Attempt #1

So we tried to go to the hospital yesterday to have this baby :) Key word? Tried.
I woke up Friday morning feeling like I had the flu- chills, nausea, vomiting... the works.
Around 11am I noticed that I hadn't skipped a contraction in a while, which is what had been happening for the past week, so I decided to try to pay a little more attention to how they felt.
At 12:42, I decided to start timing them for real. By 1:43 I had experienced contractions every 4-7 minutes and they were starting to get stronger... so we decided to get cleaned up and load the car. I called my nurse and she suggested we head to the maternity center for a "labor check". YAY!!
After stopping to feed the Panduku's fish (they're in Michigan) and debating whether or not to watch Thursday night's episode of "The Office" on their DVR (we chose not to), we got to the hospital around 3:15. Contractions were getting harder to breathe/talk through, so I KNEW we were on our way!
At the hospital they hooked me up to monitors for about 40 minutes to chart my contractions and Avery's heartbeat. Everything looked good so the nurse suggested we walk for an hour.
That hour was not much fun. After about 20 minutes of walking, I was feeling the contractions in my back (way more uncomfortable) and they were definitely stronger and coming more often. At 5, they hooked me back up to the monitors- the contractions were coming every 2 minutes, they were definitely stronger, and I had dilated and effaced a little more... yay, progress!
I rested until 6ish and we decided to get up and walk around a little more. We ended up walking to the cafeteria so William could eat dinner and I could get some jell-o. We returned from our trip a little after 7... back onto the monitors. The contractions were definitely stronger, enough to make me nauseated... and a couple even went off the top of the charts! But apparently all of this didn't matter because they were only 8 minutes apart. So, because of the spacing of the contractions and the lack of change in my cervix between the 5:30 and 7:30 checks, they gave us the option to head home (a place without monitors where I can eat all the food I want) or stay the night. We chose to go ahead and go home- and went to bed at 8:55 :)

So here I am. After 12 hours of sleep in 4-10 minute increments. Waiting for the contractions to pick up again. We'll keep y'all posted. :)

How many more days?

Ugh. Contractions. I've had them for 2 days now. They vary in intensity, duration, and frequency (how strong they are, how long they last, and how often they come) but they are all annoying. Hopefully this means I won't have to wait for my induction to get here!

So that means it's that time. Time for you guys to guess when baby Avery will get here! :o)
Leave a "Love Note" at the bottom of the post with the following information:
1- Your name
2- The date Avery will be born
3- Time she will be born
4- How much you think she will weigh
5- How long you think she will be

I am scheduled to be induced either the 4th or the 5th, so if you think I'll have to wait that long, those are the dates you can use :)

Good luck!

14 days left

I went to the doctor again today... not too much has changed: 50% effaced and dilated 1cm. My doctor is in Florida for the next 4 days. I've always heard the stories about how women go into labor as soon as their doctor is unavailable.... we'll see :) I go back next Tuesday for my 38 week check-up. Also, I found out that they double booked my induction so unless one of the two women who are going in on the night of the 3rd has their baby early, I'm on the schedule to go in the night of the 4th now (with the induction on the 5th). It's just one day later than originally, so not too bad!

I found this thing on a friend's blog about "What your name means" so I thought I'd do our family! (I put in bold the most accurate parts... for me anyway)

Megan:
You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated.
You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want.
You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!
You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.
You are deeply philosophical and thoughtful. You tend to analyze every aspect of your life.
You are intuitive, brilliant, and quite introverted. You value your time alone.
Often times, you are grumpy with other people. You don't appreciate them trying to interfere in your affairs.
You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic “Type A” personality.
You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

William:
You are very charming... dangerously so. You have the potential to break a lot of hearts.
You know how what you want, how to get it, and that you will get it.
You have the power to rule the world. Let's hope you're a benevolent dictator!
You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing.
You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long.
You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.
You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.
You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.
Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.
You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic “Type A” personality.
You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated.
You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want.
You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!

