Hospital Stay and Going Home

We only stayed one night in the hospital after Aveline's birth, which was fantastic. For more than one reason. First, anyone who has ever stayed in a hospital knows that it is nearly impossible to get any rest with all of the nurses, doctors, janitors, food delivery people, etc., coming in and out of your room on a constant basis. And with two patients in the room -- Mommy and Baby -- I think it is even worse. And this time around I had the added bonus of having to tell the hospital staff that I am gluten free. What did this mean to the hospital? Apparently that I can eat nothing but fruit. All I was brought was fruit plate after fruit plate. And juice. Until I informed the woman delivering the food that I could actually eat meat. And rice. And vegetables. So I did end up getting one plate of chicken (which was breaded in something, so I could not actually eat it), plain rice, and bland green beans. Thankfully poor Jarrett had to go in search of food for himself anyway and, thus, was able to bring back heartier meals for me. Seriously, though, the medical world thinks a nursing mom can really survive off just fruit?

We were happy to welcome several visitors even during our short stay. My parents brought Elsa up later in the afternoon on Aveline's birthday after a trip to the zoo. Elsa was thrilled with her gift from Avie, a Winnie the Pooh Lego set. And she had fun giving Avie her gift, which were two blankies similar to those Elsa is attached to. But other than that she did not want to have anything to do with the baby. She was immediately best friends with whomever was not holding Aveline, and if you did have the baby in your arms, Elsa chose to completely ignore you. (Little did we know this was just the beginning.) I did pass the baby off to my mom at some point and was happy to welcome Elsa into my bed with me for a bit of cuddling, or as much as she would allow. Later that evening, our friends, Shelly and Alison, made a visit, and it was fun showing off the baby to them and catching them up on the birth story. Tim and Kate followed, bearing food from Ted's Montana Grill, which was a godsend. I think both Jarrett's and my bodies are still thanking them for that.

We had a little (or, really, not so little) scare with Avie while Alison and Shelly were visiting us. Jarrett was changing Aveline's rather explosive diaper, and Shelly was even attempting to help out in the cleaning endeavor, when Avie spit up and started choking. Jarrett immediately picked her up, flipped her over on his arm and started patting her back, but she seemed completely unresponsive and was turning gray. I started pounding every call button I could find around my bed, and Shelly ran out the door and down the hall to the nurses station, calling for help. Nurses started running in, but by that time Jarrett had taken the bulb syringe and thought to suction out her mouth, which did the trick. But it was quite frightening, especially for Jarrett, who was right in the middle of it all. So we were both quite shaken up by the time poor Tim and Kate got there, probably proving to not be the best company. The nurses informed us that this kind of things happen more often than we would think, but that did not really reassure us any. Thankfully that has been the only scare of that sort, and any spitting up now seems completely normal.

I got hardly any sleep that night -- maybe an hour or two tops -- because between Jarrett and I, we had Avie by our side or in our arms the entire night. She was a little fussy and much happier in our arms, and we were nervous about having her at much distance from us after the choking episode. So I held her much of the night, nodding off, but then nodding right back awake, afraid that I might drop her or something.

I think we were discharged from the hospital by around 2:00 p.m. the next afternoon. We had a visit from Anjli that morning, which was really nice and very informative. And both Avie and I had a checklist of things that had to be accomplished before we could leave (some tests for her -- bilirubin and hearing -- and a Rhogam shot for me). But we both ended up checking out fine (they were slightly concerned about her bilirubin levels, but said our pediatrician could just keep an eye on it) and were on our way home that afternoon.

It was wonderful to get home and try to settle in a bit. But Elsa immediately started having a really hard time with the adjustment of a baby in the house. She continued to ignore whomever was holding the baby (which was obviously me, most of the time), and that started really taking a toll on my and my raging hormones. My parents were originally planning on going home that evening, but I finally convinced them that we all actually did want them around another evening, and that I thought it would be good for Elsa too. So they stayed one more night. I did not get a heck of a lot of sleep that first night either, but I at least got some, which felt great.

