Spring Lately...in COMO

Lately Greg and I have been so busy we are both not quite sure what day it is. Greg is immersed in his dissertation planning and has begun to launch his research (to be completed in early 2015). I have started to wrap up my course work and read for comprehensive exams in the Fall. We are balancing being professors, parents and students.

Evangeline is going to French School, and has learned several songs as well as how to count to seven in French. We are excited she will be attending 5 days a week in the Fall for their preschool program.

At her 30 week appointment (today) she was in the 70 percentile for weight, at 29 lbs and 50 percentile for height at 34 inches. She is right on track to be a 5 foot 6 20 year old in 18 years : )

Right now her favorite phrases are "Sure is" and "I do myself, Daddy/Momma." Typical two year old. She loves books, to pray for her friends and family and do Yoga poses around the house. She also knows almost the entire soundtrack to "The Sound of Music" and "Frozen" as well as the words to about 12 other songs from school and home. My favorites to hear her sing are "Skidamarink" and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot."

P-Nut is growing right on track, and although I have been tired, I'm enjoying the fluttery feeling I get from her kicking and rolling around. I can't believe our due date is in less than 3 months.

We are looking forward to going to Texas for Mother's Day weekend and spending time with the Wiggins. Evangeline has been going on and on about "Swimming with her grandma in Texas." This week my sister in law Edgerly is coming to help us get a little extra done and we are hosting a baby shower for my cousin Nate and his wife Sara who are expecting their first baby in June.

Also, we are also grateful to have figured out childcare for the month of June since the Student Parent Center is closing here at the University of Missouri. My sister Sarah will come help one week, and a fellow graduate student will watch Evangeline the other two weeks.  Greg and I were recently interviewed concerning our perspective about the center's closing on KBIA our local NPR station here.  

Thanks to everyone who has been following the story of the SPC and your support signing the petition to keep a facility like that on the University of Missouri campus.
 
With that in mind, here's some recent photos of our adventures.

Trying to take more photos with Evangeline. She is starting to looks like such a little lady.

Sweet smile, but always distracted. Oh to be two.

Playing after Yoga class with friends on the playground is one of her favorite activities right now.

Here's our family on Easter. Evangeline would not smile.

Baby Bump photo at 24 weeks.

Wearing the new necklace I got for my 31st birthday, made by my sister Sarah.

Evangeline playing with her close friend Kai. We found these tires super fun.

E's favorite Easter Basket item, her new Minnie Mouse doll.

Collecting Eggs at the Church Egg-stravaganza.

Our neighbors even put eggs in our yard on Easter, so we got a second surprise Egg hunt.

Winter Catch Up

So this semester is very busy. We have been swamped. This past week we had two snow days to play catch up. Greg's busy teaching 1100-Principles of American Journalism this semester and taking several independent studies, and I am busy with a full course load and two research assistant ships. So far this year Greg and I have both been to DC on short research trips, our car has been in the shop several times to get new tires, a new bumper and some recall maintenance. Between those things and Evangeline starting daycare we have all been very busy.
At her 16 month appointment Evangeline was 31 inches long and weighed 24 lbs. She is now drinking whole milk and still nursing once in the evening. She loves muffins (especially Pumpkin flavored), mandarin oranges, cheese crackers, cheese (and asks for it by name) and bananas. She attends daycare twice a week and loves her friends there.
Here's a few photos of our PhD Family : )

Mom and baby girl in the back of one of the three rental cars from this month.

Look at the super cute curl on the back of head!

She loves hair accessories right now. Most of the time headbands become necklaces.

Evangeline playing with her French word cards.

French "School" in the living room.

Not so happy to be taking photos.

She climbed onto this horse all by herself.

Evangeline is one!

Congrats to Evangeline on one year. Mom and dad love you more thank you will ever know.

A Week Over Due Makes You Strong

Committing to natural birth is hard when you are a week overdue.  But we have to stand strong because we love her enough to give her that opportunity.

I really want to wait as long as possible for any interventions into Miss P's birth. It was hard, but today I expressed this to my doctor, who said she was on board for waiting another week. This was an improvement from last week when she said she rarely waits more than a week past the due date to induce.

People have asked me if I am miserable. At first I was really mentally bogged down about her not coming early, or on time. But I'm at peace with waiting now.

