Two months old!

Bronwyn turned 2 months old this week. She has become much easier. I'm sure all those sweet smiles certainly help. We are settling into a nice little routine. She naps well during the day, an hour or two every few hours and then is sleeping from 10 to 2or 3 in the morning and then wanting to feed again at 6 or 7. We are trying to establish a bedtime routine, though, that is still fairly variable. She is still suffering from the mysterious ailment of colic. Which means she cries for no apparent reason and drives us nuts. Other than those periods of unrest she is becoming quite the little charmer. She coos and smiles and loves alternating between her swing, bouncy seat, and lying under her new mobile.

one month old!

Here are some pictures of Miss B at one month! She is a sweetheart but certainly feisty. She makes her needs known loud and clear!

Birth Day! August 2nd.

Okay seriously. This is waaaay long overdue. No pun intended. So here is the story of a little girl's birth. On August 1st at 3:30 a.m. I called labor and delivery at Evergreen about some more than normal bleeding. I'd had some history of bleeding at thirty weeks due to a cervical polyp, so I figured that this was related to that. But needless to say any amount of blood is cause for concern in pregnancy. We were told to come into the hospital. Mike and I were pretty convinced they would send us back home, but we still made sure our bags were packed into the car and left the house in quite a panic.

Once there I went to triage where I was examined and Bronwyn's heart rate was monitored. The little bugger was rather unresponsive. I knew she was probably just sleeping but when juice and changing positions didn't do much to wake her up, they decided to admit me to labor and delivery and start me on pitocin. To make a long story short, I was given pitocin around 8 that morning and by 12 was 4 cm dilated and ready for the epidural big time. Right when we were settling down to take a long nap, around 2, Bronwyn decided to make her presence known instead. At 2:59 she made her formal appearance into the world. I was really numb from the epidural, but I swear it felt like she just slipped out.

While the labor was smooth, unfortunately the placenta refused to deliver. I was rushed back to the OR and had to have a D and C. After an hour and a fairly major blood loss, I was reunited with Mike, my parents, and my new little girl.

Happy Birthday Miss B! 6 pounds 6 oz, 20.5 inches and 2 days early.

39 weeks

So I've been convinced that Bronwyn would come early, but at 39 weeks and 1 day, that feeling is receding rapidly and the fear of being endlessly pregnant has replaced it. I know everyone says that babies make their appearance when they are ready, but that is a small comfort when you are anxiously waiting their arrival.

On the bright side, I've been able to keep busy tying down loose ends from our move like changing addresses, hanging up pictures, and getting my fill of Toddlers and Tiaras on TLC (seriously those people are nuts!) I've also been exploring the Bothell/Woodinville area, and have successfully found the bank, best grocery store, and of course spent way too much money at Target.

Mike and I have also been taking full advantage of living so close to downtown Bothell where we have sampled almost every restaurant on Main Street. Chicken and I have been meandering our way down the Sammamish River Trail that we can hop on down the block. Chicken has very kindly adjusted her pace to mine, though I think the greater opportunities to eat grass and sniff everything in her path more than makes up for a less rigorous walk.

Last doctor's appointment was yesterday and the verdict is 2 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Which basically means that I can either go into labor this very second, or not for a couple of weeks. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted, though I'm voting for the latter.

38 weeks

This week was a little rough since Mike was out of town in Atlanta for a big Microsoft conference. I was convinced that I was going to go into labor and he would miss the birth of his first child. Luckily that didn't happen. Fortunately I have wonderful parents who allowed both me and Chicken to stay with them in their home in Kirkland. Chicken was not allowed to be on the hardwood floors, but luckily I had free reign of the house. My parents kept me well fed and entertained for the week and Mike arrived home safely on Saturday.

At my 38 week doctor's appointment we were all happy to confirm that Bronwyn has indeed stayed head down, despite what felt like pretty dramatic acrobatic maneuvers. Apparently being head down suits her, and she seems to be in no hurry to vacate her cozy home. I am still 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. Onto the next week!

Here are two pictures, one of me looking very serious (sorry but it can be a challenge to take a picture of yourself with an iphone) and one of Chicken practicing her babysitting techniques.

37 weeks

Okay, I'm trying to get back on the blogging bandwagon again so here I am with this week's entry. Mike and I went in this morning for our breech inversion to try to flip the baby into a vertex or head-down position. I had major doubts that this would work and was anticipating it to be both painful and unsuccessful. Luckily everything went well and the little bugger turned fairly easily. The worst part of the whole procedure was try to get an I.V. line put in my hand. I was so dehydrated (no eating or drinking after midnight) that my veins kept collapsing. Not fun.

Overall, the experience was fine and now our hope is that baby B. stays in one place instead of flipping again. I also was fortunate enough to enjoy a nice pancake breakfast in bed (well hospital stretcher, but I'll take what I can get). My doctor also checked my progress and I'm 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced which means she is making good progress. I'm still hoping for another week or so to get ready, especially since Mike will be in Atlanta next week. But we all know that babies will come when they are good and ready so who knows when that will be.

Here is a picture of me at 37 weeks sporting a new head down baby, and some more nursery pictures. It is really hard to get a whole room shot and the lighting is poor so sorry about the quality. My mom made the beautiful letters for the baby's name.

36 weeks

Yikes! I can't believe it has been 6 weeks since I've posted. But in all fairness I did finish up the school year, move out of our home and classroom, go to the lake, and move into our new home in Bothell. We are very much enjoying being back in the northwest. As before mentioned we were able to spend sometime at Hayden Lake as well as spend a few days in Portland. We've been in our new house for a week and between Mike and our families help we are fairly settled.

I am in the home stretch of pregnancy now. Starting next week she will be considered full term if I gave birth. That is exciting. What isn't so exciting is that she is in a breech position. So I have a version (where they will try to manually turn her) scheduled for next week. If that doesn't work then they will schedule me for a c-section in 3 weeks. Not too crazy about the idea, however, the planner in me really likes knowing when she'll be coming. Other than that we are enjoying our new neighborhood and I've had plenty in which to invest my nesting energy. I just wish that energy would last for longer than 5 minutes at a time and that bending over was a little easier.

I've taken a couple of pictures of the nursery and myself. Please excuse the picture of me and just focus on the enormous belly. The beautiful mobile above the crib was custom made by her very talented grandfather Mike's dad Lewis. I'll post more pictures when the room is completely finished.