Delaney is here!!!!!!!!

Well I am going to keep this short and sweet. Don't worry there will be a lot more updates once we get home :)


Welcome Delaney Shea Ryan
Born on August 31st, 2009
She weighs 8 lbs 5 ounces
Length ??? Not sure yet since they measure her during the bath and that has not happened yet.


Here are a few picks to enjoy....

Delaney opening her eyes to get her first peak at Daddy

Mommy and Delaney :)

we're hours away!!

and now we try to sleep..

tomorrow..

Last night I said something to Shaun about how this will be the last time the 3 of us do this or that.. then I felt wrong for saying it.. I said the same thing so often last year... turned out that we had a whole nother year of the 3 of us doing things. I can't help but have that fear. We're so close now, man, I can almost feel her in my arms! By this time tomorrow, I won't be pregnant anymore! Can I just say how absolutely NUTS it is to know when your baby will be born?? Today will be one of the strangest days of our lives, I'm sure. the waiting... wondering.. will we even sleep tonight? I keep wondering how I'll be able to go to sleep?! Fearing that I go so sleep with a wiggly baby inside and wake up to a dead one- when we're THIS close!? AHH.. I'm sure a lot of you think this is being 'negative' and that we shouldn't feel this way.. but it is hard to assume everything will be perfect, when you know first hand that it might not be. On the other hand, I feel like I KNOW the outcome will be perfect, and tomorrow morning when they pull our 3rd little baby from the hole in my belly that she WILL scream - I just know it!! I can't wait to hear her beautiful voice and see her beautiful eyes, wide open and full of life!
Our intention is that Shaun will send an email out to everyone in my address book tomorrow morning after she's born, sending you to this site.. hopefully we'll have a picture and some basic info by 11 tomorrow!

still hangin'

The braxton hicks aren't as common as this morning.. so I've been trying to get things done! Still could happen today, but soon we're off to a wedding! :)

well..

I'm getting quite a few Braxton Hicks this morning.. fairly close together! Nothing painful.. but possibly enough to make a hospital trip at some point today!? EEEK! I better get to cleaning, and putting those frozen raspberries away!! :)

2 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, it's amazing that it's so close.. I find myself feeling nauseous, nervous, excited, flat out scared! The range of emotions is crazy! Shaun started his vacation today (Friday) and was able to go to my NST at the docs office. Delaney was not having any real accelerations for the first half hour or so.. then all of a sudden had two nice long ones right in a row! YAY! I have to arrive at the hospital at 7am on Monday... I wonder if we'll be able to sleep at all on Sunday!? AHH! Shaun and I got to have a nice lunch after the appt too. Probably our last 'date' for a while! :) After picking up Gwen from Shaun's folks, we went raspberry picking - in the rain, but it was SO fun!! Then had a great visit with Jason and Jen!!! Now it's nearly midnight, I can just about change the chalkboard door to 2 days! She's really going to make us wait until Monday, isn't she?? hehe Oh well, we've got plenty to occupy us this weekend.

37 weeks - 6 days left (well, now 5!!!!) BPP and nesting!

By the time I post this we'll be 5 days away!! It's 11:59! I feel nauseous when I say that.. 5 DAAAAAYS! AHHH! Is it really happening? Man..
So, today was a pretty good day. My mom came and picked up our old furniture to take it to my sister's house... that way the family room was pretty cleared out for carpet cleaning! Then went to my ultrasound appt at the hospital where everything looked good! Our girl is measuring 7lbs 4ozs.. which goes along with the scan 2 weeks ago (they grow about a pound every two weeks at this stage) and also goes along with what size babies we normally have.. Gwen was full term @8lbs 11oz. Dresden was a week early @ 8lb 1oz, and going by these estimates, if Delaney went full term, she would be around 8lb 12oz! :) I'll guess her birth weight at 7lbs 11oz! After picking Gwen up from my mom's, I came home and started canning! Salsa, tomatoes, dehydrating tomatoes, and all the clean up that goes along with it! FUN! ;) We also had a nice visit with Brandon and Ro.. so Shaun didn't get the last pieces of trim up (thanks guys! haha) but he did complete the touch ups that he wanted to do! The family room is SOOO close to being done and our furniture arrives tomorrow! Keeping busy for the next 5 days should be easy! My mom asked today, what we're bringing the baby home in, and did I want her to get an outfit? I dunno? I'll probably pull out the box of clothes and have Gwen pick.. otherwise, a onesie? I honestly could care less what she comes home in.. as long as she comes home! I feel like there was more.. but I can't remember now. Oh, a little tid bit! I found out last night that the hosptial does indeed have wireless internet! Check here on Monday afternoon, hopefully we'll be able to post a picture and some info for y'all to see! Good night! :)

7 days...

tiles!

