She's Here!

We are finally a family of four!  We are pleased to announce the newest member of our family, affectionately referred to on this blog as "Baby Cakes".  Baby Cakes was born June 3 at 6:30am.  She weighed 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and was 21.5 inches long.  She looks so much like her sister Princess Boo did as a newborn...minus the dimples.  We are so excited to welcome this new member of our family, and we are falling in love with her a little more with each passing hour.  :)

Here is my final pregnancy picture, taken just before being induced on June 2.  I am 41 weeks, 6 days in this picture.  :)

My husband, attempting to wrap his arms around my very pregnant belly:

Daddy holding Baby Cakes for the first time:

Big Sister's first visit - she was more interested in watching cartoons:

Baby Cakes, about ready to bust out of her newborn clothes already:

It's hard work being a big sister!!!

I love the expression on Princess Boo's face in this one - our first family photo:

Baby Cakes, all bundled up for the night:

Mom and Baby are both doing well.  We are enjoying some snuggle time his morning and looking forward to going home either today or tomorrow!

41 weeks, 4 days

And still pregnant.

I will confess, I have been cranky and grumpy lately as I wait for this little one to make her appearance.  I feel like I just get up in the mornings and go through the motions of the day, waiting for contractions that get longer, stronger, and closer together.  I have plenty of contractions...but they just do their own thing and don't amount to any changes whatsoever once I am at the midwife's office.  I had contractions pretty much all day yesterday, and I was sure something would have changed when I got checked today.  Nothing.

We spent yesterday morning at the town Memorial Day parade.  It was hot!  But it felt so good to get out of the house and experience all the sunshine and the happy faces of others.  Then Tim was home for the afternoon, the princess took a great nap, and we grilled chicken Santa Maria-style for dinner.  Yesterday was a great day.

Today I had another checkup with my midwife.  Still nothing has changed.  I find that hard to believe, but it is the truth!  So we set an induction date.  THERE IS AN END IN SIGHT!!!  I am so excited and happy to know that we finally have an end date.  If the little one is not here by Thursday (June 2), I will be induced at 9am.  While I want more than anything to go into labor on my own, I cannot handle this mental game anymore.  Baby is getting the boot from my womb.  We'll see if this goes any quicker than the induction with the princess.  Hers was a 30-hour ordeal.  So we are being realistic and saying Baby should be here by Friday the 3rd!

Please be praying for us as we look forward to meeting our little one.  I still have a few days to go into labor on my own!  :)

40 Weeks!!!

So today is the day.  Yes, all along I have said the 21st is my due date.  Actually, it's the 20th.  I just like saying the 21st better.  So today is the day!  Come on out, Baby!

I had a checkup yesterday, and of course not much is happening.  I am at 1cm, which is better than last week.  Baby is still head-down!  She still hasn't dropped yet though, so I was encouraged to do some walking.  I did some gentle bouncing on an exercise ball last night while I watched American Idol (go Scotty!).  Maybe that will count for something!

I am writing this around 12am because I just have a burst of energy.  I know I'm supposed to go scrub the floor of the baby's room or something, but this is more fun.  Maybe this is the pre-labor energy burst that people talk about?  Or maybe I am faking yet again.

Faking?  Yes, I have faked having an energy burst at least twice this week.  It didn't send me into labor, but it did result in a clean floor under my refrigerator, an organized lazy susan, and a half-organized closet (interrupted by a curious 2 year-old). 

I am still feeling pretty well in this pregnancy.  I have a lot of hip pain from sleeping on my sides at night, and most nights the couch is more comfortable than my bed.  Other than that, I don't have many complaints. 

In the life of the princess:

We have had quite a few beautiful days recently and have been able to get outside to play.  One of her favorite things has been to "clean clean dirty green beep beep".  I am not sure how she got to be so fond of cleaning, but she LOVES it.  :)

Girlfriend LOVES to brush her teeth.  I have to limit her to 3 times a day, and she has daily fits over not being able to brush her teeth more.  Again, I am not sure where she gets this!!!

