39 weeks!

Our expectant birth mom K is 39 weeks! We had her appt. today and the baby's heart rate is still nice and strong at 138. K has been having regular contractions, they are an hour apart, but have been steady since yesterday morning. So she is in labor, just the very early stages. She is still 70% effaced (has been for 3 weeks now) but is dialated to a 1.5 (she had been a 1 for two weeks, so that is progress). She has consistently been measuring slightly bigger then she actually is, when they measure her belly. I assumed she would measure at 41, and was even willing to bet on it, but I would have lost that bet. K is 39 weeks, but is measuring at 44!! What the! Yeah, even the dr. was shocked at that one! Dr. O thinks the baby is possibly 9 lbs., if not more. They have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday morning (at 7a.m.) to measure how big baby girl actually is. The dr. wants to avoid a c-section, or induction at all costs, but we will see. I did ask him how long they would let her go before inducing. He said the hospital actually has a "strict policy" against inducing before 41 weeks unless they have to. So we'll see. He said if baby is too big, they may need to do a c-section, but he will try to avoid that, now we wait till Monday (unless K's labor speeds up which is what I'm hoping for! I so don't want them to have to do a c-section! Ecspecialy since she is supposed to start school again in 4 weeks!) We were expecting a July baby, we may have an August baby. I hope not though! K is so completely miserable at this point. She is so swollen and can barely move. Baby girl needs to be nice to her her birth mommy and come out!

Here is a pic of our angel that I took after her appt.

38 weeks!

Today our expectant birth mom is 38 weeks. We also had her 38 week appt. today as well.

The dr. says there really isn't much change since last week. 70% effaced, dialated to a 1. Baby's heartrate is 152 and she has dropped slightly, but not much. We had a little scare when the doctor checked the position of the baby. He couldn't tell where her head was so he did an ultrasound (when I was pregnant with Tammy we had to do a c-section because she turned back around so she was butt down. Dr. was afraid K might have to have a C-Section too). Luckily baby's head is down so all is well. Here is a pic of K at 38 weeks.

37 weeks, and a contest!!

Today was K's 37 week appt. I can't beleive we only have 21 days till her due date! Crazy! After all these years it seems a little surreal that this is all happening and truth be told I keep waiting to be woken up and told it's all been a dream. Oh, but if it is a dream, what a sweet dream it is, that I don't ever want to wake up from!

K is doing great! She is healthy, happy, and ready to not be pregnant anymore. LOL I can't even imagine. Being 37 weeks pregnant in Utah, in the heat! Wowza! K is 37 weeks and is measuring at 39. (We're thinking maybe a lot of water? Not sure why she is measuring so much bigger.)

Baby Emily continues to grow and do well. Her heart rate is at 156. She is head down and ready.

K is 70% effaced and dialated almost to a 1 but not quite at a 1 yet.

So, here is what I am thinking. A few people I know have done this, including my FB/bloggy/adoption friend Brittany, and I thought it would be fun.

I want to hold a contest to see who can guess the closest to the baby's birth date, weight, and height. If 2 people guess the same date, the winner will be whoever guessed the closest on the weight and vice versa. If two people guess the exact same, the winner will be the first person to guess it. I may do a runner up prize in that case though. Not sure what the prize will be yet, but we'll see. I'll make it good, I promise. :D Maybe something I make, maybe a gift card to my favorite restuarant, not sure yet.

Anyhow, here is what I have so far (from FB):
Matt B. July 24th
Shantell L. July 20th 7 lbs. 6 oz. 20 inches
Melinda C. July 22nd 7 lbs. 8 oz. 21 inches
Merissa C. July 23rd 7 lbs. 9 oz. 20 inches
Jennilee M. July 24th 7 lbs. 10 oz. 20 inches
Gina T. July 28th 6 lbs. 9 oz. 20 inches

Carly J. July 22nd 5 lbs. 8 oz. 21 inches

Jessa S. July 27th 8 lbs. 6 oz.

Shelley I. August 2nd 6lbs. 11 oz. 20 inches

Theresa S. July 29th 8lbs. 19 1/2 inches

Barbara D. July 25th 7lbs. 2 oz. 20 1/2 inches

Mandy E. August 5th 7 lbs. 9 oz. 20 inches

Joy G. July 16th 6 lbs. 10 oz. 19 1/2 inches

Stephanie W. July 23rd 7 lbs. 12 oz. 20 inches

Schyla C. July 14th 7lbs. 8 oz.

Alison G. July 27th 7 lbs. 8 oz. 23 inches

Lisa Z. July 23rd 6 lbs. 8 oz. 19 inches

Sabrina C. July 24th 8 lbs.

