Tuesday, March 31, 2009

More photos

As promised, here are some photos.

Meet Elliott Timothy Ingram

Little Elliott was born at 1:27 AM on Tuesday, March 31, 2009; he weighed 6 pounds and 11 ounces. Mom and baby are both in perfect health and resting comfortably; Dad was a nervous wreck, but he's doing better now.

Thanks to everyone for all of the well-wishes. The U of M hospital staff were amazing; all things considered, we really couldn't have asked for a better experience.

More photos to be posted soon via a different medium (Flickr and/or Facebook). I'll keep this page up-to-date with links.


Monday, March 30, 2009

Still in labor...

Nicki's still in labor; she's still progressing nicely but things have calmed down just a bit for the moment. We're thinking the delivery will probably happen before midnight, in case any of you out there have a pool going. 

Sunday, March 29, 2009

0 Days Left!

Well, we made our way to the hospital this evening. Nicki got all checked in and settled. Come to find out she was already 50% effaced and dilated 2 or 3 centimeters when we arrived, which was a nice surprise. Hopefully that's an omen that things will progress nicely. 

For now we're going to try to get some sleep, or at least rest, in preparation for a wild and crazy tomorrow!

How to get ready for the hardest week of your life

Make brownies to bribe the nursing staff with:

Check!

Make yet another picture for your teensie corner-of-the-bedroom nursery:

Check! If you can't tell, it is supposed to be the silhouette of a deer, although I'll admit it looks kindof like a long legged fox. That's okay. Momma made it with love.

David is on his way to pick up my mom from the airport, and I'm about to jog over to my last prenatal yoga class for a little relaxing before my crazy day. Wish us luck- the next time I write on here I should be whining about no sleep and desperately trying to figure out how to breastfeed or something! Love you guys!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

36 weeks, and 2 days left



Well, we finished our childbirth class today, and had our final meeting with our Doula. My bag is (almost) packed and I talked to the charge nurse at UofM and we are still on for the induction tomorrow. They could call us earlier if things are super slow, but they said otherwise we could expect to hear from them from 4-6 and we would go in at 7-8. My mom is set to hop on a plane at 6 am tomorrow to help us out, and now we are just relaxing. David said it is like the calm before the storm. I couldn't agree more.

Friday, March 27, 2009

3 days and counting...


Today I got baby mail! I love days when the mail brings packages, and today I got the stroller that my Mammaw bought for us. I don't generally like to order things online unless I've seen them up close before, but I could only find a reasonably-priced stroller with all the features I wanted by taking a chance with online shopping. The best part is that the seat can either face out or face you, and you can interact with the baby on walks. I put it together and practiced folding it up and switching around the seats, and I think I made a great choice.


Later on we are going to finally take our Lamaze crash course. Man I've got incredible timing...

Thursday, March 26, 2009

4 days to go...

Today was especially productive, since our friends Joe and Megan came over to clean for us while David and I went out to eat and for ice cream. Our house looks great, and I am so stuffed from dinner. I actually can't sleep right now, and I can't figure out if that is more an effect of lots of sugar from my ice cream or excitement and pregnancy insomnia. Either way, David is getting some shut eye and I am on the internet trying to wear myself down a little.

I went for my last non-stress test and prenatal appointment today, and everything still seems fine. Even though I've been told three or four times now what I can expect on Sunday, I still feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants a little bit. I think shy of giving me a blow-by-blow of the whole labor experience, I won't feel prepared any way we go about it, so now I just feel ready to do this thing. There are so many variables (inducing four weeks early, how I'll respond to the medicine, how I'll respond to the pain, whether or not I can do it without pain relief, how long I'll hang in there, whether or not this guy wants to cooperate, how he'll do once he's born, etc) that I've finally been forced to release control and just have a baby.

Anyway, David has offered to try to keep up with updating the blog for you guys who are far, far away and are interested in knowing when he arrives. We won't do a play by play unless he's just super bored and feels so inclined, but I'm sure he'll be more able to post a picture or two (and a name!!) than I will.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

5 more days...

I managed to do some grocery shopping and bathe our stinky dog today. I'm waddling more and more due to some seriously jacked up hips, which apparently runs in my family because my mom said her hip would practically come out of socket the last few weeks of her pregnancies. It sounds crazy, but it is really hard to just get around the apartment or roll over in bed right now!

The baby has moved a couple of times today in such a way that it looks like a scene out of alien, with a knee or foot or something pushing out from my belly button and sliding over to my ribs. Its weird to think that I only have a few days left of these strange feelings- then he will be in our house, in his bed, wrapped like a burrito in blankets while we frantically search for the mute button.

