Nap time

This is a short video of Mia settling in for a nap. :o) Pretty fun stuff. At some point I plan to post an update on the last two weeks, including my birth story for those of you who haven't heard it yet. But I realized that so much of my 33-hour labor is a blur or fragmented in my recollection that I'm going to need Jeff's help in writing it... And right now we're a couple of sleep-deprived parents!! But we'll catch up. ;o)

Snoozing

This is Mia's favorite sleeping position. After I feed her, I can tell she's going to sleep if her arms fall into a dead hang. And once I put her down, I can tell she'll probably stay down for a while if her arms pop up like this. :o)

Shortly after Mia's first bath

Here's a short video Jeff shot shortly after Mia's first bath at home. :o)

Mia at 3 days old

Here are a couple of shots of Mia at 3 days old. The last picture is of Mia's homecoming w/ her Auntie Heather.

Hospital Newborn Pics are up!

Check 'em out!

We're Home from the Hospital!

Wow, Kristy and Mia were cleared to come home, so we said goodbye to the wonderful people at Arcadia Methodist Hospital and came home. Here's more of the little munchkin and some overjoyed family members...

So you want to see what she looks like?

Hi everyone! This is Jeff here and I wanted to get a couple of the minutes-old pictures of Mia up for you all to see. Many more will be coming, but for now, here are two shots that show her cuteness especially well =). As for the details, Mia was born at 1:29pm on Monday, September 18th, 2006 after 33 1/2 hours of labor by my wonderful wife. Who knew that marathon training had a practical aspect? She delivered naturally (vaginally), save for a shot of painkillers Monday morning, which allowed her to rest and give her strength to finish delivery. Mia is 8 pounds, 1 ounce, was 21 1/2" long, and has beautiful, deep blue eyes and a full head of hair. She is very mellow and has been sleeping a lot, but has been feeding well with Kristy after some initial drowsiness. Today she was much more vocal and seems to have learned that crying = mom and dad will feed her. We think we may be coming home soon, but they are watching to see if baby is doing well since there is a blood-type mismatch between Kristy and Mia, which is a risk factor for jaundice, so while Kristy will be most likely be discharged today, Mia may stay a little longer for observation, but she is very healthy, very strong, and will likely be coming home by the end of the week. Thanks Karen, Heather and Marie for helping us through the delivery and thanks to all of you wonderful friends and family that have been such a super source of love and support for both (wait, all three) of us during the last nine months. Take care everyone and we'll have more pictures up very soon.

Mia Hope Sketeris was born at 1:29pm on Monday 9\18\06. She was 8lbs 1oz and 21.5 inches long. Mom, Dad, and Mia are doing well.

It is just after midnight and we are on our way to the hospital!

And we have labor!

So it seems that I'm actually in labor. I've been having contractions since 4:04 a.m., and I don't think I believed that it wasn't just a false alarm until about an hour ago when I started really having to breathe through the contractions. They're coming at about 5-7 minutes apart, so I think we'll still be home for a while. But it looks like Mia will be here soon! Keeps us in your prayers tonight!! :o)

Still nothing

Just a quick post to let you all know that I'm still here. I tried the castor oil, and while it is an effective "stimulant", it failed to bring on labor. So, we continue to wait. However, it may have been for the best that I didn't go into labor yesterday, but I'll post about that later.

I'm still here

I just got back from another dr's appt...and we still have no progress. I had an ultrasound and another non-stress test, and this is what I know:

• her heart rate is still great
• she's making good breathing movements
• she probably weighs about 7 - 7.5lbs (yay!)
• she's got long legs (from who??)
• there is still plenty of amniotic fluid
• she is still very, very comfortable...

So, my doctor gave me a 2oz bottle of castor oil and said I could try it if I wanted. Or not. And the crazy thing is that I think my first thought was, "Oh my gosh, what if it works??" It seems a little scarier, somehow, that we're actually going to have an actual kid in the next few days. Or tomorrow!! What the heck?? [Breathe...] After I left the office, I called Jeff to see what he thought, and I think he had the same thought I did. Then he suggested I wait until tomorrow so that if it does work, I'd probably go into labor Friday night. I said I wanted to call my mom first b/c I knew that she'd used castor oil w/ either my sister or me. Then I called my mom and got the most unexpected reaction: she laughed...a lot. "He gave it to you? Your doctor just gave you castor oil?" At first I thought my mom had lost faith in my doctor or something, until she explained that my grandmother had gone to the pharmacist to get my mom castor oil when she was overdue w/ my sister, and they felt like they were sneaking around behind the doctor's back. So my mom felt validated to have my doctor just hand it to me 26 years later. :o) So, the plan is that my mom is going to come hang out w/ me tomorrow and I'm going to try it out. Hopefully, I'll go into labor (crazy!!). Otherwise, I'll be posting over the weekend about how sick castor oil makes you. Or maybe I'll be doing both. ;o) At any rate, stay tuned!!

Waiting patiently...

At least one of us is still able!! ;o)

T minus zero...and nothing!

