2 weeks old already?!

Hello. Time goes by fast, even when the baby wakes up every 2 hours around the clock for diapers and feedings. (At Dorian's 2 wk well child visit today, he weighed 8 lbs! I was expecting him to be back up to his birth weight and maybe a little over, but not 8 lbs!)

Little Dorian is very mellow and good natured and sleeps a lot... very similar to Tristan as a baby. He also looks a lot like Tristan did as a baby. If they weren't 4 years apart, people would probably ask if they were twins.

All the pictures we took in the hospital are on our phones, but I'll upload some photos from our camera from the last 2 weeks since we've been home.

Oh, and here's a quick version of how the birth went: I had early labor for 9 hours, the kind where you know the contractions are about 5 minutes apart, but you can still talk and walk and joke around. Then in 2 hours everything else happened and we almost didn't make it to the labor and delivery room. We arrived in the L/D room at 3:30 AM and Dorian was born at 3:37 AM. It happened so fast, it was really scary and intense. And then he was out and I was so surprised! Then the nurse told us that we had to sign a "consent to care" form... we all chuckled.

Cute little baby:

Dilated Rumors

Apparently, if you do anything out of the ordinary when it's close to your due date a big rumor will circulate that you've gone into labor. We went to a different KH on Sunday to hear a friend speak. When we got home, we had 2 phone calls and one text message asking if we'd had the baby. Then the next day people stopped by to see the baby. Very strange (not the rumor, the stopping by part).

Saturday night I did start having regular contractions around midnight, but they slowed down got further apart and essentially stopped by 9 AM. I had texted my mom at 5 AM to ask her to come over whenever she got up and ready. Apparently, she conveyed that to her roommate, Julie, who went to the meeting Sunday morning and told 2 or 3 people something about it which is what turned into the rumor that I'd gone into labor.

Eric and I went to my doctor's appointment late Monday afternoon. I was 3 cm dilated. I said to the doctor, "Oh, ok, a centimeter a week, at this rate he'll be born in 7 weeks!" She laughed and shook her head and said, "Nooooo." Then she said that she'd be on call Tuesday, "so tomorrow would be a good day to have him." And she also said that she thinks it will be sometime this week. Oh well. I'M NOT EVEN DUE TILL THURSDAY! Tristan was a week late... maybe my body just takes longer than "average" to build-a-baby. He'll come out eventually. If he does come out on our anniversary, that would be one less date for Eric to remember. (He gets Tristan's birthday and our anniversary mixed up a lot, and this date will be close by the other two).

In other news, Dorian can't move around as much now. He still moves as often, but I can tell he's cramped for space in there. His movements are not as powerful. I've been nauseous a lot. I didn't get that way at the end of my pregnancy with Tristan; I don't know what the difference is. I threw up my whole breakfast this morning. I've been tired a lot the last several days, doing a lot of napping and sitting around. I think that means I'm almost done.

Nooooo, Baby's Not Out Yet

Hello everybody. The baby did not come out on Friday, or Saturday, or yet today either. I misunderstood what Eric said last week about Friday anyway. He said he wanted the baby to wait until Friday to come out, not "a" Friday. So he says it's fine with him for the baby to come out any time now. He finished the big project he was trying to finish before the baby was born. Whew! :)

Here's a picture of what the baby looks like in the belly at this point in pregnancy:Not much room left for my guts. Will keep you posted.

Fire Drill - How Fitting!

Eric and I went to my Doctor's appointment together today. They announced a fire drill right when we got there and the fire department said that everyone had to walk down 5 flights of stairs. The receptionist looked at me and said, "You don't want to do the stairs, do you?" I said that I didn't mind, but that I'd like to use the bathroom first. Instead, she had Eric and I go into the examination room and wait until the fire drill was over. That was nice of her.

I told my doctor that I'd been having contractions everyday since Thursday and that last night they woke me up and were painful so I started timing them. I realized they weren't anything serious once I timed them so I went back to sleep. She said that another woman this week had a similar story and when she checked her, she was 5 cm dilated, so she walked her over to the hospital and broke her water and she had her baby that afternoon. (Eric got a worried look on his face at that point because of all the work he has left to do this week). So, I said, "Well, I won't be that dilated." She said, "Why can't you be optimistic?" I said that I didn't want to get my hopes up because it makes time take longer and that I'd been telling people it would be nice to have him on our anniversary, the 17th. So, she checked me. I was 2 cm dilated, but soft and stretchy. She said, "You're not going to have this baby on your anniversary, and I'll be surprised if you make it until your due date. But we'll see."

After the appointment I asked Eric if he was worried that we'd have the baby today when she told that story. He said, "Slightly, but it would be ok." Then he said it would be better if we had him on a Friday. :) So, let's hope for this Friday, 6 days early, or else next Friday, 1 day late.

My next appointment is on Monday next week. So as she left the room, I said, "See you Monday." And she said, "If not before."

