Sunday, July 27, 2008

Audrey Ann is here!


Sorry it took so long for us to get these uploaded! If you can imagine, we are beyond exhausted...and ecstatic...and running around like chickens with our heads cut off. For all of you who have contacted us and we haven't gotten back yet: We are so thankful that you are thinking of us and we feel truly blessed to have such a sweet little girl in our lives. I'll post more info about how perfect our daughter is when my brain can actually function. Until then, enjoy the pictures!

Audrey Ann Schweighardt
July 25th, 2008 5:10pm
7lbs. 13 oz 21.5 in.





http://picasaweb.google.com/GGamelin/AudreyAnnSchweighardt

Monday, July 21, 2008

I'm Still Here!


Well, I've made it to 40 weeks and 3 days! I got to see The Dark Knight (thank you, baby!) and now John and Schmemle are patiently awaiting the babe's arrival. (read: staring at me like a ticking bomb) I'm also finding the stigma of "cranky pregnant woman" to be quite useful, as John seems to receive the majority of phone calls to find out if I've popped yet. This definitely cuts down on interruptions for me while performing so many of my important daily tasks..like napping. Honestly, it's nice to know so many people are thinking about us and hoping the baby comes soon. This kid is going to be loved!

The real reason I'm updating is that I actually have news to update with: I had a doctor's appointment today and I'm making some progress. (p.s. If you're timid of words like "dilation" and "effacement", I'd save some time and skip to the next paragraph.) I went in last Thursday for my 40 week appointment at 1 cm dilated and feeling some intermittent contractions. My doctor wanted to see how I progressed over the weekend and today I was 2 cm dilated and 60% effaced. They also had me do a non stress test and it looks like I'm contracting pretty regularly, it's just not painful...yet. Although, I did find out that I have a bruise on my uterus from baby keeping it's feet lodged under my ribs for so long. This basically translates to just feeling pain in my left ribs when I'm having these "painless" contractions (joy!) and I've been assured that the only way it's going to go away is to get that baby out. No pressure!

Anyway, from all that and the fact that I'm still able to sleep at night, my doctor and I decided to do one last biophysical ultrasound tomorrow to make sure baby's doing alright in there and we tentatively scheduled my next appointment for Monday the 28th to talk induction. Needless to say, I'm not going to be my chipper self if I actually show up at that appointment. John's mom is going to be even less pleased since she took two weeks of vacation around the baby's due date and my next appointment is the day she returns to work. This kid has apparently not yet been schooled in the art of sucking up to grandma. No candy and fruit roll-ups for you, baby!

So, there you go: I have no idea when this kid is going to make an appearance and I'm not going crazy--at least more than usual--yet. I attribute the fact that I'm taking this all in stride to excessive napping and a husband who really does jump at my smallest request, lest the lack of ice cream in my system should result in the baby's further delayed presence.

Rest assured that we'll keep you all updated on when the babe is coming (Code word: Spumoni!) and this is one of the first places we'll update with photos. Hopefully my next update will be something along the lines of "hey, we've got this baby...now what do we do?" instead of a desperate plea from John to save him from his crazy hormonal wife. Until then!

Friday, July 11, 2008


So, it's T minus one week to my actual due date...also known as the release date for the new Batman movie: Dark Knight. Perhaps this has been my motivation all along for remaining chipper about the prospect of going past my due date: one last uninterrupted movie date with John! It might sound silly, but at this point I'm using any excuse possible for motivation. Other motivating factors for keeping the bun in the oven longer include: sleep, being able to eat when I feel hungry, running errands in a timely fashion, not being concerned about anyone else's bowel movements...and more sleep.

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday and *surprise* I'm STILL BORING. My doctor keeps looking at me like a proud mother hen because everything has been going so well...and the nurse in the office who is pregnant and due two weeks after me still consistently gives me stink eye for not being more miserable. Mostly, my appointments are to check up on baby to make sure everything is going well. My doctor isn't too obsessed about "making progress" and doing internal exams every week; the game plan is to keep baby healthy and not worry about when I'm going to pop until I'm a week overdue. Honesty, in the induction-crazy society we live in, this is a great comfort to me.

