Gunnar...

Introducing......our little Gunnar.....How do we know it's Gunnar this time??

Well...see for yourself:

20 weeks today!!!

I'm halfway through and I finally got around to having a belly shot taken!! Although I'm showing a lot more than it looks in this pic!

As Per Requested...if a little delayed...

When we first found out that I am prego again, we hadn't decided when to tell the kids so we were keeping it kind of hush hush.

Well, one night, we were with our kids, driving home from a family party, I believe, and Rob says, "That means there are 4 Dalton girls pregnant at the same time!" Molly, the ever keen one, pipes up with "FOUR?? Julie, Monica, Maria...who else?" So Rob quickly back pedals and claims to have miscounted. That seems to mollify Molly for the moment and the subject is dropped.

A few minutes later, after arriving home, with Molly playing on the floor and Ben sitting on the couch with a book, my husband again mentions something about being pregnant. Molly once again snatches onto Rob's little slip quicker than lightning and says, "Wait, pregnant...are YOU??!?" I acquiesce because it seems theres no getting around telling them at this point. Molly proceeds to get all giddy and animatedly proclaims, many times, how excited she is about the new baby.

The next day Molly is still full of excitement and rubs my tummy several times and asks questions about the baby. At lunch time she, Ben and I sit down for a blessing which Molly offers and petitions a blessing on the new baby. After the prayer is over Ben lifts his head and asks, "Are you pregnant??" In response to his question, I laugh and say, "You are SO your father's son!" To which he exclaims, "So, wait, DAD doesn't know?!"

What Do WE Want For Christmas???

Funny things about Chloe...

She loves to look at our ceiling fan. Rob and I entertain her by turning the fan and the light on and off. In fact, she loves the fan so much that sometimes the fan receives more smiles than we do!! :)

She started looking from right to left and back again in rapid succession...so fast that her eyes don't have a chance to focus on anything and she may not only get that wrap around bald spot on the back of her head, but also a friction burn! :P

(I wrote this back on 17 Feb 2010....and haven't been blogging since) :P

42 Weeks

No wonder I had such a big belly!!! :)

**Poor Chloe, I didn't realize her hat was down over her eyes. :P

Chloe's Birth Story: Picture Version

Talking to Gretchen, my midwife, and putting in my first 20 minutes on the "machines"

After taking a walk around the maternity ward and trying to figure out when/how long the contractions were...without much success. :-/

We never were able to measure them.

(When I was at about 8 cm my sister started unofficially trying to track what she saw because that's about the time the contractions got a bit more intense,

but by that time I was too distracted to focus on timing). Spending some time on the ball...the ball is part of what saved me from a cesarean!!!

Thanks to Claire Stanely!!!!Support for my support.

We asked my sister, April, to come be the photographer/videographer of Chloe's birth.

She ended up doing much more than that as Rob realized that he needed support in his role of support. :) This ended up being one of my most preferred ways to deal with a contraction (but towards the end April and my mom took turns pushing on the pressure points on my lower back, which helped immensely, and Rob couldn't do it because I was holding onto him) :)She actually came out!!!

I kept saying between pushes: "I don't think she'll come out". :-/

We were both exhausted!!!

She was so quiet and alert.They had to take her and clean out her mouth because she was turning blue. Being weighed.

She didn't like being meddled with by all the medical staff!Holding Daddy's hand in the bassinet...I wish it weren't blurry. :-/Another darn nurse poking and prodding...at least she had daddy to hold her and make it better!!Her footprints.

Being admired by daddy and papa.Grandma and Papa adoring their second new grandchild of the day!!!Saying thanks to Aunt April for all her help!!
Cuddle time with Daddy

Grandma and Grandpa came to meet their precious new granddaughter.
Getting to know each other

First time in the car seat, getting ready for her first car ride...

Heading Home!!!Chloe's first size picture...2 days old.

Chloe Grace:

joined our family on her due date, Dec 29th at 11:50 p.m.

8 lbs 9 oz

22 inches long

38 Weeks....2 more to go....or less...f/c

Look at that big ol' belly!!

