Category — Pregnancy

I can’t believe I didn’t take a single picture to document it, but our really close friends, Sara and Kaakpema, threw us a beautiful baby shower last weekend at their gorgeous home.  We are SO lucky to have such awesome friends.  The icing on the cake was that my mom, Christy (my older sister), and Angela (my little sister) flew in for it.  I’d worked until 12am the night before, so they’d gone to bed in our basement before I’d gotten home.  I came downstairs the next morning to see them in the kitchen making breakfast for the kids and was TOTALLY confused and floored!  I couldn’t figure out what was going on.  It was the coolest surprise ever.

It’s funny, but the shower somehow helped make the whole “we’re really pregnant” thing a little more real to us.  I keep thinking it’s going to hit us and we’re going to feel “ready,” but it’s still so surreal.  Travis still has this look of shock and horror when he sees my profile and remembers I’m about to delivery a baby.  I finished my final ER shift last night, so I’m sort of “off” for awhile – I’m on back-to-back derm elective months with my mentor.  Since I have some book chapters that are written but not yet edited, I can use the time to finish those and get elective credit that way.  I don’t have to be back in the hospital until Jan 23.  I don’t want to think about that yet though.  I just cannot process the fact that we’re going to have a newborn in 5.5 days or less!  That is just wild.  The kids are so cute and sweet with my belly – they rub it, kiss it, and talk about the baby all the time.  I’d give the excitement and newness of having a new baby brother/sister about 2 days for them once Quatro is actually here;)  I’m also kind of shocked that I went full-term.  EVERYONE predicted I’d deliver early because of the stress, lack of sleep, and craziness of being a pregnant intern.  But nope, my body once again proves it likes to hoard babies and NOT let them out…hence the scheduled section.  I am HUGE (close to my pregnancy weight with Finley) and really would have been thrilled to be unpregnant about 2 weeks ago, but I’m also very grateful my Little Bun got a full cooking. 

Anyway, we had an awesome little getaway to Keystone a few days ago with Kaakpema, Sara, and our friend Shane (affectionately known as “Big Shane” to my kids).  Big Shane, Kaakp, and Travis are business partners and have some very exciting work in Africa as well as Colorado in the field of health IT.  It’s so neat to finally see Travis engaged in work he feels passionate about, and it’s clear this is the field in which he was meant to work.  He initially thought he went to medical school to be a clinician, but he’s realized his strengths and potential are far greater in health IT.  His MD/MBA was the necessary educational path to open the doors he is now walking through, and Kaakpema and Shane are the perfect partners to balance him out.   On a somewhat related note, my kids are obsessed with Big Shane – they adore him.  Here is Big Shane with Little Shane (as my baby calls himself when in Big Shane’s presence):

We had a great time with everybody in Keystone!  Like last year, I used this opportunity to snap some cute holiday pics of my babies (sans Quatro).  Here are my favorites so far…please excuse the water mark on some of these; my lens needs cleaning and I don’t have time to edit the spots out.

Fin got some baby practice while we were in Keystone.  You may remember our friends, Kaakpema and Sara, had a baby ~4 months ago.  His name is Desmond, and he is ridiculously PRECIOUS!  Fin was tickled pink to hold him and it gave us a glimpse into the overbearing “helpfulness” that will accompany her transition to being the big sister of a poor unfortunate soul;)  Seriously though, she was so attentive to Baby Desmond and gentle with him – it was super cute. 

Please ignore my man hands in the following pics.  But they do match my hobbit feet, in case you were wondering.

The next 2 pictures cracks me up…they demonstrate Finley taking her duty as drool wiper VERY seriously.

The last picture is of Jack trying his hand at big brother to a teeny tiny baby again (it lasted all of 45 seconds, when he became bored and gently nudged the baby off his lap and back onto mine:)  Shane, on the other hand, is rather indifferent to babies as it turns out!  When asked if he wanted to hold the baby, he just responded “um, no thanks.”  Uh oh.

