2 month update

Ms. Abagail had her 2 month check up last Friday—she actually turned 2 months last Wednesday, if you can believe that! She is now weighing in at 11 pounds, 5 ounces, is measuring 21 3/4” in length, and has a head circumference of 38.25 centimeters. That puts her in the 60th percentile for weight, 25th for length, and 50th for head circumference. So, with my genes, it is no surprise her weight is keeping up, but the kid has got to put on some inches. She’s got to get that basketball scholarship in the years to come (with George’s athletic abilities, not mine, for anyone who ever saw me play) if college is going to get paid for, so hopefully she’ll hit that growth spurt soon enough for height.

At least one of us was paying attention to the camera.

Watching her progress is just evidence of God’s amazing work. That we all started out that small, helpless, and cute, is just wondrous to me. To think that when she arrived 2 months ago, she couldn’t hardly hold her head up, but to watch her today and see that she can hold her head on her own and only occasionally looks like a bobblehead is amazing.

She is tracking things with her eyes really well and will actually turn her head toward the sound of mine or George’s voices sometimes. The discovery of her hands is pretty cute too. Just to think about the fact that she evidently didn’t realize they were there, and now she does, is funny to me. Does a baby just wake up one day and say to herself, “hey, what are those things waving in front of my face? I think I’ll taste them. Oh wait, they must belong to me!” It’s so cute!

Abagail is also quite the chatterbox. Her vocabulary includes any number of coos and gurgles that you can imagine—if that actually counts as a vocabulary. I think it does! However, the 2 most major developments have been the fact that she now sleeps through the night and smiles with abandon. The child doesn’t seem to require all that much sleep, as she doesn’t nap all that well in the afternoon and won’t go to sleep until about 11PM. But hey, she doesn’t seem to need to get up until anywhere between 5AM and 6AM, so that makes us happy! Her smiles just melt your heart when she turns on one for you. Now I just can’t wait to hear her laugh too!

Needless to say, the doctor’s appointment was uneventful. Since we’ve been blessed with such an easy baby, we didn’t even have too many questions for the doctor. All of her physical, mental, and social progress seems to be right on track with where a 2 month old should be. She had to get 3 shots, but beyond a 30 second crying jag immediately following the pokes, she was fine. We gave her 2 doses of Tylenol that day, but luckily, didn’t develop any fever, fussiness, or have any reactions to the shots.This was taken one of the first days she was home, so she's only 4-5 days old.

And while this isn't a flattering picture in the least--look at that belly!--it does show her growth really well when we took it just a day or so ago.

I had to return to work last week and it wasn’t as traumatic as I expected. The grandparents kept her on Wednesday and that went well. Mom was a bit tired and she made me laugh when I asked her how the day went. She said she just hadn’t gotten anything done all day. That was the validation I needed. I’ve been feeling terribly unproductive and disorganized, but to know it’s not just me made me feel so much better! Friday was our 5 year wedding anniversary and Grandma and Grandpa kept her for a few hours while we went out to enjoy dinner and one another’s company. We made a rule to not talk about the baby. Sadly, it was hard at first, but totally worth it to catch up on things with one another.

I’m lucky enough to be easing back into work on a part-time basis. I won’t go back full-time until the first week of December and George is off for the next 2 weeks, as Grandpa Schmerer is in for Thanksgiving. It’s been tough not spending all day with her, but it feels good to be back and part of things again. I don’t even want to talk about how far behind I am, but I was off for 8 weeks. I can’t expect to catch up in just a day or two.

Check out the last post. It shows her progression in this same pose from her first night at home, to her one month birthday. This was from her 2 month birthday. I put this outfit up already-look at the highwaters!


Finally OK with the Bumpo. At least most of the time.

And this is now our favorite. George and I are kind of slow sometimes. We'd forgotten our camera also takes video . . .

About time!

As you can see, my blog updates just seems to get progressively slower and slower. I’m still off work, so you’d think that being home all day would allow me to keep it going at a more regular pace. You couldn’t be more wrong! I don’t know where my days seem to go, but I continue to be amazed at how quickly each day disappears and how little I seem to get done. The flowerbeds are out of control, the bathrooms are disgusting, the house needs to be dusted, few real meals are cooked as cheater meals have become our staple diet. While I do get a shower and make the bed every day, I consider it a banner day when 4 loads of laundry get done and we take a walk. Beyond that, the average day consists of feeding, changing, and holding Abagail. Not getting work done, and by that I mean work-work, goes without saying. I have now not checked my email in over a week’s time, when I did the last time, it was just quickly enough to clear out the junk, but I didn’t actually get anything accomplished. I am also embarrassed to say that I’ve got a project that should have been done before going on leave and to know it still isn’t done is really starting to annoy me.

