11 Days to 11 Months...

Tonight seems so weird to me. I keep thinking back to this day last year-- the last day I taught school before going on bedrest! The picture above is from 1 year ago today and then today. In case you’re interested, here’s my blog from one year ago tonight (the rest of my current blog continues after this:

We had our 32 week appt scheduled for today after our ultrasound, but we never made it- I was admitted first! We had the biophysical profile and it looks like Emily is tipping the scales at about 4lbs 3oz, give or take some. We got the 4D u/s and got two semi-decent pics of her face, but nothing really great. She's awfully smashed in there! Then we did an u/s to check my cervix, and that's when things got interesting.

It seems during the past week I have lost 1.5 cm of cervical length and I'm now down to 6mm (yes, millimeters) left. The maternal fetal medicine doc was called in to interpret the u/s and started talking about me being admitted to lay upside down in the hospital from now until Emily is born. At one point in the conversation I finally stopped her and said, "So when are you talking that she might come out- are you thinking like, tonight?!" And she said it was a possibility because I had such little cervix left. She insisted I be driven across the parking lot to the hospital and I had to ride in a wheelchair up to the L&D floor...which is looking like it will be my new home while Emily cooks a little longer. If we can make it to 34 weeks they think that is another major hurdle, although personally I'd like to get her to 35 or even 36.

When I was admitted tonight they hooked me up to the contraction (ctx) monitor again and apparently I've been having little weenie ctx (I haven't felt them) that have been as detrimental to my cervical length as the bigger ones I do feel. I am on magnesium sulfate to try and stop them- they'll do this with me for the next 2 days and then they'll quit. At that point, the ctx will either stay stopped or they will start again. If they start again I guess I'll just be monitored for dilation and we'll think about delivering her if I get started dilating.

The good news with all this is that she's already gotten the steroid shots for her lung development and also she's a girl, which I didn't know but apparently girls have an easier time with being early than boys do. It's totally scary to me to think that she could be here in days or weeks....months I guess are totally out of the question.

Tomorrow's my birthday and it looks like I'll be spending it right here, in home sweet hospital. Funny how life throws curves, huh? It definitely looks like I will NOT be returning to work before she is born- they don't even want me "serving my time" (bedrest) at home, b/c they don't think I'll be compliant enough. Truthfully, as terrible as it's going to be locked up in the hospital, it would be very difficult to completely rest-- there's just too many temptations. This is honestly the best place for me, even if it's hard to deal with.

Keep our girl in your prayers- we really need some more time to cook and hopefully we won't meet her until the last week in September or early October.


And there you have it. Had we had a crystal ball, we would have known that Emily wouldn’t come until 38 weeks, 3 days....when I was induced to have her! It’s so crazy for me to believe that she is 11 days away from being 11 months old....simply incredible. I remember all the times we were SO scared last year, waiting for her to be born (or NOT be born, as the case was many many times!) Now we are scared because she is wild, uncontrollable, and into everything! :) It’s been a while since I updated (school is keeping me incredibly busy- just ask my poor neglected husband and baby!!) so I’ll update you on her new “tricks”.

1.She can cruise! Emmy is now taking very small steps around her toys and Miss Jamey’s couch. This is a precursor to walking but I would be JUST FINE if she held off on the walking for a little while! :)
2.She is teething, again! Now the top 2 teeth are trying to come in (see photo above). Poor little thing has been up every night this week crying. I hate to see her suffer like this. Teething bites!
3.She gives “high 5’s!” If you put out your hand she will tap it lightly with hers and then just grin and grin. So funny! She is still very, very particular about who she will give a good bye wave to-- she won’t wave to me or Paul but will wave to the kids at Jamey’s.
4.She is almost 100% on “people food”. She really, really dislikes baby food and so she is almost completely eating people food. We will be beginning the transition to cow’s milk instead of formula starting at 11 months...Paul and I are so excited to not have to buy formula anymore! Now we just have to teach her to drink liquids that aren’t warm...she is definitely very picky about this!
5.She can unlock the dog crates. Enough said. This is HIGHLY inconvenient, especially since we mostly lock them up so she has a place to play!
6.We are planning her 1st birthday party! Mark your calendars- it’s set for Saturday October 25. Be there or be square! :)


OK...so that’s about it. Paul is on call tonight so I’m hitting the hay early. Tomorrow is my birthday and hopefully I can leave school in time for a celebratory dinner...if not, tomorrow is “Friday Eve” (this is a fave phrase with the teachers at my school!) so I know the weekend is right around the corner! :)

Defiance, Part 1 of a Series, I'm Sure!

See those new teeth in the picture above? I got to know them up close and personal tonight when Emmy BIT ME!!! That’s right folks....our very first episode of complete defiance. We’re so proud (not!!) She was attempting to pull books off her bookshelves so I kept telling her No. Finally I put my arm up to block her path and in an instant, she was biting me! What on earth? What’s a Mommy to do? I am sure this is only the beginning of her continual quest to be independent and in control....oh joy. :)

Emily Claire, Child Genius!

