Keeping tabs on Lucy...

If you'd like to keep up with the baby, I've created an online baby book for friends and family. You can view it here: Lucy's Baby Book.

Also, I've posted some portraits of Lucy on my studio blog. You're welcome to view those as well! Here's the link: Newborn Portraits

Hope you'll keep in touch!

Announcing the arrival of..........

Lucy Madison Vinez.

She made her arrival into the world on Monday, September 18, 2006 at 2:54pm.

We got to the hospital around 6:45am. They hooked me up the the IV right away, and had the pitocin started by 8am. At 9am, they broke my water, and put in my epidural. I then told the nurse it shouldn't be too long at all. Ha, ha, ha!!!! Lucy was determined to prove me wrong!

By noon, Lucy still hadn't dropped, and I was only dilated to a 4. We were going crazy, and talk of a c-section was being tossed around, but I refused to even listen.

At 2pm, I started to feel some pressure. They checked me again, and I was at a 6. By 2:20pm, I couldn't stand the pressure anymore and asked the nurse to come check me again. I was fully dilated and ready to push. Only problem was, a lady in the room down the hall was ALSO fully dilated - and we had the same doctor! LOL! So, the doctor had the anesthesiologist give me a shot to numb me so that I wouldn't feel the need to push while she went and delivered the other baby. I literally had to keep my legs crossed, because all I wanted to do was push that baby out! The doctor made it back into the room by 10 minutes to 3, and Lucy was OUT 4 minutes later! Just a couple of pushes and she came right out. After all that waiting, when she decided she was ready, she was really ready! She was 8lbs 3oz and 21 inches long. She popped out looking JUST like big brother Jace. Same big round head and squished up nose. I love it! Oh, and BOY, does she have hair! No wonder I had heartburn so bad! She's not a fan of bows or barrettes, though, so I'm going to have to work with her on that!

She is just perfect. A nice healthy size for a 2 vessel cord baby, and just as healthy as a horse. She's looking a little yellow, so we need to get her back to the doctor tomorrow to check her bilirubin levels, but she's just as gorgeous as can be.

I'm sure you want to see pictures now, so here you go:









She is just a living doll. The kids all adore her, and the boys are thrilled that she's home with us now.

And, the name.......... Zander is the one that picked it out. He and I were watching the Chronicles of Narnia together one day, and he leaned over, grabbed my belly and said, "Your name is baby Lucy." We didn't even know if it was a girl or not, but I LOVED the way Zander said Lucy so much that I called Gene and told him that if this baby was indeed a girl, we were naming her Lucy. So, there's the story behind the name!

It's good to be home! I feel great, and couldn't ask for a sweeter little addition to our home. I'm sure I'll have tons more pictures to share soon. I've got some birth announcements to get printed!

Thanks for letting me share! And thank you for all the prayers during our pregnancy. God sure does take care of us!

Yesterday's appointment.......

A date has been set!!!!!!

Ms. Tinkerbell will be making her appearance sometime on Monday, September 18th.

I got to my appointment and they hooked me up to the monitors. I was contracting like crazy (nothing new), and the doctor came in to check my cervix. Would you believe it? NO CHANGE. Still dilated to a 2, and Tink is still floating high in the fluid. She has no desire to even drop.

I asked the doctor if we could talk induction, and she said that any time next week was fine. I picked Monday, because Ashley has the day off school and it'd just be easier on everyone to have everything scheduled and ready to go.

I need to report to the hospital no later than 7am. It's SO exciting!!!!!!!

I'll keep you posted as I can!

Today's appointment....

About as exciting as the last one. Only, this time, I didn't have an awful doctor with extremely long fingernails! The doctor I saw today (another woman) was the polar opposite of the doctor from last week. Today's was kind, gentle, had very short fingernails, and even seemed like she genuinely cared about me & Tink.

