Look at our Christmas present

Annabelle Grace Ewert was born on Christmas Eve at 10:25 p.m. She weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and absolutely precious. Mom and Dad are smitten. More details to come!

Annabelle's Day in the Hospital

Well, we had an exciting day today. This morning, I was leaving the studio with my hands full of breakable things and all of the sudden I lost my balance. I fought it and fought it, but ended up belly down in the dirt. I hit the ground hard.

After lying there for a second, I got up and went back inside and called Chris to give him a heads up that I thought we'd be going to the doctor or hospital, then immediately called my doctor. I talked to one of her nurses, and she told me to get to the hospital ASAP. So Chris picked me up and after almost killing us in the car a few times (he was a little panicked), we arrived at the hospital. They got me into a room rather quickly and strapped a fetal monitor onto me.

While the nurse was strapping it on me, we had the scariest moment of our lives...she couldn't find Annabelle's heartbeat. Chris looked like he was about to pass out, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. But after what felt like an eternity, but was probably only 30 seconds, she found her! We both breathed a huge sigh of relief. I almost cried I was so relieved.

So we had to be monitored for four hours. It was great to be able to listen to her for so long. And it was interesting to see that I was having quite a few contractions the whole time, most of which I couldn't even feel. So something is going on. They also did blood tests to make sure there was no fetal bleeding and they came back negative. So everything is good. Thank goodness for amniotic fluid. It's quite literally a lifesaver.

So that was our exciting day. I'm beat up, with a big knot on my forehead and various other bruises and scrapes, and my belly feels like someone kicked it really hard, but I could care less. All I care about is that Annabelle is just as happy as can be and probably had no clue what happened.

Oh, confession...we got to the hospital right at lunch time, and of course, I was starving. The nurse wouldn't let me eat the entire time in case I went into labor, but Chris smuggled food into the room TWICE! Isn't he the greatest?

May as well get comfy

Well, bad news at the doctor's office today...Annabelle is most likely not coming any time soon.

I have made no more progress from last week, and Annabelle has not moved down at all. Apparently, she is at a -3 station, which means she has a very long way to drop! This is exactly where she was last week.

So my doctor went ahead and put in an induction request for Jan. 2, two weeks from today. Maybe the threat of it will scare her out of me, but I doubt it! I think I'm taking after my mom, who was late with all three of her babies, and I had to be induced myself.

I'm scared about the induction...it hurts really bad. Well, I guess it doesn't hurt more than regular labor, it just ramps up a lot faster and you never get a break from the contractions or get to adjust to the increasing pain. Boom, you're just there in the worst part of labor right away.

I just hope that since Annabelle hasn't dropped into my pelvis, she can fit. Who knows? If she doesn't fit, we're looking at a c-section. Only time will tell though!

We did remember to record her heartbeat onto my cell phone today. It's adorable!

No baby in my arms yet

An update...nothing much is happening! Annabelle is still nice and cozy in there and hasn't decided to grace us with her presence.

She is lower though and I've been having more contractions, both painful and not. I had several last night at the movies and after, and I started vacuuming like crazy when we got home, so I thought it may be the night, but it wasn't!

This is the last day of the week that Chris predicted Annabelle would come. I am going to try my hardest to just clear my mind and stop obsessing about it. I bet that then she'll come if I'm not all uptight about it.

Exciting news...I slept from about 10:45 last night until 6 a.m. today! Chris felt bad that he woke me up this morning when he got up, but I was just so happy that I hadn't ended up on the couch or recliner at 2 a.m.

I go to the doctor again on Tuesday morning to see if any more has happened. Hopefully it has. But like I told Chris at dinner last night, what if I'm dilated to 3 cm and still haven't gone into labor? That's crazy! That's when they allow women to get epidurals at the hospital!

All I want for Christmas...

...is for our baby girl to decide to come out and join us! I am one of the most patient people I know, and each day (and each night) tries my patience more and more!

Please, oh please, Annabelle, come out and see us! Whenever you're ready, we're here to love you and keep you warm and cozy.

38 weeks

I send these updates to Chris every week. I get them from three different Web sites. In honor of reaching 38 weeks today, here is the 38-week update:

Site 1: You may begin to feel electrical buzzes down your legs. This is caused from the baby hitting nerves as s/he settles into your pelvis. A lot of time and effort has been spent educating mom about the process of labor, we are going to talk about a common fear for men this week: BEING IN THE BIRTH ROOM!

I highly encourage men to go in to watch the partners give birth. It is one of the most amazing experiences you will ever be able to have. As a doula, I am constantly in awe of birth, even though I see it on a routine basis.

