Friendly Faces

I've realized recently another cultural difference between the "north" and the "south" (okay, at least this state and Texas!)-- visiting friends in hospitals post-partum seems to happen far less frequently up here. Since I'd much rather be chatting with fun people than just hanging out in my hospital bed, I was super excited that several friends made plans to come visit us on Wednesday. But then we had the big snow and that wiped out everyone's social calling schedule. Boo. I'd say "maybe next time" but we don't plan for there to be one, so..... ;-)

Thankfully, Christy and Eric made it out Tuesday night to see the "little" girl. They were also our first visitors on Tuesday, Jan 15th, 2008 so we were excited that they were able to come:

Thursday night, we were treated to a visit from Kathy bearing a delicious dinner. We had so much fun sitting on the couch, snuggling a baby, and chatting that I forgot to take a picture of her. So sitting in for her portrait will be one of the delicious cookies she brought. I am mad at her for making so many, but am doing my best to empty the containers:

Friday, Carrie came by after work so she could not only meet C but also visit with Sheils! I just love that she lives up here now, although I think she could/should move a wee bit closer to us!

Finally, Anne & Adam stopped by yesterday on their way home from a weekend trip visiting family. Anne has claimed Camille for her own since the B-man remains obsessed with "Uncle Adam":

Although, I don't know-- he looks like he might be trying to worm his way into this one's heart, too:

C didn't seem too excited to be part of the girl pic-- look at those football shoulder pads all hunched up!

PS: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTY!! We hope this, your 21st year, will be a fab one!! ;-)

How it All Went Down

Don't worry-- I'll keep it light on the graphic details! ;-)

We were told to arrive at the hospital (a different one from where B was born, just FYI) at 6 AM on Tuesday for the induction. I had a bit of guilt about going ahead with it since it was only 3 days past my due date. But because I wasn't really pushing for it--rather it was suggested by my very conservative (re: inductions) doctor--I was fine with the decision...and really relieved that it would be happening while my mom was still in town.

My doctor hadn't arrived yet, so the hospital OB came to check me out since they needed some data to go ahead and start the pitocin drip for inducing labor. At my appointment the previous Thursday, I had been dilated between 2-3 cm so I was quite discouraged when this guy exclaimed, "Who told you that you were almost 3 cm??!" But then I got a look at his giant sausage-fingers and just hoped fervently that was why he was qualifying me as NOT that dilated. He also pressed on my belly and announced that there was "no way this baby will weigh even 8 lbs"! So I, of course, started fretting that I really shouldn't be having this induction after all.

He cleared me to begin the induction and it started working pretty quickly in that the contractions started happening--and hurting--within the first couple of hours. Imagine my despair, then, when my doctor arrives to check me and seems really confused because, alas, I am only dilated to 1-2 cm! (Um, which is less than he'd rated me at the previous appointment.) At this point, I'm starting to worry that they're going to shut the whole thing down and send me home. But no-- instead he just keeps upping the pitcocin levels.

Which ups the contraction pain/frequency. Ouch.

Fast-forward of the rest of the day: within the next 1.5 hours or so after my doctor checked me, the pain became bad enough that I opted for them to add a narcotic (Stadol) to my IV since it was still too early for an epidural. I then spent the rest of the time falling asleep between (still painful) contractions and having mini-dreams about "living with fairy tale creatures"-- which is what I told the BG. Seriously, I think I was caught in the Candyland board game or something. I don't know, but it made total sense at the time.

They had warned me that it might make me sleepy and loopy-- check, check--and also that it might make the baby sleepy. Sure enough, they determined that they needed to put an internal fetal monitor on the baby's skull to monitor more closely her heartbeat. When the doctor came to do that, he found that there was finally some progression and I had dilated/effaced to a point (4 cm)where he would break my water and I could have an epidural.

Everything went really fast after that. Breaking my water led to some horribly painful contractions and by the time the anesthesiologist arrived, I'd dilated from 4 to 8 cm. In like not very long. It took them a little while to get the epidural in, and then I was still pretty uncomfortable. A few minutes later, we were able to discern that my discomfort was no longer from pain, per se, but from a lot of pressure-- and as soon as my doctor heard that, he said, "Well, then, you're probably ready to go!" WHAT??!

Sure enough, he ran out to change his clothes, came back, and we had a "good-sized baby" delivered within the next 30 minutes. They put her on the scale and announced her weight in grams first, which meant nothing to me. I figured maybe she'd be 8 lbs 4 oz or something. Not so much, huh??! We couldn't believe she was 9 lbs 7 oz!

