Maggie Matthews

Sorry that we haven't posted pictures yet of Maggie. I am amazed at how little you accomplish with a newborn. When I do have free time, the first question that I ask myself is, "Do I want to take a nap?" Most of the time, the answer is yes.

Maggie is five days old today. So far, she has been a sweet baby. She doesn't cry much, and when she does, it is pretty easy to figure out what she wants. Nursing has gotten a lot easier. She does like to play a bit at night, which makes having my mom here so helpful. I can't be ore happy with our little girl.

Highs and Lows

**Sorry this post is long. It is also for our baby's records.

These last 24 hours has been full of both highs and lows. As our family know, we checked into the hospital last night. It started yesterday after dinner when I lost my mucus plug (sorry, I may get a bit personal). Mike had left for a service project, and I didn't want to call him because it could still be a day or two. After the dishes, I left for a walk. I made sure I went to the bathroom beforehand. After ten minutes into the walk, I had to go again and let's just say, it couldn't wait. Oh great. But it kept coming. Yay, my water is breaking. I made it home and within the hour, Mike and I were at the hospital. It turned out to not be our water, but all of it was the mucus plug. We measured 4 cm with irregular contractions. Our doctor didn't want us to go home because she was afraid that I would wait too long to come in again. We headed over to the med school and walked on the treadmill for two hours. When we went back, we were at a 5 and having contractions every 2 minutes. The surprising thing is that I still couldn't feel the contractions.

Our doctor admitted us at midnight. I figure that the contractions would start getting stronger soon, so Mike and I went to sleep. Who can sleep when they know that their baby is coming soon. Throughout the night, I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes. By 6am, the nurse told us we were 6 cm, but I still wasn't feeling any discomfort. I got up and started walking around, rocking in the rocking chair, bouncing on the ball, and doing squats. They checked me every hour, but for some reason my contractions slowed done. By noon, they were 10-15 minutes a part. The new nurse checked me again and said that I wasn't a 6, but more a 5. We called my doctor, and she came by. She checked me, and with her frame of reference when she checked me on Wednesday, she told me that I was really only 4 cm. It was too early to break my water, and Pitocin would be tough with going natural. We decided it was best to head home. This is what I wanted. I wanted to eat, shower, sleep, and labor more at home than in a hospital.

Here is the low. It sounded like from our doctor that we would be back there this night. I know it is still early, but contractions haven't increased, nor do I really feel them. I just have this fear that our baby will never come. I hate being told things that get my hopes up only to be disappointed later on. I don't deal well with disappointment (my mom told me that most people don't). I love to plan things out, so when they don't follow through, it's hard on me. It also doesn't help that the three friends of ours that were due after us already had their babies. I know I shouldn't compare, but I can't help thinking, "when is it our turn?"

I know this baby will come when she is ready, and I will probably look back at this time and laugh at these feelings. So until then, we are back at square one and playing the waiting game.

The Nursery

I hesitate posting these pictures of the nursery because in the picture, the yellow looks a lot brighter than in really life. So for what it is worth, here they are. (My mother-in law is making bumper pads with the fabric that ties it all together, so I think that it will look more united with those).

Photos

One thing nice about having to get monitor more frequently is that we get more ultrasound pictures. Here are a few at 38 weeks. Her head was tilted back, so it was difficult for the technician to get a full view. Even though she told us the photo would be a bit distorted because the camera was right up her nose, our baby does not look like what I imagine. In fact, she doesn't really look like either of us. They say she is measuring small, but she looks like a chunker to me. A very cute chunker.

Baby Update

Upon request from my mom, this is the latest (as of last night) photo of the belly. We have only 11 days until the due date. Crazy. I am just so excited that we didn't have to have her this week. I have been measuring small the last three appointments, so our doctor wanted to do a few tests to make sure everything is healthy. Our girl is healthy, but she is small. They will continue to do monitoring twice a week until she comes. I'm fine with more ultrasounds. So now we are playing the waiting game, eating spicy dishes and going for lots of walks.

*I swear I have more shirts. But at least you can compare 38 weeks with the maternity shots (31 weeks?).

Amarillo Trip

With Monday being a holiday for me and Mike taking a test in the morning, we decided to make a trip up to Amarillo for the day with several other med students and their families. I am not sure that I was suppose to go that far this late in the pregnancy, but who cares. It was so nice to get out of the island of Lubbock and see something new (though Amarillo is pretty much the same town as Lubbock). Driving up was insane. The wind was so strong; Mike thought it was worst than driving in a snow storm. One of our friends saw a semi truck lift off the ground two feet. Nuts!!!

Our first stop was the Amarillo zoo. At first, it looked like the place was closed because there were no cars in the parking lot and boards were over the admission windows. Oh great, I just had four other couples drive two hours for nothing. I decided to walk up just to see what was going on and sure enough, it was open. And free! We were the only ones there. Now, this zoo is nothing like the Portland zoo. It was pretty much a step up from a petting zoo. They did have a few lions, black bears, tigers, and monkeys. Overall, it was a success.

Me in the reptile house

Mike enjoying the monkeys (the one time we saw an employee was the time that I tried to hope the monkey fence to touch the glass. Good thing I am pregnant; you end up getting away with a lot).

Some of the guys in front of the black bear.

These girls are some of my good friends. I am glad they made it (Mariah, Brooke, Me, and Abby)

Next stop was the Cadillac Ranch. Some guy was wanting to be artsy, so he planted 10 Cadillacs into the ground. They are open to the public to paint.

It was so crazy to be out in the middle of a field painting these cars.

Sadly, it took a lot of effort for me to get up there.

Mike is a natural tagger.

Our last stop was Red Robins. Funny how much a person can miss something when they lose it. Red Robins have always been one of my favorites because of the fries. Some may say this trip wouldn't be worth the four hours in the car for a dinky day in Amarillo, but now having lived in Lubbock for the last 8 months, it doesn't take much for us to have an amazing day.

Baby shoes

While in Utah, Laura Matthews and I got really excited to make baby shoes. I tried to make some while I was there, but they turned out pretty bad. I did learn a lot from making them though. When we got back, I took my new knowledge and tried again. I ended up making 6 pairs because of all the baby showers right now.

Of course I had to make a pair for Baby Matthews. I love how the ruffles turned out.