Doctor's Visit

Bryan, Eden, and I made our way to the pediatrician's office yesterday in the pouring rain. She, of course, being the shy little girl she is, screamed while undressed (except when she was on her tummy...). But she's perfectly healthy (and her lungs certainly work!). Vital stats:

Weight: 8 lb 13 oz - she's over her birth weight! Yay!
Length: 21 inches - she's tall! And she gained a whole inch in 12 days!

I didn't write down the head circumference, and they didn't tell me any percentiles, but we know she's healthy and happy (when dressed), and that's all that matters. And our pediatrician is awesome. She listened while we asked all kinds of probably silly questions, and took us seriously when we mentioned a little bump on her arm (but it's nothing to worry about). After dealing with the OB practice I had (of course, with the exception of the awesome NP and the doc who dealt with all three false alarms and then delivered our baby girl) we're happy to have a good experience with doctors. :)

Smile

Megan caught Eden (sort of) smiling on camera. Is she not the most precious thing ever???

Yesterday was traumatic.

It all started out so well.

7:00 am - morning feeding. Bryan brings Eden to me (with a fresh diaper, but hungry - he's such an awesome man) and together Eden and I take on world hunger (OK, well, her hunger. But sometimes it seems like it's big enough for the whole world...). Afterwards she burps, spits up, and looks adorable. I put her in her bassinet and give Daddy strict instructions to keep the cat away. (He nods in his sleep).

8:00 am - shower. Ahhh. Mommy time. I get dressed and put on some makeup, fix my hair, feel more human than cow.

9:00 am - call the doctor. I have been having some pretty severe cramping and Tuesday night the doc on call told me to come in to get an ultrasound and make sure everything's OK. The nurse (who is very New England, very "you're-getting-on-my-nerves-even-though-this-is-my-job") sets up the appointment for 11, and tells me to come up to get checked out by the doctor. This is important.

9:45 am - leave for church, where we're dropping Daddy off for a 10:00 meeting (which will last until noon). Luckily the church is pretty close to the doctor's office. I'm planning to take Eden out for the first time by myself.

10:20 am - feed Eden in the church nursery so she'll sleep through the doctor's appointment. Of course, her insatiable hunger has waned a bit and she's eating sort of lazily. At 10:45 I have to cut her off (normally, mind you, 15 minutes is more than enough for her... she's usually pretty efficient) and we leave.

11:00 am - in the waiting room of the doctor's office. I sit there for 20 minutes, and have to change Eden in the bathroom. First time using one of those bathroom changer things, and I was so glad I'd brought disposable changing pads.

11:20 am - the mean nurse comes out and angrily tells me they're waiting for me six floors down in ultrasound. Apparently she meant I should go there first, and then be seen by the doc. But since I am not a mind reader I did not know this.

11:22 am - ultrasound tech meets me in the waiting room downstairs, takes me back. Eden is fussing at this point - she's hungry, and I know it. I pray that this will go fast. The tech chides me (probably 10 times) for not having anyone to sit with the baby while I get this ultrasound. I apologize (at least 10 times) and wish she would stop - it's not helping. The ultrasound itself lasts an excruciatingly long 20 minutes, and Eden screams the entire time. I'm crying because my baby is upset and there's nothing I can do about it, even though I know what's wrong, and also because the ultrasound is pretty uncomfortable.

12:00 pm - the tech, suddenly really nice, tells me I can stay in the room and nurse Eden, and she'll call upstairs and tell them I'm going to be a bit. Even though I was annoyed with her I could have kissed her. Eden eats like a champ and promptly passes out.

12:30 pm - back upstairs, and the mean nurse shoves me in a room. The doc comes in immediately, and declares that there is nothing apparently wrong with me. "It's just something we'll have to watch," he says. Seriously. All of that, for nothing. We leave and go to pick up Bryan, and I make him drive while I sob out the whole story. My heart is broken just thinking about her crying so hard. We decide that, even though the lactation consultant told us not to pump until she's 3 weeks old, we're going to get at least one bottle's worth for moments like that. We decided that she won't get too confused from one feeding, and it's not good for her to scream so loud for so long. (It's not good for me or Bryan either...)

1:00 pm - back at home, I get Eden out of her car seat and we cuddle on the couch. It's my way of making us both feel better about the whole thing. She, of course, was perfectly happy and still totally comatose. After several minutes of this, I listen to an hour of Property lecture. Success!

The rest of the afternoon was just feeding her, getting a visit from Dan (who brought us a delicious lasagna for dinner, along with two bottles of home brew), learning how to use the pump, and getting in about 15-20 minutes of lecture here and there before Eden needed me again. After dinner I needed to get out so we took a walk to get ice cream. The day ended much more relaxed, like it had begun - the middle part really sucked and it threw off her schedule for the rest of the day, but I decided it's OK because it was such a traumatic morning for both of us. Hopefully I'll get more done today.