Several hours later, we passed by Dr. Sausage Fingers on my wheelchair ride over to post-partum. I triumphantly announced to him that the baby had, in fact, weighed (majorly) over 8 lbs! His response: "Where were you hiding that baby?!!"

Here we are just a little bit after C was born. I am so thankful for the now two successful Tuesdays in January with my wonderful OB!!

Looking at the above picture now, I can't help but notice the IV portal in my hand. I remember thinking at the time they inserted that Tuesday morning--and when I, true to form, turned "5 shades of white" and almost passed out-- that maybe that would be the most uncomfortable part of the day.

HA HA HA HA. ;-)

glimpses

I have plenty of tales to tell but having trouble forming coherent thoughts this morning.........jhgjhfjdfsehytrsdkuhglkjhkjgtr.........hjhgfjtdruiyuljlkjhgffgsrtkuhj.....

So, in the meantime, a few more moments from the family meeting Wednesday:

(BG's neck= ouch. apparently it's hard to be the giant in the fam.)

Wave from Big Brother

We didn't bring a laptop to the hospital so my only options for pics to upload remotely are from my phone...which doesn't take fab photos. 'Course there are few things harder to capture than a 3-year old bouncing around a hospital room after meeting this "Cuh-meel-lee" he's been hearing about/talking to for months.


The snow started early in the AM yesterday but once the first wave was over, the BG drove home to pick up Grammie and Brooksie to come meet Miss C. We contemplated an early discharge so we could escape the second round of snow, but decided to stay as planned. I'm pecking this out on my phone at midnight and supposedly the snow should be stopping now, but not after dropping at least 6 more inches of heavy, wet stuff.

Hopefully the roads will be cleared by noon when we should be discharged so we can make it home easily...and then I can consult the actual camera for any additional pics to flesh out our hospital adventures!!

All is well with our "three-month old" as people keep referring to her!!

For You Non-Facebookians

Yeah, we kinda love her.

And the Winner is...

Lindsey Carlson!! Woot Woot!!! A $10 gift card to somewhere (let's chat) will be sent to you asap!!

Thanks to all for playing!! Here's the link to the results!

In related news: official stats are 9 lbs 7 oz and 21.25 inches!

Thinking about getting some sleep now that it's after midnight. Been quite a long day/night!!

She's heeeeere!!

Camille Jean arrived at 2:53 pm today!! The day's labor events were quite trying at times but we'll get into that later!! I feel absolutely fabulous now and can't believe my daughter weighed NINE lbs SIX oz!! What??! (we're still awaiting the official stats including length from the nursery!!)

Brooks and Grammie will come meet her in the morning!! We'll work on cuter pics then, but for now:

Snug as Two Bugs in a.....Bed

As you're reading this, I should be in a hospital room preparing to meet the newest member of the fam. (Well, if you're reading this on Tuesday AM.) I'm excited and anxious all at the same time. Stay tuned for news!

In the meantime, however, we are thrilled that B will get lots of time with his Grammie. She's been sleeping in his "new" room since she arrived, on the other twin (trundle) bed that hides under his. The first night or two had some adventures due nocturnal noises that she might or might not make, but he now knows he's just supposed to tell her to stop snoring if he wakes up! :-)

She's learned to wait long enough after he's gone to bed to be sure he's totally asleep, or else he wants to get in Grammie's bed right away. Did I mention they're each twin beds?! The other night, I went in to tell her something and realized she wasn't alone. They were so cute that I had to run and get my camera. And, seriously, good cameras make such a difference-- the room was pitch black and I could barely even see what I was shooting!

Thanks for all your prayers, encouragement, and well-wishes! We sure hope everything goes smoothly today!

Now THAT is Preparation!!

Hey savvy shoppers--what looks weird about this Gymboree bag?

Hmm-- maybe the fact that it's yellow and looks nothing like the bags of today...? Might that be because the contents have been resting there for almost SIX YEARS?

So way back when--two years before we were even ready to jump into the pregnancy/parenthood thing--Gymboree boasted a really cute piggie line. A certain Grammie-to-be couldn't resist, and now there will be a wee Kentobean to reap the precious porcine benefits:

And apparently, back in the spring of 2005, they broke down into two separate size categories the 6-12 month range they carry now! Who knew?!

Of course, I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I might have bought this strawberry outfit in early 2008 to have on hand for a potential Zeta legacy...

(Rachel-- Audrey almost received it as a gift, but then I decided I'd hold onto it just in case!)

BTW: Gymboree has a really cute strawberry line in the stores right now. The Moore in me demands that I wait until it's on sale, but wanted to be sure all you Theta Omicron types knew about it! ;-)

And HIP HIP HOORAY to the MOST FORWARD-THINKING GRAMMIE EVER!!!!