We were really pleased with how our family portraits came out. Thank you, Target!

On the upside, Abagail is doing amazing. We’ll go in for her 2 month check up on November 13th and we’ll get her official weight, but we know she’s gaining weight steadily, as you can see it on her and in her pictures and George is a big fan of stepping on our scale with her, just to get an idea of what she weighs. The last time he did it, we decided she’s about 9 ½ pounds.

This pink dress was actually one of mine that Mom had saved all these years!

I’m still not convinced she’s smiled her first real smile, but George and Grandma have both claimed she’s smiled at them. Me, I haven’t seen a full on, eyes light up, and mouth break out into a grin kind of smile yet, but I know it’s bound to happen any day now. Her eyes are tracking things better and better each day. She already stares up adoringly at George when he holds her. She still looks at me with something more like anticipation for her next meal than real joy, and seeing as how I’m her meal ticket I can’t blame her, but I’d like to believe that will change soon enough. She’s also beginning to grasp things better and better. That’s cool and all, but usually that means she’s yanking on my hair or she’s pulling the pacifier out of her mouth, with that result being crying, as she really wants it back in her mouth. Needless to say, I’m already thinking of getting a short and simple mommy-hairdo and am looking forward to the day when she realizes, “yes, I pulled the pacifier out, but hey, look at me, I can put it back in as well.” Of course, that may also be the day that I realize she’s getting too big for a pacifier anyway, as I’m not a big fan.

We'd taken the above picture the first night she was home.

Then we decided to take the picture again on her one month birthday. Look how she's grown!

My oldest friend, Lesly, came in to surprise us with a visit. She came all the way from San Francisco to meet Abagail. She usually doesn’t get to come home until Christmas, but she couldn’t wait that long to meet her, so came in for a quick visit a couple of weeks ago. She’s got a lot of people to see when she’s here, so it was a brief stay with us, but I still can’t believe she came in—and her and George managed to keep it a surprise!

We still haven’t made it to church yet. We have good intentions every Saturday, through the day, but then the child manages to be cantankerous that night, keeping us up even later than normal. While we miss everyone there and miss going, and we know we’re going to have to get the morning routine down soon enough, we also know our days of taking it easy and napping are numbered.

She's starting to enjoy bath time. Look at that face!

Daddy giving her a manicure!

Hmm, looks like we're going to have to ease her into getting used to the Bumbo . . .

That’s the word from here. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

New news

Good grief, time flies! Abagail is now 3 weeks and 3 days old and I haven’t even updated anyone about her 2 week check up. We’d gone into the doctor’s office for the check up on September 25th and found that she was weighing in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces and measures 19 ½ inches in length. I keep saying “height,” but I don’t think you can technically call it height until she’s upright, so I have to remind myself that she measures in “length.”

Anyway, that put her at 4 ounces above her birth weight and 2 ¼ inches more than her birth length. This is right on track with where she should be. Babies lose so much in water weight those first few days after birth that the doctors typically want to see them back to their birth weight or a couple of ounces above by their 2 week check up, so since she was there and the daily diaper count is where it should be in terms of wet and dirty diapers, this is tangible evidence that breast feeding is going well.


I can attest to the fact that it’s improving every day. Each meal gets easier and easier as she continues to remember how to nurse and I get increasingly more comfortable with the process. It’s progressing well enough that I am now pumping milk occasionally and we’ve introduced a bottle to her. Not only does this allow George in on the feeding schedule, but it has allowed us to venture out several times without feeling like our lives have to stop at every 3 hour mark. Feeding just becomes a brief interruption before continuing on.

All in all, last week was a great week. Not only did we get out to Target to take our first family portraits, but we ate out twice, ran several errands, did our grocery shopping, and got the oil changed in both cars. It felt great to get out and prove that we could do it and still make everything work. The pictures will be ready from Target on Wednesday, so by the end of the week, I’ll have those to share.

While not everyone agrees with the philosophy, instead of just letting her wake up when she’s hungry, we’re putting her on somewhat of a routine for meals and she’s been responding really well. She eats every 3 hours during the day and every 4 hours at night. She actually pretty much wakes up when she is ready to eat and all I have to do is change her diaper to get her to fully alert. Luckily, we’ve gotten past that stage where she couldn’t seem to care less about eating in favor of sleeping. She doesn’t have her days and nights mixed up—she stays awake after meals through the day, then goes down for a nap, but then at night, (thankfully) she’s ready to go right back to sleep after eating.

