Crash is coming :: update eight

Katie is laboring actively. She is dilated 6-7cm at this point and the contractions are coming fast. She is doing very well, but is having problems finding a comfortable position for handling the contractions. We'll keep the posts coming.

Crash is coming :: update seven

Hey this is Brad's sister Steph. Brad and Katie are tied up right now so responsibility for updating the blog has gone to me. We are at the hospital...again, although this time I think we're here to stay until this baby comes. Katie has been checked in and is handling contractions extremely well and in really good spirits. Katie is about five centimeters dilated and contractions are coming strong and often (less than two minutes apart). Katie is getting ready to get in the jacuzzi, lucky girl. I'll keep the progress updates coming as things progress.

Crash is coming :: update six

hey all...really quick...contractions are very close together + very regular and we are heading to the hospital again...here we go. i will update again soon.

Crash is coming :: update five

hey everyone. katie is doing awesome! we are still laboring at home waiting for the contractions to be consistent in duration before we return to the hospital. when she is active, the contractions are right in that target area, but when she lies down, they start getting erratic. we need them to stay in that target area of 3-5 min, 60 sec in length regardless of her position. man, I am so impressed with my wife! I can tell just from watching her in action + holding her hand through each contraction that labor is no picnic. She is soooo mentally tough. please continue to pray for her strength + that the contractions regulate soon. She has had intense, strong contractions every 2-8 minutes (each lasting anywhere from 30-95 seconds!) since 530am!! Its beginning to wear her out a little. we love you all + thank you so much for all your words of encouragement + prayers. I will post another update again in a little while.

Crash is coming :: update four

Well the nurse said that everything is going really well except for the timing of the contractions. They are sending us out to get some food + to walk around. We aren't really sure about what is next. We could be back in the hospital in a couple of hours or it could be that the baby doesn't come today. We aren't too disappointed though because everything else is going really well + she said Crash is doing "stellar". Lots of movement and variation! So we are on hold for now. We will update when we know more! We love you guys!
b+k

Crash is coming :: update three

The contractions have slowed a little so the nurses are having us do laps on the "track" as they call it (basically just laps around the labor + delivery floor) to try to get the contractions back to 5 minutes apart. After a half hour of this Katie's contractions are back where we want them. She had 6 in the half hour we were walking around + they were pretty good ones (strong + painful). Now Katie is back in bed + back on the monitor. Its our hope that they stay regular + that Crash responds well to them. So far, the nurse said that Crash is responding "perfectly" to them. I'll post again after we hear what the nurse has to say.

Crash is coming :: update two

We just arrived in the hospital room where the nurse is going to check Katie out to see how far along Crash is. The heartbeat is very strong...it sounds like horses galloping! The things that we just decided on are, Katie doesn't want pain meds, I am going to cut the cord, and the last name of the baby will be Hart! Important stuff! Okay, I'll try to get another update posted again soon.

Crash is coming :: update one

Wow! We never thought we would get to this day but here we are...and on Mother's Day! Katie's contractions started at 5:30am + have been pretty regular. She is laboring at home for now + she is doing awesome...I knew she would! We have been keeping track of the contractions + the time in between. The last one lasted 47 seconds + was 4:24 seconds from the previous one. We will be heading to the Carle hospital when Katie feels like she is ready to go. The hospital has WI-FI so I will be doing updates to the blog as frequently as I can. Keep checking back for the latest update. Please pray for Katie + Crash! Gotta go! Katie is having another contraction. Stay tuned...Crash is coming!

Encouraging News!

We had our weekly doctor's appointment today and were able to come home with some encouraging news! Let me set this up by explaining that in the last 2 appointments over the last 2 weeks, we went in each time hoping to hear that I had dialated some or at least that the baby had dropped. Both times there was nothing to report. But today that changed! I did go into the doctors' office feeling like I'd forever be pregnant and told Brad and I really needed to leave with something encouraging. (I guess I was feeling a bit hormonally low this morning) So our doctor checked the baby's heart beat (150) and then did the other check to see if I had dialated at all, if there was any effacement and if the baby had dropped. The great news is that I've dialated 1-2 centimeters, have about 50% effacement, and the baby has begun to drop, she was able to touch the baby's head! This is a great sign that we're very near finally meeting our little on in person!

