Introduction!

Ella Rose Pedersen, 21in, 8lbs 8.3oz, 2:45pm. She might have more hair than Lydia does at 19 months.

Mom and baby are doing well.

Time to start

Christy is fully dialated. Time to get the dotor here to start pushing.

Doctor broke her water. And he doesn't anticipate much for changes over the next few hours. And said she's dialated to 3cm.

time for a nap

Epidural is in. Pitocin has been pumping for a couple of hours. 5cm.

Nubane is wearing off

3cm. The nurse is calling the doc for the epidural thumbs up. It's certainly agonizing for Christy...while I blog.

In labor

We got to CMH about 6:20a, checked in, and headed upstairs. It was more relaxed checking in while Christy wasn't in labor. We headed up to the birthing center and the nurses got the monitors and formalities in order. The IVs did not go well. Christy's vein's are always troublesome. After the nurse tried, in vain (pun intended), the resident poker expert got her stabbed successfully. Unfortunately, both attempts by the first nurse ended with burst veins and bubbles under her hand. No bruising though. Christy ususally bruises easily.

The doctor showed up around 7:30a and applied that gel to get things going. Then the nurse started the pre-epidural fluids. Then came some mild cramping. More less mild cramping. Nausea. Christy talked the doctor into the pain medicine nubane. That did the trick. Tolerable pain and nausea. Now we're waiting for a regular labor rate to kick in. For now, Christy is resting.

The nurse just delivered the epidural pump. She got the infant inspection table out. It's a rather intense looking system for the baby's first post-womb exposure. Such is her life to be.

We've finally settled on a name. The delay was my fault. I picked this name months ago but had second thoughts. Christy got needlessly worked up. But she'll tell you otherwise.

Heart rate: 144, 2cm dialated, 70% thinnned, -2 (whatever that meant at 8am) and no complications.

I'll blog when there's more news, and I have time.

Day at the Beach

I'll start with a quick baby update, then just post some pictures of the family.

Yesterday I had my 38 week appointment. The doctor still doesn't think I am ready to deliver. But he did schedule an induction for September 23rd. The baby has to be 2 weeks old to fly, so if she is born on the 23rd, she'll be 2 weeks and 2 days when we leave. As much as I knew I would deliver eventually, it's nice to have an absolute deadline. It'll be nice to plan for the girls too. We have people to watch the girls in case I go into labor in the middle of the night, but it will be better to have them at my mom's and not have to worry about waking other people at 2 am.

Of course things may always change. I was scheduled to be induced with Lydia 2 days later than her actual birth day.

Since it was a beautiful September day, we packed up the van and headed to the beach. The girls loved it!

Random Pics

Both Grace and Lydia seem to think they are rockstars lately! Nothing makes Mom happier than 2 girls that play with noisy instruments all day!

Grace make cards last week (in multiple layers of dress up clothes). If you get a nicely decorated card in the next couple of months, you may have Grace to thank for the craftiness! She made many cards with people in mind though. She made a card for herself, one for her friend Sophia, and one for her new baby sister, Purse. (She thinks the baby's name should be purse).

Richfield Fire Department Visit

This morning at a MOMS Club event the Richfield Fire Department came to talk to the kids. They firemen were GREAT with the little ones. They showed them how they get dressed in their firemen suits to prove that they are real people inside there and not alien men.

Here's Grace spraying the fire hose. This is a big improvement over last year when she wouldn't go near it! This year she was first in line.

Lydia needed to get in on the action too. I think she would have gladly ran into the water too if she had been given the opportunity.

Last the kids got to go inside the fire truck. Grace climbed in and didn't get out until the firement were packing up and getting ready to leave. She didn't talk to them at all, she just sat there in her seat! The firemen said that no matter where they go, it's usually the girls who like to hang out in there. The boys just walk through.

Still just hanging out.

She's moving in.

Lydia wants to play too.

I thought I could leave them there.

Catching Up

Here are the latest pictures from the last few weeks. I thought it might be a good idea to get caught up on the blog before the baby came. September and October should be busy for us!

Grace wrapped up her dance classes at the end of August. She adored her teacher, Miss Laura. We decided not to enroll her in anything for the fall and we will get her back into classes again next spring. The next class would have been 1 hour long instead of 1/2 hour. Plus Lydia is ready to take classes too. It was hard to keep her out of Grace's class this summer. So in the spring, we will likely be spending at least 2 days at dance. I had no idea all the chauffeuring began so early.

Paul has been complaining about how cold our house has been all summer. I told him that it really hasn't been that cold. I didn't think the girls seemed to mind... apparently I was wrong!

Grace loves to help in the kitchen. Whether it is making herself a bowl of cereal or a full fledged meal, she insists on getting her helping chair out and doing everything herself!

A couple weekends ago we went to Paul's coworker's sons' birthday party. The girls both loved the swingset and Grace swung at the pinata. I don't think we had ever given her a real bat to swing before.

I don't know why Lydia has to climb onto the most challenging swings right away!

...maybe so I would have to bend over nad catch her.

Can you see the vacant baby swing right next to Lydia? Lydia has decided that she doesn't like those swings anymore. If Grace can go on the big girl swings, then so can Lydia. I guess it's not too terrible since she would have gotten bumped to the bigger swing by next year anyway.

Stand back - Grace is armed with a bat!