We have found that Abagail’s unhappiest time of day seems to be anywhere between 7PM and 10PM. She seems to need an additional meal and just fights sleep in general, so we accommodate her with an extra feeding and more cuddling. Some hold outs may say we’re spoiling her, and that may be, but it just feels so good to hold her that we’ll deal with the idea of spoiling her later. We’ve just got to figure out what works best for all of us.

George went back to work this morning for a week, but is off the following week. I’m anxious to see how I do with her on my own all day. George and I work together so well as a team that I have told him, repeatedly, that I have no idea how single parents or parents who have less-than-willing-partners can manage. If it weren’t for our tag-team efforts, I just might go crazy. The cool thing about this week is that not only do I get to test the waters by myself, but more importantly, George went back to work as Lieutenant Schmerer. He was promoted before he went on leave, but it happened rather quickly before Abagail’s birth, so unfortunately, I nearly let it go by without giving him the props he deserves. He’s worked so hard since he was promoted from patrol to detective those, what, 7-8 years ago (has it been that long?!) that he really earned the recognition. The slight pay bump comes at a good time too!

It’s still amazing to me that God entrusted us with this perfect little being. I think I could just stand over her crib or hold her all day, marveling at her. She still gets to be perfect for awhile longer—we haven’t screwed her up yet, the world hasn’t had a chance to disappoint her yet, no one has given her a reason to be cynical about anything yet. I’m trying to remember how precious few these days are.

Happy belated birthday to Ms. Abagail Marie Schmerer! I have quickly discovered just how hard it really is to get anything accomplished with a new baby in the house. I was just as naïve about this as I was about the idea of scheduling her arrival, but hey, live and learn, right? I’d actually tried to post an update when we were still at the hospital, but something was wrong with the site, so it had to wait ‘til we’d gotten home. Well, now we’ve been home a full week and it’s taken me this long to do this and I’ve had this thing written for days now!

At any rate, the Lord blessed us with a remarkably easy C-section and she was born at 12:19 PM on Friday, September 11th, 2009, so I’m only a couple of days late in wishing her a one-week happy birthday wish. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 17 ¼ inches long. Her overall size is very average, but her belly was a bit big at birth, so the doctor didn’t regret the C-section.

Abagail had some fluid in her lungs at birth, so she spent about 2 ½ hours on oxygen in the nursery and once she was off that, she was still under close monitoring for another 1 ½ hours or so. This is pretty typical of C-section babies, as they don’t get the opportunity to have the fluid compressed out of the lungs like they do during vaginal deliveries. The doctor had warned us about it, but I still had a few tense hours, waiting to hold her. George was running back and forth between the room and the nursery, showing me pictures and getting to check on both of us. It has already given me a new appreciation for what parents of NICU babies have to go through (or during any medical issues) when the care of your child is completely out of your hands and out of your site. It’s probably a good thing I was still a little fuzzy from the meds they’d given me for surgery. I wasn’t the basket case I’m sure I would have been otherwise.

She spent our last day and night at the hospital under a bed of lights for a slight case of jaundice, but since they have great portable beds for this, she was in the room the majority of the time. The jaundice wasn’t even bad, but the pediatrician said that since we had decided to stay that day, she might as well spend her time under the lights.

At the hospital, we had a steady stream of visitors, so Abagail definitely has quite a fan club already. And why not? She is pretty dang cute. And we were told that dinners are taken care of for us all week. Our church family is absolutely amazing! I continue to be amazed at how blessed we truly are. Folks were willing to bring us food out through Saturday night and we’ve got plenty of leftovers to last too.

For me, the C-section and recovery have not been a problem. I’m getting around much more easily than I thought I would be. The incision is pretty uncomfortable, but never even registered as painful. After the 24 hour mark, I was able to be un-catheterized, un-IV’d, and de-compression hosed (for potential blood clots). Once I was mobile again, it made things MUCH easier. But hey, it meant George had to change all the initial tar-poop diapers since I couldn’t get out of bed. Lucky me!

The folks at the Norman hospital are wonderful, so the support and help were great. But, both George and I were anxious but ready to find our own routine and continue the “getting to know you phase” once we’d gotten home, which we did last Monday afternoon at about 4PM.

I am nursing and all in all, it’s gone really well. Those first few days were certainly an adjustment and I guess they truthfully still are, but I still feel good about the progress we’ve made. When we went back to the hospital on Wednesday to have her jaundice level checked again (and found out she was fine) she had stopped losing weight and had put back on almost two ounces. By the time we go in this Friday for her 2 week check up, she is supposed to be back at her birth weight.

