Our "first baby" Dylan

Nellie comes home

Nellie's third day

Nellie's second day

Nellie's first day

Due Date mach 2

This photo is from our last doctor's appt on the day before "Due Date mach 2". Sorry it is on its side - can't figure out how to rotate it.

I will be induced next week if LP doesn't come this weekend.

OK cramping - gotta go

stay tuned

Wednesday Update

So, yesterday was our due date. (The one from the sonogram; our doctor has been using Friday.) And nothing happened. It was weird. We’ve spent all this time building up to April 17, which has now come and gone.

I went to a Yankees game with Nathan, David and their friend Bryan. I felt weird about it, but we all concluded that the baby wasn’t likely to come. (Great game, too. Yankees exploded for six runs in the second inning, including three home runs. And Chase Wright posted the win in his first major league start.)

Tomorrow is our 40-week doctor’s appointment. I guess we’ll know more when we know more.

Photo from last doctor's appt

Here is a side view from last Thursday 12 April at Dr Noel's.

Due Date mach 1

According to my sonogram, today is my due date. Yesterday we thought it was all go - pain, discomfort, cramping but it turned out to be a trial run due to probably too much jalapeno and too little sleep. I would like to thank Lindsay, Layla, Katty, Wendy, Angela, Sarah, Ann-Marie, Mary and Kim for checking in on me this last week.

Mark and I are pretty set. We finished off our birth plan last night and our hospital bags are pretty much packed and ready to go. We keep trying to capture footage of LP moving around but every time we turn the camera on LP stops. Mark has some weird calming voodoo effect on LP. Whenever he comes near, LP freezes any activity. It 's a little frustrating for the two of us since we want to share this experience of kicking, pushing and general boogying in my belly.

Nathan and David arrived Friday night and we have been having a nice time with them. LP needs to make an appearance while they are in town.

Sitting on this chair is very uncomfortable so I will sign off.

Mark has the camera today so we will upload photos later.

My belly today

Advice from Veronica Farje

everyone needs to make a casserole and freeze it as a "baby-warming" gift. You can stockpile them in your fridge, and feast for a couple of months. you will need your energy for nursing. geez you will be thirsty too. i took to carrying a gallon of water with me everywhere. but you won't have to pee like crazy anymore. the oxytocin that your body will make is naturally relaxing, and all of that carrying of baby and stuff will release serotonin and endorphins. it is just super cool. plus, they do such neat stuff every minute of their lives--just watching them for hours is fun!

i pledge a lasagna for the fridge.

love and kisses to the family

Advice from Tina Fallon

Wow - April 17th! That's soon! Prepare to be swept away on a tidal wave of love and tenderness.

My advice is pretty simple: your job for the first six months or so is simply to survive. You will be stressed, sleepless, confused, irritable, convinced you'll never be able to work again, hungry, unshaven, etc.. Don't sweat it! It's normal, all of it, even the freakiest shit is normal. Jaundice? Normal! Colic? Normal! Convinced your sleeping child has stopped breathing? Normal! Feel like you're going to die? Normal! considering divorce? Normal! Your production training will come in handy, as will your experience with The 24 Hour Plays. And flying to Australia in coach. All of that. Try to take care of yourselves, not just the baby - because that will help the baby, too. Nobody likes a grump.

But it's just incredible, every day something miraculous and new. And it's just a nanosecond - you may feel like you haven't ______(showered, written in your blog, seen your friends) in a million years, but when you pop out of the rabbit hole barely a month will have passed. Everything will be right where you left it. So feel free to disappear for a while. We won't take it personally. And once infancy is gone, it's really gone. Which is a good thing, really, but you don't want to miss it.

Don't answer the phone unless it's really convenient. They'll call back if it's urgent. Do order takeout food without feeling guilty. Accept help when offered, especially offers of food, clean laundry, money. Do steal a stack of receiving blankets from the hospital. They're really handy, and you can go through up to five a day. Don't feel obligated to entertain people when they stop by to meet the baby. Drink as much booze as you like/require. Ditto other drugs, chocolate. Take pictures, try to write, but don't beat yourself up if you skip a week. Watch TV, or get caught up on your netflix queue. It won't hurt the baby. If the baby sleeps peacefully in a stroller/seat/sling, the first couple of months you can go out to dinner with baby in tow.

Jeez. It looks grim, right? It's not, it's the best thing ever, and it gets better and better. I'm so excited for you!

xx
Tina

I am huge!

Since moving into our new flat, we haven't had the luxury of a full length mirror - just two curiously high bathroom mirrors. Therefore I don't see myself for days on end. I was really struck by my girth the other day when I was using a public bathroom and checked myself out in their mirror. Wowsers! I had my photo taken last night with my wonderful friend Kim and the white shirt really brings out the belly in my belly. What do you think?

At 39 Weeks

Our due date is in one week. That seems really soon, but it's a long time to just sit around and wait. Nicolle has kept busy at home by cooking and baking, learning how to use our new digital camera (we've leapt into the '90s in anticipation of taking many pictures of the baby) and packing all of our stuff for the hospital.

For anyone who's wondering how we'll get from our home to the hospital, we'll call a car service within Brooklyn. Maybe we'll call a couple of them and see which one gets there first. We've toured the hospital twice and we know where to go and what to do when we get there. I still need to map the drive so we're not hung up by any one way streets.

The best books I've read about the birthing process are this one and this one. Sadly, I have failed in my attempt to completely memorize them and I will be frantically thumbing through them the entire time.

Where We Stand

I haven't been able to update this as often as I would have liked to, so here's a rundown of where we're at:

• We've moved into our new apartment. Set up a room for the baby and trying to race the clock to get fully unpacked before the big day.
• Nicolle's mum Sandra is staying with us through the birth and has been such a big help. Her brother Nathan and his partner David will be arriving next week.
• Nicolle is, if possible, even more swollen than before.
• We are under the two week mark. There is no sign that the baby will come early, but we are trying to be prepared either way.
• As always, you can visit our amazon registry, our babiesrus registry or send us some green diapers.
• It has been really great to hear from so many friends recently. If you think of it, give me a call. I have a lot on my mind.
• We have been having weekly doctor's appointments, during which I bust out all my hard-won book-learnin' about the birth process. Unfortunately, as we are having a hospital birth, Nicolle will need to be strapped to a fetal monitor most of the time. Fetal monitors can be inaccurate up to 70 percent of the time, causing hospital staff to proceed with interventions that may not have been necessary. But, as we're having the birth in a hospital, they need to have the readings for (of course) legal reasons.

That's all for now. More soon. Hopefully Nicolle will weigh in as well.