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!

Ultrasound and Nutritionist Appt

We had the followup ultrasound on October 1. The baby was measuring right on track and was at about 4.5 lbs, so it was good that it seems to be doing well. They said it was up to my doctor whether or not I may be sent back for another ultrasound to check growth again. We'll see. Anyway, they gave us a few pictures to take home, so here's one:

This, in case you can't tell from the caption, is the baby's face. You can see one eye, the nose, and the mouth. When we were there watching, we saw the eyes open and close and we could see the lips moving because it was sucking. It was kinda cute. Most of the rest of the baby was really hard to see. It looked really cramped in there, so we had to take the lady's word for it when she said, "here's a leg, here's an arm, etc." We did see the stomach, bladder, and heart, but I wouldn't have known the stomach from the bladder if she hadn't told us that was what we were seeing.

The meeting with the nutritionist went well. She gave me a glucose meter, a meal plan, and some logs to write all my meals and blood sugar levels down. I have to take the logs along when I go see my doctor so she can monitor and make sure I'm doing okay. So far so good. My levels have been right on, but I do miss eating whatever I wanted to. I have to count carbs now like crazy, and I only get a few at a time because I have to spread them throughout the day in 6 meals. Well, at least it's only for about another month.

I go see my doctor on Tuesday. I can't remember when she'll start checking for progress, but I'm anxious for that...I'm really hoping this one will come a bit early like Caleb did. But I know it will come when it's ready and not when I'm ready. Patience has never been a strong point of mine. :)

3-hour results

Definitely positive. So I have gestational diabetes. Now I have to talk with a diabetic nutritionist about a special diet, and I will have to record everything I eat, plus monitor my blood sugars. If the diet ends up not being enough, I will have to be put on insulin. But my doctor was hopeful that the diet will be enough...apparently it takes care of the problem for 85% of women.

I was pretty bummed about it, but my doctor kept telling me I didn't do anything wrong and that the baby's going to be fine as long as we keep it under control. Oh, I also have to go back for another ultrasound to check growth, because apparently high blood sugars make bigger babies...as if I didn't have big enough ones already. I was hoping this one would turn out smaller than Caleb was! Oh well, I'm trusting that God will take care of everything and that the baby and I will be just fine. Still, it's kinda scary and I'd appreciate your prayers.

I'll continue to keep you updated.

Glucose Testing

So apparently I was wrong about passing the 1-hour glucose test. My results came back "slightly high" -- not sure the exact numbers, but anyway, my doctor wanted me to go for the 3-hour test. I did that this morning and I'm hoping my doctor will get the results before my appointment tomorrow. I guess we'll see what happens. I hope everything will be fine...I'm sure it will work out okay. I guess I'll post another update after my appointment tomorrow.

Another Boring Appointment

I went to the doctor yesterday and everything is right on track. Then I went for my glucose tolerance test and that went smoothly. I'm assuming I passed fine, but I guess I'll find out in a few days or so. The sugar juice really made the baby very active!

I go back again on the 23rd to hopefully another boring appointment. :)

Don't worry, in about 8-10 more weeks there will likely be some more interesting updates!

Tuesday's Appointment

I went to see the doctor again on Tuesday. Everything seems to be right on track. The heartbeat sounded really fast to me, but she didn't mention what it actually was. She was too busy asking me questions about if we are going to buy a new crib or move Caleb or what. And, let's see...I got my paperwork to go get my glucose tolerance test done, so I guess I'll have to do that sometime soon. I'll probably do it Saturday morning.

I'm now to the point where I will be going back in 2 weeks instead of 4, so my next appointment will be on Sept 9.

I think I mentioned awhile back that we were going to move Caleb to his new room and paint his current room to be the new baby's nursery. We have decided to wait to do all of that until the new baby is a few months old. We think it will be easier on us and on Caleb, since we were planning on keeping the new baby in our room for at least a few months first anyway.

As for names, I think we have a very high potential first name, but we are going to borrow one of those name books from a friend and take a look through it to confirm that we really like the one we have picked out. Now we just have to find a middle name to go with it. By the way, this is a boy's name I'm talking about here, since we already had the girl's name decided from the beginning.

Jonathan keeps going back and forth on me. One day he says he thinks it's a boy, then a few days later he'll say he really thinks it's a girl. Obviously he doesn't know any more than the rest of us. :)

I saw a funny maternity shirt that said "I'm 50% sure it's a boy." That would be a good one to have.

Well, only 12 weeks left. Potentially as few as 10 weeks to still be full term. It still sounds so far away to me. I'm quite tired of being pregnant and ready to have this kid already. Oh well, maybe it will come sooner than it feels like now. I kind of hope so.

I'll let you know how my glucose test goes.

Weird Dreams

Last night I had a series of rather unusual dreams. In one, I went to McDonald's and ordered a whole bunch of food and the cashier lady made fun of me and sarcastically said "You must be hungry" and I glared at her and said, "Yeah, I am." That one was strange, but not that bad. The next one is the good one... I had a dream that I gave birth to a milk carton. What on earth is that supposed to mean? I've heard of women dreaming about giving birth to puppies or something like that, but a milk carton?? It wasn't even a gallon, it was like one of those little half pint sizes. Oh well, I'm sure pregnant women have had much stranger dreams, but that's about the weirdest one I've had yet. Thought you might find it amusing.