Now we have been home for nearly two weeks. I am averaging between five and seven hours of broken sleep per night, which is not terrible, and I am surviving. We are all tired (well maybe all of us except the baby anyway), but hanging in there. Elsa is still having a pretty difficult time. She has always been super sensitive to noise. At a very young age, she was super upset by people sneezing or coughing, and she has always been bothered by others crying, especially other children. So a crying baby is really putting a toll on her. (Little does she know that Aveline is so far crying a lot less than she did as a baby.) When Aveline cries or makes any noises, really, Elsa is quick to go hide in a corner of a room somewhere away from the baby. It started out that she would go into her room and slam the door closed and hide behind the rocking chair. Now she is at least not closing the door as much, but the hiding continues. And when she is trapped in her car seat next to the crying baby, she starts crying -- hyperventilating even -- too. She has not yet ventured to touch the baby in any way. And it has been a huge step in the last couple of days for her to sit on the couch next to me while I nurse the baby (as she watches Little Einsteins).


Elsa has definitely been the source of any post-partum depression for me at this point. I feel bad for her and the rough adjustment this is proving to be. And I think I am partly mourning the loss of our alone time together. She and I were a team for three years, and now our team has expanded. I have already missed out on things for which I was always by her side in the past, including her three-year-old doctor's visit today. But I do not even know if she is as bothered by those things as I am. In talking to her about the situation, I have discovered that she is really concerned about Avie. The reason she does not like the crying is because she thinks there is something wrong with the baby, and she wants to be able to fix it. So now she is at least telling me, "I think she needs her paci, Mommy" or "I think she is hungry -- can you feed her?" But we still have a long ways to go. I know she will come around and will grow to love her little sister some day. But right now we are just riding the emotional rollercoaster and trying to continue to assure our little one that everything is okay.

Aveline's Birth Story

After experiencing nearly a week of fairly regular contractions that would continue to stall, I knew something felt different the Thursday evening before we welcomed Miss Aveline Muir into this world. Different enough, in fact, that as we put Elsa to bed that evening, I knew I could not say, "See you in the morning." Instead, I assured her that I would "see her tomorrow..." at some point.

Contractions felt stronger, but were still around eight to ten minutes apart when I went to bed Thursday night. I fell asleep quickly and soundly, as I usually do, but was then awoken around 1:00 a.m. by a rather intense contraction. I got up quietly (as I had done on several nights prior as well) and sat at the computer in the back room, timing my contractions for about an hour. I did not want to yet disturb Jarrett so that he would at least have as much energy as possible if this were indeed the real deal. By the end of the hour, my contractions were more like five to seven minutes apart and were quite strong. I woke Jarrett and told him I thought it was actually time this time and that I was going to go ahead and take a shower. He gathered a few last-minute items and then jumped in the shower himself. After, we decided to go ahead and call Kate (I think it was around 2:00 a.m. at this point) to give her a little warning, as she was on call to come over and stay with Elsa until my parents could make the drive from Charlotte. I also called my parents, and they jumped in the shower and then into the car as well.

Kate went ahead and came over, and we chatted with her for a bit while I timed a couple of more contractions and decided they were definitely getting stronger. I then went ahead and called into the call center for the midwife. I gave them all of my information and was told that Margaret would be giving me a call back shortly. A decent amount of time passed with no call, and eventually the person at the call center called me and asked if I had heard from Margaret. I said no, and they said they would try to track her down. Not too much later, Anjli called me. I explained to her what was going on, had a contraction in the middle of our conversation, and we discussed the plan of action. She said it sounded like I could probably hang at home for a little while longer and just be sure to call her back by 5:00 a.m. or 5:30 a.m. so we could avoid rush-hour traffic on the drive to the hospital or, of course, if things seemed to progress. Kate decided to stay and just crash on the couch in the back room while Jarrett and I went out for a walk. During the walk, contractions continued to come, and I was having to pause while riding their wave. I had decided that when we got home, I would try to lie down for a little while and see if things continued. Sure enough, lying down did not feel like the best option, and contractions were staying strong. Jarrett called the call center and then Anjli called me back (at this point it was about 4:00 a.m., I think) and I told her it seemed like things were progressing and that I thought I was ready to get into the hospital. She agreed. We let Kate know we were headed out, and made our way out to the car.

