Wednesday November 19th, 2008

Probably my last journal entry before I am a mommy. Liana flew in Monday to assist with my labor which made this whole surreal mommy preparation REAL! She got in at one Monday afternoon and I drove down to the SD airport to pick her up. For some reason I was having a really hard time with that trip down to the airport....my belly was so tight and so uncomfortable!! Once I got Liana in the car I found the first parking spot I saw in Little Italy and went on a mission to find a bathroom and a bite to eat. Really, I just needed a break from sitting in the car! We found the cutest little italian restaurant and sat at a cozy little table next to the open window with the sun shining in on us :) We shared some wine and a fabulous salad...and got this cute pic!
That night Greg cooked a homemade italian dinner...my favorite Olive Garden dish...Chicken Parmagiana and alfredo farfale mmmmmmmm. Megan and Peyton came over to join us. Everyone had a great time! I was in bed by 10:45 which is a super late night for me. Yesterday I woke up and went to the gym and then on a walk with Megan and Peyton AND THEN on another walk with Liana at the beach! I was on a mission to walk Marley right out of me!! Me and Liana had such a great walk on the beach in Oceanside...we were the only ones for miles on the beach and got so carried away with the beauty that surrounded us that we got totally lost and had to back track about a mile to find the car :)
Then it was back to the house to get showered and ready to go the my 40TH WEEK Dr. appointment!!! Greg came home and we all got in the 4runner to head down to Dr.Dunns office in Carmel Valley. We had a 3 pm ultrasound and then a 4 o' clock with the doc. The ultrasound was so cool because we got to see Marley's face super close up and she is sooooo beautiful!! She has the best lips! I think they are mine, but Greg is convinced they are his :) Most likely they are a combination...yeah, we'll go with that! Glad I asked if there was any way we could know how big she was and found out she was estimated at 8.1 lbs! And that is with a margin of error of 1 lb meaning that she could be 7 or 9 pounds! I was shocked because everyone tells me how small I am and how the baby must be "so little". I was having a hard time believing that all the food I have been consuming wasn't making for a fat baby and sure enough, it has been! We had some fun in the dr. office waiting for Dr. Dunn to come in....here is Greg playing doctor :) I was laughing so hard it hurt! Dr. Dunn came in and examined me and I was still only about 1-2 cm dialated and 70% effaced. He said that my cervix was not as "ripe" as a typical patient who is getting ready to go into labor but that because of the size of the baby we should definitely talk about induction. I couldn't believe that he said that! I had always thought that induction wasn't even an option until you were 10 days - 2 weeks overdue, but Dr. Dunn expressed that the baby was well "cooked" and ready to come out anytime. We thought about it and it did sound nice to know we would have Marley while Liana was here and before Thanksgiving so that we could enjoy all the family that will be here without having to wonder when we would be rushing to the hospital. Dr. Dunn said if we wanted to consider induction and wanted to have him deliver, that Friday (Marley's due date) and Monday were the only options and that he thought that this Friday was already full so we were thinking Monday. WELL, turns out they had a spot open up on Friday and so....WE ARE INDUCING ON FRIDAY AND MARLEY WILL BE BORN ON NOVEMBER 21ST!!!! We actually have to go into the hospital Thursday night to get a "cervix ripening" ring placed inside me so that overnight my cervix will soften and then we will check into labor and delivery Friday AM to get induced and begin the labor process! I can't believe it is all happening and Marley will be in our arms in less then 2 days from now!!!!
Tonight Liana is cooking us dinner and Lori and Kayla are coming over...the whole birthing team! It is so weird to think about things as "lasts" like my last big yummy dinner before I am a mommy and my last trip to the gym for a long time in the morning and my last good night of sleep! I am trying to really appreciate every last peaceful moment, but I am so damn excited at the same time and just can't wait until Friday!!!
Here is a funny pic that Liana took of Marley all bunched up on the right side of my belly like she likes to do :) Now that we have seen her in the ultrasound, we know that it is her legs that are on that side all squished up. I was sure that it was her back side that was making that big bulge, but nope....she must just have some legs on her!

