Day 286... and counting

Yep, still here. Hopefully the suspense of my not posting yesterday didn't get anyone too excited!!

Checked in with the OB this morning and lost count of how many nurses, sonographers, receptionists and doctors asked me if I were still pregnant. YES!!!!!!! I!!!!!!!!! AM!!!!!!!!!

But not for much longer! We scheduled to go in Monday at 5:30 to be induced, if nothing happens over the weekend. I had dilated a whopping 1 cm since Tuesday, so who knows, I could be on a roll. They stripped my membranes to see if that helps move things on, but it's no guarantee. We did learn that the OB on call all weekend is the same who delivered Miles - we loved her, so happy about that. And if we make it to Monday, the OB on that day is the cool one who told me to get a massage - she should be great too.

We got another ultrasound while we were there. They wanted to check the amniotic fluid level, which was great. They also wanted to see her move around a bit, but again she was napping. Stubborn little thing wouldn't wake up for anything! Maybe that's a good thing - she'll be sleeping through the night in a month. (Hope I didn't just jinx myself). They ended up pulling out this buzzer cattle prod thing to try to annoy her awake. That finally worked and she's been up punching me in the bladder ever since. Thanks, sweetie!!

Snow!

I won't even say it, but since I'm blogging, you know what I'm NOT doing at this time!!

But I had to share that we got snow today!! Miles has seen snowflakes maybe 3 other times in his 2.5 years, but this is the first time any accumulated. I made him some pancakes and tried to use the snowflake mold, but after the first one the really didn't turn out.

We had to get out and play right after breakfast because it started melting pretty soon. But Miles was singing Frosty the Snowman and had a blast just shuffling through it, watching the dogs go crazy running around.

Tune in tomorrow, maybe there will be some more excitement....????

Still pregnant... (how many days will I have to use this title?)

I can't complain too much at being 2.5 days late. Since both Ellie and Eileen were 9 days late, I don't deserve much sympathy from their mommies. I can complain about my day at the O.B. office, sheesh! The doctor in the office is also the on-call doctor for the hospital and they just had an onslaught of deliveries and emergency surgeries. So while waiting, the nurse hooked me up for a non-stress test. Basically they strap some sensors to my belly and chart the baby's heart rate and activity for 20-30 minutes. It would also track contractions, if I were having any! Since my appointment was before lunch, the test measured her heart rate but she was asleep, so there wasn't much activity. They had us leave to get lunch and come back to do it again.

The second time she was more active, so she passed the non-stress test (yay!). I however didn't do so hot on the "how are we progressing" test. I'm not dilating and am only slightly effaced. So since I'm generally doing well & the baby is fine, they don't want to push induction. I guess if my body's not ready, there's a greater chance I'd end up having a C-section. So we'll head back to the doctor on Friday and see what's happening.

Unless something happens between now and then, which is a total possibility. With Miles I went from zero to "he's here" in less than 2 days. And it is expected to snow tonight, so when better for me to need to rush to the hospital?

UPDATE: day 281

KNOXVILLE, TN. As of 1:30 pm February 25, Miss E. is still staging her live-in. Experts believed that her protest wouldn't go past February 24. Unfortunately it appears she has supplies to let her go for two more weeks if left to herself. The authorities at Women's Care Group, however, state that they will not let this protest go beyond the end of this week. If she refuses to appear they will step in.

Observers speculate to the reason behind her refusal to leave. Some site the fact that she, as of yet, has no official name - although there are some very strong contenders. Others comment that maybe she knows mom's singing will only get worse when not muffled by placenta and amniotic fluid. The reasons unknown, we all must wait until she decides she is ready to appear.

More news to follow as this situation develops...

Okay, so I recycled that news brief from when Miles was being stubborn in August 2005. But the evening after I sent that e-mail I started contracting, so maybe this will trigger something later today! If not, we go see the OB in the morning and we'll at least schedule something in case she really decides to hold out. So that leaves the decision: do you choose February 29th for a birthday? I'd think it would be pretty cool and special! I looked up some famous Feb 29th babies and they include Ja Rule, Tony Robbins and Dinah Shore. So it's no Elvis (me), but a little more relatable than Yasser Arafat (Miles).

Since we're been waiting around, PopPop has been able to finish the floor installation! We used cork flooring and are very happy with the look and feel of it. And the carpenters got the bench built, which Miles LOVES. Still not painted, but you get the idea. We'll have a cushion made to fit the seat, but we tested out some sofa cushions for comfort. The wall colors are below - the kitchen will be the sort of Robins' Egg Blue (actually named Woodlawn Blue) below and the walls in the adjoining den will be Monroe Bisque. I'll eventually get some full shots of the finished kitchen up, but I hesitate to do so now. I've stuck 1st grade -style labels (trash, plates, silverware) on all the cabinet doors so that the grandparents (and Wayne) know where everything is! So when those come down and the backsplash is in we'll be ready for some final shots.

