Flipping Over and Out

Sorry we haven't had time to post much over the past month and a half. Little Nate caught a cold right before Thanksgiving and had about 3.5 miserable weeks of no sleep. We've made some progress on the sleep issue and now finally have some free time at night to do things like post updates to the blog!

Big news of the day: Nate rolled over!

He has been rolling from his back on to his side for about 2 weeks now, but tonight he finally flipped from his tummy on to his back. Being the cool guy he is, Nate was completely unfazed by meeting this development milestone. Erin, on the other hand, was in tears and screaming "OH MY GOSH! YOU ROLLED OVER!" She then put him back on his tummy and tried to get him to do it a second time so that she could videotape it for Anthony. Nate was not at all down with this. Unfortunately, the ensuing screaming was not caught on videotape as the batteries were dead. Good thing he didn't roll over again!

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some more photos of Nate. Now that he's lifting his head off of the ground, there are many photo opportunities...

Weeks 7 - 13

Happy Halloween!

Nate decided to dress up as a puppy for Halloween this year, making Birkin even more scared of him than usual. Here are some photos of Nate in the park on his way to the farmer's market. More pictures to come later... He's going to help us hand out candy to trick-or-treaters and then is off to the Park Slope Halloween Parade to show off his cute costume!

Halloween 2009

Photos! Part II (Weeks 4 - 6)

It's hard to believe that Nate is almost 7 weeks old now...especially since he is the weight and length of a 3 month old!! He's now weighs over 13 lbs and is at least 23 inches long (all measurements taken by his parents at home - official measurements to be taken on 11-9-09 at his next Dr's appt). Chunk! Here are some photos of our little man over the past 3 weeks...

Weeks 4 - 6

Photos! Part I (OH - MI Road Trip)

Well, we successfully completed our road trip to Mansfield, OH and Ann Arbor, MI with the little man. For being almost 6 weeks old, Nate held up pretty well over 21 hours of driving (not including stops). After two in-car projectile vomiting incidents, however, we learned to cover him in "protective gear" for at least 15 minutes after all feedings. Grandma and Grandpa Meek loved meeting the Nater Tot and showered him with gifts. We're just sad we couldn't spend more time in Mansfield, where the leaves were out in full color and everything was gorgeous and serene. Reunion itself was fun, although Erin spent most of the time in our hotel room feeding Nate. However, she says the whole trip was worth it just to get out to Target and Panera one afternoon in Mansfield and for dinner one night in Ann Arbor and to have some extra help from Anthony and the grandparents during the day. We're looking forward to our 10-year reunion, when Nate will be 5 years old and able to go the game...which we will hopefully win. Nate was pretty embarrassed for the old Maize & Blue after their spectacular loss to Penn State and almost decided to switch allegiances to Ohio State....

See below for some pictures of the trip! Sadly, we were so overwhelmed that we forgot to take many photos during the trip. Next time we'll be better about it!

OH-MI Trip Oct 21 - 25, 2009

Chunky Monkey

It's been a long time since we've (well, Erin) has had time to update the blog. Nate is currently peacefully asleep in his stroller bassinet after a nice walk in Prospect Park following his one-month peds appointment, which actually occurred at 3 weeks and 3 days. Much to everyone's surprise, Nate's failure to comply with the breastfeeding textbook 15 minutes per side 8 - 12 times a day feeding schedule (instead opting for about 15 minutes total, 12 - 14 times a day) has not only not hindered his growth, he is actually cruising ahead of his peers in terms of both height and weight. He is now 10lbs 8oz and measures a tall 22 3/4 inches! He seems to be putting most of his weight into his height, as only his chins appear to be getting visibly larger.

Erin isn't sure how long Nate will stay asleep, or how long Birkin will tolerate her using this quiet time to type on the computer instead of using it to pet the cat, so without further ado - more pictures of the Nater Tot!

Nate's First Three Weeks

How Tired Are We?

Erin just made pasta and tried to drain it on the counter instead of in the sink. Anthony was watching ESPN in regular definition, not HD. If you've ever seen our tv and know how Anthony feels about college football and the need to watch it in HD, you'll know how big of a deal this is.

Given that we are too tired to make dinner or watch football in the proper definition, it should come as no surprise that we're still too tired to update the blog with actual, written posts. Of course, we know you don't visit for the writing but rather for more pictures of the Nater Tot, so we'll appease your appetite with some more adorable photos of Nate's first week of life. Note: We wanted to take a photo of Nate and his dad in their matching Michigan gear as we all watched Nate's first Wolverine victory, but (1) Nate peed all over his Michigan onsie before we could even get it on and (2) the Big Ten network, which we ordered yesterday so we could watch all the games together, mislabeled the programming so we ended up recording the Penn State game by accident. Next week!