Avery:
You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic “Type A” personality.
You are very hyper. You never slow down, even when it's killing you.
You're the type of person who can be a workaholic during the day... and still have the energy to party all night.
Your energy is definitely a magnet for those around you. People are addicted to your vibe.
You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.
You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something.
You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense.
You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.
You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in.
You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising.
You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

I don't think I like some of the things in Avery's description :)
I can't wait for her to get here and find out what she's really like!!!

20 days left

Today I had an ultrasound to take a look at the baby and make sure everything was looking alright! They estimated her weight right now to be 6 1/2 lbs, her heart rate was about 147 and I could even see that she has hair! Yay! No bald baby here! :) The ultrasound tech switched back and forth between regular and 4D, which was really fun. You can see how big her cheeks are already and how squished her little nose is from being smooshed inside... we got a few good pictures of her, but she likes to keep her hands in front of her face (that's what the blurry things are around the edges). You can click on the pics to make them bigger.


We got a DVD recording of the ultrasound as well. I know the video doesn't work right now. Hopefully it will once YouTube finishes processing it.

4 more weeks...

Time is flying by so fast! I went to the doctor yesterday and here's the updates:

1- I am no longer measuring 2 weeks too small. I measured 35 weeks yesterday- perfect!
2- Things are starting to change... I am dilated a fingertip! Woohoo!
3- Avery's heart rate was 144 beats/minute- perfect again!
4- I made my reservation at the hospital :) If she has not made her appearance by Monday, November 3rd, I will be admitted at 7pm that night to start some low-dose preparation and then start the induction on Tuesday morning, November 4th (that's 4 weeks from today!!). Looks like we'll have an election day baby! Hopefully she won't take more than a day to get here... I can't eat once they start Tuesday morning and if she takes that long, I'll be one hungry, unhappy chick.

This past Saturday, my wonderful friends hosted a baby shower for us! I actually don't have any pictures, just video (which I'll try to get uploaded this weekend)... but you can head over to Kelly Smith's blog (via the link to the right) to look at the pictures she posted from the event!

In other news, we are so excited that our church-planting team is together again! Kenny and Anna and their boys have officially joined us here in Noblesville and now things can really get going! We've missed them terribly and it's really nice to be able to see them several times a week :)

Avery update, Swap packages, and I've been tagged!

It seems the things to blog about just keep adding up!!

We went to the doctor on Friday for our 33 week check-up. I was measuring a little small, but the doctor wasn't too concerned... it just means we get another ultrasound at 36 weeks :) I also talked to her about my maternity leave- since I had to pick fixed dates due to the nature of my job, I am not working from November 1 to January 1. This could be problematic if Avery decided to come 2 weeks late :) My wonderful doctor said that she's willing to induce anytime after 39 weeks which means that if Avery hasn't come by November 3, we'll be inducing that week! YAY! For those of you who know my love of scheduling, it's nice to be able to put it on my calendar...


In other news, I received my swap package from Elizabeth today! Through my friend Allison's blog, I was paired up with Elizabeth with the task to mail 3 of our favorite things to each other! It was so exciting to get this box in the mail! When I opened the box, this is what slid out:

Such a cute bag, eh?
And here is what was inside: 2 PRECIOUS onsies for Avery, Burt's Bee's lip gloss, a Yankee Candle (Pumpkin Pie- a perfect present for the first day of fall) and a wonderful cookbook with easy recipies!
This is how excited I was: Thanks, Elizabeth! I loved it!! :)
Elizabeth also tagged me on her blog! So here are my 7 weird facts:
1. I have several odd recurring dreams. Mostly, I often dream that I am losing my teeth. This is not usually the focus of the dream, just one aspect of it. The teeth don't just fall out... they crack into several pieces first- then fall out. When I wake up, I'm usually surprised to find that all my teeth are still present and accounted for.... I fully expect there to be gaps. I only know one other person who dreams about this: Whitney (who confessed it when tagged on her blog) :) This may stem from #3 (see below) or the fact that I crumbled my two front teeth in 6th grade when I face-planted while rollerblading.