We have a new addition to our toy collection:  Charlie.  That's right, Charlie Horse.  :)  He was sent home with us from a friend's house, and he receives much love and attention here.  I just wanted to include a picture so I could mention his name.  My husband's a creative genius.  :)

37 Weeks

I am 37 weeks pregnant!  I could go into labor at any time and it would be considered full-term.  In fact, that's what I thought happened Saturday night.

We had a group from church at our house Saturday night, and I was sitting there noticing some Braxton Hicks contractions.  Then I realized they were consistently 8 minutes apart, lasting 30 seconds or so.  I told my husband about it, then we went to bed.  I woke up several times and was still having contractions.  Around 1:30 or so, I got up to time them again.  They were 3-5 minutes apart, lasting a full minute each.  They didn't hurt at all, and I really didn't think they were "the real thing", but I didn't want to be wrong.  Especially since I didn't know for sure if the baby was head-down yet!!!

I hadn't had the conversation with my midwife about what number to call after-hours if I thought I was in labor.  I called the office and talked to a "registration specialist" who advised me to go to the hospital.

At 3am I gave in and initiated our birth action plan.  My husband picked up the lady who was going to stay at the house with the princess, and we headed to the hospital.

Once at the hospital, I mentioned to the nurse that the baby had been transverse but had flipped recently and we weren't able to tell for sure if she was breech or cephalic.  They brought in an ultrasound machine and guess what?  Breech!  Ahh!

My contractions were steady on the monitor at 3-3.5 minutes apart, and Baby was doing well.  However, my cervix wasn't dilated at all.  We walked in the halls for awhile, but still no dilation...therefore, not true labor.

We then talked about our options and decided to schedule another session with the massage therapist to see if she could help coax Baby into a heads-down position.  If that didn't work, we would schedule an external cephalic version.  Basically, a version involves a doctor manually flipping the baby into a birthable position.  He grabs the baby through the mother's stomach and turns the baby until she is in the proper position.

My midwife came on duty at 8am, and she came in to see me.  One of the doctors that does the versions was actually coming on duty as well, and she brought him in to talk to us.  He asked if he could go ahead and try it, and we said okay.

The doctor was pretty awesome.  I am a big fan of him because my baby is now heads-down.  After reading online and seeing that this procedure has about a 50-60 percent success rate, I realize that mine was actually pretty easy.  It took less than 3 minutes, and there was pain, but it was manageable.

After the procedure, Baby and I were monitored for 2 hours to make sure there was no disruption to the placenta.  One of the risks of having this done is that the placenta can be disturbed and require an emergency c-section.  We were happy to head home with after our 2 hours of being monitored with no difficulty!

Things are still going well.  Baby has not made any major flips.  We are praying she stays head-down until delivery!  I see my midwife Tuesday, so she'll be able to check her again then.

All in all, this entire experience was such a blessing.  Generally. women don't want to admit going to the hospital for false labor...and I am the same way!  But if this had been true labor, it would have resulted in a c-section.  You cannot do a version during labor.  Breech babies are not delivered vaginally...at least not at my hospital.  Also - we did not know the baby was breech until this ultrasound!  We were blessed to have a doctor on duty who was able to do the version, and we are so happy to know that she is now in a birthable position.

Sunday Scrappin'

I have a feeling I will not be doing much scrapbooking in the near future.  Already, things like cleaning baseboards and searching for the perfect wall border for the baby's room have taken over as my priorities.  :) 

I did find some time this week to do a 28-week ultrasound page for Baby 2.  I searched for ideas online and kept coming across the idea of including a silhouette of a pregnant woman.   I ended up taking a photo of myself from when I was 28 weeks pregnant, enlarging and printing it, then cutting the outline from a piece of black paper.  I was pleased with the result.

I tried to use darker colors on this page to complement the black and white ultrasound pictures.  I did want a bit of "girly" colors in there, so I chose a dark purple.  I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge on my Cricut for the letters and embellishments.

The writing on this page says, "02/24/11 - We got to see your beautiful face today.  You liked to keep you arms by your face, and you were very active.  You actually smiled at one point, and they captured it on film.  Precious!  You measured at 2 pounds 8 oz.  That's the 50th percentile."

