Week One

One week down and all I can say is...life is good.

I am doing really well, eating great and sleeping well too (although more in the daytime as opposed to the night). There's not really much else to do around here...so I'm just taking it easy and enjoying these first few days before daddy puts me to work.

Daddy and me

I guess this is a mandatory "first week dad and baby" pose! Dad has been helping a lot...yesterday for my one week birthday dad fed me for the first time out of a bottle! It was the same mom juice, but much easier to extract. None the less, we were both pretty snockered after the whole process and needed a quick snooze.

Visitors!

I have been really busy in the last few days with all the visitors! This is me with Mia, my first visitor- she was here right when I was brand new! Now she is back and she brought more wonderful baby-holding-hands with her.


Here I am with Bucca...

And of course with my most favorite Aunt Haley. I hope I grow up to look like her...no offense to dad- who everyone says I look like- but I prefer a look that is a bit more -you know- girly.

We are having a great visit and I know my mom and dad appreciate the extra help- especially in the early morning hours! I am loving all the new faces and just eating up all the love that everyone has for me!

Family time

Dad took off the entire week, so in the last few days we have been spending some quality family time together.

Don't worry...at four days old Blayne has got daddy wrapped so tight around her little fingers I think he has already ordered the credit cards in her name. Seriously though, daddy has been a huge help, especially at night when -apparently- babies don't sleep. And even though dad can't solve any hunger issues, he is great at entertaining her when she is wide awake at 3am.

Further evidence of daddy's little girl...

Here are a few pictures of our first family outing! Dad, Blayne, the portuguese and I packed up our little stroller and headed out to the boat ramp. We took a nice walk and let the portuguese blow off some energy.

We have been having so much fun bonding as a family, we wish dad didn't have to go back to work. But...now that Blayne will have a copy of daddy's credit cards, somebody has to pay the bills ;-)

Our first bath!

For mom and dad, that is.

Blayne isn't quite at the 'I love baths' stage, but we got her clean none the less...full head of hair and all!


After all, a girl needs to look good when she is meeting most everyone for the very first time!

Blayne vs. The Portuguese!

Many of you have been asking about the plan to introduce Blayne to the Portuguese. Well, we just went for it.

We started with Monte (since he is older and wiser)...

then we let Mulligan in to sniff the "new dog". The dogs had much more interest in Blayne than she had in them. In fact, believe it or not, she hardly opened her eyes during the entire production. Despite the licking, sniffing and slobbering, Blayne was quite content to just go about her business.

The boys on the other hand won't leave her alone. They even helped me change her diaper!

Home again, home again...

We headed home this morning, Wednesday 5/23!


Apparently there were a few people waiting for me!

Here I am, all dressed and ready to go...

strapped in (and labeled, just incase I meet anyone new)...

in the car...

and home at last!

Whew! That was a long day...I need a nap!

Getting to know me!

I am of course super cute, and it's just not fair to all of my loving family and friends who are too far away to see me, so here are a few more photos to help you get to know me better!

The whole story

For those of you interested, we'll give you the rundown of Blayne's journey into the world...


We, of course, went into the hospital Sunday night around 8pm to start the induction process. We met with the doctor and were pleased to hear that even before any intervention, I was dilated 1cm...a long way from 10, but better than nothing.

Around 9pm the nurse administered cervidil which contains prostagandin- a hormone used to help dilation and effacement. With just the cervidil, I started to have regular contractions about 2am Monday morning. Around 5am we ditched the cervidil and got an hour to prepare ourselves mentally for the start of the pitocin.

Because I was having contractions on my own, we got away with an extra hour of no additional intervention, but by 7am the inevitable happened and we were put on the IV to start the drug. The pitocin kindly produced very regular and very strong contractions in only about 20 minutes time.

At 9am, the doctor made his rounds we were well on our way to 6cm. He broke my water and ordered the epidural. The epidural- God's gift to modern medicine- brought much relief and allowed me to rest all the way to 9cm.

We had finally reached our goal of 10cm a little after noon on Monday and started to push shortly after. Only about an hour or so later we had ourselves a perfectly healthy, beautiful -albeit cone headed- little girl.

Blayne is doing great! She is nursing well, sleeping well and very alert. Her APGAR scores were an 8 and 9 and she has already met twice with the pediatrician and passed her hearing tests.

Ian and I are doing great too- we're just enjoying this time and falling in love! We are totally in awe of the entire process and so proud of our new baby girl.

Our first few hours!

