We Have a Date!

If Cady doesn't show up on her own by Monday, we'll be headed to the hospital at 4:00 Monday morning to be induced (we call it her eviction day). We're so excited to finally have a date! We'll keep you posted, but she'll be here on Monday for sure, if not before.

Week 40!

We are within a week of our due date, it's unbelievable. The science of medicine is an amazing thing, and I'm so glad I have the doctor I do. Who could have imagined we'd make it all the way to this point? We went to our final childbirthing class yesterday and then had lunch with one of my co-workers. I'm still knitting up a storm, I'll post some pictures as soon as I take them. I developed two of my very own patterns, I'm really excited about them, so cute, if I do say so myself.

My mom really thought I'd have the baby yesterday (mostly because that was the day that she picked on the poll we took at my shower) but no such luck. Maybe she'll be a Cinco de Mayo baby, then I'll always have an excuse to make/eat Mexican food - not that I've ever needed an excuse for that. Dan and my Pop picked up the pavers for our back patio project yesterday, and will get the sand and get started this afternoon. It's a beautiful day for us all to get outside!

We had two showings on the rental property in Cincinnati last week, unfortunately no offers yet. Keep your fingers crossed! It would be great to be able to be out of the land-lording business!

38 Weeks - It's almost time...

Today we are two weeks from our due date and things are going great. The doctor says it could be any day, so we'll see!

The ladies at the office had a shower for me last weekend. It was so much fun to see them again and catch up on all that's happening at work. We're done with 4 out of 5 of our childbirth classes, and we think we're as ready as we're going to be. The hospital bag is packed, and I have to show you how cute the suitcase is. It was my Grandma G's red suitcase that she ALWAYS used when she came to visit us from Florida. It's from the late 60s or early 70s. Like most vintage luggage, the interior was a mess, so Mom and I ripped it out and she gave it the most amazing "do-over" with the same fabrics we used for the baby's room. It is my favorite piece of luggage, I absolutely love it. I'm so glad I'll get to use it soon.

I don't have any pictures yet, but I finally finished knitting a sweater that I had started for Dan back in 2004 when we were in Denver. I've also finished one for myself, along with a great silk purse that got lots of compliments while we were at an arts and crafts show today. I've made a ton of hats and booties that I've put on my Etsy Shop along with a couple of fun vintage finds. I've told myself I'm going to be better about finishing my knitting projects and putting them out there. So far, so good!

We've Made it to 36 Weeks!

I had my appointment this morning and I can officially "do whatever I want" now. Of course, there are restrictions, but for the most part my strict bedrest Rx has been removed since we've made it to the point where it would be safe to deliver. Obviously, we want to go another 3-4 weeks before she's born, but if she's born now, the risks are very low. So I can walk, go to the grocery store, cook, do light housework, etc. How exciting! I also had my last Progesterone shot today. I go to the doctor weekly from here on out.

On March 21, my neighbors Ciara and Denise hosted the most wonderful shower for me, with all the neighbor girls and some friends. It was so much fun, and my first time out of the house for something other than a doctor's appointment in months! We got such cute and useful things from everyone, and really appreciate it. Her room's getting full and ready to function!

The cake....

Lisa and Denise...

Natasha, Deneen and Jeanine...

Mom and I...

We started our childbirth classes on 3/28 and they will go through 5/1. We go every Saturday. We're scheduled for a hospital tour on Wednesday 4/14.

33 Weeks tomorrow...and her room is just about done!

I forgot to update last week, oops. I'd say I've been really busy, but you all know that's not the case. There's really no update, other than we're still here. Still getting the weekly shots. We did register for our child birth classes and hospital tour, which is exciting. We'll start our classes on 3/27 and we'll finish on 5/1, it's cutting it pretty close, but what else can we do? Our tour will be on my Pop's birthday 4/2.

My cousin, Sara, gave birth to her little boy Jonah on the 16th, just about a week early. Mom and baby are doing well.

I have been knitting up a storm. I've been working on something for Sara and for Farley (one of my very best friends from college). Farley is due with twin boys a week after I'm due. I've also been working on a sweater I had started for Dan about 5 years ago, and one for myself. I have lots of unfinished projects that I'm working through one by one.

