Elizabeth Amelia is here!

Elizabeth Amelia Schulze has arrived!! 
Friday July 26th, 4:11 am.
7 lbs, 7 oz.  20.5 inches. 
Very quick labor and delivery (more on that later)

Overdue and off to the zoo

Well, we hit 40 weeks and kept right on going. Tuesday July 23rd came and went with no baby to show for it.  Here's the 40 week belly shot.

Due date!  40 weeks pregnant

 I had an appointment the next day, on Wednesday, to check up on baby.  That morning we were trying to decide what to do with ourselves for the morning when Jeff suggested the zoo.  I said ok before I really thought it through.  As I was getting ready I questioned whether it was the best idea to walk around in the heat.  But then I thought maybe some exercise couldn't hurt in getting things moving.  So we slowly made our way around the zoo one last time as a family of three, with plenty of resting on my part!

Daddy handled most Claire wrangling duties

Claire is getting braver at the petting zoo!

Getting just close enough

That afternoon I headed in for my 40 week, 1 day appointment.  I had an ultrasound first to check on baby and check my fluid levels and whatever else they were looking at.  The tech took some measurements to estimate baby's weight.  Her guess: 7 lbs, 10 oz!  I saw the midwife afterward and she commented that everything was looking good, fluid levels were good and baby's weight/size weren't too big.  When I commented that my first was 6 lbs 3 oz, she said "Oh, so this estimate is a little scary for you?" and she was darn right!  Considering that it's just an estimate and it can go a pound or so in either direction.  Here's a picture from the ultrasound.  The tech tried to get a 3D shot of her face for us. Baby girl had her hand in the way, as well as the cord and placenta.  So here's the best she could do.  Amongst all the grayish-white stuff, you can spy a little nose in the middle there with most of a mouth below and one up higher up (with the cord right next to it).

3D ultrasound of baby's face

I had made no progress with cervical dilation from the previous week.  Since everything looked good I was cleared to continue gestating at home, waiting for baby to make her grand debut.  I did schedule an induction for the next week just in case.  I didn't really want to be induced and wanted to let things happen naturally.  But I also knew Jeff's days off were ticking away and I really wanted her to come in July rather than August, so I scheduled the induction for a week later on Wednesday July 31st.

38 weeks and puppet shows!

38 weeks

I hit 38 weeks on July 9th.  So things could happen at anytime now.  Yikes!  I do not enjoy feeling like a walking time bomb, ready to pop at any second.  Baby did turn head down around 34 or 35 weeks, so that's good news!  Everything is progressing along as it should, so we are just waiting for when baby girl decides it's time to make her grand entrance.  Jeff has one more string of shifts to complete before starting a month off, so we'd like her to hang in there until he finishes up on the 16th.  I know Jeff and his dad would be pleased if she came on the 16th since that is Jeff's dad's birthday.  I think I'd be okay with that too.  :)

The same day I hit 38 weeks, Jeff and I took Claire to a puppet show.  We went to see the Cat in the Hat and the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta.  We weren't sure how she would do but figured we'd be okay in a theater full of young kids.  Jeff summed up the experience quite well with "well, that could have gone worse."  Claire was restless and loud, didn't want to sit for long, was bumping the people in front of us and belted out "Twinkle, Twinkle" at one point, but she did seem to enjoy herself.

Checking out the Jim Henson exhibits before the show

Getting ready for the main event!

July 4th, 2013

Once again, Jeff had to work the 4th.  I imagine this will often be the case since he has to put in his fair share of holidays and this one is not a high priority.  Claire and I managed to entertain ourselves with lots of family fun though.

On the 3rd we drove down to stay with my parents and have dinner with them and my bro and SIL and niece.  The next morning we ended up having breakfast with the same crew at Cracker Barrel.  Mmm, biscuits!  Claire loves playing on the rocking chairs there!  And she and my niece played a rousing game of "checkers" (aka, bang these round things together and/or throw them on the ground!).

We spent the afternoon with the Schulzes.  In addition to celebrating the holiday, we celebrated my BIL Dave's birthday.  A Yankee Doodle baby.  It was certainly no hardship for Claire and I to help everyone enjoy Dave's favorite cookie cake!  Although the blue and red Cubs themed frosting made quite a mess on Claire's face and hands!  The rain ruined plans for Claire and her cousins to enjoy pool time in the yard but we all still managed to enjoy ourselves.  Claire is getting old enough to actually play with the older girls.  I'm still not quite comfortable letting her go unsupervised with them upstairs for very long, but it's nice to see that possibility on the horizon.

