Attention K-Mart Shoppers...

There is an adorable Blue Light Special currently located in the Special Care Nursery. She's 3 days old and a will win your heart in a minute. We think she's totally priceless!

That's right, Allie is back in the hospital. We had to bring her in at 9am this morning for a follow-up biliruben test to check on her jaudice level. Unfortunately her level had jumped from 10.7 at discharge to 18.6 this morning. They decided to admit her to the Special Care Nursery for light therapy. She's under the blue lights and also lays on a bili blanket so that she's getting the light from all sides. It looks like she's relaxing in the sun on a blue beach. They even gave her these adorable sunglasses to protect her eyes from the lights. As of her 10pm feeding, her level had dropped to 16 so we're headed in the right direction. They will draw again in the morning and we're hoping to be released sometime tomorrow.

Apparently she was pre-dispositioned to jaundice because of her differing blood type from mine. I am O+ and she is A+. That is pretty much a set up for jaundice, which is why they brought us back this morning for the test. They couldn't test earlier because the levels increase with time and peak around the 72 hour mark. While we don't like being back in the hospital and cried like babies when we had to give her up in the nursery, we're thankful that the doctors were pro-active in her treatment and didn't just wait for us to go to the pediatrician next week when her levels would have been even higher.


Nick and I are staying at the hospital for the night so that we can be present at all of her feedings. The feeding times are the only times we're allowed to hold her so we didn't want to miss any of them. It's not how we anticipated things going, but at least she's getting better. We should know more in the morning.

Bustin' Out of This Joint

We've been released! We're loading up our things and heading home for the night. Allie does have to come back tomorrow morning to have her jaundice levels re-evaluated, and unfortunately they're saying she will most likely have to be re-admitted but for now we're heading home as a family of three! We had estimated her to be a little bit bigger so she's swimming in her coming home outfit, but she's still the cutest baby I've ever seen!


Thank you all for your kind words, thoughts and prayers through this. Please say a prayer for her tonight that her jaundice levels will decrease so that she can stay at home where she belongs.

We can't wait for everyone to meet Miss Allie!

She's Here!

Allison "Allie" Jayne Bryant arrived on Thanksgiving day at 3:22pm. She weighed in at 8lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long. She has dirty blond hair and is just so darn cute! We're still working on uploading pictures and video from today but hope to have some time to work on it tomorrow.

For now, we're remembering all of the things we're thankful for, including our brand new daughter!

Forgot to Update Yesterday

We had an okay doctor's appointment yesterday. Allie looked fabulous on all of her tests. She passed with flying colors! We got to see her face again on the ultrasound and watch her move around. They're estimating her at 7 1/2 pounds which is a lot smaller than Nick and I were guessing.

The doctors still maintain that she's not coming out anytime soon. She had dropped a few weeks ago but has since risen back up in my belly. She's head down but also has a foot up by her head. We're wondering if that foot is getting the way of her dropping again. The doctor suggested I sit on the dryer for awhile to try to get her to shake down a little bit! I'll let you know if I figure out how to get my big booty up onto the dryer. He also said that the 1/2 cm that I was dilated last week was "generous." Way to dash a girl's hopes! They're still not talking induction at this point since she's not really in position and my body's still not ready.

Moral of the story is that Allie is super comfy and not ready to meet us. We go back to the doctor next Tuesday (12/2) for a Biophysical Profile (detailed ultrasound) and then they'll discuss "helping her along" at that point. I think she's holding out until after Thanksgiving so that she gets to eat some good food via placenta vs only getting breast milk if she arrives before. Honestly, I can't blame her for that one. Looks like we're heading for a December baby!

Still nothing...

Just to keep everyone updated, there's still no progress. Nick and I have spent the weekend relaxing around the house and making some really important final preparations. After all, would we really be ready for her to arrive if we hadn't purchased a hairbow that matches her Christmas dress? I don't think so! Now that we have that out of the way, we're ready and she can arrive anytime now.

I decided that Friday was going to be my last day at work. I was very uncomfortable on Friday and thought for sure she was coming this weekend so I opted for that to be my last day. Now I'm kicking myself thinking I should go back tomorrow but I do feel better knowing a decision has been made. Nick got laid off on Friday too so now we're both unemployed and expecting a baby at any time! We think it will be a temporary thing but you never know. At least we know how to keep things interesting. We had planned on him taking some time off when Allie arrived so it's not really that big of a deal.

Hopefully I'll either go into labor before Tuesday or the docs will have some good news for us at our appointment. Crazy Neighbor stopped by today to try to convince me to drink Castor oil. Umm, thanks but no thanks Crazy Neighbor. As much as I want to meet my daughter sooner rather than later, I'm not willing to go that route and generally ignore any "advice" you give me anyways. After all, your name is Crazy Neighbor for a reason.

Come on Allie! We're all waiting for you!

We have progress ladies and gentlemen!

