surprised if it's not up until Monday.

Hopefully the next entry out here will be an update on Baby Easter's safe arrival. Stay tuned!

Reflections on the pregnancy

Steve and I went out to grab lunch today, and we were talking about how incredibly fast it all seems to have gone. One day we were talking about trying to start a family, and now all of the sudden…that day is almost here. We’re thrilled and terrified at the same time. Life is going to change in a big way tomorrow. I’m not sure we’re totally ready for it yet, but we’re perhaps as close as we ever will be. We're anxious about the delivery but incredibly excited to meet our child.

In some ways, I’m a little sad that I won’t be pregnant anymore. Aside from my swelling and blood pressure anxieties, I’ve been a fairly lucky, happy pregnant woman. Watching your diet is a little irritating, but otherwise I don’t have many complaints. Keep in mind, I was blessed not to have morning sickness and I don't think my hormones raged out of control. (We'll ask Steve on that one). Regardless though, I think once you get to the point that you can feel the baby moving about, pregnancy is pretty cool. It’s fascinating to think how that little one’s developing and what’s going on inside you, and every movement is like a little inside joke between you and the baby.

I’ve had a few friends ask me for my thoughts or tips on being pregnant – what to expect and what not. Here are some notes on my experience in no particular order:

• Like most other life events, it sneaks up you. It seems so far away at first, like it’s never really going to happen. At 8 weeks, it was nearly impossible to imagine Week 20, Week 34. But looking back, it seems to have gone by in a flash.
• Every person’s pregnancy is going to be a little different. The same goes for your reactions to being pregnant. You can’t really change your personality, so it’s almost worthless to even try. For example, I over research and analyze things, so I did that with every little symptom and decision. But preparing for the worst and being pleasantly surprised when better things happen is how I do things. Perhaps I worried too much but along with prayers to the big guy upstairs, it’s my way of trying to deal with the uncertainty and feel some sense of control.
• At the same time, you have to realize certain things are beyond your control. Try not to get too attached to any idea of how labor or delivery is going to go. I did a lot of research and came up with a pretty specific birth plan, and I’ve struggled with letting it go these past couple weeks as circumstances have changed. When we thought I was going into labor a month ago, things were going to be done much differently than tomorrow. But ultimately, getting the baby here safely and both of us being healthy is what matters.
• Your body isn’t really your own at some point. You really can’t push it too much and you may not be able to do everything you used to. That can be incredibly frustrating in some ways. I worked out at the gym until my 7th month, but I had to give it up in the end.
• Your sleep isn’t really your own either and that starts months before the baby arrives. Hormones made me a night owl during the second trimester. By the third, I was sleeping through most of the kicks, but they were keeping Steve awake some nights.
• Don’t count on getting much done in the third trimester. Give yourself plenty of extra time to get things ordered and set up if it's important to you to be totally ready. Things will go wrong. The crib may get damaged in shipping. Complications may pop up – from bedrest to exhaustion to just not being able to walk easily – and you may not be able to handle as much as you’d like.
• And if things do go wrong and things aren’t 100% ready, don’t worry about it too much. All the baby really needs is a place to sleep, loving parents, and nourishment, right?
• At some point, you will cede certain aspects of your personal style to the pregnancy. Comfort reigns supreme when your body is already uncomfortable. I never thought I would wear Croc flip-flops to presentations with directors, but at some point…it’s either that or hiding at home under a rock. And surprisingly, they seem to understand when your ankles look like they are about to explode.
• Your support system means a lot, whether it’s your spouse or family or friends. Even if you have all the confidence in the world in things going well, it’s still an uncertain time. I have an amazing spouse who has done everything he can to make this time easier on me and that has helped a lot. But neither one of us would have enjoyed doing this alone. Your phone calls and notes and support have meant the world to us, and I hope everyone realizes how grateful we are for your presence in our lives.

Uneventful weekend

Not much new to report -- just we're still here and waiting on baby! I had my last prenatal yoga class tonight. Tomorrow is my last day in the office. I'm working my way through all the old wives' tales about how to get labor started, so lots of spicy food and walking. No bumpy roads quite yet. Tomorrow I'm getting an acupressure massage, which should feel nice and relaxing even if it doesn't get things going. Steve or I will stop in when there's something new to pass along.

One week or less!

It's somewhat hard to grasp mentally, but a week from today Baby Easter will have made her entrance into the world...one way or the other! Life will never be the same again. We had a fairly uneventful check-up yesterday. I'm now a "true" 2 and still the same degree of effaced. My doctor seemed somewhat surprised that the baby isn't here by now, given where we were three weeks ago. Blood pressure is holding at a normal level, although slightly high for me. Swelling's still bad. Baby's heart rate and all else look good.

But we did have one interesting development -- my doctor's vacation starts next Saturday, August 9th...not the 16th like we had thought. Given that and all the size concerns, we decided to schedule an induction for Thursday night at 39w 5d. I think my doctor understands it's not my preferred route, since I've been looking to minimize the drugs, so we gave her as much time as possible to come on her own first. She said that they wouldn't induce unless medically necessary until Monday and didn't think four more days would make much of a difference either way. If Baby E doesn't appear by then, she will have the 08.08.08 birthdate. I was kind of shocked they still had had spots available, but we will take it. Kind of cool!

It's nice to have an end date to plan for, although I'm still rooting for her to appear before then. I just wanted to try tub labor and avoid an epidural as long as possible, but I think she's calling the shots on those two items at this point. We've got a nice quiet weekend planned here, although I am sort of sad to miss the potentially-last Decatur Celebration ever and the Plain White Tees concert there on Sunday! But I think that would really be tempting fate. In the meantime, just squaring things away at work and trying to get a few things done around the house. My feet swell up if they are down for more than about a half-hour though, so I'm kind of limited if I want to walk much :) My last day in the office will be Tuesday, if not before.

My mom and dad were up last Sunday, brought us lunch and hung out most of the afternoon. I'll post a picture here that will suffice for 38 weeks. You can definitely see that the baby has a) dropped and b) got to be pretty close to fully cooked! But we are hanging in there. Steve and I appreciate all the phone calls and well-wishes and will keep you posted.

PS - I also posted a new poll on her arrival date. Check it out!