Cousin love!

Happy 4th of July!

Just a few weeks left...maybe!

34 weeks - June 11

Claire gets in on the photo action

36 weeks - June 25th

The end of this second pregnancy is drawing near.  Which brings mixed feelings.  Excitement to meet our new little person.  Anxiety about labor and dealing with a potentially fussy newborn.  Relief at being done with the discomforts of pregnancy.  Sadness at already being at the end of a second pregnancy.

I'm at 37 weeks and change. So I'm full term and the baby could come anytime in the next month! And man, the end is kicking my butt more than it did with Claire.  With Claire I was mostly just exhausted, getting up early every morning for work and not sleeping terribly well at night.  This time I'm getting a little more sleep but the false labor activity has really ramped up.  On July 3rd, things were so crazy I briefly thought this baby might be trying to share a July 4th birthday with her uncle Dave.  But fortunately a little water and rest calmed things down.  Hopefully all the discomfort is doing a little work to make the real labor process easier and faster! 

On the plus side, the summer weather here in Atlanta has been kind to me.  Temperatures have been cooler than usual for the most part.  We've had a ton of rain recently but that's fine with me!  Keeps the temperature down and makes it ok to laze around inside all day.  It does make it harder to wear Claire out so that she will nap.  And she seems to have decided that now is a great time to skip napping and instead just play in her room.  Awful timing for her to give up her nap if that's what she is trying to do, but at least she will play quietly.  Unfortunately she still needs that nap most days, as she is irritable and always on the edge of a meltdown by late afternoon if she doesn't sleep.  I'm thinking a little tweaking of her nighttime sleep schedule might help.  I just have to get myself up early enough to get her up earlier.  No small feat there!

In other news, I think we are settled on a name!  I've agreed to Jeff's front runner for a first name.  He told me that he didn't really care about the middle name so I've been mulling that one over for a while.  I think I finally made a decision.  So baby girl finally has a name!  We will save the big reveal for once she arrives!

Gardens and Jamie's birthday weekend

A few more activities from the end of June.

We visited the botanic garden again to see the Imaginary Worlds exhibit.  The exhibit features over a dozen giant plant sculptures.  We saw the beginnings of the unicorn last time and got to see it finished this time.  The sculptures were pretty awesome!

Unicorn

My two sillies practicing walking backward

In front of the giant Earth Goddess statue

Chilling with the frogs

Posing with Mommy

Giant snake sculpture

With Daddy in front of the butterflies

We also visited the Smith-Gilbert garden in a neighboring town for the first time.  They had a nice path through a variety of vegetation types.  Fortunately much of it was shaded because it was a hot and humid morning!  They also had a fish pond where Claire got to feed the fish and a kid-oriented vegetable garden with bubbles! 

Finally found the long-awaited bubbles!

Feeding the fishies

At the end of June, Claire and I headed up to Demorest, Georgia to visit my sister's new place and celebrate her birthday.  After finishing PA school in April, she took a job up that way as a physician assistant in an ER.  She's renting a cute little house that we had yet to see.  And she wanted some people to come up and accompany her on outings around her new home base.  Claire and I drove up Saturday morning.  My mom arrived shortly before us.  We hung around for the day and took some naps before heading out to Helen, GA in the evening.  Helen is a cute little town themed as a small German village.  The river runs through town and in warm weather there are hundreds of people tubing down the river.  Jamie wanted to have dinner on the water and watch people on tubes bust their butts trying to navigate the rocks.  So we walked around town and then had dinner at Troll Tavern. 

Cheers to the birthday girl!

Saying hi to the horses

Claire no like it!

That evening we went back to Jamie's place for this delicious Snickers cake!

The next day (Jamie's actual birthday) she wanted to have brunch at a winery in Dahlonega.  A friend of hers had raved about their food.  We were a little concerned since their brunch menu wasn't online and the dinner food looked pretty fancy.  We aren't really fancy food type people, especially with a 2 year old tagging along.  But we gave it a try anyway.  And it was delicious!  Claire was pretty well behaved, if a little loud.  We started with a cheese plate.  Then my mom had a butternut squash soup while I got a cinnamon roll to keep Claire happy.  Ok, and maybe me too.  For entrees we had french toast, biscuits and gravy, and a Cuban sandwich.  My mom and Jamie tried a red wine flight.  If you are in the North Georgia mountains and looking for a little wine, some good food, and a pretty view, we can recommend Le Vigne at Montaluce Winery in Dahlonega!

View from our table

Posing outside the restaurant