The car ride was not too fun with all the bumps going down Memorial Drive, but thankfully it was a shorter drive than we had when I was in labor with Elsa. We parked and made our way inside and up to the seventh floor to the Labor and Delivery area, checked in, and a nurse led us to a room with a bed, where I was triaged. I believe at this point it was 4:30, going on 5:00 a.m. The nurse checked my cervix, and I was only four centimeters dilated, which had me a little bummed, since I was six going in with my first pregnancy. We went over piles of paperwork. She hooked me up to a fetal monitor, as well as a monitor that was measuring the strength and length of my contractions. Jarrett and I were a little concerned at this point because the baby's heartbeat seemed to drop and blip off the radar completely during most of my contractions, and the nurse was none too reassuring about it, basically saying it was not a great sign and that we were looking for at least two "responsive" readings from the baby, meaning that I guess we wanted to see the baby's heartbeat actually go up and stay active after a contraction. At this point, I think both Jarrett and I were preparing ourselves for an emergency C-section. I was sure that this meant the baby was too stressed by the contractions (many of which were topping out on the strength meter at this point, though they seemed to spread themselves out a bit more) and that I was not going to be able to have the natural waterbirth I was so hoping for. We said a prayer together and knew that whatever the outcome, we just wanted to be sure to end up with a healthy baby girl in our arms at the end of it all.

Anjli arrived probably a little after 5:00 a.m. and took a look at the printed strip from the monitors and, much to our relief, she said we should not be too worried about the drops in the baby's heart rate. She said it was possible the umbilical cord was getting pinched during contractions, but that there were some very responsive readings from the baby after some pretty strong contractions, so it did not seem of concern. We were going to go on with the birth as planned.

We gathered our things and were taken to one of the labor and delivery rooms, which had a gorgeous view of Downtown Atlanta in the dark, all of the buildings sparkling in lights. I did actually take the view in for a moment or two before who would be my labor and delivery nurse introduced herself to me, my blood pressure was taken for the millionth time, and they drew some of my blood. And once they were done messing with me, my contractions told me I was ready to get in the shower. They brought me a birthing ball, and I sat on it there, hot water running all over me, for quite some time, getting through each contraction as they came.

At some point the nurse said that when I was ready, they needed to run one more strip on the baby, so I said I would go ahead and get out, dried off, put on a gown, and got into the bed, where she hooked me up once again to the monitor and the blood pressure cuff. Contractions were getting really strong at this point, and pretty darn close together. By the time I was back off the monitor, I was asking about the birthing tub, which was not yet in the room or set up. I guess I was supposed to be at least seven centimeters dilated or something before they wanted me to get in it, and since Anjli was not around at the moment, we continued to wait. Contractions were nearly right on top of each other, and I was trying to ride them out on the ball, but eventually was standing beside the bed, one leg hoisted up on top of it (not sure why -- just felt right for some reason). At some point the hospital gown was irritating me to no end, falling off my shoulders as I leaned over the bed, so I just said the heck with it and ripped it off and threw it. Then I ended up climbing into the bed and switching from lying on my side to getting up on all fours, pleading for the tub and explaining that I was already feeling an intense urge to push during the contractions. At this point, the nurse asked me if I wanted her to check my cervix. I gave a hearty "yes." I was sure I was in transition. When she checked me, she said I was a "soft eight." In my mind, I thought, "Seriously? This isn't transition yet? Am I going to be able to do this?" But then I shook off the thoughts of incapability, and labored on.

Finally, people started coming in with supplies to set up the tub, and within about 15 minutes, it was ready to go. I was so relieved. Except that when I dipped my foot in the water, it was super hot, so then I had to stand there waiting, Jarrett helping me balance, while the nurse went to get a bunch of ice to throw into the water. That did the trick, and I immediately submerged myself. Jarrett was at work blowing up the inflatable swim rings to give me, as with Elsa I used them as pillows and floats to relax in the water. However, at this point I felt that there was no relaxing to be had. Everything seemed so intense. I just got up on my knees and held onto the side of the pool, lying my head down between contractions. Jarrett continued to bring me ice water as I asked for it -- the extreme thirst I seemed to have when I was laboring with Elsa was certainly present for this birth as well.