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Actually, that's not true. The doctor on call late last night ordered me to stay home until the contractions I was having were consistently 5 minutes apart. My abdomen had, about 45 minutes earlier, started tightening repeatedly every 6-7 minutes and, while the pressure wasn't painful at all, I decided I needed to call it in since I really don't want to birth a baby on the side of the road because I waited too long.

We got into motion quickly. Well, that's not true, either. Apparently BG's fight-or-flight reaction to knowing he's going to be staying up all night is to immediately fall asleep. So he conked out on the couch while Grammie played Hearts on the computer and I roamed around the house with the Contraction Timer iphone app trying to figure out what exactly was happening.

Then I got really sleepy. I figured if these were the real thing, I wouldn't be able to sleep because they'd be too painful. Yeah, I didn't have any trouble nodding off. So we climbed into our bed, each fully-clothed and me still with makeup and earrings (the horror, I know!).....and slept the entire night.

Guess the doctor on call knew what he was talking about when he said I needed to wait. Darn this uncertain area of "is it really labor?" I don't think the advice nurse thought I was for real because she exclaimed, "But you just sound so happy!" Eh, whatever.

ANYWAY.

I'm understandably a bit bummed this morning that we're still playing the waiting game. The BG has been wandering restlessly around the house; when I asked him if he wanted to go somewhere, he said, "Yes, the hospital!" (No pressure or anything.)

So I really needed the uncontainable giggle that transpired with what just happened (photo re-enactment):

I was sitting on the couch finishing up a phone call with Auntie Polly when the BG came upstairs with a large Amazon box and told me he had a delivery:

Oh my goodness!! It's a B-man!

Ha!

The pics aren't great because it took me a few tries to realize it was a missing memory card causing the camera not to work. The BG seemed to think that it wasn't nice to make the little guy keep getting boxed up, but I'm here to tell you that as soon as it was all over and the BG took the box down to be recycled, I heard Brooksie yell, "Daddy! I just love being in that box!"

Happy Baby K due date! Maybe we'll still have news....?!!!

Friday Tidbits

First of all, thanks for all the participation in the candy pebbles guessing game! Alas, no one got it quite on the nose--although several of you did make me excited about robin's eggs at Easter! Shockingly, the pebbles are gumdrops. Like, honest to goodness, super-spiced gumdrops of all flavors. Just didn't expect it with the smooth, shiny outside coating! (I would include a picture of a cross-section but OOPS! I ate them all.)

Moving on....

Who said that Sheils and I might be a little bit alike? Surely our matching Bass boots don't give that away?!

And then, continuing with the brown theme but with a much better camera, a shot of what B does best:

I'm a bit concerned about how much he enjoys spending time with (aka addicted to) various applications, looking at photos, etc. I know we should all be happy that this next generation is so intuitively technological at such a young age, but you know what? I still would like him to want to read, push trains around the track, play with toys, etc. Thankfully, we've kept everything restricted to "Daddy's phone" so it's only really bad when the BG is home. Any thoughts about this phenomenon and keeping it from getting out of control...??

And finally...

Had my weekly doctor's appointment yesterday morning. My blood pressure was a bit high (anxious much?) and then it didn't help that it took some extra time to locate the heartbeat with the doppler due to her position. Given that earlier data seemed to suggest she might be on the big side anyway and I'm almost dilated to a 3, my doctor was good with scheduling an induction for Tuesday AM. (Cue immediate weather forecast update of snow Monday night into Tuesday morning.) There's still plenty of time for something to happen between now and then, but at least we have an end date in sight!

Oh, and I will certainly post an update here if something exciting happens!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Unexpected

Here's the box of candy pebbles Grammie brought with her:

What kind of candy would you expect these to be??

I Never Claimed to be Interesting

The only time I left the house in the last 2 days was to go on a quick trip to the grocery store yesterday afternoon. Clearly, we're leading an exciting life.

On Sunday night, before our self-imposed shut-in, Grammie, Brooks, and I wandered around a few places and B picked out quite the random toy with some birthday money his Grand Big Daddy had sent. Since I knew his own daddy would love the inherent challenge of said toy, it was a no-brainer purchase.

This inaugural video shows that there are still issues to work out, but I've continued to be blown away by the variety of configurations that have been built on our coffee table. Two homebound days provide lots of time to play!



Of course, as you just heard, he still pretty much just wants only to play with the BG's iphone!

Still Hanging Out

Or hanging in, I guess.

