Thank you, friends
Two weeks. Tracie and I are two weeks into the greatest job ever. Becoming parents to Katie has been the ultimate in on-the-job training. There is no “sink or swim” choice with being a first-time parent; swimming is the only option.
We’ve managed to stay afloat this long thanks in large part to the advice, kind words and giant life preserver of love from all of our friends and family. It really does take a village to raise a child. At first, that village just needs to keep the new parents from going totally insane, and we thank all of you for that.
To the many friends and family both near and far who followed our hospital adventures via Twitter and Facebook, we extend tremendous thanks to you. We wish we could have responded to the overwhelming number of kind tweets and Facebook posts which everyone sent when Katie was finally born. We didn’t want to let the kindness go unrecognized, so with the deepest gratitude, we say thank you friends! Your support means more than we can ever tell you.
It’s been a long road, but it’s almost over
It’s been 48 hours since we came to the hospital. We’ve been down a long and often painful road. Granted, it’s been a lot more painful for Tracie, but it’s no picnic seeing your wife in pain because that’s what needs to happen. Fortunately, all of the gels and drugs to get things moving are finally working. Tracie is comfortable and labor is progressing. Thank goodness for pitocin and epidurals!
For quite a while, it felt like this baby would never be born. Now, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It still seems a ways off, but it’s there. Our daughter will finally be born tomorrow!
Baby wants to stay put
Another visit to the OB, another day of boring news. There’s still no progress or dilation, so it looks like Little Bean won’t be arriving any time in the next couple of days. But, her due date is Sunday, so she still has some time to get moving.
Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more likely that she will have to be evicted from her nice comfy home. If labor hasn’t started on by Tuesday, we’ll probably have to induce. Until then, we wait some more!
Still nothin’
Thanks to Tumblr’s suckage, the post which was scheduled for today got published yesterday. So, the OB appointment was actually this morning. Unfortunately, there’s nothing new to report. No dilation and no baby anytime soon. It seems that Little Bean is perfectly happy where she is and is in no hurry to leave.
The official due date is still 9 days away, so she may yet decide to be born on time. Until then, we wait…
Since there’s no baby yet, I thought I’d post this photo of Little Bean sticking her tongue out during our last ultrasound. We loved seeing her cute little chubby cheeks and tiny nose!
At the time, she was at about 6 pounds, 2 ounces and looking totally healthy. Hopefully, this means she’ll be somewhere between 7 and 8 pounds at birth, but it depends on how much longer she’d like to wait. We’re hoping it’s not much longer!
Still waiting
No baby yet! Little Bean’s due date is a week from Sunday, so she could arrive any time now. So far, Tracie really hasn’t had any Braxton Hicks contractions and is barely dilated. It looks like this baby isn’t in any hurry to be early. Tracie is pretty tired of being pregnant, but she’s doing much better than we both expected.
Pretty much everything is ready in our house: the crib, dresser/changing table, bassinet and strollers are put together. Our hospital bags are packed and car seats are installed. We have an OB appointment today, so we’ll see how things are progressing. But now, we wait!
Whew, finally have some time to catch up on blogging before this baby is born! On the day of the baby shower last month, Tracie’s cousin Ashley graciously offered to take a series of pregnancy photos for us. She came over to the house, shot the pictures and had a poster collage of the best ones made for the shower later that day.
Here’s a few of our favorites from the series. We really loved the pictures with the ducks; it was a ton of fun to make that shot work!
Story time
A fun update from Matthew:
A couple of weeks ago, Tracie suggested that I read a story so that little Bean can get used to my voice. She hears Tracie all the time, but not me, so it made sense. I found our copy of Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham and read it to Tracie’s tummy. To our surprise, Bean started moving around and kicking…she really liked it!
Since then, story time has become an integral part of our evenings. Bean seems to like the Dr. Seuss books which have good rhymes and meter to them. The Cat in the Hat and One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish are favorites along with Green Eggs and Ham. Tracie says that when I read to her, Bean moves around and “snuggles in” for story time.
It almost goes without saying that this is my favorite part of the day.
A name for our girl
Ha! You thought I was going to tell what name we’ve decided one. Sorry to disappoint you. :)
But seriously, our girl has a nickname at least. Before we even knew the gender, Tracie’s cousin decided to nickname the little one “Bean”. Why? Dunno. But Tracie and I have nicknamed her cousin’s three kids Cricket, Sprout and Boo, so we’re not complaining or asking questions.
The little one is kicking like a ninja!
More thoughts from the excited daddy:
We’re at week 24 and I finally got to feel the little one kick! On Saturday night, our girl was kicking like crazy. I hadn’t felt her yet, as every other time I’d tried, she immediately stopped. So on Saturday, I put my hand on Tracie’s belly, but this time, the baby kept kicking! I was so excited to finally feel her moving that I got a huge grin and did a totally dorky happy dance.