I don’t care how much you read, what other parents say to you, and how otherwise prepared you think you are, I don’t see how you can ever really be ready for the fatigue that comes along with nursing a baby every 3 hours or so. She’s a very heavy sleeper and if I didn’t wake her up every 3 to 3 ½ hours, I have no idea how long she’d go without eating. I find this hard to believe since she is a product of me and George. We’re both pretty big fans of food in general, so the idea of not eating is foreign to us. Of course, when I remind her that it’s time to eat, she’s all for it, but at this point, her desire for sleep still seems to be outweighing her desire for food. I’m sure that won’t last much longer. Needless to say, I seem to spend the bulk of my day going through a pretty laborious process of waking her up before she’s ready to eat. It takes longer to remind her to eat than it does to actually eat.

I will continue to post pictures and updates so you can see how Abagail progresses with her growth and milestones, so don’t think that now that she’s here, the blogging is over. However, I certainly can’t promise how often I’ll get out here to post, but if you’ve been following me for any length of time, you should know how not regularly I post anyway. So for now, thank you for all the prayers, well wishes, and support for our new blessing. We are most appreciative and hope we can show our gratitude appropriately to everyone who deserves a thank you. And, if you’ve texted or called and I haven’t responded, don’t take it personally. I’m probably just trying to waken my sleeping-like-the-dead child.

Latest News

All, so remember the definitive statements I've been making about "we've got "x" number of days" before Abagail's arrival? Well, I was reminded today how NOT in control I am, no matter how much I think I need to be.

George and I had been on a regular Friday rotation with the doctor for our weekly visits. I got a call from the nurse yesterday, telling me that Dr. Waterman (my ob) wanted to see us today instead of Friday. Hmm, that can't be good. It seems she'd finally gotten the final report from the doctor who had been doing our ultrasounds (he's up at Mercy, so the communication evidently isn't all that fast, as we hadn't seen him in 3-4 weeks.) Apparently, I'm growing a monster child because at the time we'd last seen him, Abagail's belly measurements were in the 95th percentile. OK, that didn't mean anything to us. However, it does to Dr. Waterman.

She's concerned about the size of the baby, not because she's necessarily too big for health reasons, but just because it adds risk to delivery. In her estimation, the safe bet is to do a C-section to be on the safe side. After we went in and listened to all those potential complications, we agreed. So, Abagail will be delivered by C-section. The scary part (for me, anyway) is the fact that the only time we could get scheduled for surgery is Friday. Yes, this Friday. The day after tomorrow. In 2 days. Uh, gulp!

So, tomorrow AM we are headed to the hospital to do the pre-op stuff, then we'll go to work and tie up the loose ends that we can. I have no idea yet what time we'll actually report to the hospital on Friday, but that's all part of what we're supposed to find out tomorrow. Evidently surgery is scheduled for noon, so hopefully by 1:00 or so, we'll be able to send out the good news of her arrival.

In the meantime, please keep us all in your prayers. As unexpected as it was, I am actually fine with the idea of a C-section, but was just not prepared at all for the change in timeline. I thought I would have 2 more days to work and tie up loose ends and that we'd still have the weekend to sleep in one last time, take in one more movie, relax a final time, etc, before our blessing arrives. As God has different plans for us, it seems we'll be spending the weekend at the hospital instead.

So, long story not so short, that's the news from here. Pray for us over the next few days and we'll most certainly keep everyone posted.

2 weeks to go

I officially do NOT have the time to post--not through the workday anyway--but had to today. Upon our last visit with the doctor, we set a date to induce labor. She's not worried about anything, as the baby is doing everything she should be: she's dropped, is head down, and I'm dilated to one centimeter. So things are progressing just as they should be; not too fast, not too slow.

However, the doctor is a planner and is a big believer in inductions for the sake of monitoring mom and baby and she strikes me as a bit of a control freak. Hmm, remind you of anyone? I am still hoping Abagail decides to start the process on her own (just not too early) but if she doesn't, then that means the 11th is my final day of work. George and I can have a few days off to try and relax and sleep in a few final times and we'll head to the hospital at midnight on the15th to plan for a delivery on the 16th.

So, it struck me today that means that I only have 7 days left at work to get all my crap done. Uh, what? I'm never caught up as it is, but now I'm just coming off of our peak time and I'm trying to get somewhat ahead? 7 days? Where did the time go?????

You know what else that means? That at this time in 2 weeks, odds are I'll either be in quite a lot of pain or Abagail will be here, depending on how quickly things go. 2 weeks? Again, where did the time go????? Am I really ready to be a mom? I have no worries about George and his abilities as a father. He's been ready for years and isn't worried about a thing. Me, on the other hand, is a different question. Taking that baby home scares me to death. Everyone better be right--all that natural maternal instinct had better kick in. Or I'd better be too exhausted to be scared. One of the two.

