More pictures of the fabulous Bella!

Sleepy, Sleepy Baby!

Jacob meets his little sister for the first time

Daddy's Girl...

She's Here!

Anabel May was born Monday evening at 10:42. We call her Bella. I'm pretty tired so I'll stick to the basics for now - she came very quickly without any complications and she is eating and sleeping well. We were released from the hospital after just 24 hours and are happy to be home.

List of Things to be Grateful For

I'm trying to stop feeling sorry for myself. So here is a short list of things that I am thankful for right this moment.

• Will got the french trim moulding up in the baby's room and it is fabulous.
• There is some sort of super tasty lemon pineapple whipped cream pecan sandy type dessert in the fridge that Will brought home from a luncheon he went to today.
• Clean, ridiculously high thread-count sheets on the bed.
• Caffeine-free coke with limes.
• This t-shirt: http://www.expressiva.com/baz_product.asp?p_prod_id=T5303&p_cat_id=53
• The newest Stephenie Meyer book, Eclipse, on my nightstand. Nothing takes your mind off your problems like vampire teen fiction!

Saturday & Sunday

Itch. Scratch. Worry. Pray. Repeat.

Not such great news...

(Sorry to everyone who has gotten this update already!)

On Wednesday night I woke up last night with severe all over itching… We have been so blessed to make it this far into the pregnancy without a return of the cholestasis but now it is looking like my liver is maybe not keeping up so well after all. We went in yesterday and they did a Fetal Non-Stress Test and took my blood work to check out my liver enzymes. At about 6 last night we got the call back that my liver enzymes are high compared to my baseline, but they aren’t dangerously high. In other words they are high enough to cause this insane itching but not high enough to indicate immediate action. Just to reiterate - the baby is fine. We’ll have an ultrasound on Monday and they will see me twice a week to check my blood work and perform the non-stress test. The ultrasound will confirm her position and lung maturity so that if my enzymes do go high then we will know that we can safely induce. To be perfectly honest, I’m miserable & uncomfortable. This is “curl up in a ball and cry yourself to sleep” kind of itching and there’s nothing that can be done about it but to try and keep my mind occupied. Since the itching is caused by salts building up under the skin, Benadryl or lotions won’t help. Jacob was born within a week of when the itching began and it was completely gone the day following birth. The cure is to have the baby! Will and I really appreciate your prayers right now, it has been a long week.

On the positive side of things, we feel really loved and taken care of by our friends and all their encouragement. It has also been sweet to see how kind and concerned Jacob has been, he tells everyone "My mommy is just so itchy" and makes this sad face. We are also grateful for the top notch medical care that we've received and for the concern and flexibility of our coworkers as we have missed a lot of work this week.

Practice Run

So last night at midnight, I was woken up by some seriously painful contractions. They began in my lower back and wrapped around to the front of my sizable belly. They lasted about a minute and were spaced about twenty minutes apart. They kept coming even after I took a warm bath (my usual "cure" for Braxton-Hicks contractions), walked around, and ate a Popsicle. By 2:30 a.m I woke Will to tell him that I thought labor had started. He began to ask me a variety of logistical questions involving which car had gas in it and did I think my mother-in-law would need the stroller for Jacob. In my misery I decided these were rhetorical questions and left him to his list making. I was able to sleep between contractions and so we decided that we had a while to wait. By around 4:30 a.m the contractions stopped. This morning we called to the midwives and they said to come on in and that there was a good chance the contractions would start up again once I was up and moving about. However, our visit revealed that I was not in labor and that the entire thing was just a practice run! In movies you always see the man and wife scrambling down to the hospital just to be told it is a false alarm. I always thought that was so silly, I thought how could you not know for sure? With Jacob it was easy because my water broke and so we never had to go through the whole timing of contractions thing. Of everything I have read I just never knew that Braxton-Hicks contractions could hurt so badly, now I know that this could happen several more times over the next few weeks until she is born - GREAT.

Fun Weekend

On Saturday we went to a birthday party. It was at one of those jump places and Jacob has a really great time.
Today I've had one of those days that every Mom will identify with - a day where everything goes well and I was just exactly the kind of Mom I wish I was all the time. Perhaps it went well because I started off by going to the 8:30 service at church. When I came home Jacob and I went to the park. For once I remembered everything - sun screen, bug spray, cold drinks, the camera etc. We had healthy snacks. We didn't rush. We threw mushy grapes for the birds. We dawdled. We looked at bugs and clouds. We ran up and down these bike hills that Jacob loves. I came up with educational and yet age-appropriate explanations for things like ants and litter. Even though my ankles began to resemble elephant legs I was patient as we stopped twenty seven times on our way back to the car to throw gravel, pick up tiny sticks and comment on the swishiness of the grass. It was very swishy.

I've made a special effort lately to spend a lot of one on one time with Jacob. I know when his sister arrives she is bound to rock our world - soon I will have two children vying for time and attention. Even though it will be good, it won't be the exact same kind of good that we have right now. It will be some other different good, and that's OK.

Midwives Appointment Update

My check up today went great. I'm happy to report we still have no indications of any return of the intraheptic cholestasis which is AWESOME. The midwife today told me that it often happens that mamas that have their first baby early start to think that they are "overdue" if their second one doesn't come around the same time. So, we have to remind ourselves that just because Jacob came at 36 1/2 weeks does not mean that this baby will come early... Although we are ready when she is - and I mean boy are we ever!

I hope this isn't too much information but some of you will understand the significance if I say that I am 50% effaced and a fingertip dilated. OK, so that's not much, but every bit of progress counts!

Work today was rough. After weeks of craving company all I wanted was to go right back out to the car and go home! I feel grouchy and gigantic and very self conscious. Co-workers haven't seen me in almost a month, so I think I seem extra large. Okay, I'm off to bed!