I go to the doctor next week, so hopefully there will be a good update after that.

Yay

Hey, so I think I'm in the third trimester now. There's not much new to say except that for a couple of weeks now we have actually been able to see my stomach move sometimes. I don't have another doctor's appointment until the 26th, but I think things seem to be progressing just fine.

I'm going on another work trip (my last one for quite awhile probably) to Florida near the end of September for about a week. Jonathan will be going to Chicago for work the first week of October. Then hopefully we can all stay home until the baby comes. :)

Guess that's all for now.

Latest Doctor Appointment

I had an appointment yesterday. We went over the ultrasound results, and she said they got a good look at everything and it all looks good and right on track.

The movements are getting stronger. Last night, Jonathan felt it moving a lot. Apparently it really liked the chicken nuggets we had for dinner or something. :)

Jonathan asked me the other day if I had thought of any names. I hadn't really been thinking about it. He hadn't either. Oh well, I'm sure we'll come up with something. We still have awhile. We didn't decide on Caleb's middle name for sure until the night before he was born. But at least we had options at that point. Right now we're pretty clueless for any names. Feel free to leave your own suggestions...

Guess that's all for now. Hopefully all the posts will be this boring. That means everything is going well.

Back from Hawaii

Well, I got back from Hawaii, and it was a good trip. The baby seemed to wiggle a lot on the flights, which was typical with Caleb as well. I haven't been getting much sleep since I got back and I'm starting to feel really run-down like I might be getting sick. Hopefully I can get over that soon. Caleb has been very clingy to me since I got back and is having a lot of trouble going to sleep for naptime and at night. I have to stay in the room with him until he falls asleep or he will scream bloody murder if I try to leave him. Poor little guy. Now my boss mentioned today that he might want me to go to England for 2 weeks at the end of the month. We'll see about that!

Otherwise, I'm feeling fine and everything seems to be normal. Jonathan has been able to feel the baby kick a couple of times. I know that's exciting for him.

We're hoping to get Caleb moved into his new bed and bedroom and paint his current room for the baby sometime within the next couple of weeks. Mom and Dad just dropped off my old twin bed for Caleb and they're coming back next week to help paint. We're also planning to put up a tile backsplash in the kitchen and repaint in there as well. It will be busy and hopefully we can get it all done with the generous help they'll give us. Since I can't really be inhaling paint fumes, I can't be much help.

Hopefully we can post some cute pictures of the baby's new room when we finish it.

Yes, I love technology...

Today was the first ultrasound, so we got to see Number 2 for the first time! Here are a couple of pictures.



Elisha has felt that this one is much less active than Caleb, and we were able to see that today. It seemed pretty content to just lay there, occasionally moving its arm or adjusting it position. Almost on cue, it rolled over so we could get these good profile shots. Caleb, on the other hand, was practically bouncing off the walls in there during his ultrasound!

The doctor said everything looked good and on target for the due date of November 22, so that was a big relief. I was again in awe at how amazing it is to be able to peek inside and see the baby, especially how you can see the four chambers of the heart pumping away.

Elisha leaves for Hawaii tomorrow morning, so maybe we can get another ultrasound after she gets back and see if Number 2 learned how to hula dance!

Most Recent Doctor Visit

I went to the doctor on Monday. Everything looks fine. I heard a nice strong heartbeat. Nothing else really.

I think I've started to feel a little bit more movement, but I'm sure this one is not nearly as active as Caleb was at this point.

I'm excited about the ultrasound coming up next week. It will be fun to see it and then hopefully have some cute images to post here.

Movement and Other Things

Well, I have begun to really feel some movement within the past week or so. This one is not as active as I remember Caleb being, but maybe I just have a bad memory. That wouldn't surprise me. We went swimming in our pool over the weekend, and that seemed to make it move a lot.

Jonathan thinks this one is a boy, since we found out that his cousins Stephen and Stephanie just found out they're having a girl in October. Now he says the pressure's off for a Lowe girl and ours can be a boy. We'll see...

My ultrasound is scheduled for July 1st. Hopefully we will get some good pictures to post. I go back to the doctor on the 24th of this month, I think. My memory is starting to get really bad. Oh, and the weird dreams! I had forgotten how disturbing pregnancy dreams were.

I guess that's all the news I have for now. I will try to get a ticker posted if I can figure out how to do it. Just posting things is hard enough to figure out for me!

Giving In

Well, here we are, trying to catch up with the rest of the world. After suggestions and urgings from some people, we decided to make a blog for Number 2. Somewhere near November 22, Caleb will become a big brother to a new little Lowe sibling. I just had an appointment with the doctor today and heard the heartbeat for the second time. I got word to schedule my ultrasound, which should be for sometime in the next 4-6 weeks. As of right now, we're not planning on finding out if it's a boy or girl. We thought it was fun not knowing with Caleb. I don't know if intuition counts, but I have had a strange feeling that this one is a girl. I guess we'll find out in November! We'll try to keep this page updated with interesting info, so keep checking back...