paulandemily.com

4:45pm

Nurse just came in and put emily in an upright position to help her “labor-down”. did a check and she is now at 9cm!!! Shouldn’t be too much longer   Mom is still in great spirits and saving her strength for the pushin.

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http://paulandemily.com/gallery/Hospital-Stay

This is the start to the photos from today. Not much up there.

Unca Sean also created an online video using the CarDomain Video service (easier to use than my download link). Clicky clicky

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3:05pm

I took a video of the heart monitor that baby Sean is attached to.  Basically there is a tube that connects to his scalp to monitor his heart rate.  Emily is now 100% efaced.

http://paulandemily.com/videos/SeanAndrewHeartMonitor.wmv

right click, save as or save link as or save target as.. and save it to your PC.  Its around 9MB

Emily didn’t want to be on video just yet.  We should have some photos of mom-to-be up soon.

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2:21pm

Emily is currently resting.  She is dilated further – although I can’t recall if the nurse said 6 or 7cm.   Think it was 6.  I will have a little something for the website in the next 20 or 30 minutes.

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11:45am

So I wussed out.  The doc came in to administer the epidural and I took that as my moment to run and hide.  (I have a needle phobia…yeah I’m a wus).   Plus I wanted to get lunch because I knew that we still have four or five hours to go and I certainly wouldn’t want to get food once little Sean is here.  Emily is quite content now with her numb lower half.  We are watching the baby monitor on the console next to the bed and it spikes for a contraction…but she feels nothing.  She ate a third of a red Ice Pop and is going to try to take a nap.  I’ll probably catch up on some reading.  Got the next Harlan Coben book to keep me entertained as well as some TV shows I didn’t get to see on the tube.

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10:30am

Emily is doing well still. Contractions are 1.5 – 2 minutes apart and pretty hefty. She’s bearing with them though and putting off the epidural. Water broke around 8 or 9 am (i think?) and that sped things up. She’s “relaxed” on an exercise ball for a while because the contractions seemed worse when she was laying down.
She’s pretty hungry right now and was relieved to find out she could eat 30 minutes after Sean joins us – as long as she keeps her juice down after the birth. I suggested that I could pick up some Jeff Ruby’s for her…but the nurse said we should stick to something easy like a sandwhich…shows you what I know
More later!

update: epidural is coming.  we are now 5cm. 10:45am

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6:00am

Emily and I made it to the hospital at exactly 5am. She was admitted and we are currently residing in our temporary quarters until Sean joins us later today. Mom is doing well and we cna hear Sean’s heartbeat on the baby monitor next to Emily’s bed. The rooms here are very nice – comfy recliner for dad, plenty of pillows for mom. We have a nice large window that overlooks Cincinnati. The nursing staff is also very nice. Emily was relieved to find out she will be able to walk around and won’t be confined to her bed all day. I’ll post more later as things progress!

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My brother has worked for CarDomain.com in various titles and positions over the last few years.  When CarDomain shuttered its retail sales operation, they moved him over to the editorial department where he was blogging for the CarDomain Blog.  In the last month or so, he was given a whole other project, the SoundDomain Blog, in which he monitors and writes about all things car audio related.  If you need a place to keep up on all things car audio, including the latest in new electronics, custom installs, tools, and car shows – check them out!
Sean has also written two pieces for Forbes’ Magazines online car site.  They are Here and Here.

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Emily’s cousin is in a Christian/Rock/Alternative band in Florida and they just won 2nd place in a state-level Battle of the Bands in Florida this past weekend! The competed against 36 other bands from around Florida. I just listened to some of their stuff on MySpace and was pretty impressed. Check em out!

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Sorry to potentially burst the bubble of those who were anxiously awaiting their ‘guess date’ for the baby calendar…

About a month ago, my doctor offered to do an early induction for me on Feb 25th or 26th. After about 1 day of thought, Paul and I decided against it, mainly because we didn’t think my body would be “ready” to go into labor and I didn’t want to deal with more hospital time and a worse birth process. Fast forward to this past Monday. My doctor again, as you may know from my post, offered the early induction. I was still hesitant about the whole thing, but he went ahead and scheduled it for the 26th with an appointment to see me on the 25th and to cancel the induction if I didn’t want it.

At this point, I’d say that Paul and I are a little over 90% for the induction. Between battling 2 sinus infections, iron deficiency and now this wonderfully super duper rash all in the last 5 weeks, (lest we forget the normal loveliness of being 9 months pregnant), I’m about to my limit with this pregnancy. Besides, because I’m already 2cm dilated and 60% effaced (maybe more by now with my continued coughing), we are thinking that my body is a lot more ready for labor than I thought I would be at this point when the induction was brought up to me a month ago.

So…barring some weird outcome from Monday’s doctor’s appointment, I think we’re going to go ahead and do the induction on Tuesday. I have already settled into the bliss of thinking that tomorrow is my last day of work for 12 weeks (YAY!) and I know that Paul is looking forward to some time away from the office as well. Not that having a newborn around is going to be a wonderful relaxing vacation, but I think we’re both just too excited to wait any longer. And besides, what difference is it going to make a few months down the road to say whether we were induced or waited it out for it to come naturally?

So…I guess that means that Colleen is the winner by default for the date game. I still don’t count it as a true win, but I’m sure she’ll be basking in the glory of her unprecedented psychic abilities come Tuesday’s arrival.

I’ll be posting after my doctor’s appointment on Monday, I’m sure, about the results and our final decision. So far, it seems as though we’ll be making the drive to the hospital at 4:20am Tuesday morning for a 5:00am appointment. Ugh.

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