2. I compulsively organize collections. For example, my CD's are organized alphabetically, then oldest -> newest within a single artist or collection. Also, they must all be facing with the picture oriented in the correct direction. No sideways or upside-down CD's here! Oddly enough, I organize my movies by genre, not alphabetically... but sequels always go together. In chronological order.

3. I am obsessed with clean teeth. Maybe this is where my recurring dream stems from. I brush my teeth generally twice before I even leave the house in the morning (once upon waking, and once after eating). My biggest complaint when we spend late evenings hanging out and snacking with our friends Kenny and Anna? That my teeth feel "fuzzy" and I desperately want to brush them. I love the dentist. :)

4. I hate the word "moist". It sounds just like what it means. It makes me cringe. Just say damp. Or wet. Or anything else that means the EXACT same thing. I also despise poor grammar (thanks, dad)- especially when people misuse "good" versus "well". I don't think anyone uses these words correctly.

5. When my brother was born, I was upset. I wanted a sister, not a rotten, stinky boy (I was 4 years, 1 month, and 28 days old). As a result, I would dress him in dresses, call him "Michelle", and teach him all things "girly"- especially ballet. He generally complied (except when I would ask him to do a jete, he insisted on flying around like an airplane) and eventually would voluntarily appear in a 5-layer slip that I wore under my "fancy" dresses- usually when we had company over for dinner. My dad put an end to this when my brother decided to start referring to himself as "Michelle". Sorry, dad... and Graham. Love you, bubby! :)

6. I am a planner and a scheduler- and this often backfires badly. I have the complete and total inability to "go with the flow" on a Saturday. I need a plan. Even if the plan is to do nothing, I need a plan. It stresses me out when my laid-back husband doesn't need a plan. Ever. That's 7 years of stress, people. However, this characteristic got me (and some of my friends) through college and graduate school. It makes me dependable. If someone didn't know what was going on, they could come to me and photocopy my planner :) Life just works better when you know what to expect.

7. I have an odd but super-fantastic memory (outside of pregnancy). I remember things that a lot of people don't. Funny moments with friends, what someone wore last Tuesday.... I remember them. It has proven embarassing when I say "Hey! Remember when...." and then noone else remembers. Maybe I'm just sentimental... a mental packrat. I don't like throwing away memories :) To help you all, I'll share my purposeful memorization strategy: If I need to remember something, I associate it with something I know I'm going to do. For example, if I need to remember to do some laundry, I think to myself several times, "When William calls to say he's on his way home from work, it will remind me to put a load of clothes in the washer." And voila! It works! I don't know if it really works for anyone else...


And that's it! I know I'm odd. I've known it my whole life... but here's who I want to tag:
Allison, Kelly, Dad, Rebecca, Sara, and the Pandukus!

A Visit from the Pandukus, Honeydew, and Pregnancy Pics!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! We've been busy getting the house/nursery ready and having our friends visit! Kenny and Anna and their 4 boys came to visit us last weekend so they could look for places to live. We didn't get any pictures of their 2 youngest boys... they were already in bed :)
Anna, Carson, and I hanging out in the living room

Caleb and Kenny

So the fruit of the month: honeydew! I am officially 33 weeks pregnant tomorrow (Friday). I noticed the ticker at the top of the blog is actually a day behind. I think it's because this year was leap year, so I've been pregnant a day longer than it thinks I have been :) This week is really the first week that I've felt uncomfortable. I'm still sleeping okay, but it's getting harder to move around... and tie my shoes! Also, Avery is finally big enough to differentiate between her back, bottom and legs by poking her from the outside.. it's a fun guessing game! The pictures below were taken last Sunday, at 32 weeks and 2 days. Sorry for the sweats... it was a lazy Sunday evening at home and I remembered I told my friend Kassie I would update the blog with new pictures of myself.... :)