Happy New Year!

Sort of! Well anyway, new pictures are coming soon...just as soon as Sissy figures out how to use her new computer. 

I just gave Haddy the hiccups because she was laughing so hard. :)

Glasses and Naps

Not much to update on. Hadley has finally begun to somewhat accept her rice cereal and is starting to enjoy standing on laps or counters! Can't roll over yet, though.

Also, I anticipate forced holiday photos will be coming your way soon.

Doctor Update

So when Haddy went in for her 4-month checkup, we discovered that she is a 16 1/2 pound meatloaf, her head is 16 1/2 inches around (how funny), and she's over two feet tall! 

Getting bigger...and wiggly-er...every day! 

New Pictures

I apologize if the picture quality isn't up to snuff...it was taken with my phone. 

Enjoy! More coming soon.

"I'm flying!"

This was her "second" costume...she was a chef!

Big girl in her car seat :)

Hadley Does Halloween

Autumn is my favorite time of the year! While temperatures are dropping into the "comfortable" range, our family has started to enjoy evenings (and Haddy's been enjoying evening bottles) out on the porch.

The fall decorations are making their way out, the smell of pumpkin pie (or at least pumpkin-pie scented candles) and fireplace smoke wafts through the air; leaves are changing colors; and, somewhere, a little baby grows too big to fit into her Halloween costume...

This All Hallows Eve looks pretty promising. Hadley's having her first trick-or-treating, her big sister's getting a tattoo, and we may even have Miss Hanna Brown over for some autumn socializing!

Save that first orange leaf for me...

In the Land of the Head-Holder-Uppers

I apologize for the lazy updating...as Hadley's nanny, part-time house chef, and manager of a Social Life things can get pretty crazy around here!

Hadley now clocks in at around 15 pounds. Still the same amount of hair. MAYBE some development on the toothfront. She can also hold her head up now; I was extremely excited for this development! Her new favorite activities are, in no special order:


1) Watching the NFL Network with Dad. No kidding. This little child LOVES to watch football. Just football. Nothing else. She hears the announcers and locks on to the TV!

2) Laughing. She likes a little fake-sneezing bit Mom concocted. In fact today on the phone in a conference call with Mom she laughed so hard she gave herself the hiccups.

3) Sitting on laps. She loves to check out the world around her...and it doesn't hurt if she gets a birds-eye view of the football game on TV.

4) Pulling things. Onesies, bibs around her neck, my hair...doesn't matter what, her little fists will find it and seize it.

5) Talking. At first it was gentle coos. Now it's morphed into full-on words in Babyese, yells, exclamations, shrieks of delight. She doesn't really cry anymore when she's hungry or has a wet diaper...she prefers to yell and curse me out in Babyese.


So that's the Haddy State of the Union. I have extremely cute pictures coming soon! Right now I can hear a little someone yelling in the other room for someone to come entertain her...

Flickr Update

We're having some difficulties with our Flickr account (you may have noticed we haven't added pictures in a while).

I'm normally pretty good about remembering all our disjointed passwords and usernames, but since I've forgotten both, Yahoo (the sponsor) is being a little difficult in helping us out here. It's frustrating since we PAID for a membership with Flickr.

We may have to create a whole new account if this doesn't work out, and you can bet it won't be with Yahoo! It sucks since the Flickr account will just be floating around in cyberspace...

We'll let you know soon!

New Pics

"What are you talkin' about, Mama?"

The Evil Bow! It makes her too cute...it's like looking at the sun!

Her little bonnet...Mom calls her "Pioneer Baby"

Which character does she look like?

She loves to be over the shoulder...she can see the whole world while still being in Mama's arms.

A Thousand Apologies...

I know, I know! You don't even have to say it, since I can feel the disappointment rolling off of you in waves...assuming that you were disappointed, that is.

Things have been a little hectic here (to say the least) and I often forget I have an online journal of the New Baby saga to update.

First off, the rose-colored Flagstaff glasses were shattered after that first night. Hadley cried almost nonstop during the nights and seemed generally unhappy. It kind of threw her off-track even when we got home--the whole trip seemed to have unsettled her. Hard to travel with a new baby, huh?

