Now that Kyllan and I have finally managed to get some sleep, I uploaded some photos of Laurel’s birth onto my Flickr account. Don’t worry, they start after she has been cleaned off a little bit. It’s been a whirlwind couple of days with Kyllan waking up every couple of hours (or just not sleeping at all) to nurse and me going back and forth between work and the hospital. Two of us were so glad to bring Laurel home and… Okay, all we do is stare at her sleeping, change diapers and Kyllan nurses. But, it is still the most amazing thing ever. Laurel is just getting cuter by the day.
Kyllan and I would like to welcome the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Laurel Annette. Both mother and child are doing great and resting comfortably. We will keep everyone updated. More pictures to come soon.
13 days until my due date! 14 days left for Laurel Annette to be a July baby. I would be tempted to say she will be an August baby, but at my appointment this past week, there was a slight concern that my amniotic fluid level may drop too low and result in an induction this week. I have been drinking a lot of fluids to help prevent having to be induced (with the 16th day in a row of 100 degree weather, that has been fairly easy to do although I know I could do even better). While I don’t really want to be induced, the anticipation of her arrival is intense for William and me. We are both so anxious to know what she will look like and be able hold her in our arms. So the thought that she could possibly be here this week is a bit exciting. Our parents are not scheduled to come until next week, however, so it would be nice for her to wait for their arrival. I at least hope she will wait until Thursday morning when my OBGYN returns from vacation!
I think my friend Courtney is correct. Now that we feel like we are ready for the baby, she will take her time with the arrival. We are to the point where we are coming up with new things to do to get ready for the baby. William bought disposable plates and silverware so we don’t have to worry about dishes, we restocked on groceries, we bought new lamps for our bedroom, William fixed our garage door that decided it wanted to sporadically work, and I finally got my car back on Saturday so we could officially put the car seat base and car seat in the car! My hospital bag, which has been packed since 4th of July weekend is sitting by the door and ready to load in the car either tonight or in the morning.
I do have a few more things I need to wrap up at work, so my work to do list is ready to tackle in the morning.
I am still feeling good, but definitely am showing signs that I am 9 months pregnant. I am moving slower, it takes me about 10 minutes go get off my favorite comfy spot on the chaise in the family room, i am constantly dropping food on my belly, and I am in a serious nesting phase, although as I just mentioned, I don’t really have any nesting left to do.
So… this week’s to do’s??
1. Drink plenty of water
2. Sleep
3. Keep my feet up and resist the temptation to find more “nesting” to do
It’s hard to believe that we are just 20 days away from our due date. Like anything else, in some ways, the time has gone by fast, but William pointed out to me that I have been pregnant all year, so I guess it has been a long time 🙂 . It’s also hard for me to believe that we are actually ready to bring home a baby. Our “to do” list went from a long list of tasks to a blank board with everything crossed off. The nursery is ready to go, all the gadgets are put together, the car seat base is installed (in one car… more on this later), all of Laurel’s clothes are pre-washed and put away in drawers or hung neatly in the closet, the diapers and other toiletries have been purchased, my hospital bag is packed (although not in the car… explanation coming), we even chose a pediatrician and paid the deposit for the daycare for when I return to work in October. My favorite part is that the house is spotlessly clean (including freshly shampooed carpets). William and I did a major deep cleaning of the house last weekend… carpets, dusting, cleaning bathrooms, closets, drawers… everything. He has learned that a clean house puts a huge smile on my face and keeps me calm and relaxed. It was a bit weird Friday night when we kicked back with pizza and Netflix (The King’s Speech… great movie) and I was looking around the house ready to make a mental list of what I needed to do this weekend and realized there really wasn’t anything to put on the list (except for getting my thank you cards done, which I am terribly behind on, but have plans to finish today). My biggest task now is getting some projects wrapped up at work, but I don’t feel I can ever feel ready to be away from work for 12 weeks, so I will just have to do what I can. So….I feel pretty comfortable that we are ready to go. Of course, we are first time parents, so we have no idea what to expect or how to gauge if we are truly ready, but I feel good with our progress.
So… what’s the deal with the car you ask? Well…. a little over a month ago, Dallas had some pretty severe storms come through the area. Prior to my knowledge that this severe weather was coming, I decided to take my car to the dealership for routine maintenance. Little did I know that my car would be parked outside on the service center lot and get pummeled by hail instead of being parked safely in my garage where the loan car I had was. The hail left several small dents and a few medium size dents on the roof of my car, and damaged almost all the other cars there as well. Fortunately, the dealership is covering the costs of repairs through their insurance, but it required me bringing my car back to them a few weeks later (2 1/2 weeks ago to be exact), and driving a rental car (also covered under their insurance) in the meantime. I was hoping the longest I would be without the car was about a week, maybe 2, but I called on Thursday and it’s still being painted, so it likely won’t be ready until mid week. Of course I calmly explained to the guy that I am pregnant and NEED my car back before giving birth. He said they could make arrangements to deliver the car to me if needed (no pun intended), which is great, but I just want my car!! So, I am hoping it will be ready by Wednesday or Thursday. I forgot how much I like my car, but driving around in a rental car for 2 1/2 weeks has made me realize just how much I enjoy my car. It doesn’t give me any problems, it runs smoothly, I love it so much I have already put over 100,000 miles on it in just 4 years (yes… I do a lot of driving). I should be able to easily get another 100,000 miles on it. So, that is why we have only installed the car seat base in William’s vehicle and my bag is not in the car.