Yet another reason to fly Southwest


The Rapping Flight Attendant - Watch more Funny Videos

I love this!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

6 days to go...

I didn't get as much done today, since David took the car this morning and I felt compelled to stay in my pajamas. I did work on some more dress up clothes for the preschool, and I made this for our little guy to wear home from the hospital. It is a modified pattern from the book that taught me how to knit, and it is made from the softest yarn I've ever bought. It's called an "umbilical hat" because of the knotted tassel at the top:



Now I'm having some tasty pizza and hanging out with David while he shows me cool things on the internet. I know this may not be a lot of your taste in music, but if there were a soundtrack for my life when I was having a perfect, calm day with my husband and my tiny baby (who at the moment is poking his bony little elbows out of my tummy), this would be on it:

http://vimeo.com/3814849

Monday, March 23, 2009

7 days to go...

I'm trying really hard to take advantage of this whole knowing-the-approximate-birthday-ahead-of-time thing. So I'm making lists of things I should do now while I get ready for Dr. Peanut. Today's list was:

Drop off donations at the salvation army - CHECK!
Vacuum out the car- err...not checked
Go to the hospital for non-stress test - CHECK
Find out more information about the induction - CHECK- We'll be admitted on Sunday night after all
Schedule last appointment with doula- CHECK
Get random last minute things from Target - CHECK
Finally return the snowpants I fixed for a friend's daughter - CHECK

Not on the list but still felt a sense of accomplishment:

Find a baby bag
Find a potential replacement for our red couch
Have first noticeable and recorded contraction

At least now I can say I've felt contractions, and this one was all by itself in the middle of the morning when I was having my non stress test. It was not that bad, but I realize they gradually bring you to your knees as labor progresses. At least now I'll know what I'm looking for. I also spent most of my day waddling around trying to get things done, just in case it helped me progress at all.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Making progress



Buy pillow thing for floppy baby-head in huge carseat- CHECK! Thanks Aunt Sissa!

35 weeks


Last night I celebrated being THIS BIG AND PREGNANT by attending an ice cream tasting party that a friend had at her house. We tried five different flavors of Haagen Dazs five, and they were all amazing except for the ginger flavor- which reminded me of the suckers I ate during my first trimester to fend off the morning sickness. Yech. Also, I wore this dress at 28 weeks to my baby shower. I revived it last night after learning that I now loathe my maternity pants. All of them. And wearing the non-maternity pants is not even an option anymore, as the little buttons dig into my skin even stretched wide open over my belly. So I will probably wear the two dresses I fit into with leggings until they call me in for the induction next weekend. I've warned all of my friends to play dumb to this if they happen to see me several days in a row in the same clothes.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

My attention span

So, I'd totally blame this on the pregnancy- but those who know me well know that this is just part of who I am. I don't always pay attention to what is going on around me. I wish I were more attentive, and am always trying to work on it, but David has constantly pulled me away just before I ran over someone with my grocery cart or stepped into traffic. I'm clumsy.

That said, this morning I'm trying to be productive. I have errands to run and appointments to attend, and just before leaving the house I decided I'd make a smoothie. One of the blogs I read frequently posted a recipe for smoothies, and how great she felt after having them for breakfast- I guess it inspired me to do the same. I went about adding the ingredients and ice and switched on our blender, and it does what I'm convinced all blenders do. It pureed all the ingredients at the bottom and didn't do a darn thing to the stuff on top. I got out a trusty wooden spoon to push down the other ingredients and would periodically push the stuff on top down to make the texture, uh, Smooth. Then I pulled out the spoon and noticed a sizable chunk taken out of the top. I pureed a wooden spoon, guys. The worst part is, I can't find it in the smoothie because I guess it got all chopped up. So I'm drinking it anyway.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Happy Surprises!

Tonight I had a meeting for the Ann Arbor Junior League, which I joined right before I found out I was pregnant. I've had a lot of fun getting to know new ladies and having a way to contribute to the community as they do a lot of fundraising and other aid to numerous local non-profits, but today I wanted to skip the meeting and sleep on the couch. I'm so glad I didn't!

When I showed up things seemed a little more disjointed than they normally are, and I noticed the agenda for the meeting was shorter than usual. I figured out why when during our "Ice Breaker" session two of the ladies toted out a huge gift bag and a cake! They all pitched in and bought us a baby monitor (YAY!!), some baby toys, and a few other little necessities like baby wash and cloth diapers. They didn't even know about the scooting up of the arrival- so they must have great timing! I love having such great women all around to support us!