I also finished 2 pages for the princess' scrapbook a few weeks ago, and I just realized I never posted them!  Here are months 8 and 9!

The wording on her 8 month page says, "You have to be walked to sleep.  You know Monkey's name and attack him on command.  You let go and hold objects while standing.  You crawl with your belly off the floor.  You carry Bluebeary in your mouth as you crawl."

Her 9 month page says, "We moved from California to Ohio this month and are living with Nana and Papaw while Daddy looks for a job.  You get to see both sets of grandparents on a daily basis right now.  You adore your cousin Drew.  New words:  Mama and buh (ball).  You eat table foods and like to feed yourself.  You like to put a blanket on your own head and play peek-a-boo.  You still have to be walked to sleep, and you wake 2 times a night for milk."

36 Weeks + Baby Shower

Let me begin with last week's baby shower, since I am so late in posting about it!

Last Saturday, our church was so sweet and thoughtful to host a baby shower in our honor!  It was a fun time, and I was overwhelmed by the amazing food and numerous gifts for baby.  My parents were able to come up for the weekend, and my mom joined me at the shower.

Mom and me

Baby received many clothes, and this outfit came with a matching one for Big Sister!  How cute, and how fun to dress them alike.  :)

Big Sister was not forgotten in the gift-giving.  This shirt of course came with a "little sister" outfit.  Perfect for pictures!!!

This is my friend T.  She is an amazing cake decorator, and I loved the idea she used for my cake.  It says "April Showers Bring May Flowers", and one of the flowers has a baby face in the middle of it.  Yes, I ate the face.  :)

The princess loved playing with and in all the gifts, bags, and boxes.  :)

36 Weeks:

I had an appointment with my midwife on Wednesday.  I think I posted on here before about how Baby was breech at 32.5 weeks and transverse at 34.5 weeks.  Well, at this 35.5 week checkup, she seemed to be transverse still.  I was disappointed.  I was hopeful that the breech to transverse position change was a slow turn into being head-down.  Not the case.  :(  My midwife ordered an ultrasound to make sure what she was feeling was correct.

On Friday, we went for the ultrasound.  My midwife was correct, and Baby truly is transverse in there!  Otherwise, she is doing just fine.  She measured to be 6 pounds (give or take a pound...so how accurate is that?!).  Her heart rate continued in the 140's, which is consistent with every other checkup.  Unfortunately, she was also consistent with every other ultrasound and did not offer any good pictures!

So what do we do now?  A transverse baby cannot be delivered vaginally, for obvious reasons.  I have another appointment on Tuesday, and we will talk about our options.  We already talked a little bit about seeing Sister Maureen, who specializes in pregnancy massages.  She has had some success turning babies through her therapies.  Also, there are some things I can be doing at home to encourage the baby to turn. 

I am still hopeful that Baby will turn.  She is still making large movements in there, and she still has some space.  I will update as we learn more though!  :)

34 Weeks

Today marks 34.5 weeks for this pregnancy.  I had a checkup with my midwife today, and all looks good with Baby at this point.  She was telling me today that if I were to go into labor at 35 or 36 weeks, they would try somewhat to stop it, but they would not be very aggressive.  After 37 weeks is of course considered full-term, and labor would be more than welcome!  :)  I told her I was planning on 41 weeks, and she said that was a good idea.  Any guesses on when this baby will be born?!  (Technically, the due date is May 21.)

The princess likes to point to my belly and say "Too big".  :)

 Baby's heart rate was 144 and she was moving around like crazy.  However, she is laying sideways in my uterus.  That is why I am switching to weekly checkups at this point (a week earlier than usual).  If she does not seem to be head-down next week, I will have an ultrasound to confirm, and we will go from there.  The way she is laying right now, she has a great angle to kick at my right pubic bone.  She seems to enjoy doing that.  Note:  This transverse lie of the baby is usually an issue at this point of pregnancy, but she was breech two weeks ago.  We are hoping she is simply in the middle of turning head-down!

A gift from a lady at church.  So appropriate!