• The bassinet is all ready, my mom finished making the bumper pad for it tonight.
• Her bag is packed for the hospital is in the bassinet. It's been packed for a while since she doesn't need to use all the stuff right now. :P
• Mine and Rob's bag just got packed this weekend except for a few things like our camera/charger, etc.
• Going to see my midwife tomorrow and have 3 questions to ask her:

1. Do we need to register at the hospital (fill out any paperwork)? because I've heard/read that registering ahead of time is standard but we haven't been asked to do that, or sent anything yet. :-/
2. When does Gretchen (our midwife) want us to call her? (ie. when active labor starts, or when we're actually on our way to the hospital, etc.)
3. Which pediatricians does she recommend?

35 Weeks

Ooops!! I let week 34 slip by without taking a belly shot. :-/

Oh well. 35 will have to do....and actually it's 35 and 1 day.

And, I'm too lazy to insert all those other pics for comparison purposes so you'll just have to check em' out by clicking here and here. :)

Midwife Visit

I saw my midwife, Gretchen, last Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving). She checked my cervix and said it was very soft and that I was 60% effaced. Dilation was 1+ cm. Then she said she was concerned by this and that this baby might be coming right away. Rob said my face went very pale at that point and I think she saw that too because she suddenly became very reassuring and told me that she's sure everything is going to be great. I feel mostly calm now, trying to not be freaked out. :P She said she'd like to see me make it at least another 2 week.

We talked to her about our birth plan, I feel really excited and positive about the hospital's policies and the how supportive she is of our desires. Gretchen is going to be with us for pretty much the time I am laboring and delivering our little Sweet Pea so she's going to be doing all of the exams, as well as be our advocate with the hospital staff (some of the perks of having a midwife). On top of that Gretchen said that the hospital a really great staff that are open-minded and supportive of "prepared" births and that some of our wishes are basically standard procedure (ie. waiting until the cord has stopped pulsing to cut it). Because of the hospital and Gretchen, we feel that we can really simplify and pare down our birth plan.

These are some of the things we feel need to be on the birth plan:

Labor:
• Inform/ask our consent prior to ANY procedures/interventions, especially but not limited to episiotomy.
• Mobile baby monitoring when required ("T" monitor....what's it called? I forgot) :P

Delivery/Post Birth:
• Immediate skin-to-skin contact between myself and the baby- no weighing/measuring/washing/testing etc. until baby has a chance to nurse
• Rob to cut umbilical cord (after pulsing stops)
• Reserve the right to waive Hep B vac/Vit K/Eye goop/etc.
• Rob be with the baby at all times if the baby needs to be taken anywhere
• Rob to wash the baby

32 Weeks (Yesterday) :)

She's breech right now... :-/
She loves to hang out (with her head) right under my right ribs...she's been there for weeks! :P
She gets the hiccups frequently. :D
She has really cute little chubby cheeks. :)

Happy Third Trimester/28 Weeks To Sweet Pea!!

15 Weeks / 24 Weeks / 28 Weeks (oops, I turned the wrong way)

P.S. I have Braxton Hicks that just won't quit!! Is that normal? :P

A Few Tidbits

• I had swelling in my legs and feet yesterday, is that normal?
• I had a charlie horse last night when I was sleeping, is that normal? :-/
• I had a dream that I went and had little Sweet Pea and then brought her home but I wasn't ready for her (no crib or bassinet or anywhere to lay her) so I laid her on my bed. But then I was so incredibly tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open to take care of her and I fell asleep. When I woke up I was frantically searching for her and finally found her lost in the mountains of pillows that I sleep with. She was under all of them, as well a small upturned box. :( I felt so bad that I'd lost her.
• I'm almost to my 3rd trimester!!! Hurray! :)
• My next OB appointment is Monday

24 Weeks!

I'm 24 weeks today so I figured it's time for another belly shot. :P Only I just remembered before bed, so it's a lovely end of the day, in my pajamas shot, courtesy of Ben (my son). :)

Also, according to the poll, it seems that "Gunnor" lost the contest...by a long shot....sorry Rob. :P

One more thing. The adoption agency let us know that we're not eligible to adopt since we're prego, and won't be until Dec. 2010. I'm honestly relieved to not have an infant right now. We would have taken him/her if we felt right about it and he/she had been offered to us, but deep down I'm glad to only have one baby to get used to at a time!!

DOCTOR...TODAY?!?! Ooops!

