Ellison Margery DeGraaf was born Friday 4/10/09 at 5:05 pm weighing in at 7 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches in length. Total labor was 4 hours and 5 minutes, with only 10 minutes of pushing! I'll write the whole story another time, but for now here's some cute pics...
Safe in Daddy's arms...
Already Daddy is wrapped around her little tiny finger...
Since this baby didn't feel like making an appearance yesterday and it was beautiful outside, Garrett and I spend a lot of time outdoors. Garrett has this new excitement and obsession with his tricycle. He frequently tells me "I want outside" then "I want ride my bike". So both morning and afternoon, Garrett spent some time learning how to peddle his bike, refusing any help from Mommy. This is the first real day that he's had some time to practice this new skill. He still has trouble getting both feet to stay on the peddles, in which case he has to reposition his feet and start all over, but he's definitely getting better! Check him out!
that I finally get to meet my stubborn daughter. I'm scheduled for an induction at 5:30am tomorrow. So far I've had lots of back pain, but yesterday and so far today I've had NO contractions. So today Garrett and I are going to his Mimi's house to paint Easter eggs, and I'm bringing all his overnight stuff so that we can bring him back over there after dinner and he'll be staying the night. Then not bright but very early we'll be heading to the hospital to be induced. The ironic part of all this (and I scheduled the induction without knowing this ahead of time) is that Baby Girl will be born on Good Friday, the day that Jesus was crucified on the cross and died for our sins. Garrett was born the day we celebrate Jesus' birthday...weird, huh?
I guess I still have an opportunity to go into labor on my own today and even tonight, but I'm not counting on it. She's obviously mine and Doug's daughter, so she's a stubborn little mule of a child and refuses to be born. She'll have to get used not not getting her way because we're serving her eviction notice tomorrow morning whether she likes it or not!
Mommy is just so ready to be done. Emotionally I'm feeling a little depressed and saddened. Mostly because she hasn't come yet, but also I don't want to be induced either. I was hoping that she'd come on her own. But I really don't think that I can handle waiting until next week and therefore giving her a few more days to make this decision on her own. Physically it gets harder everyday too. Garrett always wants to play outside, always wants me to pick him up, always wants to lay ON me before and after bed/nap times. I even told Doug last night that I'm starting to feel deformed because I'm so pregnant. She's dropped quite a bit, and my belly doesn't really look like this cute little round ball anymore. To me it looks like she's going to fall right out!
At least I'm guaranteed to not be pregnant after tomorrow and we can go back to being a family, with a new cute little addition.
I had my ultrasound and non-stress test today and everything is fine. The ultrasound showed that there is plenty of fluid in there for her and we even got to see her blink a few times. During the non-stress test I was even contracting every 2-3 minutes while hooked up to the monitors! So far everything is fine. I'm not in labor, but my body is definitely practicing! I hope to update soon with more (better) news!
I'm officially past my due date by two days now, with no real signs of her coming. At my appointment yesterday, Dr. Florido said that I'm still 3 cm and still 50% effaced. She stripped my membranes again, and for the remainder of the evening I was having frequent but painless contractions. They never really went anywhere, but maybe it means that my body is just getting ready for her to come. If she doesn't come on her own, then I'm scheduled to be induced on Friday. I'm also scheduled for a non-stress test and an ultrasound today to make sure her environment is still in perfect working order.
I went back in my journal that I kept when I was pregnant with Garrett and tried to find something that might indicate that labor was coming shortly, and the only thing I could find was that three days prior I was also having frequent but painless contractions. Two days prior I didn't write, so I'm not sure what happened. One day prior I went into false labor.
Today I have a list of things that I'd like to get done as long as I don't have a two year old on my hip (he's in daycare on Tuesdays :-) ) My good friend EB told me that I should make a list of things that I'd like to get done, but don't care if they get done; fun things for me to keep myself busy so that I'm not just sitting around the house waiting. Unfortunately a couple of those things HAVE TO get done before I go into labor. (It really doesn't work to run out of diapers AND wipes for Garrett when I'm in the hospital!)
So hopefully after all my appointments and errands today, something will get a movin' here!
Okay, So I'm officially due today! I know it's extremely rare for someone to actually deliver on their due date, but I have one theory as to why it might be today.
When I first got pregnant with Garrett, I went online to figure out what my due date was. Most websites said that to figure out your due date, you take the first day of your last period, go back 3 months, then add 1 week. Ta-Da! Well, when I did this with Garrett, I figured out my due date was on December 25! When I actually saw my OB 3 weeks later, she figured it to be December 23rd. Well, December 23rd came and went, and so did the 24th with false labor. Finally on December 25th, Garrett decided to make his entrance, on MY calculated due date! Coincidence? Maybe.
This time, I did the same exact thing, calculating my due date as April 5th! It just happened that my OB calculated the same day. So, it's only 9:30am as I'm writing this, I still could quite possibly have her today.
But I have 1 theory as to why she won't come today. According to my OB's due date, Garrett was 2 days overdue. After watching plenty of friends have babies, one of my closest friends most recently (8 weeks ago today!) had her baby 3 days early. Her first baby was also 3 days early. So, if patterns are to repeat themselves, Baby Girl may very well be 2 days late as well. We'll see. She may buck any trend and decide not to come at all unless we induce her!
We're all waiting on you, Baby Girl!
YEA! Today was my last day for work for 3 months...true I haven't had the baby yet, but I'm no longer on the schedule to deal with peoples insurance problems, or hear their complaints that their script was sent 2 hours ago ("I watched him send it!") when I REALLY have no script to fill. Seriously, do they think I get a kick out of telling them their script isn't there when it really is? Anyway, I'm due in 2 days and I don't have to worry about working anymore. Work is not a big stressor for me, but I feel I can really relax now that I KNOW I don't have to go back. Now, if I have to go somewhere, it's because I WANT to, not HAVE to.
Don't get me wrong. I have a job. There are lots of people that don't. I get paid decently for a job that I like. But because I don't love it, I'm not really going to miss it. I will definitely miss the people I work with though. They all think that because I'm gone now, that they won't see me until I come back in 3 months. Yeah, right! I'll be in 2 weeks after the baby is born because I'm so stir crazy in my house!
Garrett apparently wanted to wait until Christmas to be born. Maybe Baby Girl is waiting for me to be done with work to make her entrance...? I could go into labor tonight, but I'm not banking on it. But at least if I don't have her this weekend and its sometime next week, I can feel relaxed about not having to worry about rearranging my schedule "in case" I go into labor.
