Yesterday (March 28^th), we had our final doctor’s appointment for this pregnancy.  We were due on the 25^th so I took a non-stress test to monitor how the little guy is doing.  He’s doing great and now that I’m past my due date they allowed us to pick a time to be induced.  We decided to go for Saturday (31^st).  So if the little guy doesn’t show up sooner we will be heading to the hospital at about 8am.  We are really hoping that we don’t get a phone call saying that we can’t come in because they are too full (I have a friend who had that happen, but she was already 10 days overdue!). 

 

Today, Abi got her stitches taken out.  We got it done at the hospital and thankfully it was a lot less traumatic than getting them put in.  For those of you who didn’t hear what happened…here’s the story.  Friday, March 23, at about 6:15 pm I was changing Abi’s diaper and we were getting ready to go to some friends for dinner.  Her pants where a little wet so I decided I’d just put her in a sleeper so I didn’t have to take on along, in case she fell asleep on the way back home.  It was an older sleeper and the feet aren’t very un-slippery.  She went into the office and slipped on the chair mat and hit her head on the edge/corner of the door (and not very hard).  Daddy was right there and picked her up to comfort her, but when he looked down there was blood everywhere!  He quickly ran her into the bathroom where I was and handed her to me so he could get something to try to stop the bleeding.  The cut was on her forehead and about 1/8” wide and 1/8” deep and a little over an inch long.  Needless to say she wasn’t going to hold still for us to hold something on her head. After a little while, I got a little scared with all the blood.  But then we got a bottle for her and that helped calm her down and we were able to get the bleeding to stop.  After that she was pretty mellow and almost even happy.  We figured we needed to get her stitched up and Sherri (our friend and a nurse) verified we should take her in.  So we headed to Prime Care and then got sent to the hospital. Before we left, and I changed our bloody clothes but we left Abi in her bloody sleeper.  We got lots of sympathetic looks from all those we past entering (and exiting) both medical facilities.  Once we were admitted, we had to hold a cotton ball with liquid numbing stuff on her head (with pressure) for 20 minutes.  As you can imagine, this didn’t go well with a 17 month old.  After that they ended up having to use shots to numb the area anyway because the “missed” and put the part of the cotton ball with the medicine too low on the forhead….nice!  In order to do the stitching (and all the prep work involved) they had to tie her down in a “papoose.”  She pretty much screamed they ENTIRE time she was in that thing.   That was hard to watch, but of course we knew it was necessary.  If you haven’t seen the pictures from this ordeal, you should check them out in the Photo gallery. 

So besides the recent injury Abi is going great.  She is so much fun!  It is impossible to write down all the words she’s been saying because there are several new ones each day as she repeats and tries out new sounds.  One of the cute things she says is “Baabie” for Bandit.  She walks around chasing him and yelling his name.  She’ll help us call for him when he’s outside and she is used to having him join us when we take walks with the stroller so if he’s not there she calls his name (over and over).  She used to call our cat (who hides in the laundry room about 24/7) a “dog”.  But she has recently started calling her kitty.  Her favorite phrase of the week is “uh-oh!”  When she drops something…. Or right before she throws something on the floorJ  Or sometimes she seems to say it just to pass time and entertain those around her.  She’s big on talking to everyone in the grocery store.  She likes to say “hi” or “bye-bye” and when she doesn’t get a response, she usually just says it louder.  So most of my time in a store I spend talking to her and saying “hi” and “bye” trying to make up for the strangers who don’t realize (or care, I guess) that she’s talking to themJ

 Well, hopefully I’ll be writing a little more often with the new little one around.  Or maybe will keep you up to date on our children better than I do.  But that’s all for now!

Abi is now over a year old and we are having so much fun.  She's looking less like my little baby and more and more like a beautiful little girl.  In a little more than 4 months she will be a big sister.  Of course she has no idea what's going on, but I'm sure once her little brother arrives, I'm sure she'll figure it out pretty quickly.  It's a good thing she likes to share with Bandit, hopefully that is preparing her for the new bundle of joy!

Abi is a very happy little girl (at least on the whole), and her personality totally cracks me up.  She is very funny and often likes to giggle.  She loves horses (just like her mommy).  She also loves her doggy, Bandit.  She loves to chase him, and hug him, and try to cuddle with him, AND pull his hair, ears, legs, etc.   Bandit is very gracious and usually just licks her in attempts to keep her from latching on.

Abi likes to babble, often saying momma, dadda, babba, byebye, hello, and hi.  There are some words she only once or twice, like "Bandit" and "Doggy".  She likes to pretend everything is a telephone and puts things to her ear to "talk".  It is very cute! 

Abi started walking on her own between 11 and 11.5 months.   She is getting more and more stable and faster!!!  Which is fun, but makes my job as a mom a lot busier, but at least I'm getting good exercise chasing her around the house.  I have learned that a house can't be completely "baby proof".  She has figured out how to flush the toilet so that bathroom door need to stay closed! 