Not long after I got into the pool, Anjli arrived. I asked her why I was feeling the urge to push and whether it was okay to do so. She said I definitely could. That with a push or two, my bag of waters would like break. So I pushed with the next contraction, and nothing. I asked if she could just break the waters already. Anjli reassured me that I was so close. That I was now fully dilated and fully effaced, and that the bag of waters was bulging. So I took the next push with great force, and Anjli ended up helping the breaking of the waters with her fingernail. A number of pushes later (and much squeezing of poor Jarrett's hands and forearms while hanging over the edge of the tub), I felt the head come out halfway. I immediately flashbacked to Elsa's birth and how her head would come out a little and then go back in, which became extremely frustrating. I decided this was not going to happen this time around. So once the head was part of the way out, I tried to continue to hold some pressure and not move much until the next contraction hit, and then I pushed as hard as I could. Out came the head and a little relief. Then Anjli urged me to give her a couple of more good pushes while she worked to get one of the shoulders out. In labor time, this seemed to go on a little long and began to worry me a bit, but in reality I do not think much time passed at all. One shoulder came out, and then the rest of her came out really quickly. Everyone was shouting, "Turn around! Turn around!"And when I did, there was our baby, waiting for my arms. The extreme relief and major rush of endorphins was of the same intensity that I remember with Elsa. It is an incredible feeling, for sure, to go through all of that effort and then have it all end in an instant with such a wonderful, beautiful prize awaiting its first cuddle in your arms and kiss on the cheek.


Overall, I am labeling this labor and delivery as "intense." It differed in a lot of ways from my first birth experience. Little and obvious things like the fact that the labor and delivery room I had the first time around was very dimly lit, spacious, and seemingly more relaxing, with the big permanently fixed birthing tub. This time around, the room was brightly lit with the natural daylight from the windows (which was nice -- don't get me wrong -- but just different), the room was fairly small, and the birthing tub was inflatable and smelled as such. And I was in the tub for probably a total of 30 or 45 minutes with this labor and delivery, but soaked for hours with Elsa. The fabulous labor and delivery playlists were back from the last delivery, though slightly updated, and Jarrett again did a fabulous job playing deejay, but I never seemed to really get in the zone like I did during labor with Elsa, and therefore cannot really connect any of the music with portions of the labor like I was able to do back then. Whereas I almost seemed in a completely other world during Elsa's birth (until pushing began), I felt really present and in the moment with this one. Things seemed very vivid and choppy rather than fuzzy and smooth. And obviously things just moved a little more quickly, especially in pushing, so that was a big difference. Overall, though, I would not trade either birthing experience. The midwives were great. The nurses were really good too (though that nurse I had during Elsa's birth was truly heaven sent). And I have two healthy, gorgeous daughters, one resulting from each momentous birth.

Aveline Muir Helms

Our little one decided to arrive this morning.

Aveline Muir Helms
9/16/2011
9:18 a.m.
9 pounds, 6 ounces
21.5 inches

And a few photos until we can post more.

Forty-and-a-Half-Week Midwife Appointment

I went to the midwife yesterday for a fairly quick visit. I arrived about 20 minutes early and did not wait in the waiting room long at all before being called back to do the usual pee in a cup (must have been fine), jump on the scale (144 pounds, back down the 1.5 pounds I had previously gained -- the midwife said it is normal to lose weight at the tailend of the pregnancy), and have my blood pressure taken (90/60). One of the nurses asked me if I wanted to have my cervix checked, and I once again told her I would leave it up to the midwife. And I did not end up getting checked.

I was taken to an examination room and waited just briefly before Helen came in. She asked how I was doing, and I told her I was hanging in there despite being pretty well ready to have the baby. She asked what my feelings were to possibly go into next week still pregnant, and I explained how I never thought I would even make it to the due date, let alone that far past it, but also that I was pretty much resigned to the fact that it will happen when the baby is ready. She suggested I get another ultrasound done on Monday just to check out fluid levels again, as well as the baby's movement and vitals in general. If I make it until then, and everything looks okay, and if I then go on to make it to Wednesday, I will see the midwives again then. At that point Helen said that it is quite possible we would decide to go ahead and schedule an induction. She said their practice is not keen on inductions, but that when they are done, they avoid using medication in the beginning. Instead, they insert a catheter into the cervix, which has a balloon on the end of it (Foley catheter induction). Apparently that balloon stimulates the cervix, causing it to dilate. It does not sound extremely pleasant to me, but it is nice to know that they do try to avoid using medication if at all possible.

Helen measured my belly and listened to the baby's heartbeat, and everything seemed fine and normal. I confirmed things like the fact that I call the office's normal business line when I do actually go into labor, and that when we go to the hospital, if it is between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., we are go to through the emergency room; otherwise, we just go ahead and head to labor and delivery.

This just seems crazy to me. I am now 40 weeks and 5 days pregnant. I am much more uncomfortable than I ever was with Elsa (if I am remembering correctly), probably because I just did not go this long since she came two days before her due date. My hips and upper legs ache when I wake up in the morning, I have a lot of pressure going on in my pelvic region, and some other issues that I just will not bother going into for your benefit. Really, overall, I cannot complain, though. My body seems to handle pregnancy pretty darn well, and I have had things pretty easy through both pregnancies. I have still not even had to deal with swelling in my ankles or anything this time around.