First trip in the stroller: Peds Appt

Milk Coma

Sucking his thumb

Sleepy baby

Chillin'

The Peanut Burrito is Home!

We're finally home!! Nathaniel (Nate) David Gill arrived 12 days late on September 14th at 12:48pm. He weighed 8lbs 2.5oz and is a tall 21.25 inches! He's in the 50th percentile for his weight but a shocking 90th percentile for height. Who would have guessed we'd have such a tall baby?! Needless to say, he's absolutely perfect.

We'll post about labor, delivery, and our time in the hospital later. Right now, everyone is exhausted and adjusting to life at 40 PPW.... In the meantime, here are some photos to tide you over.

Seven Years Ago

On September 13, 2002, to the surprise of none of our friends, we drunkenly and nervously decided that we were more than just friends and that we should risk that friendship and start dating. Perhaps if we'd know that exactly seven years later we'd be heading to the hospital for the birth of our first child, we wouldn't have been so hesitant!

Yes, today is the beginning of the end of Erin's pregnancy. She's checking into New York Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell at 5pm this evening to begin a round of cervidil and will be induced tomorrow morning. This is not even close to what we had planned for the birth, but we know that's just the way it goes. Babies are their own people and don't care that we hired a doula we now don't need or that we spent hours in a natural birth class. At this point, 11 days later than expected, we're just so excited to finally meet our little guy that we don't much care how he gets here - as long as he gets here safely and soon.

Grandpa Meek leaves today at 3:30pm and will miss the arrival of Baby Gill. However, because everyone knows that a grandma cannot be denied the opportunity to be one of the first people to see her grandchild, Grandma Meek will be staying with us until Wednesday. She'll also be a comfort to dear little Birkin who has been spending even more time with Erin than usual (currently lying between Erin and the computer, resting her head on Erin's right arm) and clearly can sense that something is amiss.

And now The Gills are signing off. The next time you hear from us, we'll be parents. Look for an email from Anthony officially announcing the birth. He's also in charge of updating the blog (unless Erin can do so from her hospital bed - and you know she'll try) with photos and video of Baby Gill's first days of life. We can't wait to share his birth with our friends and family.

Love,

Erin and Anthony

T+9

Erin had her third non-stress test today, and the results were the same as the last two - everything looks great. So, unless the baby comes on his own in the next 42 hours, Erin will be admitted to the hospital at 5pm on Sunday to begin the induction process.

Not in Labor Day Weekend

Nothing to report. The baby did not choose to have a sense of humor and arrive on Labor Day. He also refrained from coming on Saturday and causing us to miss Michigan's win against Western Michigan - GO BLUE! However, we gladly would have missed the game had it meant we'd be at home with Baby Gill right now instead of Erin being home alone with the cat and Anthony being stuck back at the office for what looks like another week.

We went to the hospital this morning for a second non-stress test and had identical results to Erin's first test. The nurse was visibly surprised to learn that the baby is 6 days past his due date, as his fluid levels remain very high and he is under no stress whatsoever. Erin continues to maintain a blood pressure that is just barely above "dead," which seems strange to us given that she's feeling extremely stressed out at this point.

After the test, we went to the doctor for Erin's 41 week exam (she is 40.6 weeks pregnant today). The doctor noted some progress from last week's exam, but nothing to indicate that the baby is definitely coming in the next day or so. Erin was concerned that the baby is perhaps too active at this point, since he kept her up with constant movement from 12:30am - 4:30am last night, but was reassured by the doctor that a baby simply cannot move too much - especially when he's past his due date. While it may be uncomfortable for Erin, the aggressive round-house kicks Baby Gill regularly delivers to her right side are actually a good sign that he is still very much thriving in the womb.

Knowing that we are trying for a natural birth, the doctor agreed to allow Erin to continue the pregnancy until Monday, when she will be 41.5 weeks pregnant. Doctors in the US will not allow a pregnancy to go beyond 42 weeks, so a Monday induction is about a long as we can wait to have the baby. Erin will be admitted to the hospital at 5pm on Sunday night to begin a round of cervidil (a drug that helps soften and efface the cervix) and, assuming the cervidil itself doesn't send her into spontaneous labor, as it very well might, will begin pitocin on Monday morning. Erin was very tempted to take her doctor up on the offer to just go ahead and induce tomorrow, but has done enough reading to know that at her current cervical state, there is a high likelihood that an induction at this point will fail and she'll end up with a c-section. The doctor did say that Erin can change her mind at any point between now and Monday and decide to be induced earlier.

