Our friends Chris and Shannon have just had their little boy! He was 10lb 13oz and 22 inches long!
Congratulations!
Fudgesicles. Thursday, November 29, 2007
Simply the best things ever. That’s not just the hormones speaking, though I’m sure they conjured the cravings. I have a big ol’ box of frozen chocolate delight and a big ol’ belly to balance it on. I am exercising restraint. I’ve only had two today. I’m saving the rest for tomorrow.
Yep. That’s the post. I am as shallow as a kiddy pool.
Sitting on our hands Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Basically we’ve spent the past couple of weeks waiting and we’re beginning to get impatient. We’ve been talking with Olivia about leaving her current station and we’ve been discussing every single “home remedy” to stir labor. Susan spent an hour or so over the course of Sunday walking up and down the stairs in our house. She’s been drinking a good deal of raspberry leaf tea and taking evening primrose oil. The only change so far is that her contractions, that had been occurring at fairly predictable intervals of 15 minutes, are now occurring randomly. Occasionally they are stronger than they have been in the past, but for the most part, they aren’t a lot different.
Susan has taken to sleeping on the couch in the front room, so I’ve put the baby monitor on the end table next to her so if she needs something, she barely has to speak to get my attention. I have to admit that I’ve not been sleeping particularly well with her not being there next to me… and the monitor doesn’t fill the spot very well.
There was a doctor’s appointment the Monday before Thanksgiving and the Monday after, but neither revealed an awful lot. In both visits she measured 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. In yesterday’s visit, the doctor was concerned with Susan’s fundal length (measurement of the baby belly), so she ordered an ultrasound. Luckily, the tech worked us in right away, so we didn’t have to wait around. The ultrasound showed that Olivia is growing properly, measuring right on target for 38 weeks, plus the fluid in the placenta is at the appropriate levels as well. The weight estimate is around 7lb 9oz, give or take 8oz. I’ll see about estimating the length in a little while…
Thanksgiving went very well. We ate with friends on Thanksgiving day, enjoying an amazing meal with their very, very nice families. On Friday, I brined and cooked a turkey. Along with the turkey, we received (and ate!) a ham, and lots of other wonderful side dishes. The brining worked out well, creating a very moist meat, and I was amused to find that our friend Elynka had also brined her turkey. We used two different Food TV recipes, but we were both quite pleased with the results.
The hockey team played our last game of the session on Sunday, but I didn’t participate. I wasn’t feeling particularly good, partly due to the fact that I’d been woken up at 4a by work, and partly an upset stomach. I’ve pushed through that sort of thing before, but Susan had also just started her new contraction “routine” and we were a little weirded out by it. We decided that it’d be better if I were at home, just in case things (finally) started moving forward.
We’ll keep everyone up to date… as there is something to be up to date on.
Happy Thanksgiving! Thursday, November 22, 2007
I’m thankful for my sweet husband, my beautiful baby, my parents, and all my family and friends. I’m thankful for a warm house and plentiful food. I’m thankful for a blessed life from a good God. I’m thankful for every little thing, good or bad, that has happened to me because it brought me here where I needed to be. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving where ever you may be!
I don’t get publicly sentimental all that often so enjoy this while you can. 
Progress and the lack thereof. Monday, November 19, 2007
We had our 37 week checkup today. Still 50% effaced, still 1 cm dilated. Yeah, it’s a little disappointing but it means I get to enjoy Thanksgiving without much worrying about stranding everyone who’s coming up while I run out to have a baby. We (Ian and I) had both hoped for more action towards the labor since we walked our tails off and dealt with nasty contractions and whatnot.
The bottom line is, she’ll come out whenever she darn well pleases no matter how uncomfortable her mommy is. She’s a chip off the block already.
Plumber en route Monday, November 19, 2007
Just so everyone knows, the plumber is on his way to the house now.
Our night in the hotel was a little rough… Susan is just plain uncomfortable at this point. (Notice the ticker in the upper right hand corner.) I couldn’t get used to the new room/bed, plus I couldn’t wind down after the hockey game.
We’ll keep everyone up to date… Susan also has a doctor’s appointment at 3p today.