Since then, we've had several parties attended with Haddy in tow (she always sleeps during them!), one great visit with Summer and Miss Hanna (remember them?), one memorable Snugli outing to the grocery store (I actually had to give her a bottle while she was still strapped in), and tons of smiles and laughs from the little Peanut.

One thing I've noticed, however--give me a little room for pessimism--is that Peoria is unfriendly to teenage moms. We all know that I'm not one, but seeing me pushing Hadley's stroller around, having her strapped to me marsupial-style in the Snugli, and watching me give her a bottle in public when she's decided she's had enough...well, people can only assume she's my baby.
And, let me tell you, I've had more dirty looks and pointed glances than when I was wearing that ripped-up sweatshirt that looked like it lost a fight with some barbed wire.

Anyway. Back to The Cuteness. She must weight about 12 pounds now and she's getting super-long. Her hair has stubbornly refused to continue growing! And her eyes are the same silvery-blue color. Aren't they supposed to be pretty much changed by the third month? Whose baby is this anyway?! We all have brown and hazel eyes!

Kevin continues to get TONS of smiles and laughs from her, and Dad too! Mom and me are so jealous! Hadley flirts like crazy with Kevin: she bats her eyelashes, peeps at him from the corner of her eyes.

And we've had several sleeping-through-the-night instances now! We've also had the wistful experience of packing away some of her newborn clothes. She's such a big girl now, just passed her 2-month birthday...and yet I still wish she had her little newborn-baby look sometimes.

Also, Hadley is a little behind the curve in holding up her head; she doesn't get much tummy-time play because she HATES it. She screams and screams!

Think that's enough of an update? I'll be back later with pictures from the aforementioned parties and visits, and evidence of The Evil Bow. You'll see what I mean later...

Road Trip!

Here we are, in gorgeous (if slightly off-kilter) Flagstaff, Arizona. The air is crisp and cool, the trees are green, and the greedy squirrels are abundant...

Hadley was very well-behaved on the 2+ hour trip, although we did have to feed her in the car while waiting for our room to get ready. Dad and Kev are off to Cardinals Camp each day to watch their idols practice, and us three girls are plotting in the hotel room to find something nice to do.

I think we fancy a walk on the grounds... we'll see if Miss New Footie-Pajamas agrees!

Pics to follow when we arrive home.

PS:
I was reading an Ikea catalog (of all things) when I caught sight of what was printed on the spine of the magazine..."Home is the most important place in the world."

So simple, but it's so true. All the Heinls know that I get emotional on vacation, even if we're only a couple hours from home, but that phrase stuck with me.

However, Hadley doesn't seem to miss home! She was wide-awake and excited the first night here, very eager to check out her surroundings. Such an intrepid little traveler...

The Onesies Say it All...

"Party Pooper"

"Treat me like you would treat the QUEEN"

PS: New pics on Flickr!

Bad News, People

Just as I went to go snap an exceptionally cute picture of Haddy while she was sleeping, the camera crapped out on me. It takes several hours to charge the battery up, so you'll have to wait for more pictures...

As for the good news, Had is growing so fast! She's already losing her newborn look, gaining a lot of weight and getting cute and chubby. As of her last pediatrician's appointment, she had gained a full pound. She's now taking 4 whole ounces of formula at each feeding, and her fussy periods are slowing down.

She is so adorable. I can't look at her enough.

Picture Update

Well, I realized you could either follow my convoluted instructions, OR I could just provide you with a link. Sorry! Never occurred to me.

Follow the link to our family Flickr account...tallyho!

http://flickr.com/photos/heinlfamily/

More pictures coming soon...Had is growing like crazy! She's starting to get adorable chubby little arms and legs, and she's getting bigger every day.

Picture-palooza!

The Heinl family is a paranoid family, and we always worry about all our junk burning down...we have tons of pictures and they're just sitting on our computer or in boxes. If you get an online database like the one we just chose, Flickr, it's on the Internet so it'll probably be pretty hard to lose that.

Plus with Hadley here, all our relatives want to see pictures of Hadley! And all you in Blog Land can look at our entire collection of family pictures (Haddy included) because we have virtually no shame.

Flickr is an easy site to use...to find the Heinl Family account just:

1. Go to www.flickr.com.

2. You'll see a search tab. Don't enter anything and click 'Search'.

3. It'll take you to a different search page...click the 'People' tab and type in 'Heinl Family'.

4. Enjoy! On the right you can find the individual albums of photos, or just peruse the giant mess of pictures one by one. I'm not sure if you can comment without an account or not, but oh well.