Erin is going to try to relax over the next few days in hopes that the baby decides to show up on his own - perhaps when the Grandparents Meek are here, so that they can actually meet the little guy! She's getting a 1.5 hour prenantal massage tomorrow and hopes that it works some physical and psychological magic. Keep your fingers crossed!

Test Stress

In case you were wondering, Erin is still pregnant. Still.

Today, she went to the hospital for the non-stress test and discovered that, not only is the baby doing just fine, he's quite happy where he is and could stay there for at least another week - if not longer. Erin's amniotic fluid levels are high and her blood pressure is a very low 90/60. The baby's heartbeat is strong and regular and responded normally to movement. After administering the test, the nurse was so confident that Erin won't have the baby this weekend that she went ahead and scheduled her to come back on Tuesday the 8th...even though they are completely booked that day. Yes, other people are predicted to have their appointments cancel due to delivering the baby, but not Erin!

So, unless this full moon thing actually has legs, you can all enjoy your holiday weekends out of town and rest assured that you won't miss the birth of Baby Gill! Erin can't tell you how excited she is about this...

Sept 2 - Just Another Day

Well, yesterday came and went...and no sign of the baby. Taking advice that walking can help move things along, Erin walked in the park for an hour in the morning and then spent about 3 hours walking around the neighborhood in the afternoon. As far as she can tell, all this accomplished was making her very very sore.

More walks are on tap for today. Anything to keep busy and out of the house! Erin is meeting with our doula today at 5pm for a stroll around the park and to get advice on natural induction methods now that she's officially overdue.

Erin goes to the hospital tomorrow for the non-stress test and is hoping that the results will at least allow her to continue the pregnancy through the holiday weekend (but also hoping to have a baby before then!). There is a full moon tomorrow night and, according to The Internets and some nurses, the labor and delivery wards go nuts when there is a full moon. While Erin would prefer a quieter night in L&D, if it takes a full moon to get this baby out, then so be it! Anthony is feeling better, so if that's what was holding Baby back, he can now relax and know that his dad is fully prepared to care for him when he arrives.

Baby does need to come on or before Sept 10th, as that's the day his Grandparents Meek are coming to town to meet him. They'll be here through the 13th, and we're pretty sure they aren't coming to stare at Erin's giant belly again...

We'll keep you posted on any new developments!

One More Day? Ha!

Seeing as Erin has yet to give birth, we were back at the doctor this morning for her 40 week appointment (she is 39.6 weeks today). She's due tomorrow, but apparently no one told the baby that. The doctor said that based on today's exam, it's unlikely the baby is coming tomorrow...or even in the next couple of days.

Assuming the baby hasn't arrived by Friday, Erin will go to the hospital for a non-stress test that will determine whether the placenta is continuing to adequately support the baby. The test is routine for anyone who goes past their due date. Erin will be hooked up to a fetal monitor for 20 - 30 minutes to watch the baby's heartbeat and then will have an ultrasound to check her amniotic fluid levels. If everything looks good, she'll get to go home and continue waiting for the baby to arrive! If not, she'll likely be admitted for an induction. If Erin is still pregnant by Sept 8th, she'll go back to the hospital for another non-stress test and will also see the doctor to discuss next steps, including when to induce. Generally, doctors prefer to induce at 41 weeks (Sept 9th) or 41.1 weeks at the latest (Sept 10th). We think that if Erin is still pregnant on Friday and everything looks good in the non-stress test but the baby still isn't showing signs that he's ready to leave his aquatic home, she'll see an acupuncturist. We've heard that acupuncture can be a great way to prod labor to start without resorting to drugs, which we would really like to avoid.

Despite Erin's eagerness to GET THIS BABY OUT, a delay of a few days may be a good thing. Anthony came down with the flu on Sunday and is still feeling pretty under the weather. Perhaps Baby Gill is just waiting a day or two to give his dad a chance to recover? What a nice baby!

Someone else who is in no hurry for our new addition to arrive is sweet Birkin. With Erin on maternity leave for the past three weeks, little Bear has become even more co-dependent than usual and gets quite anxious whenever Erin and Anthony leave the apartment for more than an hour...or even leave her alone in a room for more than a few minutes. She's curled up next to the computer as we write this - rubbing agains the computer and wondering why it's taking all of our attention. Poor little kitty is in for a big surprise! She's also still lonely and missing her best friend, Piper, who passed away from lymphoma in May at the age of four. We promised Birkin we'd get her a new friend, but not until November. New baby + new cat may be too much for Bear to, well, bear.