In 3 weeks from today, at a maximum, we’ll be a family of 6; my C-section is scheduled for the Monday after Thanksgiving, November 29th.  THAT is crazy.  We’re getting really excited, and starting to panic a bit too.  In the meantime, I am suffering from a severe form of cankles.  You might recall the swelling in my feet/ankles/legs when I was 39wks pregnant with Fin…well, this is even worse.  Behold, my cankles (btw, the “belly button” on my ankle is actually a fingerprint to demonstrate the extreme nature of my pitting edema):

I can’t even believe that is attached to my leg (firmly, I might add).  I have been working weird hours in the ER, and had a several night stretch of the 11pm-8am shift (and another stretch of that coming up).  That pretty much guaranteed I was on my feet for WAY too many hours between the daytime, when I was home with the kids, and the nights when I was rushing from 1 patient to another in the ER.

Speaking of the ER, I came across the best chief complaint I have yet to hear:  “vibrator lodged in place (you know the place), stuck in the “on” position!”  So no matter what your problems are, just know there’s always someone out there who has it worse, like the girl who has to waddle into the ER for help, red-faced, while everyone nearby wonders what that buzzing sound is.

That’s just a heads up because this is a little freaky.  So, the perinatologist we’ve been seeing is a teaching attending for the OB residents at my hospital.  He loves taking care of residents in his clinic, and he’s super cool.  He got a new machine recently that he was excited to use, so he had me come in over lunch the other day when I was able to hide from my pager for 30 minutes.  He let us watch Quatro for a few minutes in 3D.  It was SO cool.  He was careful not to spoil gender for us, but in real time, we got to watch the baby sucking its bottom lip and putting its little fist up to its mouth.  It was so cute.  The baby looks a lot like Fin, and for sure has Travis’ juicy lips.  Now where the warning comes in…the still pictures are WEIRD.  I’ve always thought the 3D ultrasound pics are creepy, but I still enjoyed the sneak peek of Quatro.  I’m convinced it’s a boy based on Quatro’s face in these pics, but who knows…could be a manly looking little girl:)  Here’s the scary version (it’s an iphone picture of the ultrasound pictures, so sorry about the quality):

And then for the really good news, Quatro’s growth is TOTALLY fine!  Somehow, its measuring in the 75th percentile.  I really doubt Travis and I are having a baby that’s not a peanut, but I’m relieved it’s not worrisome for growth restriction.  The cord insertion isn’t even really marginal anymore, so I don’t have to go back to the perinatologist for further monitoring!  Hopefully it’ll be smooth sailing from here.  I’m 31.5 weeks already!  How crazy is that?!

How crazy is this ultrasound picture?!  If you aren’t familiar with these, baby’s head is on the right and its face is sorta pressed up against the probe so you see Travis’ lips and a little nose looking out at you.  That dark area in the center is the 4 chambered heart.  Almost 28wks, not finding out gender.  Perinatologist visit was great – don’t know how he ended up in that field, but he had fantastic bedside manner!  It was a refreshing change.  Baby is growing really well, but cord is still a marginal insertion (meaning it’s towards the edge of the placenta instead of in the center, so growth has to be monitored to make sure blood flow is adequate – so far so good).  The estimate on size, which I take with a grain of salt because these things can be very inexact, is 2lbs 7oz, putting Quatro in the 70 percentile…I have a feeling this is on the overestimated side!  I highly doubt any child with 1/2 of my genetic makeup is in the 70%, but then again, I have a bio brother who is 6’3” so I guess anything is possible.

On the pregnancy front, I have some news.  After a lot of thinking, talking, and discussing, I have opted to schedule my C-section this time around.  For those of you who followed my first labor, you probably realize I’m in the “pretty damn unlikely” category with regards to the chances of a successful VBAC.  My mom had 4 sections, and I think I got her narrow pelvis that wasn’t well-suited to birth, much to my dismay since one of my biggest desires was to experience a normal vaginal delivery.  Don’t ask why; I know that’s the part most people dread.  But I’m weird like that, the pain is not something I’m afraid of.  What I AM afraid of is attempting a VBAC, going through a grueling labor again, having my heart set on a vaginal delivery, and ending up in a traumatic last-resort c-section once again.  If I weren’t an intern and I had unlimited time to recover and be with the new baby thereafter, I might choose differently.  As it is though, I have 3 weeks and I do NOT want to spend that laid up with my body healing from BOTH labor AND surgery. 