Anyway, I just felt the need to get that off my chest. It didn't really help and now I need to get back to work. I only have 7 days. Or really, more like 6 days by the time I account for meetings, doctor's appointments, etc. Jeez, now I just lost another day? Oh man . . .

Week 37

Unbelievably, I'm posting again! Can you believe it? I can't! I’ve got quite a few pictures to post this time too. I’ve been super busy over the last 2-3 weeks, trying to get things in order. I’m not giving George any of the credit either. J I’ve been busting my butt organizing, doing laundry, taking inventory, writing thank you cards, etc. I never would have guessed we would have been given so much stuff by our generous friends. This kid is set for quite a while and we haven’t had to do much about it. It’s been absolutely unbelievable!

But, to return to the more fun stuff. George and I had our final ultrasound last week. The tech got some good pics and those are what I posted already, but the doctor got some even better images. I was delayed in getting those up because we didn’t have digital copies, so we had to scan them, but then when we did, we realized the format wouldn’t work for the blog, so we had to rescan. But, here are some great face shots.

Is it just me, or does this poor little girl look like she has jowls? I’m hoping that’s just a shadow. Granted, if she’s built like I was as a baby, she’ll be nothing but rolls, but still, jowls? Yikes! Let’s just hope for shadows. But hey, I guess we’ll see in about 3 weeks’ time!

The nursery and spare room are both looking good. We still need some stuff on the walls, as they are absolutely bare and we need some nightstands in the nursery, but for now, things are organized. I’m sure we’ll rearrange a million times, but it’s coming along for now. Laundry is done and put away. Gifts are inventoried. Bath stuff is stashed.

This is the spare room's "before" picture when it was my work room. Also, you'll see the "during" pictures when we were deluged with gifts.

And finally, an "after" shot. Some things still don't have a home, but at least things are picked up!

















These are the scary "before" shots of the nursery. The crib was put together pretty early on, but as you can see, it just served as a dumping ground for the bedding for the double bed that had to be broken down while I was working on the chairs. It had turned into such a pig stye for awhile that I literally hated walking into this room.





This is the "during" of the nursery. The bed was made, you just couldn't see it while I was trying to sort clothes out.













And finally, it's come together! Yes, the pictures have to be hung, I know. But hey, at this point, I'll take what I can get!

We'll move the glider and ottoman in once she's here, but for now, it still resides in the living room.

All in all, I’m feeling good about everything. I’ve still got a ton of thank you cards to write (a good problem to have, I know!) but everything else is falling into place. We need to pack our bags, as technically she could arrive any time. It seems we’re tempting fate by not having it ready. Same goes for the car seat and stroller. We waited around until this last weekend to purchase the car seat and it turns out, Babies R Us was out at the store. We had to order it and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it really does come in within the 7 day window they gave us.

So, I’ve still got shower pictures to post. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m overlooking those. We need to appropriately express our gratitude and appreciation for both our church family and our colleagues at work. Now that I’m feeling a little bit caught up—for now—I should now have time to post next about our 2 great showers.

For now, we’ve got our final night of our breastfeeding class to attend tonight. A breastfeeding class on my birthday. Ah, life really is all about the baby, isn’t it?!

Week 36

Holy cow! I haven't posted anything since the 4th?? This is terrible. I've got to make it a priority to get caught up this weekend. I plan to post shower pictures and nursery pictures. The showers were amazing--wow, do we have generous, wonderful friends!--and the nursery is actually looking like a nursery. The before, during, and after pictures are quite humorous. Or scary, depending on your point of view.

I'm officially 36 weeks along and we're now on the weekly schedule to visit the ob/gyn. My guess is that when we visit tomorrow, we'll get the pros and cons of induction, if the due date will change, etc. I'm still not sure I'm set on induction. I'm one of the biggest planners I know so while it seems so great to know when Abagail should arrive, know my doc can deliver her, know the hospital is fully staffed, etc, but it seems rather unnecessary to schedule the birth. If my body and the baby isn't ready, why do we need medical intervention if there aren't any complications? We'll see. I'm trying to keep an open mind.

According to the scale at the house, I've only clocked in 20 pounds in weight gain. I am extremely happy about that! I'm still feeling surprisingly good, but am getting increasingly uncomfortable. I'm just feeling big, bulky, and belly-rific. My tailbone hurts all the time now. My feel are almost always swollen. I'm starting to wake up quite a few times through the night, which for someone whose always been a heavy sleeper, this is quite an adjustment. But, all in all, if my last 4-5 weeks can only be called "uncomfortable" then I'll shut up and count my blessings for what a breeze this pregnancy truly has been.

