Top o' the mornin to ya!

Charlotte and I are wondering how all our fine readers are doing this morning at 5:16! We're chillin in the recliner in the living room to let Daddy get 1.5 hours of good sleep before he heads back to work today.

We got home Tuesday, March 17th just before lunchtime. My parents are here for the week which has been really nice so far! Mom and Dad made a great dinner last night (pot roast, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy and rolls!), and Scott's parents are coming to meet their granddaughter this afternoon. We were all tired yesterday afternoon and napped for a while. Seeing as C is eating for the4th time since 11:00 last night, I suspect more napping will happen today!

(Typing 1-handed is slow!)

I'm going to go stare at my baby a while now, just wanted to let you know that we are home and doing well! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers these past few months, they really paid off!

Introducing Baby Charlotte!

Born at 7:09am, weighing 7lbs, 3.3oz, and 20.5 inches long

This picture is at about 11 hours old.

Ignore me... look at the brand new, 5 minute old baby!

15 minutes old, tasting her fingers!

I woke up at 2:47 to go to the bathroom, and thought, wow, my back is really hurting. Oh wait, no it's not! Oh wait again, yes it is! ALOT!!! Um, this is a real contraction...
I had 2 (not timed), rolled over at 3:30, felt warm water, jumped out of bed, more water. Determined that my water broke and the contractions went to 2-3 minutes apart and hurt like heck!! We got to the hospital about 4, checked at 4:15 and I was told I was already 6-7cm! I got the epidural about 5:30, it kicked in after about 5 more contractions, then I relaxed a little until we started pushing! I pushed for maybe 30-40 minutes and she was born!

Scott saw the whole thing and said it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen. He's been so good with her, I love it! :)

She has slept most of the day, we have not. I'm hoping that we'll get some really good sleep tonight (minus the bp checks, the weight check for Charlotte at midnight, and the other vital checks, feedings, and diaper changes!). We will probably be here until Tuesday morning. We are so excited that she's here!

Nope.

The contractions stopped after a while, so I'm still pregnant.

I realize that I'm not at my due date yet, but I seriously feel like she's never going to come out. Having contractions since mid-January, and real (slightly painful) contractions for a week now, it's exhausting!

I baked a cake for baby Tuesday night, wrote "Happy Birthday Charlotte" on it, told her she could have the whole thing if she came out; it didn't work. Scott and I are stuck with a whole confetti cake now! Darn... :)

I cannot cannot cannot wait for her, it's killing me and Scott!

Real Contractions!

I had some real contractions this morning, timeable at 5 minutes apart for about 3 hours. They have tapered off since then, but we're going for a walk tonight. Hopefully that will kick them back up!!

Don't forget, full moon and big storm tonight, I can't wait! :)

Oh, just a tiny bit more progress today, but the doc said I could be within just a couple of days, so that's exciting!

Still here, still pregnant

We are 38 weeks today, and I hope I don't make it to 39!

My predictions keep failing (which should teach me a lesson to not make predictions!) but my next one is delivering on Wednesday. Tuesday night is a full moon plus there is a big storm coming in. Change in barometric pressure and full moons are shown to send women into labor, so I'm hoping it'll be a double doozy for me! There is a girl from our childbirth class (Hi, Sara!!) who is scheduled to be induced Tuesday night, so I've joked with her that we'll be there at the same time. I hope she goes before then, but if not, I hope we're there together! I want to meet Anna/Aaron too. :)

We laid low this weekend, I'm still recovering from a head cold (9 days now) and Scott seemed to have a touch of it, so we didn't do too much. Saturday, we went to the mall, walked around a little, then went home again. Scott stayed home and watched the OSU/OU game, and our Cowboys just couldn't get ahead. They did great though against a high-ranked team on their court. We were proud, and I can't wait to see them in the NCAA tourney! I went out with 5 ladies from Sunday school, and we got pedicures and out to dinner at Villa Montez. Yummy! It was nice to get out, and now I have pretty toes to look at during labor!

Sunday, Scott needed more sleep (still not feeling well, and we can't have 2 of us sick!) so we stayed home from church. We went to Walmart, did a little grocery shopping, then came back home and I napped from 12:30-2:30. I'm just not sleeping at night, and when I do, I'm having the strangest dreams. Like last night, we were at the mall (not really ours, though, it was super nice!) eating quesadillas from the movie theater and listening to the Easter Bunny read a book to small children about gun control. I can't explain any of it, but it's making me laugh this morning!

I got to work early, to check in 45 kids for a youth trip. They are off and I'm left here with nothing to do all day. I've got 5 bosses and they are all gone. Today will be a good day to catch up on some internet stuff, I guess.

I'll update on here as soon as I can with baby news if anything happens. Send some good vibes!

No baby yet!

Welp, my prediction of 3/3/09 was wrong. My new prediction is tomorrow (3/6/09 - because that's just a cool date!!) but I don't know about that! My mom's bday is Saturday, and my mother in law's bday is next Saturday! We shall see!!

I've had a bad head cold this week: scratchy throat, upset stomach, headache, stuffy face, and a cough. The coughing has been the worst part, as about every other cough sets off another contraction, and that's just annoying! My throat isn't too scratchy today, so hopefully I'm getting better.

We went to my 37 week check up Tuesday, and the doctor told us that I'm dialated to 1cm and 90% effaced already! She said that the key to progress for first time pregnancies is the effacement and that 90% at 37 weeks is great!

So we decided to get this baby out last night. We went out for Mexican (spicy food is supposed to help, so say Ye Olde Wives), then power walked (power waddled??) the mall twice, then I came home and sat/bounced/tried not to fall off of the exercise ball for about 2 hours. No luck. A little bit of cramping while walking, but I think it was just my body protesting the exercise!

While we were at the mall, Scott said that this could be the last time we're there without a stroller, and he wanted to commemorate the night (he was very convinced that what we were doing was going to result in a baby last night!) so we found a photo booth while walking. He also wanted Charlotte in a picture, so the second frame is just our stomachs! I love it! As soon as he got home, he put the pictures on the fridge.

I think he's getting a little sentimental about this time of our lives coming to an end and something new starting. We were eating breakfast this morning, and he leaned over and rubbed my belly and said good morning to Charlotte. Pretty soon, we'll be rubbing her little belly!

So, in all, I'm still here, still pregnant, and ready to meet our little girl!!