Cleo's first photo shoot

Cleo had her big first photo shoot a week ago. The photographer posted a few of the photos on her blog. We are really happy with the results!

http://bostonbabyphotos.blogspot.com/2008/12/gorgeous-toes-and-smiles-at-5-weeks-old.html

Thanksgiving pictures and more

Cleo had a big day on Thanksgiving. We went up to Hollis, NH to Jeff's Aunt and Uncle Valicenti's house. She looked super cute in her little purple dress. Here are some pictures:











Here are some pictures I took today:

Month 1 Appointment

Cleo had her one month appointment at the pediatrician yesterday. Everything is looking good. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 12 ozs...so she's gained almost 2 lbs in the last 2 or 3 weeks! The girl likes to eat! We go back to the doctor the week after Christmas for her month 2 appointment.

She is such a good baby! She rarely cries, except when she is hungry. She is becoming more active and alert in general. Overall she is giving us 3 to 5 hours of solid sleep a night (except for last night...she was up every 2 hours).

Here are some pictures I took today...

Pics of Cleo!

Check out a great collection of pictures of Cleo's first few weeks at my Dad's site:

http://gfurlow.smugmug.com/gallery/6419058_QWmL9#419090941_ptS2h

We'll be back to blogging soon!!!

Introducing...

Cleo Nola Beswick
Born October 30, 2008 at 2:24 pm
8 pounds, 2 ounces
21 inches

More info and pictures to come!!!

Quick update

Ok, quick update...

The ultrasound on Monday showed that the baby is 8 lbs, 4 ozs!!! Wow. But she is in the 82nd percentile so the doctors weren't too worried.

I went to the doctor today and we scheduled everything up for next week. She doesn't want me to go past 39 weeks because my sugars have been so erratic.

So unless I go into labor on my own in the next few days...

I will call L&D on Tuesday night around 6pm and they will tell us when to come in. I will check into the hospital Tuesday night and they will give me some kind of drugs to get the cervix all ready to go. Then when it's ready at some point on Wednesday they'll induce me with Pitocin. So this time next week the baby should be here!

Very exciting...

Getting nervous, but excited none the less!

We are pretty much ready at home, but have a few small things to get done around the house this weekend. That's about it for now!!!

Yesterday's Appointment

Not much to report. We are in a holding pattern it seems. My sugars are too high in the afternoon so the doctor is having me increase my morning insulin to see if that helps. She doesn't seem too confident that it will work though, and says that at this point the only way to control my sugars will probably be to get rid of the placenta...i.e. have the baby. I have an ultrasound on Monday though and another appointment next Thursday. After that she'll decide what to do.

I have a feeling though that she will stick with her plan from last week, which is to induce me on Nov. 2nd. She says she won't let me go past 39 weeks, which we already knew for the most part...

I'll report back on Monday with more info after the ultrasound.

Long weekend

Today is the last day of a long weekend. I am so bummed I have to get back on the T tomorrow morning and head into work. Lugging this body around is getting tough.

We had a really nice weekend with some gorgeous weather. I've been wanting to go to a farmer's market or the like for some time now but we just haven't gotten it together and figured out where to go. So Saturday morning I woke up bound and determined to head out to a farm stand or market of some sort and also do some leaf peeping. Jeff had other ideas and wanted to get some stuff done around the house. So, we did our chores in the morning then headed out around lunch time.

We drove northwest (I think) and headed to the Concord/Acton/Boxborough area, where Jeff lived for a while as a kid. We drove around his old neighborhood and he showed me one of the houses he lived in growing up. We went to a farm called Idlewilde Farms and got all kinds of fresh veggies, fruit and bread. Jeff got a fresh caramel apple too, but I only got a bite of that. It was so nice to be out in the "country". We hit up a couple of other farm stands as we drove through MA and headed north towards NH.

Here I am in front of some pumpkins with my very pumpkin-shaped belly.


The leaves were just beginning to turn, but we got some nice pictures.






We eventually ended up at Jeff's aunt and uncle's house in Hollis, NH. Jeff's cousin Dave was there and he showed us his tomato sauce operation. He just bottled about 3,000 jars of tomato sauce in September! He is getting all of the permits in place now to sell the sauce in various markets around NH and MA. We've sampled it and it's delicious!

Look at all the sauce!


Their dog Lulu...look at that happy dog smile! She is too funny.


And we also met newest addition "Kitty".


We eventually headed back home to watch the Sox game. It was a good day.

Today I finished up the crib bed skirt...I sewed some ribbon around the bottom to "cute'n" it up, then I put all the sheets on and made her bed. So that's ready to go.


She has a little collection of pillows and stuffed animals in there now.


Jeff's Aunt Ann sent us this gorgeous quilt as a shower gift and it looks great draped over the side of the crib. The fabric is too cute.