The water broke… Er, that is the bathroom waterpipe broke. Sunday, November 18, 2007
Still pregnant. My waters are intact. The house, however, decided to pick up my slack. Ian had gone with friends and family to the Preds game last night. I stayed home to rest after a rather rough day. At around 9:30 PM, I was sitting at my computer in the front bedroom listening to music and piddling around, when a great whizzing, gushing noise emanated from the hall. I freaked out because it sounded like one of two things:
A) The main gas pipe ruptured. Or,
B) “Someone” in the house turned on the main level bathroom shower.
As I was trying to decide whether to investigate or run to the front door like cheetah on fire, I noticed a little spray of water coming out into the hall. I peaked into the front bathroom and was greeted with geysers of water rivaling anything in Yellowstone erupting from the wall behind the sink. Water was shooting into the bathtub, up onto the window, over the toilet, and straight out from the sink. It would have been an absolutely hilarious scene if it had been in one of those “Are you ready?” home insurance commercials. As it was in my home, not so much.
By this time, I had Ian on the phone. I called him the instant I had first heard the noise to make sure that I told him I loved him before I:
A) was blown to bits. Or,
B) was hacked to death by a psychopath.
Yeah, I know. Utterly rational. Instead of “I love you”, the first words I said were “Ian, I think the bathroom exploded”. Needless to say, I was not handling the situation well. With him on the phone, I stepped into the spray and attempted to see if turning off the water at the sink would make any difference. The only difference it made was turning a dry, pregnant woman into a soaked, pregnant woman. A soaked, rather panicky, pregnant woman.
Ian then said I would need to turn off the main water to the house. To do so, I would have to find heavy duty pliers because we don’t have one of those oh-so-useful water keys. I scrambled to the basement to discover water pouring in sheets from the ceiling above… directly into the tool box. Sigh. Getting another good soaking in the process, I found what I needed and headed for the street. I snagged the flashlight on the way out so I could maybe see what the heck I was supposed to do.
Meanwhile Ian was frantically trying to figure out how to get home as quickly as possible. He had ridden with his Mom, Amy, and Garrett. He was sitting with Ben and Dru. The game was tied and heading into overtime. Thankfully, his friend Eric had driven up alone and was sitting fairly near to him. After explaining the situation, Eric tossed him his keys and Ian proceeded to run about 3 blocks to Eric’s truck and then book it home. Ian’s family actually noticed him running out of the stadium madman-style and thought I had gone into labor. They were then reassured that I was fine, but our house was rapidly turning into a water park.
At this point, I am in the street, dripping wet, and frantically searching for the water main. I find it. I cannot open it. Not even half an inch. I eventually wedge it open only to discover that even with my arms stretched as far as possible, there is no way I’m going to reach the valve (which, incidentally, is also covered in about 1/2 a foot of water). By this time, one of our awesome neighbors, Jerry, is helping me out. He thinks that our other neighbors, Terri and Merri (sisters) have a key. I recruit them and even with the long necked key we are barely able to reach that valve. Terri finally manage it and the spewing stops.
After thanking them profusely, I go into the house and assess the damage. It’s all soaked. The floor, the walls, everything… soaked. I get changed into dry clothes and start mopping up the water with numerous towels. The garbage basket is full where I had stuck it under the main gush pouring on the floor. The roll of toilet paper on the wall is a mass of dripping white goo. I do what I can and then I crawl under a blanket in the front living room where Ian finds me huddled when he walks through the front door about 5 minutes later. Not a good night.
Two things to be very thankful for:
A) We renewed our house insurance policy last week.
B) The ill-timed-5-minutes-apart-horribly-painful contractions that started the instant I first heard that awful sound, finally stopped without having my own water break.
Unsustainable contractions Friday, November 16, 2007
We went for a long walk at the park this evening, tracking her contractions as we looped around the Parthenon. Almost from the start she established a pattern of contractions every 5 minutes or so, lasting about a minute each. It was really close to clockwork and I was doing pretty decent with predicting them. After about 45 minutes, though, her hips hurt too much for her to go on, so we headed to the car. In the car she had one more on schedule, then one at 1 minutes and finally she was back into her 15 minute schedule.