Happy snooping!

Birth Announcement Update

I hope no one is offended or left out! Summer is the only one who got an announcement, I think; the Browns were the first I addressed, and now we're waiting for Mom to get to a picture place to copy some pictures we can put on the announcements.

So hang in there! They'll be coming soon...

Got Those Puppies Out

Expect some birth announcements this week! Putting 'em together right now...

Hadley and Harrison, who waited for her for 9 months

P.S.: Hadley has her own iPod already.

And Now, Here We Are.

So, do you like the new look? The old one looked a little generic, and since we have little Had, we should probably start injecting some pink into our lives.

I find myself here, writing on the blog, at 5:40 in the morning, and I haven't been to sleep yet; if there's one baby cliche that you know is right, it's the hectic schedule. You'd think since there's 4 of us and 1 of her, we'd have the advantage: you'd be wrong.
I'd stake about 25 onesies on it that Hadley is now firmly in control of our family. And she's only been here 10 days!
Well, anyway: onto the post.


5 Things I Wasn't Expecting

1. I worry about her. I'm not her mom, but I am her sister; even so, I didn't think that I would still suffer the New Mom Syndrome: staring at the baby, unable to sleep, fearing SIDS and choking and her punching herself in the face with her flailing baby arms (which, incidentally, she's done).

2. She has two colors: red and redder. She turns positively tomato-like when she is displeased!

3. This kid farts. I'm not even kidding. Sounds like a truck driver after a Grande Nacho Plate.

4. The whole World of Parents is suddenly pretty clear. Before, it was hard to identify with stories of baby antics, but I literally could talk for an hour about trying to change a diaper while she's kicking and squirming so hard. Or spit-up, or rooting, or the varieties of bottles--it's weird! It's like I've sort of left the teenage me behind.

5. She had jaundice, TWO clogged tear ducts, and a yeast infection in her mouth, all in the same week. Poor kid!


5 Cliches

1. Chubbiness. Those cheeks! Those arms! Those legs! I told Mom (rather sappily, I might add) that kissing her cheeks was "like kissing a little gossamer cloud."

2. Burping her. Virtually every movie I've watched that has a newborn in it, especially the yuppie-era ones, they always have a scene where one of the parents leans the baby over their shoulder, gives them a couple of pats, and--gaack!--a waterfall of chunky spit up flows down their back. She does burp, but not like a big old beer-and-chips belch (love ya, Dad!), and plus it's cute.

3. I give you two words: Diaper Genie.

4. Her smell. The first time Mom and I were away from Hadley, we were shopping and kept smelling her all over our shirts and hair. It's powerful stuff: the delicate scent her little skin gives off is just another thing to love about her.

5. Being afraid to break her. It's funny: one minute I'm all smug about having this baby stuff down, the next minute she rears up her head in a fit of neck-muscle-exercise-ity and you have to hang on to that kid!


5 Things That are Different...and Not So Different

1. Sure, babies are pretty much synonymous with "change" in every language, but that doesn't make it easier. When she's my age, I'll be 36. As my uncle put it, she's in a way an only child. Kevin and I can't stay here forever.

2. Meals will never be the same. Sure, now it's just keeping an eye on her in her little bouncy seat on the counter behind us, but soon we'll be entering the Land of High Chair: we already joke about a certain someone throwing Cheerios or little pieces of chopped-up spaghetti at us.

3. At least our viewing options during TV time aren't limited. You can watch Rambo, with guns blazing, or horror movies, with screaming and sudden music changes, and this little baby will not budge an inch.

4. We have 8 animals, 6 of which have the mobility to cause harm to Hadley--my dog, Corky, has quickly fallen in love with her and all her smells, particularly her diapers, but the cats seem out of sorts. And we all know how diabolical cats can be.

5. I've discovered that somewhere, deep inside him, my dad has been harboring a baby voice with which to coo at Hadley. First it was disturbing, and now it's cute.


At this point, you're probably thinking, "Yeah yeah, 5 Seconds Until I Exit Out of This and Start Playing Solitaire" but thanks for reading.
Pictures coming later today!