I have been doing some more serious nesting.  I completed one more project this week.  I had an idea to make matching burp cloths and bibs, but I ran into some trouble when sewing on bias tape around the edges.  I finally learned how to do that, and here is the result!  I have 3 reversible sets for Baby, so we are set on these!  My only regret is that I did not purchase enough flannel to make matching receiving blankets. 

Another nesting project:  I spent an hour and a half yesterday working on bat-proofing our attic.  We had 2 bats last year and 1 so far this year, so we are trying to eliminate any possible entrances.  Bat-proofing the attic really amounts to rearranging all our boxes and duct-taping any seams or holes in the boards up there.  This is phase one for decorating Baby's room.  Phase two will be cleaning out the big bedroom (aka exercise room).  Phase three will be moving the guest room into the big bedroom.  Then phase four:  Decorating and setting up Baby's room!  :)

We are getting excited!  The church is hosting a baby shower on Saturday, and I am looking forward to celebrating Baby with everyone!  I still cannot believe we are so close to meeting her though.  This has gone so quickly.

31 Weeks and Nesting

I am nearing the end of my 31st week of pregnancy, and I am nesting like crazy.  My husband can verify.  I have about 5 sewing projects I am currently "in the middle of", I'm on the princess' 7th month of life in her scrapbook and hoping to catch up to her current 26th month before Baby arrives, I have a page-long list on the fridge of projects to complete in the kitchen alone (which I planned to do in one day...last Monday...), and for whatever reason, I decided to renew my dormant love of crocheting!  Whaaa?!  Please note:  Until about 2 weeks ago, I had never actually completed a crochet project.  I am happy to announce that I have now done 2 hats and 3 headbands...and counting.  *One hat picture included in this post*

I am really enjoying this pregnancy right now.  Baby is crazy-active, and she likes to move her hands around a lot.  She doesn't do a lot of huge movements, but there are little tickles oh so often that remind me she's having a good old time in there.  :)  She especially likes to wait until I've been laying in bed for about 30 minutes and then get really active.  Typical baby.  She seems to have become good friends with my bladder and likes to hang out on top of it a lot.  That part's not so fun, but I am learning to deal with it.

So for the hat I made...  I'm pretty proud of this.  There is supposed to be a flower attached to it, but I haven't completed that yet.  I will soon!  The princess looks so cute in these pictures too...

 

The princess' new obsession is trains.  I'm not quite sure why.  It seems she watched the Disney show Chuggington on the computer one time this week and has been crazy about choo-choos ever since.  My husband pulled out his old toy train for her a few times, and it is a major hit.  I love how she sits in the middle of the track and they put different object on the car to watch them go around and around.  :)

She had gotten a tricycle for her birthday in January, and she rides it around in the house.  Everytime she gets on, she points to her head and says "uh-oh".  She knows Elmo wears a helmet, so she knew she should have one too.  Daddy's snow cap sufficed for awhile, but today we invested in a helmet of her very own.  She was very excited.

28 Week Ultrasound

We were able to see our baby on Thursday.  She was beautiful, of course, and a bit more cooperative this time around.  She does like to have her hands up by her face though, so most of these shots feature an arm or two.  :) 

Here is an old-school profile picture:

 A black and white 3D:

 And some color 3Ds:

 I especially liked that she smiled for us.  :)

Baby weighs 2 pounds 8 ounces, which is the 55th percentile for this stage of the pregnancy.  Sounds good to me!  That was also the weight of a jar of peanut butter at my mom's house...heavier than I thought!

This little girl has been very active lately.  She isn't making Mommy uncomfortable yet, and I am enjoying all the movements.  I have a check-up tomorrow, and then I switch to seeing my midwife every 2 weeks.  I cannot believe we're already at that stage of this pregnancy.  Wow, this is going quickly!

27 Weeks

Tomorrow marks week 27 of this pregnancy!  This means I am at the end of my second trimester/beginning of my third (depending on how you calculate it).  I am still feeling great, though I am noticing some changes.  I vaguely remember going through this with the princess, but I am tired all day long until about 8pm.  Then I get a second wind and find it difficult to wind down to sleep.  I was up until 1:00 last night.  Poor husband - I was talking his ear off for awhile there.  :)  I also have a perpetually stuffy nose, which requires double pillows under my head at night.  Heartburn is more intense this time around, and Tums are becoming my close friends.