It is so fun to watch her learn and repeat things.  She tries to put her own shoes on, and brush her own teeth.  She likes to climb or "slide" off our bed.  She likes to escape whenever possible, to explore someplace new.  She loves to climb into laundry baskets and she also loves to climb onto laundry baskets.  Today she kept climbing onto the basket and into a sitting position and then scooting to the front of the basket so she could slide off onto floor.  She was obviously very proud of herself and it was extremely adorable. 

Chad and I have found it very difficult not laugh at some of her "naughtlyness."  When she is so cute and the things she does are so funny, mommy and daddy need to learn to keep a straight face and discipline consistently....because, trust me, she doesn't need any encouragement!!! :)

Time flies when you are having fun!  And the last 6 months have been a lot of fun.  It’s hard to believe how quickly that time has gone.  Abigail is so sweet and is turning into quite the cuddle-muffin, which both mommy and daddy just love.  It is so much fun to see how much she loves to loves to see her daddy, especially when he gets home from work.  Even if she is a little crabby when he gets home, it doesn’t take much more than mentioning “Daddy” or seeing his face and she is all smiles.

Abi had her first “solid” food about two weeks ago.  We have all kinds of pictures and video of her first feeding – so be looking for that to be posted soon – thanks daddy!

Abi still really loves her jumper.  Friends and family find her jumping ability entertaining and so does Abi.  She has developed very strong legs and actually thinned down her thighs some.  Some clothes that she outgrew 2 weeks ago now fit again! She is by no means skinny but she has definitely started to “grow into” her weight.
 
Of course, Abi is at the stage where everything she can get her hands on goes into her mouth.  But, both her mommy and daddy were surprised a couple weeks ago when one of her favorite activities became grabbing her toes and sticking them in her mouth.  Gross, I know, but beyond that, we didn’t realize she was that flexible.  She certainly didn’t get that from her father, Chad can hardly touch his knees, much less his toes.

One really happy update is that around 4 ½ months (right before our Texas trip) Abi started to grow hair; and it’s pretty thick.  It continues to grow at a fairly rapid rate and that is so exciting to see after almost 20 weeks of not seeing any growth at all. 

Abi’s excessive spitting up has also stopped.  She burps a lot better after feedings and sometimes has a little come up with that – but not much and not even that often.  I think in the last 6 weeks she maybe had 2 days where she spit more than a couple of times.  Before 4.5 months I had to wash 30-40 spit rags a week.  Now I do laundry once a week and usually there are about 5-6 rags that are just a little dirty.  What a wonderful difference!!  Mommy and Daddy are both so thankful (so are all our friends and family who like to hold her!).

Abi is almost sitting up by herself and finally learned to roll over.  She was about 5.5 months before she rolled from her tummy to her back and once she figured it out was pretty quick to repeat it over and over.  She still doesn’t like tummy time, but she tolerates it a lot better.  Now, when she’s sick of she knows how to roll over on her own, instead of getting all fussy and frustrated (at least most of the time).

Abi continues to love Bandit.  He puts up with a lot of fur grabbing and hair pulling.  He gets in plenty of licks to show her how much he cares and she just giggles and laughs the whole time.

We feel very blessed as parents and can’t wait to see all the new things she will learn in the next 6 months!  That’s all for now.  Thanks for reading and I’ll try to do more frequent (and shorter) updates!
    

      It's been six weeks since I wrote Abi's last update and a lot has changed.  One thing that hasn't changed is that Abi is a wonderful baby.  She is so sweet and happy.  She has been from day one.  One other thing that hasn't changed is her ablility to eat a lot and gain weight consistently.  She's been gaining about 1/2 pound every week.   She is currently  approximately 16 pounds and about 24.5 - 25 inches.  You can see on ther Growth Charts that she's definitely above average - she's actually in the 97th percentile.  She is also about grown out of her 3-6 month clothes.  Hopefully she doesn't outgrow her 6-9 month clothes quite as quickly.
      But luckily her sleeping routine has improved greatly.  For the first 4-5 weeks she was waking up every 2 - 3 hours during the night to feed and also being WIDE awake from about 9pm until 1 or 2am.  Then between 6-8 weeks she was doing 4-5 hours at a time.  Since 8 weeks she's gone 6-7 hours every night and in the last week she has been sleeping as long as 8.5 hours at a time!!  Mommy loves that! 
      Abi loves to smile.  Everyone loves that. She has even giggled a couple of times - once for mommy, once for daddy and once for Grandma.  Abi also loves her swing and has started to enjoy her activity center too.  Her feet don't quite touch the floor but she does like the flashing lights and sounds and songs. 
      Abi is also discovering new things all the time.  Lately she has spent a lot of time sucking on her fists.  The pediatrician says it's a developmental thing that doesn't necessarily mean she's teething.  In the last couple of days she's been discovering more things about her voice.  She makes a million different coos, squeeks, and squeals.  She's so funny!!  We love her soooo much!
   

It has now been two weeks since little Abi was born, so I thought I’d like write an account of how labor and delivery went.  It all started on my due date, Sunday, October 2^nd. 

