Gabbie - Now with photographic evidence

We're finally home after a long and arduous day in the hospital yesterday, and then no sleep last night. I have a couple of minutes before the next feeding, so I thought I'd jump online really quick to post a picture.

Here's the newest love of my life:

Gabbie

She's here!

Gabrielle was born Sunday morning at 8:39 a.m. after 12 hours of labor, weighing 8 lbs 5 oz, 21 inches long. She's doing great and we're completely in love with her. Also completely exhausted. Pictures and more details soon.

Slow Going

The baby is still not here, but I'm pretty sure there's some slow progress being made. I've had some contractions, but they're not very regular or consistent. Aaron's home with me today, which is nice. I'm hoping she takes advantage of him not having to drive home from work when I go into labor and arrives today.

I am so ready.

Quick Update

Report from the doctor appointment this week:

2 big contractions, 2 small ones during the 20 minute non-stress test
2 centimeters dilated
70% effaced
- 2 station

I don't know what all this means exactly, but it's reassuring to know I've finally made progress. The doctor also stripped my membranes without telling me what she was doing, and it was surprisingly painful, but will hopefully help things along. Fingers crossed. I think I've had one or two contractions since leaving the office. The doctor said we'll have a baby by Monday. I'm hoping for much sooner.

The Most Repeated Phrase...

that I seem to say lately is, "No. No baby yet."

Although I think that if they offer me an induction at my doctor's appointment today I may take it. After all, I don't know if it is physically possible for me to make any more room for the baby. I'm the size of a house. See?

Nope, not today either

Still here, still pregnant, still so completely anxious I can hardly stand it. That's about what's going on with me right now.

(Except for the fact that the neighbors downstairs, just now at not even 7:30 in the morning, are slamming doors so hard I thought a car hit the building. It's literally shaking our apartment. And there's some yelling. Good times, good times.)

My mom is here keeping me entertained, which I appreciate so much I can't put it into words. I think that I'd be going crazy if I'd been sitting here by myself for the past few days. That and I'd be driving Aaron nuts by calling him (probably crying) about ten times a day. I finished the baby blanket I've been crocheting yesterday, and besides needing some ribbon to finish it off, I have nothing else that I need to do. It feels like how I felt when I finished grad school. I have no idea what to do to fill my time.

I tell the baby that it's okay. She can come out any time and I promise we'll be very nice to her and love her forever, no matter what. So far she seeks skeptical, because there's literally no progress besides some pressure and achy thighs. I am so, so ready to be done being pregnant.

(Aaanndd...there was another earth shaking door slam. I hope they leave for the day soon. I would hate to have to unleash overdue pregnant lady wrath on them for waking up my mom or scaring the crap out of me one more time.)

Plus Two

Two days past my due date and there are no signs of impending labor. Aaron was hoping not to have to go into work today, but off he went at the regular time this morning. He kept saying, "You should go into labor now." If only, my dear. If only.

I have an appointment at 11:30 today for a non-stress test and an ultrasound to check fluid levels around the baby. I'm excited to get to see and hear her, but I'd rather see and hear her on the outside. Would really, really rather that was the case. As hard as I'm trying to stay patient, it's nearly impossible. I'm not even that uncomfortable, I mean, there's a little discomfort, but I'm still moving around pretty well and able to do quite a bit. I just want her to get here, and it's so hard to wait.

I'm also really nervous about being induced, if that's what has to happen. I really want to go into labor on my own. I don't want to have to make the decision about being induced or having a c-section (different doctors are advocating for different options).

I also really want her to come soon, because every day she's late is a day of maternity leave to spend with her lost. I really wanted the full twelve weeks, but as of today it's twelve weeks minus a day.

I know I'm whining a lot. I'm feeling a little sorry for myself, I think. The other problem with her not being here is that I'm totally ready for her, work's done, preparations are in place, and the house is fairly spotless, so I really don't have anything to do to kill time. Plus, it's hard to find anything that keeps my interest, when the only thing I'm interested in is meeting my little girl.

Due Date

No labor yet.

We went for a hike this morning, hoping to help things along. We even ran across a snake and I hoped that maybe that adrenaline rush would help speed some things up, but no dice. There's another walk planned for this evening.

I've been told multiple times between yesterday and today that the full moon is Monday night, so I should expect her then. I can only hope, I guess.