So, if all goes as planned (did I REALLY say that out loud), Quatro will be born at 8:30am on November 29th.  Weird, huh?

Thank you to all of you who reached out with supportive words for me.  Right now I need that kind of support.  It doesn’t help me to hear “suck it up, that’s just the way it is.  Lots of us do it, you can to.”  That’s the ass backwards logic that has made medicine the cold environment that it is, and I’m sick of hearing it. 

I was so lucky to have had an upper level resident for the past month that would have never said that to me.  Instead she’d just sit with me after we signed out and hug me while I cried, she’d ask about my kids when she could sense I needed to talk about them, and she’d avoid it when she knew I couldn’t handle talking about them.  She taught me at every opportunity, shared my workload when I was overwhelmed (which she did NOT have to do, being as she was my upper level), impressed me with her humanism, and made me laugh when I just really needed it.  She’s probably the reason I got through last month.  So intern year isn’t all bad I guess; I have come across a few amazing people, like many of you, who have lovingly nudged me on while also letting me know you’d still support me if I decided to go a different way.  That’s the kind of encouragement I have needed in my life lately, so thank you.  To our parents and my grandparents, I really am doing ok, I promise.

Today was awesome.  We made it feel like a full weekend, even if it was just a day.  First, I have to introduce you to a new member of the Good household…I got a cryptic text while I was on-call Saturday and had hoped the snake Travis mentioned would be dead or something before I got home.  Instead, I found it in a little reptile aquarium ON MY KITCHEN TABLE. 

It’s only a matter of time before a mischievous someone “accidentally” lets him out of the cage and he slithers under a couch or appliance. 

So yeah, we have a snake.  His name is Slinky, and he’s a gross little thing Travis and the kids caught on a hike last weekend.  That’s just what happens when I’m gone for 30 straight hours and daddy’s left in charge;)  There’s also a praying mantis, 2 frogs, and a tube full of crickets – all caught by my kids on their hike.  Saturday was a rough day for the animal kingdom.

We did all kinds of stuff today, including getting a preview of the Botanical Gardens’ new kid’s section, which is going to be amazing when it fully opens next week.  We had a really fun scavenger hunt there. 

[Note: in the picture below, you can see Fin’s new sense of fashion – she insists on mix and matching her shoes]

We also walked to a pocket of nearby restaurants to enjoy my fav food – sushi.  Also, my best friend delivered a baby today in a VERY high risk delivery.  Dominique and her baby girl are both doing great, after a very stressful pregnancy.  Thank God.  So today was a wonderful day for many reasons.  Speaking of pregnancy and babies, little Good #4 is doing well.  I started feeling movement early this time, but the first real kick you could feel from the outside of my belly happened 2 weeks ago.  We had an ultrasound last week and we brought all the kids (and Jen, our incredible nanny who has become a crucial member of the family).  The kids LOVED being involved and seeing the baby on the big screen during the ultrasound. 

The ultrasound ended up showing a marginal cord insertion, meaning we’ll have to have another ultrasound and see a perinatologist next month to monitor the baby’s growth (since the cord doesn’t insert in the center of the placenta, there’s a concern that the baby might not get as much blood flow / nutrients, which could cause growth restriction).  I’m not too worried about it at this point, but my experience with perinatologists makes me roll my eyes at the thought of having to see one.  Always ironic when the fields that could really use people with good bedside manner tend to draw the ice cubes, but whatever.

Anyway, here are some pictures from dinner tonight.  We walked a few miles, ate a great dinner, let the kids play in some water, and headed home watching the sunset over the Rocky Mountains.  In the interest of transparency and honesty, this is the secret to getting our kids to sit still at a restaurant so Travis and I can pretend like we’re on a date, even if there are 3 very nosey chaperones present;) 

Every now and then, Shane would pick his head up and say something funny like “cuse me, I farted.”  Cracks me up.

Here’s a beautiful thing: 3 toddlers all finally wearing underwear!  No more diapers (for a few months!).