I'm feeling great. I've been walking at least a mile a day--most days three or four miles. This weekend that walking added up to close to 20 miles with one long stent with my friend Brenda walking around my neighborhood for almost four hours. We walked to garage sales, the library, the school where Brenda works. Then we walked around a park in her neighborhood the next day.

That said its really hard when you were prepared so far in advance and you are still waiting. I want every pain I feel to be a contraction. I wish my little girl was here already. He closet is full of clothes. The weather is turning colder, I had to take out the few cold weather maternity clothing I have today as the temp is supposed to drop below freezing tonight. People keep asking why she is not here yet.

Honestly I do not know, it's like asking when Jesus is coming back again.

The good news is she is healthy and I am healthy. And there is the constant reminder: babies are not like cartons of milk they do not expire.

That said....
We'll officially go one week past our due date tomorrow. Right now we have one more week till scheduled induction date of October 25th. I can change my mind if I still need more time, but after that, the doctor said she would be really concerned for the baby's health (and my sanity).
No one ever talks about what happens to your morale when you are two weeks late (most babies don't last that long).

I know you are all as anxious as Greg and I are. You want to see what she looks like, know her name, see what she does.... However, Miss P is still taking her sweet time, and that is fine. I need to learn patience. I'm learning that babies come when God wants them to. This is only the beginning. Parenting takes patience and conviction. That said Greg and I still need your support.

Please pray for a safe delivery whenever she comes if that is tomorrow or Tuesday night.
We'll be having an ultra-sound on Friday to confirm that she's still doing ok living in my belly (if she has not arrived yet). I'm hoping we don't have to go and that she comes before then : )
Thanks for all your encouragement.

Past the Due Date

So I know I would feel differently if her Due Date had not come and gone with no event...but it did. It is October 13th. She is not here yet.

Right now I am thinking how our society makes Due Dates out to date a child as though she were a carton of eggs or a jug of milk. I'm trying really hard not to think about it like that. I'm trying to re-frame the idea of a due date as more of a "guess date." I keep telling myself the longer she has to develop inside the womb the less of a shock she'll go through when she enters the world. 
I know I should be grateful for a happy, easy and healthy pregnancy so far. I should be grateful for more time to prepare for her arrival. I am. But as I have said before I feel overly prepared for her to arrive.
So far this week I've done my best to remain distracted. I'm finishing my T-shirt quilt of ZTA T-shirts from undergrad. I've been studying for the GRE. I made zucchini and pumpkin bread and took loaves to friends and neighbors. I completely used up all of my granulated sugar. I went to an elderly assisted living facility with my neighbor to visit a vivacious older woman named Beth yesterday. This was honestly the highlight of my day.
This week I've been on several walks. Yesterday, I ate my neighbor's homemade salsa with chips,  and an Amy's microwavable Indian food meal.
It has rained the past two days here. The leaves in the trees are turning a cascade of autumn colors, although the rain has brought them down. Greg and I really enjoyed our walk today. A beautiful morning after the rain.
Not sure what today holds but if I get more sugar I can make cupcakes!

False Alarm

Yesterday I went to the hospital after having contractions that were three to five minutes apart...but I was not dialated so they sent me home. I hate to call what I experienced a false alarm--because it makes me sound like that woman who is so clueless about her pregnancy--but I seriously thought I would walk in that hospital and walk out with a baby yesterday. Miss P has other plans.

The doctor said what I was experiencing was "early labor" and to not come back until I could not talk through contractions or breathe through them. She then said "it could be any day now"--a phrase I am slightly tired of hearing. The nice thing is that I could see the contractions on the monitor, so I at least knew I was not imagining things. Maybe at this point I've read too much?

39 Weeks and still waiting

I reread the section on labor and delivery in What to Expect When You Are Expecting twice this weekend, hoping to read between the lines and get a better idea of what "being in labor" would feel like for me. I felt like I was asking myself "When will Jesus return?"

Basically the book says labor is different for everyone. In the book it says the baby's brain sends a signal to my body to make labor, contractions and dilation take place. Therefore, I determined she is not ready to leave my body just yet. Mom and I went on two walks yesterday which I thought would help. The problem now is that my feet are so swollen that walking for a long time makes them more uncomfortable. We also went for a three mile walk this morning.

It has been wonderful to have my parents here over the Columbus Day weekend, and I am really going to miss them when they leave in later today. They helped Greg and I get so many projects finished around our house. They fed us, encouraged us and have made us feel loved.

