Elaina's Birthday

Elaina Kate Dudley was born on Sunday January 10, 2010 at 345 pm. She is a healthy baby girl!!! The first week home has gone amazingly well, thanks to all my help. Silas has fallen very hard for her and is loving being a dad. He is even taking entire night shifts so I can sleep! Can't believe how much we both already love her. Here are some picture from her first week.

A little beat up after birth...


First family photo


First time seeing mommy



First day home from the hospital

40 weeks

Well, 2 days until my due date...I had a dr apt today and I have gained 49 pounds and they checked me today and I am 3 1/4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. The dr said she didn't think I would make it until my next apt on Monday but if I did they would schedule an induction. I'm just so happy to know that by next week I will get to meet my little girl! I am definitely hoping it is sooner rather than later and not by induction but who knows...I'm just so excited! Not much else going on at the moment, my thoughts are consumed by having this baby! I know Silas is ready as well. Can't wait for life with a newborn to begin. Its funny the different perspectives on what Silas I think it will be like. My opinion is that he doesn't have a clue...but we will see :) He thinks it is going to be easy and I think it is going to be really hard. I hope it is somewhere in the middle of both of our assumptions. Either way it will be worth it and I know I have plenty of help. This is just a quick update on my progress and I hope next update is post baby!!!

37 weeks!

I'm 37 weeks and so excited. At my last appointment the doctor said she is head down and dropped. I have gained 44 pounds and weigh as much as Silas does now!! Good thing it doesn't bother me and I just keep on eatin!! I may regret that after the baby comes but oh well :) I am going to the doctor every week now, they are suppose to check me at my next appointment but I have my doubts that they will since they start checking you at 38 weeks and I will be 37 weeks and 5 days. The doctor I saw last week said they would but I see a different doctor this time so we will see...The biggest change for me that has occurred recently is how swollen my feet get, especially after I work a couple days in a row. I actually had pitting edema, where my finger print stayed in my ankles for a good 10 seconds after I pressed on them.

Here is the funniest thing that has happened yet during my pregnancy. I worked a 12 hour shift on a Sunday and at the end of the day went to get into my car. Well, a large van had parked next to my car, right on the line...I opened my door, it was touching their car, but this belly would NOT fit though. So I had to go to the passenger side, take off my shoes and climb over the seat to get in...I was a little nervous that I would not make it! The worst part is that there was someone sitting in their car across from mine watching me the whole time. They were on their phone and laughing really hard...I know they were laughing at me.

Here are some pictures...



Now we just wait and see...will she come early, late or right on time...

32 weeks

I'm 32 weeks along now and just had my 32 week OB appointment today. All is well with me and the baby. Her heart beat is strong, they say she is growing like she should. They never say anything about my weight gain so I assume its ok. So far I'm up to 33 pounds. She is moving around a lot and kicking me in the ribs. Although, I guess shes not really kicking me since they said she is actually breech right now, so her head is up by my ribs and her butt is down. I had a talk with her today and she has 8 weeks to turn herself the right way!! :) I'm also fighting off some kind of upper respiratory sickness. I think maybe its a cold that is taking FOREVER to go away. I felt so bad by the middle of the week I was convinced it was the flu, but I never had any fevers and it is clearing up now, just taking forever. One of the joys of being 8 months pregnant and having a cold is that you cant really stop a sneeze from coming out or a forceful cough...and sometimes...it makes you pee on yourself. Silas has found this fact to be hilarious....it is pretty funny.





I had my first baby shower on Saturday. It was amazing. I was so surprised at how many people and gifts were there. I am so blessed!! The cake was so cute, it was decorated to match the theme of the nursery and the flower arrangments were gorgeous!! I have the two best sisters ever and a great cousin in law too :) It was so fun to come home and really go through everything and see what kind of stuff she got. Silas sat in the living room with me and just stared at it, then he was like so...I am really gonna be a dad. It was cute. I think it finally hit him with all the baby stuff that came in the house.





For the next few weeks I am busying myself in the nursery. Putting away clothes and decorating, hopefully it will be done soon and I can post pictures. It is turning out so cute. Her daddy built her a shelf to hang on the wall to hold her quilt until we can use it. I thought that was really sweet and it looks so good.


Only 8 more weeks to go!!!

28 weeks

By the time I am updating this I am actually about 29 weeks, so I'm a little behind. Things are still going very well. I apparently gained 9 pounds last month...oops, but they still said that was ok. I just hope I don't make a habit of that! I also had my glucose screen, which I failed. Now on wednesday I have to go for my 3 hour glucose tolerance test to make sure I do not have gestational diabetes. I do know a lot of people that have failed the first one and pass the second one so I am not too worried about it. If I did have it it would be sooo hard to give up carbs, but it would only be for 11 weeks or so. My only real worry is that I do not want to have a big baby!! and that is one of the most common side effects. But so far I am measuring right on schedule and we will just have to wait and see :) She is moving around a whole lot. My belly stretches into all kinds of funny shapes, which Silas thinks is hillarious. I wish I could see in there, I want to know what she is doing! The nursery is on its way to being set up (thanks mostly to my mom). It is painted, I just have to paint the dresser and order the crib and it should be ready for her. My energy level is decreasing, I'm loving my afternoon naps, but this pregnancy is still going so well. Can't complain about a thing, except that I am ready to meet her but still have about 3 months to go!

24 weeks prego!

Here are some belly pics at 24 weeks. Nothing new going on. Shes moving ALOT, which I like, its very reassuring. I still can't complain about anything, so far this pregnancy has still been really easy. I have gained about 15 pounds so far, which according to my doctors and my pregnancy books is right on track, and they tell me I measure right on track. At my last appointment the nurse about gave me a heart attack though. She looked at my chart and asked me if I was aware that they had changed my due date, which I was not...but then I got very confused when she told me they changed it from 1/6 to 1/8 and I was thinking, why would they change it 2 days?? Then she said so...you will be pregnant a little longer than you thought, that makes you 18 weeks. And then I was REALLY confused...18 weeks?! I though I was way further a long than that!! So she then told me that the doctor would speak to me about it. Anyway, the doctor came in and measured me and was like whoa, wait a minute, let me calculate your due date and he let me know that I was really 23 weeks like I thought. SO, anyway the nurse apologized and said maybe it was because it was Monday ha ha...I was just relieved that I did not backtrack a whole month of being pregnant bc I am sure ready to meet her and the pregnancy is going slow enough!!! Also, Kathy (my mother-in-law) got me a recording device from build-a-bear that I took with me to my appointment and the nurse helped me to record the baby's heartbeat on it. Kathy said she is going to make a bear with it, I guess for Elaina but I think I might like it more than her :) So that's it for this month, next time I get my glucose tolerance test and I will post some more pics!!

Yellow House

We finished the next stage of the house update this weekend. And by we of course I mean Silas. It took about a week, we started last weekend and we painted the house a bright cheery yellow, the doors a dark blue, and white around the trim of the windows and roof. I think it tuned out really nice and most of the neighbors have said they like it. Here are the before and after of the exterior of the house. Sorry for the bad lighting, the sun was in a bad postition and these are the only 2 pictures I can find of the house before we painted it. Its also before we got a new roof and cleaned out the pool.