1 Week

Alex has been with us for 1 week today! Holy cow! Time goes by so fast! Alex has already made good progress in her first week of life. We had a pediatrician appointment yesterday and Alex has already gained her birth weight back and her jaundice levels are low so, we don't have to have her tested anymore. We also made the big transition of introducing Gir to Alex. Gir has been such a champ around her (for the most part). He hasn't barked or really freaked out around her. He has been smelling her and trying to figure her out, and he likes to give her hand kisses. He has been such a good dog and we are very relieved that he is taking to Alex so well. Alex is still sleeping pretty well at night and only really gets up to eat. I can't believe that its already been a week, but i'm grateful to be at home with our little girl and grateful for all the help that Chris and my Mom have provided for me during this first week. We love our little baby so much and I can't wait to see what exciting things happen this next week!

Me and Alex

Dad, Alex, and Gir

Goodbye Grandma and Grandpa Miller

Goodbye Grandma, Grandpa, and Auntie Lisa! Thanks for visiting! We were so excited to have you here for Alex's arrival and we can't wait until we will see you again this fall! 

She's Arrived!!!

So, on Wednesday, I had been having a pretty typical day. I got up around 9:00, got dressed, took Gir for a walk, did various household chores, watched t.v., etc. All day I had been getting minor cramps that were pretty random and far between. I had been expecting these since I had had my membranes scraped the day before and I was told that the cramping was a side effect. I didn't think anything of them. After Chris got home from work, we made dinner and enjoyed some of our favorite tv shows. During dinner my "cramps" started getting worse and Chris remarked that maybe my cramps were actually contractions. I then started getting contractions more and more frequently and by 10:00pm they were getting to be about 10 minutes apart and fairly painful. Chris and my Dad gave me a blessing at around 11:30pm and by midnight we were in the car on our way to the hospital. When we got to the hospital we were admitted and I had dilated to about 4 centimeters. I decided that i'd wait a little longer before I get my epidural since I could still handle the contractions ok. By the time that I had gotten to about 6 centimeters dilated, I decided that I was very ready for the epidural. I was surprised how much the epidural hurt but once it was in, it was nice to not feel the contractions. About 3 hours later, I had dilated to a 10 and I started pushing. I pushed a couple of times but whenever I pushed her heart rate would plummet which made the nurse nervous, so we just waited through the contractions until the doctor arrived. It turns out that the reason why her heart rate dropped was because the cord was wrapped around her head twice and every time the contraction would come, the cord would be caught. Once the doctor arrived I got a booster to my epidural and I finished pushing and out she came. Alex was born at 6:20am, she weighs 6lbs 0 oz, she is 20 in long and has a bunch of brown hair! She is absolutely beautiful and we are so happy to have her in our little family. So far, Alex is eating well and being a champ! 

Stress Test and Doctor Appointment

Today we are officially 1 day past the due date. I was scheduled to have a stress test today to make sure that Alex is healthy and not in distress. Our stress test went well, Alex has plenty of Amniotic Fluid to keep her healthy, and her heartbeat is going strong. We were hooked up to a heartbeat monitor for about 40 minutes tracking her heartbeat. It was pretty neat, and we think that she fell asleep for a while because her heartbeat became pretty regular. After the test we went next door and had a check up with the doctor. My heart rate is still good and my weight gain was normal. I've dilated to a 1 now (progress) and the doctor was able to feel Alex's head (she's dropped). The doctor than scraped membranes in the hopes that it will help me go into labor more quickly. Let's hope it works! If not, I have another stress test scheduled for Friday and if Alex still hasn't come after that, I have been scheduled to be induced Monday evening. I hope that Alex can come on her own, but we shall see...I haven't had any contractions yet. At least we have an end in sight (Monday)!

Week 39 Update

This morning I had my check up for the 39th week. Alex's heartbeat is still sounding really good, my blood pressure and weight are looking good, in other words both mommy and baby are doing well. I still have not really dilated which is kind of frustrating, it seems that little Alex is perfectly content to hang out. We scheduled another doctor's appointment for next week just in case Alex does not come this weekend. We also scheduled some stress tests for next week to check up on Alex and make sure that everything is going well. If we make it to the stress tests, we will get an ultrasound and we will be able to see her :). It looks like if Alex does not come on her own next week, i'll be induced on Monday the 25th at 5:00pm. I'm really hoping that Alex decides to come all on her own and that the appointments that we've set up won't be necessary. Only time will tell.

Alexandria's 38th Week Check Up

Today we had our doctor's appointment for the 38th week. The strange thing about this appointment was that my regular doctor is out of town, so we had a substitute doctor who was a man. It was a little disconcerting to have a male doctor since I've been so used to my lady doctor, and I was a bit uncomfortable coming into the appointment. The doctor was really nice though and he even got Chris to participate a little. When the doctor was checking Alex's position, he invited Chris to come up and feel where her head is and everything. I think Chris really enjoyed that and he said that he could feel her little head but he tried not to squish her. Alex is continuing to do really well. My baby bump grew about an inch in diameter which means that she is growing well. She is still head down although her head is pretty high and she has not dropped down yet. Her heart rate sounded really good and the doctor listened to it longer than our normal doctor does (he was kind of jamming out to it). I've dilated a little!! Hurray! Instead of only being dilated about a fingertip, i'm at about a one (which is honestly not that much bigger, but it's progress)!! My blood pressure is really good and i'm also really well hydrated. The doctor also talked to us a lot about my blood type (i'm RH -), the option of an epidural (I haven't decided if I want one yet), and about when to come into the hospital for delivery. Overall it was a good appointment and we are thrilled that there has been some progress made! 

My New Chair

Here is my new chair!  It is really comfortable and it will be really nice when i'm cuddling with Alex.