Baby picture

Holding onto Daddy's hand already

Kellyn Elizabeth Rhodes

Well, it's all over and she's here. Meant to post more yesterday but didn't get around to it. Jennifer did very well and her labor progressed so smoothly with no problems. Mom and baby are doing great and AJ and Jennifer are both very happy.

Name: Kellyn Elizabeth Rhodes

Date and Time: May 27, 2008 - 5:56 pm

Weight: 6 pounds, 5 ounces

Length: 19.5 inches

Hair: Yes, she has some and it appears to be strawberry blonde

Just born

Already holding Daddy's finger (not to mention his heart!)

Getting weighed

I'll post more later. Right now I'm still REALLY tired (not as tired as the little mother but then she's not 50 years old!) and I plan on going back to the hospital today. No word yet on when they come home.

Baby day 1

2:35 PM

We are at the hospital. Got here at 9:30 am today. Jennifer is on a pitocin drip. She is progressing quitely nicely. Her epidural has been started so she is much more comfortable. She is 5 cm dilated and 75% effaced (she was already 3 cm when we got here). Midwife is pleased with her progress. She will come back in 2 hours to check her, and if her water has not broken by then, she will do it.

Almost there...

Well, tomorrow is the big day. Jennifer calls the hospital at 8:30 am to make sure they have a bed available. Provided they do, she reports to the hospital at 9:30 am to start the induction.

Today, we're going to Margaret's house for a relaxing afternoon. A combination celebration for Memorial Day, AJ being home, and Kristi's birthday (Margaret's daughter).

Yesterday, we got another floor down (with plenty of help). It's so nice to get more of that nasty 35-year-old carpet out of the house. We keep hoping that once we get all of it out, the house won't get so dusty so fast (fingers crossed).

Oh, baby!

As of today, Jennifer is still only 1.5 cm dilated but is now 50% effaced. The doctor's office decided to go ahead and schedule an induction for next Tuesday, May 27 in the morning (provided there is an available bed). So hopefully, if the induction goes well, we will have a new baby girl sometime next Tuesday.

AJ's flight arrives tomorrow morning around 9:00. I am taking Jennifer to the airport to pick him up. Jennifer's uncomfortable but she's really happy now that AJ's almost here and the baby's going to be here soon.

A little bit closer

Jennifer was checked Thursday at the doctor's office - she is 1.5 cm dilated and 20 to 30% effaced. I think the baby has dropped some more. Jennifer is tired more and more of the time and her feet have been hurting.

AJ leaves Iraq tomorrow (evening for him, early afternoon for us) to go to Kuwait. Hopefully he will be able to get a flight out of Kuwait the next day and be in Atlanta by Wednesday morning. Michael has to be out of town working this week so I will most likely be going to the airport with Jennifer to get AJ. As far along as she is, I don't feel comfortable with her going to the airport alone. The Atlanta airport is huge and requires quite a bit of walking to get wherever you need to be.

In some ways, Jennifer's pregnancy has been more exciting for me because I've been able to witness so much of it firsthand. And it will be really special to be able to get to know Kellyn in much the same way as I did Tara those first precious months of life (the first outside of Mom, that is).

Every time my phone rings now and it's Jennifer, I'm always wondering if she's calling me to let me know she thinks it's time to go!

Hasn't happened yet

Still waiting...

Ideally Jennifer would like for the baby to arrive just after AJ gets home. He leaves Iraq next Monday (May 19) and the earliest he would get here would be May 21. She is really ready to go. She will be 38 weeks tomorrow and they are supposed to do a check at the doctor's office to see if she has started dilating yet.

We were at Margaret's house this past Sunday (Mother's Day) for a cookout and I took a few pictures of Jennifer so she could send some to AJ. This past Saturday I finished a diaper stacker for Jennifer. The one she had originally registered for at WalMart was not available at any stores or online. So I found some fabric on Ebay (classic Pooh on a pale pink background) and a pattern and made one for her.

I've really missed sewing. Right now all my sewing stuff is mostly packed up and sitting in the dining room but I got it arranged to the point where I could at least get to my sewing machine and basic supplies. It's still going to take a while before I get my sewing room back because Michael wants to move Jennifer (and the baby) into the small room so we can redo the front bedroom (paint, flooring, etc.). THEN I'm supposed to get my sewing room back.

Baby days...

Well, it's getting closer and closer...

Jennifer has been having a good bit of trouble with swelling in her ankles and feet, and some days her hands and fingers are swelling also. She's been having trouble with carpal tunnel-type symptoms in her right hand and wrist, which the doctor said was due to the increased blood volume.

Yesterday, I looked at Jennifer and thought that she looked like the baby had dropped some. This evening, she told me that her SIL-to-be and a server at a restaurant earlier today told her she looked like she had dropped some. When I was pregnant with Jennifer, she dropped only a day or two before she was born. Also, she has been feeling more and more pressure very low. One more thing, when she does a lot of walking, she starts having very regular contractions.

So I'm wondering if this baby is going to wait until AJ gets home to be born. As I told Jennifer, the bright side to that would be that AJ would get to spend his whole leave time with the baby and her, instead of waiting for the doctor to induce Jennifer.

Grrrrrrrr!

I hate this den! I hate this house! I want to move!

I have been trying to figure out how to rearrange the furniture in my den for several weeks now. The room is long and narrow and has several doorways in it, plus a fireplace at one end. Arranging furniture in it is definitely a challenge. Of course it doesn't help that we currently have a dining room set stored at one end of the room (disassembled at present).

After we got the "new" couch, he wanted to keep the old one for extra seating! I told him we didn't have room for it and suggested he give it to his daughter (especially satisfying since we just discovered several weeks ago that her kids stuck candy on the back of the sofa and between the cushions last Halloween - and the candy wasn't wrapped).

I guess what it really boils down to is that we just need to get rid of a lot of stuff. I'm ready to if I can just get my "dear" husband to participate and help with some of it.

Tara's 2nd birthday

This past Thursday was Tara's 2nd birthday. This was our regular weekend for her to visit with us. Tabitha and Michael had a birthday party for her Friday evening. It was held in a park not too far from their home.

When we got to the park, Tara wasn't there yet but arrived soon after. She wanted to play on the playground, so I walked with her to the playground and took pictures of her while she played. She played on the slide a lot and then had fun being pushed in the swing by Aunt Jennifer.

(Some of Tabitha's family and friends were there and they are SO annoying to be around. Lots of cursing, smoking, etc., and Tabitha's mother seems like she's always strung out on pills or alcohol.)

When the food was ready, Tabitha brought Tara back to the pavilion to eat, with the plan being to eat, open presents, and then have the cake. While plates were being fixed for the kids, Tara somehow climbed up on a bench at one of the picnic tables. We don't know exactly how it happened but Tara managed to fall off the bench and go face first onto the concrete floor.

I was the first one to get to her and pick her up. She bumped her forehead hard and hit her nose and lip. Her lip got cut a little bit from one of her teeth and her nose got scratched up. The party broke up shortly after that and we went back to their apartment. She finally calmed down and was interested in her presents and cake (Elmo cake this year as he is currently her favorite character). You can see the size of the bump on her forehead in the picture below.

She finally was doing well enough that they decided it was okay for her to go home with us. We kept her awake for a while to make sure she was really okay. Today her nose, lip and forehead are looking a lot better, and she's acting like her normal self - cute and funny. It's hard to believe she's two years old already.