One Week

Erin is one week old today. Fran and I agreed that we're officially settled back in at home, but we also are now strong believers in sleep debt! Things are going really well. We've gone on walks in the neighborhood and introduced her to many friends and family. She seems to really like the Baby Bjorn and Fran's sling, and we no longer take for granted having our arms free. Duncan, our political prisoner, remains in exile-- we're thinking of bringing him home on Mother's Day.



Erin seems to localize to our voices much better over the last couple days. We also get a kick out of her cute grin when she finishes feeding. I'm back to work Monday, so I'm turning over the blog duties to Frances...

Lazy Days

We've been home for two days with Erin, and I think we're getting the hang of being parents. Beth has been a huge help with day-to-day tasks and company. Dean, Jan, and Laura have been bringing us food and spending some quality time with Erin. We're looking forward to meeting up with friends later this week.

Erin is definitely a night owl. She is awake and ready to go from around midnight to 4 a.m. , so lately we are too. Oscar is a natural with her-- each time we're up to change or hold her during the night he plops down in the nursery with a curious look. Erin can go from crying to calm in a hurry. She responds especially well to the combination of Fran, the nursing pillow, and the rocking chair . The dirty diapers have been coming fast and furious lately too.

More pictures below. We know Erin is not the first baby to hiccup, but this movie has entertained us several times already. Enjoy!

The Artist Formerly Known as Baby Girl

With excitement (and some relief), we've decided on a name... Erin Josephine. In the end we think she really looks like an Erin, and who knows, she may grow into a Jo or Josie. We enjoyed the last minute e-mail suggestions (Roberta, Juliana, Banjo Kazooie... or why not stick with Oprah?) but in the end the decision was easy.

We got home earlier today. It's strangely quiet-- Laura is still dog-sitting and Erin has shown mainly indifference to her new surroundings by falling asleep during the car ride and staying that way. It's been fun getting to know her. She likes normal baby stuff (the pacifier, a nice tight swaddle, and a clean diaper) but also told us last night that if the weather cooperates this week she'd like to learn to ride a bike, and she plans on starting her residency at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in 2030 (we insisted she at least see HCMC first!).

It's great to finally have her home (outside of Fran's belly). Fran's mom Beth arrives tomorrow morning. The weather is perfect for early May, maybe a walk later today. Enjoy the pictures from the end of our hospital stay!

Baby Girl Prekker

Fran and I are thrilled to announce that our little girl was born May 2, 2008 at 7:06 p.m. She weighs 8 lbs 1 oz and is 21 inches long.

We decided to get to know her for a day or two before picking out her name! Baby and Fran (who was incredible yesterday!) are doing great and we're all looking forward to heading home tomorrow. Of course, Duncan and Oscar are blissfully unaware what's coming thru the door!

Thank you to all for the well wishes, we can't wait to introduce you to her soon, she's even cuter in person.

Any day now...

Baby’s due date came and went uneventfully yesterday. Part of me really held out hope that she would come precisely on time, but as Matt reminded me, she is also his daughter so will likely run a little late.

I’ve been having pretty bizzare dreams since the one about the bird the other night. The next night I dreamt that Madeye Moody (the creepy looking one from the Harry Potter movies) would be delivering my baby. He gave me 5.5 hours until I HAD to have the baby and I wasn’t even in labor yet. Talk about a little anxiety. Last night I dreamt that I was sitting in Mom’s front hall circa 1990s with the orange carpet on the stairs and the 70s tile and trying to explain to Barak Obama and Oprah Winfrey why we were calling the baby Oprah for now. They seemed highly offended and I was making a lot of excuses and trying to smooth things over. I can’t wait to see what my crazy mind comes up with tonight.

My other favorite recent pass time is to watch people’s horror when I tell them when I’m due. It always starts nicely. I’m in with a patient and family, or at the store, or yesterday at the mechanics and to be polite someone asks when I’m due. Last week I watched people wince when I said “4 days” etc. They would get an alarmed look as if I may squat and deliver right then and there and keep looking at me nervously throught the visit. Yesterday at the mechanics, when the guy behind the counter asked and I said “today,” he got really flustered and kept hitting the send button to try to get the credit card to process faster. Man he looked like he might start to cry as he fumbled and said “oh, we’ve just got to get you out of here!” I can’t wait to see how much more panicked people get as I get further and further on the other side of the due date.