I have three library books due today. They will be on time. Mia, who is also due today, will not be on time... I had yet another OB appt this morning, and we are still making no progress. I spent about an hour and a half at the office today, b/c after the regular routine they moved me to a special room they'd managed to keep secret in the previous 40 weeks of my pregnancy. I sat in a small room w/ a very comfortable recliner in front of a tv while one of the nurses strapped a monitor to my belly. For about 30 min, while I sat with my feet up holding a remote for the tv, the monitor recorded Mia's heart rate and any contractions of my uterus. I was also given a button to push (very similar to the ones they use to buzz in on Jeopardy) every time Mia moved, and the monitor spit out a roll of paper with graphs of all three events taking place. I had one good contraction while I was there (though it was still just a Braxton Hicks contraction), and it was cool to see it on the graph later. My OB warned me that the real ones would be more painful. I had sort of figured as much since I found this one to be "amusing" and not "excruciating". ;o) The important part is that Mia's heart rate & movements are still very good. My BP is still very good. So everything is great...except that Mia still doesn't want to vacate my uterus. So, I'll be going in every few days now to sit w/ the monitor to make sure that she's still doing well. A week from today my OB wants to start talking about "Plan B" in case Mia still doesn't decide to come on her own, though we won't actually start the eviction process until I hit 42 weeks. It makes me tired to think of two more weeks of this. I might go take a nap now...

39 and a half weeks...

I had another OB appt a couple of days ago, and Mia is still making no signs that she wants to come out. I keep trying to tell her that there is more space out here, but she seems intractable. So...we continue waiting. My next appt is on my due date, and I think I'll be going in more than once per week now b/c they want to make sure she's not distressed. But so far we are both doing great: she's still squirming like crazy & my BP is perfect. (But there is still more room out here, Mia!!) Jeff and I did a maternity photo shoot last night, so next week I should be able to post some pretty neat photos of us & the belly at 39w3d. ;o)

Still no baby!

We're starting to get the phone calls now, but alas -- I'm still pregnant. ;o) I'm making no promises whatsoever, but I've figured out how to email updates to the blog from my cell phone. So I'm hoping to at least be able to post a message once Jeff & I leave for the hospital. I assume my spelling will be humorous, but you'll at least know that Mia is likely on her way...or that I'll soon be posting about how embarrassing it is to be sent home from the hospital with false labor...

Great Moments in Pregnancy

Here's a great moment in pregnancy... I was getting dressed for a wedding yesterday that took place about an hour's drive from home. I had picked out the black pants and the only cute top that still covers (most) of my belly, and then I grabbed the only black shoes that still fit when my feet swell. And my feet swell unless I happen to be in bed for 8-12 hours... And they swell especially badly while seated, like in a car for an hour-long drive. So I decided that I would get totally dressed but keep my tennies on (which seems to help with the swelling) while I finished running around the house to get ready, and then I would just change shoes when I got to the wedding site. And normally, the sight of yourself in black dress pants, white socks, and tennis shoes would be a sufficiently tacky reminder to grab your black dress shoes on your way out the door. Problem: At 39 weeks, you haven't seen your feet in a couple of months... So, blissfully unaware of my horrible fashion faux paux, I walked out of the house dressed like a high school English teacher nearing retirement. And it wasn't until I was half way to the wedding site that I realized that I must still be wearing my tennies and that I didn't bring my black shoes along... Luckily for me, I'd left myself an uncharacteristic 30 minutes of buffer time for the drive out. So I ran into a Labor Day sale at a Mervyn's I saw along the freeway and picked out a pair of black slip-ons in record time. And it was only b/c I took the shoes out of the box and left them on top of my purse in the passenger seat that I remembered to change into them when I arrived at the wedding. So, Ari & Erika, you have no idea how close you were to having a nine-months pregnant lady in tennis shoes at your wedding!! :o) Congrats, you guys! It was a beautiful wedding, and Jeff & I wish you all the best.

September

Wow, I can't believe it's September! Sometime this month, we'll be parents. I really can't believe this month is already here. I also can't believe that I've been pregnant for sooo long... I've been pregnant for so long that I am apparently totally used to feeling a little under the weather. In fact, it took me several days before it finally dawned on me yesterday that I'd come down with a cold. I've been more or less congested since my 15th week, and the fatigue comes and goes constantly. But for a few days in a row this week I haven't even felt like getting out of bed in the morning. Then I thought about it, "Coughing, sneezing, exhausted, really congested... Wait! That sounds like a cold!" So I finally gave in to the cold yesterday and drank half a dozen cups of herbal tea to clear out my head and slept a lot, and I feel a lot better today. But, boy, do I miss NyQuil!!

Getting nowhere fast

I had another weekly OB appt today, and I learned that I will likely "shoot right past" my due date... I apparently haven't started dilating or effacing, so it looks like Mia's awfully comfortable and not trying to go anywhere soon. But the reason I was dreading getting to this part of the routine is that I could still go into labor tomorrow. And even if I'd dilated a couple of centimeters, labor could still be weeks away. But I now have something else to fixate on, which is probably the last thing I need! So how about a blog pool (sort of like an office pool, but w/o the office...or the cool cash prize) to guess the correct due date? My mom threw out 9/21 as a date b/c my sister and I were both ten days late. Jeff's new guess is 9/20. I'm gonna throw out 9/15, just to be hopeful. ;o) Any other guesses??