We survived labor and delivery and spent a nice quiet evening together at the hospital last night.

Going on pretty much no sleep from the night before, then a bit of a long day, we were all exhausted. We had some dinner...


some play and bonding time...

And then we all fell fast asleep.

Webshots link

Here is a link to some additional pictures....it takes too long to load them all on the blog.

http://community.webshots.com/user/ianmiller16

FINALLY! Blayne's Birthday.

Don't look for any witty post this time around Ian is on posting duty. Here are a few shots of our new bably girl. Baby blayne was born at 1:41 on May 21. She weighed in at 7lbs 10oz and was 19 inches long, of course this includes about 3 inches of cone head.

Mom and baby are doing great. Blayne has been awake and looking around since her emergence. She is very curious and happy. She even had a bit too eat. Stay tooned throughout the night we will be updating with some new picture.

D-day + 11

Sunday: 11 days late, 1 day to eviction...

We're off!

Tonight they will give me some hormones to hopefully get things moving and then we will induce in the morning. We will keep everyone as posted as possible.

Please pray, cross your fingers, or do whatever it is you do, that this works, that our baby girl is healthy and that she has a safe and easy journey from my belly into our arms.

Reason #5: Simply put; good things take time.

D-day + 10

Saturday: the 'count-up' officially reaches the same number of days as the 'count-down'...


Alright...contrary to the serenity of this photo, the eviction notice has been posted; Blayne has less than 48 hours to remove herself from the premises or we will use force!

We are relaxing today; taking it easy and enjoying a few more hours of peace and quiet while taking care of the necessary final preparations.

Good reason for late babies #4: Although it does take away from the exciting spontaneity of it all, planning for the actual date of delivery definitely has its advantages!

D-day + 9

Friday: 9 days and waiting...

We're 'nesting' today...it could be that the baby is on the way...or it could be that we are awaiting the arrival of -not only Blayne- but her first visitor today- Mia! Unlike her granddaughter, we expect her to arrive on time ;-)

Good reason for late arrivals #3: All the kind phone calls and e-mails we've received wondering about our progress. We do appreciate them! Had she come early, or even on time, we wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to chat with so many of you...at least not while you're still interested in us!

Well, after today, there are only two more days for Blayne to choose her birth date. She does seem to have done her own thing along the way, so we are still hoping she will decide to take charge of her destiny and surprise us before Monday.

D-day + 8

Thursday: 8 days late and counting...

We went for our non-stress test this morning and all is well. Young Blayne is just as happy as can be and doesn't seem to have any plans of moving for the time being...she just doesn't realize that we reserve the right to evict- especially since I don't see her holding up her end of the rental agreement.

We have moved the induction date up to Monday, May 21st, so that is good news. The unexpected news we got from the doctor today was that just because they will administer the drugs, doesn't necessarily mean she will comply. I was a bit shocked to hear this, but Ian reassures me this is like a 1% chance and they are just preparing us for the possibility. Let's hope so!

Our daily reason why it is good that Ms. Miller has not arrived yet is:

2. For first time parents-to-be, this is a great test of our patience and flexibility.

(oh...we do mean it, but you can't help but hear just a touch of sarcasm...)

D-day + 7

Wednesday: Last day of free womb and board ;-)

We're all waiting...hoping that everyday could be the day!

Being that the whole 'just waiting' attitude is getting a bit cumbersome at this point, we've decided to take a more positive outlook and make a list of reasons why it is a good thing our little girl is taking her time...we're starting with one for each extra day we wait, so today's reason is:

1. All the things we were able to complete (many of which we didn't even know we wanted to complete) previous to her arrival including, but not limited to:

• Buying the new camera
• Taking some pregnancy portraits (to chronicle the longest pregnancy ever ;-)
• Drinking at least 2 weeks worth of raspberry tea (we did later discover this is not in fact something that induces labor -obviously- but it is still supposed to help with an easier labor)
• Earning an extra pay check for working this week- and getting to do it from home
• Making major progress on the whaler
• Pulling the engine out of Annie &
• Spending some extra quality, quite alone time...

Had our Blayne come on time we would not have accomplished most if any of this, so for these things we are thankful!

D-day + 6

Tuesday: 6 days late...

We went to visit Dr. Johnson today. The good news is that we do now have a plan in place, induction date and all, the bad news is that is isn't quite the plan we were expecting. Despite our original plan to induce at the end of this week, the doctor recommends we wait.