I had another baby doctor appointment last Friday, August 21st...only I forgot about it until Rob texted me (which I only noticed AT the TIME of the APPOINTMENT....ooops!) They let me go anyway. I was loading up the car to go look at change tables with my mom (and Julie's kids, whom she was babysitting) when I noticed the text and then the appointment reminder. The crazy/pregnant-brained thing about it is that I was DARN sure my appointment was for Wednesday, August 26th and that I'd even looked it up on my phone calendar recently to confirm it. (FYI: it wasn't, nor was there a reminder on my phone for that day....I think somebody is messing with my brain!) :)

My mom and Julie's kids (Dalton and Lindy) went with me to my appt so that we could just go to the Wood Connection afterward. It was fun to have my mom there to see little Sweet Pea on ultra-sound, (is it normal to do an ultra-sound at every four week appointment??? Sweet Pea is going to have a huge photo album of just her BEFORE birth!!) and Dalton was fun too because he was very curious about the whole thing.

Sweet Pea was VERY wiggly and entertained us all with her antics, including shooting completely off the screen at one point.

Also: She's still a girl. And: The new, un-official due date is Dec. 24th!!! :-/ (My mom piped up and said, "That was Misty's due date!!"....only my Dr. induced labor because he didn't want to be in the hospital on Christmas.....unfortunately, neither option sounds appealing to me. Oh well, I would have to have a little me!! Including the insane due-date!!)

Afterward we did end up going to wood connection and ordering a dresser that will work for a change table as well as a dresser for later...the only problem is I can't decide what color/stain!! This is my dilemma: Molly and Sweet Pea will be sharing a room and I want something that will look good in the room, not necessarily match anything specifically.

(Molly's furniture: Bed: Green, Dresser: White washed pine with pink/green/purple accents.










Sweet Pea's furniture: Walnut-ish color crib.)


I thought about having the dresser painted plain white and antiqued and glazed but the lady pointed out that since it'll be made out of pine the knots will bleed through after a year or so...if that matters. I'm not sure if it does. I also thought about doing it a beautiful walnut stain with glaze/antiquing...there was a dresser like this on the show room floor that I just loved! What would a little girl want long term???


The following are color options I'm considering. Input anyone?












P.S. This is our T.V. Amoire made of pine and painted cream colored....an example of the knots bleeding through.

A Few More Fun Pics of Our Precious Sweet Pea...

Name Dilemmas

Rob and I are having a difficult time deciding on a name for our little sweet pea. In an effort to get some ideas, my sister brought her list of our family genealogy over and we (Maria and I) scoured the names of our ancestors. Right off the bat we found a female ancestor named Gunnor and I jokingly suggested it to Rob because I thought he'd find it amusing/entertaining
...something. :) Well, more than that, he LOVES it. He speaks to her all the time and says things like, "How's my little Gunnor doing?" Rob also says that most of the women at work that he's polled have liked Gunnor as well. (I don't know if they're sincere or just trying not to hurt his feelings.) Therefore, I'm conducting a public opinion poll. Please feel free to give me any honest, unbiased opinion in the poll or comments. Thanks!! :)

CELEBRATION!!!

Tuesday night my family went out to dinner to celebrate that the baby is half-way done!! (Theoretically) ;) She'll be here in 20 WEEKS!! Hooray!!

Rob also took a 20 week pic of me while we were out.

It Looks Pretty Obvious Now....

I had another Dr. appointment a few weeks ago and they did a pretty extensive ultra-sound exam and then gave me a DVD with most of the pics on it. I was excited that I had the pics in digital format so that I could blog them really easily.....well, as I've learned, almost nothing is simple! The pics were in video format and I had a pretty tough time extracting them to save still frames as picture/jpg format (being as computer-clueless as I am). :-/ Last night I finally petitioned Rob's help and he was able to find a way to get it to work. (BTW doing print screen of a paused video on REAL Player and another video software didn't work, but Media Player did...go figure. At least SOMETHING worked!!) So here is ONE frame from the video....one frame earned by blood, sweat and tears. :) But it's an important one. The Dr. and the nurse both checked her out that day and confirmed what the "OBGYN" said at Fetal Studios in the mall.... IT'S A GIRL!!!