I try to describe her movement to George, but I know I do a terrible job. It's intriguing and downright cool to know that's my baby with all that movement in there, but right now, her kicks are so strong that I would really just like to tell her to knock it off occasionally. She is head down (and has been for several weeks) and seems to have developed a passion for punching my bladder. So, while I'm still not sure I'm ready for her to be here, I have reached that point where I'm pretty sure I'm ready for the pregnancy to come to an end.

But, for the good stuff: more pictures! We had our 5th and final ultrasound today. The accessory lobe on the placenta is still present and the ultrasound doc says that while it's possible it will deliver with the rest of the placenta, it's one of those things that you just can't guarantee. That's why we "got" to have all the ultrasounds. He's been trying to monitor just how connected the main part of the placenta is with this accessory lobe. It's tenuous enough he can't even say if it's truly connected or not. But again, this isn't posing a problem to Abagail or to me. The delivery staff just has to be very aware of it when the placenta delivers, otherwise I risk unnecessary bleeding and/or infection.

Abagail's heartbeat was a strong 148 beats per minute. To see that heart beating is just an amazing thing. Her approximated weight is 6 pounds, 11 ounces. She's got some of the chubbiest cheeks I've ever seen-except for when I look at my own baby pictures anyway . . . Check her out!

We've got more and better ones, but we've got formatting issues. As soon as we can figure that out, I'll post those too. The doc got surprisingly good images for so late in the pregnancy. Typically this far along, good images are hard to come by, just because she's running out of space and is so squished.

So, that's all I've got for now. I still have lots of pictures to post, so while I don't want to promise anything, I will work steading towards doing that this weekend.

Night, everyone!

I’ve managed to fall way behind yet again and have a lot to say. But, it’s late and I won’t get into too much detail about ALL of it. On Wednesday, the 22nd, we got to see little miss again. Abagail is looking great—her heartbeat was 139 beats per minute and her weight was estimated at 4 ½ pounds. By now, it’s entirely possible that she’s packed on another pound or so. And a good thing too—I’d hate for her to suffer like her diminutive mother has all her life. Ha!

It's like she's waving hello to us.


She strikes me as deep in thought here.



Sweet little foot (that likes to kick me in the ribs.)

And another great shot of her sweet face. Aren't those lips cute?!

At last week’s check up, Dr. Waterman gave me another green light for the heartbeat, blood pressure, fundal height, and—get this—I lost a pound! She said it wasn’t unusual. I suppose if it were to happen at every checkup, she’d have to be concerned, but this time around, didn’t seem at all worried about either of us. She recommended that we go and see Dr. Mirabile, the doctor doing the ultrasounds, again on the 20th. It’ll be interesting to see how big she’s gotten by then. There are no doctors' appointments this week, but after we've seen her next week, we'll start on the weekly rotation of appointments.

We met with Dr. Fox, our prospective pediatrician. We really liked her and feel confident in using her as Abagail’s doctor when she arrives. She’s been doing this for more than 20 years, so we can feel good about how long she’s been in the business. We’ve yet to find anyone who has taken or does take their children to her, but if she’s been around that long, I’m sure it won’t take long to find folks. We have had glowing recommendations about the PAs and nurses in the office from some friends who take their kids to Dr. Fields, Dr. Fox’s office partner. Oh my heavens there are just so many things I need to learn. Dr. Fox gave us a summary of when regular checks are needed and what goes on with them. Never would have guessed!

We are taking a "well baby" class, starting this Thursday. Evidently between the 3 hours this Thursday and 3 hours next Thursday, we'll be taught how to be parents. We'll see. We've also got a nutrition class coming up. It's about nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Guess I don't have to drag George to that one, but why not? And what will I be doing on my 31st birthday? The first of 2 nights of a breastfeeding class. If she arrives on time (the due date hasn't changed yet from 09/15) we'll have had time to do all of our classes except for the infant CPR class. We're signed up for that later in September. Hey, nobody can accuse us of not trying to educate ourselves.

Those cursed chairs I’ve been working on are done, the nursery is coming along and we’ve had two amazing showers. We've got pictures of all of that, however, that’s going to have to wait until another day. I’m exhausted (and it’s only 10:30!) but it’s bedtime!

Week 30

There's still not a whole lot of exciting news to report from here, and I recognize that for the blessing it is! I'm still feeling good and Abagail is moving more than ever.

