Bearing a Resemblance: Part 2

You might remember us trying to think about what our baby might look like in a previous post -- back before we even knew whether it was a boy or a girl.

Here I (Mommy Dearest) am as a baby (as a side note, the little pink and white kimono-type outfit I'm wearing here is the same outfit we brought Elsa home in -- the one she is wearing in her carseat in the post below):

Here is Elsa in a shot my dad took not long after her birth, hanging out with Daddy:

See any similarities? I know it's pretty difficult...

I still think, though -- and there seems to be a general consensus -- that she has her daddy's forehead and brow line.

Here is Daddy as a baby:

Elsa, of course, is more beautiful by the day. And I actually got seven hours of sleep last night (only got up twice!), which makes her even more of a beauty today.

Elsa Marie Helms has arrived!

For all of you patiently waiting for the first photos... I can offer you the web's first look. :) We had to pay the paparazzi quite a bit to be able to publish these. Just a few stats:

Weight: 8 pounds 9.6 ounces
Length: 20 1/2 inches
Perfect double 10 Apgar score: the first in over 5 years at the hospital

A full head of long, dark hair and a super cute dimple are among her best traits. :)

I will be typing up the birth story for those interested a little later... I thought I would have more time than I do so I am running a little behind.

Proud Father Helms

39 Weeks

So not much has changed with Baby Helms over the course of a week... she just continues to grow, and I guess continues to contemplate when she should make her grand entrance into this world. She continues to build a layer of fat to help control her body temperature after birth, and Miss Melonhead herself (now the size of a mini watermelon) likely measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds. As time passes her outer layers of skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath. Someone must tell her all this primping really is not necessary. We want to meet her now!

39-Week Midwife Appointment

So Labor Day passed, and still no Baby Helms. Oh well, she has to come soon, right? We're now a week out from the due date. Today was my 39-week appointment with Margaret. I was stressing out trying to get there on time this morning because my dumb alarm decided to not go off, regardless of the fact that it was set for the correct time and turned on. I still was able to get there not more than 10 or 15 minutes late, which was pretty amazing... and it turned out I shouldn't have been stressed anyway because poor Margaret was having a time of it trying to leave the hospital. Apparently about six women were in labor last night/this morning. So I guess I'm glad I didn't go into labor last night, considering there are only six labor and delivery rooms at the hospital anyway. And it wasn't even a full moon...

The appointment went well -- peed in a cup (fine), had my blood pressure taken (also fine), weighed in (I had actually lost a pound!), and then went into the examination room to see Margaret. She checked out the baby, and everything was pretty much the same. She seems to think I'll have the baby in the next week or two, but I imagine she really doesn't know any more than I do. She ended up not checking to see if I was dilated/effaced, but I believe her theory (though she didn't say so herself) is to not let me get too concerned (read: obsessed) about those numbers and just relax and let it happen. She said she will check me next week... if I make it that long. She also said that it seemed like I still had an ample amount of amniotic fluid, so there is not concern about that yet.

The baby's feet are definitely in a different spot these days, and one that is very sensitive at that. I told Margaret that, and she said that it could be that the baby is kicking my liver. That would explain it! She can also definitely still reach my ribs, but that isn't nearly as bad... although it's a little strange to feel her foot kind of get stuck up under the rib cage for a second and then sort of pop out. I asked Margaret about the loss of the pound, and she said it's fairly normal to lose some weight toward the end of the pregnancy, and that it could even be a sign that I am getting close. We shall see!

I did some cleaning/organizing over the weekend. You can call it nesting, but I probably would have felt the urge to do it even if I wasn't pregnant. I also went grocery shopping and purchased ingredients to make a homemade lasagna and big pot of chili, which I made and put in the freezer last night so that we'll have something there that we can just heat and eat in those first few days after the little one arrives.

In other baby news, Jarrett and I went to a breastfeeding class at the hospital last Wednesday, and we definitely learned a few things, though I wasn't totally astounded by the class or the instructor (one of the lactation consultants on staff). It was definitely worth it to go, though, and I'm glad that we did. Jenn, our doula, has highly recommended one of the lactation consultants at the hospital, so I have already noted in the birth plan that I would really like to see her before leaving, if at all possible.

Jarrett's office also threw us a baby shower on Friday, which was really nice of them. It was kind of a surprise for Jarrett, and they invited me to come down over my lunch hour to take part in the festivities. Lunch was ordered in from Taqueria del Sol, one of our most favorite places to eat, and they got us a lot of nice things, including a Tigger Halloween costume Jarrett had seen in Babies R Us, and was extremely excited about. It is definitely cute.

So we're still feeling ready. In fact, we are just more prepared by the day. We got some more snacks for Jarrett to take to the hospital, and he made a few Labor and Delivery playlists for the iPod yesterday evening. I will definitely have a wide variety of musical distraction, which I am quite excited about. It will be interesting to see what I think during the throws of labor.