Even before the tears fully dried up and we started letting ourselves get excited about a 4th baby (despite the timing and all those silly details:), we had some gut-busting laughs over our little “oops.”  Here are some hysterical things that have been said that are too funny to let ourselves forget:

1. Travis to me right after I showed him my positive pee stick: “um, is it too late to give Henny back?” 
2. Travis: “well, I guess Finley wasn’t exactly a miracle afterall!”
3. My response to Travis after he told me his mom’s “another-act-of-God” reaction: “could be…or the devil.  Guess we’ll just have to wait and see if this kid is anything like our last spawn.”
4. We went to Steamboat with my family right after we had the +pregnancy test.  Travis and I decided we’d each sleep with one of the boys and stick Fin in the pack’n’play (as usual on trips).  My mom overheard and said “no, you guys should ALWAYS share a bed.”  Travis: “well, that hasn’t been working out too well for us lately; it’s sorta what got us into this in the 1st place!”
5. Me: “I’m going to call Dr. Mortken and ask him for our bag of worms back.” [Dr. Mortken was the urologist who did Travis’ varicocelectomy, which apparently restored fertility (we skipped out on the follow-up tests, so we have no idea what the #’s are, not that it matters obviously).  The term “bag of worms” is the medical description of a varicocele, which is a condition of dilated blood vessels that drain the, um, “stepchildren?” and can sometimes cause fertility issues.  The varicocele repair doesn’t restore fertility in lots of guys, but no one really understands why that is.  Apparently Travis was the small exception…or we’re just crazy lucky (I use the word “luck” optimistically here;)]
6. My grandmother’s response, after “congratulations,” to me telling her & my Pawpaw that Travis and I are expecting another baby: “well, I guess you might as well go ahead and have as much sex as you want now!  But then, after this one’s born, tell Travis he’s cut-off!”
7. Finley: “Hey, I gotta baby in my belly too!!  You can hold it when it comes out, but DON’T drop it!”
8. Finley: “Hey mom, you got milk in there again?  Maybe I have some?”  Fin has taken notice that “the girls are back in town.”  I have a feeling she is going to be VERY jealous when a new baby bellies up to the milk bar in December. 
9. Travis: “Oh, I’m SO going to shed a few more pounds just to seal the deal this time!  You WILL weigh more than me!”  Me: “Yes, and I will crush you for what you’ve done to me.” 

On another note, we had an “official” ultrasound today and all is well.  During the ultrasound I got really excited about the thought of #4.  I’m right around 14wks but who the hell knows; all the dates conflict.  Based on our blurred memories of possible conception dates, we thought maybe our due date was around Dec. 12th…but that’s not consistent with anything else.  Today’s ultrasound puts my due date at Dec. 1st.  To meet in the middle, we’re sticking with Dec. 5th, which we got from the earlier ultrasound Emilie did – should be most accurate because it was done ~4wks ago.  Point is, we still don’t know how or when this kid was conceived so we have no idea how old it really is either (ok, we know HOW it was conceived, just can’t believe it).  On a bright note, the baby’s ugly step twin (a fibroid) seems to have shrunken and become insignificant.  So that’s good I guess.  On the other hand, it was my excuse for having a large gut so early on.  Oh well.  I personally think this baby resembles a small, smiling piglet at the moment, especially in this picture:

Here’s another, perhaps more flattering / less pigletish, alien-baby picture:

The photos below are ones I’ll treasure.  They’re pictures of Travis showing the kids the images from our 1st ultrasound that my friend, Emilie, did for us, right after we told them we are going to have another baby in our family.  It was really adorable and they were all super excited and interested.  Jack studied all the images carefully to understand exactly what was what, and he asked lots of thoughtful questions.  They all agreed the baby looks like Ponyo.  [If you haven’t seen that movie, you’re missing out!] 

Here’s Fin demonstrating the baby’s position on its back:

[Note: Travis has had his “scarf” / mullet shaved since these pics were taken; he has also showered and is slightly less greasy;)  He was starting to look like “Travis the NASCAR driver” there for awhile, so I’m glad he’s back to clean cut MD/MBA Travis.  He’s in the hospital doing ophthalmology for the month of June, so he had to make the switch.]

