Today's the Day! (But Not Really)

Right? I mean, it is July 25. The day that countdown timer has been counting down to all along. We're all set. We've got our bag packed (as Nicole is demonstrating in the picture), the nursery all set, and our birth plan is printed. I guess someone forgot to tell Reilly that today is the day. Right now it looks like we'll begin another week of work. We know that first time pregnancies typically go past their due dates but we were optimistic. Now it's just a waiting game. Labor could literally start at any moment. Nicole thinks that if we weren't all set and ready to go that Reilly would have decided to come early. You know, Murphy's Law? Now that we're prepared, though, it's not going down that way.

We tried to get the baby out today. We took a nice walk this morning before church. I tried to get Nicole to eat some jalepeños at lunch (she wouldn't). We're not just sitting idly by. We are, however, still in good spirits. We are enjoying our time (and the attention). Ideally, I won't be writing a post next week titled 'T-PLUS 7 Days," but who knows?

I asked Nicole what we should tell you all about this last week. Her response? "I don't remember last week." Ah, back to the whole "the baby ate my brain" excuse. I love it. It was strange not having our Bradley class this week and not getting to see those friends. We're looking forward to spending more time with them soon! Nicole did mention that Reilly has been moving a lot today. My favorite mom-to-be has also felt like she has to go to the bathroom every 45 minutes. I am pretty sure that she is ready to be done with that. I asked Nicole what she is most looking forward to (other than having a baby, of course) about becoming un-pregnant. She is mostly excited about her feet not being swollen and having an occasional margarita. Yum!

I'm not really sure what to put about baby facts anymore. Reilly's head is really low right now and we heard today that that means she'll probably have a cone head when she's born. Soooo, right away she's got that going for her. We've both been reading more books but we've moved onto the child rearing books. We really like On Becoming Baby Wise and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. We spend a lot of our time discussing our parenting plans. Talking about schedules, feedings, sleeping, all of those kinds of things. It's a pretty amazing and exciting time of life.

Thanks, again, everyone for sharing in this journey with us. We can't wait to have the opportunity to introduce you to Reilly Marie. Please continue to keep all three of us in your prayers. Pray for an uncomplicated labor and delivery (a short one, too, if you're feeling as though your prayers are especially powerful and effective that day), a healthy baby girl, and wisdom for all of the medical personnel that will be part of one of the best days of our lives. Thanks again! I'm really hoping that our next post has pictures of our baby girl!

One Week!

One week left until our due date! Can you believe it? Nicole's theory is that Reilly will be late because we feel like we're actually prepared and ready. She thinks that if we felt as though we still had a lot to do that Reilly would maybe already be here. I'm not sure if that is true but we'll go with it.

We have finally finished our Bradley classes and have mixed feelings about being done. We are excited to know that we have put in some good time and have a much greater wealth of knowledge to pull from when labor comes around. We are also sad to not have class every week. We have really enjoyed getting to know the other couples in our class and are excited about continuing those relationships with new friends. The group that was in our class was a lot of fun and we are excited to share in this part of life with them.

One more thing: it is hot. Denver broke a record yesterday and got to 100º. Nicole's poor feet are on fire. We have been putting ice bags on her feet every night. Last night, I was an idiot and never turned on our swamp cooler. Neither of us slept at all. It's all my fault. However, if this is the worst part of pregnancy then we have done well and had it pretty good.

The lanugo has mostly disappeared off of Reilly, but we'll probably find a bit on her shoulders, arms and legs and in those protected little bodily creases. It will vanish completely on its own in time. Her lungs are maturing and surfactant production is increasing and fully prepared to take on the outside world! Our Little Bun doesn't have much room to move and certainly Nicole agrees! I don't think she could imagine 8 months ago that this wee one would be able to hook a toe in her ribs while elbowing her bladder? Reilly certainly has grown! Her body continues laying on the fat stores that will help regulate her body temperature after birth. In addition to normal fat, she is accumulating a special "brown" fat in the nape of her neck, between her shoulders and around organs. Brown fat cells are important for thermogenesis (generating heat) during her first weeks. Reilly probably weighs around 7.25 pounds and is about 19.9 inches inches in length.

T-Minus 2.5 Weeks

Hello, hello to one and all! Well, as you’re reading this that little countdown timer over to the left has a number that is less than 17. I know we keep talking about how quickly time has gone by but this is astounding. We are both wondering if now time will begin to drag because we keep saying that, literally, Reilly Marie could be born any day. Any day. Nicole could be starting labor right now as I type this. Uhhh . .. . that kind of makes me nervous. Maybe I should call her quick. Nah, she’ll call me. I’m sure of it. Anyway, we’re hoping that the time between now and when our little Bun is born continues to move quickly. We are most definitely keeping ourselves occupied (we will be going to a baseball game tonight) so that should help. Also that picture is a fake. It’s photoshopped a little bit. The real picture of Nicole is at the bottom of this post.

Nicole has continued to feel great. We spent some time last night just reflecting on how amazingly blessed we have been over the last year. Nicole just finished up her once-a-week babysitting job that was great for so many reasons: she feels like it was a great reminder of how to take care of a baby, it was some extra income for our family, and the family she was sitting for was incredibly generous towards us in a lot of ways. It is crazy that a job that Nicole worked less than thirty days total would be such a wonderful blessing to us. We feel overwhelmed by God’s provision and foresight in our lives.

We feel like we are as ready as we are going to be for Reilly to be born. The nursery is all set up. We’ve got the car seat base installed in the car and inspected by a pediatric flight for life nurse. Our bag for the hospital is packed and awaiting our departure. We only have one of our Bradley classes left and we’ll be talking about post-partum topics. We feel like we’re ready. We’re excited because we really believe that we can do this! It’s a great feeling because we thought we could do this back in the winter when we found out we were expecting a little bun. Let’s just say that our level of preparedness is much, much higher now. It’s a little worrisome because we know that the amount that we’ve learned in the past nine months is probably nothing compared to what we will learn the first week of having Reilly at home with us. That’s not scary, though. We are just so excited.

As far as Reilly goes, it’s the calm before the storm. Changes in her weight have leveled off with only a few ounces of fat added this week. At this point the Bun should weigh in at around 7 lbs. and 20 inches. Happily, as far as internal organs go, they are now developed enough to function in the outside world although the oh-so-important immune system is still developing and will continue to do so after birth with a large boost of antibodies provided by breast milk when nursing begins. Fighting infection and staying healthy should be well within Reilly’s physical capacity when our little Bun is born.