One more day...

We thought that we would be headed home today, but alas, we are still at the hospital. Isabella's doctor decided that one more night on the BiliBlanket and BiliBed would be too beneficial to pass up. She actually made progress last night (improved test scores!) and she's definately more active today (always a good sign) so we're excited for that. She'll be tested again tomorrow morning, but if things continue the same it looks like we'll be headed home in the morning. I hope I didn't just jinks us because I think four days in the hospital is enough and if we have to stay another night Dusty might not make it.

Our little glow worm

After waiting an extra day for Isabella's glucose levels to come up we found out that she has jaundice. This means that she has to stay an extra day in the hospital on light therapy. Luckily we get to stay in a parent room even though I have already been discharged and she gets to stay in the room with us. It's so sad to see her in her bassinet with the lights straped to her, but hopefully it will help and we'll be headed home tomorrow.

This is the story of a girl...

We are very excited to announce that our daughter finally decided to arrive! We checked into the hospital around 2am on Sunday morning. When they first checked me I was only dilated 2cms and they weren't sure if I should stay or not, but after monitoring the baby for 20 minutes they realized that her heart rate was not behaving, so they thought it was best that we stayed. Because her heart rate was dropping after contractions I had to be hooked to a monitor at all times. I also had to be in a position that the baby liked, this didn't leave many options for me and after a while I would have given anything to not to have to lay on my sides. After too many hours of painful contractions (mostly in my back!) I decided to get an epidural. It was painful to have done because my contractions were back to back and holding still while she put it in was very hard. After I got the epidural I could still feel the contractions but they weren't painful. Once this was done my doctor checked me again and realized that I was 9 1/2cms (almost there!!!), but the baby still wasn't dropping or applying enough pressure to break my water and her heart rate was still dropping after contractions. Around 11am I was fully dilated and our doctor decided to break my water (she didn't want to have to do this because there was a risk that the umbilical cord would drop before the baby and get pinched during delivery) and start pushing. After only a few pushes the baby was decending nicely but her heart rate was still an issue so I could only push after her heart rate went back up. This made the pushing phase more drawn out, but we didn't want to put any added stress on the baby (it's a good thing I had gotten the epidural!). As pushing continued the baby's heart rate was becoming more of an issue and our doctor decided that we needed to get her out as soon as possible. We moved down to the operation room so we could be deliver using a vacuum, but also to be prepared to do an emergency c-section in case she wouldn't come out or there were any umbilical cord issues. We also had to call for the pediatrician to be there when she arrived in case she had any problems. About 10 minutes after arriving in the OR she finally decided that it was time to come out (with the aid of the vacuum). We found that she had her umbilical cord hooked over one shoulder and this was probably the reason that she wasn't descending. As she came out she was screaming which our doctor told us was a good sign. The pediatrician gave her a once over and said that she looked pretty good. Once everything settled down we headed back to our delivery room and got some more pictures and got her all cleaned up. We also finally got to get her stats (when she came out we could not believe how small she was); weight: 5lbs. 6oz., length: 18 1/2in, born at 12:22pm. Finally Grandma Sue, Grandpa Jerry, and Aunt Kellie got to come in and meet the newest member of our family.

Last Appointment... hopefully

We had what will hopefully be our last office appointment yesterday. Since we were just under 41 weeks (40 weeks 6 days) we did an Non-Stress Test, where I was hooked up to a monitor for 20 minutes. They were looking for the heartbeat of our baby to drop after every contraction, but she wasn't playing along. She was just chillin' out. Even when our doctor and nurse pushed on her she would move once and then settle back down. It was cool to watch my contractions on the "ticker-tape." I was really empressed to see how many there were in such a short time (about 6 in 20 minutes). We also had a sonogram done to check fluid levels and everything looked good. It was nice to get conformation that this baby isn't too big as well. Our doctor kept saying that the baby didn't have a big head, which Dusty thought ment that the baby has a small head. I kept telling him that "not big" did not mean small. I'm still under the impression that anything is big. We also got to check the heart movement and her breathing, which was wierd to see. Unfortunately when she checked me we found out that I am still just under 1 cm dilated. This is unfortunate news because if we go in to be induced all the meducation in the world might not work. Our doctor really wanted to give me and this baby as much time as possible to get ready to come out, but I really don't want to wait until next Friday to be induced. Our plan for the moment is to go in on Sunday night to be induced (if nothing happens by then). Of course all night last night I was having strong regular contractions, but this morning they have slowed down. I am glad that these contractions have finally started to hurt (hopefully that means something is happening). We'll keep everyone posted with what is happening, but hopefully we'll have this baby by Monday (keep your fingers crossed).

Shiara's Baby Boy

My friend, Shiara, finally had her baby! She was due the day before me (last Thursday) and she finally had her baby on Tuesday night. Her beautiful 8 pound baby boy finally came at 11:25. We went to the hospital to see him and he sure is cute. We can't wait for our little girl to meet him.

On our due date...

Well this baby seems to be on her own time frame. She decided that she wasn't ready to make an appearance yet. We weren't really expecting her to be on time (hey, Dusty and I are late for almost everything...) so we decided to make plans for the day. We fiured that if she had the chance to "ruin" our plans she might come. We made plans to go to the coast (Newport) for the day. It was increadably hot in the valley yesterday and we were trying to avoid the heat. It was so nice on the beach until the fog rolled out and it got very hot. As a result of this Dusty and I both got sunburned (now I'm kind of hopeing that I don't go into labor for a couple of day, I need to give this burn a chance to tan), but we still had a lot of fun! We had to avoid the many nasty bugs on the beach, but it was still fun. Here's just some of what we did.