Monday, March 16, 2009

My mother's intuition needs some fine tuning.

I was just in the car on the way home from Target with David, and I was telling him how the whole pregnancy has gone differently than I expected. I expected it to take longer to happen, but it happened almost right away. Then I expected to have an easy first trimester, since I didn't remember my mom struggling with morning sickness. 5 months later, I expected to glow with pregnancy bliss, but I started complaining from back pain and lumpy preggo awkwardness. Being that I'm young and in pretty good health, I expected a full-term, complication-free pregnancy. Eesh.

I went to the doctor last weekend to have some blood drawn because of some crazed nighttime itching that wouldn't let me sleep. I couldn't find much in the trillions of pregnancy books about itchy palms and feet, with the exception of a tiny blurb in "What to expect when you are expecting" saying to tell your doctor immediately if you have itching all over. A google search later of "itchy hands during pregnancy" and I learned the primary pregnancy rule: Don't google your symptom du jour. We called the midwife on call and she had me come in just in case.

We've had two "non-stress tests" since that Saturday, and Dr. Peanut still looks healthy and beautiful. I'm fine too, with the exception of itching and sleep deprivation, but the blood tests confirmed my initial internet diagnosis: I have Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy. Or, my liver/gallbladder is temporarily broken and dumping bile salts into my blood stream, causing the crazy itching. I have to be monitored a couple of times a week now, and it looks like we will be having a baby in two weeks, instead of the 6 or 7 that it might normally take. He'll be a month or so early, but the doctors and midwives at U of M seem pretty relaxed about the whole thing and I guess would rather Err on the side of caution, since if left unchecked the Cholestasis can have some pretty scary outcomes for baby. I'll go back on Thursday to be monitored again, and then twice more the next week, and holy cow- they've scheduled an induction for March 29th (not this Sunday, but the next one!). That said, I still need to: Pick a pediatrician, call and alert our doula, buy one of those things that go in the carseat so the baby's head doesn't bob all over the carseat, pack for the hospital, take the stinking childbirth education class, and probably do forty five other things I haven't even thought about. Yikes!

34 weeks...

Monday, March 9, 2009

Friday, March 6, 2009

My attempt at nursury art

I got this idea from a baby nursery decorating book I got from the library.

This is new too...


It is beautiful for March in Ann Arbor, and I got to leave the house today with NO SOCKS OR SNOWBOOTS. In fact, I wore cute purple flats and after my lunch break I worked upstairs on labeling books for my boss, seated at a desk in a big comfy chair. I stood up to leave 2 hours later, and my feet look like this. My apologies if even normal feet gross you out.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

8 month Midwife visit

I realize most all of my posts have been baby related, and that is because I have the energy and personality of a slug lately. I think I caught a little stomach virus (luckily the symptoms have been mild) so I am working on that.

We visited with our midwife and the baby seems to still be doing fine. His heartbeat was around 140, and his head was positioned down, so I guess he is getting ready too. He's measuring right on target and seems to be happy as a clam. I brought a little notebook with 15 questions this time, and my midwife was so sweet and patient to go through each one with me. I have to up my water intake, which will probably give me a little more energy according to her, but all of my other questions were pretty reassuring. She also said the blood sugar test and iron test both came back normal.

I'm really glad so far that I used the midwives instead of picking a random OB. I feel like they really take the time to sit down with me and answer questions or chat, and I don't feel like I've had to go through a battery of tests and hoops, either. I should go back in 4 weeks, and my regular Midwife will be back then. I really liked this midwife too, and I'm glad I got the chance to meet her.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

32 weeks (8 MONTHS!)

I'm officially at the beginning of my eighth month of pregnancy, so we're closing in, folks!

This week was a lot better than the one before. I got some sleep, am less emotional, and haven't been as congested. I am having some headaches lately that are pretty killer, but I think it is maybe my sinuses. I am also having to slow down a lot more than I expected, because if I run more than two consecutive errands you would think I just tried to run a 5K with an elephant strapped to my belly.

We met our doula yesterday, and I think she will do just fine. She is pretty young but has attended 13 births, and had lots of great questions and suggestions that I hadn't really thought of. She is also perfectly fine to help out as much or as little as we want, either running around as an extra set of hands or knitting in the corner until we need her. I FINALLY signed up for childbirth preparation classes, too...but they don't start until the end of March. I'll be 36 weeks along, which is one week before the baby is considered "full-term". Better late than never?