And just so you don't suffer from a cuteness deficiency, here are some pictures of our little one. Daddy tried out the carrier when he and John took Bella (their adorable little puppy) out to the bathroom on Monday night - Kel and I were watching the Bachelorette (I know...) so Bryan took Eden along:

Our first family walk, last night:


This kills me!! I got out of the shower this morning to find my two favorite people in the whole world cozily snuggled up:

Pictures.

On Snapfish. Be warned: they are numerous. And they are so cute you won't be able to stop looking.

OK, now that I've done all of that, I need to study. And the baby's waking up. :) Oh well - I'll study this afternoon. :)

By the way

This girl is a champ - last night she went almost 4 hours between feedings. She ate at 2, 6, and then 9:30!! Mommy and Daddy were so excited for the sleep!!

How am I ever going to study?

Look at this precious little one!! I'm not at all kidding when I say I could sit and stare at her all day long!

Her first black & white photo shoot:


First Sunday at church - Mommy and baby:


Here's a better picture of the outfit Daddy picked out for her first church excursion. He chose it months ago - we were so relieved it fit! The socks were a gift from our friend Hillary - I think they're so hilariously cute:


And here's some video, because she's so much cuter in person. The first video is one I took several days ago, while she was sitting on my lap after her lunch:




And here's one of tummy time last night - she's so strong!! I can't believe she is already picking up her head. She had already done it twice when we finally caught it on tape, so she was getting a little tired... but it's no less cute! Check her out:

Eden update

Sorry I've been MIA - it's been really crazy around here lately! But I wanted to quickly share the story of Eden's arrival, and a few more pictures of our precious baby girl.

Bryan and I got to the hospital on Sunday at about 5:45, after sleeping relatively little, for us anyway... (we went to bed at about 10:00, and I slept until about 4:30 and then I was so excited I couldn't sleep any more). This time we skipped triage altogether, which I was happy about - we've spent our fair share of hours there!! :) The nurse put in my IV, and started some fluids, hooked me up to some monitors, and got me all comfy (BTW I was having contractions like normal every 6-7 minutes), and started pitocin at about 6:45 or 7:00. Shift change led to a new nurse, but then the awesome nurse practitioner from our OB office came in (she works as a labor and delivery nurse on Sundays during the day) and stole us. So we moved rooms, and by then the pitocin was kicking in - I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes, and they were getting close to a minute long. But while they were a little uncomfortable, they certainly weren't painful; they were just closer together (but no stronger) than the ones I'd already been having for months.

The doctor came in to check me and I was 2-3 cm dilated (which I had been for a few days) - so he decided to break my water. Brandy hadn't arrived yet - she was waiting for Curtis (her husband) and the kids to head to church. The doc broke the water at about 8:30 I think, and there was meconium in the fluid - our baby's an overachiever and pooped early. :) So the doc started talking to me about C-section, saying that it's possible that we'd get one since she was so big and late. I heard most of what he said, but I was also having the first really painful contraction. It's amazing how breaking the water instantly made all of those contractions ridiculously painful. At that point Brandy showed up - it was about 9:00. I was having 60-70 second long contractions every 2 minutes, so needless to say I was a bit uncomfortable, and I was anticipating being like that for quite some time. The doc said he'd be back in at about 1:00 or so to check me again. Bryan and Brandy were awesome - they were both so encouraging and calming (as much as I could be encouraged or calmed).

At the nurse's suggestion I asked for the epidural very quickly. She told me it would be 20 minutes to get it put in and then another 20 minutes for it to start working, and I decided 40 more minutes would not be fun at all so I went for it. The anesthesiologist did a great job, and it went in very easily and quickly. It took a long time for it to start working, but Brandy helped me flip over a couple of times to get it to take effect. By about 10:30 or so I was really comfortable again, and just feeling tingling in my legs and tightness in my belly with contractions.

The three of us settled in for a long day of chatting and working through the contractions, and then the nurse came in and checked me at about 11:15 or 11:30 - and it was show time. Bryan was getting lunch, and when he came back in Brandy told him to eat fast! Forty-five minutes later (about half an hour of pushing), and Eden was here!

It was the most amazing experience of my entire life. And that is the understatement of the century. I can't even describe what it felt like to see my little girl for the first time, or to see her daddy watch her come into the world. He was such a champ! He got a little bit weepy during the whole thing (understandably so) and then got a little lightheaded afterward. But when they handed her to us and we sat there for the first time as a family we were both just completely overwhelmed!

So that's Eden's story. And since then she's been an angel. The three of us have been learning about each other every day, and she's a very happy baby. I'm going to start a Snapfish account or something for pictures, but for now I need to get back to her - here are a few to tide you over until then. :)

Leaving the hospital:


In the car seat for the first time:


Coming home!


First diaper change at home:

Her coming home outfit, and what we call a milk coma:

Daddy snuggling with his little girl:


What did you say, Mom?

