Finally, Some Pictures

I was able to get Abbey down for a short nap while Mike is at work, so I thought I'd get around to posting some pictures we've taken of the peanut over the past week and a half.

Enjoy!

New Year, New Name

As you may or may not have noticed, I've decided to change the name of my blog from "The Journey to Baby M." to "A Life Full of Love". While the original name served it's purpose well while Mike and I were TTC and throughout my pregnancy, I felt that a change was needed now that Abbey has made her arrival.

I'm also beginning to toss around the idea of making my blog known to family and friends who may want to keep up with how Abigail is doing.

Stay tuned...

Baby Abigail is Here!

Abigail Grace was born on January 12th at 2:18 pm. She weighed exactly 8 lbs. and was 20 inches long.

I went for my scheduled appointment last Monday morning at 40 weeks 5 days and was diagnosed with Pregnancy Induced Hypertension. The doctor also had some concerns about the baby's heartrate so I was sent over to L&D immediately following. After being hooked up to a monitor for approximately 6 hours waiting for a room to become available, I was finally admitted.

The original plan was for me to start Cervidil that night since I still had not made any progress whatsoever and then Pitocin the next morning at an attempt to induce labor. After a very rough night (thanks to the painful cramping resulting from the Cervidil), I was told the next morning that it didn't work and that my cervix still hadn't started to thin out and/or dilate at all. I was then left with two options: start the Pitocin anyway and potentially end up with an emergency c-section or make another attempt with the Cervidil that night to see if we would have any luck on the second try. As I was still cramping terribly from the initial round of Cervidil and my back was killing me from laying in a bed for so long, Mike and I opted to ask the doctor if we could just move foward with scheduling a c-section rather than attempting to go foward with an induction that would most likely fail anyway. The doctor agreed to schedule one for around 2pm that afternoon. The c-section went very quickly and I was finally discharged from the hospital on January 15th.

Both Abbey and myself are doing well. All of us are just now beginning to adjust to our new life together and couldn't be happier, even through all of the sleepless nights we've encountered so far.

Welcome to the world baby Abigail! Mommy and daddy already love you so much!

Here are the very last pictures of me pregnant that Mike took in the Testing room on the L&D floor:

And here are some of the very first pictures that daddy took of Abbey:

40 Weeks

Tom Petty had no idea how right he was when he said that "the waiting is the hardest part".

I'm still just hanging out waiting for labor to start. As of my appointment this morning, I'm still not making any progress whatsoever. My OB did an NST scan to see how Abbey was faring in my ute, and apparantly, she's extremely comfortable right where she is. Her heartrate was excellent and she isn't showing any signs of distress. I also had an ultrasound done to check the amniotic fluid levels and the flow of blood through the umbilical cord, both of which are excellent. The ultrasound technician mentioned that Abbey is practicing her breathing skills, so it appears that her lungs are doing great as well. We've ultimately decided to hold off on doing an induction just yet since there's no immediate danger to the baby if we just wait it out. I'm trying very hard to be patient, but it's certainly becoming more and more difficult.

I have another appointment scheduled for Monday (at 40 weeks, 5 days) to see if anything has changed.

Total weight gained so far: +34.4 lbs. (YIKES!)

From Baby Center this week, it's hard to say for sure how big our baby will be, but the average baby weighs about 7.5 lbs. and is about 20 inches long. Her skull bones are not yet fused, which allows them to overlap a bit if it's a snug fit through the birth canal during labor. This so-called "molding" is the reason our baby's noggin may look a little cone-headish after birth. Rest assured - it's normal and completely temporary.

Once again, I apologize for not posting a picture. I just haven't been motivated enough lately to take one.

Happy New Year!

Here's to an amazing 2010!