It's time!

Hey everyone, we are here at the hospital, waiting for baby Miles. Heidi's water broke about 6:30 p.m. this evening to everyone's suprise. Luckily she was at her parents' house waiting to come meet me for dinner, so she had the whole family there to drive her to the hospital to get checked out.

Checking into the ER was a little hectic with all the bikers and paperwork, but everything after that has been pretty calm. Of course, the nurses predictably had a little trouble finding a vein to get her IV in, but overall things have been smooth. We've seen the doctor and they have advised us to do whatever we can to get some rest and sleep for a few hours because the real action likely won't start until the wee hours of the morning.

I'm pretty tired after staying up late last night for work, but something tells me with the rush I have going now it's gonna be tough to get any sleep. Instead I will likely be up all night...

That's about it for now. If you want to check in on how things are going, pop on over to www.twitter.com/mowder and see how everything is going.

Dr. Appointment today

Well I went to the doctor today for my wonderful weekly check-up. First off I lost 4 pounds since my last appointment last Monday which is always nice but weird. I still eat and eat so I was surprised to see a weight lose and no gain. I have officially gained 16 pounds at this point which is really good if you ask me.

Well my doctor did a wonderful pelvic exam that they do every appointment now to see how far if any that I am dilated and effaced. To my surprise I was dilated 1 cm and 80% effaced today which means I am on my way to deliver Miles sooner than later. My doctor was very pleased with these numbers she said she was surprised that I was at those numbers already with my first pregnancy. She told me to be prepared because I could go any time.

We also discussed Miles he is still a bit of a big baby. So we discussed an induction before my due date so that I do not deliver a huge baby and so that I can try to avoid a c-section. We decided on an induction date of June 3, 2008 if Miles doesn't decide to arrive before then. I am so excited I have an actual date to when I will get to meet my little monkey. I am also starting to get more nervous knowing that I am already dilated and effaced and can deliver any time now.

12 days now until Baby Miles arrives if not sooner!!!!!!!!!!!!

Updates

Ok, I know I have disappeared for like ever on here but I am a back.

First off I would like to thank everyone for all the wonderful gifts for Miles that we received at the shower and all of the diapers that my co-workers got Miles at my work shower. The baby shower was wonderful and lots of fun. I was so happy to get to spend time with my great friends and family. Once again thank you all so much.

Second I have been so busy washing baby clothes and accessory's and organizing Miles room I have hardly had time for anything else these days. I am happy to say that I only have one load of laundry left and that the room looks really good. Chris and I finished organizing it and I absolutely love the way it looks. The crib with all of the safari bedding is too adorable there will picture to come soon.

Third I finally think that I have my bag packed and ready for the hospital which is a big accomplishment for me. For those of you that know me well know how much I like to procrastinate so I am pretty proud of myself at this point. I still need to do a quick double check but I feel good about my progress. The only problem is that I couldnt decide on a take home outfit for Miles so I packed all four that I liked good thing they are small and don't take up too much room.

Finally I am sooooo ready to have this baby it is not funny. I have had a pretty easy pregnancy up until late. Now I am suffering from everything that you can imagine and some things that you can't. I have so much pressure some days I can hardly walk which makes for a great day at work. I have also started to suffer from swelling which is just gross my feet have never been so big and ugly in my life. Ankles? What are those? I know I am being a whiner but hey this been a long 9 months and I am anxious to see my little guy.

Birthing class recap

Heidi and I attended our first birthing class on Monday night at Grand Strand Hospital. It was a pretty interesting experience, but not for all the reasons I thought. I am definitely glad we went, but I can't really say I learned much. I think with this being the first of 3 classes it was meant to be more of an intro, but really it just repeated alot of what we've already been learning. Overall, it just left me feeling a little more comfortable with the whole process, but there were also plenty of uncomfortable moments as well.