Burrito bunny:

First bath - I swear she was totally enjoying it until just before we took this picture!!

Life is good

And I can't focus on anything but this:


Eden Elizabeth - born June 15, 2008, 12:15 pm. 8 lbs 10 oz, 20". And perfect in every way.

We're having a baby!

For certain, we'll be having a baby by the end of this weekend.

We just got back from the doctor's office, where she said I am finally making some serious progress. And since our ultrasound yesterday noted a still-large baby (8 lb 12 oz), they aren't going to let her wait too much longer to come out. SO... First, she stripped my membranes, which gives about a 50% chance of going into labor within the next 24 hours. My L&D nurse friend thinks there's a really good chance something will happen very soon. But just in case she's so stubborn that even that doesn't work, we're scheduled for an induction on Sunday - Father's Day - at 7:30 am. So either way, next week we'll be coming home with our little Eden.

Thought you all might like to know!! :) We're excited!!

Hello, Due Date.

Dear June 9, 2008:

I didn't really think I'd be greeting you with a giant watermelon-belly, but here I am. And here you are. And if I have the "average" 12-14 hour labor, I suppose you won't get to see my little girl, since she seems to be quite content right where she is. That's unfortunate for you, because she's going to be beautiful, and I know you've been looking forward to it for the past 40 weeks. I guess she just wanted a double-digit birthday. Sorry about that!

So instead of having a baby I am apparently going to study Constitutional Law for the bar exam, by listening to a very, very boring professor on my BarBri iPod, then study flash cards with a friend (who is studying for a different exam), and then watch The Bachelorette. Enjoy the last 12 1/2 hours of your existence. I will!

Love,
KT

We made it!!

Eden is staying put - so I got to graduate! It was great. Thanks y'all for your prayers and support. I had an amazing amount of energy, despite waking up with feet so swollen that none of my shoes would fit except flip-flops. :)

I looked like a tent walking around in my graduation robes (I'll post pictures later) but it was great to be there, to see all of my first-year classmates (a surprising number of whom had no idea I was pregnant, and whose eyes turned to the size of tea saucers when they saw me) and to hang out with all of my family. It was a great moment, though the fact that I am a graduate hasn't really sunk in yet - probably because I'm still studying for the bar exam. I think that realization will come gradually.

After the ceremony we dropped my dad off at the airport and then headed back to our place to get ready for a good old-fashioned cookout. Bryan and Jason put together his new grill, and the guys hung out outside while the food cooked and the ladies chatted indoors. J&K came over to join us, and we had a great time. After dinner Meg and her parents showed up, and we had a toast - champagne and sparkling cider (the cider was yummy but I so wanted a bit of champagne...). We'd been saving a bottle of champagne all year for that purpose. It was great.

By the end of the day I think everyone was totally exhausted! We finally split up at about 10:30, and said our goodbyes to one set of grandparents and my cousin, who joined them (they're leaving today), and then hit the hay. Slept like babies!

We've still got visitors in town - my dad's mom and her sister are still here until the 11th (but they're going to the cape for a few days) and J&G are still here until tomorrow. So we're off today to spend some more quality time with the fam!!

Pictures later, I promise.

Still no baby, but we have a nursery!

As of yesterday (after a trip to the ever-lovely IKEA) the nursery is finished!! It feels like a real room now, and not just a place we have a bunch of stuff stored. I spent half an hour last night just sitting in the rocking chair, with the lights dimmed, trying to imagine what it will be like to have our daughter here. I still have no idea. But I'm excited to experience it!

Anyway, I thought it might be nice to share some pictures of Eden's room!

This is the view from the hallway, just inside the door. Megan made that beautiful wardrobe - right now it holds all of her Sunday dresses; later it will turn into a piece of doll furniture. What a great idea, and a total labor of love. It's adorable, too.


This is just to the left of those windows, and it's a great view of two projects: the rocking chair (which I recovered, and Bryan, Meg, and I sanded and stained) and the bookshelf, which we just repainted. Look at her reading collection! Awesome!


This is a similar picture to one you've already seen, but I wanted to put it into perspective. Obviously the crib is just to the right of the windows. I love the crib.


Here's the changing table, made of a dresser we found on Craigslist and a changing pad. We found those adorable letters on our trip to Maine. So cute! And that little brown bear on the shelf was Eden's first gift, from John's parents. They brought it to us in November I think... it was really sweet.


Here's the part of Eden's room that her daddy has commandeered. His office:


And here's the part of our room that Eden has commandeered. Her bassinet/pack & play, in the corner of our bedroom (mostly for right at the beginning, and when people are staying with us):

So that's it. We're ready for her! We were sad that she didn't decide to come last week, because we really wanted her to meet Troy & Amy and little Audrey. But we really do want her to come at the time God has ordained for her. We'll see when that is. The next doctor's appointment is in two days, which is one day past when family starts arriving for graduation. Could be a very full and interesting week, folks!