Welcome to the World, Little Girl

Hadley Anna Joy Heinl was born at 11:19 PM on June 28, 2008. She weighs 7 lbs, 3 oz, and is 20 inches tall. She also has very chubby adorable cheeks that everyone who sees her must make comments about.

Not much hair, but it's brown! She has gorgeous gray-blue eyes (but all babies have that color, so we'll see what they turn into!).

She is completely perfect. Ten fingers, ten toes, 100% cuteness.

Now for the whole story:


We arrived at the hospital at 9:30 PM on Friday, June 27...Mom was scheduled to be induced. She was only 37 weeks, but the doctors thought it would be best because of her age and high-risk factor, not to mention the diabetes.


So we got all settled into a room, and shortly after the doctors decided to use a gel on her cervix to get it to dilate and open. They told us it would take 12 hours to work, so we had nothing to do but wait.


It DID take 12 hours, all for nothing! Didn't really work. After that the doctors put her on an IV of Pitocin, which is a drug that starts contractions and dilations. Mom got an epidural first off, so she felt no pain.


By then it was June 28, Haddy's b-day! I had spent the night at the hospital with Mom, while Dad and Kevin went home to tend to our menagerie of animals, but Mom and me hadn't gotten much sleep.


There were a few scary points, like when Had's heart rate would drop during contractions, but not enough to make anyone really nervous. Also, around 6 or 7 that night, Mom had felt she was just too exhausted to have a regular delivery. Dr. Lam, the doctor who delivered Had, came in and they talked about the possibility of a C-section (which we never did).


I had fallen asleep and gotten a couple of hours by that point, so Kevin and I went to get some dinner from the cafeteria (which kind of turned out to be a bad idea...) and by the time we came back, the nurse told us that Mom and Dad were fast asleep inside, trying to get some rest.
So we went down the hallway to the waiting room and passed the time for a while. Dad came out to see us and we talked, and when we decided to go back to the room, my cell phone started ringing, and it was Mom...


"The doctor said it's time to start pushing."


When she had fallen asleep at around 8 or so, she was 5 centimeters dilated...it had looked like this might take a while. But when she relaxed and let God take over, her body did the rest of the work and nudged her to the full 10!


We got back and the nurse, a wonderful Brazilian woman named Thais, was preparing the room to have a baby...Mom seemed to have some of her energy back. After a little while, Thais refreshed Mom on the fine art of pushing, instructed me and Dad to hold her legs, and we started. (By this time Kevin had bailed to the waiting room.)


Mom pushed 3 times. I could see little Had's head on the first one. Around the second one, I felt dinner coming up and the floor getting closer, if you know what I mean. I asked for a mask to put on, to help with the nausea, and by the time another nurse got it to me, I had zero time to get it on...Haddy was coming.


Dr. Lam popped in, took one look, and immediately started to fumble with gloves and masks. The nurses were putting down cloths on the floors and dropping the end of the bed, and the whole time I could see Hadley sliding out, force of motion; Mom wasn't even pushing, but she's coming!


Mom pushed one last time, and there was Hadley. She was purple, cheesy, and mad, but she was beautiful.
I had wanted to cut the cord, since Dad passed, but things were too fast and I let Dr. Lam go ahead and do it.


Tears were nonstop, and Hadley was placed on Mom's chest; Kevin came in a little later and Hadley met her family. She opened those blue-gray peepers and got a good look at Mom; her grip on our fingers was strong, and she was perfect, and the rest is a little bit of a blur.


She is completely perfect. I can't stop saying it, because it's true. People were saying all along that because of Mom's age, it was likely she'd have Down's Syndrome, be deformed, too small, she wouldn't make it, but look at her! What do you have to say now? What is there to say when you look at her? There are no words, only feelings.


She is beautiful.

She's Having a Baby...

We've been waiting to get the call from the hospital to have us come down so Mom can be induced...Had's amnio was great, her lungs are ready, so she's coming out!


We have to be there at 9:30. Yikes!


Pray that everything goes well.

The Date is Circled in Red...

The room is painted, the bassinet is ready, the clothes are washed....are YOU ready, Hadley?