I really am just trying to give into this as much as possible at this point. Trying to tell myself that there is no reason to get worked up about it or worry about when it is going to happen. But it is difficult, of course. We are so ready. I keep doing things over that I think I have done for the last time before going to the hospital. I cleaned the house again on Tuesday. I have done yet more laundry over the past couple of days. I went grocery shopping yet again today. And every morning/evening we unpack and repack our toiletries, etc. But I know the more I dwell on it, the more I am probably just tensing everything up. So I am trying to just relax. It will happen soon, one way or another.

I did learn that Margaret is on call until tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. After that, Anjli takes over. So I guess I know that my Margaret option is running out, which is somewhat sad. But, like I have said, Anjli seems fabulous too, so it really is a win-win situation.

Kate insisted I get a picture taken in the peach tank top once again. So here it is, from yesterday evening:

Still Waiting

Here I sit, two days past my due date, still pregnant. I am still getting contractions that come with some regularity... and then tend to fade away. I was awoken twice last night by them, and was out the door walking Merckx around the neighborhood at 6:00 a.m., thinking that might kickstart something. Nope. Even according to what the baby was measuring at that most recent ultrasound, had they revised the due date (which they did not officially do), today would be the due date. So this baby is cooked. Well done, in fact. But she must not feel quite ready to meet the world. Perhaps she wants to add just a bit more chub to those cheeks or well define her birthday away from her big sister's as much as possible. I have tried to keep myself from guessing the birthdate now, as it just becomes a little more depressing each time I try, and this should not be depressing. Our little one will come. For that we can be certain.

I walked four miles with Jarrett and Elsa on Saturday. I have eaten jalapenos and other spicy food. I walked yesterday evening, and I walked two different times this morning. I even settled down to a glass of red wine last night.

This morning I met up with Kate and Shelly for my second walk -- we went to Starbucks for my second spiced pumpkin latte of the season, then to the park to let James play for awhile (Christian and Elsa were at Gabriela's this morning), and then to Farm Burger for lunch. Kate took this picture of me at the park. I think it is now a game of how much bigger could my belly possibly get? You can definitely tell she's dropped from the 37-week basketball photo.

40 weeks plus 2 days

The Forty-Week Belly

Good grief.

Forty Weeks... and Still Pregnant

Contractions were nine to eleven minutes apart before I went to bed last night. Then I retired around midnight and slept until contractions woke me up around 3:30 a.m. They still were not super strong, but they were coming more like five to seven minutes apart, so I started getting excited, thinking this would definitely be the day. Then I went back to bed around 6:00 a.m., and everything seemed to pretty much come to a halt. Bummer. I just got back from another four-mile loop into Decatur with Jarrett and Elsa, thinking that might help things out, but we will see. I also probably need to try to get a nap in just in case labor does start. We realized on the way back home that if she is born today, she would be born on 9/10/11. Kind of cool. Tomorrow, and she will be a 9/11 baby. I guess I am okay with that, though maybe not my first choice.

I did not make it this far with Elsa, so did not have a forty-week post, but according to BabyCenter, it is hard to say for sure how big our baby will be, but the average newborn weighs about seven-and-a-half pounds (a small pumpkin) and is about 20 inches long. Her skull bones are not yet fused, which allows them to overlap a bit if it is a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. This so-called "molding" is the reason our baby's noggin may look a little conehead-ish after birth. But, of course, that is completely normal and temporary.

I am definitely ready at this point. Maybe a little tired and in need of a nap, but otherwise it is a definite waiting game. Twiddling of fingers. And it is not that I feel that bad or anything. I am just ready to meet her already!

Thirty-Nine-and-a-Half-Week Midwife Appointment

Today I had another midwife appointment, bright and early. This made for a short wait out front, and not too long of a wait in the examination room. As usual, I peed in a cup (must have been fine), was weighed (145.5, up one-and-a-half pounds from the last few appointments, so probably good that I actually gained something, and kind of funny that she actually was so kind to such a pregnant lady to give me the half-pound rather than rounding up... and, besides, I was actually wearing jeans today because of the cooler weather!), and had my blood pressure taken (100/70).