Brandon is hounding me for these pictures! ;) So, just for you... and I know if ANYONE can
appreciate beautiful tile work, its you! All you other folks can admire too.. Thanks to Shaun's folks for helping us out and of course to Shaun for nesting MORE than me!! hehe Our house renovations are almost complete.. and the new furniture arrives on Wednesday! Just in time to bring our sweet baby home.. it feels good to be this close!

I saw a rainbow

a sign from the little rainbow in my belly? who knows, but I like to think of it as a happy positive sign that everything is going to go beautifully with her birth in 9 days! :)

a blah NST today.. 10 DAYS to go!

So, Delaney was having lots of accelerations today, but they just weren't lasting long enough! 10 seconds, instead of 15... the doc, said he wasn't worried, but did the BPP ultrasound and caught her breathing instantly (I guess they only practice breathe 10% of the time.. even though Delaney seems to be breathing in there every time I have a scan!) good fluid levels and after a couple minutes she even moved her legs around (they look for breathing, movement and fluid in the test).. so made the doc happy. I only have 2 more NST's before she's born... I can't believe how close we are now!

36 weeks

Less than 2 weeks to go! Another good NST today, I'm so happy that they've all been great after that first crappy one! Such a relief! :) I'm counting down the days.... Shaun is counting down the HOURS! (that's too much thinking for me! hehe) I'm really hoping that labor starts on it's own a couple days early.. I think I'm going to go insane just thinking about the c-section the day before it's scheduled! I've never had a planned surgery before!! eeek!
http://pregnancy.emedtv.com/pregnancy-week-by-week/36-weeks-pregnant-p5.html

Gwen wanted to a picture of HER baby belly too! (her babe's name is Dexter)

laundry and tears

I don't usually cry while doing laundry.. not my style. But when you're going through the clothes that were meant to be worn by your baby boy a year ago.. it's not as easy as lights and darks (not that I separate clothes anyway!) I decided a long time ago that I was not going to do any special preparations for this babe's arrival. I don't want to get too cocky, or tempt fate or whatever.. but today after doing the laundry, I felt like I had another good load in me.. and Delaney is arriving in 2 short weeks, so why not put my desire to wash clothes to good use? I pulled out the box clothes from the armoire, where they've been sitting for nearly a year, and pulled each outfit out, one by one. There were 3 special things, that really got to me.. the blue outfit I bought when I was just a month into Dresden's pregnancy, blue because I was SO certain he'd be a boy, I knew I could buy it! The 'automatic sprinkler' onesie that Heather sent, with a sweet card from Eric, excited about getting a boy cousin close to his age, and the dinosaur outfit I picked up for Gwen to give her brother because she was SOOO into dinosaurs - that was purchased probably right around this time last year.. I remember seeing all the halloween stuff already out when I got it.. so tempted to buy a cute little costume too.
So, Delaney will have clean clothes to wear (although for now, not much in the way of girl clothes.. we'll have to venture into the attic once she's home and go through the rest of Gwen's clothes) - and a clean car seat.. I washed that yesterday. We're ready to meet our sweet baby!

shopping

So, as I walked in the house after a little shopping trip, I thought.. WOW! I just bought things for all 3 of my children!! Very cool - probably something that will never happen again.. I mean, how many things does Dresden need, right?
Gwen - shoes
Dresden - picture frame
Delaney - baby wipes and butt paste (I did a survey at the hospital and was rewarded with a ten dollar giftcard to babies r us, so I put it to good use)

and now i'm having a root beer float and it is amazing!!!!

Shaun is so AWESOME!!

Yep, my husband is super awesome.. not like you all didn't already know that! ;) He had his review at work today and got an OUTSTANDING review!! I'm so proud of him, I just had to share it!

Weekly NST and grow appt

Today instead of an NST they did a full biophysical profile... not sure why, I actually think they were just letting a resident practice? So, I actually ended up with two ultrasounds today! Delaney's estimated weight is 6 lb 2 oz! Here are a few 3D shots that were captured today. :)
Look at those chunky little cheeks! Her face is pretty scrunched up in there.. oh yeah.. AND I'm 35 weeks today with less than 3 to go!!!!!!!

