Grandma Visit

My mom visited and helped us out for the past week -- she helped with cooking, dishes (did all our dishes, every day!), floors, etc. Here is a picture of her doing her favorite task:



It was nice to have the help, but it was even nicer to have her visit. Thanks, mom!

Easter, cont'd

We had lamb (thanks, Aaron!) for dinner tonight, and we dyed Easter eggs. I really wanted to take some pictures of Georgie with some little Easter baskets, but the sweet girl is sleeping. Maybe the egg and candy shots will be tomorrow.

Easter

The first of a lifetime of souvenir t-shirts

Saturday morning

Some pictures from this a.m.:

First Bath

This afternoon, Georgie was awake and pretty content, so we thought it was a good time for her first bath. Here's the bath:


She seemed to really not like the bath sometimes but other times seemed to think it was ... interesting.


And post-bath, with papa:

A couple more, 1 week, 1 day

(um, and in case you wondered, we put her to sleep on her back. We just set her down for a second here... Aaron didn't want me to post too many pictures of him, especially one that's a close up of the same shot, but I really like both of the pictures.) And the bottom two were taken after her bath.

Aaron and Georgie

Here's a picture of Aaron and Georgie the day we got home from the hospital.



Her going-home outfit was the first onesie we bought for her, in Norway after we found out we were pregnant. We then found matching pants and a coat/sweater within the past month. And it all matched Aaron's yellow shirt.

And a picture from yesterday morning, before going to the pediatrician, with papa and daughter wearing their best brightests:

Professional sleeper

This has been Georgie's primary occupation all day. I think we are in for a long night. We had our first visit today to the pediatrician and G is already back up to her birth weight. Which means that breastfeeding is going great. We also had a lactation consultant come by today and fine tune things a little. Now Grandma (Nikki's mom) is here and her new granddaughter just won't wake up and say hi. Luckily we put the changing table right next to the guest bed so they'll have plenty of bonding time tonight.

At home

Hardly time to blog the last few days. But we are on a nice sleep/nurse/change diaper cycle and still finding time to eat ourselves and even shower occasionally.

Newborns sleep a lot. Here's my favorite sleep pose:

She's here!

Georgine Alice (Georgie) Hobbins was born at 11:12pm, March 12, 2008 in Silver Spring, MD. She weighs 7 lbs. 9 oz. and is 20.5 inches long.

Here are a few pictures:

Last day of pregnancy, 37 weeks, 6 days

Well, this afternoon, in about 1/2 hour, we're going to the hospital. I'll probably have the baby tomorrow ... possibly early the following morning.

I can't believe it's here and that the pregnancy is almost over. I've had, overall, a very good pregnancy. When I first read pregnancy books, I was convinced I'd get every symptom they listed. Not so. I had just a little morning sickness, 3 weeks on and off. No real cravings. The things that tasted the best to me were, for some reason, red kale, green peppers, broccoli, cottage cheese, string cheese, and fruit juice bars. I was (probably too) afraid about getting gestational diabetes and was worried about my weight/health, so I think I convinced myself to not have cravings for ice cream and things like that. I didn't ever feel too uncomfortable. A few days of feet/ankle swelling. Of course, who knows what Weeks 38 - 4X would have had in store for me. The support of our friends and family have made such a difference, too, in helping us feel really good about this pregnancy. (And Aaron has been nothing but perfect throughout everything.)

I'll miss being pregnant, but I can't wait to meet our baby and I feel ready for labor and delivery.

Here's me, 37 weeks, 6 days, this afternoon:

Final Perinatologist Appt.

This morning we had our last appointment with the specialist, and everything looks great. Our baby is estimated to be 7 lbs., 2 oz. -- in the 59th percentile as far as size for gestational age. (Ultrasounds can be quite a bit off as far as estimating size ... so we'll see!) The doctor said she looks good: she's still head down, the biophysical profiles was good, etc. He also told us to enjoy our last weekend of freedom.

Just a few more days to go!