Thank you for all of your encouragement.  I read every comment, as I always do, and am so grateful for this community of friends and supporters.  It means so much to me, honestly.  I do have faith in myself and Travis as a couple, and all of us as a family, that we’ll get through this year and the insanity it’s going to bring.  We’ll get to the other side and it’ll all be worth it.  A 4th baby is also really exciting; plus, I’m not good with odd numbers anyway.

We had an incredible weekend, one of the best ever.  There’s nothing like some Colorado sunshine to cure my woes!  And the great part was we just stayed local and explored some places nearby (hikes, nature centers, fountains, the Butterfly Pavilion, etc).  One of Denver’s greatest features is all its open space, family-centered fun, and urban hikes (and of course the awesome weather year round that allows us to enjoy that stuff).  One of our recent favorites is a place our friends, Jerry & Rebecca, told us about: Star K Ranch / Morrison Nature Center.  There are lots of bugs, so be prepared, but there’s also tons of wildlife and an awesome nature center.  And NO ONE goes there (shhh!) so we get a ranger to ourselves plus all the trails.  The ranger let the kids hold a 5’ bullsnake the same day we ran into a 7’ wild one on the trail (and my moronic courageous husband proceeded to grab it by the tail as it attempted to slither off into the tall grass…we’re just lucky it got away before it was able to bite any of us).

I’ve been earning my calories, since it’s been beautiful enough to do the walk to one of our favorite spots, which is ~4 miles each way on a really nice trail we can access from our neighborhood.  [Note: don’t take that to mean I haven’t gained any weight!  Despite my better efforts, I’m on the trajectory to overtake Travis in the weight category by ~30 weeks if my projects are correct.  I will SQUASH the little man who did this to me!  Bwahahaha!  Just kidding…and he’s not really little either, I’m just saying that to make myself feel better when my weight eclipses his.]  Anyway, I genuinely love Colorado year round, but spring/early summertime is SO fun.

[On a side note, Jack went into the haircutters with a rockstar mullet do.  We thought we’d “clean it up” just a bit, but somehow, I must’ve blinked and missed the bowl that was obviously involved.  Oh well, it’ll grow back, right?  I did miss seeing his gorgeous features, so from that perspective I love his haircut!"]

I have the most FIERCE travel bug lately, but seeing as our bank account is (again) overdrawn as we await student loans and my paychecks to start coming in, I think we’ll continue exploring all the beauty right here in our backyard for the days I have remaining before intern year starts.  We are lucky that it doesn’t even take a drive to see incredible scenery from our house (we can literally watch a mountain sunset from our bedroom window).  I’m going to miss this place, although after the year I’m in for, I have a feeling we’ll be ready for any change come next June.   Even if where we’re going doesn’t involve mountains.

I think the travel bug is about the impending lack of flexibility in my life.  I know I’m not going to have weekends off this year, except on rare occasions, and that just sucks to think about after having so much flexibility and control over my schedule for the past few years.  It’s probably also related, at least in part, to having another baby.  Not that having babies has kept us from traveling, but I highly doubt we’ll be going anywhere by plane for awhile (now that our 3 kids are > 2 and require their own tickets).  The only cure for my disease is to actually travel, which isn’t happening anytime soon.  In the meantime though, I’ve been planning all sorts of unrealistic vacations, which Travis is sick of hearing about, but a girl can dream, right?  Bhutan is my new one.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to measure wealth and success in terms of “gross national happiness?”  Not money, not image, not car, not house size.  Not GNP but GNH?  So yeah, I’m dying to see what Bhutan is all about.

But on that note, I’m pretty sure the person who first said “money doesn’t buy happiness” didn’t live underneath hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.  <sigh> I know these are temporary issues, but they suck nonetheless.  Anyway, Bhutan seems like a dream right now.  It’s a small enough country that no one starves to death, and they limit tourism and impose a government-mandated charge of $200/ person per day just to see their country’s beauty (because they can, and because they don’t want it totally changed by too many tourists).  It’s a country rich enough in culture and values that people are able to live simply and happily off the land they have.  Buuuuuuutt they probably don’t have 3G, which was part of our Match ranking criteria (I’m not even kidding – Travis bumped Geisinger way down because the iphone service was on “E” there)!  Anyway, Mongolia by horseback & jeep is still up there, as are New Zealand in an RV and Madagascar from North to South.  Someday…