All the girls: Caroline with Thomas and Brindy in the back row, Jen with Madilyn, me and Shiara with Maple.

Shiara and me. She was due on Thursday, but still no baby for her either.











Shiara and me again.








Madilyn in her cute strawberry hat and glasses.
Oh man, look at that belly...

Hopefully the next time we see this beach there will be three of us there.

Two days to go...

We had another appointment today, but unfortunatly there has been no progress since last week. So it's unlikely that we'll be having this baby any day soon. There's always the chance that we could have this baby any time so keep your fingers crossed for us. We are planning on heading out of town for the day either today or tomorrow (or both) so maybe she'll decided that she doesn't want to go and we'll go into labor. We'll keep you posted.

Mother's Day Shout Out

I just wanted to give a shout out to my awesome husband. He got me flowers and a present for Mother's Day. I don't know if being pregnant technically counts as having kids, but he decided to celebrate anyway. This Sunday was a little intense. I was having contractions all day. They weren't strong enough to get this baby out, but they were annoying and painful. I thought maybe we'd have this baby on Mother's Day, but since it's Wednesday and she's still not here, apparently not. For Mother's Day Dusty got me roses and What to Expect in the First Year. It was so nice of him and it made me feel a little better (though a little more dissapointing that she hasn't made an appearance yet).

I've been tagged

I've been tagged
So I have been tagged by Jen C. (I wonder if she thought I'd really do this?):

Four jobs I have had:
1. Paper Route
2. Samsonite Company Store Assistant Manager
3. ShopKo General Merchandise Floor Supervisor
4. Nanny

Four movies I have watched more than once:
1. You've got Mail
2. Muppet Christmas Carol
3. Stardust
4. Every other movie that I own...

Four places I have lived:
1. Redding CA
2. Corvallis OR
3. That's it... is that sad?
4.

Four TV shows I watch:
1. The Office
2. Lost
3. Grey's Anatomy
4. Deadliest Catch
Among others... and there are lots of them...

Four places I have been:
1. Washington D.C., New York, West Virginia and Pennsylvania (all on one trip)
2. Catalonia, Spain (Barcelona, Blanes, etc.)
3. British Columbia
4. Carcassonne France

Four people who e-mail me regularly:
1. My Mom
2. Orchard Court (recently these have been very interesting...)
3. The Corvallis Relief Society
4. Old Navy

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Cereal
2. In and Out: Grilled Cheese, no onion
3. Wendy's fries
4. Homemade Pizza

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Hawaii
2. Europe
3. Australia
4. New York
(Mostly the same places as Jen. Hey Jen, you want to go on a trip?)

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Having a baby and figuring out how to take care of her
2. Finishing school
3. Moving to Portland (okay that's like 13 months from now, but I'm counting it)
4. Dusty having one more year of school out of the way. Yay!

Four friends I am tagging:
1. Shiara
2. Jen (my sister)
3. Jenn
4. Becky

39 weeks and counting...

At our doctors appointment today we found out that we probably won't be having this baby any time soon (well, not in the next couple days). We found out that I am 1/2 cm dilated which isn't much. In fact half the people reading this are probably 1/2 cm dilated. I am 70% thinned out, but that unfortunately means very little as far as timing is concerned. Also this little girl has yet to drop, that can mean she's just not ready to come out yet or that she's too big to fit any farther down. Our doctors said she didn't seem to be bigger than normal, but really only time will tell. So we'll just have to wait and see.

Congrats Jen!

My Niece Lily

Finally a picture of my new niece Lily Renee. Hopefully we'll get some more pictures soon

I'm an Aunt!

We are excited to announce the arrival of my new niece. Lily Renee Pope finally made her entrance last night at 10:06pm; coming in at 8lbs. 13oz and 21 inches long! We hear that Mom and baby are doing well (and Dad even survived the experience). We have yet to see pictures of her since Dad forgot the camera on the way to the hospital (geez Scott, I can't fathom why you'd be destracted enough to forget your camera?). My Parents were in L.A. all weekend, but she was being stubborn and didn't want to come until she was ready. We are excited to see her and to meet her, even though that won't be until July. Having her finally here only makes me more excited to see our little girl. Hopefully we won't have to wait much longer. Congrats Jen, Scott and Lily!

Update

We met with Doctor Morcos again today and everything is going well. She measured and felt the baby and said that she seemed to be doing fine. She has yet to drop so it looks like we have a while before this little girl will make an appearance. Luckily my parents can now safely drive to L.A. to see my sister without having to worry about turning around half way and coming up here instead. My sister on the other hand is a week over-due and there's no sign of their little girl either. I know she has to be going crazy, we still have two weeks until our due date and we are getting anxious to see our baby. I do realize that she'll require a lot more work once she's out, but I can't wait to see what she looks like. Last week my blood pressure was a little high, but this week everything was fine. I still have to give a urine sample before every appointment to make sure I don't have preeclampsia, but even that tested fine today. Hopefully we won't have a reason to have this baby any earlier than she wants to come.
Also, today is Aunt Kellie's birthday (the big 22!). HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLIE! It looks like she won't be sharing her birthday with any of her nieces. Grandpa Jerry's and Great-Grandma Horrocks' birthdays are just around the corner, so who knows, they might have to share with at least one of them.