I can't remember if we've shared her name, officially, and the story behind it. We're naming her Cadan Isabel, and we call her Cady for short. Cadan is basically just a combination of our names, but it's a British name (and you all know how much we love GB) and depending on where you research it, it's either Scottish, Celtic or Welsh and means "battle". We hope she's able to choose hers wisely, and stand strong for what she believes in, so it fits. Isabel is a family name on my side, and is very Spanish (and we love Spain).

As for her room, it's going to be COLORFUL and girlie (without being pink)! It will have lots of fun patterns and colors for her to look at. Here are a couple of pictures of the room while it's in progress. The fabrics are going to be used at the changing table, her crib, and in other spots around the room. As we get more done, we'll post pictures.

Here's the fabric. It's from Amy Butler's "Love" collection.

Here are Mom and Dan putting the crib together (I was laying on the guest bed, directing the process). Cribs are short. We didn't know that and it caused some confusion. : )

Dan doing some painting. He was the roller and Mom was the brusher. It's called Geranium Leaf and turned out just like we had hoped.

31 Weeks

We're 31 weeks and 2 days today. Mom arrived to help us get the baby's room ready and do some stuff around the house before she gets here. She brought us all kinds of fun stuff for the baby. Two of her friends made us the most beautiful blankets. She also found my old rattle and brought that out, along with lots of clothing. We'll be starting full-swing on the baby's room soon, and that's exciting.

This week we had what turned out to be our LAST appointment at the perinatal center. The high-risk doctor believes we're far enough along that we don't need to go back anymore, and that we can just see our regular OB now. We had an ultrasound (Dan will scan them soon) and the doctor did her checklist of all of the organs and limbs. At first, she wasn't moving much, and she was keeping her arms right in front of her face, so the doctor asked us to walk around for a while and get a bite to eat and some juice and come back. When we did, she moved around and the doctor gave us the all clear.

We go to the regular OB next week, and she should give us the "ok" to register and go to our child birth classes.

30 Weeks!

We've made it to 30 weeks. Seven weeks of bedrest done! At 32 weeks, my doctor will let us go take our hospital tour and child-birth classes. So that's the next big milestone. The doctor is really happy with the progress (or lack of progress, however you want to look at it) we're making. I'm still getting the shots of progesterone weekly. Next week we have another ultrasound, probably the last one we'll have. They'll measure the baby's growth and estimate her weight.

My friend Staci took this picture, she's a photographer in the Ventura area.

29 Weeks and Counting

Well, I've officially been on bedrest for six weeks. Amazing. Looking back, it's gone by faster than I thought it would, thankfully. I've done a handful of knitting projects, ordered some stuff for the baby's room, and gotten some things organized. Like our address book, for example. Send me an e-mail with your address and birthday if you want to be included in our new and improved address book. I've also been going through cookbooks and magazines and making a list of "must-make" dishes. Once I'm able to be on my feet for more than 10 minutes, I'm looking forward to cooking. Do you have a "must-make" dish? If so, send me the recipe along with its story (as to why it's so great or where you found it) and I'll add it to my list!

This week was full of visitors, which I love! Everyone's reaction is the same..."this is what you do all day" as they look at me laying on the couch. Yep, that's it! A big day for me is when I go to the doctor and actually get out of the house. Or when I have a visitor. My friend Staci came down from Ventura to knit with me and take some maternity pictures. I'm hoping to have them sometime this weekend, and will post them here. My neighbors Ciara and Denise have brought over movies and spent time with me on the couch catching me up on what's happening in the outside world. One of my former employees, Cionie, came by yesterday bringing wonderful food and gifts from her trip to the Philipines. It's always so good to see her, she is coming up on the first anniversary of her retirement from IP and her husband is getting ready to retire. She's on the go non-stop, and I'm so happy she's enjoying her retirement! That's why we're all working, right? So we can eventually stop working and get on with the stuff we really want to do!

I hope you all have a great weekend, don't forget to leave a comment! You can also sign up to follow our blog, that way you know when it's updated. Just cick on the "follow" button on the right hand side. Thanks for stopping by : )

I was just thinking....

about things I can't wait to do when I'm finished with bedrest.