I have lots in my life to be thankful for.  So, so much.  I wish this travel bug would stop itching for awhile, but I think my symptoms begin when I need a little something to dream about.  Travel symbolizes freedom & adventure, and I am CRAVING that since I know it’s about to be taken from me.  Travis and I tend to come down with nearly debilitating cases of the bug every now and then, and that’s probably why we’ll never stay in one place.  I wonder if we’ll pass our wanderlust on to our kids, or if they’ll hate us for dragging them all over the place;)  At least they’re not going to be alone; 4 kids within 4ish years means a pretty good playgroup no matter how remote a place we may venture!

Anyway, some of our best friends in the world are right here in town with us.  Dominique, Kevin, and their kids should be on their way over soon, so we’ve got another fun day ahead!

Except for the 16 part. 

So this probably also contributes to my very emotional state lately, though I think I had legit reasons without the hormonal addition!  Believe me, we are every bit as shocked as you probably are.  So much for being “planners!”  To say this was unplanned…well, let’s just say I’m not bold enough to have actually planned to be a pregnant intern.  It’s still hard for me to actually believe.  We are really excited about this now that we’re starting to process it, but also incredibly overwhelmed.  Let me back up.

A few weeks before this,

{yeah, I really took 3}

Travis and I had come to the conclusion we might be done growing our family.  We left the door open to revisiting the topic in a few years, when I was further into my training.  But then we’d have a caboose, far apart in age from our little gang of 3, which also wasn’t part of our family vision, so we tentatively concluded our family of 5 might be just the right size.  Plus, our 3 kids are doing really well, but are about to undergo a major transition as is when I go back to work.  So that was our talk.  Everything was shaping up nice and neat, coming together for us, and we were feeling nervous but ready to jump into the challenges that our progressing careers are about to bring.  We’d recently gone through old stuff, tossed or sold anything newborn or maternity related, and Travis even said “well, I guess if we do ever change our minds, it’ll be far enough down the road we’ll be able to afford a new set of teething toys / swing / vibrating seat / etc.”  Damn we’re stupid!

Flash forward to Match Week.  Yup, this little “whoops” traces right back to then.  It’s even more cliche than prom night.  The night I found out, I said to Travis “but how could this happen; how is it even possible?  We’ve been so responsible!”  He responded with “weeeeeeell, there was that one night…”  He proceeded to remind me of a night after we found out I’d matched, post a few cocktails, in the midst of our wild celebrations, when I uttered something like “woohoo!  Who gives a $hit, I’m gonna be a dermatologist!  Throw caution to the wind,” or some dumbass thing like that.  It’s all a bit blurry in my mind, but leave it to the man to completely blame the woman:) 

Anyway, a sinking feeling came over me when reality of that positive pregnancy test set in.  It was an intense sense of guilt, both professional and familial.  I couldn’t stomach the thought of breaking the news to my program and all the people who’d helped me get to this point in my career; I was feeling like I’d let them all down.  Then, even more overwhelming, was the guilt that overcame me when I thought about Jack, Shane, & Fin and the upheaval I was already creating simply by going back to work.  Now I’m adding to that: a 4th baby for them to compete with for my soon even more limited time?   I spent a few days gasping for air.  I now have put that stuff mostly into perspective.  The mommy guilt has cooled a little since the kids have been so excited about their new baby sis/bro ever since we told them. 

I’ll have to tell you what happened when I broke the news to my medicine prelim program, since that’s another story; it was NOT pretty.  That’s for a protected post though, as only an intern could be treated like I was and then have to fear getting nailed again for speaking out publically.  Gotta love medicine.  In terms of professional guilt though, if this pregnancy is anything like the last, and so far I have not been nauseas or barfed once (and I’m 12.5wks),  the pregnancy shouldn’t impact my program (derm or medicine prelim).  It just dictated when my vacation and electives needed to be scheduled since I’ll deliver during that 8 week period (no maternity leave, per se, but I do have my 3 weeks vacation, a week of “sick” leave I might take unpaid, and hopefully a month of my cush derm elective).  By the time I finish intern year and start the dermatology part of my residency training (in WI), the baby will be 6 months old.  Thank God for derm on the horizon…but so sad I’ll miss so much months 2-6 while I’m still a medicine lackey.  Trying not to think about that part.