And these are the 2 vintage nursery rhyme pictures that Mary Jo bought us at an antique shop in Virginia over the summer. I got them framed several weeks ago and we hung them over the crib. They need to be moved actually because they aren't quite in the right spot...that's one of the last things we have to do in there before the little girl arrives.



All in all we are baby ready, I think. The Mom's schedules are also all finalized now so we're all systems go. Now she just has to get here...

flu shot...yuck!

Yesterday's doctor appointment went well. I was hoping to be dialated just a bit, and therefore, have to be on house arrest. But no such luck.

Everything is looking good. Sugars are better under control. The doctor isn't concerned about the size of the baby. So all is well.

She is thinking now that if I don't go into labor on my own, I'll be induced on Sunday, November 2nd because she is working a long shift that day. I wsa hoping for something sooner, but again, no such luck.

She also insisted I get a flu shot...which now has me feeling pretty crummy. I came home from work early today and slept for 3 hours straight!

That's about it for now. :)

Today's Ultrasound

We had our "growth" ultrasound this morning. We didn't get any pictures...

The baby looks great. She is happy and healthy and is very active, doing all of the things she is supposed to be doing in there. She didn't stop moving the whole time and was practicing her breathing like a champ.

But - she is already 7 lbs, 3 ozs. She is somewhere between the 73rd and 88th percentile, depending on which charts the doctors look at. Anything above 90% is considered to be a gigantic baby basically.

They aren't too worried yet. I am going to increase my insulin dosage at night (yet again) to 28 units and also start taking 10 units in the morning. We'll try that for a couple of days and if it doesn't work I'll have to start taking insulin before every meal.

It's kind of upsetting. Not only do I feel scared to eat anything, I also feel scared about pushing out this gigantic baby. Maybe it's just hormones and sleep deprivation.

Although now I realize why I'm so uncomfortable. I can't believe I have another month of carrying around a full sized baby...it's hard to keep a positive attitude with that looming before me.

But, I realize I should stop whining and be greatful that she is doing so well in there...

I go to the doctor on Thursday for some tests and the start of the internal exams. We'll see what happens next.

Minor Developments

I went to the doctor yesterday for my normal appointment. The baby seems to be doing great and was moving a lot. We passed our non-stress quickly for once.

My sugars have been a little all over the place lately though, so she has increased my insulin to 25 units at night. We'll try this for a few days and if things don't settle down I will have to go on another type of insulin in the morning, probably starting on Monday. We'll try that for a few days along with the nighttime insulin. If that doesn't seem to do the trick then I'll have an amniocentesis sometime next week...this is to see if the baby's lungs are developed enough. I am not sure how they can tell that by amniocentesis, but apparently they can. If the amnio shows that the lungs are developed...then...I'll be induced early.

Oh god.

My doctor also scheduled an ultrasound for me on Monday. I wasn't supposed to go until the 20th, but she doesn't want to wait that long. She wants to see how big the baby is. She sure feels big!

So...I guess theoretically we could have a baby here in a matter of days. I am feeling confident-ish that we can hold out for a couple more weeks though. Hopefully this insulin starts to work!!!!!

More New Hampshire pictures

I got a few more New Hampshire pictures from James...

Here we all are on the boat


We shot off lots of big fireworks




Jeff and I battling it out on Guitar Hero


The girls look like sea lions!


They liked hanging out on the diving board...as long as no one was jumping off of it. Although once they were on, it was tough getting off.

Shower!

So the baby shower was last Saturday. Amy did such a great job with everything! Lots of yummy food (pastries and quiches from French Memories in Cohasset, mini sandwiches, cheese, fruit, etc.), mimosas (I had a couple with just a touch of champagne...yum!), super cute decorations (a Paris motif with flowers and accents in hot pink, baby pink and black) and a scrumptious carrot cake with white chocolate dipped strawberries from Konditor Meister. And the favors were these delicious white chocolate and cranberry cookies. It was a great day and we all had fun.

Mary Jo and Barry came in from Virginia to spend the weekend, which was great. Jeff's grandmother, Nana, was also able to be there, which she seemed excited about. Jeff's Aunt also came down from NH, Amy's Mom, and some local friends were in attendance as well. I tried to persuade the boys to hang around, but they weren't having it. In any case, the baby got lots of great gifts and we really appreciate everyone's generosity. Thanks!!!! The baby's closet finally has some clothes in it and the dining room is getting a bit crowded with baby gear. It's so exciting!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Here is the main table with a cute clothesline hung above it






I didn't get a picture of the dining room table, but there was more delicious food on it!

The baby throne with a Christmas-like grouping of presents


First we had some mimosas and a few bites to eat




Next it was time to open the gifts






I don't know what's going on in these...




The aftermath






Then we had cake!

Look how cute this cake is! Yes, it tasted as good as it looked.


Cutting the cake




Jeff and I at the end of the afternoon








Awwwwwwww


And just for fun here is a cute picture of Jeff and I that my brother took at the Red Sox game when he was in town a couple weeks ago