In other news... You may have noticed that we set up a Twitter account. We've never used Twitter before and may not really get hooked on it, but it seemed like fun and "the41stweek" was available as a name, so we figured we'd give it a shot. No Tweets yet - perhaps when Baby G finally arrives! You can follow us by clicking on the link on the top, right side of the blog or by visiting www.twitter.com/the41stweek.

Tomorrow is D Day. We'll post at the end of the day and let you know if anything happened!

An Update! Finally!

It's been brought to our attention that we are terrible at updating our blog. This is true, and we have no good excuse. Erin went on maternity leave nearly two weeks ago and really should have the time to update the blog, but she's been very busy going for walks, napping, reading, and watching birth shows on TLC. It's a tough life. She views this as her very last chance for who knows how many years to just do absolutely nothing. Luckily, Anthony is also on board with this plan and doesn't give her too much grief for it.

Baby News

Unfortunately, the reason we haven't been updating the blog is that we don't have too much to report on the baby front. At Erin's 34 week appointment, she presented with some cramping and pre-labor signs. The doctor was sure that the baby was coming early, and we started anxiously working to get everything in order for his arrival. Erin was in so much pain and discomfort that she moved her maternity leave up a week and got a doctor's note to work from home two days a week until she went on leave. At around 35 weeks, Erin was having such bad back pain that it took nearly 45 minutes to walk 4 avenue blocks (all uphill) home from dinner one night. It didn't seem physically possible that the baby would make it to 40 weeks, and we started hoping he'd at least stay put until 37 weeks.

36 Weeks - Breech!

To alieviate her back pain, Erin went for a 1.5 hour prenatal massage on the day she turned 36 weeks. The massage was amazing - she felt better than she had the whole pregnancy and it seemed to have helped move the baby into a more comfortable position by realigning her back. At the doctor the next day we discovered that the baby had indeed moved to a more comfortable position - for him. He was breech. The doctor declared that the baby was very unlikely to turn head-down at this point in the pregnancy and advised that Erin schedule an external cephalic version (ECV) (where a high-risk specialist manually turns the baby from the outside) and stated that she would schedule a C-section for August 26th. We were devastated. We were planning a natural birth and this was just about as far from that as you can get. However, we had faith that our little guy could make another turn if we just gave him a chance.

Not wanting to force the baby to turn via the ECV, Erin started researching non-invasive techniques to turn the baby. She made an appointment with a chiropractor who specializes in the Webster Technique and headed down to Chinatown to buy moxa sticks so that she and Anthony could get started with an acupressure technique called moxibustion. The website SpinningBabies.com had lots of other at-home tips and tricks for turning babies, and Erin tried them all. Despite our initial skepticism that burning a cigar-like stick of a very stinky, smoky Chinese herb next to Erin's baby toes would have any effect on the actual baby, we have to say that we're now firm believers in the power of moxibustion. Within a few minutes of the process, the baby started moving more than he had in days and Erin could feel him trying to turn. It was incredible. Erin tried to videotape the movement for all of you to see, but it doesn't show up very well. We did manage to snap some shots of this awesome, super-hippie dippie process that we're sure you'll all enjoy. Another side effect of the moxa sticks was that it made our apartment smell like we were recreating Woodstock at 40 Prospect Park West. Not sure our neighbors approved.

37 Weeks - Things Take a Turn

After a week of stress, lying upside down for hours, suspect chiropracty, and stinky sticks, we went back to the doctor for Erin's 37 week appointment and got the good news we were hoping for - the baby had turned! Was it a result of any of the tecniques we tried? Hard to say. Chiropractors claim a 75-95% success rate with the Webster Technique and studies of moxibustion assert that it successfully turns babies nearly 90% of the time. However, only 3 - 4% of babies are still breech at birth. Since 96-97% of babies will turn on their own before labor begins, it seems to us that doing nothing and just being patient has the highest success rate. Of course, if your baby is breech we'd still 100% recommend doing everything you can to get the baby to turn. At the very least, if he or she is still breech at delivery, you'll know you tried everything you could to get him to turn and that peace of mind is well worth the effort...as possibly fruitless as it may be.

38 Weeks - And...Nothing

At Erin's 38 week appointment, the little Admiral, as he's known around the Meek household, was still head-down but showing no signs of making an early appearance. His head was not engaged and Erin's body wasn't indicating that it was preparing for delivery. So much for that early bird prediction! In an effort to move the process along, Erin went for a long walk every morning and logged many hours on the exercise ball. She also bought, but has yet to drink, some Raspberry Leaf Tea. Did any of that help?