To keep my mind and hands busy I decided to take some notes (mostly of the offbeat variety) about basically everything we did. Here's what I came back with:

• 7:10 p.m. - Class starts with only 3 couples. Everytime the nurse decides to begin, another couple strolls in. This ends 5 minutes and 3 couples later.
• 7:15 p.m. - Introductions. Everyone knows the sex of their baby, 4 girls vs. 2 boys.
• 7:20 p.m. - Video begins on basic anatomy, announcer refers to baby only as "him."
• 7:25 p.m. - Woman on video tells about her dreams while pregnant. "I gave birth to 5 rabbits," she says.
• 7:30 p.m - Diagram of a baby at 37 weeks. For some reason the baby has a HUGE forehead.
• 7:35 p.m. - Quote from nurse: "Labor is a messy process, we'd rather you ruin our stuff than your own."
• 7:40 p.m. - Found out laptops and cell phones are allowed in the labor room and the department has wireless internet. WOO HOO! On with liveblogging the labor.
• 7:45 p.m. - Talking about making up a birth plan
• 8:00 p.m. - Talking about Group B strep test and how it killed a bunch of babies back in the 80s. Uh oh, time for the $50 million dollar question; "How do I know when I'm in labor?"
• 8:10 p.m. - Break time. Grab snacks from the table of fruits, cheeses, and cookies, not a horrible spread really. Try to call mom for her birthday to no avail.
• 8:15 p.m. - Nurse breaking out the dialation chart. Looking at it, it's hard to believe a vagina could be as big as any of them.
• 8:20 p.m. - Video #2. Must be old, because folks are wearing big 90s hair and red parachute pants.
• 8:25 p.m. - Closeup cervix animation. That's top-notch computer animation...for 1996.
• 8:27 p.m - There's the money shot! I knew it was coming, yet it still caught me off guard. Gross...
  
• 8:30 p.m. - Nurse quote: "Relatives just love vaginal exams!" referring to people always asking to how far the mother is dilated.
• 8:35 p.m. - Don't eat China Buffet before birth, it makes for a bad combination of vomit, contractions and diarrhea.
• 8:40 p.m - Video #3. This woman is out eating soup at Boston Market and taking walks in the park while she's in labor.
• 8:45 p.m. - I've made my wardrobe choice based on what the guy in the video is wearing while his wife is in labor. SUSPENDERS it is!
• 8:50 p.m - Final Nurse Quote: "You just have to be limp like a noodle."

And there you have it. All the knowledge of a two exhilarating hours of obstetrics education packed into one blog post. I've got some more gems, but I will save those for another time.

How to Make a Baby Romper from a T Shirt - wikiHow

I don't know that either Heidi or I are crafty enough to pull this off, but it seems like a pretty fun idea. Also, there's the fact that our baby currently has more clothes than he will ever be able to wear before he grows out of them and we have to buy all new ones...well, maybe that will be my chance. Now if I could just learn to sew.

How to Make a Baby Romper from a T Shirt

Go from this...

to this!

Baby Maker

Heidi and I are planning to go see the movie "Baby Mama" this evening with the free movie passes I won at work. Personally, I would like to see "21" or "Harold & Kumar," but seeing as how I'm going to be dragging her to "Iron Man" next weekend, I figured I best oblige her request.

I went on the movie's website to check times and they had this "build your own baby" feature that I had to try. So here it is...hopefully this is just for fun, because if Miles actually comes out looking this way I may have to send him back. Or at least get him used to the paper bag he will be wearing.

Go to BABYMAMAMAKER.COM to make your own.

Check it out for yourself and make your own baby.

Baby Shower Photos

It has been a pretty quick and crazy week since the baby shower, but I just wanted to drop in an show off some of the photos. I will leave it to Heidi to give her impressions, but I just wanted to make sure and thank everyone again for a great turnout and for all the great gifts which we received. I can only share a few here, but if you are interested in seeing all the photos, check out my mom's Snapfish album.


Heidi and I with the bassinet.


The cake.


Some gifts.


Heidi opening gifts.


Heidi and some Gallipolis girls.

