Experiments in Life

Well, another week with Emily brings more pictures, this time with hair and eyeballs!. There are times that I think we are getting this and then we have nights like the last two nights that just make you want to pull your hair out. Mom will be glad to hear that I apparently have a kid just like me: she just decides that she does not want to sleep. Last night I gave up and called Ashley after four hours of rocking, burping, walking, and screaming (all her), two bottles, six or seven diapers, and a grand total of ten minutes sleep over a course of six hours. Of course, Ashley walked her for 30 minutes and then Emily crashed for almost eight hours. So, that was kind of rough. Hopefully we will be able to get her into some kind of a better routine in the next couple of weeks, especially with me going back to work on Monday.

For those of you that are wanting full-sized copies of pictures that we are posting, you can do the following:

1. Look at the individual photo on the site, where the photo is on a page by itself.
2. There is a link below the pictures that says “See this photo on Flickr”. Click on that link.
3. You should now be on the Flickr page for that photo.
4. Above the photo, there is a button that says “All Sizes”. Click that button.
5. You should now be on a page that lets you pick different sizes of pictures. Choose the one you want and click the download link to grab a copy of the picture.

Alternatively, you can grab pictures directly from my Flickr account. However, all pictures on my Flickr account are mirrored through this site, so there is not really any need.

When the Diaper Genie instructions state: “Stop pushing diapers through when you feel resistence,” pay attention! Pushing too many diapers through will break the bag inside, causing foul diaper smell to escape with the foul diapers when you try to empty the container.

Well, Emily is now one week old and has had several pictures taken of her in the past week. So far, things are going well. We have had a lot of help over the last week and I think that we are starting to figure things out. I have learned that, no matter how much sleep you can get, it is never enough. The stress of dealing with a newborn at the house just makes you tired. However, I have derived much pleasure in the fact that the dogs are getting just as little sleep as we are. Ashley and I have been pleasantly surprised in how well the dogs are dealing with Emily. They like to sniff her and get really interested when Ashley is feeding her. But, both the dogs and the baby are reacting well to each other. The pups have not woken Emily up yet, which is a blessing.

Sorry about the quality of most of those pictures. I was playing with the camera function of our video camera and decided that, while handy, I will probably not use it because it takes crappy quality pictures.

Emily was born at 4:40pm on June 11th, 2007. As you can see, she is the most beautiful baby girl in the world. Of course, I might be slightly biased. She weighed in at a whopping 6 pounds, 15 ounces and was around 19 inches long. Both Ashley and Emily are doing fine, albeit very tired. See more pictures in this album. Maybe I will write more in a day or so, but for know, it is getting very close to time for bed.

Well, it has been a long road — made longer by the stalling of our little princess — but we are almost done with the pregnancy. We are going to the hospital so that the doctor can break Ashley’s water and set our little one free. There is no way to know how long it will take, but we should have a baby by this time on Monday. I will upload pictures of the baby as soon as we have them.

So, I am sure that most of you are wondering how things are going, if we’ve had the baby, and various other things. Well, on Wednesday, the contractions lasted all day and throughout most of the night. They seemed to get more intense as the hours passed by. I was having several within an hour, but they still weren’t strong enough to warrant going to the hospital. About 2:30 AM, I woke up unable to sleep through some of the contractions. Jon also woke up and we talked about how we might be having a baby the next day. Well, we were up until 4:30 or 5 AM, at which point, I was able to finally fall back asleep. Once I was asleep, Jon was able to relax and go to sleep as well. We woke up around 7 and unfortunately the contractions had stopped. I was very disappointed and frustrated, but there was nothing I could do about it. Jon told me to stay home from work both Thurs. and Fri., that I needed a break. So, I did. I piddled around the house, trying to be active yet not so active that I wore myself out. I had minor contractions Thursday, but they were very spaced out and not very intense. I’ve managed to keep myself busy over the past couple of days.

For the moment, my contractions are beginning to get a little closer together. For the last couple of hours, they have become about 10 minutes apart. However, they are of varying length and intensity. I can still talk through them so we will not be going to the hospital any time soon. Right now we’re just hanging out and somewhat keeping an eye on the contractions. I’m trying not to get my hopes up just yet since it could just be more false labor. However, I’ve finally come to peace with the fact that whatever is meant to happen will happen and not a minute sooner.