Among those projects....Greg and my dad finally got his 1967 Ford Mustang up and running (although it needs a new radiator). This is the biggest smile I've seen on his face in a long time.

Greg and his Mustang

Patience

Not so sure why I am so set on her coming early.

Perhaps I was thinking because Greg and I were both born early that she might be inclined to be early too? Maybe it is because my feet have begun to swell and my back hurts.

Greg is ready too. He keeps telling me how anxious he is to hold his little girl. He would most likely write this himself if the Mizzou Journalism Ph. D program was not consuming 90 percent of his time right now. I feel like as we get closer to her due date we are finding all sorts of things we have not done yet. I've created a two page list, he's finished one list and made a new list. We cannot help that we are constantly planning I guess.

My parents are flying into town later today to help me prepare and possibly urge Miss P on a little. I like to call it "cheerleading."

I'm trying to wrap up some smaller projects around the house, get all the birthday/anniversary cards sent in the mail and catch up on sleep (as I say this at 2 a.m. awake yet again). Right now I am able to sleep for a little more than six hours at a time before I wake up. People may read this and think I am crazy, but I cannot wait till there is a baby to wake up for.

This morning I woke up and found my Baylor ZTA sorority sister Jen had her baby girl overnight. Part of me wishes I was in the same boat. I am so happy for Jen and her husband Ryan. They will be wonderful parents.

I wish there was something I could do to make Miss P want to arrive. I keep telling myself I have no control over this--and I know I don't.

Someone told me if there are things to get done around the house she might not feel like she can come...but that is really hard when you moved into a house pregnant and still have an office that looks like a junk pile looming around you.

I need prayers for patience. 

I scheduled another doctor's appointment for next Friday (10/14) in case she has not arrived yet. In a lot of ways I feel like a little kid waiting for summer vacation to start.

Are we there yet...

So I'm asking this question literally as the "child in me" refuses to come out...

I'm not super impatient, but yesterday I started to get that way. I know I still have a week left until Miss P's "guess date" but she keeps making me think she might be early. Yesterday Greg and I went to my last prescheduled doctor's appointment. Miss P was half asleep and had a low heart rate on the Doppler, so the OB sent us over to the hospital to be hooked up to some monitors.

They got me situated in a "pregnancy triage room" which is basically just a labor and delivery room equipped for emergencies. I'd been there before back in June when I hit my head on the chandelier in our living room.  I sat on the hospital bed in the room. Then they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and started measuring her heart rate and mine to see if I had any contractions. They also gave me grape and cranberry juice to drink. I was actually happy and positive while we were at the hospital, despite the fact that I very quickly discovered we would not be having a baby.

Within five minutes her heart rate was back up to 140 (babies are supposed to have a heart rate between 120 and 160 during this time of pregnancy). Within 10 minutes she was already awake, kicking, and moving around. Greg would talk to her and her heart rate would go up. The nurse and technician said she was perfectly happy in her "home." All I could think is that my little girl needed some sort of dress rehearsal to prepare herself for coming out.

While in the room, I was made aware of all the details of a labor and delivery room.  There was a green cart with all the pain solutions one might want right in front of the window, a board with patient information (with a section for the baby's information too), no nasal tissues (which I thought odd), comment cards to praise the hospital staff (very clearly placed in the middle of the wall in front of the hospital bed), one chair for a guest, a food tray and small bathroom. I kept thinking to myself that if they took all the medical equipment out the room slightly resembled a dorm-room setup.

We had a nurse, technician, resident and doctor assigned to us. We spoke with each one. They were all nice. After they had taken my blood pressure and observed me and the baby for awhile they said she was fine, I was fine and we could go home. They said they needed to contact my doctor before they let me leave. This took the longest amount of time compared to the rest of the visit.

After about an hour in the triage they "discharged" us. This basically meant they said to go home and hope that we have our baby in the next week and a half or so. I've had a pretty uneventful pregnancy so far (knock on wood, or fiberboard since my Ikea desk is all I have).

So after this adventure Greg and I went to TGIFridays and had dinner, and maybe out last date as a childless couple. I'm going to miss our times out together, but we both expressed that we cannot wait to be parents. That trip took a lot out of me, but I am hoping that is all Miss P needed to feel confident enough to leave the womb.