We settled on a name at the beginning of February!  Yaaaay!  The name is intended to remain a secret until Baby arrives.  We do refer to her by name around the house though, and the princess is beginning to talk more.  However, even if she told you the baby's name, I don't think it would be understandable.  :)

We are looking forward to an ultrasound next Thursday!  Hopefully Baby will cooperate a little better this time and give us some good facial shots.



Here is a 27-week belly shot.  I have placed it next to my 24-week picture to give some perspective.



24 Weeks



27 Weeks



24 Weeks

I had an appointment with my midwife today.  I cannot believe I am 24 weeks already!  Baby is looking good.  Her heart rate was 160 today, and she was kicking at the doppler as the midwife pushed on my belly.  *Love it!*  Big sister gets a kick out of hearing the baby's heartbeat.  She always smiles and has her "oh my" expression on her face.

We were able to schedule another ultrasound for the end of February.  I am really excited to see our girl again...and confirm she truly is a girl...  We decided to have a 3D one this time around, as my midwife assured me babies don't look quite so creepy at 28 weeks as they do at 20.  :)

I believe we are getting closer to choosing a name for this little one, although that will of course remain secret until she is born.  Tim likes one name, I like another, and there is a third that is sort of a compromise...but needs a good middle name to actually seal the deal.

And here is my growing belly!

Sunday Scrappin' - 20 Week Ultrasound

This has been creativity week here at the Farley Funhouse.  I experimented with my Cricut earlier this week and made 2 Thank You cards (with matching envelopes).  Then the princess was escaping from her wearable blanket at naptime, so I redid the neckline on that.  Since my sewing machine was already out, I also completed 2 other wearable blankets that were almost finished.  I made a pine wood derby car for The AWANA Grand Prix at church today.  And in the midst of all this creativity, I accomplished my scrapbooking goal for this week!  I began Baby 2's scrapbook by completing 2 20-week ultrasound pages.  The pictures are a little blurry, but I think you'll get the idea.

I wish the writing in the bottom heart showed up better.  A friend reminded me of these verses, and I agree with her - they are the perfect words to reflect on when viewing ultrasound pictures:

For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:13-14 (ESV)

I do not have a goal for next week yet.  I do want to accomplish another scrapbook page, but I do not have printed pictures yet!  I think my goal will be to go through my pictures and order prints of the ones that I deem worthy of being put into a scrapbook.

20 Weeks

I cannot believe I am already halfway through this pregnancy.  Time has gone so quickly!  We have been busy with holiday planning and preparation lately, so things have seemed to move even faster the past month or so.  I have been doing some prepartion for this little one though, and I wanted to share.  First, I bought Baby's first outfits about a month or two ago.  I found a good clearance deal at ToysRUs and just couldn't resist.  Of course, not knowing the sex of the baby, I had to splurge and get two outfits for each.  (Did I mention what a great deal I found?!)

My belly is enlarging.  This picture was taken the day after Christmas, and I believe my husband worked some magic camera angles to make me look better than I do in real life!

I saved the most exciting part for last.  We had our ultrasound yesterday.  We had decided to go ahead and find out the sex of the baby this time around.  We waited and were surprised with the princess, and we loved that decision.  This time, I wanted the experience of knowing beforehand and being able to plan.  Here are some pictures:

 

Face profile - face on left, pointing up



Very clear shot of the spine



Both forearms - belly on right



Foot - lower left



Head on left, belly on right, hand by head



Both lower legs



It's a.....BABY!!!

Notice what's missing?  That's right, no gender-shot.  This is a very active baby (which I have realized since about 16.5 weeks), and he or she did not slow down enough for us to get a good look!  We do have an idea of what sex this baby is, but since we are not sure, I am choosing to keep that information off the internet at this time.  The ultrasound tech also was not able to get good film of the morphology of the baby's face, so I am holding out hope for a second ultrasound in a few weeks.