I saw yet another new midwife today, Emily. I also really liked her -- I have yet to meet one that I do not like, so I guess that is a definite positive for the practice. She also is not yet delivering babies. She has two young children of her own and said she was excited to be back at work, but not quite ready to make the commitment of being on call. Totally understandable. I actually confirmed with her that, as of now, Margaret and Anjli are still the only two midwives out of the bunch who are delivering, so I will definitely get one of them, which I am pretty excited about. Of course, getting Margaret again would be awesome, but I really love Anjli too, so there should be no disappointment whatsoever, which is a fantastic feeling going into this whole process. Apparently Linda will be delivering babies in the next few weeks, but God help me if I am still pregnant at that point. Actually, that was one of my questions for Emily today -- I could not quite remember how long past my due date they will let me go. I knew it was at least a week, but maybe two, and she confirmed that it is, in fact, two weeks past. She said there would obviously be a lot of dialogue between me and the midwives during those two weeks just to make sure everything was okay. And she also said that if it came to induction, inducing a second birth is a lot different than inducing a first birth with a woman's body who has never gone through the childbirth process before. Apparently it would most likely be an easier process for me since I have birthed before, if it really came to that.

Overall, the visit with Emily was pretty routine and abbreviated. She asked me if I had any questions, and besides the one above, I just asked if what Helen told me about when to call regarding labor was accurate. She said everyone might say something a little different, but she would say to call when contractions are about five minutes apart, are lasting a minute, have gone on for about an hour, and I have tried everything to stop them (take a warm bath, go for a walk, relax, drink water). So a bit different from the eight to ten minutes Helen was telling me. Basically I figure I will probably have a pretty good idea of when to call once it is all going down.

She felt around on my belly, measured me, and listened to the baby's heartbeat. Everything checked out fine, and she confirmed by looking in my chart that the results from last week's ultrasound looked good. So we just continue to wait. I will be 40 weeks on Saturday, so we shall see when this little miss decides to arrive! As of now, I am scheduled to see the midwives again next Wednesday.

Thirty-Nine Weeks

I am a week away from the due date, and think I might actually be waddling now. At least especially after walking probably four-plus miles into Decatur this afternoon with Jarrett and Elsa to go to lunch and then stroll the Decatur Book Festival. It was fun, but hot, and I think both Jarrett and I are worn out after not having exercised much in the past few weeks. Yet, still, I do not really feel that the baby is much closer to making her appearance than she was prior to the long walk, so I do not think it did much. She must be comfortable where she is, and will come in her own sweet time.

According to BabyCenter, at 39 weeks our baby is waiting to greet the world! She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, but it is likely she already measures about twenty inches and weighs a bit over seven pounds (a mini watermelon). The outer layers of her skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

We grow more and more excited to meet her with each passing day, but I continue to find things to do to fill the time. Yesterday I finally cooked and froze a batch of chili and a lasagna, so I feel good about that. Today, and probably over the entire weekend, I hope to get this house cleaned up a bit and finish up some laundry. And, if I have time, I might just take the car in to get a bath, inside and out.

I am big, and I get stares and comments wherever I go. Today on our way back home from our tour de Decatur, a woman shouted from her car window, "You look like you are about to pop!" A woman selling leather bags at the Book Festival commented that it looked like the baby had dropped and that I was about ready. Our mail lady said, "Look at you! You look so cute! And ready." This goes on wherever I go. Sometimes the attention is nice; other times I just think, "I know, I know. I am huge. I get it." It is really up to our baby now, I guess. She will come when she is good and ready. And it will be a welcome surprise when that time does come.

Ultrasound Results

I love and respect my midwives, but I am so happy to report that Helen was proven wrong today at the ultrasound appointment. I am so glad she wished to be proactive and preventative in requesting the ultrasound, but oh so glad her gut feeling was just off yesterday. And I guess it is not really fair to say she was wrong, as she did tell me that she thought there was a good chance we were having that conversation for no reason, but, as I said, it was still somewhat anxiety-inducing, and I am happy to say that both Jarrett and I are totally relieved this afternoon.

Jarrett and I went to the appointment prepared like Boy Scouts today. Our packed hospital bags were in the car. We had our cameras, the iPad, the birth plan, extra pillows. Toiletries and snacks were packed. We took Elsa's car seat out of the car and left it in the house with the stroller after dropping her off this morning at playgroup. I had contacted Kate and let her know where things were if we were for some reason sent directly to the hospital. But thankfully we will be unpacking our toothbrushes and razors this evening.

