Week 2 Update

So, we made it through our first week as new parents. My mom and dad left this morning and I felt very alone. Matt was off at school already and I kind of had a little tear-fest when they said goodbye. I thought - you are 29 years old, you shouldn't cry when your mom leaves you. I could blame the hormones, but I really am a bit nervous about doing this without her.

I think Matt and I have been doing pretty good taking care of Claire - she is a good eater, not fussy, and so darn cute that it seems to come easily... so far. But everything else my mom took care of - food, laundry, the house, etc. I am so appreciative of her taking a week to be with us - now it's on to a dose of reality for us.

Another new change for our family is that Matt has been asked (and has accepted) an assignment to teach early morning seminary. For those of you not familiar with this, it is like a Sunday School class for high school students, before school. It starts at 5:45 am and it's 5 days a week. I know Matt is so excited to do this, and he is a great teacher. In fact, the 16-17 year-olds he teaches at church now requested that he be asked to teach. The selfish part of me is thinking - I don't want to share my husband right now... I need help! So, I am praying to find patience and to be really positive.

He started on Monday and so far, so good. I'll have him tell a bit about the classes once he gets more into it.

5 Days Old

This is Claire Abigail.
Vitals: 7.6 lbs 20 ins (after first check up yesterday)
Hair: black with curl
Eyes: dark grey/brown
Ears: cute
Nose: cute
Hands n Feet: double cute

Claire's interests are wiggling like there is no tomorrow, drinking- mostly milk, and sleeping- most of the time.


We really enjoy having Claire. She is more fun now that she has come out to play. Shannon hasn't had much sleep, but Claire and I sleep- well, like babies. She hardly cries and we are hoping this trend continues for the next 20 years. After that she's on her own and she can cry all she wants too. We'll post new info as soon as we can manage a few moments!

It's a girl!

So I am supposed to be taking a shower while my mom watches the baby, but I wanted to steal a moment to do this quick post and update everyone on Baby Hiller. After long months of not knowing - girl or boy - we finally got to have that one fantastic moment when we found out. I must say, it was just about worth all the yellow baby clothes. :)

Although I was scheduled to be induced on Wed the 19th, Claire Abigail Hiller decided not to wait and was born on Monday, September 17th at 5:53 pm. My water broke that morning at 4:30 am and we rushed over to Summerlin Hospital. I ended up having the crazy ride to the hospital after all.

I don't have any pictures yet off of my camera, but we will get some posted soon. She has a ton of black hair and it looks a bit curly. She weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz and is 19 3/4 inches long.

Matt is being a great support and loves her so much - he is counting her sneezes because they are just so darn cute... yes, we are going to be those parents I guess. The count is up to 10 sneezes I think, but he has missed a few... His goal to count until she's 18 might get a little difficult.

Anyway, we are all doing great. My mom is here and is helping a ton - we are getting excited to have her cook us dinner this week :)

Photos are coming soon!

Finally, Some News

Well, I just wanted to give you all an update from my doctor’s appointment today. I am 30% effaced (I had no idea what this meant before becoming pregnant – basically, the cervix is getting thinner to allow the baby to get out of my belly). He can’t check to see if I’m dilated or not because the baby is still so high – but it has dropped down a bit. He told me that he is surprised he can’t check me, and that only about 3-4 other women have had similar situations in the past. Apparently he has long fingers…. I know, it gives me the heebie jeebies too to think about it too. Anyway he is still concerned about the size of the baby (apparently I could have a 9 pounder by now). And he said that a C-section is more likely to come if we let the baby get too big, versus giving me an induction without being terribly advanced in labor yet.

So, I have a date with the hospital on Wednesday the 19th to be induced. The plan is to have the baby right on my due date – the 20th. I feel pretty good about that – not early, not for convenience sake, let’s just get it done. I go in at 4 pm, then it’s supposed to take like 12 hours for the induction drugs to work, and the plan is to have the baby the next morning. I have a special bacteria (that one in seven healthy women carry) that requires the administration of a specific medicine 6 hours before the baby is born, so this takes care of that concern as well. If I had a fast labor, they would miss the window of time to give me the medicine, and it could harm the baby.

But, who knows? I could go into labor tomorrow all on my own. I am hoping to have a few days off to actually get stuff done, so if I make it to Wed it will actually be perfect… we’ll keep you posted. I plan to send out a mass text message just to get everyone updated at once – then we’ll have phone calls later once we are all up for it. So many unknowns...

Today is my last day of officially working in the office before maternity leave – woo hoo! So remember, use my yahoo address please (dittosrj@yahoo.com).

Round 2

Well, not much new to report on the baby front, other than the fact that the baby has moved down a little bit. The doctor measures how far the baby has "dropped" with the term "station." A zero station means it's right at the pelvic bone. Negative is above, positive is below (or basically you are in labor). I am at a -2, out of a possible -3, so still very high. But, that is better than it was last week.

Other fun things are happening though - for example, I have just developed a case of PUPPP - a rash that is very rare and itches like crazy, and the only cure is to deliver your baby. I have it on my arms and it looks like red goosebumps, basically. Also, the doc is concerned that my feet and legs are swelling even more (edema) and could develop into toxemia, which from all accounts is bad news and could be a reason to be induced. So, I guess a lot can change in a week.

I think I'm starting to feel ready for all those crazy home remedies for inducing labor... even though my last day of work is officially Sept 14th, I have no idea how I can keep my feet up all day long (per doc's orders) and work. Hopefully I can limit my meetings and just sit at my desk with my feet up.

Hurry up Baby Hiller!