Anyway.. back to the baby. Laurel seems to be pretty content in my womb for the moment. I have had no contractions, only what feels like Laurel stretching her body to occupy as much space as she can. When I went in for an ultrasound two weeks ago, she was already measuring 6 lbs, 9 ounces according to the machine, and that was at 35 weeks, 3 days!! So… my doctor feels she is likely going to be a big baby and there is a possibility we may not make it to 40 weeks. My next ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday, so she plans to look at her growth again and determine next steps, which could include inducing early. The good news is that I hit the 37 week mark yesterday, which is considered full term, so there is good confidence that her lungs are fully developed and there is a much lower risk of issues if she were to be born.
I have been feeling pretty good also despite our long stretch of 100 degree weather here in Texas. I am indoors most of the time, so the heat is not really bothering me. Still no major issues… no nausea, food aversions, food cravings, indigestion (actually… maybe I did once or twice, but it was shortlived), heartburn…. nothing. Swollen feet and ankles are the one problem I continue to have. It depresses me a little bit because I can’t really wear any shoes. I have one pair of work shoes that fit and other than that I wear flip flops. Any shoes with a lot of straps tend to make the swelling worse, so I am really looking forward to my feet being “normal” again. I try to keep my feet up as much as possible (they are up write now as I write this post), and it helps, but the swelling always returns once I am sitting without my feet up or up moving for long periods of time. Sleeping has become somewhat uncomfortable, but I am still sleeping pretty well.
So for now, the preparation includes just a few things: sleep (I have got to go to bed at a more reasonable time) and cherishing these last weeks, maybe even days together as a family of two. That part is actually a bit emotional for me because although I am so thrilled and excited to welcome Laurel into our lives, I have become so content with it just being William and me, and being able to go anywhere and do anything with little notice. However, I am ready to embrace the change as I know this moment will be one of the most defining moments in our lives.
So… any predictions on when this defining moment will be?
I can’t believe how fast time has flown by, especially this last month. Things have been pretty busy around here the past few weeks. I am teaching this summer, essentially giving two lectures and two labs every day with the pace of the summer session, and Kyllan has been trying to get as much done at work as possible before she starts maternity leave. Of course there has also been a lot of preparing for baby… Actually, I think that is all that we do now when we are home. We have completed most of our to-do list over the past 3 weeks. All the clothes washed and put away. Strollers and bassinets have been assembled. Car seats have been tested and diaper bags packed. Yesterday I cleaned the carpets and today we reorganized our kitchen cabinets to make room for all of the baby stuff.
Well… we are getting closer. Less than 7 weeks away from the due date and we are almost prepared to welcome Laurel home. William and I have been able to mark a few things off our To Do list this weekend, which was really nice. We went shopping to buy some “must have” items, and William assembled the swing, bouncer seat, and secured the bookshelf to the wall and the changing pad to the dresser. We have William’s favorite dustless board (i.e. white board/dry erase board) with our list of items we still need to purchase and tasks we still need to complete. I think we are both happy with what we were able to mark off this weekend.
Last week we took an infant safety/CPR class. I think we are both happy to have that knowledge now, but I hope we never have to use it. This weekend, we have our last two classes… baby care class and breastfeeding class. After that, I think we are supposed to feel prepared, but I don’t know that there is such a thing 🙂
The pregnancy still seems to be progressing nicely. Still no major issues except for swollen feet and ankles, and a bit of trouble finding a comfortable sleeping position. I can’t wait to sleep on my stomach again!! Other than that, I have been feeling pretty good. I feel myself starting to waddle a bit and I am definitely not moving as fast as I used to, but I am still taking the stairs at work (my daily exercise 🙂 ).
Laurel is definitely moving more. It definitely seems she is getting a bit cramped b/c it feels like she is stretching out and pushing either an arm, or knee, or some part of her body out against my stomach like she is searching for more space. It’s pretty funny and still does not really bother me. Occasionally she still gives a good solid kick or two, but more larger movements now than anything else. I do wonder how she is positioned though because if I had to guess, I would say she is sideways laying horizontally instead of vertically. I don’t know if it is even possible for her to be positioned that way, but I feel movements on the left a right side and rarely high or low in my abdomen.