We ate a sushi dinner, loading her up with spicy products, and then headed home. We’ll go out a couple of times tomorrow to see what we can get to stir… we figure that there will at least be a dilation change at Monday’s doctor appointment.
We’ll continue the updates as they come…
Photos by Lesha Friday, November 16, 2007
Susan and her friend Lesha had made plans early in the pregnancy for Lesha to come to take photos of Susan’s progression. There weren’t an awful lot of opportunities for Lesha to get time out of work and drive up to Nashville, but she did make time here at the end of the pregnancy.
She and Susie spent most of Thursday taking photos, with a batch of “private” photos, and a slightly larger batch of “public” photos. We’ve put those photos in a set on Flickr, as well as sticking a few of them on here. We went with the cliché “heart fingers” picture, and Susan has fallen absolutely in love with it.
Working with Lesha was awesome because we know her very well. I wasn’t around for the photos in the afternoon, but I can tell by looking through them that Susan was comfortable. Additionally, during our photos as a couple, when Olivia begin to squirm, I did what I normally did… I spoke to her, and rubbed on Susan’s belly in attempt to calm her down. This, of course, made for a nice set of pictures.
The hope is for Lesha to re-join us once Susan goes into labor and she can grab a few nice photos in the l&d room at the hospital. She’s been a birthing partner in the past, is obviously an accomplished photographer, and a very, very good friend of Susan’s. With all these things in consideration, if she can get here, we’re going to have some great photos to capture our memories.
Thank you Lesha! Plus, I’ll provide a link to Lesha’s photography page a little later when I’m reminded of it. 
Plans for today/the weekend Friday, November 16, 2007
Since my daytime training is coming to a close today, Susan is going to start working her body into a frenzy in an effort to produce labor inducing contractions.
As she has mentioned elsewhere, most any activity outside of sitting on the couch will produce a set of random contractions. Even sitting on the couch, she has contractions, of course, but they get a little more intense with simple movement like walking.
Going forward from right now, though, she is going to begin the homeopathic methods in conjunction with unfettered activity. As far as the homeopathic stuff, our friend Laurie has provided her with evening primrose oil and raspberry leaf tea. The tea should help tone the uterus and make the labor a little shorter thanks to this. The primrose oil is supposed to make contractions more productive, but only if they are real contractions… it won’t actually induce labor. At least this is my understanding of this stuff… she knows better than I.
Along with these homeopathic methods, she is going to go wild with the nesting activities that she has been holding herself back from doing. Sweeping, vacuuming and other stuff ought to bring along a few contractions. After these things are out of the way, she’ll begin walking. If the walking brings on more intense contractions and they are still going by the time I get home, we’ll bundle up and head to the park. Its our understanding, from our friend Steph, that the stairs at the Parthenon are awfully good for convincing babies they are ready to move out of their warm place.
If things go as planned, we’ll be able to “control” when the labor comes on to a certain extent. This way, she’ll not be randomly sitting at home Tuesday afternoon when things kick into gear. Additionally, if we can convince Miss Olivia to show up this weekend, we’ll be able to keep our Thanksgiving plans on top of making visiting the new baby easier for everyone because they are already headed here. If things don’t go as planned, we’ll make due, but Susan will be pretty upset – she’ll likely handle a lot of contractions, but if they don’t produce a baby, she’ll have suffered a lot of pain with no results!
We’ll handle things as they come along and keep everyone up to date as we go. Don’t start driving up just yet, but go ahead and have your bag handy… we’ve got ours!
Sympathic nesting? Thursday, November 15, 2007
Susie is sitting at home with her legs crossed, visiting with her buddy Leesha. She’s driven up from Chattanooga to do some visiting and to take a few photos of Susan’s big ol’ belly before she pops. This has always been the plan, but I don’t know that any of us expected the photos to be taken so close to Olivia’s birthday! It’s really cool, though, that these pictures will be at the end of the whole pregnancy because it makes for an awesome landmark.
Susan is still experiencing irregular, un-rhythmic contractions… generally 15 minutes apart. We’re not expecting our little Olive to pop out today, but we’re going to be ready. We’ve both physically gone through the hospital bag at least once, and we’ve mentally gone through it at least four times within the past 24 hours. That bag and the camera bag are sitting together on the main floor of the house.
