11:04 AM

She's here!!! Healthy!!! BEAUTIFUL!!! :)

I'll let Ang take over when she's ready and fill in all the details that I'm sure everyone wants to know.

10:45 AM

10 CM

GO TIME!!!

10:30 AM

Awake from her nap! 9.5 cm

They're preping the room for baby Dani and we should get to meet her beautiful face by lunch time.  Andrew's making plans for lunch already.

9:45 AM

Angie and Andrew are both napping (or they're suppose to be).  Her waiting room fan club is continuing to grow. 

Water has been broken.

Also.... today is a BLUE MOON!!  Perfect day to have a baby.

8:30 AM

4 AM - Angie's in the jacuzzi and feelin' good. 4cm.

7:00 AM - Back labor.  Angie's NOT feelin' good.  Called for epidural.

8:00 AM - Sister arrives from Bend.  Epidural is in.  feelin' good.  5/6cm

8:30 AM - Andrew's family arrives with donuts.  Andrew's feeling good. Angie's jealous.

LABOR DAY!!!!!!!

(this is sister Kelly posting for Angie)

I woke to a call this morning at 2:30AM.  It was my mom letting me know that:

ANGIE IS IN LABOR!!!!

I am loading the car and heading over from Bend, so the next update might not be for several hours.  I will log back on once I arrive at the hospital and get an update.

I am BEYOND excited for my sister and Andrew and can't wait to meet my new baby niece.

Please be praying for safe and healthy delivery for Angie and Dani.

40 weeks 3 days

So unless I go into labor before then I will be induced on Saturday morning at 7:00am.

Dr said that with it being the weekend, if everyone decides to go into labor i might get bumped but for now that is the plan.

YAY only 2 more days and I will get to see her!!

40 weeks 1 day

My due date has come and gone...

I had my Dr appointment today. I am 3cm dilated, and everything looks normal.

Dr does not want me going too far past 41 weeks since that is when there can be more risk to the baby.  He is on call this weekend either Friday or Saturday (he couldn't remember) so he mentioned possibly inducing me then.  He said that my cervix is ready so he thinks induction would be fairly simple, they would basically just need to jump start my contractions and he said my body would most likely take it from there.

Obviously it is always best to go into labor naturally so we are praying that happens in the next couple days. I have another appointment Thursday where we will decide about being induced. Part of what I am taking into consideration is my own mental health. I have struggled with situational depression and sitting around the house by myself most of the day being extremely uncomfortable and peeing every 5 min has not been good for me. I am not sure how much more I could handle without putting myself at risk for some serious baby blues if not postpartum depression. So having an end in sight should really help both me and Dani stay healthy.

39 weeks

Some answers to frequently asked questions:
Yes I am still pregnant
Yes I am very ready to be done
Yes I'm uncomfortable but feeling good for the most part.
No I have not had anymore contractions like I had last Sunday.

At my appointment today everything looked good. I opted to have him not check my cervix because at this point it would do nothing but give me false hope that this might happen sooner.
Labor will start when my body is ready.
So in the mean time we wait.

38 Weeks

Yesterday I woke up at 4:30 in the morning with some contractions that were still pretty mild and far apart, but I could not fall back to sleep.
So I eventually got up to go to church (I was covering for Kathy so I needed to be there early). As the morning progressed I noticed that my contractions were getting closer together and becoming harder to ignore. That coupled with some leaking that I had had the day before made me think it might be real. I was mostly concerned about my water, if it had indeed broken I didn't want to risk infection by not going in. Since the church is literally down the street from the hospital I decided to just go get checked and set my mind at ease instead of going home and seeing what happens.
They monitored me for a little while and I was indeed having contractions and the baby was responding to them. Then they checked me and my water had not broken. I was still at 2cm dilated and 50% effaced but Dani had dropped to a -1 station(which I suspected since I cold tell the day she dropped). They said I could hang out at the hospital for a couple hours and see what happens, or go home and see what happens.
Since my water had not broken I felt better just going home and waiting it out. My contractions ended up plateauing. I was having mild contractions that were uncomfortable but not too bad every 5 min for the rest of the afternoon and evening. They did not end up stopping until around 9:30. Lame.

