The First Family Photo and Update

Annie, I'm fighting to not call her Super, got off the oxygen this afternoon and Kaly has been feeding her. She is still being treated with antibiotics to fight off possible infection, but she's doing so much better. She will stay in the NICU until Thursday and Kaly will be discharged Wednesday.

My apologizes to those of you on the mailing list for yesterday's messed up subject line. I'm not sure what was up with that, but that is also why Kaly normally does this. Hopefully she will be up to taking this thing back over soon. REIII

She's here!!!

Kaly and I are happy to announce the arrival of our daughter, Ann Emerson Erwin. She was born at 2:35pm. She weighs 6.5 lbs and measures 20 inches.

Both mom and baby are doing great.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A Letter to Super

Dear Super,
First off, I would like to apologize in advance if the name “Super” sticks past your birth. It was really just intended as a way to reference you that seemed to take on a life of its own. Since we all really do feel you are Super, I hope it doesn’t bother you too much.

I wanted to write this letter to let you know what I am thinking/feeling as I am moving through the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I will say that you have been a pretty easy baby so far. I didn’t get any morning sickness (other than one time, the day before I found out that you were on the way) and I haven’t been overly tired. I think I have been a bit mean to your sweet father, particularly in the first few months, but he’s handled it very well. You have taken to some pretty ferocious jabs lately, but I just like to think that means you are feisty and ready to come out and meet everyone. It has to be getting cramped in there. So far I know you love oranges and apple juice. If I haven’t felt you move in a while, I can always count on these things to get you jumping.

I spend a lot of time thinking about what you will be like. In my mind, you will look a lot like me (I am guessing I feel this way because you are a girl). I imagine you being funny, smart, sensitive, and creative, which are more traits of your father. It would not be honest if I said I don’t worry about your health and that everything goes well during your delivery. I guess it’s the not knowing how things will go that bothers me the most. I try not to get too scared about the whole process and focus on how thrilled we will be when you get here. Luckily your Dad is around to calm me and reassure me that everything will be fine.

Which brings me to the topic of your father... I was never 100% sure I would have children until I met him. I have never seen someone that has such a way with infants, babies, toddlers, and can be pretty charming with adults. The more I got to know him, the more I loved him (which all happened pretty quickly, I should add) and I became aware that he was put on this earth to be a Dad. And then I quickly realized that I wanted to be a part of whatever family had a Dad like that. I think you and I are both really lucky to have him in our lives.

While I am ready for you to get here, I am going to miss having you with me at all times. I like to think that you and I are a package deal right now, and I like knowing you are with me and safe. You seem to have perfect timing and just when I am getting frustrated or anxious about work or the house, you give me a little nudge, which quickly hits the reset button and reminds me that in the grand scheme of things, all of this stuff is inconsequential and there is a bigger task at hand. I already am not looking forward to going back to my boring old body that doesn’t have a Super Baby bouncing around inside of it. I feel like you already have so much personality and I can’t wait to put a face to the baby I feel I already know (and the feet that so lovingly kick my ribs). I can’t express how miraculous it is to imagine that there will be a person in the world that was made from me and your Dad. And I can’t imagine I could love you any more than I do already, but I know that’s about to change as well.

We are officially at the end of the road here. It's two hours before we head to the hospital to get induced. Today has been a brutal waiting game and both your Dad and I are very impatient and ready for you to get here. We've been on the threshold of all this activity for so long and are ready to get things started! We know we are in for a lot of changes, but we knew that was what we were getting into. I have loved my life with your father for the past 7+ years, so thinking of a completely different life does make me a little nervous, but we both know that nothing great ever came from staying the same. We are also very aware of how blessed we are to be able to have a child and to experience this entire process. You are an amazing gift.

I can’t seem to find a way to appropriately convey how special the past 9 months have been. I have loved every second of the pregnancy and feeling you grow. I have not been crazy about the maternity clothes and look forward to both of us trying out our new wardrobes (well, yours is new, mine is just unused for 10 months). I can’t wait to spend my days getting to know you and have you become part of our lives. You are already the center of attention and you are not even here yet!

Try to be patient with us as we learn about how to care for you and what you need. We are new at this, and promise we will spend the rest of our lives trying to make you as happy as we possibly can.

Love you,
Mom

Rapture Ramblings

Since my mother assures me that no one will know about the actual rapture beforehand, I feel it is safe to make light of the current discussions regarding the predicted "End of Days" that is supposed to be happening today. Of course, God, if you happened to schedule the legit End of Days today, I suggest you reschedule to really catch people off guard AND disregard any of the comments made in this post. If you do decide to read on, hopefully I will have given you some things to ponder about how this will all go down.

Rapture thoughts/questions/observations:

I love the thought of the world ending before Oprah gets to air her final episode.

Rick is holding off on mowing the lawn, just in case it does happen. I can rest assured that our unattended house will go un-looted in the event of a rapture, because it will appear that crazy people lived there or it was uninhabited for years, pre-rapture. We Erwins plan ahead.

What's the food situation in heaven? Because I would like to place a few orders for a repeat performance of this little number Rick put together this morning. For some reason, I imagine you don't get meat in heaven. Probably for the best.

While our pregnancy timing was seemingly perfect with regard to the seasons, it is not perfect when it comes to the rapture. If it happens today, do I go up in my current state (I hate to assume anything about my rapture status, but I like to think I am good with the man upstairs and choosing to be positive here)? Don't get me wrong, I would be thrilled to have made the cut, but being 40+ weeks pregnant for eternity isn't exactly my vision of heaven.