Jill B. July 20th 8 lbs. 7 oz. 20 1/2 inches

Celeste July 25th 7 lbs. 10 oz.

Any more guessers? Leave a comment here, or email me, or FB me. Tell me your guess on weight, height and the date that Emily will make her arrival. (I will update this post with guesses as I get them. :D)

36 week appt.

Wanna hear the latest in baby land? Jacob and I went to K's dr. appt. on Thursday. Jacob hadn't been to an appt. yet, so this was his first time hearing the baby's heartbeat in person. I have videotaped the heartbeat before, but there is just something about actually hearing it that blows you away! He sat there in stunned silence. I sat there trying not to cry as my hubby listened to that precious sound, knowing that very soon, she will actually be here.

Emily's heartrate is at 150 and she is doing great. It was K's 36 week appt. but she is measuring at 38. I'm thinking the baby was stretching maybe? Not sure. She hasn't completely dropped but she's getting there. K is 50% effaced but not dialating yet. We are onto weekly appts. now so we will see what next week holds. Can't wait!!! We now have 26 days left!!

We have had a couple of baby showers. Both were family showers. The friends shower will be after Emily comes because the friend who is throwing that shower is in the middle of a move so ya, after will be better for her. That way she can get settled in to her new home without the stress of planning a shower. I'm tickled thats he offered to do the shower. We have been friends since my sohpmore year of high school (almost 18 years now) so that makes it extra special.

I will do a seperate post about the showers later. For now, here is a belly shot of our birth mom K.

What we do to pass time......

So last week hubby was at the store pricing shingles for the roof. We didn't need to replace the roof yet. We were told we had about 2-3 years when we had the house inspected before buying it, before we needed to replace the roof. But in 2-3 years we will have a child prepping for college and a toddler getting ready for pre-school, and possibly another newborn. So we figured while we had the money and time, we would go ahead and do it. Well hubby found some great ones at the big orange box on sale. 30 years, architectural design, slate in color. Gorgeous!

He had them delivered (roof top of course, cause it was free, and having to lug these heavy shingles up ourselves would just have been silly), got a couple of his brothers and a member of our church to come help and 3 days later, they were done! Well, the first day, his brother Joe came for 4-5 hours, the second day it was just Jacob, and the third day is when Joe came again, John came and the member from our church came. Seriously, the help was soooo appreciated. And I love LOVE how it looks now. As Tammy commented, our house actually looks newer, just by reshingling the roof. :D Next project for the outside of the house, repainting. :D

Above: Before (taken May 5, 2010)

And now, for the big reveal (that is, if you aren't on my Facebook and haven't already seen it)

The after (taken June 25, 2010)

We also bought a new dishwasher. The old one was leaking so we decided to buy a new one. We spent a little more than I would have liked, but we opted to get the one we would want when we redo our kitchen next year. Figured it would save money rather than having to get a new one now for a couple hundred and then spend more later to get what we actually want. Plus, it was on sale so we're happy.

Today is July 1st. I never thought July would come. July is the month Baby Emily is due. It seems surreal honestly. We have waited so long for this, and now it is almost here. We have had a couple of baby showers for family. My mom did one for her side, Jacob's sister-in-law did one for Jacob's side of the family and there is still 1 more before the baby comes. Our birth mom K and my stepmom, are throwing us one next week. My friend Annette offered to throw us one after the baby comes. She is in the middle of a move right now so when we talked, we decided after Emily comes would be better. We will probably do an open house as well but we haven't decided that yet. Since we are also doing an open house when the adoption is finalized and we are able to bless her and go to the temple, we may wait on that.

Later today we have a dr. appt. that we are going to. Hubby is coming with so that he can hear Emily's heartbeat in person for the first time. This is also the appt. where they do the tests to make sure all is good for a regular delivery, and I think they will start checking K as well to see if she is starting to dialate. K is 36 weeks today which means we have 28 days left till her due date. 4 weeks (give or take depending on if the baby comes early or late of course). Or as my friend Brittany would say, 4 Saturday's (it always seems less when you count in Saturday's). YAY!!!

33 weeks! That means 7/49!

Our birth mom K is 33 weeks today. That means only 7 weeks. Which also means only 49 days!! Such an exciting time for our family! K is doing well, although she had a headache today, but she is doing well. She gets those a lot. I hope that the dr.'s are able to figure out what is causing them. I don't like it when she isn't feeling well. :(


The baby's heartrate is at 145 and at her last appt. last week K was measuring right on target at 32 cm. So things are progressing. We hired a lawyer who is really awesome. Since K is related to us, our adoption is a family member adoption so the agency can't facilitate it. But our lawyer is going to do a great job. He has even met K and she really likes him as well. He also came recommended by two of my friends. Can't get much better than that!


