A Haiku for Lainey

Not much news to report today, but I thought I'd share the haiku our friend Steven Payne wrote for Lainey:

A Haiku for Lainey....

This might persuade you
The world is bigger out here
Your Dad has a Wii

Thanks Steve-o!

If the haiku doesn't work, we are having pizza tonight... will it do the trick??

Apparently I am a little too comfortable

...for Lainey!

We went for the NST this morning and it showed a happy baby! Her heart rate responded perfectly to all her movements and I did have one small contraction during the test which she did fine with as well. We went to the doctor's after the NST and found out that I am 100% effaced, although still not dilated. This is good news since it means I've progressed some from Tuesday, so at least things are moving in the right direction... just slowly. Our plan from here is to continue waiting for her timing. Meanwhile we will be checking on her status with NST's twice a week. If she doesn't come this weekend, I am planning to go on Monday and Thursday of next week for NST's. We will have another doctor's appointment on Thursday to see how things are going and that will be my last OB appointment. If she hasn't come by then, we will decide on an induction date (probably Sunday night/Monday morning). The doctor doesn't think I'll last until then though. We'll see when she decides her birthday should be.

As for me, I am feeling fine. I have a little bit of anxiety about how she's doing, but the NST this morning did a lot to reassure me. Other than a sore back, I am doing great. We will probably try for another walk tonight when it cools off a bit. Maybe that will get things moving. I think I'll try almost anything (except Castor oil... blech). Thanks for all your sweet emails and comments. It's nice to know we have so many people praying for us!

The freezer is full, but the bun is still in the oven.

Mom and I spent the entire day cooking. We made chicken and dumplings, asiago cheese mashed potatoes, and pasties (a kind of meat pie, turnover style). The pasties took forever to make since the pie crust had to be rolled out and cut, then stuffed and baked. Plus we had a disasterous batch of pie crust dough that refused to roll out well. Betty Crocker Pie Crust Mix in a box is definitely better than our attempts to make our own dough. It wasn't all a loss though. We made cinnamon-sugar topped cookies out of the bad batch and they are pretty tasty! And despite how much work they are, the pasties are delicious. We had them for an afternoon snack and dinner. :)

All of the stuff we made today, in combination with the meatballs and pot roast we made yesterday, has the freezer full. I think we have dinners for about 2 weeks after Mom goes home and after our church friends are no longer bringing meals.

Baby news: Lainey is squirming around a healthy amount. I check on her a couple of times a day by laying down quietly, drinking something sweet and making sure that she's moving and kicking. We will be going in tomorrow morning for the non-stress test at about 9:00. They said as long as Lainey is cooperative, it should only take 30 minutes to run the test. For anyone who is unfamiliar with NSTs, it is a simple test where they place a monitor on my stomach to measure her heartrate. Then each time Lainey moves, it is expected that her heartrate should increase and then decrease when she stops moving. This indicates that the placenta is functioning well and that she's getting enough oxygen.

I will go see my OB after the NST to check my progress again. Depending on the findings we will determine our best course of action. As long as Lainey is doing well, I will wait for her. All of the doctors in my clinic are out Mon-Wed of next week for a conference, so I figure she will come one of those days when all three of them are unavailable. :) But don't worry, we will have a doctor... another clinic provides cross-coverage for them when they aren't available.

Now it's time to relax and watch some more baseball. You can expect an update sometime tomorrow afternoon. Good night!

Still waiting...

Well, today has been another uneventful day baby-wise. We went for a long walk this morning which was fun for Freddy and just tiring for me. Mom made paninis for lunch and then we went to the store to get the ingredients for several meals to fill the freezer. We got started with a few of them and we have all run out of energy for the night. Tomorrow we plan to make the rest of the meals... which probably means that Lainey will come tomorrow since we have so much food to cook! :) Of all the meals, I am looking forward to Pasties the most. They are the most work, but the most delicious!

We'll spend the rest of the evening watching the World Series and relaxing. Maybe tomorrow we'll have some baby action! Thank you for all your prayers and encouraging emails and comments. Talk to you soon!

Not much progress...

Lainey's due date is going to come and go. Our doctor's appointment this afternoon showed that her heart beat is strong and a good rate. I haven't progressed at all compared to last week's appointment though. Because I would like to try to wait for her, we are not going to induce labor. I am not really a good induction candidate at this point anyway, so we are sitting tight. I will be going in on Friday morning for a non-stress test (NST) on Lainey, then to the doctor's office to check if we've made any progress. Dr. Newman said that he is okay with waiting for her with a NST later this week and then if labor hasn't started on it's own by next week, we will go in for NST's twice. Hopefully we start having some contractions that make some progress!

My Mom got here today and we are going to work on getting some meals in the freezer while we have some extra time. It'll be nice to have her here when Lainey finally decides to show up!

Must have been false labor...

Last night my contractions diminished back to once an hour. I've had some today, but not too many. Tomorrow is my due date and we have an appointment to see the doctor. We'll see what the next few days bring, but hopefully she will be coming soon!

Early labor? False labor?

Who knows? I've been having contractions since last night. They are mild, but I've been having at least one an hour. This afternoon I thought maybe we were on the way toward having a baby with contractions coming every 10-15 minutes, but they have died back down to about one an hour. I don't know if this was "false labor" or "early labor", but either way I think we are going to have a kiddo here soon. Will keep you posted!