Which brings me to my next question...What about Super? She's never screwed up so clearly she's in. Does she get to grow up? The thought of having a newborn for eternity....well, see the above statement. Though I am sure newborns in heaven are a much more well behaved bunch.

Delivering this baby in heaven might be the only way I could pull off a drug-free, natural birth. Of course, there will be those women up there that steal my thunder and brag about how they gave birth naturally on earth, and how much worse it was, and how I will never know pain like the pain they felt....

Certainly there's no Mommy Competition (mompetition, thanks Debbie!) in heaven, right?

I am clearly falling too far down this rabbit hole, so I will stop here. We are currently 36 hours away from when we depart for the hospital to be induced. In case you can't tell, there's a lot more mental activity than physical going on over here. I am glad we decided to induce when we did, because I would likely be typing up some manifesto by Wednesday of next week if we waited any longer.

The end is near, indeed!

So....

What's going on with you guys? Not a lot happening over here. It's just my due date and all, but somehow I am sitting here at work trying to wrap up nonsense. My people (I refuse to call them my "team") ignored the warnings I have been sending out over the last three months regarding my looming absence and decided to get all their stuff to me for review in the last two days. Lovely. What they also don't realize is that I have been completing their annual review surveys this week as well. "Completes tasks in a timely manner?".....not so much.

40 weeks.

So despite the fact I have a pumpkin-sized jumping bean in my stomach that seems to be all razor-sharp elbows and knees, all is well here. I am more emotionally unsteady than physically uncomfortable, and I can't figure out which is worse. I bet Rick has an opinion on that one. The phone tells me nothing this week other than that the baby is ready. They also have helpful tips for deadbeat parents-to-be on things like "preparing for baby" and finding a hospital. It's small things like this that make me feel slightly prepared for what we are about to experience.

I have heard rumors of people having severe depression at the mere notion that Super Thursdays will be no more after the baby gets here. In an effort to keep everyone off the edge of the cliff (we're a dramatic bunch), I will let you know that I do plan on continuing to update you all on the status of Super post-birth. Probably more than you will ever care to know and you will go find some silly cooking or shabby chic furniture blog to read. Fine. We didn't need your kind around here anyway.

It seems we have reached the end of the road....only to find a bit more road. We will continue to keep you all posted. Keep me, Super, Rick, and my lady parts in your prayers as we progress through these next few days!

Slow and Steady

I don't know why I thought my pregnancy would be anything other than a slow progression. I am not necessarily a "get up and go" kind of a person. I am pretty sure no one has ever described me as being intense. When it comes to getting things done, they get done on time, usually not before or after. I am a 10 minute mile kinda gal. No records being broken here. and I am COMPLETELY fine with that.

This entire pregnancy has been blessedly average from the baby's size to my personal weight gain. And I have never been so thankful to be average.

39.5 weeks.

So it was no huge shock when Dr. J informed me yesterday that I am a little over 2 cm dilated, which is not a huge leap from last week's 1.5 cm. He said that things are moving into place. I won't go into details regarding what's moving where to protect the fragile males that read this blog, but things are on the move. He did say that if he was a betting man that he would guess the baby is going to be in the 7 pound range. Again, YAY for average!!!

I imagine Super is in there saying "What's the big rush, people? Don't I have until the 19th? No one told me the deadline had been moved up! I still have plenty of time. Calm down. It'll get done." That's my girl.

Waiting game

In anticipation of the arrival of a certain little someone, we have kept our calendar pretty open. As a result, we have lots of time to do nothing...or do everything, depending on my level of energy. We spent Saturday in overdrive nesting mode and putting the final touches on the nursery, cleaning the house, and rewashing clothes and sheets. Apparently the nesting instinct is a bit contagious, because GB has also been in full swing lately and has been on the food-prep side of things (which, other than one bout with making homemade strawberry shortcake, has not happened with me). She shifted into overdrive on Saturday, and after listing my top 5 favorite GB foodstuffs, I supervised the fixins.

She had no fewer than three things cooking at once. Here she has some chicken dish in the crock pot, curried beef almondine in the skillet, and king ranch chicken in the oven. It was VERY impressive.

Today we went on a walk, then on a camera search. Yes, family, another camera-don't judge. This one also shoots HD video, which I am sure I will instantly regret when it comes to labor footage. Of course, I will blame the HD for why I look like a nightmare. Oh well.

Then the rest of the day has been spent soaking in this rainy, lazy Sunday. I have spent the last week or so in a strange mix of worlds of hyper activity and slow motion. At work, I am essentially prepping for getting wiped off the face of the earth for eight weeks, which has been no small task. Then things slam into low gear at home...until we think of something else we need and rush around picking that stuff up. Then waiting.....

I also find myself thinking things along the lines of "if I go into long labor after this meal, is this going to potentially hold me over for 24 hours?", which is a sure-fire way to gain 20 pounds in your last week of pregnancy. More poignant thoughts also work their way in and I find myself thinking that this may be the last Sunday I am not a Mom, or every night I go to bed and wonder if this is the last night I will go to bed without saying goodnight to my child. Needless to say, it is a whirlwind of emotions over here and we are excited, emotional, anxious, and, in general, ready. We want our baby.