That being the case, we are going to go to the hospital for a non-stress test on Thursday to make certain that Blayne is healthy and safe and having as much fun as we believe she's having, and if all is well, we will go into the hospital Monday night to induce Tuesday morning.

She is, of course, welcome to come any time in between now and a week from today, and we are still optimistic that she will decide to do so. Another week seems impossible at this point, but then again, we've made it this far, so what's a few more days?

D-day + 5

Monday: 5 days post due date...not that any one's counting...

So...what do you do when you've been expecting a major, life-changing event and it just doesn't present itself? Well, one option is to torture the ones you love!

Ian brought home this exercise ball last week for us to use as a comfort technique (and partly just because we like to bounce around on it) but we had no idea just how much fun it was going to be. He didn't even get in the door before the dogs went ballistic (no pun intended ;-)!

Mulligan is so afraid of the thing that he refuses to be on the same floor as the ball. He is constantly looking around corners to see if it is lurking somewhere in the shadows waiting for him. Monte isn't crazy about it either, but seems to be handling it better than the little one. We have no idea what this fear stems from, but now that we know it exists, we might be taking advantage of it...just a little. Ian has been caught -on more than one occasion- bouncing the ball around the house at the dogs. I, quite obviously, also forced them into this brief photo op which was quite traumatic- especially since it had been in the closet for 2 days and we had finally convinced Mulligan it was OK to hang out on the main floor again. He is upstairs hiding as we speak...oh well, maybe Blayne will be here by the time he decides to come down again!

D-day + 4

Sunday: Mother's Day and still no baby...

Happy Mother's Day!

Four days post due date and counting. We had hoped Blayne would appear today for Mother's Day, but, she apparently wants to wait for her own day.

We have new instructions to wait for Grandma Miller's birthday, the 16th of May...we'll see what we can do ;-)

D-day + 3

Saturday: 3 days late and counting...

Thursday night we had one of those incredible gulf coast lightening storms. We decided to seize the still-no-baby moment and grabbed the new camera and headed out to the waterfront. Ian took some really awesome pictures so we thought we would share. Plus, with little news from Blayne, it is a nice change of subject for the time being.

As far as the baby situation is concerned, Ian is keeping me in good spirits and helping me focus on the positive. We're keeping our fingers crossed (and we suggest you do too!) for Mother's Day! That would be one hell of a gift!

D-day + 2

Friday: 2 days late...

Well, Blayne and I did go see the doc yesterday...let's just say we didn't get the progress report we were all hoping for...as a matter of fact, it doesn't seem like we've made much progress at all. But, the important thing is that she is doing very well- apparently a little too well- because we didn't even choose an induction date as expected. We will revisit the issue this coming Tuesday unless of course she decides to surprise us.

D-day + 1

Thursday: 1 day late...

We do realize that the whole purpose of the 'countDOWN' is to go in descending numerical order; but what do you do when you get to zero and you have not reached the expected outcome? Well, I figure we have two choices: we can go negative (bad karma) or go back up! So, that puts us at D-day +1. I just hope we don't have to go all the way back up to +10...

Here is yet another picture that we took last weekend. Just mom and the boys...poor Portuguese, they are in for a big surprise.

We are doing well at 1 day past the due date; I am still working, but mostly from home which makes life SO much easier. Ian is still hitting it hard too, making his daily trek to Sugarland and just waiting for the day that he can head to the hospital instead of the office at 5am.

Blayne and I do go see Dr. Johnson today. I am hoping to get a better progress report than we have in the past, and if nothing else, at least confirm an induction date. I think once we have a final date on the calendar, Blayne will realize she is coming out one way or another and hopefully just decide to give up the fight and enter the world on her own.

And if that is not enough to persuade her...she gets one week free before I start charging rent.

D-Day!

Wednesday: Blayne's Due-Date has arrived, but she has yet to make an appearance!


With all that talk of serenity and wistfulness on the previous post, Ian requests we show you a more accurate glimpse of my current attitude. I, of course, have no idea what I am doing in this photo but he claims this is the new daily look of "you get this baby out of me: RIGHT - NOW!"

Ah, yes, it seems little Blayne will inherit her parents' tradition of being late...although, we are optimistic and say there is still time...she still has a few more hours to go before she is officially tardy. At this point, there is no purpose in being 'early', so we figure she is planning on that 11:59pm arrival.

1...

Tuesday: One more day!

Little Blayne has just one more day to arrive on time! We're still keeping our fingers crossed that she decides to come in a somewhat timely fashion.