 

It was about 7 pm and Chad was out hunting.  I just had used the bathroom (of course at that point, being 9 months pregnant, I was going to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so).  As I stood up there was a small gush of fluid and I thought, “What the …?”  Of course I thought my water might have broken, but I really had no idea.   It was more liquid than I had just peed, but didn’t want to get to the hospital just be told to go home because I had just wet myself.  I went and changed my clothes and waited until Chad came home. 

I started having contractions around 8pm and they were about every 10-12 minutes.  Chad was home by 8:15 and within an hour had convinced me to phone the OB office’s “after hours” number.  I talked to the doctor who had us head into the hospital to get checked.  By 10pm, I was being wheeled through Holland Hospital to the Boven Birth Center.   

I was checked for amniotic fluid but none was found initially, but I was dilated to 5 cm ( I was almost 4 cm at the doctors on Friday afternoon).  From 11pm to 11:30pm, I was asked to walk around.  During this time, my contractions had increased in intensity to the point that I “couldn’t walk or talk” through them and they were coming about every 3 minutes.  Even if my water hadn’t broken, I was pretty sure that I was in labor and would have stayed regardless.  At 11:30 the nurse was able to detect amniotic fluid so it was definite that we were staying and having the baby. 

We called my mother (I was going to have both Chad and my mom in for labor and delivery) and they started the antibiotics I needed to take (due to being strep B positive – not a big deal for me, but could have be harmful to the baby if I didn’t get antibiotics).   My mom arrived around midnight just as my antibiotic drip had finished.  I spent the next half hour in the Jacuzzi whirlpool tub.  That was really nice, but it didn’t make the contractions pain-free, like someone had told me.  After the tub, I labored in my room, trying different “comfort measures” like rocking in a rocking chair, etc. 

The contractions were starting to become very painful and were only about 1.5 minutes apart (lasting about a minute leaving very little time to “rest” between them).  My mom was rubbing a tennis ball on my back as hard as she could (back labor isn’t any fun) and I was crushing Chad’s hands.  Our nurse, Stephanie, was coaching me through using a focal point and breathing (which actually helped me even though I thought it sounded hokey).  About 1:30 am, I felt an incredible urge to pee, so my mom and Chad helped me to the bathroom.  After I was sitting down, I started seeing little dashing lights, kind of like little dancing fairies, in my vision.  I quickly became nauseous, and threw up about 5 times. 

After throwing up, I asked the nurse about getting an epidural. I couldn’t imagine taking any more pain.  Luckily, the women in labor in the next room had already called the anesthesiologist in, so he was already on the way.  Once he was there, the epidural took only about 5 – 10 minutes and very soon there after I was VERY happy.  I was pain-free for the first time in 4 years (I’ve had back, shoulder, and neck pain since I trained for and ran the Chicago Marathon in 2001).  Our nurse checked and I was dilated to 7 cm.  Now I could just lie down and rest as I continued to have contractions and couldn’t feel a thing.  The nurse explained that I would probably feel pressure during contractions as I got close to fully dilated. 

By 4 am I was dilated to 9 ½ cm, but the baby was still sitting pretty high.  By 4:30, I was fully dilated, feeling pressure during contractions and the baby had moved down quite a bit.  I was informed that it was time to push.  For the first 45 minutes or so, I didn’t feel like I was doing anything.  As the baby moved further down I started to feel like I was actually accomplishing something.  It actually was not hard to push until she had crowned.  I did end up pushing for about 1.5 hours, and any physical activity done for 90 minutes (especially at 4am) can get a little tiring.  On top of that, during each contraction (which were only about 90 seconds apart) I had to hold my breath and push for 10 seconds – three times. 

The nurse got the doctor at about 5:45 am and he watched as I pushed through several contractions.  Then he explained to me that the babies heart rate had risen, which meant that she was in “distress”.  Those are not exactly the words a laboring mother likes to hear.  He went on to explain that he wasn’t very concerned but concerned enough to want the baby out soon and that he wanted to use the vacuum extractor if I was OK with that.  Man, I thought he was going to say “C-section” so the vacuum was welcome news.  He ended up only having to use it through one set of pushes and she quickly crowned….OUCH! 

Crowned, what a nice term for a very painful situation.  I was glad to have an epidural but I was still able to feel pressure, and oh my, that was a lot of pressure.  I told the doctor I wasn’t sure if I would be able to tell when the next contraction was because of how intense the current pressure was.  Soon enough I was told to push and push I did.   This is the kind of pushing I imagined delivery to involve – intense, give it all you got, push through the pain pushing.  

Soon, there she was… being laid on my chest.  That’s when I realized one of the reasons I had been so uncomfortable the last several weeks.  She was a BIG baby - 9 lbs. 13 oz. to be exact.  The doctor said he was glad he didn’t know she was that big or he wouldn’t have been as confident in using the vacuum.  I was just glad she was out and that she seemed very healthy.  Chad got to cut the cord.  My mom was beaming and sort of crying.    She kept saying how beautiful the baby was, and she was right. 

Little Abigail is beautiful.  I know I might be a little biased, but you can judge for yourself.  All in all, I’d say contractions are more painful than I imagined and it all progressed quicker than I thought it would.  Also, epidurals are definitely a wonderful thing in my book.