In the meantime I've decided to focus on having lots of fun. Might as well, right?

News from the Doctor

Nearly verbatim:

- Wow! You're full of baby!
- That's a big baby you have in there! Not chubby big, but definitely long.
- In my experience, tall women usually go about a week overdue.
- (In response to cervical check) Yep! Just what I expected! Still closed!
- The baby's head is down nice and low. (The one piece of moving toward delivery news.)
- I fully expect to see you on Monday! We'll schdule another appointment for Thursday too.

Just 3 Days to Go (Fingers Crossed)

I am so ready to be done with work - so, so ready - but I want to have more time to spend with the baby after she's here, so I'm still plugging along, heading into the office every day. This is hard, y'all!

Anyway, I was up in the middle of the night again last night, and contemplating something. Maybe you can settle this long-running disagreement between Aaron and I. Here it is:

Have you ever watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition? You may be able to help, even if you haven't. So on the show they tear down peoples' old, broken-down houses and put up new, huge, fancy houses. Most of these people don't have much money of their own, and likely still have a mortgage. Sometimes this mortgage is paid off for them, but not always.

Here's where the disagreement occurs. Aaron thinks that because of the new, improved status of their house, their mortgage payment is going to go up and they won't be able to afford their new house. I, on the other hand, think that the mortgage payment doesn't change at all. Why should it? They didn't borrow any more money to make the improvements. So what do you think? Does their house payment go up or stay the same?

(And of course, they may not be able to afford the house still if they have to pay taxes on their "winnings". I don't know how that part works.)

What a difference a night makes

Last night I was miserable. I was uncomfortable, tired, too hungry and then too full, thirsty, and pretty much every sad adjective you can think of. I've been waking up at three in the morning for over a week now, and between that and being incredibly uncomfortable at work (and not wanting to be there in the first place), I was frustrated and so, so ready for the baby to make her grand entrance.

Then, I slept for a full night. I woke up this morning at 6:30. I guess I can't speak for how I'll feel tonight, but this morning I'm feeling pretty damn good. Thank goodness!

Not Quite Yet

I'm still here, baby still in the belly, and still going through my day like normal. We've been giving the baby pep talks every day telling her that it's okay to come out now, but all to no avail. Aaron literally jumped up and down this morning because he's so excited that she'll be here at any time. He spent the weekend rubbing and talking to my belly, which was absolutely adorable.

We did a lot this weekend, but none of it really baby related because we've been completely ready on that front for more than a week now. Maybe I should have left everything undone, and then of course she'd come when we were not ready for her yet.

I had the afternoon off last Friday and I spent it doing absolutely nothing, which was absolutely wonderful. I played gin online, watched bad television, and even snuck in a short nap. Saturday was Aaron's birthday and we continued our annual tradition of going out for a meal that absolutely sucked. You'd think we'd learn and go somewhere we know is good, although even when we've tried that the service has been horrible to make up for it. This time both the service and the food were ridiculously bad. I think next year we'll be staying in. The last time we did that (6 whole years ago!) it was great and everybody had a lot of fun. Apparently we're just slow learners.

Mothers Day was nice, and Aaron surprised me with a box of really nice chocolate, and then even agreed to pizza for dinner last night. I think that was mostly because he had spent the day doing dishes (we fixed brunch for my visiting parents and sister), and he didn't want to do any more.

Life has been wonderfully blissful for the past few weeks. We're both so happy and so ready for our daughter to make her way into the world. I thought I'd be beyond nervous at this point about giving birth, but I'm really not. I'm just ready.

Ready for that introduction

I know it's all baby, all the time lately, but I hope you'll forgive me because I just can't help it. It is the thing that is happening to me right now. I woke up at five this morning (2 hours extra sleep! Yeah!) and realized that as of today there are only eight days left until my due date. Eight days! As in one day more than a week! I really am having a hard time wrapping my head around that. Every now and then Aaron or I will start sounding like we're trying to catch our breath, and it's because we just realized that our little family is truly about to become one person larger. We're going to have a little girl living in our house sometime soon. Within the next year or so, someone will be able to call me mom and him dad. We're both incredibly excited and completely overwhelmed.

