June Baby?

It appears that our little man would rather be a June baby over a May. Our Dr. decided to came in and see how we are progressing, he was very greatfull we gave him the afternoon off soo he could get cought up on projects around his home. Now he is here and waiting with us for our little man. He has placed an internal monitor to measure the intensity of the contractions. This measurement will tell us if they need to alter drug levels to get our little man moving a little faster. As of right now, he is just hanging out comfy as can be. So hopefully we can get things moving faster. Go Brewers.

Still waiting.....

We are just hanging out and waiting, watching some tv and trying to rest a bit. According to the monitor I am still contracting away; kinda nice not having to feel them. We did have a nice chat with our resident doctor, nurse and medical student earlier. I asked how many other woman are in labor right now besides me. They said there are two others. I asked if I'm the slowest progressing but was surprised to hear that the nurses have a bet that I will be the first one to deliver. Our nurse is betting around 11pm. I guess we will just have to wait and see. I should have another check here soon to see how I have progressed the last couple of hours. So at this point, not much has changed. Little man is taking his time. :)

And Waiting...........

Not much news to update. Dr. re-checked at 5 pm. and Katie was short of 5 cm. so still waiting. The contractions have been regular and strong but thanks to the epidural Katie seems to be resting quite well. We should get another check up near 7 unless something progresses sooner. As for the questions; 1. The wadders and rain jackets are still dry so the great flood hasn't happened yet. 2. Sorry Ducklady no hot male nurses. 3. I'm pretty sure Katie still loves me, but that certainly was in question before the epidural. 4. Buck's guess to wait until 2:13am is just mean. So as for now I'm going to go get katie a popsicle and watch more FRIENDS (wasn't that show overwith in the 90's). Wait .... Wait.... Wait.... we need a mop in room 342. I think someone should have told me to wear my tingles.

Happy Times

Epidurals are a fricken God send. Why in the world would anyone say no to this thing? I told Ben that we need to get that woman (the anesthesiologist) some flowers. I'm feeling really great now, nice and warm. I think its even time to throw in a Friends DVD we brought along. :) Or maybe a nap, we'll see. We love the comments, keep them coming. :)

Quick check ...

The Dr. just stopped in to check progress. The contractions are very regular and heavy, about every 2 to 3 minutes apart. Katie is hangin in there at close to 4cm dialated. The Dr. is going to wait for more progress before we start to think about an epiderel. So until then i will set back and keep taking the looks and wait for the happy time to come. No really katie is doing quite well and we are excited for our little man to join us soon. Yes if everything goes well and it is not to late we would be happy to share our little man with who ever would like to join us. Look for more updates to come.

Delivery rooms are hot

Ben here filling you in on the updates. (no this is not Katies quality typing skills) Well, the pitocin was started around 12:45 pm, and judging by the sighs, harsh looks and frequent shhhh's, it would appear to me it is certainly working. Now we are (lets be honest, I) hanging out listening to the radio, playing cribbage, and waiting for the main event. Hope our little man is here in time to listen to the brew crew sweep those Braun hating Dodgers.

Stay tuned...

Little man is on his way!! It started at about 2:30am this morning with mild cramping. I could sleep in and out of it so stayed in bed until Ben's alarm went off (Aren't I nice to let him sleep??) We started timing at 6am, contractions were 5 minutes apart, about 1 minute each, but not super painful. Most of the contractions are in my back with some radiating down the front. We called the on call doctor at about 7:30am to give them an update and she said it was up to us if we wanted to head in or labor some more at home but from the way I was describing everything she did think it was true labor. Well, since we had over a 50 minute drive we didn't plan on waiting too long before heading in. Ben went out and got the morning chores done while I walked the house. He even had time to come in a shower before we took off. We got to the hospital around 9:15am, checked in down in emergency and were sent up to labor and delivery. During check in we were excited to find out that our doctor is on call today, along with the peditrician that we have chosen. Apparently this little man takes after his mom; organized, planned out and right on time! So at this point we have been laboring for about two hours. At 9:45am I was at 3cm and 75% effaced. At 11:45am I was at 3cm, same effacement. Nice huh? So, the decision has been made to start me on Pitocin and see if that could help move my cervix along. So stay tuned for more updates. We will try our best to keep everyone as updated as possible.

The end is officially in sight!

We had our 40 week appointment today and we now know for sure that the end is near! My due date is tomorrow, May 31st. If the little guy choses to not come on his own, we decided to schedule an induction next week on Wednesday, June 6, 2012. How cool would that birthdate be? 6/6/12? However, I would still be more than thrilled for him to come on his own. I really like the idea of having to let Ben know that "it's time!", to have the whole laboring experience, surprises and all. But at the same time, I like the idea of having a pain free drive to the hospital, with a calm check in process, and time to get settled in. Either way, we are so excited to meet our little man and can't wait to introduce him to all of you! So, that's what we know for now. One week from today we will have our little man in our arms! Holy crap, that reality just hit. :)

When's it gonna be?

So we are down to the last few weeks of this pregnancy and Baby Mrdutt can now officially come anytime! We are now onto weekly doctor's visits until he arrives and I figured I would give you an update on the last couple of appointments.

Last Wednesday was my 36/37 week appointment. We did the standard stuff like measurements and taking the heartbeat. I was measuring exactly on again at 36ish cm with a strong little heartbeat at about 127 bpm. We did have to test for a Strep B infection which I am negative for. My doctor did examine me since my Braxton Hicks contractions had really kicked up a few days prior. I was 1 cm dilated, 30% effaced and baby was at -3 station. Might not be much but it's something!

On Saturday my sister Jen and I took the day and went to Woodbury, MN to experience their annual garage sales. I definitely have to recommend this to any person interested in garage sales. We came home with the Jetta packed full! It was nice to get some things that we planned on getting but buying new just didn't seem worth it. Also we really got a good wardrobe started for the first Baby Girl Mrdutt that is due this fall. Anyways, with all the walking and in and out of the car, I was having some good contractions all day. Nothing really painful but significant enough where I noticed each and every one. Later that night Ben and I went further west to visit my friend Ashley who just graduated vet school (Congrats Ashley!) On the way back home that night, contractions were pretty regular at about 10 minute intervals, lasting about 30 seconds. Again, not super painful but very noticeable. Ben and I got the car ready just in case and then hit the hay to get some sleep in case things did progress to true labor. Well, guess what? Nothing. Everything stopped after I laid down. On Sunday I was exhausted, since I couldn't sleep much due to excitement so I spent most of the day catching up on some sleep. That brings us to Monday. After working that day I had a pretty low key evening finishing up some laundry. Again contractions started, were pretty irregular but lasting up to 50 seconds and we went to bed waiting to see if they progressed. Well, again, guess what? Nothing. So that brings us to today and our latest doctor's appointment.

Today was my 37/38 week appointment. Again we measured and took the heartbeat (141 bpm). I did ask my doctor about how big he thinks this baby is and is response was "He is right on schedule". In other words, he isn't overly concerned that he is going to be a big baby. I did get examined again since I was curious if anything has changed considering all the action of the last few days. Well, I'm still at 1 cm, up to about 50% effaced and baby descended a little bit to -2 station. Our doctor did get to feel the little guys head since he has dropped more. My doctor's other quote of the day, "At 37 weeks, you are full term and we are looking for reasons why you shouldn't be pregnant anymore. With you, we just don't have any." So Baby Mrdutt is tucked in and comfortable, with only him and God knowing his birthday. It's hard being patient since we are so excited to meet him but since I am still actually really comfortable, we are sitting tight and enjoying the last few days/weeks baby free. We will keep you all updated with any new info as we know it.