We have a lot to catch up on! I know I've been kind of slacking on the blog, but things have been hectic recently. I'll go by what happened in order:

1) Mom's OB dropped her. She was kind of an irritating woman, always dithering about having a "10 lb. baby" when it was clear Hadley was having trouble gaining weight.

Apparently her and the partners got together and decided Mom was a liability. So, goodbye Dr. Zhang--we won't be recommending you to anyone we know.

2) I will probably be slapped for mentioning this, but on the day of meeting the specialist Zhang put us in touch with... Mom edited this out!

3)*** We met the specialist, Dr. Perlow, in ritzy Scottsdale. He is a very nice man who seemed a little puzzled when we told him all of Zhang's worries.

Since Mom's age qualifies her for high-risk, but she has no hypertension, no preterm labor warning signs, no bleeding, basically no complications (aside from gestational diabetes), he told us he wasn't worried!

4) I am mad. We went through 7 months of visiting Zhang, having her tell Mom things that turn out to have worried us, unnecessarily! I wish I could have been there when she let Mom know. She actually said, "I'll have to swallow my pride and agree with my partners..."

Swallow your pride? How about you could have been a better doctor, to begin with? Or a better person, to be more accurate? I am well aware that I don't have an OB/GYN degree, but you let this go on for SEVEN MONTHS, knowing Mom was high-risk, without thinking maybe she's better off with a specialist?

5) We go to the OB Triage at Thunderbird Hospital. Mom hadn't felt Hadley move in a while, she gets hooked up, Hadley moves of course--a regular Squirmy Worm--and Perlow said we were fine to go later.

6) The house is being painted up, and Had's room is almost finished. Now we have to just put her furniture together, and hook up the car seat, and...we're kind of ready for you, Haddy.

7) Mom meets her new doctor today. He looks exactly like Edward Norton, and is just as nice as Dr. Perlow.



***Mom is scheduled for an amniocentesis on the 26th. If Hadley's lungs are developed enough, she'll be delivered by C-section on June 27th, 2008!

The 27th just happens to be my favorite day of the month, and my all-time favorite number.

So, the next time I check in...I could have some pictures of a very cute newborn with me!

Hadley is a Naughty Baby

The title says it all, doesn't it?


Not much to report on the womb-front. We're nearly to the 35th week, and yes: Hadley is still transverse (most of the time). We have the crib, car seat, more clothes than any baby fashionista could ever want, bottles, towels, toiletries...all we need is le bebe!

And judging by those Braxtons, we could be getting our wish...

Life's a Breech

Getting tired of my tired jokes? Think my writing is too sweet or odd? Well, you may be in for a dash of luck...

As is almost required by the laws of nature, put forth by the availability of our disgustingly awesome digital camera and the cuteness of babies, when Had gets here the blog will mostly consist of photos and little one-line updates (I humbly take my cues from the Brown's superbly edited blog).

And, so far, Mom feels Had may be coming earlier than she's supposed to!

We just passed the 33 week-mark...Hadley was first breech at one ultrasound (by the way, weekly ultrasound and non-stress tests are now scheduled), and now totally horizontal inside there!

Anyway, Mom says she has little feelings and cues that mean it's getting close.
Well, don't come too early Hads! We have your crib and changing table and decorations, but we still have to paint your room and install your carseat...

We also got a super-cool Adiri bottle, that, I must admit...I put into my mouth. Just for a second! And yeah, I plan to super-sterilize it.

Counting Down...

On the most recent ultrasound, we finally get good news! Hadley has gained tons of weight, and she's clocking in at 3.9 pounds, which is exactly on schedule. Mom's amniotic fluid looks good, Had is developing fine...the only problems are with Mom's fluctuating blood sugar.



Can you believe it's 8 months already?? (Well, on Wednesday...)

Had at 30 weeks! (...is that hair I'm seeing??)^

Unfortunately, her due date has been pushed back yet again to July 17. Mom predicts June 22. What do you think, Peanut?

Ruh-Roh...

Mom was diagnosed with gestational diabetes!

After undergoing first the standard glucose test, and then the hellish longer one (where she met a pregant friend!) her glucose levels are way too high. She's being put on meds and may have to prick her finger four times a day to test blood sugar levels...

It's all for Had! Actually this isn't a big deal for us here. We're all business as usual!

Hadley Has Competition!

