baby belly progression

I once saw a pregnancy progression of belly photos and thought that I'd like to try that. So that's what all those baby belly posts have been about. And now I've combined them for easy viewing. Pregnancy is an amazing thing.

17.5 weeks, 8/27/10. This was the first photo I took b/c I had just "popped."

19 weeks, 9/3/10. Though this was a maternity shirt, I could not even fit in it during the third trimester.

20 weeks, 9/9/10. This was the halfway point and also the ultrasound date.

24.5 weeks, 10/4/10

27 weeks, 11/1/10

30 weeks, 11/20/10

32 weeks, 12/7/10

34 weeks, 12/18/10

36 weeks, 12/31/10

38 weeks, 1/14/11

40 weeks, 1/29/11. Here I was past the due date of 1/26/11. Samuel was born 2/1/11 and weighed 8 pounds and 8 ounces.

Almost 2 weeks old on 2/14/11. Samuel had his 2 week check up, weighing in at 9 pounds.

Samuel's birth

Finally, the 40 weeks of my third pregnancy are up - though it was more like 41 weeks.

Samuel Jonathon was born at 4:58am on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was 21 inches long. I was right, our kids keep getting bigger.

When Terry and I went to bed on Monday, January 31, I was feeling quite restless and nervous...

I had been to the OB that morning and was declared 4cm dilated. My doctor encouraged us to schedule an induction since I was already almost a week overdue. So we allowed him to schedule the torturous pitocin drip for 6am Thursday February 3rd, praying that we wouldn't have to show up for it (I was induced with Noah and did not want to experience that again).

That night we watched the weather and learned that it was going to be like -40 degrees outside with blowing snow and the barometric pressure rising. I had a bad feeling that that night was the night. We put the kids to bed and I thought we might not be there in the morning to get their breakfast (my parents were already here). Turns out, I was right.

I couldn't sleep. And when I finally did drop off, I was awoken at just before 2am with a serious contraction. It was like a dream. It woke me and I groaned and woke Terry. I had another contraction soon after and knew they were the real deal, much different from the false labor contractions I had the week before. I was immediately nervous. Months before this I had continually been so full of fear of the pain I was going to be going through. We had prayed about it quite a bit and I was learning about trusting God to care for me. But I started out nervous.

Terry jumped into action while I lay in bed. He dressed, woke my parents, put in his contacts and started his Blazer. While he was busy, I was already having to breath through the contractions - they were quite strong since I was already dilated so far. Terry came back for me and we said good bye to my parents and drove to the Gburg hospital - there was no way we were driving to NP with the coldest weather of the year.

We arrived at the hospital at 230am and they wheeled me down to the Labor and Delivery Suite. They already had my birth plan and were most willing to oblige me, thankfully. They monitored the baby for 20 minutes and then let me get up and be free, which I was so ready to do (with Evie they made me stay in bed, this time I wanted to move).

Here is Terry after an hour and a half of labor (love that the clock is in the background). He is quite excited, though I don't even remember this shot being taken!

So I sat in the rocking chair and worked through the contractions. With my other births I never took seriously the laboring options I had studied. With Samuel, I mostly did deep breathing. I also tried to relax all the muscles in my body. The contractions were intense and pretty darn close together at 1-3 minutes. Terry recorded all of them in his phone. Pretty amazing of him.

Here is Terry praying for me between one of the contractions. I felt like God was being so kind to me and said so, like He was giving me good breaks - actually, I think they just felt like long breaks b/c they weren't actually.

I started out feeling nervous but pretty soon had to concentrate so much that I didn't have time for anything else. All the fear left me. God really gave me a great labor - only 3 hours! I just found myself able to deal with the pain, get through it and rest in between contractions. Actually, I felt a lot like Bella from Twilight as she was becoming a vampire (totally lame I know) - that if I started to freak out I wouldn't be able to cope with the pain. I felt like I handled it pretty well. Doctor Hult said I was very stoic. The nurses said I was a rock star. Terry was continually encouraging. So I kinda just dealt with it and that worked well for me. No epidural and surprisingly, compared to Noah and Evie's birth, I didn't even feel like I needed one.

I asked my mom to come with - she has a very calming presence. I was so glad she was there. In between contractions she read to me (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I don't care if you think I'm a heathen b/c I LOVE those books!).

Soon, I had been laboring for nearly 3 hours and the nurse requested I move back to the bed to be monitored again. Then things really picked up. I was in transition and there was nothing I could do to cope. I wasn't stoic anymore. Pushing was very different than it was for Noah or Evie. But it was over pretty quickly and Samuel was born. After they mopped him up, they handed him right to me. I was a little emotional...

It's so overwhelming to meet your child for the first time. It's hard to believe that you were carrying that little person around inside of you. They never existed before and here they are, brand new, complete and perfect.

The nurses were asking me how much I thought he weighed. I thought he looked so small that I was just so surprised when they said 8 pounds and 8 ounces! He was also 21 inches long.

With lots of dark hair, as you can see.

Proud papa Terry almost a half hour after Samuel was born.

40 weeks

Here is me at 40 weeks pregnant. Past 40 weeks actually.

I'm 3 days past my due date of Wednesday, January 26. Babycenter.com says baby is approximately 7 1/2 pounds and 20 inches long.

Noah was a week late, 6#13oz and 19 inches.

