Smiling Baby

Yesterday, Amelia began smiling at Markus and I when we were doing dumb stuff in front of her face :). She wasn't pushing or farting or anything, so I totally think that this is her really starting to consciously smile! YAY! I tried to get a picture of it while she was on Markus' lap smiling, but every time I got the camera, she decided she didn't want to smile anymore. I did catch the tail end of a smile though. When she does smile though, it is such a cute, gummy smile with dimples in her cheeks...totally heart meltingly cute!

My Birth Story...Part 1

Some of you may not want to read this, because I will go into a bit of detail, so you can stop here, and that is fine...tomorrow or on Saturday will be a post about Amelia being 4 weeks old (or I might wait to do that on Sunday when she'll be a whole month old! My how time flies!).

So, here goes...my birth story.

It starts out as any other birth story does, contractions. Mine started at around 6:30 am on September 17. They really weren't bad, and I was able to sleep between them...plus, they were pretty far apart, around 10 minutes or so. The thing that was freaking me out was that Markus was in Frankfurt. He was at the IAA, the largest car show in the world (he was there for work...and well, a bit of pleasure! Think kid in a candy store with all those new cars to look at!). I gave him the green light to go, since I thought I wasn't going to actually go into labor on my actual due date, but I did.

I had a doctor's appointment at 9:30 that morning, so mom and I were tracking the contractions with this nifty web-site called the Contraction Master. Holy crap, they were about 5 minutes apart! That's about when I was getting a bit nervous and sent Markus a text saying, "I am having some weird cramping, so be prepared to hop in the car and come home." I didn't want to make him nervous, so I phrased it in such a way that A) he wouldn't freak out and B) he'd get the picture. Well, he did, and he jumped in the car to come home.

At the doctor's, the contractions were getting steadily worse...there were some women in the waiting room and I felt kind of bad for them...you know, with me breathing deeply and the slight look of pain on my face...plus, there was another pregnant lady there, so she was getting a little look into the future.

At the doctor's...hooked up to the monitor...obviously, between contractions :)

The doctor examined me and told me I was a good 1, maybe 2 cm. dilated. What? Are you kidding me? That's what I was 4 days ago! So, what could mom and I do...nothing but go home. So that is what we did. Mom rocked driving standard...she hasn't driven one of those in many many years...and she didn't stall it until we got home...I was quite impressed.

At home, we continued with the contraction monitor, and attempted to watch some TV to try to distract me from the pain. It worked for a while. I remember it was the Top Chef episode in which the French guy got kicked off...what the actual challenge was, I don't really remember.

Sometime during Top Chef, mom made me some pasta, which I devoured, and Markus came home (phew! sigh of relief!). This was around 12:30. I decided we could wait a bit so that Markus could eat something and plus, I wasn't really ready to go to the hospital quite yet. Then around 1:30, I decided, what the hell. We can go, and the worst thing they can do is say, "Hey, you're not far enough along. Go labor some more at home." Which is basically what they said.

Leaving for the hospital...take 1...
They hooked me up to baby monitors and contraction monitors. After about 45 minutes of that, they gave me a quick exam. I was still only 1-2 cm. dilated. "Shit." I thought, "This is going to take forever." So, with that (and a couple suppositories to help out with the pain), they sent us home. Ok, fine. I kind of expected that...but I had hoped that I was further along.

Hooked up to the monitors at the hospital...
We came home and I decided that I wanted to try to labor it out some in the bath. Which exactly what I did...for 3 hours. I felt kind of bad for the neighbors. They had to hear all my moans and groans. Either they thought Markus and I were having a sex marathon or that I was in labor...I'm hoping that they knew it was the latter!

After my 3 hour bath, and a couple refills of the hot water, I decided I wanted to get out since I was feeling a bit like a prune. Markus had to help me since I was in just a bit of pain...he was truly wonderful throughout this whole thing...I just can't say that enough! So, I moved on to bed and decided that it would be absolutely awesome if Markus were to basically put his entire weight on my lower back (while I was bending over) during the contractions. This helped to an extent...so, then I thought I would try out our exercise ball. Hey, they've got it in the hospital, so why not give it a go! I was only on that thing for about 3 contractions before I decided it was really time to go to the hospital. We waited until another contraction passed, hopped into the car and drove at a decent speed to the hospital. We live only 3 minutes away, so I didn't want to risk getting in a wreck on the way there...getting there 30 seconds earlier or later didn't matter (I say this now, but probably at the time I was wondering why we were driving so slow).