I officially have a second baby love: Hanna Grace Brown. She's the daughter of Mark and Summer Brown, some new friends we have!

Today was a very difficult blog to write...probably the hardest challenge I've ever had to overcome: picking just a few Hanna pictures to post. She's probably the most gorgeous baby I've ever seen! We went to visit on Saturday, and surprisingly Mommy-and-Daddy-centric Hanna allowed us to socialize with her!

I learned some valuable things about babies, such as watching for subtle hints that they are tired, hungry, want to rip up that bag on the chair there (which she did with gusto!), Hanna makes a fist when she isn't sure about someone, and that she basically is the most adorable baby on the face of the planet.

I'm sure once Hadley gets here Hanna will be eclipsed, haha...she IS my first baby love after all!

Check out Mark and Summer's Hanna blog here! (If you sign the guestbook you should mention that Erin gave you the 411...props to Erin!)

My Baby Love!

I have baby love for Hadley...I got it bad. I was saying to my mom the other day that it feels so strange, all this love rushing up for her and I haven't even seen her, touched her, held her.

She said, "That's what it feels like for the mom," and I thought about it...she's probably right! Is Hadley sort of me experiencing having a baby?

7 Month mark is behind us now! Really strange...only nine weeks to go until I get to see Hadley! I'm super excited...she's my baby love, after all. My baby baby love.

The Teasing Fetus

Hadley has started this habit of teasing me, mercilessly. She'll start kicking, Mom will say "Come feel, Hadley's kicking" and as soon as I go over there she stops, like a light switch.

These antics fall into the same category as "Cereal That Tastes Good but Hurts My Mouth", "Laughing Too Hard for Too Long", and "Playing Rough With My Cat Who Has Lots of Sharp Claws" meaning that I will continue to do it anyway even if the outcome isn't very good.

Her Little Face

Finally, we have a clear 3D ultrasound picture! Actually, two...she looks so cute! Mom and Dad said she has the same nose I had when I was a baby (she'll grow into it before she gets here!). I was really surprised because she doesn't look like either Kevin or me (yet, anyway!)...she's her own little person.

We can't wait for you to get here, Hadley!

PS: Mom's thinking of having two middle names...Anna (in honor of my paternal grandma) and Joy. She likes "Hadley AnnaJoy" but I think it would be better with two words instead of morphed into one. What do you think?

6 Months

I'm fresh from feeling Mom's hard-as-a-rock tummy...Hadley is now kicking a lot, which is reassuring since she was worrying Mom that something was wrong.

Her little personality is already developing...she hates it when Mom even slightly lays on her front in bed, she loves (and kicks generously) when Mom eats chocolate and fruits, and most of the time when I come over to feel her kicking, she stops, like she knows I'm there and she's pranking me!

Wednesday marked the first day of Mom's sixth month...not long now! But it really does feel that way. We keep saying we'll start moving me out and renovating her soon-to-be nursery, but we haven't yet.

Also we ordered this amazing bassinet...as soon as I saw it in the catalog, I fell in love with it. It's covered with a delicate white, pleated skirt with a tulle layer underneath, with a light pink ribbon tied around the front. It's completely perfect.
I told Mom, "We HAVE to get it." and she replied, "For Hadley or for you?" She knows I want it for my kids (assuming they'll be girls) when I get to that time.

We also found out that a dear mystery friend (you guys can't know yet) is pregnant too! Congrats!

Let's all go buy onesies in celebration (like Hadley needs any more....)

Judo-Chop!

So I don't want to sound weird about this, but....I WAS KICKED!!!

"Hey, put your hand right here." Mom says this a lot, trying to get me to feel Hadley kicking...and every single time, I go over and press my hand on her and wait and wait, and she cops out on me!
Poihaps tonight was different.

"Come on, girl, show me what you got," I said, with my hand on Mom's stomach. All of a sudden, wham! A little tiny foot comes and karate kicks me in the fingers.

It took me by surprise--I was expecting the little moth flutterings the books describe, but that girl is strong! It felt more like when you have a grasshopper in your cupped hands, and you can feel it thumping around trying to get out.

A few seconds later she did it again. It's always hard to believe she's in there--Mom's not really showing, not having the "milkshake-and-pickle" cravings or anything stereotypical...but feeling Hadley in there, kickboxing my fingers from her warm little nest is so indescribable; she really is in there and she really is kicking butt already.