A New Day in Columbia Heights

Our neighborhood has just gone from being a really crappy neighborhood to a really crappy neighborhood with a Target. I think it's actually a pretty big improvement, though someone was smoking pot at 8:00 am in front of the Target so I guess progress takes time.

Today is their opening day and Nikki and I walked through the doors about 15 minutes after they opened them. It was beautiful. Everything was in stock and in the correct place. Almost every employee asked us if they could help us find something.

Luckily I think we live a block or two too far from anyone parking in front of our house to shop there. It will be really nice when the baby comes and we just need something fast and don't want to drive all over the place to get it.

The biggest indication that Columbia Heights is changing? I got a parking ticket for parking somewhere I always park. I think they call that gentrification.

Campaign Call #2

I just got another phone call, this time from a restricted number. It went like this:

Him: Hi, I'm calling from the Obama campaign, and I was wondering who you're voting for in tomorrow's election.

Me: Yes, actually, I'm voting for Hillary. And, you know, someone called from your campaign yesterday and when I told them I was voting for Hillary, she said, "You can't vote for Hillary just because she's a woman and you're a woman."

Him: [laughs A LOT.]

Me: Well, anyway, I just thought you should know that there are people on your campagin calling people and saying stuff like that.

Him: I'm sorry that we have some real douche bags working for us. Thanks for your time.

Now THAT is an effective campaign call.

Week 36 Day 5

Busy final week

We've got quite the packed calendar this week. Here's a look at the next 10 days:

Today (Monday): 9:00 AM -- Week 36/37 appointment with OB. Nikki will also get her last set of lab tests today. Our main questions are going to be: 1. Is everything proceeding as planned? and 2. Should we meet with the OB who will be attending our induction next Monday?

Tuesday: Final session of Lamaze class.

Wednesday: Free!

Thursday: Infant CPR and Safety class

Friday: Last appointment with maternal-fetal medicine specialist. We'll have a growth ultrasound.

Saturday: Part 1 of Baby Basics class

Sunday: Part 2 of Baby Basics class

Monday: Appt. with OB?

Tuesday: Nikki gets checked for dilation and effacement in the morning. If she is fairly dilated (not sure of the cut-off), we'll go home for the night. If not we'll run home and pack and have one last meal at home. Then we'll head to hospital and check in. Nikki will receive a drug called Cervidil that ripens the cervix. She'll probably also get an Ambien. I'll administer a dose of Imperial IPA to myself. We will try to sleep through the night, knowing that the biggest day of our lives is fast approaching.

Wednesday: At 6:00 AM, unless the cervidil induces labor on its own, Nikki is started on Pitocin to begin contractions.

???: We have a baby!

In a way it'd be nice to relax a little more but I think I'm actually glad that we will stay busy the next week. The wait it hard to bear otherwise (and getting worse everyday).

Campaign Call

This afternoon I got a phone call from the Obama campaign, I think because I have a TX area code for my cell phone. It went like this

Her: "I'm calling from the Barack Obama campaign ... Do you know who you're voting for in the primary?
Me: "Hillary."
Her: "You can't vote for Hillary just because she's a woman and you're a woman"

Seriously.

Expectation Ale

I thought I should get one more brew session in before the baby comes. So yesterday morning (starting at 4:30am) I brewed a batch of what I'm calling Expectation Ale.

Part of the idea was to get rid of a bunch of ingredients that had been taking up space in our fridge and freezer. I've had quite a stash of hops up there and was able to use a 1/2 pound of them.

I used 3.15 lbs. of liquid Munich malt extract, 1 lb of light dried malt extract, 2 oz. Willamette for bittering hops, 2 oz. Willamette for flavor hops, 1.5 oz. Centennial for aroma, and then to finish it off I added another 1.5 oz. of Centennial to the funnel as I racked the wort into the carboy. I would have dry-hopped that last bit into a secondary but I actually think I am going to bottle this next weekend already. Plus I have enough sanitizer left for one beer activity and I would need more to do that. And this way it will be ready for company. And I made it a little on the weak side so that nursing mothers might find a way to imbibe :)