So for now, we’re just hanging out at home, waiting somewhat patiently. At the very least, Sunday is just a couple of days away.

Stay tuned for further updates…

This week’s stats:

I gained 0 lb over the past week (total pregnancy gain 13 lbs)
Blood pressure is good after 45 min. or so
Heart rate was 130s
Measuring at ? cm
The baby is in the head-down position
Cervix: a ‘good’ 4 cm dilated
Effacement: 80%
Station: 0
Contraction Pattern: good

That’s right folks, I’m finally having contractions. Even at this exact moment I am contracting. Turns out that I’ve been having them for quite a while, I just didn’t realize it. However, I seem to be doing poorly at keeping up with the timing of them. Oh well, I’m sure Jon will be happy to help me out with that if it means he gets to hold his baby girl soon

Today was a very interesting doctor’s appt. There was much excitement to be had. Here is today’s story…

We got there early and were pleasantly surprised when they called us back relatively quickly. They asked the usual questions and did the usual routine. Since I had reported slower fetal movments the last couple of visits, they wanted to check the amniotic fluid and due a stress test (both of which are common procedures once you are overdue I think). Anyway, while the nurse was taking my blood pressure, she was surprised when it shot up to 140/60, which is high for me. She was concerned about it so I knew we were definitely going to do the stress test. Of course, her concern only got me more worried. During the ultrasound, the doctor said there was plenty of amniotic fluid and was ready for me to move to a normal room so she could check my cervix and get the heartbeat.

Well, I asked her about the blood pressure and she was surprised at how high it was. Like I said, it was high for me. Throughout the entire pregnancy, I’ve been very consistent with 112/60 or so. So, they hooked me up to the fetal heart monitor for 20 min. or so. During that time, my doctor was called away to deliver a baby. The nurse checked on me several times but the baby really hadn’t woken up yet since the heart rate was still in the 130s. She made me drink a juice box, which I remember being way better as a kid. They’re pretty gross now

Anyway, the nurse practicioner then came in to check on me and asked me if I was having contractions. I told her no and she looked at the monitor and said yes I was. I was really shocked. At this point, they don’t feel like what I thought they would. I didn’t even know I was having them! She then gave me another juice box to drink because they were so small. I was unhappy at best. Of course, by this time, I had to go to the bathroom again. No sooner did I tell Jon about it that the nurse came back and said she still wasn’t waking up. So she started pushing on my belly to wake her up. I told her I had to go again and she said sorry and left. It didn’t really help me any

By this point, the doctor had returned and she came in to check on things. She took me off the monitor and told me that I was in a good contraction pattern. I had one at 5 min, then 2 min. later, followed by 3 min. then 6 min. I was kind of all over, but I was having them. She asked if I felt them and I told her I just felt crampy. She seemed kind of surprised but didn’t think anything of it. So, she checked me and stretched my cervix again and said this may well send me into labor. We also discussed my blood pressure. If it was high the next couple of times, I would have the choice of doing bloodwork and going home or going to the hospital, being induced and having the bloodwork done there. We were so close to having Emily today, but the blood pressure came down so I was sent on my way.

We also discussed how things would go this weekend. If I make it to Sunday, we are to go to the hospital at 6 or 6:30 to check-in. She would come and break my water and give me a couple of hours to see if that triggers full labor. If not, then I would be put on pitocin for an hour or two and then taken off to see if that triggers labor. If not, then back on the pitocin. We are all hoping that she will either come before then, or the water breaking will do it.

Come Monday, we will have our baby in our arms at long last. It’s been a relatively easy pregnancy and I’ve enjoyed it for the most part, but we are so ready to wrap our arms around the little person who has already wrapped herself around our hearts.

We can’t wait to meet you Emily and hope to see you soon. We love you so much already.

My wife is holding my baby hostage. On Wednesday, our baby is now officially a week overdue. Everyone keeps saying to be patient. Yes, I know that she will come in her own due time. Yes, I am aware that Monday, our induction date, will be here before I know it. I am tired of waiting.