At Home in the Cradle

Some Favorite Pictures

Jonathan snuggling in with Gracie

Proud parents

Family of four

Grace getting ready to go home for the first time

Grace's second day

Amy and Grace are recovering very well today with one more night in the hospital. Grace's digestive track is kicking in and she appears very healthy. Amy is up and around, but enjoying the "room service" at the hospital for one more night.

Thank you to everyone for the kind notes and encouragement during this very momentous week for our family! We are so thankful for you and for the arrival of Grace.

A very memorable day!

This is Jeff hijacking Amy's blog. What a day! I'm sure Amy will have much to post about today, however, as I sit at the end of this day that Grace Evelyn was born I am just thankful. After all the infertility junk two year's ago, and then transitioning to hoping to adopt a child someday, to then be blown away that we were pregnant on our own without any medical help, and now to have the birth of Grace come to fruition, after all that, I am just sitting here overwhelmed, humbled, and in awe of our Awesome God who answers prayers that I didn't think were answerable! What a gift, and I am so thankful...

Introducing Grace Evelyn

Born today at 12:59PM
10lb 0.2oz
21.5" long

Mom and baby are doing great!

Final Night as a Family of Three

Here we are enjoying one last snuggle before bed and before the baby comes.

We're looking forward to my lap getting bigger very soon.

I didn't really get up at 5 to post here...I scheduled this post last night.  (I love that feature in Blogger!)

If things are going as planned, Jeff and I are heading to the hospital for our 7 a.m. appointment to have our baby.  Big thanks to my brother for coming over at 6:30 a.m. to take care of Jonathan today.  Jonathan is so excited!  We're so blessed not only to have family who want to take care of him, but also friends nearby who have been on standby waiting for us to call and ask for our help.  We're really spoiled and appreciate you so much...you know who you are!

I'm still really amazed that we're at this point.  I'm nervous to be induced but very excited to find out who our baby is!  Jonathan doesn't seem concerned at all, and we hope that we can do a good job easing him into our new life as a family of four.  It's hard to believe that we'll soon love one more little person as much as we adore him, but I know that we will.

We hope you'll pray for a safe delivery this morning.  The midwife is planning to break my water and hope that gets things rolling.  I hope that it works so that we won't have to go the Pitocin route this time.  If all goes smoothly, we're planning to make phone calls to announce Baby's arrival and then get online to spread the news.  You'll be hearing from us!

Just Playing on a Sunday Afternoon...

Here's a project Jonathan and Jeff did together.  Lou and Lionel sent this wooden train for them to build, and Jonathan loves building things...and loves trains.  Can you see the love on his face?

He also got really into his Playmobil police guy today.

Nothing like a motorcycle to get the imagination rolling!

Yayyyy!

M:  Jonathan, if the baby doesn't come today, it will come tomorrow, and then you'll be a big brother!

J:  Yayyyy!  And at Uncle Todd and Aunt Corinne's, it will be way fun!

Perhaps

Perhaps vacuuming, or at least vacuuming the stairs, will help me go into labor.

Or perhaps not, since I have so much help.

The Long Version

We went as a family to my appointments this morning. First I had the ultrasound, then the non-stress test, and then a meeting with the midwife. Really, the hardest parts of the morning were the sitting parts: sitting on the drive in, in the waiting room, and during the NST. But Jeff and Jonathan were great, and I'm so glad they were there!

The ultrasound was fine. The tech didn't tell us the gender of the baby, and the baby has plenty of amniotic fluid.

The non-stress test also went well, but despite the comfy recliner, it was very painful to sit for that long. Jeff and Jonathan got to be in the room with me because there was not another person who needed to be tested in the other recliner. At the beginning of the test, it felt like the baby was sleeping, so Jeff talked to him/her. It was really neat to feel the baby start moving at the sound of his voice and also to see that his/her heart rate went way up during that time. I always tease Jeff that he is not a calming influence on Jonathan, and now we see that it's true for baby #2 as well. So fun!

The midwife said that the baby is doing very well. We all talked it over and reviewed the two earlier ultrasounds I've had (the earlier the ultrasound, the more accurate the measurement) to make sure that the due date we've been using is accurate. She thinks that it is. She wants us to come in Monday morning to be induced if the baby has not come before then. I really don't want to be induced, but after talking at length (and I am so glad Jeff was there!) we think it's probably what we need to do. She was worried about trauma to the baby and to me if it gets too much bigger, particularly shoulder dystocia. (Anna, you know all about that. And won't it be ironic if we have an average-sized baby after all this.) One thing to note is that she does not plan to use Pitocin to induce me, which will be different from our experience with Jonathan. She says that she'll break my water and then the baby will come on its own. We'll see.

So, that's the plan for now, and I have very mixed feelings about it. I'm thankful that I know that I only have to endure three more nights feeling this way, at the most. But, I'm disappointed to need to be induced, and also disappointed that I likely won't be able to labor without the help of an epidural because induced contractions can be so much more intense than the ones that come on their own-from what I've read. (Not to say that those of you moms who have labored on your own time have had it easy!)

I'm praying that the baby will come when God wants it to come, and if possible, that it would be before Monday morning. It's still possible that I could go into labor without being induced. We're thankful, though, that the baby is doing well, and we'll do what it takes to get him or her into the world! Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers as well.