It’s official folks-- Emily is one smart cookie! Last night she picked up her night light again (I forgot to plug it in again) and she looked like she was going to try to put it in the outlet again. I said, “Emily, NO! You need to give that to Mommy”, and put my hand out. I was totally shocked when she crawled across the room to give it to me! She came over, put it in my outstretched hand, and crawled over to play with some other toys. Brilliant!!

10 Months Old!

I know I sound like a broken record but WHERE DOES THE TIME GO? I can’t believe that Emily has been here for 10 months already. I also reeeeeally can’t believe that in a mere 2 months we’ll be celebrating her birthday! (And celebrate we will-- I am already planning her first birthday bash! Look for invites soon!)


As for milestones...let’s see. Emily is pulling up on everything, shakes her head no for “no” and bobs it up and down (but I don’t think she understands that the motion she’s making means “yes”. We know for sure that she gets “no” though....funny how she already knows no! She said “D” at the babysitter’s the other day (Jamey’s son Derrick goes by “DD” so she was probably saying his name!) Also, little missy has decided that baby food is for well, babies....and she won’t eat it AT ALL anymore! The past few times I’ve tried to give it to her she has gotten so angry that she won’t eat anything else or take her bottle. Nice, huh? She totally gets that temper stuff from her daddy and not me...right? ;-)

Also, Miss Jamey is “walking” Emily around during the day- the other kids there can walk and it frustrates Emmy so much so Jamey lets her try to walk. She is so good to Emily...I couldn’t be hunched over like that all day helping her! Emily also crawls like lightning now.



Tonight in her room she was playing and I was putting away laundry in her closet-- I heard a scraping sound against the wall and poked my head out to see her with the night light in her hand, trying to put it in the outlet! EEEEK!! (For some background, I leave the nightlight on until I feed her in the middle of the night, then I unplug it so the room is as dark as possible. I usually plug it back in when we play after dinner in her room, but tonight I forgot.) After a very stern “No” from me (to which she responded by shaking HER head no at me!!) she put it down and speed-crawled away. I would have never guessed that she knew what to do with the light!

Granny bought her a tiara months ago and we tried it on tonight...the pics are priceless! Enjoy!

A Sad Day...

Mommy is feeling a little emotional today- we spent the morning packing up some of Emily’s “baby” toys that she doesn’t play with much anymore (well, she hadn’t been until she saw us packing them up....then suddenly they were very popular again!) We are keeping all of her toys and clothes to use with siblings (IN THE FUTURE...not now!) so I’m not as sad as I might have been had we sold it all. We packed up her puppy play mat (see months 2-5 albums for pics of this toy), her papasan chair (newborn albums- it was a very comfy place for her to rest!), and her most beloved toy, the Jumperoo (look at any album from about Month 5 forward). I can’t believe we packed up the jumper-- that thing went back and forth with us whenever we visited anyone and I had to cart it to NC each and every trip we made. Without the jumper I would probably still be packing the WV house- Emmy spent A LOT of time in it because it made her so happy and I could pack boxes in peace (well, it was sort of peaceful. The springs clanging on the jumper were constant background noise, haha!) She simply hasn’t been playing with these toys much anymore and they were just added “things” in her room. Now they are being stored in the eaves next to her room. Ahh....growing up so fast.

Since I last blogged Em has developed the ability to pull up onto anything and everything and last night at dinner, she played peek-a-boo with us, and SHE controlled the napkin! Usually I will put something over her head and she will pull it off, but last night she was pulling it off AND holding it up in front of her face. She even waited for me to say, “Where’d you go?” before dropping it and dissolving into giggles. So stinking cute! She’s also experimenting with new words and sounds. Yesterday she crawled down the hallway to Paul’s office, peeked around the corner, and yelled, “Dad! Dad!!” It was adorable.

Time to Baby-Proof!

It’s official-- Emily has gone completely wild! Suddenly she is into EVERYTHING! She is like a tornado loose in the house! In the past two days she has crawled into the mudroom (where we keep Booker’s crate) and tried to pull up on it; pulled over all the toy baskets in her room; gotten tangled up in an electrical cord (this was a scary one!); attempted to explore and electrical outlet (again, scary!), and is now fighting me with all her might to not get into jammies at night-- she wants to play with her toys. She can crawl very fast and seems to have misplaced her “listening ears”-- she will not turn toward a voice or pay any attention when her mind is focused on getting to somewhere else. The mission for this weekend? Babyproof our house!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work with Mommy!

So we have officially made the transition to “two working parent family” status. I went back to work today and Emily spent time with Miss Jamey and Derrick. She seems to LOVE it there (she will hardly even acknowledge that I am there to pick her up!) so I am pleased about that, for sure. It is very hard to leave her but every day will get better, I’m sure. And I am making absolutely sure to spend all my evening time with her before she goes to bed-- no napping, TV watching, etc. is going on- we are just playing and enjoying each other’s company until it’s time for her to go to bed. It’s so weird to think of myself of as a “working Mom” but it is what it is. I am at a great school so I need to focus on the good parts and not on being away from Emmy. She is having fun all day long- and who wouldn’t want that for their baby?