Another great comfort I discovered yesterday came in the form of a magical place at the hospital called the "nourishment room". John and I went in to the birthing center at KGH to do our pre-admission paperwork and get a tour of the facility yesterday. After finishing the inquisition about my medical history, ("Ever been exposed to Hepatitis? Scurvy? Bubonic Plaque?") we get to the first stop on the tour. This is where I actually want to be allowed to labor, but I'm pretty sure it violates several health codes. The Nourishment Room is a magical land of snacks that the Labor and Delivery Nurses have access to for you 24 hours a day (This does not even include being able to order from the cafeteria from 7am to 7pm)...and when I say snack room, I'm not talking just Jello here either. I'm guessing the coffee and sandwiches are for battered, sleep-deprived husbands, but it's nice to know the option is still out there. Anyone who has known me for more than 10 minutes is well aware of my Hobbit-like eating habits and that no one...not even Nurse Ratchet...is going to stop me from snacking during labor if I want to. The fact that this place has an entire room devoted to snacks when the rest of the country is still in "ice-chips-only mode" speaks volumes. I didn't even need to see a delivery suite; my apprehension about laboring in the hospital went right out the window.

So, now I can return to my regularly scheduled lounging, free from the worry of how to smuggle snacks into the hospital. John & I think we've got a pretty good phone tree set up to keep everyone posted and we will post pictures of the babe as soon as it arrives. If you call and I don't answer the phone--Don't worry!--I'm most likely napping, floating in the pool or in a food coma. What can I say? It's a hard life.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Baby Fever!





















Well, it's official! John and I have caught the baby fever. Now, I know what you're thinking...Shouldn't this have happened 9 months ago? I think it's safe to say that we've both been in a sweet state of denial for the past several months. But, some recent occurrences have led to the realization that we will have an outside baby within weeks....eeeek!

1) Let the nesting begin! While previously nesting for me has entailed organizing ticky tacky things like what the best way to fold baby washcloths is (yes...I can't believe I have time to think about these things either), I now have real things to figure out...like where is this crib going to go and what is the best way to get bright blue paint out of my hair? John and I went kind of crazy on the baby's room this weekend. I painted and he put in the new wood floor and baseboards. We also got the crib set up (after it took us 45 minutes to realize that part of the instructions were written incorrectly...oy!) Now that the baby actually has it's own room in the house, it's becoming more and more clear that the kid is bound to make an appearance and demand to see it's new digs sometime soon. Luckily, I hear newborns aren't too picky when it comes to interior designing.

2) Our good friends Brian and Brittany just had their baby yesterday morning: Morgan Alexandria...and she is the CUTEST little girl I have ever seen. John kind of went into a state of shock after seeing the pictures of her. I think it was a combination of too much cuteness in one sitting and the realization that pregnancy really does most often lead to an infant.

3) I can now properly identify almost any body part the babe choses to poke out of my belly. This is a real kick! (pun...intended!) Last night after dinner, a casual chat in the living room with the family turned into some real entertainment, courtesy of the baby: Belly watching. The baby is so big and so active that my stomach tends to lurch about like someone jumping on a waterbed. Let me tell you, this is highly amusing...until I can't talk through it anymore. One of the babe's new favorite activities is to push out with it's feet on my side, squish it's back all the way to the other side of my belly and use my bladder as a punching bag simultaneously. This is cute for the first 5 minutes. Unfortunately, I ate oreos after dinner last night and that meant it was party time for at least half an hour. Anyway, what this all means is that this baby had better cool it's jets for the next 3 or 4 weeks (unlikely) or the time it takes for me to be screaming about getting the kid out of me is coming quite soon. I could just stop eating oreos, I suppose, but that's not something I'm willing to sacrifice at the moment.

4) Last, but not least, I will be officially full term on Friday. Not that I think this baby is coming early, (I've been way too comfortable for someone as far along as I am) but just the fact that no one's going to try to stop me IF I go into labor...that's realism for you! So, start placing your bets on when Baby Schweighardt will make it's appearance...and if you want any insider tips, I can be bribed with oreos.