The doctor informed me today that I am all of 1/2 cm dilated! Wahoo! I'm pretty sure she was just lying to me to keep my spirits up but progress is progress I guess and I'll take what I can get. They are not quite prepared to induce because they said my body is not ready and it would likely end in a c-section. They're bringing us in on Tuesday to do a Non-Stress-Test and an ultrasound to make sure that the baby is okay to continue the overdue pregnancy. At that point, they'll discuss a possible induction if the little Gator is still too comfy in there. We're probably looking at the end of next week or the beginning of the following week although they're still thinking we may go into labor on our own before then. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

I'm pretty sure that the blood pressure people smoke crack. We had the same girl that's done it at most of our appointments and I registered a whopping 150/60...not good. I asked the doctor about it and any dangers being overdue might bring so the doctor re-took it. The result: 110/60. Seriously? 40 points in less than ten minutes? Someone is clearly smoking crack. The problem is that we don't know who. The doctor is not worried about it at all so we're choosing to not worry about it either for the time being.

Nick and I are discussing tomorrow being my last day of work. I'm still trying to decide what I want to do but I've already handed over all of my duties to my replacement so I literally just sit there and chat with people all day. It might be nice to have some time off before the baby but I'm afraid it might make me too ancy and that I'll get bored. One can only take so much daytime TV!

I'm still feeling really good, am not uncomfortable and have no major complaints so I should just count my blessings that things are going well. I try to remind myself of this but it's hard because I just can't wait to meet Allie!

39 Weeks!

Since nothing exciting is going on in baby world right now, I thought I'd post a pic of my belly at 39 weeks. It's a little blurry but it's hard to take a picture in the mirror at the correct angle. A lot of people say I look small for 39 weeks but I think I'm huge. I guess we'll see how big the little Princess is whenever she decides to make her appearance! I can't believe we're in our last week!

Still Cookin'

It's taken me a few days to get this posted but our doctor's appointment on Thursday went well. Allie is apparently very comfortable causing the doctor to believe she's not coming out anytime soon. I'm still at 0 cm and am not having any contractions or braxton hicks. My blood pressure was ridiculously low (120/60) compared to the past few weeks but I'm pretty sure it was a mistake. It was a different girl taking it this time and they were very rushed. They say she's on track to be an "average" sized baby, which is somewhere around 7 or 8 pounds. I'm still feeling pretty good for the most part and plan on working until little Miss Allie arrives. The doctor seemed to indicate that they may induce sometime the week of Thanksgiving so she should be here relatively soon!

Couple of Pics

I feel like I'm running out of things to say other than, "No, she's not here yet!" Aunt Joanne sent me some pics of my most recent baby shower so I'll share a few of those:

Preggo Meggo at 36 weeks

Handmade baby blanket from Aunt Mary Ellen

The adorable Miss Cecelia showing off her fabulous dress

Cute little Anna helping me open gifts

Thanks again to everyone for making it such a special day!

38 Weeks & Happy Birthday to Me!

Today marks the 38 week point. I'm still feeling pretty good and have no major complaints, I'm just very eager to meet little Allie! We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and everything still looks good. I lost 3 pounds in a week (not great news but no need to worry) and my blood pressure is holding steady in the 140s. Her heartbeat sounded great and she's still head down. The doctor said I still haven't made any progress but the baby is dropping. He also said that I have what he thinks is a hernia in my groin area. He said it poses no danger to me or the baby during delivery and that it may go away on it's own once she's born. If not, they'll refer me on to a surgeon after her birth to have it repaired. No big deal really.

On a side note, today is my 27th birthday! Nick and I are keeping it low-key as it could be one of our last nights out together before we're parents! We're going to a local Indian restaurant for dinner and then probably back home. Lord knows I can barely stay awake past 9pm so it's not like we can do anything too crazy. I've heard that Indian food can induce labor so we're keeping our fingers crossed that little Miss Allie could be my birthday surprise! What a fantastic surprise that would be!

Halloween 2008

Nick and I kind of skipped Halloween in our neighborhood this year. We did pass out candy for about an hour but closed up shop early and headed over to Holli and Brian's house for a Halloween party. Shelley brought the boys over and we got to meet some of Holli & Brian's neighbors. It was a fun night and a good break from the craziness that future Halloween's might entail. The boys looked so cute in their costumes and have grown up so much since last year!

Halloween 2007 : Carson, Cole, Cameron

2008 Cameron as a three-eyed monster:

2008 Carson as an elephant:

2008 Cole as a dragon:

Surprise Shower

My work threw me a surprise baby shower on Friday and totally had me fooled. They had sent out an email saying we were having a chili day for Halloween (which is not unusual) and I fell for it hook, line & sinker. I walked into the break room to find the whole company there. It was so sweet of them! They all chipped in to buy Allie a couple of adorable outfits, and the kids chair that matches her bedding. It is so cute!

My two friends at work, Susie & Stephanie also made the absolute cutest diaper cake I've ever seen. It totally puts all of the ones I've made in the past to shame. I'm definitely going to have to step up my game for the next one.

I don't think any people from work read my blog but if you do, thank you so much for your kindness!