Evie was 2 days late, 7#5oz and 19.5 inches.

So who knows. I appear to grow bigger babies every time. From the photo and mirror, it appears to be a pretty big baby in there!

I'm hanging in there, though a little disappointed that I didn't go early...or on my due date. Just holding out hope that I don't go "too" late (over a week would not be cool to me). So that's what we're praying. I've had to adjust my sour attitude many times in the last week. My parents arrived on Wednesday (the due date) and will be here til I kick them out. They are helpful but I hope baby doesn't keep us all waiting for too long.

noah's pictures #2

Noah begged me to let him take more pictures this morning since Gramma and Grampa arrived last night (for the baby's eventual birth...). He took much less than yesterday but still a lot. I just really enjoy looking at things from his perspective, so here is another round of his shots.

How cute is this one of Evie?

Gramma drinking her morning tea.

Grampa obliges Noah by saying "cheese"

Apparently daddy was giving some orders...HA!

Daddy goes to work

Evie playing downstairs with her necklace/headband

My parents dog Bo, an English Setter. He looks a little dead or something with those red eyelids. Apparently the loose, droopy eyelids are not ideal for a hunting dog. He looks sad all the time!

Noah's pictures

While we were playing outside today I taught Noah how to take pictures with our camera. Of course I put the camera strap around his neck and warned him to be very, very careful. He was. After he went ran down the batteries on the camera, I plugged it in to the computer and discovered he had taken 360 photos!!! I went through and erased the blurry ones but there are still 240! This boy likes to take pictures. And here are just some of his better ones, omitting the ones he took of my backside...

He even captured the nose licking

That's right. That's me, pregnant, on my due date, about to get on the trampoline. Gotta get things moving somehow. My parents arrive today so it's time.

And this is me... I thought it was pretty funny.

What an artistic angle right?

He took tons of Snap dog pictures.

I guess he was trying to get himself in a shot.

Noah's reflection in the dining room window.

Pretty outstanding one of Snap!

Here is what daddy is reading to the kids.

Here is mama doing laundry

Here is a common view of the stairs to Noah but one I've never had. He lays at the top of the stairs, puts his head under the railing and looks down. Took the camera with him...

The toys were a favorite too.

2 kids

We have two quite adorable kids. And as my mom reminded me this afternoon, I should enjoy the two before they are three and we never have this time back again. So here are some shots of our cute kiddies.

I like how Noah is hugging his sister as requested but still looking out of the corner of his eyes at his toys. Obviously, is would rather be playing.

Evie is always up for a photo op though.

unsettled

What the heck is this, you might ask? It's my view of my feet.

Don't see any feet? Don't worry, they're there - just hidden b/c of the large basketball/watermelon shaped baby in my belly.

This large baby is causing some unsettling things to happen to me at night. I had the most wicked heartburn last night. It perhaps had something to do with my delicious homemade pepperoni pizza and puppy chow. A bad combination? So, I did not get much sleep last night. In fact, after getting up to try sleeping in the guest bed and on the couch, I woke Terry up seeking any kind of help.

See my bedtime set-up? Lots and lots of pillows, ear plugs, Tums and pop?

Terry is amazing. He woke up, felt sorry for me and drove up to the building to get me a Sprite to ease my indigestion/heartburn/gas/sour stomach. He did this at 3am!!! Again, Terry is awesome.

I was hoping after a night of very poor sleep due to being 9 months pregnant that baby would decide to come today. After all, today would have worked for Evie, who came after a baby appointment and shopping trip to Walmart - which is also what we did today. But baby did not want to do things the same as Evie. So for now, I have some Zantac and Sierra Mist in the fridge.

the comedian

Noah has become a comedian. He thinks he's hilarious... But I'm not so sure. Most of the jokes are about pee and poop.

He asks: Knock, knock

Me: Who's there?

Noah: Patti

Me: Patti Who?

Noah: Patti Poo Poo (snicker, laughter, snicker)

He's been inserting "pee" and "poop" in his daily language a lot lately. I'm not sure where he got this idea. Perhaps it's out of his own head. But it's not always appropriate...

He inserts these words while we're listening to music, praise music for instance. So instead of singing about God, he'll start singing about pee and poo. He did this last night just as we were starting dinner so I told him that's it's not okay to say poo instead of God (kind of a difficult concept to get across to a 5 year old!). Noah said, "It's okay. It's just pretend poop."

38 weeks

Here is me and baby at 38 weeks.

For the last 38 weeks I've been looking forward to Fridays when I get emails updating me on how the baby is growing. I am going to miss that. Also, I will miss reading nightly from my baby book as well as all the baby appointments that I really do look forward to (our next, and potentially last, appt is Monday). Pregnancy is amazing, though it's quite uncomfortable now. And yet, we're almost done! I may not even have the time to do another baby blog until after baby is here. Wow.

I have been having lots of practice contractions that are painless, but uncomfortable. Though yesterday I had two that were genuinely painful and felt like the real thing. I was even woken in the night with one! No baby yet though but could be any day now.

Baby is about 6#8oz heavy (like a round watermelon) and 19.5 inches long (like a leek). Noah was 6#13oz and Evie was 7#5oz so it will be interesting to see what this baby comes as.

And here is a shot just for Steph. Hey, don't knock it. After another night of poor sleep due to that weird contraction and Evie getting up to pee, a stretchy dress is just what I needed.