(no we didn't clone Miles in real life, just digitally. One of him is all the fun we can handle right now!)

We're failing as parents

I guess I should start by saying, yes, I'm still pregnant. Any calls to grandparents lately have been answered with anxious "hello? are we on?" questions. But no, not yet.

As I've been instructed by most of the men in the family, I'm now not allowed to go into labor until midnight tonight. Why the blackout on Saturday the 23rd? If you live in Tennessee, you shouldn't need to ask. #1 Memphis is playing #2 Tennessee in Memphis tonight at 9 p.m.

GO BIG ORANGE!!!

Apparently this is turning out to be a bigger ticket than Hannah Montana! But alas, our son has been warped by the visiting BeeBe & PopPop. If you're a Big Orange fan, you may not want to play the clip below. Wayne and I are working on deprogramming all day today.

counting down

Still here.... didn't I just say that last week? Went for the check-up yesterday and nada, zilch, nothing progressing toward labor at all. Of course with Miles I was like that at the full 40 week point and 2 days later he was here. So no worries yet. They did say they wouldn't let me go past 41 weeks, so that means March 1 is the latest she should arrive. Overall I'm feeling pretty good. Sleeping generally well, getting around fine. The most annoying part right now is the kickboxing session going on in my belly. I mean look at that baby floating around over there with 4 days left. No way, that is NOT accurate! She is all wrapped up on herself filling every available cranny and STILL punching and kicking like a champ. In fact when the OB was listening for her heartbeat (with the doppler near my bellybutton), I suddenly got a tumor-like protrusion there, about 2 inches outward. She was elbowing the doctor right back! Feisty one, I do believe.

quick ones

Okay, I just posted, but I have to get these Miles-isms down before I forget....

~ "tickle mine arm, mommy" - he loves for me to lightly brush his forearm with my fingertips. And then he usually says "mine back, too"

~ "mommy, say 'mmmmmm'" - when I feed him a bite, I'm supposed to say "mmmmmm" as he eats it.

~ we're working hard on please and thank you, but sometimes when I say "how do you ask nicely?" the response is "Can I have some grapes, yes ma'am?". Oh well, at least he's picking up on the ma'am and sir part too!

Grrrr!

That's a happy grrr! from Miles the Leopard. Since I'm not much for getting on the floor and playing these days, I'm having to entertain Miles in other ways. Cousin Evan shared some costumes he'd outgrown, so we're trying out dress-up this week. He likes hats of all sorts, but I was curious how he'd respond to a full suit (it wasn't fun the last time we tried). He enjoyed it, though he didn't want to wear it for very long.

So despite the fact that I'm still pregnant (I go tomorrow to let them tell me that again), no grouchy grrrs from me yet. I've definitely slowed way down and am enjoying these last days of relative "peace" and "quiet". BeeBe and PopPop are coming Wednesday to be here for Miles whenever Wayne & I rush off to the hospital. Then after Miss E graces us with her presence, Mimi and PawPaw will come stay with us for a few days. And of course YaYa and B will be up visiting right away, maybe with a longer stay to follow. I'm very interested to see how Miles responds. I know he's excited, but I've been trying to prep him with the "babies do 5 things" talk: eat, sleep, poop, cry and lie there. So little yet it seems like so much....

But the kitchen and "keeping room" (how awesome is that description!) are coming along... kitchen only needs backsplash, paint and cabinet trim. Oh and flooring. Sounds like a lot, but the parts we need & use are done and fabulous, so I'm not too worried. The wall to the next room to it is gone, and we have new bookshelves with cabinets in there now. Today they are running the crown molding and building our little eating nook in the kitchen. So hopefully by the end of this week all that we'll lack is a good paint job. Thank goodness for low-VOC paint so that can get done even if Miss E. is here!! I've been laughing with dad about how long this carpentry part seems to be taking (other people are doing it). Seems 15 hour work days are NOT the norm in the contracting world, just dad's when he's building his little girl's kitchen!

Oh yeah, I've been forgetting to post the picture of our counters. I don't want to show much since there's no back splash to really finish it yet, but here you go. We used Yorkshire by Cambria and LOVE it. Wayne stain tested it the first night... I didn't realize when he made his smoothie that the blueberries had splattered on the counter. The next morning while making breakfast I saw all these little blue specks everywhere.... Argh!! but they wiped right up. Phew, would have been heartbreaking to ruin our counters on the 1st day. They are living up to the non-porous, non-staining claim!

>> swak! <<

Happy Valentine's Day!! Miles is gearing up for his V-day party at school Thursday. We've got all our goodies ready to go. I just hope he doesn't throw a fit wanting to eat them all before school!