Had a Dr. Appointment today.
Blood pressure looked good.
When they weighed me it showed that I had lost 3lbs since my appointment last week, if we are to believe the scale that was wrong. Which would mean that I gained 5lb in 5days and then lost 3 lbs in a week. Yeah right. I would think it more likely that I gained 2lbs in 2 weeks. So that is what we are going with. Bringing my total weight gain to 22lbs
He did not check my cervix since I had just been checked the day before. He did say that since I have been having so many contractions that last for so long, and that I was already pretty dilated and she was sitting so low, that he did not think I would go late. He basically said that everything was showing that I am ready to have this baby at any time and we just need labor to start.
He also said "Go home and have a beer." and I laughed and said "That's what my mom told me." He said back in the day they used to actually prescribe that but that it's not politically correct to say anymore, "but a beer once in awhile never hurt anyone."

Impatient

Here are a few verses I thought I would share with you.

**Edits made**

Matthew 24: 36-39  No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 

Matthew 24:42  "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day Dani will come."

James 5:7-9    Be patient, then, brothers, until Dani's coming...You too, be patient and stand firm, because Dani's coming is near

Hebrews 3:7    For in just a very little while, "She who is coming will come and will not delay."

1 Peter 1:13    Therefore, prepare your minds for action;  be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Dani is revealed.

2 Peter 3:8-10     But do not forget this one thing, dear friends:  With Dani a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day... But Dani will come like a thief.

If I end up making it to my due date it is going to be a very LOOOOOOng 2.5 weeks.

Week 37

Feeling a little jipped today.

Yesterday I started feeling contractions around 10am but ignored them because it was nothing new. Most of my BH contractions don't hurt or make me have to stop what I am doing. The muscles in my stomach just tighten and it's a bit uncomfortable. Then after church I realized they were still happening and much more frequently then ever before. So Andrew and I started timing them. I have having contractions every 3 min and they were lasting for about 40 sec. but were not increasing in intensity.  After about 2.5 hours of timing I called the advice nurse to see what I should do. I ended up talking with the Dr. on call and he said that unless my water breaks or they become really uncomfortable to just sit tight and wait.  So wait I did. For 12 hours yesterday I had these non progressive annoying contractions. The only thing to come from them were an increased sense of anxiousness to have this baby (we did end up getting our bags packed finally now we just need to instal the car seat) and I did notice that she seems to be sitting much lower today than she has been all pregnancy.

I also had another Dr. appointment today. My Dr. is on vacation so I saw a different Dr. today. Kind of a waste of time if you ask me.
Blood pressure was good.
Measuring normal.
According to his scale I have gained 5lbs in 5 days. Um no. I reject your measurement. Either this Dr's scale is way off from the one I usually use or I am retaining water like crazy(might explain the swollen feet). But unless Dani has doubled in size in 5 days I seriously doubt that I have gained that much.
Even after I told him I felt like she moved down he said she was still sitting pretty high. He basically dismissed everything I tried to tell him.
He said Dr. Conger will do a pelvic exam next week but he saw no need to do one at this time since I am still pretty far out. Well poo on him. I kind of want to go in to labor right now just to prove him wrong.

One month to go (maybe)

I always thought I would be really good about taking belly pictures, but apparently not. Here is week 36.

36 weeks

 Had my first of the weekly appointments today.
I have gained 2 lbs since two weeks ago making my total weight gain 20 lbs.
Blood pressure was good
Measuring well and the heart beat sounded good and strong.
Dr. checked me and said that I was about 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. He was surprised at how far along I was and how soft my cervix was. He said "now don't go getting all caught up on numbers, but you MAY be earlier than the 27th"
She is also at station -4 so she is still pretty high. So I guess we will just wait and see how things play out:)
I would really like her to drop just a bit lower so that I can actually eat without immediately getting heart burn.

Last week I had quite the break down (that I am sure was not helped by my hormones) when I realized that Andrew and I would not be able to celebrate our 2 year anniversary between his work schedule and bachelor parties and weddings and everything else that is going on in August. And then Dani would be born and our lives will forever be different.
So Andrew looked at his schedule and saw that at the end of July he had Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off. After looking at the options we decided to go camping at champoeg state park (just a few exits down I-5 from Wilsonville. It would be cheap and we would still be close to home if anything happened.
I am so glad that we were able to get away for two full days and just hang out together and be unplugged from the rest of the world. We played 3 games of monopoly, and a round of disc golf. Which by the way, I will never give my husband a bad time again, about owning his own disc golf discs. There were some very intense disc golfers there that made us look like the amateurs we were. They were carrying back packs filled with at least 20-30 different discs for the different shots. Ridiculous.