She went on to say that next week we would have a special appointment with a sonogram, a NST appointment (non-stress test) and then a check up with our doctor. They will check the size and weight of the baby, and do a few other tests to see how the baby is doing and if I'm having any mild contractions that I may not be able to sense yet. At that point, we'll discuss possibly being induced depending on how the baby and my body are prepared for it. And she said that just in case we all decide to go with the induction, she's reserving a spot for me at the hospital for next Thursday to be induced! This is all encouraging, at least knowing that she will not let me live the rest of my 26th year of life pregnant. Yay! She also said that most women don't make it to this appointment because the baby comes before hand, so there's still a chance that I'll be a mom by mother's day! Yay! So be watching daily for that exciting blog post saying that we're in labor and will be meeting our little one face to face very soon!

Okay Crash...Time to Come Out!

Well, May 1st has come and gone.... sigh. I can't say that I'm feeling overdue necessarily, but I definitely am getting impatient to finally meet Crash! I am tired a lot, and still spending much of my days with my feet up to reduce the swelling, but Brad and I spend all of our time day dreaming of the excitement of having our little one in our arms! We keep talking about names (can't quite nail down a boy name) and getting teary eyed over the tiny socks in the nursery. We talk about how we will introduce Crash to Kisbey when we come home from the hospital. I have had many dreams about labor and delivery and then holding our baby (last night I dreamt we had twins!) and we are reading over and over our books both to prepare and educate, and to keep ourselves busy until it becomes a hands on learning experience. We are very excited for this child to come into the world! Crash, who certainly must take after his/her daddy, is still very active and we keep telling her/him that if he/she would just come out, there'd be so much more room to move around! (And mommy could be more comfortable in the meanwhile) I tell Brad that I would really like to be a mom for Mother's Day this year, and not an "almost mom." So stay tuned! We're hoping to meet our first child before next weekend! Tonight would be okay too!

Nephew Nolan Born April 29, 2008

Melissa + Gary were due right around the same time as us so there was a race to see who would be born first between little Nolan + Crash. Looks like Crash will get runner up. Nolan Fletcher Stein was born Tuesday, weighing 7lbs 8oz + was 19in 48cm long. Melissa was induced early Tuesday morning and Nolan was out by 5:38pm CST. Congrats to Gary + Melissa! We are so happy for you guys! And welcome to the world to baby Nolan! Hopefully Crash will be joining his/her cousin soon!

Car Seat Update

Yay! We got our car seat in at the end of last week. Yay! And Brad finished gathering his things for our bags for the hospital, so I think we're finally ready with the technical details. Did you hear that Crash? You can come now!

Crash Finally Moves for the Camera

So I've been trying for quite a while to get a good video clip of Crash moving Mommy's belly using the camera built into my MacBook. However, everytime you go to shoot a video, the application counts down 3-2-1 before it starts recording. This countdown is accompanied by beeps for each number. Well Crash would hear that + just completely stop moving by the time it got down to 1. Last night we (well Katie) got the idea to mute it so that Crash wouldn't hear it. Brilliant! So we finally got a good clip of Katie's belly dancing. Enjoy!

Car Seat Problems...

Well, we sure know how to pick them. We registered for our first car seat through a company named Combi. A very fun car seat called "Wasabi Shuttle" (you can imagine how fun that must be) that fits perfectly into the stroller we wanted, and still want for Crash. The day before my mom went to the store to buy the car seat for us, the car seat was recalled. (Thanks to Babyland for keeping track of that information for us on everything we've registered for and purchased separately. Excellent customer service!) So we went back into Babyland to pick our next carseat, and we found another great option! It's not gender specific, it's not too cheesy for our tastes, it fits nicely into the Combi Naked Stroller (a stroller frame that is made to hold the infant car seat) and we went up to the counter to purchase the car seat. Well, they found out that they were out of stock. But said that they should be receiving more on their next shipment from Graco, the company that makes the new car seat that we picked. This last week I called Babyland to see if we could get a status on the shipping of the carseat, and it turns out that Graco recently changed their computer system, or something like that, and all Graco shipments, to ALL stores that carry Graco, are receiving their shipments several weeks late. We called around to other stores that sell Graco to see if anyone else might have it in stock, and everyone is down to 1 style/option of car seat! So, Graco told Babyland that they are going to ship the car seat by Tuesday this week, which means it may be in the store for us to pick up by the end of this week, or sometime next week. But, it seems that we could go into labor anytime between now and 2.5 weeks from now! Ack! We're checking other options in the meanwhile, and just really hoping that the car seat comes in quickly and the baby after that. But not too much after that, I'm really ready to have this child in my arms instead of in my belly. Yay!