Then when we came home, my mom and I put up all the ceiling insulation in the garage. It took us about 2 1/2 or 3 hours. She took a picture of me up on the ladder because she said we might not believe our own story later that I was working hard at 39 weeks pregnant. A friend is coming over tomorrow to hang the ceiling drywall for us. Then we can get our drywall inspection on Friday. (We passed our framing inspection at the beginning of the week).

The thing I'm looking forward to the most is seeing what Dorian looks like. Eric and I have a 75% chance of having a brown eyed baby, and a 25% chance of a green or blue eyed one. I wonder what it'll be. I wonder if he'll have Eric's cheeks like Tristan. I wonder if he'll have that fatty upper lip that Eric has. I wonder what his little personality will be like. I wonder... everything.

Not Yet, Baby!

I posted on Friday because I've had an increase in phone calls, emails and text messages since I've been nearing the end of this pregnancy. People just wondering how I'm doing (which is a cover for, "is the baby coming out yet?"). :-) So I decided to increase postings to 2 or 3 times a week until the baby comes out. (And Eric has an i-phone now, so we can post to the blog from the hospital when the baby's born).

HOWEVER, I hope that the baby waits a while longer to come out. Tristan turned 4 today. He has a well-child doctor's visit tomorrow morning. Then we have a Bible Study to go on. Then we have our framing inspection tomorrow afternoon. And we have our meeting tomorrow night. So, tomorrow is out, Dorian! Tuesday would also be inconvenient because of other appointments... actually this whole week would be inconvenient. I really hope he waits until the 8th to be born. I like the idea of October 8th. The 8th month and the 8th day. Maybe he'll really like octagons and octopi too. It's ok if he's late too. Maybe he'll be born on our Anniversary, October 17th. Who knows?

I have been having contractions everyday though. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and today I've had them off and on and several in a row for some spells. That's how it works though. You just keep having them until one day they don't stop, they get consistent and then things get going.

It's quite unbelievable to me that there are only about 10 days left until the due date. I'm beginning to outgrow all my maternity tops. There are 3 or 4 shirts left that fit and don't look like I'm squeezing into them. Then there are another 3 or 4 that I will still wear, but the poor shirts aren't very happy when I do. And people squint when they look at me, in fear that a button will fly off and shoot them in the eye. :-)

Contractual Contractions

At this week's doctor's appointment, nothing had changed. I didn't have any contractions between last week's appointment and this week's. My doctor predicted that she will see me next week at my scheduled appointment. I'm glad. I'm not ready for this baby to come out yet.

Yesterday, Tristan and my mom and I went for a walk that was supposed to be just around the block. Tristan decided that he wanted to go to Christian Green's house. So we went ahead and walked over there... no one was home. I was pretty much having a constant contraction for the whole walk, there and back. Then all night I was having contractions, not painful, just annoying because it's hard to sleep when your whole belly is a rock hard boulder. They've stopped now. Hooray!

We got approval from our electrical inspector today. We'll have the framing inspection on Monday. Then we'll be able to finish the inside! Woo-hoo! The only other thing hanging out there is the continuous footing that we have to pour. We're hoping to have a weekend work party sometime in October where all our friends that have volunteered to help can come and help us dig the trenches. (We might hire it out, but we haven't decided for sure yet).

I've packed my hospital bag, just to have it ready ahead of time. Eric has been working day and night trying to finish some big work projects before the baby comes. I filed my birth plan and DPA with my doctor and enrolled in the hospital's bloodless program in case of emergency. Dorian's car seat has been installed in our car. Tristan likes to pretend that baby Dorian is in it already and he talks to him while we drive around. At the meeting Tuesday night, he got upset halfway through the meeting because he forgot to get "baby Dorian" out of his car seat and bring him into the Hall with us. :) So, we're prepared just in case the baby comes before the due date, but we're hopeful that he waits until October 8th.

The Oven Timer Popped!

Only 2 1/2 weeks left, and my oven timer has already popped! That's right, my innie bellybutton is now a-stickin' outie. Dorian had quite enough of the poor button and booted it out. =)

The doctor's appointments are every week now. This week there was 70% effacement and 1 loose cm dilation. So what does that mean? Not much. Some people have complete effacement and 4cm dilation for a couple weeks before the baby's born and others do it all in one day. So it tells us nothing about when Dorian might come out. But it does tell us that the contractions I've been having have been doing something. That makes me happy, since it's all got to happen before the boy can come out anyway.

Eric and Mom were both out of town most of this week. It took a lot of energy to be Tristan's only playmate and keep up with life during the week. I went to sleep at Tristan's bed time and woke up at Tristan's wake up time, and that seemed to help. Now neither of them is allowed to be more than 30 minutes away from me until the baby is born. =) I'll have to tell them that!

Here are some pictures of me halfway through the 9th month of pregnancy, taken just moments ago. The belly is BIG, so beware.