The ultrasound technician took quite a bit of time rolling her wand around on my jellied belly, taking various measurements, as Jarrett and I stared at a screen of all baby. The technician made a comment that there was not much room in there anymore and that seeing the baby at this point was not all that much fun, and she was right about that. I think all we could truly make out were the spine, ribs, and the beating heart. She did point out the kidneys and the baby's belly and its head, but the head was so far down that you really could not make out much of anything. In fact, the head was down far enough that she was really having trouble getting measurements, so she brought in a fellow technician to help her out. I was glad for the help, as the first technician was somewhat soft spoken and was not really giving much narrative while conducting the ultrasound, whereas the second technician was saying how picture perfect all of our baby's organs looked, and that it was rare to be able to get such great shots of the baby. She also told us the amniotic fluid looked to be just fine. Yay!

After the ultrasound, I was taken into another room that had various curtained-off areas, each one containing a very comfy recliner-like chair. I laid back in the chair, and the technician strapped on both a fetal heart rate monitor and another monitor that tracked contractions. I was also given a little push-button device (what I imagine you would hold as a contestant on Jeopardy) to press whenever I felt the baby move. I reclined there for about 15 minutes or so, and at first the baby was not moving much, so the technician came in at some point and tried a little buzzer device on the surface of my belly, which I guess the baby was supposed to react to -- and she said they usually react to the noise of it more than the feel. I did not want to disappoint her and tell her that this baby is probably so used to the horrendously loud sound of our poor-working blender that this little buzzer likely did not phase the child. It was not until I drank some water that she really started moving. I also had a couple of contractions while laying there. All of this was to see how the baby reacted under stress, and it did completely fine.

We met with the physician's assistant next after a little waiting, and she went over some of the ultrasound pictures with us, as well as all of the measurements and results. The baby is measuring pretty much right in alignment with the September 10 due date. Today is 38 weeks, 5 days, according to the due date, and the baby was measuring 38 weeks, 3 days. They are also estimating that she is somewhere around 7 pounds, 9 ounces, though I know not to really count on that measurement. I have heard of ultrasounds being completely off on the weight measurement many a time. Also, there were five categories they were looking at when "grading" the baby throughout all of the tests (of which, of course, I cannot remember specifically), and she could earn a total of zero to two points in each category. Our baby scored a perfect ten today, which was wonderful news. Everything looks perfectly okay.

So I am totally relieved. We really are ready to meet this little girl, but I am so happy to let things continue to take their natural course and let her enter this world when she is good and ready. So let the waiting continue! I have a feeling she will be here soon enough.

Prep Work

With Jarrett on somewhat of a health rollercoaster, and me as pregnant as I am, it has been somewhat interesting trying to check things off the to-do list around here. That being said, we have been able to accomplish quite a lot in the last couple of weeks. We have purged some, cleaned and organized most of the back room into what is now mainly a playroom (and a mighty cozy, in terms of its close quarters, guest room), reorganized kitchen cabinets, pulled down baby items from the attic and stored other items away, and rearranged the girls' room.

One of Jarrett's more ingenious ideas came during this last-mentioned task. With our lack of closet space, Jarrett's clothing remains in the closet in the girls' room, with my clothing in the one in our master bedroom. This means that all of Elsa's clothing is currently stuffed into the small dresser we have beside her bed. So the question became, where do we store all of the baby's clothes? With the addition of trundle drawers under the bunk beds, we were able to rearrange a lot of the bulkier items, such as blankets and sweaters. And Jarrett already had the idea of staining a piece of plywood and placing it on the top bunk for added storage for the time being. Together, we thought about storing the baby's clothing in bins on this top bunk, but I was not wild about the idea of using the typical plain, plastic storage bins. So Jarrett came up with the idea of using galvanized pails, which go with the (somewhat broken) farm animal theme in the room. He even built a wooden frame, which we covered with green/white gingham (to match the curtains and nursery bedding), to set the pails into, providing them to be angled forward some for easier access to the clothing. I think it will work fabulously, and looks pretty cute too.

We have a few more things to hang on the walls and, like I have mentioned before, I would like to cook a couple of dishes to throw in the freezer (for which I finally bought all of the ingredients yesterday), and it would be nice to settle down with Merckx and give him a good brushing and some much-needed attention, as well as give the house a thorough cleaning, but overall we have done really great.