I thought I was going into labor yesterday morning for about half an hour. I had strong crampy feelings, and as soon as the first one occurred I was pretty sure this was it, but then they ended and it was clear that this was not it. I was thoroughly disappointed, but also a little relieved. I'm ready but I'm nervous. But mostly ready. Ready to look at her little face, to count her little fingers and toes, to see if she has hair, to find out how big she is, to cuddle her as much as humanly possible, to introduce her to everyone else including a very excited pair of grandparents and an aunt who is so excited she can barely contain herself, and for a million other little things.

Any day now will be absolutely fine with me. For Aaron too. As nervous as we are, we really just can't wait to meet our daughter.

Jessie the Grouch

I woke up this morning at about 2:45. This is the third time in the past four days this has happened, and the tiredness combined with hormones and a growing impatience (I'm not known for being a patient person) for the baby to get here is not making me a fun person to be around. I've managed to hide it as much as possible, but it slips out in little bits.

Several things made me feel quite stabby yesterday (thanks to Amalah (at least I think it was her) and others for bringing that term to my attention, because it captures exactly how I felt toward certain people and things yesterday so much better than "annoyed"), including:

Someone writing out suggested changes and commenting on typos in my work instead of correcting these things which would have taken less time than the suggesting and commenting done.

Potholes

A lack of parking spaces within almost 100 yards of Target

Waiting in the drive-thru lane at Taco Bell for more than 10 minutes for just a burrito and nachos

Having to be at work instead of at home napping like I would have preferred

Aaron joking with me instead of giving me a straight answer to my question

Aaron repeatedly pretending to take videos of me while I was changing or after I came out of the shower (no actual videos taken, he was just holding the camera and aiming it toward me)

Plus various other small things that just grated on my already raw nerves.

I'm hoping my mood improves today. It should, there are plenty of good things that are supposed to happen, and as long as I separate myself from everyone for the majority of the day, everyone should make it out alive. Who knew that being 39 weeks pregnant would make me such a grouch!

Still Here

I was not able to convince the baby to arrive this past weekend, so I'm still pregnant. This is fine with me, but would be even better news if 3 things would occur:

1. I didn't have to work any more -I have a ton of work left to do before I can go on leave guilt-free.

2. I could sleep - I got to say hello to the world this morning at 3 a.m., and haven't slept in past 6:30 for a few weeks now.

3. I could eat anything without getting heartburn - Aaron made an omelet yesterday that contained cayenne pepper, and I thought that maybe I was dying after I ate it.

Other than that, life is good. I'm enjoying these last couple of weeks of just Aaron and I before the little one comes along and changes our life completely. We hung out and watched a bunch of season two of Dexter (LOVE that show) on On-Demand (which is one of my favorite innovations ever). We also finally bought a video camera! We still need to buy a memory card in order to record, but that should be here soon (I think Aaron bought one last night), and then we'll officially be all ready for the baby to arrive.

When she does decide to make her arrival, I'll try to post to let everyone know it's time. I don't know if the hospital has wireless, but we'll take the laptop just in case. Otherwise, it might be a day or two before I can post pictures and details. I know that's a long time to wait, so I'll try my hardest to let you all know what's happening and when it happened.

Any Time Now Would Be Fine

During a kick count the other night, Aaron informed me that kick counts are the major reason that he can't wait for the baby to get here. It stresses him out to watch me worry if she's taking a while (I'm worrying a lot less than he thinks, but I feel bad that I cause him that much worry). However, on nights like last night, I can completely agree.

I started my kick count at 7:20 and 30 minutes later she still hadn't moved at all. I wasn't too stressed about it yet, but Aaron started frantically packing his stuff into the hospital bag (the baby and I are already completely packed). The more he worried, the more I worried, and when she still didn't have our ten movements after an hour, I started to worry too. Then she got the hiccups, and started moving around a bunch even after the hiccups were over.

It was at about this time that I realized not only had I taken a nap that afternoon, which is a sure way to calm her down quite a bit, I had also taken a walk. Walking tends to put her into a deep sleep; it's apparently quite soothing. I started the count right after the walk, so of course it took her a while to move.

Aaron thinks that the worry is going to lessen once she gets here, but I don't think he knows exactly how this parenting thing works quite yet. It's not that the worries go away, they just change. I think we're both going to need a lesson on how stress less.

38 Weeks

Here I am at 38 weeks, with my belly full of the baby that woke me up at 5:30 this morning because she was frustrated by hiccups. It was awesome, even if it was early. I can't believe she'll be here in around 2 weeks (although sooner would be fine with me too)!