1. Walk. Around the block, around the world, whatever.
2. Get a manicure and pedicure.
3. Get a massage.
4. Get a facial.
5. Clean the house.
6. Spend time in my craft room.
7. Get back to my photography.
8. Do Pilates.
9. Cook and bake.
10. Plant some tomatoes, herbs and veggies.

That's just off the top of my head. Just a few more months!

A Visit From Uncle Charles

Yesterday, Uncle Charles came to visit. He has been on a three-week cross country trip visiting friends and family. It was a quick visit, but a good one. We really enjoyed seeing him. He's en-route back to Alabama.

The Belly

So many of you have asked to see it, so here it is. The nightgown is vintage, from my great-aunt Cath's collection of beautiful things.

More Ultrasound Pictures and Lots of Updates

These didn't scan very well, but hopefully you can see some of the important stuff. Since the last update, LOTS has happened! First, we found out that we're having a girl! We're so excited, and can't wait to meet her. But along those lines, we also found out that I'm at high risk for delivering early. I have what they call an "incompetent cervix" meaning that the pressure from the weight of the baby and my expanding uterus, etc. is too much for my cervix to handle, causing it to prematurely shorten. A "normal" cervical length is anything greater than 2.5cm, and shortening "normally" happens naturally as labor begins. Apparently cervical incompetence is a pretty rare thing, affecting only 1-2% of pregnancies.

At our appointment on December 16 (at 20 weeks), my cervical length was 3.5cm which was normal, but shorter than my original measurement of 4cm (at 15 weeks). Since it was slightly shorter, they wanted me to come back on January 8 (23 weeks). At that appointment, it was down to 1.5cm and my doctor put me on immediate bed rest and a weekly progesterone shot. I'm basically limited to getting up to go to the bathroom or take a shower, no working. I had to go in again on January 15 (24 weeks) where it measured .9cm. I went back again on January 21 (25 weeks) and my cervical length was back up to 2.7cm, which was great news. Additional good news was that the baby weighed in at about 1 pound 12 ounces. As a result, I didn't have to go back for a measurement until yesterday, February 4 (27 weeks). Unfortunately, the measurement was back down to 1.2cm.

What's frustrating (aside from laying on the couch all day) is that the doctors can't really explain why this happens or what to expect as far as when I might deliver. I could go into labor today, or anytime between now and my due date in May. Now, I had to take statistics in college twice. But a 13 week variance on a 40 week pregnancy seems like a ridiculous deviation. So, we just take it one day at a time. The days have added up to 4 weeks TODAY, and have taken us from 23 weeks to 27 weeks. If I were to deliver at this point, the baby would have about an 85% chance of survival with about a 72% chance of not developing major complications (althought it would certainly not be an easy road with lots of time spent in the NICU before she could come home).

That pretty much gets us caught up. Dan has been a great nurse, and makes sure I have everything I need. We're really very lucky for a bunch of reasons. First, that Dan gets to work from home. He's here whenever I need something and is able to go to all of our doctor appointments. Second, we have great insurance, both disability and health. We know how lucky we are, believe me and we're glad we both work for wonderful companies that provide such great benefits at a relatively low cost to us. Third, my blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, etc. all continue to be good...each of those things if they were out of whack could further increase the risk of delivering early.

Here I am in my spot on the couch. I had just woken up from a nap (I'm not that sickly looking in real life). This was taken during week 25 (week 2 of bedrest). For those following the "extremely large blanket project," said blanket is pictured here. It's a combination of all kinds of wonderful yarns, a bunch of old ones that were my grandma's, some beautiful silks, mohair, angora, ribbon, wool, etc. Dan's very excited about it because I've gone through a TON of my stash. It's truly a beautiful and comfortable blanket, I love it. It's going to be huge though. HUGE. Like 10'x13'. It's about half way done. I'm not sure where it's going to go or how functional it's going to be but I still like it, and it keeps me busy. I am now a big believer in checking my gauge. Shirley Todd, I know you'd be proud that I'm finally on board with that, 20 years later. All it takes is making a blanket that could carpet a room : )

20 Week Ultrasound

Last Wednesday, we had another ultrasound. Very exciting! We were hoping he or she would show us if he or she was a boy or a girl, but no such luck. Hopefully we'll find out in January. Here are pictures of our little baby...

We Have an Announcement!

It's a big one too! We're expecting our first child on May 8, 2010!!!