My really good friend, Emilie, is an OB attending in the Springs.  We were getting together anyway to celebrate Nova’s birthday a few weekends ago, so while there, we skipped into her office at the hospital for a few minutes to take a peek at what’s inside the oven.  This little peanut was WILD.  Travis has been a little freaked out ever since the ultrasound because our little embryo (which was 10wks at that time) was flailing like a maniac in there.  I’m already off caffeine (my taste buds have changed and I can’t stand coffee anymore – how torturous is THAT?!), so I can’t blame that.  Emilie’s comment was classic (paraphrased): “every now and then we see a super active baby this young, but not often.”  Geez, even Finley was a pretty chill embryo. 

We are trying to take it all a day at a time.  I am getting closer to being able to think about having a newborn, and how precious that experience will be for our whole family.  The funny part is that Jack has been asking us for a baby.  I told you he’s eerily prophetic.  When I asked him if he wanted a baby boy or a baby girl, he paused, looked over at Shane, then Fin, and promptly, confidently replied “BOY!”  Can’t blame the kid.  I’m hoping for another Shane in personality too; I think another Fin might push me over the edge!  Just kidding of course, whoever comes out will be a blessing.  Right?  RIGHT???????  Holy crap. 

Anyway, yeah.  Phew.  So that happened…good thing we got the dog to supplant the baby craving!

So we finally headed over the the hospital and got settled in for the delivery.  Laur was 7cm dilated and 80% effaced when we got here, which is awesome.  I can’t believe what a rock star she has been through all this.  I knew she was tough but this is pretty ridiculous.  The midwives seem to be equally impressed with the way she has handled labor.  Anyway, she’s spent time on the birth ball, in the tub, and walking the halls showing off what all the nurses and midwives are calling the coolest labor gown they’ve seen.  We’re hopeful she keeps moving along and gets this baby out in the next several hours. 

Below are a couple pics our doula took after we got to the hospital. 

**See UPDATE at bottom of post**

**Post written by Travis and dictated by Laurie**

So I’m really not all that grumpy.  Exhausted would be a better word.  Last night was SO LONG, and yet a 3rd night of PAINFUL contractions and no sleep has yielded no delivery yet.  I can’t even believe it.  We joked about it last night - how crazy would it be if we actually had to go to our midwife office appt. Monday morning at 10am!?  Well, we’re getting ready for our appointment now.  I’m still contracting.  They were pretty well sustained last night, every 5-6 minutes, but it seems they still did not progress past that.  This morning, I’m back to really intense, painful contractions every 7-8 minutes.   I spoke to our doula a couple hours ago and she basically gave 2 reasons why my labor might be protracted like this.  First, the baby might still not be in the right position.  Second, it might be related to stress on my part.  I have noticed I’ve been fighting labor on some level, but I’m making a conscious effort to relax during my contractions and welcome this baby.  We’ll try and post an update this afternoon after we see the midwife. 

OK, this is Travis without dictation (think Darth Vader when he kills the Emperor).  Laurie is doing incredibly well considering she hasn’t really slept in 3 days.  She is dealing with the pain and staying positive.  The baby is still kicking like crazy so everything seems fine with he / she.  With all this contracting, we’re thinking this baby is going to have quite the cone head when he or she finally enters the world.  Anyway, we really appreciate all the positive comments.  Hopefully today will be the day.  Stay tuned. 

**UPDATE**   

Just got back from our appointment with our midwife, who happens to be awesome, and she gave us the good news that Laurie is 5cm dilated and 80% effaced, meaning everything is progressing, albeit on a longer timeline than we expected.  The baby’s heart rate is fine and the midwife said she would be shocked if we don’t deliver today.  She gave us the choice of going to the hospital now or waiting it out at home a little longer.  We chose home so we’re trying to relax, eat, and drink a little before we go in later this afternoon or this evening.  More silver lining, Laurie has lost 6 pounds since Friday.