Office Baby Shower @ RE/MAX

RE/MAX threw a babyshower for me and Crash! It was really very touching to see so many people from work put together a very nice shower. Sunny made shredded beef for bbq sandwiches and many people from the office contributed some other really yummy parts to the meal. I'm still looking for the person that made the fruit cobbler! It was awesome! And as you can see from the picture, we had a fun cake, which Fawn took care to make sure it was both blue and pink since we still don't know Boy or Girl. The decorations were very fun and Fawn again took care to include the right shade of green that we have in the nursery. It was just very nice to see how much people care for our little one, even before he/she is born! The gifts were very thoughtful as well, and Crash is set up so great! Thank you everyone at RE/MAX!

Baby Shower

What an amazing shower! It was such a blessing to be surrounded by so many friends and family that love us and Crash so much already! The shower was really a spectacular experience with great food and fun (not cheesy) games and the gifts were really exceptional and again, just a great blessing to us. It's amazing how much "stuf" a baby needs, even before they are born! :) We did our first 2 loads of baby laundry with baby laundry soap (thanks Michelle) and are quite excited to get a mattress for the crib so we can really get the nursery looking closer to complete. And we folded the little onsies and gowns and hooded towels and socks and caps this morning and got even more excited about the coming soon arrival of little Crash! Brad can't wait to put the little stocking hats on Crash and we're both pretty thrilled with little socks!

Thanks to mom and Brittany for throwing/hosting such a fantastic shower! And thanks also to Linda, Debbie and Val for help with food and extra chairs! I can't think of a moment I didn't absolutely love! And it was so wonderful for me to have Brad there taking pictures and enjoying the afternoon as well.

Make sure to check out the pictures. Brad really enjoyed the camera and actually cut the total picture number down from 491! He's such an enthusiastic photographer!

Click here for baby shower photos

Brad + E.T. test Crash's backpack

We have already received some great baby gifts so far. One of the more recent ones was an awesome baby backpack carrier which Katie's Mom got for us. I was so excited to see how it worked so E.T. + I took it for a test drive. I just know that I am going to use this thing ALL THE TIME! I've even thought about just wearing it out with Kisbey when we go grocery shopping + stuff just to get some good practice. The great thing about this particular model of backpack is that it can carry everything from an infant to a toddler to a full size adult! Crash isn't even here yet + I already love this! Thanks so much Dale + Becky!
Click here for pics.

Building the crib...

The crib that we really had our sights set on was on Target.com only. It seemed like we weren't going to ever find one cause they didn't make very many of them + it was a popular model. Luckily Mom was all over it + was able to track one down! It finally arrived yesterday + despite the fact that I had been gone all day and arrived home around 10pm, I couldn't resist the urge to stay up + put it together. Katie decided that she would stay up with me and make sure that I followed all the directions (even though I didnt need them :). She's so awesome! The whole thing actually went very smooth thanks to Katie's attention to detail. We also had some fun burying Kisbey in a mound of packing gauze. We LOVE Crash's crib. It is awesome + I know that Crash will sleep well in their (we hope). Thanks so much Mom + Jeff!
Check out the rest of the pics here.

Due Date Moved...Again!

The doctors say that Crash is growing like crazy + have moved the due date up again! They said typically they like it when the baby comes out AND THEN GROWS. Crash disagrees. The new due date is May 1, 2008. Crash is coming...

Registry

Most of you know that we are registered at Target. We found some things at Target would not be available until after the baby has come...things that we will need right away. So...we have also registered at Babyland. Here are the links to the two registries:

Target
Babyland