We all visited the doc this morning for the 30 (almost 31) week checkup. I gained 4 pounds from 2 weeks ago, but considering the fact that I hadn't gained anything at the last checkup, I figure that's OK. Now, if I gain 4 pounds at every check up from here on out, I'm in real trouble! The blood pressure is still in good shape, little miss's heartbeat is as fast and strong as ever, and according to the fundal height measurement (the size of the belly from the top of the pubic bone to the top of the uterus when laying down) we're all right on track. Evidently, the rule of thumb is that the belly, when measured this way, is supposed to be one centimeter for every week of pregnancy. This morning, my belly measured at 32 cm, so the growth of Abagail seems to be going as it should be. At least they don't measure your belly in terms of waistline. I posted a pic from last weekend that George took. For those of you who care to see the progression of the belly, here you go. Personally I think I look enormous!

The week before that, George thought it would be cute to take a picture of me while I napped. It's not an otherwise flattering pic, but I thought my arms wrapped around my belly and my puffy feet made for an interesting picture.

The nursery still isn't together. We'd broken down the spare beds and still haven't reassembled them, so right now, the crib is holding all of the bedding one of the beds. This is my fault, as I'm using the non-nursery bedroom as a workroom to paint the dining room chairs that have needed some work for 5 years now. 5 years!! If the pending arrival of a baby isn't motivation to get some crap done, I don't know what is. Don't worry, I got clearance from the doc to paint. As soon as I get the chairs done in the next week or so, we can put both rooms together.

This can't come soon enough. We're blessed to have our church family throwing us a shower on July 26th. The folks at FBC Noble have really welcomed us with open arms. And the ladies in our Sunday school class seem thrilled to have a baby to welcome soon. We're the only couple in the class that don't have kids, so it'll be nice to have yet one more thing in common with our new friends. We're very lucky to have found such a wonderful church home with such warm, fantastic people.

On August 4th, the great folks at work are going to throw a shower for us too. Since George and I both have worked at the HSC for so long, we're looking forward to all the loot, I mean, seeing all of our friends together. Oh, you know I'm kidding! We do realize just how fortunate we are to have friends and coworkers who are so great. Even if they did nothing but show up and wish us well, it feels so good to have so many people sharing in our happiness.

When we had the last ultrasound, the doctor found that there is an "extra" part of the placenta. It's just sort of an extraneous little blob off to the side that doesn't affect me or the baby. But, they do have to keep an eye on it, as it could pose a problem after delivery if they aren't paying attention. Since this doesn't mean we actually have anything to worry about, we actually get to be happy about it. What it means is that we get 2 more (medically necessary) ultrasounds. Woohoo for what insurance will cover! We get to see Abagail at 32 weeks and at 34 weeks and we might otherwise not get to enjoy this. Needless to say, we're looking forward to that.

Other than that, things are good here. We're "interviewing" a pediatrician soon and are trying to figure out how long we can both actually take off of work. Wish us luck on the pediatrician. There aren't that many in Norman that like our insurance, so we're hoping we luck into a good one on the first try. Now we just need to actually come up with a list of questions. Besides just getting a feeling for her personality, we don't really know what we should ask yet. We'll be compiling a list in the next week or so that way we don't walk in to her office looking like completely ignorant fools.

'Til next time!

What?

I'm posting twice in 10 days time?? What is up with that? Since I droned on for so long last time, I'll keep this one short.

This is just to let everyone know that we are now registered at Target and Babies R Us. I'm not soliciting gifts for Ms. Abagail, but it's just in case you kind folks are in a giving mood. :)

Registering was quite an endeavor, and it did stress me out quite a bit, but not as bad as I expected. Holy cow, why in the world do babies need so much stuff? Or is it all that stuff more for the parents than the child? Regardless, I think I'm going to pass out everytime I walk into Babies R Us. At least Target is manageable with just a couple of aisles. Babies R Us is just overwhelming when you have no idea what half of those things are for, if they're necessary or just silly, if the kid is going to like this bottle or that one, at what age they actually need something, or again, if it's a need or just a want (for the parent), or what. It leaves me breathless! And to think that my parents raised me--and quite well, I'd like to think--with what was probably lead-based paint on my crib and just sticks and rocks to play with. Good Heavens, how did I survive?

OK, maybe from this point forward I'll do better about posting short blogs instead of the marathoners that you get once a month. I have no idea when we'll have new ultrasound pics to post, but maybe I'll finally get George to take a picture of me so you can see the ever-expanding belly.

Long time, no blog

It’s official. I have got to be the world’s worst blogger. We’ve actually had a pretty big 2 weeks and here I am, not posting a thing. Work’s been crazy, and the last thing I want to do when I get home at night is to sit at the computer for any longer. And the weekends—ah, where do they go?