Wednesday November 12th, 2008

39 WEEKS PREGNANT TODAY!!!!!
What a journey it has been! I am so excited to meet Marley...it's killing me. Went to the doctor yesterday and I am still 1 cm and 80% effaced, but her head is actually higher than it was two weeks ago. She was a -1 two weeks ago and now she is a -3. Of course we were a little bummed because we are so anxious to have her in our arms, but I also know that she won't come until she is ready so I will patiently wait :) Plus, Liana is flying in just to be here for the birth and she doesn't get in until the 17th (5 more days). Megan's husband Keith thinks Marley will come on the 15th and Greg thinks she will come on her due date (the 21st). All this time, I thought she would come early, but now I am starting to think she may be a Thanksgiving baby. I honestly feel that she can come any minute because my belly is SO tight that I don't know how it will grow any more without puncturing the bag of water and breaking it. I learned that only 10% of women begin labor with their water breaking (so it rarely happens the way it does in the movies of course), but I think this would be so exciting. I love walking into restaurants thinking "will my water break here?!" What a great story that would make :) Its all exciting to think about really though. Knowing that any moment could be THE moment is quite a thrill! And to think that in just 2 weeks, we will be here at home with our new babygirl and a house full of family for Thanksgiving is such an amazing and heart warming feeling!! Carolyn has been calling me every day checking on me and the baby and is just so excited...its really cute! I get so excited to see the look on everyones face when they meet her for the first time! Grandma Suzy get's here on December 2nd and having three generations of us girls together will be so meaningful!!!! Then when Marley and me are up to flying, we will take a trip back home and visit great grandma Lucy for all four generations to be together :) I am most excited to see grandma Lucy hold Marley....how amazing that will be!!
Here are some recent photos. The first one is our childbirth class that we took at Tri-City hospital right down the street. We had so much fun in this class! It was once a week for 6 weeks and we learned a little bit about everything including breathing and birthing techniques. We are supposed to have a class reunion in January with all the babies which should be a lot of fun!







Our friends James is a photographer and came to the house to take some pics of us at 37 weeks and then my friend Jamie took some belly pics of me the next day. Between the two photoshoots, we got some very nice pics :)

Pete and Laura gave birth to their third little girl last Sunday 11/9! She was finally induced since her due date was 11/1. Avery Francis McKinlay is so BEAUTIFUL!! We went to the hospital and saw then just a couple hours after she was born and I couldn't believe how fabulous Laura looked! She looked so relaxed and just gorgeous....not like she had just given birth. This was her third, so granted she has had some practice. She said the birth was like a spa day compared to the pain of her entire pregnancy....poor thing. Avery came in just two pushes and was born a perfect little girl with a head full of beautiful black hair! Holding her was an incredible feeling for me because all I could think about was how I would be holding my own little girl just days from now (fighting back tears right now!). I was so tripped out by the fact that a baby just like this one was inside me right now. WOW, it was an incredible experience. Marley and Avery are going to be the best of friends :)
This pic is just last weekend when I was going to visit lindsey for her birthday! Linds has become a very very dear friend to Greg and I and I was so glad I could be there for her because I guess no one really remembered her b-day and she was bummed! I cheered her up with some gifts and some girlie time :) It was nice! Her and Chris are getting married on the Hudson river in up state NY next September and Greg and I are definitely going. We have never been to NY before so I am hoping to make it into a nice little trip. I asked Dad if him and Marge would like to come stay in the house and watch Marley while we go which hopefully works out. This way we can take a couple days and explore NYC!!! Then in November we will take Marley for her first vacation to Maui!!! We just booked it thanks to mom (THANK YOU MOM) and we are so excited for our first family vacation.
I am proud to say that Marley and me were part of one of the biggest days in history....we voted together on November 4th for Obama who was later that day announced the new president of the united states. I am excited for Marley's future with Obama as president as I think this world will start to see a lot of good changes!
I love this pic of Kayla and my belly!!! This pic was taken quite awhile back...around August time I believe, so that would have made me about 7 months or so.


Here is Greg at our 38 week appointment. Every time he comes the doc (dr. dunn) gives him the honor of listening to the heartbeat! It is fun because Greg gets to participate....otherwise he just sits there and gets to watch the doc stick his hand waaaayyy up inside to feel Marley's head :)
Our next appointment and last appointment is next Tuesday the 18th. We will get an ultrasound which is exciting because I want to see how big this girl is!! And if she comes before then??? Guess we'll see!!!!!!