Be assured that you will only have to watch or participate as much as you feel comfortable with. For some men this will be little more than holding your partners hand and gazing into her eyes. Let me assure you that this is a great thing to do! If you wish to take a more active role this may include labor support (breathing, massage, heat and cold packs, etc.), cutting the cord, helping to catch the baby. These are all fine, but should be discussed with your practitioner ahead of time, so that they know your preferences.

A note about cord cutting: The umbilical cord contains no nerves, so neither the mother nor the baby will feel the cut. The cord is also a tough, fatty substance (this protects the cord from compression inutero) so expect to give it some effort to cut it.

The baby may be gaining as much as 1 ounce (about 28 grams) a day at this point! However, your weight gain has slowed or stopped. Hang in there! If you haven't written a letter to your baby, now would be a good time to do so.

Site 2: The average newborn has a length of 21 1/2 inches and weighs 7 1/2 pounds. She is fully developed, though still adding connections between neurons in the brain (this continues well after birth). Her nails have been growing and now reach to the ends of her fingers and toes. Her movements are quite restricted by her close quarters.

Site 3: Your baby has really fattened up. She likely weighs between 6 and 7 1/2 pounds now (boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls), and she's probably between 19 and 20 inches long. She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test with your pinky! Her organs are fully developed and in place, but her lungs and brain — though developed enough for her to function now — will continue to mature right through childhood.Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If your baby is born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Some more progress

My morning started a little crazy. I had set the alarm to wake me up at 5:50 for my 7:30 appointment, but apparently, Chris turned it off this morning when he got up at 4:45. So my eyes opened at 7 a.m. I got ready in 10 minutes and sped out the door. I made it to my appointment right at 7:30, but unfortunately, two people got in ahead of us, so we had to wait.

The doctor finally came in right before 8:30 and we were in the parking lot at 8:36. Lots of personal attention!

She did check my cervix though and I've made some more progress. She originally said almost two centimeters then said 1 and a half centimeters (so I'm going with "almost two") and 50 percent effacement. So we're still getting somewhere! This is about where my friend Sheri was the day before she went into labor. But like I keep saying, every woman is different so it could mean nothing.

Annabelle's heart was still nice and strong this morning and beating about 130 beats per minute. The doctor felt her and thought she felt about 6.5 pounds, but it's not too scientific since all she does is poke and prod her through my stomach. She's definitely dropped...from the side I look like she's about to fall out and my pelvis sometimes pops when I stand up.

I really wish she'd decide to come on out! On our walk last night Chris said he's so ready for her to come, and my response was, "You think you're ready!" Maybe Tiffany's prediction of December 13th will come true!

Not a whole lot going on...

Sorry I haven't been posting...but there hasn't been a bunch to post about! This week has been quiet...no contractions (that I can feel, anyway) and no other labor signals. It's making me feel like I could be dilated 1 cm forever with nothing going on!

But I go to the doctor tomorrow to see if I'm still making progress. I really hope I have, but I've talked to several people who say they just got stuck forever where I was last week. We'll see though!

I really think the last month of pregnancy is nature's way of preparing you for birth. You want the misery to be over with so bad, you don't care about the pain of labor! It's horrible. I slept from about 10 p.m. till 12:30 a.m. last night, then couldn't sleep anymore. Annabelle was crushing my sciatic nerve, so after pushing myself out of bed with my arms, which took about five minutes, I limped down the hall holding myself up on the walls. It was so bad. My legs were actually twitching and I couldn't put any weight on them.

I finally made it to the couch (after having a little midnight snack) and read my book until I fell back asleep much later. I fitfully slept until 8 a.m., although I was constantly awake and trying to flip over because my hips were aching.

I finally gave up and took Gatsby for a long walk, as I finally could put weight back on my legs. We did an extra long walk today, and I even went up a very steep hill hoping that gravity would take over. Well, it hasn't yet! I got stuck at the studio for a couple of hours helping customers because it was so busy, so hopefully the combination of the walk and then being on my feet for two hours does something to make things progress.

In other news, my belly is continuing to grow. I noticed that my clothes weren't fitting as well on Friday, and then when Chris and I were in Crate and Barrel, I glanced at my beautiful profile in the mirror and was shocked to see how big I was! It turns out that my belly grew another inch the night before, rounding me out at a 42-inch waist right now. That's huge! And hard to cover with maternity clothes!

Now we're getting somewhere!

I went to the doctor this morning and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I'm now 1 cm dilated and 30% effaced (or "thinned"). Woo hoo! This visit was much better than Thursday's visit! My contractions on Sunday had a purpose!