(PS: Dad got her another onesie; "Party Pooper")

Now for the Wait

So to alleviate your obvious and fervent need for this blog, I write this update with little to share. Nothing major has happened since we found out Peanut was a Hadley; Mom has successfully passed into her 20th week and has a doctor's appointment tomorrow (cross your fingers for an ultrasound!).

Hadley hasn't kicked much, and a baby magazine we have says it may be because girls have more delicate kicks. She does 'roll around' and Mom can feel that more frequently.

One thing Hadley does have is clothes. Tons of it! She'll be the best-dressed newborn this side of the Mississippi. Her cutest items: a little Pooh Bear jacket with bear ears on the hood, and an adorable onesie that says "Hug me." No shortage of that coming her way!

Being officially halfway through the pregnancy, it still seems like it'll be forever till she gets here, even though you might argue. How fast (or slow) did your pregnancy progress? Did you ever feel like your baby was never going to come (or couldn't wait)?
Mom's labor with me was a modest length; Kevin came in two hours! I wonder how Hadley will make her entrance...

Surrender the Gender!

Other titles I considered using tonight: "Mission:Cognoscible" (which means 'knowable', which also doesn't really make sense), and the ultrasound tech was not impressed with my saying to Peanut, "Show Us Your Crotch!", so that probably wouldn't have worked either.

It also occurred to me, after reading a magazine article, that a peanut might not actually be a legume, which would be totally embarrassing, a permanent symbol of my literary brashness!
But Merriam-Webster saves me with this: "A low-branching widely cultivated annual herb (Arachis hypogaea) of the legume family."
Phew!

I know I've been kind of slacking on the blog (sorry, Summer!), but I have an excuse. For a while there, between OB appointments and no new developments, it was the only boring period. I considered writing an update called "The Seventeenth-Inning Stretch" (She was in her 17th week; catchy, right?) but procrastinating won out.

Anyway. We are now moving into Week 19, which What to Expect When You're Expecting tells me is the fifth month. Excitement ahoy: we get to see the baby's sex on the ultrasound! Since my dad was driving, we were late (for the record, if Erin "Leadfoot" Heinl was driving, we probably would be dead right now, because I can neither drive nor pay attention to how my actions will affect others on the road).

When we got there, everything was already going: Mom had goo on her tummy, the room was dark and, oh!--two chairs!--for us to sit and patiently watch the screen. After listening to the heartbeat and watching Peanut squirm around, the tech blurts, "Are you ready?"

I don't even have time to get excited. We all say yes. With a few seconds of twisting the handset around, she says:
"It's a girl!"

"It's a Hadley!" My mom says, twisting around and beaming at us. Hadley Joy for the win! Kevin celebrates by remarking how special he is now, being the only dude; Dad celebrates by looking mistily at the screen (which he will probably later deny); and Mom and I celebrate by buying Hadley a huge girl-themed onesie wardrobe.

And if you were wondering, yes, we still sometimes call her Peanut.

Nunya

You know...
"Whatcha doing?"
"Nunya business!"

More specifically, The Business of Being Born. Heard of it? The documentary about the case for home births/natural births vs. hospitals, executive produced by Ricki Lake, who is also in the doc.

Here, a quote from the Critic's Reviews on MSN.com: "The pic argues that the unnecessary medical interferences, the increase in Caesarean births for the sake of "convenience" and trendiness ("too posh to push") all conspire to institute a mechanical regimen that, in some cases, is inimical to the health of mother and baby." (You know what 'inimical' means? Me neither!) But I digress. More on this later. (Full review.)

Even more specifically, I want to talk about water births. New to the term? I've been hearing some excellent stuff about it (we officially became a believer of H2O's all-powerful reign in pregnancy when Mom was having some bad cramps).

An article excerpt on Babycenter.com says: "...hydrotherapy allows you to remain alert and in control. The soothing and pressure-relieving effects of the water promote muscle relaxation and may reduce pain, anxiety, and the need for medication."

Check out this amazing video (also on Babycenter; O, Babycenter, we bow down to thee!) of a water birth; when you've seen it, comment us and tell us what you think of it! There is nudity, but I think it focuses more on the completely natural aspect, rather than the doffing-your-duds mindset. Click here for the video; and here for a great article from Discovery Health giving you the H2O low-down.

