Emily's Homecoming

This afternoon we had the pleasure of bringing Emily home from the hospital and introducing her to her home for the first time. After feeding, a diaper change, and lots of discharge instructions, Emily was ready to get into her fancy new duds:




Thankfully, she took to the car seat like a champ:


Emily snoozed the whole way home, and didn't wake up until well after she arrived home. We are all happy to be home, and are looking forward to giving Emily a tour of her new home in the days to come.

Emily's Hospital Visitors

Emily entertained many visitors yesterday, considering it was only her second day in this world. Everyone was happy to see her, and she enjoyed being held and socializing (those hospital rooms can get boring otherwise).

Grandpa, already a frequent visitor, was perhaps the happiest to see Emily again:


Jonah, Megan, and Noah were also excited to meet her:


Kristy enjoyed holding Emily too:


We had a few non-photographed visitors as well, and have had hundreds of calls, emails and notes of congratulations, which have been great to receive. It seems that there are lots and lots of people who are happy that Emily has joined us, and for this we are very grateful. We hope that over the coming weeks and months we can help Emily meet all these great people and spread the joy that she brings.

Praise the Lord - Emily Ruth is Born!

Today was a momentous and happy day in our family. After some difficult labor this morning, Sarah gave birth to little Emily Ruth via cesarean section at 10:25 am! Little Emily was tired and blue for a couple minutes after coming out, but responded quickly, pinked up, and began crying, which was a joyous sound for her parents to hear. Emily is now very pink, very happy, and very healthy. She weighs 7 pounds 10 ounces, and is 20 inches long. It turns out that Emily is a voracious eater, and also enjoys wiggling parts of her face and sleeping. She has a beautiful head of dark brown hair which she is eager to show off in future pictures.

Sarah is doing well, now that all the hard work and pain of labor and c-section have passed. She is exhausted but healthy and happy. As I write this, my two girls are blissfully sleeping next to me, no doubt dreaming of each other. We feel very happy and blessed that God has given us such a beautiful gift.

A 2008 Baby

2007 has officially ended, and our little one is still gestating happily.  However, I now know the end is near - very near.  Eric and I are going to check in to the hospital tonight, and I will be induced early tomorrow morning (unless she decides to come between now and then).  At my last doctor's appointment on Friday, my doctor told us that I am now a very good candidate for an induction because I was dilated some more (2 cm) and 80% effaced.  She thought that our baby would come over the weekend on her own, but alas, she appears to be rather contented where she is!  I have a feeling that this is going to be a long day, and I am overwhelmed with a mix of feelings: eagerness to meet our daughter, nervousness about how the birthing process will go, and joyfulness to have so many friends and family around us at this special time.  I can't wait to introduce the whole world to our little girl!

Week 38 (and a half)

11 days until my due date!  I am so ready to be done being pregnant, to be a mom, and to have my body be my own again.  I know I'm certainly not the first woman to experience the pains and discomforts present in the last couple weeks of pregnancy, and I do wish someone had warned me about just how ready I'm going to be to give birth.  The waiting game is tough, and it is complicated by a delivery taking place over the holidays, and family and friends who are traveling from long distances for the occasion.  Plus, if our baby decides to come late, Eric will be back in school, and I'd really rather have him around full-time that first week.

I'm doing a LOT of walking, water aerobics, etc. to try and get this process moving, but as of my appt. yesterday, I hadn't made any progress and was still only 1 cm dilated.  If anyone has any brilliant tips for inducing labor naturally, please let me know!

In other news, today is my last day of work (likely for quite awhile) and that is a strange feeling.  I'm glad to have some restful, relaxing days at home before giving birth.  I just hope I can find plenty to do to distract myself from wondering when this birth will happen!

Thanks to all our family and friends who are praying for us.  We're eager to see many of you over the holiday season, and hopefully we'll have a new addition to the family for you to meet.

Weekend in Chicago

Sarah and I went to Chicago for the weekend for some pre-baby fun. It was indeed a lot of fun, not as cold as last time, and despite some worrying from those near and dear to us, we made it home, safe and sound.

Being December and all, Chicago was abuzz with the Christmas rush, and the streets were filled with out-of-towners who drove miles to fight traffic and pay high prices at fancy stores.  Gangs of jolly santas also roamed the streets for some reason, confusing lots of little kids. Even the L was outfitted with Christmas decorations:



Sadly, Santa did not slow down the train to pick us up.

On Friday, after visiting Ikea and reconnoitering the location of our downtown hotel, we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, which was delicious. They make a mean cheesecake.

We spent most of Saturday at the Brookfield Zoo, unlike 99.9% of the rest of city. You see, the zoo is not very popular when it is December and the temperature is below freezing. Fortunately, this made for some pretty good zoo-age. With no crowds to interfere, we had more opportunities to commune with the animals. Plus, the cold weather was negated by the fact that the animal houses were kept toasty warm. Highlights of the zoo included the monkeys and gorillas:



and the dolphin show:



Sunday we took in the Museum of Science and Industry, which was also in the Christmas spirit, and featured Christmas trees from around the world. Despite the excitement of the big Star Wars exhibit that others may have been interested in, we stuck to the main exhibits like the coal mine, U-505 submarine (now 100% more underground!) and Jollyball.

After the museum, we grabbed pizza at Gino's East, saw the Second City (not as good as last time), and headed home. It was a great trip, and probably our last as just the two of us for quite a while. Still, I'm looking forward to trips as the three of us, when it will be even more fun.

Week 37

I'm officially full term!  A few days ago at my (now weekly) doctor's appointments, I was dilated to 1 cm.  Now, this means very little in terms of timing, because my doctor said she's seen women who aren't at all dilated deliver less than 48 hours later and others be dilated to 4 cm for almost a month!  Still, it's a sign that my body is preparing a way to get this baby out eventually.

Eric and I are headed to Chicago in just a few hours for the weekend.  We're hoping to enjoy one last getaway weekend while we're still childless.  It should be fun, and we've got a few things planned, but mostly we're just looking to relax!  The grandmothers-to-be are a little worried that I'll go into labor on this trip, but even if that were to happen, Chicago has wonderful hospitals. ;-)

As soon as we get back, Eric said he's going to be putting a plan into action to get the kiddo to come early - he really wants to have as much time as possible before going back to school in January, but who knows if she'll cooperate.  We'll have to wait and see...