Leaving Town

We are headed out of town this weekend. On Friday night we are starting our long drive back to Illinois. We are very excited! Dayne has never been back to see where I grew up, and we are planning to go down to Nauvoo while we are there to see the sights. The baby is doing great. She is back up above her birth weight and nursing like a pro. I am feeling great as well. I can hardly believe how quickly I've bounced back. The only thing I still combat is the rest issue. The kids seem to always have a head start on me in the morning. By the time I'm up and moving they have already destroyed, annoyed, and are begging for attention. Other than that this baby has been the easiest adjustment so far. It helps that she is such a good baby. She consistently wakes at 2am ever since she came home from the hospital. That's her only interruption during the night. Her daytime schedule is not so predictable but still easy enough. Let's hope she keeps it up while we are on the road. See some of you soon, and for those who we are not seeing, so long, we're outta here.

We have a baby!

It finally came, the moment you've all been waiting for: Dakotah Rene is born! At least the moment her mom has been waiting for. It was a fast delivery and everything went great! She weighed 8 lb. 6 oz. (our biggest baby yet) and is 20 inches long. She has tons of dark hair and is adorable. She has daddy's nose and long toes. Haven't seen what she got from mommy yet (hopefully her witty sense of humor). She looks a lot like Brooklyn did when she was born, but I'm sure she will develop some traits all of her own in due time. Thanks for all the support and prayers from everyone. They worked. I could not have planned things to turn out better than they did. We went in to be induced only to find that I was basically in labor already. The doctor only had to break my water to get things moving fast. From that point on she only took 1 hr. 22 min. to come into the world. We are all home now and Dakotah is sleeping peacefully. Here are the best pictures.

At my whits end

Well, tomorrow is Jackson's birthday. He will be 5 years old and starting school next month. My baby is not a baby anymore. He wants a big party with lots of friends, but I don't think that is going to work out this year. First of all, I'd hate to be in the hospital when that all happens. Plus, he doesn't really have that many friends yet since he hasn't started school yet. His friend had a party on Wednesday, and I think he had a really great time with all her friends.
We are waiting on the baby still, but not much longer. I am calling the doctor today and will try to schedule this baby for the weekend if I can. I hope they will only have to break my water to get things kickstarted. I would like to go with no epidural or pitocen. I am very disappointed that I haven't gone into labor yet on my own. I really would like to know how much time I would have to get to the hospital and how things would all come together on my own terms, but I'm afraid I just don't have the patience for it. I'll fill you all in on what we decide and how it goes. Until this baby comes . . . love to all.

No Baby Yet!

We are still waiting for this baby to show up. All the signs are there that I could go into labor at any time, but nothing happens. My doctor is going to be out of town next week and offered to schedule an inducement for this weekend, but I really want to try and wait so I can do it without an IV. However, don't hold me to it if my due date comes and there's still no change. By then I'll probably be at the end of my rope. I have a cold now and can't sleep at night which is draining my energy quickly. Anyway, today is my last chance to get a hold of the dr. to change my mind. And I'm actually feeling pretty good today, so most likely I will wait it out. Thanks for everyone's concern. We'll be sure to let everyone know when the baby actually comes. So if you haven't heard, no news is no change. Love to all.

Still Waiting

Well, no baby yet. We thought sure this week we would be making a trip to the hospital. All the signs are there. I'm dilated to 4 cm and the doctor said this week or next. Granger, Anne, and Jen have come up for the holiday, and we've been having a great time. We're eating a ton and sleeping as much as the kids will allow.
I'd like to thank everyone who voted for the spelling of our baby's name, however, we have since had a change of mind. She's not Candace. She is Dakota. So try to adjust your thinking a little to accomodate this new change. It came to us yesterday, and just clicked into place. We know it must be the name she is supposed to have. We want to nickname her Kody or Koty or Kotie or something like that. Anyway, your comments will be noted but not nessesarily taken into account. Hope you all had a great 4th of July and continue to enjoy your summer. I know I will just as soon as this baby is born.