We get to the hospital, just in time for another contraction to kick in...man, these things suck. No seriously, they really suck. We go in after the contraction passed, and get to the elevator (which, by the way, is just about the slowest elevator on the planet) and it is full. Damn, we'll have to wait. Of course, by the time it comes again, another contraction is coming on, so there is no way in hell I'm moving right then. So we wait for the next one, which miraculously was there after the contraction was over.

We get up to the maternity ward and head into the Kreisssaal, literally screaming room, and they hook me up to the monitors again. Yup, still in labor. Baby is doing good. This time, after only 10 minutes or so, they take me in to be examined. Now they tell me that I'm 3 cm, but when a contraction is there, I'm 4. Great. This will never end...

Update on the little girl

We were at the doctor today for a normal checkup, and little girl is growing normally and still not really wanting to show her junk (or lack thereof) to my doctor. I did cheat on my doctor and go to a fancier doctor to find out the sex in the 18th week. Well, today, my doctor said that it is "likely" that it is a girl since she can't see a penis or testicles. So, now my doctor is 80% sure it is a girl (but I'm 100% sure...there was NO mistaking it on the sonogram from the fancy doctor).

So, to get an idea of how big she is, they measure the upper leg...or femur. Today it is 39mm (about 1.5 inches). If you multiply this by 7, you get a rough idea of how long she is. So, 39*7= 273mm or 10.74 inches. She's a growin'! There weren't any really good shots of her today though...they've tended to be crappy lately. But in the 28th week, I'm going back to the fancy doctor for a 3D sonogram and have him take some photos and videos.

As always, I will keep this updated :)

Finally!!!

We have pictures of the baby (now to be refered to as peanut)! Woohoo!!! Peanut was moving so much though, that it was really hard to take any really good shots of him/her...let alone be able to tell the sex. The doctor compared peanut to a tadpole...always on the move. She used the word "Lebendig" and I translate that as animated. Just like his daddy...well, maybe at this time more like Charlie. :) Even though peanut was moving so much, there were 3 times that we were able to take a shot, so here they are! And, I've explained them out as well in a separate photo :). Yeah!!!

Oh, and the doctor took some measurements. From the top of it's head to it's tailbone is roughly 57mm...or did she say 75mnm...I'm not too sure. But peanut is hunched over, so he/she is probably a bit bigger. I was too busy watching peanut jump around, so I didn't quite catch it...but I do know that she said a 5 and a 7, just not sure of the order. Peanut's upper leg is 12mm. Those were some of the fun measurements.

The first one is the best shot in my opinion. You can see the arm and the fingers really good. Plus the head is there. Peanut didn't feel like giving us any profile shots though, but that's ok...there's always hope for next time!

Here is the second shot. Peanut is kind of laying on his/her side with I believe their butt towards us. So camera shy at such a young age!

Here is another good one. A view from the top. This is looking at peanut straight on. After this was taken, peanut continued jumping...I wonder when I'll start being able to feel all of the movements this little peanut is making.

So all in all, a great day at the doctor. She said that peanut was super active, a great sign, and looking to be in perfect health. All of peanut's measurements are where they are supposed to be (even if I can't remember what they are exactly). My next appointment is on April 7, so hopefully there will be another peanut update then!

UPDATE: Markus said that the doctor did in fact say 75mm. It's a good thing one of us was paying attention!

I'm PREGNANT!

Woohoo!!! Now I can finally say why I've been so under the weather...I'm pregnant!!! We've known since Jan. 2, via pregnancy tests, but this past Tuesday, we were able to see the heartbeat! How exciting! I'm due on September 10, just two days before my birthday, so maybe it'll be a little late...I'll post more later! I just wanted to tell the world!

This has got to be the funniest thing...

If you can read German, then this is absolutely HILARIOUS!!! If not, you can look at the pictures and follow along that way.

YOU MUST READ/LOOK AT THIS...

Enjoy...