What does this mean? Who knows. Every woman is different. For some, it could mean that they'll go into labor tomorrow and for others, it could mean that they're not going to deliver for another month.

But at least I'm getting a head start on labor. Every centimeter that I dilate now is a centimeter I don't have to dilate during labor. I'll be very curious to see if I make any more progress by my visit next Tuesday. I hope so!

My doctor was very surprised to find out today that I'd prefer not to have an epidural. She was afraid that I was going to be very radical with what I did and did not want during labor. I assured her that I'm not some narrow-minded, must-do-it-natural person. I would just like to give it a go and see if I can do it. But if I turn into a crying idiot, an epidural will probably sound pretty good. Anyway, I'll share my birth plan with her next week to show her there's no special requests that she needs to worry about!

Today, Annabelle is officially considered full-term. At 37 weeks, she is done with all of her developing and would be just fine and normal if she were born today. She's really just hanging out to gain a little more weight. I hope she doesn't gain too much more weight (ouch!), but if she stays three more weeks, she'll be around 8 pounds. We got to hear her heart again. It was steady this time, about 140 beats per minute. And the nurse says she's definitely dropped more into my pelvis. So she sounds like she's ready to go! All she needs is for my body to cooperate now.

Ouch!

This evening I had my first painful contractions. And boy, labor is going to hurt! They started at about 4:30 and went on for over an hour, coming every 5-8 minutes and lasting about a minute each.

But now they're pretty much gone, so it must have been a bad case of false labor. My stomach is still tender to the touch though. I don't know what that's about. Maybe I'll go to bed tonight and wake up with more, especially since it's a full moon.

When my first couple of contractions came on, my dear husband and "coach" Chris immediately asked me if I was now scared of labor and then told me that I can always get an epidural. I believe he told me that most people get them so it's no big deal. That's not what he's supposed to say to me as a coach! Hopefully, when the real thing comes, he'll focus better and help me through the contractions instead of offering me an easy way out! That silly guy.

Trying to sleep while very pregnant

One of the worst things about being extremely pregnant is trying to sleep at night. It's quite a challenge! I have not had a night of sleep where I didn't wake up at all for months. And it's only getting worse!

To be funny, they say that it's because your body is preparing you for all of the sleepless nights you'll have once your baby arrives. Very funny.

Besides having to get up several times a night because your bladder feels like it's about to explode, now that I'm almost to 37 weeks, one of the worst things is aching hips. They hurt so bad! I read that it's because your ligaments are loosening up.

And of course, you're not allowed to sleep on your back because it reduces the oxygen flow to Annabelle, and sleeping on my stomach is obviously out. So I must sleep on my aching hips.

Oh well, at least this is one of my biggest complaints about pregnancy! I'm fortunate that I have no complications!

Annabelle goes to work

Annabelle got to work with me for four hours today. Tiffany was sick, so we took her shift. It was a pretty busy morning and afternoon. We had some painters and had a HUGE order come in, so we spent the whole time walking back and forth on those concrete floors.

After bending and stretching and picking up all of those heavy boxes, my back does not hurt at all. Hooray for the maternity support belt!I can't believe it works so well. My feet are very tired and are a little swollen, so I'll have to elevate them for awhile. Luckily, I got about 12 hours of sleep last night, so I'm not totally exhausted.

Everybody who comes in asks how much longer we have to go. Only 25 days until Annabelle's due date. Who knows if she'll come by then? She has the hiccups right now and was moving all day during work. I'm secretly hoping that being on my feet for that long will help things to progress a little. But who am I kidding?

Well, as predicted...

I went to the doctor yesterday and found out that I have not started to dilate AT ALL. This could mean nothing, as every woman is different, but it most likely means that we have a wait ahead of us until we get to meet Annabelle.

I was terribly disappointed, but I'm getting over it. She'll come when she's ready! I have to go back to the doctor and get checked again on Tuesday. Not something I'm looking forward to.

When they were checking Annabelle's heartbeat yesterday, at first it was steady, then it elevated significantly. The nurse said it was because she got excited because she knew the nurse was there and put something up to her. It was really fast, but then it came back down. She didn't seem concerned at all, so I guess it's normal! It was very funny to listen to.

She's so big now...since she's right there, she almost always responds to anything that's going on around me. She gave Tiffany quite a show yesterday and kicked her a lot. Poor little girl probably would like to be able to stretch her limbs out!

Well, we're going for our morning walk now. It's absolutely freezing outside, so we'll have to bundle up in Chris' clothes to keep warm since nothing fits us anymore!