I am at 26, almost 27, weeks of pregnancy and still doing well. I’m now on the every-two-week schedule to visit the ob/gyn, so that’s fun. Well, OK, it’s not actually fun, but it means we get to hear the heartbeat more often!

Anyway, to return to the fact that it’s been a big couple of weeks. I’ve got new pictures, so see below. Early on, we had decided to go the optional route and have the little one tested for Down’s Syndrome markers and other chromosomal abnormalities that can be somewhat detected with blood tests and ultrasounds. She looks good—and she’s still a she! The only way to discover Down’s (that’s the most common chromosomal abnormality) for certain is to do an amniocentesis and neither of us was interested. It has some risks with it, and the blood tests all came back with nothing significant to worry about. But, we had our minds put at ease for that anyway and we got to go to the doctor’s office that has the really good ultrasound machine. We had our final ultrasound there about 2 weeks ago and have some more good pictures. Her organs all look to be in great shape and her growth is right where it should be. The only thing of slight concern is there is an extra lobe of the placenta. This doesn’t affect her at all, it’s just something the doctors have to be aware of during delivery for my sake. Evidently, it can cause some slight complications and bleeding issues if they aren’t paying attention.

The other big news is that we have decided on a name! Junior can now officially be referred to as Abagail Marie Schmerer. Yes, Abagail, not Abigail. I’ve always—well, almost always—appreciated being Mendy and not Mindy. In my life, I’ve only met one or two other Mendys and I think that’s pretty cool to be somewhat unique without being too oddly named. It feels pretty cool to refer to her by name too. You can call her Abby if you’d like, but my preference is going to be Abagail. I told George the only thing I could come up with—when trying to think like a mean kid—is to call her Crabagail. If that’s the worst thing kids can do to her name, she’ll be OK.

She’s kicking up a storm now too. But lucky for me, in a convenient sort of way. She seems to turn into a pumpkin around 10PM and sleeps through the night, just like her momma. I’m hoping that’s a sign of things to come. Maybe she’ll be a good sleeper! She’s most active during the day, but that may be because I seem to sit at my desk for too long at once. She might be trying to remind me to get up and walk my butt around. She’s stubborn though, I can tell that already. She can be kicking away, but as soon as someone else tries to enjoy it, she will quit. For every ultrasound we have had, she’s immediately held pretty still while we’re looking at her. If George tries to feel her, more often than not, she’ll lie still. Stubborn or modest, I’m not sure, but given her Collins and Schmerer genes, I’m going with stubborn.

I’ve put on 15 pound so far, and she’s currently only about 2 of those. I figured that I’d balloon up by 60 pounds, so for now, I’ll take it! My ankles are starting to swell by the end of the day and yard work is getting pretty dang hard. George is going to have to start pulling weeds for me soon enough. He’s very excited about that.

We took a childbirth preparation class on Saturday. ALL DAY on Saturday. Have I mentioned overwhelming yet? But it was very informative. It made me realize yet again how much some other ladies have to endure for the sake of our little blessings. Man, I’ve had it so easy. We took a tour of the facilities at Norman Regional, and they are really nice digs. Over the next several weeks, we’ll be taking a “nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding class”, a “well baby class,” and a breastfeeding class. Our lives are seriously ramping up to be all baby, all the time, really quickly.

Our intention is to be registered by the end of this weekend. About 2 weeks ago, we’d spent an entire Saturday doing baby stuff, just trying to do a little homework and preparation. We spent several hours at Target and at Babies R Us. Holy cow is that store overwhelming or what?! For someone who has no real idea what babies need versus what parents want, the actual registration process is going to stress me the hell out! Don’t be surprised if you see one of everything in the store on the list, just because I have no idea if it’s really necessary or not.

So far, as worried as I am about everything, I’ve been trying to keep my hysteria in check. We have friends at church whose daughter was born with birth defects of the heart. At the tender age of 17 months old, she went in for yet another surgery to try and repair those defects. Needless to say, her heart never really recovered from surgery the way the doctors had hoped, so she was moved to a hospital in Little Rock, a regional transplant center. They have been there almost a month now and just late last week, Jocelyn received a heart transplant. In thinking about how strong Jocelyn and her family has been, and to think about the family who suffered the loss to make that transplant a reality, my worries seem so trivial. My prayers go up and my heart goes out to them countless times each day. Their faith in God and their strength in His love has been inspiring, to say the least, and it makes me remember how blessed George and I really are.

And to selfishly return to our blessing, our Abagail, enjoy some new pictures!

She looks like she has a bit of pig's nose here, but she seems to sleep curled up like her mom.

I think she's saluting us!

A good shot of those delicate bones in one of her hands.

A great profile shot!

And a foot. Don't know where the other one really is at that moment . . .