38 Weeks

According to BabyCenter this week, Baby Helms has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she is over 19 1/2 inches long (they are comparing her to a leek this time around). She has a firm grasp, which we will soon be able to test when we hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

As for the color of her eyes? We probably will not be able to tell right away. If she is born with brown eyes, they will likely stay brown. If she is born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she is nine months old. That's because a child's irises may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.) I have green eyes (with a little bit of blue thrown in) and Jarrett has hazel eyes, so I guess we will see what effect our genes have on her.

Our hospital bags are officially packed. We just have to make another list of last-minute items to grab, such as the iPod (Jarrett still needs to make a Labor and Delivery playlist :) ), the camera, and the frozen grapes and popsicles. Another weekend task is to actually install the car seat now that we have it. We figure if by chance I go into labor before the weekend, Jarrett will likely have plenty of time in early labor to install it... or we'll just throw the entire box in the car and deal with it at the hospital. :)

38-Week Midwife Appointment

I had another somewhat uneventful midwife appointment yesterday -- unless you want to take into account the crazy weather we had to deal with in getting there. I love it when we're driving around and they tell us there is a tornado warning (meaning, yes, that they have actually spotted churning, circling cloud movement) and that it is recommended people in the affected areas seek shelter. Kind of difficult when you are stuck on the highway in terrible traffic and pouring rain. Anyway, we are fine... and no tornado touched down.

Jarrett came with me to this appointment so that he could finally officially meet Margaret. Thankfully he likes her just as much as I do. As for the appointment basics, my urine analysis was fine, blood pressure was fine, but as for the weight? Is gaining four pounds in one week fine? I am going to say yes just to get me through this -- and because neither the nurse nor Margaret said anything to the contrary. Anyway, I am up to 153 now. I have gained 23 pounds since my first appointment. I am counting on breastfeeding to burn calories like crazy after the birth. :) And I am sure some of that is water weight, as now it seems my ankles do not go quite back to normal even after having them elevated in bed overnight. It is just that time in the pregnancy, I guess. Margaret checked the baby and its heartbeat, and everything seemed fine. I thought she was going to check and see if I was dilated/effaced at all, but she said she typically waits until the 39-week mark -- I think she and I have both been a bit confused since she hasn't had my records right in front of her (though she has them now finally!) and with my due date having been pushed back a week early on in the pregnancy after that first ultrasound. Anyway... so next week she should check this. I asked Margaret how long she would let me go past my due date, and she said two weeks, which would be September 23. Let us hope that Baby Helms makes her debut before then! It could still obviously happen any time...

She also went over our birth plan with us, which was very helpful, and now I just need to make a few minor tweaks and it will be complete. All paperwork for work (leave of absence, FMLA, short-term disability stuff) is now completely filled out and turned in. And she also further described how the collection of the cord blood will play out. Overall, it was a good appointment, and Jarrett and I are both glad he was able to make it. Now we are really ready!

Full Term

Baby Helms is officially full term! So -- yay! -- bring her on. Jarrett and I are ready anytime. :) At 37 weeks, BabyCenter says that if the baby arrives now, her lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though the due date is still three weeks away.

She weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But we are not to be surprised if our baby's hair is not the same color as ours. I do wonder if she will have a full head of hair like I did when I was born, but I know even if she does have hair upon birth, it is always subject to falling out. Mine didn't, but who knows. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz, which I think is very cute as well. I am convinced she's going to look like a red, wrinkly prune when we first see her (as most babies seem to), but I don't care -- I can't wait to meet her!

I met with Dr. J. yesterday, and she adjusted my back as well as my supplement schedule. According to her, despite the amount of water I am drinking (because I'm thirsty all of the time), my kidneys are still working overtime (and she proved this by pushing on them -- ouch!), filtering for both me and the baby, and she thinks this is part of what is leading to the afternoon/nighttime swelling of my ankles/feet. But all I can do is keep drinking as much water as possible... and she suggested eating celery. I made another appointment with her in three weeks (actually on the due date) because she said it is definitely beneficial to get adjusted as close to the delivery as possible, but it's weird to think that I might not see her again before Baby Helms makes her debut.

We also met with the doula last night to go over the birth plan and discuss how things should play out once I do go into labor. Basically we contact her as soon as I am fairly certain that labor is for real, no matter how early on. This helps her organize things on the homefront so she can be ready to come over as soon as we want her to be there. So she will come over to the house when it seems contractions are getting more intense and closer together, and will help us decide when it's time to head to the hospital. Or, depending on how things progress, she might also just meet us there! I still don't truly know what to expect, of course, but I am still feeling calm about labor and delivery, so let's hope it stays that way.

How am I feeling physically? Definitely more tired, and I am feeling more and more Braxton Hicks contractions, which cause the pain in the right portion of my rib cage to be a bit more severe. But they're still just that -- Braxton Hicks. They come with no real regularity, no real pain, and I can usually change position to help ease them. But they're still obviously getting me ready for the real deal. Overall, I am doing really well. I have enjoyed pregnancy. But -- at the same time -- I totally would not mind if she decided to come early. And I know Jarrett is excited too.