She's growing so quickly!

8 days old Grandpa Raymond and Grandma Effie left Sunday morning. It was very difficult for us all to have them go. They were such a big help, and very generous with their love and help and time. We wish that we were all closer together. So now this is the first day that Maia and I are alone together. Now we need to figure out our schedule together. We had a nice quiet morning so far. Her umbilical stump came off last night. Things are moving so quickly!

1 week and 1 day old

It's amazing to see how much she has changed in just a week! We're getting more alert time, and she's making progress in learning to hold up her head. With Grandma Effie Ashley In the Car Seat Uncle Ken Cook (Ray's good friend from work) came to visit on Thursday

Happy Birthday Raymond!

Grandpa Raymond Ashley had his 60th birthday (or 57 with 36 month's experience) on Wednesday the 20th. We had a little party for him at the Pool's house. Lydia loved Raymond! Papa Joe Veenstra tries to figure out if Maia has red hair... Maia was awake and alert for quite a while. Emily is as tall as Effie!

First Pediatrician Appointment

We brought Maia to the pediatrian yesterday for a weight check. She was doing great, and gained back almost all of her birth weight: she was 7 pounds 9 ounces. The pediatrician said they don't generally expect breastfed babies to gain that back for a while, so we were very pleased. She's feeding like a champ and actually slept fairly well last night. The first two nights were a big learning curve for mommy and daddy trying to do things in the right order to get her calmed and ready to sleep. Maia's Grandma and Grandpa Ashley (Raymond and Effie) are here with us for the week. They arrived on Sunday evening... about 6 hours after Aunt Tara had to fly home. All in all, things are going very well. Aunt Tara and Maia Grandma Effie and Grandpa Raymond Ashley

She's here and we are home!

Maia Effie Ashley arrived into this world on Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 7:39 a.m. after about 8 hours of labor, and only 4 1/2 hours of it in the hospital. She weighed in a 7 pounds, 10.4 ounces, and is 20 inches long. She has a small amount of sandy-reddish hair, and we think she is just beautiful (and looks a lot like daddy!) Proud Daddy Dr. LaGrand, Maia, Sara and Ray One day old:

We truly had waited long enough... she's finally here...

Sara is taking a well deserved break so I, her husband Ray, am making this post for her. Our daughter arrived today, 8/14/08 at 7:39am. She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. Sara and baby are doing fine...

NST and Ultrasound

So Ray and I both left work early to head downtown for the NST (non-stress test) and ultrasound. The good news is that it looks like everything is fine in there, and she is healthy. The NST revealed a general heart rate in the mid 140's, which fluctuated between the 120s and the 170s as she moved. And the longer I sat there (and relaxed), the more she moved. Which is exactly what I tell Ray she does. If I'm up and moving... she's not so much. The bad side is that, despite a day of soreness and back pain, I was showing absolutely no contracting activity during the NST. That said, however... I didn't feel like there was any activity during that time either. So it may be that I am having it at other times. We moved on from there to the ultrasound. The primary focus there was to determine if there is sufficient amniotic fluid to support her, and there is. Not too much, not too little, but "plenty." The other good part is we got to see her (first time in 20 weeks) and we even got a 3D view (first time there in 32 weeks). Last time we saw her in 3D view, she looked like a comma. This time we got a view of chubby cheeks, nose and lips. She's so scrunched in there, however... detail was tricky. Her hands, feet and the cord are all by her face, so we couldn't really see eyes (I don't think they were open). She's still head down, but we have no idea if I've made any further progress with effacement or dilation because we didn't see the doc, and won't until Thursday morning. So good news: she looks good, healthy, and safe in utero. The bad news: Ray has to listen to me whine for a while yet. And I'm just a jumble of emotions about it and logic and rationality have no home in my brain right now. I'll see if we can manage to scan the u/s pics.