Back to Business. Do I want to see it? Yes. Can I see it? No. Not yet, anyway. It's being screened at select cities, and if you want to reserve a DVD (available around March), click here to do it. If you're in Tucson tomorrow at 2 PM, pop over to the University Medical Center to watch.

Mom has mentioned she would like to do a water birth if she's allowed. Since she's classified as 'high-risk', we can't know yet if our doctor will want a C-section or if her fibroids are blocking the birth canal.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!





PS: Here are some snaps of me and Kev. I'll post some of Mom and Dad if I get permission (age=vanity!)

Here's Kevin either right before he spits or right before he pretends to jump over the rail. I forget.

Here's me, styling what I like to call my "judgmental look".

Pearl Harbor Day, Pearl-sized Baby!

Author: Erin

So it looks like my efforts to coerce the rest of the family (or at least Mom or Dad) to write posts has failed...for now. So, future kid, I hope you like your big sisters' writing! I might be doing a lot of it from now on.

The last time I operated a scanner hooked up to a computer, it was the late 90's and I was still into Beanie Babies; so, in lieu of scanning the pictures we have of Peanut's ultrasound snaps, I took a picture of them and uploaded them here.

Peanut's very first ultrasound was on December 7, 2007, Pearl Harbor Day...I insisted on coming, even though it meant crawling out of my cozy bed at a criminally early hour of the day.
This is because I can't remember much about Kevin being a baby; I do have recollections of my 3-year-old self trying to persuade my mom to give me the ice cream they brought her in the hospital on the day of his birth, but nothing really before that.

It wasn't much...like Rachel from Friends not being able to pick out where her tiny baby was on the ultrasound screen, all I could see was the grainy black-and-white sea of static and not much else. But when the doctor pointed out where future Hadley or Tobias (like our tentative name selections?) was, I saw the tiny heartbeat flickering...it was the size of a fluttering sesame seed.

This baby was for real. It was alive and pumping away inside of my mom. Mom and Dad cooed away at the screen and the doctor smiled; my throat swelled and my eyes started to feel like they did that one time I spilled salt in them (don't ask); tears coming without being ordered. Obviously I didn't plan to cry or even be impressed; some sort of powerful, ancient thing inside of me came to life. You are a female and this is a baby, it seemed to say, now love it!
Everyone then proceeded to make fun of me.

The second ultrasound was a week or so ago, and Peanut has grown a lot bigger; instead of looking like some charming aquatic alien fetus, it's obviously a little baby. They even gave us a 3D image; now, this is much freakier. A squashy, lumpy being surrounded by a Play-Doh fortress of a uterus.

January 10...the projected due date is July 10. Six even months until the miniature interloper takes over my room. (Well, I get one with a bathroom, so I gladly relinquish my territory.)

We had a small scare that resulted into a predictably very late night in the ER, but everything is totally fine. The ultrasound the next day resulted in seeing Peanut being extremely active, and even bigger for its size!

I'm going to force someone other than me to write the next entry so I can share my blog-writing prowess.

Love
E
The positive test!

Here's Peanut's first picture!

How Peanut has grown since December 7th!

You're Pregnant, Dude

Author: Erin

My mom is 49 and pregnant. (Sounds like that lame Scott Baio show!) So we...well, I...started this blog because that's how we do things now in the 21st century. Just the other day, I told my dog, "You have a lot of toys. You should start a blog!" You can get blogs for anything, so a baby blog seemed to fit.

Peanut might be called a 'miracle baby' by some people...maybe even a lot of people. My parents thought they were done with us kids: Kevin and I are approaching that time where we either fly the nest or start our own life.
Obviously God had other plans. Our family of four is now becoming five. Is it surreal? Definitely.

Mom asked me the other day, "Don't you feel now like something was missing in our family?"
She meant that before we started to adjust to this baby, we had a routine--we were four, we've been together since 1993 when the last baby, Kevin, was born (think again!). We'd settled. And now that we've met Peanut, through the ultrasound screen; seen its little arms and legs squirm around; we're ready.

Peanut is due on July 11, 2008. Just six short months away! I'll post some photos when I figure out how.

Love
E