I am actually feeling really good this week and hoping it could be a sign that things will start to progress. If not though, we have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and I imagine we will choose an induction date at that point.

Just a matter of time now...

2...

Monday: 2 more days until Blayne's estimated arrival!

This is one of my favorites of the pictures we took yesterday. Don't worry, there are lots more; even some with smiles ;-)

With two days to go we're doing well and just hoping that labor is possible without a terrible amount of foreshadowing.

3...

Sunday: 3 days and counting...

Got a little captain in you?

Yes, yes, this is what not drinking for 40 weeks will do to you! Ian and I decided it would be a good idea to take some 'pregnancy portraits' with our new camera before we no longer have the opportunity. The idea was to get some stoic shots, but alas, at 3 days and counting we have thrown sanity out the window.

We did actually get some nice serious shots but- we'll save those for the days to come since we're awfully sure we'll have more than just the remaining 3 to keep up the countdown...

4...

Saturday: Cinco de Mayo! 4 days to go...
As far as signs of labor go...we may be making progress. One big step in the right direction: nesting. Fortunately, Ian has taken on this responsibility for me! He must be feeling the pressure because he is working day and night on his boats, gardens, and anything he can get his little hands on. I very much appreciate him picking up the slack on this one, because quite honestly, I'm too tired.

I also finally experienced a Braxton Hicks contraction! Just one, but none the less, something that indicates the possibility of labor starting on its own in the next few days. The bad part is that I am pretty sure it was in fact a contraction because it scared me...it was not the painless tightening of muscles I have read about...it was more of an 'oh yeah...I'm going to need that epidural when the time comes' type experience.

It goes without saying that we still have hopes that we will not have to resort to induction, but we'll see as the days pass. So, with no news being good news- go have a margarita for me and enjoy Cinco de Mayo since it doesn't look like anyone will need to jump on an airplane today!

5...

Friday...5 days 'til Blayne's expected arrival!

Not much new to report. We're hanging in there; some of us better than others, and as I'm often reminded, she's not late...yet.

Either way, we have some great date choices in the upcoming days: Cinco de Mayo (very appropriate for a Miller/Springsted child); May 9th (she could join the elite 5% of people who are actually born on their due date); May 11th (I would win the guessing game and get to keep my beloved Mulligan); and Mother's Day (4 days late, but sweet). Any day in between would be equally nice- any day after...well...ask us in a week.

6...

Thursday: 6 days to D-day!


Here is the belly at 39 weeks.

One is a 'normal' silhouette, and the other is an 'I am going to try my hardest to look as big as I feel' pose...can you tell which is which? Is it the perfectly round air-filled belly or the devious facial expression that gives it away?

Blayne and I went to see Dr. Johnson today. He seems to think she is holding out for Mother's Day and had me -painfully- schedule an appointment (a regular check-up- not an induction) for the 10th of May...the day after my due date.

Until then, I will be drinking tea, eating spicy food and rubbing my ankles. It is a good thing that I am working from home next week because it would be difficult to do all this sitting at my desk.

7...

Wednesday: 7 days to go!

Still pregnant...and frightfully, with no real signs of impending labor. Ian continually assures me no one has been pregnant forever, but I am starting to wonder if I might be the first.

Last night Daddy gave Blayne and me the most awesome gift- a brand new, super fancy digital SLR camera to record all of our new memories! It was a huge surprise to us and we are so excited! We think Blayne knew not to come before the camera was delivered, as she will want her first moments of life captured in style! Hopefully now, there is nothing else holding her back and she can go ahead and be on her way. In the meantime, however, we will be busy reading up on how to operate our new camera so that we're ready for her when she does finally decide to make her debut.

8...

Tuesday: 8 days to D-day!

So at 8 days to go...I apparently don't have the endearing demeanor I perceive myself as having because Ian came home last night with several home remedies to induce labor. He tried to pass them off as "wanting Blayne to arrive on the date he guessed" but knowing the prize, something tells me that is a flat out lie!

So, at 8pm I started a regimen of 10 cups of raspberry tea a day (I would not recommend starting this at night, or drinking all 10 cups within an hour- just a thought...). This is supposed to induce labor as well as make for an easy labor. Hilary did it and she seems to have survived, so I figured, why not? We did jump on the band wagon a bit late- I believe this is supposed to work best when started at 37 weeks...so, I guess I'll just have to drink twice as much!

We ate eggplant too, another apparent labor inducing nutrient...we'll see what comes of that. So, all in all, other than having a very full bladder, we are hanging in there with 8 days left!