Matt and his family have decided they’re starting a poll to see when I’ll deliver. The prize is a dessert of the winner’s choice. Dean picked Friday as it is his birthday and Jan, Laura and Matt picked dates with the latest one as next Tuesday. I picked tomorrow because I want it to be tomorrow, not necessarily because I think that it will be tomorrow. Anyone else who wants to get in on this poll is welcome and we’ll work out the details of awarding prizes after she comes. We haven’t started guessing weight yet either, but if anyone wants to hazard a guess that’s ok too.

Duncan and Oscar are enjoying us being around the house and getting lots of attention. I’m not sure if this will make it harder when the baby comes, but it’s fun to spoil them for now. Oscar is in the middle of his spring shedding and leaves football sized wads of hair around the house daily and we’ve dubbed these Oscar’s “hair babies.” Duncan makes up for Oscar’s abundance of hair by remaining nearly bald in patches and itching himself raw. Last spring his allergies resolved, I’m not sure what the difference is this spring. Who knows.

I think that Matt and I are heading out to dinner now. We keep telling each other that this may be the last time we go out for dinner for a while so we keep treating ourselves to meals out. At some point this is going to get really spendy, but it’s hard to argue with the logic at the moment. I also keep grocery shopping, but am not buying for any real meals because I keep thinking that they will go to waste. Oh well, at some point it will end…

Here I am today. Not the greatest picture as Matt wasn't around to play cameraman, but you get the idea.

39+6

It looks like baby will not be joining us before her due date, unless she has some quick plans for the next 3.5 hours. This is all fine and good as long as she doesn't procrastinate too much longer. I know that physically I'd be OK for another 2 weeks, but if she waits that long, Matt will be back at work in the MICU and that will be a huge bummer.

I had some periods of being really productive this weekend. I finally washed the kitchen floor (I can only imagine how silly that looked) finished packing things for the hospital, and enjoyed some quality time with Matt. Today I was pooped, so Matt resumed nesting by cleaning out the porch and sorting through closets in the basement. It's amazing to see the things that we've squirreled away over the years. Come to find out we have about 20 beige light switch and outlet plates left over from all of our painting projects. Anyone interested?

I've decided that tomorrow would be a good day for baby to come. Prior to today, I'd decided that last Saturday and today would be ideal as those were the only days this week that my midwife is at the hospital. Since we missed that, tomorrow would be OK with me. The house is clean, Matt took the dogs to the park today and they're all tired and I've run out of ways to spend my time. Yup, tomorrow would be fine.

Since the last post had no pictures, I'll include some this time. Here is the rabbit bunker in the back yard and the new quilt that I'm working on. I'm happier with the bunker than I thought that I would be and not as happy with the quilt as I thought I would be. Oh well.

Wish me luck in getting this kiddo out. I had a dream last night that I found out that she was a bird with a very sharp looking beak... yikes, I hope that's one dream doesn't come true!

39 weeks

So today I am 39+2. Actually that's baby's age not mine, I'm still holding on tight to 29 for a few more weeks. This week has been ok. I'm working half days and tomorrow is my last day of work. The waiting has become much tougher and I'm feeling even more restless and distracted with each passing day. The days are also going by very slowly. I feel like I need something to occupy my time, but have trouble getting myself interested in doing much of anything that would actually distract me. Physically I'm still doing pretty well. With some more rest over the last week, my blood pressure was great at my appointment today and I'd managed to drop some of the fluid weight. She also informed me that I'm 1.5 cm dilated and 70% effaced and that the baby is engaged (0 station). Initially this made me really happy and excited, but now I'm thinking that this may make waiting even harder because I feel like things should be happening. I guess waiting is hard regardless and I'll just try to relax and let go since I can't control this at all. That's really about it from here, we're headed out to dinner with some friends. Matt decided that he wanted a Juicy Lucy burger (burger with melted cheese inside the meat) and fries and I have to say that the salty food sounds great right now. Bring on the fluid retention!!