Waking up disappointed

I keep dreaming about my baby girl. Holding her, smelling her, touching her (with fingers that have a sense of touch!). I wake up each morning disappointed that it does not appear that today is the day I get to meet her. Comforting words don't contain much comfort, while I'm tired and sore and have nothing great to show for it. So we stay in a holding pattern. More walking (another 3 hours yesterday - and nothing besides back pain and sore feet, and she's so low, it's a struggle to move quickly or ever get comfortable). Fortunately the weather has been lovely, and appears to be forcast for more of the same. So tomorrow we are scheduled for a NST (non-stress test) and ultrasound to determine how she is doing in there, if there is enough amniotic fluid and if the placenta is still supporting and sustaining her. It'll be nice to see her again - even if black and white and grainy... but will be a poor substitute for the real thing.

Well, that was short lived!

Contractions mostly fizzled out by the afternoon. Had a few more while taking walks in the evening... but no continuation, no pattern. Took a hot shower and went to bed, hoping, HOPING I'd wake up in labor. Nope. Decided I didn't feel like going into work, would stay home and try and walk some more. I had one contraction while walking. Just one. Met Ray and his co-workers Ken and Jeremy at Red Robin for lunch. Decided I'd walk the mall afterward - since it was right there, and should be more interesting than walking my neighborhood... again. So I did... slowly and with some shopping. For 3 hours. Ray called me with some advice to head over to Brookstone and use one of their massage chairs. So I did... but they wouldn't let me use them. Why? It's been known to start pregnant women into labor, and they can't accept the liability. Sheesh! I should've slipped the guy a $50 and had him look the other way! I'm due! I WANT to go into labor! He did let me use the "u-squeeze" foot massage thing, which was pretty intense, and did a really great job moving fluid out of my feet and ankles. I was hopeful that would get some of those ankle pressure points for labor... but alas. Managed to have one other contraction this afternoon. But at this point, I'm just kind of tired and sore. Came home, took a nap. We fear that 08/08/08 is not to be the birthdate for our little girl.

A little progress...?

So last night I took a 45 minute walk (had to come in because a storm was coming) and a long, hot shower. I was having a little back pain and general crampy feelings. I rocked in the chair for a while before going to bed, hoping that I'd be awakened by stronger labor pains. No such luck. But the general crampy feeling did continue this morning, so I did agree to go to the OB (with only a little whining about it). Hopeful that I'd made SOME progress. Didn't gain any weight (yay! Last week I put on few pounds, most of which doc attributed to the fluid retention). BP was 120/78. Everything was looking fine. Baby is still head down, still 50% effaced, more anterior and... after a painful moment, doc said: "Okay, now you're dilated to one." So he gave me a little push, and we are hopeful that it will take. My crampiness increased in intensity and moved on into contractions between 11 and 2. At that point, I decided to leave work so I could do some stuff around the house and go for a walk or two. By the time I got home and put in a load of laundry.. the contractions had stopped. So I walked. And they started back up. And I came home to get something to drink... and they stopped. So they're coming and going. I'll get a few of them, and then none. So we're definitely not in any sort of active labor, and I think it's possible that I could go through this kind of thing for days. I hope not! Ray's really excited about the possibility of an 8/8/08 baby, and my OB is actually on call tomorrow (but not the weekend). So... keep your fingers crossed! I do NOT want to be able to go into work tomorrow, and hope to be in the hospital within the next 12-24 hours!

I am SOOOOOO ready!

I've been ready. But I'm actually feeling like there isn't anything I can even do to get more ready. Everything is done. All I can do is clean the house again. Or yard work (which I can't quite care about right now). Everything that I needed to get done at work is done.
This weekend we put the cradle together.


We finally got the dresser. Andrew and Ray and Adrian put it together on Sunday, and Kath and I filled and organized it.


We put together the car seat/stroller travel combo a few weekends ago.


And now we're into the second week of co-workers asking me "Are you still here?" and me getting dressed every morning to realize that my maternity shirts barely fit over my belly.


So now it's just a waiting game. I'm ready. She's not. Must be one of those girls with a mind of her own.