Anyhow, not much happening here. Just thought I would update quickly. So that this isn't a completely pointless post, I thought I would share some more of the photos that Ashley from Monarch Photography did last week. Please, no copying or sharing of these photos without the permission of myself or Ashley. Thank you. First of all, our awesome new blog banner is one of the photos Ashley took. Here are a couple more:

Not even born yet, and she already has Daddy wrapped around her finger. *grin* Can't wait for you to come Emily! We love you! And We Love You K!!

28 week appt.

Last Tuesday was K's latest dr. appt. She asked the dr. if he could do an ultrasound since I was there. So sweet of her to think of me! It was so neat to see baby girl on the screen. She even waved at us. So cute! K is such a sweetie. She gave me this card:

And these cute bows for baby girl's hair, and this adorable elephant to hang in her crib. The elephant plays Lullaby. So sweet!

I also got this cute cute baby bump pic of K at her dr. appt. Love it!

We all went up to see her a couple of weeks ago and gave her a birthmother's day present early. Jacob wanted to be there when we gave it to her. I don't have a picture of it, but I will get one and post it later.

Baby girl is growing wonderfully. K is glowing! She is amazing. We couldn't ask for a more wonderful birthmom for our baby girl. We love you K!

And Baby Girl has a name. we were going to wait to name her until the hospital, but there was one name that kept striking us all as the right name for this little one. When I was up there last Tuesday K referred to Baby Girl as Emily. That is the name we have all felt is right for this little one. So Baby Girl will from now on, be known as Emily Rose. Here is the story behind Emily:

About 5 or 6 years ago Tammy said that if we had a girl she wanted to name her. I asked her what she would name her and she said she had "always wanted a sister named Emily". So it has stuck with us since. Rose is K's middle name, so to honor her, we wanted Emily to have her middle name. So Emily Rose it is. YAY!

Next dr. appt. is on the 3rd of June. I can't wait! Hubby will have drill that day so he won't be able to make it. And Tammy still has school until the 4th. In fact the 3rd is her 9th grade Lagoon day. She is so excited! I can't beleive she will be in 10th grade soon! That means driver's ed next year! AGH!!! ;o)

Book, classes, names, and the sweetest sound.....

On Tuesday I got to go to our Birthmom K's dr. appt. It was so neat. I took the video camera with me so that I could record the baby's heartbeat since Jacob couldn't be there. I was concentrating on holding the camera steady so I didn't really pay attention to what I was hearing until I put the camera down. When I stopped recording I realized that the sound I was hearing was that of our baby girl's heartbeat. I couldn't help myself, I started crying. After almost 9 years of waiting, hoping, and praying for a little one.... It was the sweetest sound...... K was beaming. We really do love her!

It was such a neat and emotional day. I gave K a gift. I gave her this book :

It is written by Michael McLean and has a CD in the back with 6 of his songs, all adoption related. It is such a sweet book. We bought a copy for ourselves and gave the other one to K. It is a book I have heard about from other adoptive couples and have been wanting to get for awhile. So when I was at Deseret Book the other day I saw it and bought it. A lady who was in line next to me said that she had just bought it for her daughter who had placed her baby for adoption a year before and that it had been a help to her daughter to help her heal. I highly recommend it to anyone involved in the adoption world. It really is a beautiful book.

K gave us a bunch of baby things she has been collecting, including some of her old baby clothes. So sweet!

K's next appt. is in a month. She is now at 24 weeks along. The dr. said everything is going great. K is going to start child birth classes soon. I hope to be able to go to at least some of them with her. Since she is 2 hours away I may not be able to go to all of them, but hopefully I can make it to some of them.

I have been asked quite a lot if we have picked a name yet. We have decided on a middle name, but the first name is still up in the air. The baby's middle name will be Rose, after her birthmom (it's K's middle name as well). As for the first name, we are deciding between Emily and Melissa. Although we are leaning towards Melissa. Mostly because Melissa is of course the name of my friend who passed away in January. The only problem is that Jacob's brother John and his wife Dawn named their baby Melissa last year. I don't know if we want 2 Melissa's so close together (they will be 15 months apart, although if we do go with Melissa, we will use a nickname like Missy or something along those lines). K likes both names so we can't go wrong with either. We will probably take a list of names to the hospital and decide on the first name after the baby is here.