Susan has a towel to rest on just in case this whole water breaking thing happens. She has her analog watch handy for timing contractions. She has instructions to sit still so as not to kick off the contractions. She will call me when she feels like the contractions are moving toward hospital-worthy.
This morning, after another mental check of the hospital bag, I began cleaning up the kitchen, doing laundry and a couple of other chores. Susan hasn’t really gotten into a nesting mode herself, but I know that her mom and I have both contributed to handling her nesting needs. 
Again… we’ll keep everyone informed.
Progress… Wednesday, November 14, 2007
First, apologies to Alias Mother… she’s still waiting patiently.
There is a distinct possibility that Susan lost her mucus plug this afternoon. Don’t worry – we won’t go into the disgusting details. This is simply progress toward labor, not an indication of it eminent arrival. She spoke with the doctor’s office and they told her just to keep an eye on her contractions.
We might not make it past Thanksgiving at this rate…
Contractions and spooky cats Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Susan took a trip to the grocery store this afternoon to grab a few of the items we need for our Thanksgiving dinner next week. Apparently all the walking around in the store got little Olive excited and Susan began to have pretty serious contractions! In fact, she was a little concerned that she was actually even going into labor. She tells me that she’d stop walking and the contractions would fade, but the shoppers around her were rather concerned, with several asking if they should place a phone call for her!
As soon as she got to the car and relaxed, though, the contractions calmed right down. She was able to drive home, unload the groceries and kick back on the couch without any major complications.
However, when she is kicked back on the couch, or most anywhere else in the house, little Moochie is by her side. She is following her around the house and laying at least within touching distance of her, if not actually laying on her. It seems that whatever hormones Susan is putting out is confusing our Mooch. My guess is that she’ll be staying close for the remainder of the pregnancy and well into the nursing stages.
Of course we’ll be letting everyone know if Susie goes into labor… don’t panic.
I love his, “or something…” Monday, November 12, 2007
We had the 36 week check-up today. I start regular weekly check-ups from this point on. The road goes on forever and the party never ends. Or so I thought. Even with all the nasty contractions I have been having of late, I didn’t expect to be told that they were doing anything helpful. One of the few times I am delighted to be proven wrong.
I am 50% effaced and 1 cm dilated.
Olivia is between 5 and 5 1/2 pounds according to my doc’s estimate from Leopold’s maneuvering (pressing on my belly in certain ways to determine size). Her heartbeat is steady and she dances in spite of no longer really having a dance floor. In short, she’s doing great.
I don’t think I need to point out how very ready I am to get this party started, but I should say that it would be really great if she decided to wait til after Thanksgiving to come out. Ian is in training from 9-9 every day this week for a new work product. We have invites to watch the Preds game from one of the suites on Turkey day itself. All of our family will be up that Friday for the big dinner. These are things I would like to see through while she is still on the inside. However, if labor starts after the meal is over….
My first goal (and oh yeah, my wife is having contractions or something…) Monday, November 12, 2007
I’m proud and bragging now. Its 12:34am and I really should be working toward getting showered and into bed, but I want to brag first.
Tonight, with my beautifully pregnant (and mildly contracting) wife in the stands, I finally, finally got my first goal in the rec league hockey. It was a “garbage” goal, picking up another guy’s rebound, but it was still a goal. He’d taken the shot and I’d followed him into the play. The rebound was bouncing a bit and the goalie was out of position, so I took a swing and managed to “ski-ramp” it up the goalie’s shoulder, into the very top of the net. My first goal found the peanut butter… top shelf! Amusingly, and completely out of my control, I calmly pointed in the goal as I skated past the net. At that point, I took a miniature victory lap to get congratulated by my rather excited teammates.
I grabbed the puck as we headed off the ice… its taken me 42 games to get that goal – who knows how many it might be before I get another!
We did lose the game, but it was respectable: a 6 – 3 loss to a team that normally beats people by 10+ goals.
Okay… off to bed. We’re due at the doctor’s office at 8a tomorrow and she is experiencing mild, un-rhythmic contractions. Nothing to be freaked out over, but certainly not Braxton-Hicks contractions she tells me. We’ll keep everyone informed, especially when we get the dilation check tomorrow morning.
