New Blog

Since Esther now has a name besides "Lowe Number 2" I decided to create a new blog for her and Caleb. Check it out at littlelowes.blogspot.com

Impressive things about Esther

Every parent thinks their kid is great, sometimes in unreasonable ways. Here are some of our observations about Esther:

• she's really darn cute and everybody says so!
• she looks a whole lot like Elisha's baby pictures
  
• she has really pretty eyelashes (you may have to click it for the bigger one):
  
  
  
• while Caleb looked at everything curiously, she seems to look at everything skeptically
• she's surprisingly strong for being only 2 days old! She's already picked her head up and looked around briefly a few times while being burped. While laying on her back, she tried to sit up. She can almost roll over onto her right side. And she's got a mighty strong kick (but Elisha already knew that) which frequently knocks off her blankets.
• she has potential as a punk rocker:
  
  
  
• she eats like a pro
• she doesn't cry very much

Visitors

We wanted to let everyone know that we're at St. Agnes Hospital and we will be here until tomorrow morning if anyone wants to stop by to say hello; we'd love to see you. And of course once we get home, you're welcome to come on over and see us. Just give us a call first.

Here are some more pics to enjoy:

It's a girl!

Today we welcomed Esther Mae into the world!

Stats
Date/Time: Sunday, 16 Nov 2008, 5:59AM (EST)
Place: St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Weight: 8 lb 8.8 oz
Length: 19.5 in
Hair: dark brown, and lots of it
Eyes: blue

Pics

She has dimples on both sides of her smile!

Look at all that hair

We think she looks remarkably like Caleb did

The Lowe family

How it all went down

As you can tell from the last post, we were expecting to wait a while. In fact on Wednesday Elisha wasn't as far along as she had been with Caleb at that point. The doctor basically said not to count the contractions that didn't make her stop in her tracks and take a breath.

So yesterday we went to the mall to return something and attempt to walk Elisha into labor (which had failed miserably with Caleb). Contractions started with lots of regularity but not much intensity. We got home and put Caleb to bed and Elisha started feeling somewhat queasy. We feared she was coming down with a stomach bug that Caleb had a couple of days ago. After going to bed, she woke up around midnight with full on stomach-bug symptoms. Then contractions started being more serious and a little closer together. The stomach bug stuff didn't let up and after about 2 hours, we thought we should probably call the doctor. She said to come on in to the hospital, so we called one of Elisha's coworkers who came over to stay with Caleb through the night. We got to the hospital about 3:30 and she was already about 75% of the way there! Things went smoothly but quickly - so quickly that the doctor we talked to didn't make it to the hospital before Esther was born!

Elisha didn't have any drugs (again) and everyone was amazed at how calmly she took it all (again). Esther was born less than 2 1/2 hours after we got there and after fewer than 10 min of pushing! My wife is a champ and a lot tougher than I.

One last thing: since Elisha was gestationally diabetic, they confiscated Esther within the first hour to check her blood sugar levels. We didn't see her again until almost 6 hours later. Everything looks great with her, including the blood sugar stuff, so we are just feeling really blessed.

Elisha's folks are here now and her mom will likely stay for a while to help out. Mine are coming the week of Thanksgiving and Elisha's brother and sister-in-law will come that week, too.

Thanks for all the prayers!

Maybe not too soon

I went to the doctor on Wednesday and nothing had progressed at all since last week except the baby is measuring right on now and she felt around and thinks it's already at about 8 lbs. She said it's still pretty high and hasn't dropped down low yet, so she thinks it's going to be awhile. She's still willing to let me wait for spontaneous labor until the due date, but has plans to induce on the 24th (simply because of the "higher risk" from the gestational diabetes) if it doesn't come before then.

So just hold out and we'll let you know when it's here!

Coming Soon (Hopefully)

I went to the doctor yesterday. She said everything looks good. The baby is measuring a little bit smaller than average, but that's fine. It's in a great position and things have already started progressing a little bit. She also said that we'll hold out for spontaneous labor until the due date, but she doesn't want to let me get past the 40-week mark because babies of women with gestational diabetes tend to have a higher risk of stillborns at that point. So we know it will definitely be arriving within the next 2 weeks!

I go back to the doctor again next Wednesday afternoon, the 12th. Unless of course the baby decides to come before then. We'll find out soon!

Updates and Things

I guess I haven't updated here in quite awhile...sorry. Well, I've been to the doctor twice since the last time I posted. My blood sugars are doing fine, so I'm able to just stick with the meal plan and not have to take any insulin. Everything still seems to be right on track with the size of the baby and heartbeat and all. I go back to the doctor again on November 6th, which is just 2 days after my birthday and just 1 day shy of 38 weeks--full term! It's coming close, but still feels far away. Please pray for patience for me and the stamina to make it through each day. Keep checking back, as exciting things will hopefully be happening soon!