39 Weeks - Wait, I'm Supposed to Leave the Womb?

No! Today, we went back to the doctor for Erin's 39 week appointment (Erin is 38.6 weeks pregnant today...and looks pretty much the same as she did last week) and got the same feedback as last week - Baby Gill hasn't even dropped yet. The doctor said that dropping and other changes don't mean too much, as they can all happen once you're actually in labor, but she still thinks we'll be back for another appointment next Thursday. Erin is giving Baby Gill an official eviction notice on Sept 2nd, with instructions to vacate the womb by no later that Sept 9th. Hopefully he's a good tenant and leaves on his own!

Other News

Our built-ins are done and look gorgeous. It's nice to have our books out in the apartment and not stuffed away in a closet. We also had a small desk installed as part of the unit, giving Erin a nice spot to sip her weekly latte and update the blog. If you need a contractor in Brooklyn, please let us know as we have someone great to recommend.

We're pretty house-bound these days due to the heat and Erin's giant belly (and her claim that she has nothing to wear), but we did manage to have some social outings over the past few weeks. We had a great time at Om and Megan's beautiful wedding here in Brooklyn on August 8th.

The next day, we drove out to Long Island to visit Dan and Chrissie (of the linked blog, Just Bloggin') and meet their then three-month old little boy, Benji. As you can see in the picture, Benji had a nice talk with his friend Baby Gill and instructed him on how to exit the womb. Really, we have to give Benji most of the credit for our little guy's decision to turn head-down. Unfortunately, Benji did not tell Baby Gill WHEN to leave the womb. Benji was 2.5 weeks early, but he appears to have told Baby Gill about the persistent heat and humidity on the East Coast and advised him to stay in his climate-controlled home for as long as possible. Can't say we blame him.

What Else?

Not much. Erin promises to keep the blog updated despite her busy schedule of watching repeats of What Not to Wear and Toddlers in Tiaras. Also, if you get a call from her in the next two weeks, you can safely assume it's NOT an announcment that she just had a baby. However, if you get a call, text, or email from Anthony (or, most likely, all three), then you know it's baby time.

36 Weeks - Preparing for Baby's Arrival

As of today, Erin is 36 weeks along. If the baby came today, would we be ready? Uh.... We're almost done with our two major pre-baby projects: windows and built-ins. The building installed new windows in our apartment on July 28th, which was a huge mess that Anthony kindly took the day off to supervise and clean-up. Once the windows were finished, we had the baby furniture delivered and called our contractor and scheduled him to finally install the built-in units he designed for our living room. These units will have bookshelves on the top, cabinets on the bottom, and a small writing desk. We can't wait for the extra storage! The built-in installation began yesterday and should hopefully wrap up today or tomorrow morning.

Once we have the built-ins done, we can finally start working on the baby's room! As you can see in the slideshow, the baby's room is really more of a storage room at this point. Yes, we know, it doesn't NEED to be done before the baby arrives since he'll be sleeping in our room for the first few months, but trying telling that to an anxious mother-in-waiting.

What does a 35-week belly look like?

On Erin, a 35-week belly looks like a basketball shoved under her shirt. It also apparently gives her a lovely hunchback.

An Optimistic Beginning

We're starting this blog at 35 weeks, 5 days into Erin's first pregnancy and are optimistic that it will document our new life with Baby Gill starting at the 41st week and beyond and not at, say, the 36th or 37th week. Legs and fingers crossed! However, given that Baby Gill is already causing his soon-to-be-mother quite a bit of pain and discomfort, perhaps we should start praying for an early delivery.

Erin has a list of (mostly unnecessary) projects she'd like to start and complete before Baby Gill arrives, and she's eagerly counting down the days until August 12th - the first day of her maternity leave. Anthony has a list of naps he'd like to take and friends he'd like to have a beer with before Baby Gill arrives, but he keeps finding himself pressed into service by Erin's crazed nesting instinct. We're working out a compromise that, so far, seems to mainly involve Erin starting projects and taking naps, Anthony finishing projects and doing household chores, and no one having any beers. Need to keep working on that compromise.

Whenever Baby Gill arrives and the blog officially kicks off, we hope you'll stop by often to catch up on our attempts at parenthood, coo at photos of the little guy, and watch video of Baby Gill and Birkin "Bear" Gill, our first baby who can't believe how many "toys" and "beds" we've bought her in the past few months.