Monday, June 16, 2008

A Good Time Was Had By All





















We had a crazy weekend at the Schweighardt house! The main highlights were a trek to Badger Mountain (which John and Jeff both climbed this time) and an awesome Baby Shower/Barbecue. (I'm happy to report that there were no s'more-related injuries)

Here's the link to some pictures of the festivities:


http://picasaweb.google.com/GGamelin/BabyShowerBBQ



Monday, June 9, 2008

...Because I have purchased a new camera!


I'm uploading a new belly picture in honor of my new digital camera. John and I had a discussion this weekend about things to get done before the baby arrives and it turns out having an operating camera took priority over most things. I figured my mother wouldn't care if the baby had no place to sleep, no clothes and no diapers...if she doesn't get to see a non-pixelated picture of her grandbaby within the first hours of its' birth...things will get ugly. I'm seeing images of the local authorities and Child Protective Services showing up at the hospital to arrest me on the grounds of being a bad mother. Of course, the lesson in all this is: Always listen to your mother.

Baby Thor is now a little over 34 weeks old. We've been going back and forth in a little argument about who has rights to the space under my ribs for the past few days. Let's just say: this battle ain't over. Although, I'll admit that it is difficult to drive and push a little wiggling butt out of your ribs at the same time. Luckily, the babe and I have set our differences aside and decided the only thing that will make both of us happy today is a delicious pulled pork sandwich for dinner. (It should be the Gamelin motto: Food makes everything better) I've never been much of a crock pot cook, but we'll see how this one works out. If anything goes wrong, luckily I can just blame it on the crock pot, since it's doing most of the actual work anyway.

I honestly can't say I've achieved much since my last post. John and I have been keeping to the Tri-Cities for the most part. The family has been steadily working on our pool room/ kitchenette project to get ready for the big BBQ this Saturday. I, personally, tend not to make a lot of quick progress on anything lately, as my brain seems to be on hiatus pretty frequently. Needless to say, I've toned down my long-term goals for before the baby gets here. My main priority now is to nap as much as possible. After that, I spend most of my time trying to remember to a) write things down on a list so I remember to do them and then b) remember to look at the list that I have made of things to do. In between these two grueling tasks, I tend to get side tracked by shiny objects or obsessively organize silly things like our Q tips. And since no one wants to hear about how my dry erase markers are now organized by color, I appear to have accomplished very little. But let me tell you, this pea-sized brain is racing!

Since I have nothing to brag about (Aside from incubating the coolest person you will ever know), I'll brag on my husband who climbed a MOUNTAIN yesterday. And surprisingly, today at work, his legs feel like he just climbed a mountain! His new vendetta is to get in shape before the baby gets here, hoping this will translate into having more energy for the little sumo wrestler to suck out of him. Also, apparently, getting into shape in 6 weeks involves climbing mountains multiple times a week, and I remain a supportive wife because he lets me sit at the bottom of the mountain, eating snacks, waiting for him to come back down.

I wish I had a picture of the afore mentioned mountain and more importantly, how John's head cleverly appears to be the same size, but this all brings us back to the fact that I didn't have a working camera until yesterday afternoon. Instead, I'll show you proof that John's head is at least as big as Haystack Rock...and that was the face he made while climbing up his mountain.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Belly Update


In Belly News:

The baby is getting bigger (most likely around 4 lbs) and my doctor still thinks I'm boring...Both of these things are great. I'm now in the final count down: around 7 weeks left (give or take two weeks) and I'm just trying to remain boring.

I really can't complain much: The baby is crazy active as always, but it's nice to know that it's doing well...or plotting it's escape. I can still sleep enough to feel rested most mornings and I'm staying active enough not to feel like a bump on a log...all while somehow avoiding those pregnant lady cankles and sausage fingers.

To all this, I say: We'll see how I feel in another month. In the mean time, I'm wholeheartedly embracing the sleep and the blissful ignorance of not knowing what it's like to care for a newborn!