I really thought something was going to happen Sunday night. I was lying on the couch watching the Golden Globes when I felt a pretty serious contraction, followed by another one at the not-close-at-all time of 3o minutes later. It all fizzled into a false alarm, but it was enough to motivate me to pack a hospital bag so Auntie Kathy can now be happy with me! ;-)

Then I thought maybe I was feeling something just a few hours ago during the night, but again, it turned into nothing. Which is just as well since the area is blanketed in ice and everything is closed/cancelled. (Hooray for a 4-day weekend with the BG!) I gotta figure all of these "squeezes" are accomplishing something, though, so we'll just continue to wait and see. I'm pretty sure my doctor is on hospital call today so what would really be nice is to wait a few hours for all the ice to melt and then go into labor!!

But I'm sure I'll be sitting right here writing this same message to you next Tuesday....

Anyway, I have no interesting pics to post because we've barely left the house of late. Sunday night's events made me very wary of being oot and aboot, and since Grammie is a Champion Homebody as well, we've just been hanging out, eating desserts, and resting. Good times all around!

Hope everyone has a "fabby" (Grammie term) day!!

Three

As it turns out, the B-man did indeed have a birthday on Saturday and is now the big 3. Grammie arrived just in time (well, she was actually 3 hours delayed, but whatever) for the rockin' big shindig we hosted in the evening. And by "rockin' big shindig" I mean a party for the four of us. Yeah, we're wild and crazy.

Actually, we needed Grammie to come because she brought the cake toppers. She found some candy pebbles recently and then searched out a truck that we could put along with the edible rocks on top of a cake. I went back and forth about whether to make or buy a cake and we ended up going the incredibly highbrow route of taking a family trip to the grocery store Saturday morning and letting the scamp pick out a plainly-iced cake out of the display case. I gotta say, the Teeter white cake with raspberry filling was DEEELISH! Some squirty icing and 3 candles later, we have a presentation that capped off a fun-filled day for the birthday boy:

Wait, whaddya mean I should have focused on the BOY and not the CAKE?!

Then there was a bit of prezzie opening, some of which involved heavy lifting:

I bought this random game while wandering around Toys-R-Us the other day, but knew B would love the making-the-frog-pop-up-by-stomping-on-the-pedal-thing. Check out these facial expressions of concentration!

Three generations...and a giant belly (and a train or two).

Yesterday morning, we "celebrated" more with some powdered sugar donuts. He wanted me to take a picture of his white lips but really looks to be more "Whatchoo talking about, Willis?" in this shot!

Randoms

• So a fun thing this pregnancy has been spontaneous bloody noses. I think it's because it's been SO dry-- I've even been using hand cream! Anyway, it's always just one nostril and it always surprises me when I think I just have a runny nose.
• I just don't have the inclination to nest. I think that's really weird. I mean, I vacuumed last night but only because some peeps are coming by this morning. So apparently laziness CAN trump normal maternal instincts!
• I think someone should study my bladder-- I'm still not having to get up at night. (um, okay, just kidding about the studying part. Well...unless it's a PAID study!)
  
• I had my weekly appointment yesterday morning and was dilated to a 2! Whoo-hoo for progress!
• I don't remember at all what to do with a newborn.
  
• I hope she's not too funny-looking-- because I know you'll still say she's beautiful and then I'll doubt everything that comes out of your mouth for the rest of your life! ;-)
  
• I'm excited for Grammie Sheils to arrive tomorrow! Sure hope there gets to be a baby during her 2 week stay!

And on other topics:

• Turns out having a TV in our room hasn't altered my life at all. It's on for 10 minutes at most each morning to watch the local news. The little scamp, however, loves to turn it on and has been known to watch some PBS cartoons from the coziness of our bed. Not looking forward to answering questions about "screen time" at his upcoming 3-year old check-up.
• Speaking of-- I can't believe his birthday is tomorrow. I guess I should get a cake. Or make one. Or something. It's really hard to get motivated when I feel like a ticking time bomb! He has told me, however, that his preference is a white (well, "vanilla") cake with white frosting. Apparently he is not actually related to his chocoholic Grammie!
• I was only going to eat 1/2 my OldTimer with Cheddar at Chili's Wed night since I knew I'd get on a scale yesterday morning. But it was SO good. So I ate the whole thing. With fries. And chips and salsa. And ranch. And neither my blood pressure nor my weight was scandalous! So there.
• We started watching Castle on DVD a couple of months ago and just tore through Seasons 1 and 2. It is SUCH a good show! You know I have to watch things in order, so we're currently doing a free week's trial to Hulu Plus to try to watch all 13 episodes that have aired so far this season (Season 3) so we can catch up in real time. Only 7 more to go before Tuesday! :-)

Enough blather for now. Happy weekend to all! Wonder if we'll have any news on this end??