11 months

It's hard to believe it's been 11 months since I held my sweet baby boy. It's often hard to let myself imagine what he'd be doing if he were with us right now. Probably walking, saying a few words, being totally adorable, of course! I should be working on his birthday party invitations right now - instead I'm writing about what should be. So much was stolen from our family and 11 months at times seems like an eternity ago, but sometimes so recent that I can still smell him, no matter how much time passes, I still long to hold him, love him. Mostly, I just can't believe it's been so long.. I miss him so much.

NST :)

Another great NST for Delaney! I'm so glad that it seems the first one was a fluke and now she knows just what to do for that 20 minute appt! Blood pressure is good- 110/66 :) fundal height is good ANNNNND.. I asked the doc about my c-section appt and she looked it up and told me that I was the first appt of the day! 8AM!! YAAAAY!! Who'd have thunk that I'd find joy from being the first slice of the day??

:(

We went to home depot to buy some painting supplies! :)
People were rather pleasant this evening there! :)
One of the pleasant people were being chatty with us, admiring Gwen's driving skills in the car buggy and picking out paint chips... here is the :( part of the conversation:
her: looking at my belly -"sooo, you got a little boy in there this time?"
me: nope, it's a girl
her: looking at Shaun with a teasing grin -"so what's wrong with you?"
shaun: oh, I don't know
her: "girls are great, we've got two of them and love em a ton!"
we: smile and part ways..
I: want to tell her that I have a boy
I: want to look at paint chips and sob
I feel even worse when one of the paints I consider is called "sweet baby boy" :(
This fucking sucks!

Momma Gorilla gets her rainbow baby!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1204017/After-heartbreak-baby-dying-arms-Gana-gorilla-cradles-newborn.html

34 weeks

http://pregnancy.emedtv.com/pregnancy-week-by-week/34-weeks-pregnant-p5.html

Here we are! Less than 4 weeks before we get to hold this little one in our arms (and probably NEVER put her down!) It's getting so close and time is passing so quickly. We've got plenty to do before the big arrival!(actually Shaun has plenty to do! haha) I'm also really grateful for all these NST's.. a few weeks ago, I thought it was 'overkill' I didn't really need to be seen twice a week, right? Now, I look forward to these appointments - I need the reassurance that she's doing well in there. The closer we get, the more anxiety I feel. I will never go back to the happy innocence that I felt this same time last year.. it's just not possible. There are a few items that I'd like to buy.. but I struggle to buy them before she's home... small things, like baby wipes, nursing cream, - we've still got a giant box of diapers in the closet.. and can clothes that were washed last year still be clean enough for a baby or should I wash them again? I've tried so hard to not 'count my chickens' but the truth is, this little chicken has counted for months already! We have 3 children... no matter what happens now. Gwen is usually excited about the baby - but every once in a while, she changes her mind.. "I don't want a baby anymore" - yowch, that stings! Maybe she's protecting herself just in case? I don't know if a 3.5 yr old is capable of something so deep? I've also realized (aside from just plain ole' preggo brain) why I can't remember ANYTHING! It's because from the time I wake up til the time I go to bed, I'm constantly thinking - when is the last time she moved? I've only got room for so many thoughts! I even think this when I wake up in the middle of the night to pee! I get worried.. I haven't felt her in a while!? Uhh... DUH! You've been sleeping! Hey, I'm just amazed that it's taken me THIS long to get a little nuts! haha But, I'm not the only one.. yesterday while talking to my mom I said.. my back it hurting! :( (I think I had a bit of that sciatic nerve thing going on that people always talk about) and she says "is the baby moving?" I was like, yeah.. well not at the moment, but a little bit ago.. sooo anyhoo.. I guess that's all I got for now! 27 DAYS!

poor me.. ??

I went to Kohl's today. As I was walking off the escalator with shoes for Gwen deep in my mind a woman standing at the top of the escalator looks at me, makes a sympathetic face and says "oh, you poor thing" i just smiled and thought, if you only knew what a poor thing I really am. :( and of course, it has nothing to do with being hugely pregnant in August.

It's Delaney's birthday month!!!!!!!!!!!

YAHOOOOOO it's August!! I can't believe it's here.. and I can't believe I'm so excited for August (it's usually one of my least favorite months!) but when your baby is arriving it automatically makes a super fantastic month!!!! 30 days to go!