He's back to wanting a goodnight lullaby, and the old favorite, "Mommy loves Miles, Daddy loves Miles, baby sister loves Miles very very much" his high on the rotation. We start with that verse then go through the extended family and roster of friends and classmate before singing the converse of the entire list. Whew! I sometimes try to get away with just the family but am soundly corrected with a yell of "Who ewse wuvs Miles?" as I back toward the door. The other famous stall tactic is the tangential conversation about baby sister. "We're going to rock her and feed her and be very, very quiet, sshhhh." And the discussion about her name ensues. I think we've asked Miles too many times, because he now just says both names. So who knows, it might be a completely new combination from the poll.

Today Miles got to dine among royalty! Well, almost. The Tiara Tea Society of Knoxville held its inaugural High Tea and Miles and I joined the ladies. Beebe is involved with the Memphis group and was in town to help with the start of this chapter. The basic idea behind the group is to dress up and have a tea party - tiaras and all - but with a purpose. This year they are raising funds to provide surgery for 2 little girls with congenital heart defects. (One, Sasha, has already had her surgery and is doing well.) So Miles got to enjoy a Tea Party and was generally well behaved. We had some moments when he realized he wouldn't be getting nuggets for lunch, but once we got a few bites in his belly he calmed down and charmed all. He really liked the strawberry scones! The local Style show was there, and Miles told Ms. April that she looked like a princess. Lock up your daughters, my friends, we have a ladies man in our midst! Style will feature the tea next Tuesday.

Still pregnant...

Not that I expected not to be. It's just funny going to these weekly appointments. Wayne always asks, "so what's going on at this one?" and I tell him, "they're going to tell me I'm still pregnant." That's really about it! Oh and tell me how much weight I've gained, but thankfully that's been about the same as it was with Miles so I'm not super stressed about it.

Saturday was our 6th wedding anniversary. We celebrated, but not quite with the fanfare that we did last year. With our babysitter roster completely depleted, we took Miles with us to our favorite mexican hole in the wall, La Paz - I mean Chez Guevara. The statewide smoking ban has made it much more family friendly - we were one of many tables with a toddler - yet it was still packed and there was a pretty good crowd waiting for us to leave. And the food was excellent, as always. Baxter - I had the Black & Blue nachos!

I think Miles is getting excited about baby sister. We've been talking a LOT about her, and he likes playing in her room, pulling out all her toys. He puts his bears in the swing, you know, for practice. Yeah, right. Hopefully he wasn't practicing for baby sister the other night when he bopped Chelsea on the head with his bedtime story. Just walked right up behind her and pop! on the noggin. Not that it hurt her, but that was the end of the bedtime routine and lights went out. He cried for a while and when Wayne went back in to see, Miles said, "What happened to me? What happened to Chelsea?" So Wayne went through the "we don't hit, we don't throw things" spiel and said good night. All was calm. Hopefully Miles really was thinking about what he did and the repercussions, but who knows. Maybe we're just in for a ride here in the next couple of weeks!!

Good golly Miss...

Ha! Just kidding! Not going to tell you yet. We're not really settled, and Miles has started waffling over the issue (of baby sister's name, that is). We had our ultrasound this morning... we're at 37+ weeks, so less than 3 weeks left, unless she pulls an Ellie on us. Since Miles was full term (and a little more) they fully expect her to take as long. But in perfect CYA form they tell us to "be prepared, it could happen anytime now!" Oh, and yes, we did do the double check... she's for sure a she! And like a good girl, she's head down, all set to deliver.

In case you're new to the 4D ultrasound view, that's a right profile. Her eyes are closed, you can see the nose and the CHUBBY cheeks. That's her hand next to her face, she kept trying to get her thumb but couldn't quite get it there.

31 down, 335 to go...

I have been trying hard to keep up with the photo-a-day project. I'm not following any rules, just snap something. Some sites want it to be a self portrait, some say something "artsy" but that's not for me. I can't say I've been especially creative most days, but I try. I've learned a few tricks with the camera - and some more with Photoshop. It will help when we can unpack all the office/living room boxes and I find my camera manual again! So here is the wrap-up for January. I only missed 3 days, and one of those was before I decided to try.

This project may be an even better journal than the blog for keeping up with the small details. And I can't wait to see how he changes over this year. Baby sister too. I'll have to balance out the brother/sister shots after she comes along!

Miles has picked out his favorite name. I won't share it yet, but it's one we all like, so will probably be the one. We started by having him say all the names (too cute!!) and then asked "do you like....?" about each one. We got him down to a couple faves and started asking "this or that?" and "that or this?" randomly through the day. He has consistently said the same one for a while now, so it may have to be that! We'll let the poll go for a while longer before we say for sure... at least until the ultrasound next week when we'll double check that she's a she!

Oh yes, to address some questions about the names in the poll: all the names but Molly have some sort of family significance. Heck, Molly might if I read enough of my Grandmother's research! And Tiffany may have come up with the best name of all... Dijonnaise McButter!!