Photographic Evidence

A teaser:


Go here for more. :)

Announcing...

Clara Katherine Dean arrived at 7:30 PM on Sunday, January 25. She weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz and is 20.5" long and absolutely beautiful (photographic evidence of this assertion to come). :)

I lost a lot of blood after delivery and ended up needing a transfusion the following day. Made things interesting, but I feel MUCH better now than I did then. Clara is doing great, and her absolute favorite thing to do is fall asleep (sometimes even when she ought to be eating).

As I said, I'll come back with pictures later on...there's an opportunity now for me to get some sleep, and I think I should take advantage of it.

This Is Getting Old...

So I'm 41w1d today, and baby's still quite comfortable where she is. I had an appointment yesterday afternoon and got an induction scheduled - a two-part process, since I'm only 50% effaced. They'll give me cervidil on Saturday night and then start pitocin on Sunday morning. That was the earliest they could get me in, though they've promised to call me if an earlier slot becomes available. I was (am) pretty disappointed to have to wait that long, since they'd told me last week that I'd be induced today or tomorrow if baby hadn't come yet. The good news is that baby's still healthy and doing great, so I'm trying to be thankful for that, even though I want her evicted from her current quarters. :p

I did decide last week that I wouldn't be returning to school this week, so I've started my maternity leave. Teaching was making me incredibly exhausted, and I've now got a nice head cold too, so it's just as well. I'm off through spring break and will return to my classroom the first full week of April.

Anyway, I'm kind of in a holding pattern at this point, just waiting for labor to start or Saturday night to come. I'll post again once the little one has arrived. :)

Still Alive, Still Pregnant

Hi guys - sorry that I totally stink at updating this thing. (And M, I did receive your email, I just totally stink at responding to stuff in general.)

Anyway, as the title says, I'm still alive and pregnant...due this coming Tuesday. My doctor's office has told me that they will normally induce within a week after the due date, so I presume that when I go in on Monday, we'll discuss when I'll be induced if the little girl doesn't show up on her own.

Derek and I have been telling her that she needs to go ahead and come out, but thus far we seem to have a rebellious child who refuses to take instruction from her parents. We're discussing disciplinary techniques, but she's got us at a disadvantage since we can't actually use them until after she's born...and I think she suspects that we'll forgive her at that point, anyway. :p

Health-wise, I've done pretty well. There was one week where I had a couple of indicators of possible mild pre-eclampsia, but subsequent testing was negative, and I haven't had any indicators of it since then. My overall weight gain is just slightly more than the recommended range, but my doctors haven't expressed any concern about it. I'm tired all the time, but that's pretty normal for this point, I think.

Here are a couple of pictures. This one is of me about a week and a half ago, at 38 weeks:


And then here's one to show you how the baby's room is decorated...I made the crib sheet & bumpers.


There are more pictures of her room here (taken before I'd actually finished the sewing).

We've been incredibly blessed with gifts from family and friends, such that we've basically got everything we need at this point and are just awaiting the little one's arrival. (At home, anyway. At school, I'm trying frantically to get things together for the person who'll be subbing for me for two months. Things are falling into place there as well, just not quite ready yet.) We appreciate your prayers as we head, hopefully soon, into labor, delivery, and then the adventure of parenting. :)