More Miles

Hey guys, it's been pretty hectic lately. Alot of stuff going on, getting ready for the baby shower this weekend, Heidi is SO excited! Also a bunch of work stuff and a barrage of doctor's appointments now that we are going every two weeks, plus an extra check up in there and another ultrasound last friday.

Everything went well, as expected. Miles is measuring normal in terms of his head size and the measurements they took around the waist and of the fluid surrounding him. He is now so big that they couldn't get a full body shot in the ultrasound anymore, instead they focused on showing parts of the body (leg, foot, bones, etc.). He has gotten turned back around and is now facing the correct direction to be delivered head first, so that is a good thing as well.

Here are the photos we got of his face. I have to admit that they are not the clearest of shots and you may not get it at first, but I assure you it looked really cool in person. As the technician dragged the ultrasound machine from side to side you could get some great 3D-looking views of his profile, where the nose and eyes were clearly standing out. However, whenever she would stop to take a photo you would lose the depth and he view got a little more muddled. Still I think if you look real hard you may be able to guess what is what.


Can you see the baby's face?


How about now?

Labor Predictor quiz

I just went to a cute website Justmommies.com and they have a labor predictor quiz so I thought what the heck let's try it out. All you have to do is answer a few short questions about your birth and your significant others birth and it gives you this fun little prediction. Remember it is just for entertainment purposes only and there is probably no actual truth to it, but it is still fun to see what it says.

So here is my labor prediction:

I know you were hoping we were not going to say this, but don't expect this baby to come early. Your baby is nice and comfy tucked away in your womb and has no intrest in joining the rest of the world. We predict your baby after it's due date. Your baby will most likely be born in the morning. Justmommies predicts that your baby will weigh approximately 8.5 pounds and that your labor will be about 16 hours long.

Now doesn't that sound like fun I hope that they are wrong with the 16 hours part but it will probably last even longer than that so I shouldn't complain. Well let's wait and see how close there were with their predictions.

Stress busters:)

Ok so I am on Babyfit.com like 20 times a day if not more. I find it really helpful with lots of good information espically for first time mommies like myself. One of the articles that I really enjoyed recently is 7 Simple Stress Busters. I know that I am starting to feel the stress and any relief that I can get is very helpful. Stress happens to everyone but being a pregnant women it seems to find ya much faster.

Step 1:Take a walk-It helps to clear your head and it helps keep you in shape. This is one activity that I actually enjoy doing but lately I just can't find the time to fit a good head clearing walk in. No wonder I am a stressful mess most days.

Step 2: Call a good friend or fellow pregnant lady-Talking to someone that you enjoy really helps you to relax and clam down. Sorry guys I know I am horrible at staying in touch I will make an effort to change that for my own peice of mind and I really miss talkin gto good friends.

Step 3: Write down your thoughts in a journal-Expressing one's feelings is a great way to destress. Writing things down is a quick release of all your feelings at once and it never hurts to get things out of your system.

Step 4: Play a board game-This I am not really sure about who really has a chance to sit down to a wonderful game of Life these days. I guess I will get reaquainted with how fun board games can be in a few short years when Miles wants to play Candyland or any other fun game that I have not played in years.

Step 5: Work up a sweat- Now doesn't that sound like fun. It didn't really specify how to work up that sweatbut I am sure any way is fine and will help you destress or maybe cause more stress who knows.

Step 6: Plan something fun- Like a mini-vacation or a night out on the town becuase soon for Chris and I these will be hard to come by. We went to a nice dinner the other night at PF Changs and it was really relaxing and very enjoyable.

Step 7: When all else fails take a nap-This has slowly became one of my favorite relaxation techinques. I never really enjoyed naps until I became pregnant now I can hardly function some days without a little bit of shut eye.

Well these stress tips are probably not anything new but they are super helpful to this pregnant lady that stresses out easily enough not being pregnant so one can only imagine my state of mind at times now that I am worry not only about me but also about this wonderful little guy that Chris and I are about ready to bring into this world.