I got there, and because it was a holiday weekend, they were totally backed up. I waited in the waiting room for almost an hour, and they took me back and hooked me up to the monitors. Tink wasn't moving much at all, and I was contracting like crazy, so they used the stupid shocker thing about 15 - 20 times (I lost count) trying to get Tink to move a bit. She finally did, but then she was moving too much and kept coming off the heartbeat monitor, so they couldn't measure her heart rate very well. Add to that the fact that I was still contracting like crazy, and they left me hooked up for well over an hour. The doctor then checked me, and GUESS WHAT?! Still dilated to a 2! NO PROGRESS. Absolutely nothing at all. And, Tink hasn't even dropped yet. Apparently, she enjoys bouncing around in the amniotic fluid.

I am so bummed. My daddy's 58th birthday would have been tomorrow, and I had been hoping and praying that she would come that day, kind of in honor of him. But, she seems to like it in there too much and has absolutely no plans of coming out any time soon.

SIGH. I hope you all enjoy waiting, because it may be November or December before this kid decides to come.

As promised below....

Here are the ultrasound pictures from yesterday. I marked them all up so that you can tell exactly what is what. (Click on them to make them bigger!)







And, check out the adorable little outfits Gene & I picked up for Ms. Tinkerbell at a local children's boutique:









Cute, huh?! :) I can't wait to see this little girl all dressed up!

Thanks for looking!

Back from another doctor's appointment....

Not much new to report, but I did get some darn cute pictures of our little Tinkerbell!

We had the ultrasound first. It was going well until I started to black out. Apparently, Tink hit the nerve that send the blood supply to your brain, and it almost knocked me out. We tried everything - moving positions, sitting up, getting on my hands and knees, I just couldn't shake the feeling like I was going to pass out. So, they finished up the u/s as quick as they could, and they sent me off to the exam room.

Because Tink looked SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good on the ultrasound and passed some measurement test, they didn't do the fetal monitoring today.

The doctor that I saw is the only doctor in the practice (so far) that I HATE. Even Gene didn't like her, and he can find something good in everyone. Anyway, I asked her how I'll know when I'm really in labor if my contractions don't hurt. Her response? "Well, if they're coming every 3 minutes, you need to go in." I told her that they DO come every 3 minutes (or less) and I was not going to take a trip to the hospital every day and every night just to be sent home. I spent 8 1/2 hours in triage on Thursday and they sent me home, so why the heck would I go back?! She just continued to insist that I go in if they're every three minutes. So, I turned to Gene and said, "Looks like we're leaving for the hospital right now." (In the most sarcastic tone I could muster.)

She checked my cervix and I'm still at a 2. No progression at all, even though I haven't stopped contracting once since Thursday. Go figure. I'm really upset, though, because she HURT me when she checked me. She had these amazon nails, and she scratched me! Now I keep having this awful brown discharge, and I know it's from her stupid exam.

She did tell me that if I continue to contract but not dilate, that they'd schedule an induction for 39 weeks. So, it looks like this baby will be coming sometime around September 16th. At least now I know how to plan, and I know I've got 2 1/2 weeks to make sure I'm absolutely ready for this baby!

I'll have to scan the u/s pictures later because they are really cute. You can totally see her chubby cheeks, and that she has a TON of hair! The u/s tech said I need to bring a bunch of bows with me to the hospital, because she's going to pop out with a head full of hair. Sounds like she'll be the exact opposite of all my other kids! Oh, and she's still growing a couple of days behind where she should be, but she's measuring about 6 pounds, which is really, really good for a two-vessel cord baby. And, her cord looks good - no sign of any knots or anything else that shouldn't be there.

So, there's the update! No baby comin' any time soon!

Never shared these with you all....

Back in July, I had a very sweet photographer friend come into town to take some maternity portraits for me. We wanted to do them early, because we just weren't sure how early Tink would be arriving, or what sorts of problems we might endure.

She took these at exactly 32 weeks along. She did a fantastic job, and I can never thank her enough. These will forever be special to me. Here's the link: http://www.vinezfamily.com/maternity.html

And, if you're ever in Michigan and need portraits done, I highly recommend Beth. You can check out her website here: http://www.betheggertphotography.com/

Thank you, Beth! I owe you - BIG TIME!!!! Love ya, girl!