More Cheap Fun

Beds are always fun places to play!

And lest you think I was exaggerating in yesterday's post:

I snapped this pic and he exclaimed, "I squinted my eyes!"

"I'm Squinting My Eyes!"

Why yes, yes you are. Thank you SO much for adopting this as your favorite face for having pictures taken....and for letting me know you're doing it on purpose! ;-)

Typical Weekend

Life is SO much more fun when Daddy is around.

Coming Together

We finally got our act together over the weekend and made B's old room a bit more feminine! Never mind that the other half of the room is still a wreck-- at least the important parts are decorated and ready to go!!

Okay, the crib bedding would look even better on a chocolate brown or cream-colored crib, but that's not happening! I'm sure this will be the first in a long line of ways that the 2nd child will get the short end of the stick! :-)

Sheils has already pointed out that we need to tend to the ruffle. I don't actually think it needs to be ironed-- just the photo-stager's error in not making sure it was standing up straight before documenting it!

Thanks to Hobby Lobby's decorative drawer-pull collection, the dresser got a bit of an update!

The corner, where Chubby will now live permanently since he blends into the color scheme so well!

A close-up of the print I found on etsy:

And....the massive (and tightly-packed!) results of pre-baby girl laundry. We have been fortunate to benefit from the generosity of several friends looking to get rid of baby clothes, and I might have done some fabulous bargain shopping of my own over the last few months. So at least she won't have to be naked!! And this is only the 0-3 and 3-6 month stuff!
We also now have newly-cleaned covers to all the assorted baby gear, too. Soooo....now that we're at least semi-ready, I'm sure she'll end up being late!

Oooohhh-- more time to bargain shop! (Just kidding, BG!!!)

Baby/Belly Update

I'll be 38 weeks tomorrow and had my weekly doctor's appt yesterday. Nothing too exciting-- well, except that I weighed 2.2 lbs less than I did last Thursday so that made me very happy. (And they hadn't recalibrated the scale; I think the fudge-eating had just done me in!) A quick shot of me currently:

Wait, what? Oh, you wanted actual flesh and bone (and lots of padding)? Okay, fine. Clearly I gussied myself up for this pic:

I am very barely dilated but the baby is quite low. When I told the doctor I'd see him next Thursday for my appt, he said, "Or at the hospital!" Eh, I bet he says that to all the girls! ;-)

The practice has affiliated with a different hospital since B was born, so we went on the tour of the birthing center earlier this week. (Shout-out to Carrie for minding the scamp while we were gone!!) We now know all the ins and outs of how things work, logistics-wise. Now we'll just wait and see how it all goes, baby-wise!! Y'all know I'm convinced this little one is going to give us a run for the money since we've had it pretty easy with the first one...

Happy Friday!

PS: I've had several people mention to me lately that they couldn't remember the date they guessed for the wee one's arrival. I locked the game last week before my appointment, but here's the link again to refresh yourself on your odds now that it's January 7th! (Read: Anne is no longer any competition! Heh.)

Whatever Works

Guess we should've just put the baby tub under the tree for Brooks since that's clearly where he wants to be!

A Few More Room Updates

Now that Grandma and Papa have left, the B-man is officially moved into his new room. He's been such a champ about going back and forth to his "old room" but, alas, we have to put the crib rail back on, raise the mattress, and doll it all up for his sister's impending arrival. With very good timing, the back-ordered book display case arrived yesterday so we could finally pull the pieces together. Well.....okay, there's still plenty more to pick up/organize/do, but here are a few more very casual and non-staged pics.

B LOVES to line up all his cars on the shelf! And that familiar-looking map? It's been moved to cover up the enticing fuse box!

A few more of the transportation decorations! (Thanks to Jennifer T for giving me the scoop on the Hobby Lobby traffic signs she bought for her son's room...and to Lindsey for letting me know a few months ago when they were on sale!)

The closet still needs some work, but we're pumped that the IKEA storage system fit in there to allow for more places to stash stuff!

And the best part-- the new book display case! I am SO pleased with it (from Pottery Barn Kids) and it's unbelievably narrow. You can't even see it from the hallway so it keeps the room from feeling too bulky with furniture. And yes, we can get many more books in it but these were the ones lying around:

Haven't really figured out exactly where to put B's Christmas present in order to create an ideal book nook, but he sure was excited to sit on it Christmas morning!

Guess it's time to get our act together in the nursery...