Mini-Chinny update

Or should I say, the un-update.

This week has been anti-climactic. We went for our regular doctor's appointment on Wednesday morning, and although the baby was very far down (still), there wasn't much progress on dilation. Still just 1.5 cm. They scheduled us for a BPP ultrasound (bio-physical profile) to check on the baby's health, and sent us home.

We went to the BPP yesterday and our baby scored an 8/8. That means it met all of the criteria for a healthy, safe baby. Plenty of amniotic fluid. Plenty of movement. Strong heartbeat and breathing. The only quirk was the fact that Mini was lying in a sideways fetal position, which explains why I have a huge bulge on my right side. The ultrasound tech confirmed that the head is all the way down in position -- the baby is ready to roll except there's no way out right now. Also, now that I understand the position, I understand why I have an awkward shaped belly that puts pressure horizontally across me (which has made it very tough to sleep lately).

Anyway, things checked out, which meant no need to rush an induction. We had previously been told that we wouldn't be allowed to go past the 8th. We were okay with that date (which happens to be our 8th anniversary) and so we've been looking at that as the beginning of the next phase. Yesterday, I received a call from the doctor's office and because of scheduling reasons, I was told we'd be induced on the 10th if necessary. I know its only 2 days, but I was so discouraged. Ugh. That would put me at 12 days past due date. Just about 42 weeks... I am praying we don't last until next Thursday.

Today, I went to Starbucks to do some paperwork for work (it's a work from home day) and Kristal got me to try a sample of a pumpkin-spice frappacino. If you know me at all, you know I hate coffee anything. But I figured, hey, why not. So I tried the sample...it was tolerable, and I hoped it might spark something!






After Starbucks, I met David for a quick lunch at China Inn. His fortune said "Your luck has been completely changed today." I took this as a positive sign. :)










So that's the latest update... I've been having contractions, just not regular ones. Still just a waiting game...so keep praying. Pray for contractions to be regular and productive. And to not stop once they start.

Full moon tonight... maybe that will help?

the good news and bad news...

always better to start with the "bad" news first... september is here and still no mini-chinny! we are still on the great baby-wait of '09 and i am beginning to wonder if i am permanently pregnant. at least that's what some of my co-workers keep joking around with me!

all-in-all, it's not terrible news -- just not what i was hoping for. we will keep you posted on the baby, though.

in "good" news, i have the day off today from school because of a water problem in giles county. that's right, it's the second day of school and we already are missing a day. that is some good news indeed. yesterday, i will be honest, i was quite miserable being at school. i really was not looking forward to today, so when i got the call last night saying school would be canceled for a "major county-wide water problem" i was leaping with joy. what an answered prayer!!!!

katie pepiot returns to blacksburg today after just getting home from her peace corps duties in south africa the past 2 years. i am so excited i cannot wait. she really wanted to see me pregnant -- maybe that's why i have not had this baby yet! anyway, she just promised me on the phone that once she arrives around lunch, we will do everything possible to get this baby out. i love her persistence and dedication to me. this is the girl who took me off her christmas card list 9 years ago when we worked in hokie grill as students at VT. who knew then that almost a decade later, we'd still be amazing friends and she'd be here with me in the final moments when i'm going out of my mind trying anything possible to get this baby out of my belly into my arms!

more later... gotta get some work done from home today! oh the joys of paperwork and my job...

-----------

Afternoon update: Katie arrived to Blacksburg safely!


Above is Katie hugging Jessamyn! It's so great to have her back in Blacksburg from the Peace Corps. She plans to stay and visit through Mini-Chinny bring born. :)

Goodbye Terri

Those of you in Blacksburg know that our dear friend Terri, who has been on full-time staff with our church the past several years, has decided to move. Friends of Terri gathered tonight at Souvlaki's downtown for a going away party. Jeanette and Terri have been having Monday roommate lunches at Souvlaki's the past several years and have become friends with the owner Mike.

When Terri decided she was officially moving in early September, they asked Mike about having the going away party there. Mike agreed and shut down early tonight for a private gathering of Terri's friends. Terri and Jeanette helped take orders and work the counter, which was fun to watch. It was jam packed in there, too!

Here are a few pics of the 204 girls working the party:
















A fun way to close out my birthday, although David and I peaced out early because it was soooo hot in there with all the people!

We were glad to celebrate with Terri even if it meant we weren't having a baby yet. :)

Birthday Dinner!

Tonight we celebrated my 30th birthday with a random hodge-podge meal consisting of 4 parts.



Pork fried rice, fried potstickers, fries with pasty cheese, and homemade green bean casserole.

I know, a random combination, but that's what 40-week pregnant women eat. :)

Spoils of Gardening!

David wanted me to post a quick picture of all the vegetables he just picked. Behold the fruits of David and Sarah's labor! (and Jess who furiously weeded recently.)

30 is here

As many of you know, today is not only our due date but also my 30th birthday. I was selfishly hoping to have the baby before today so I could say I had our first child in my 20's. I don't know why it mattered - and obviously it's a moot point because today has arrived, I'm 30, and mini-chinny is still hanging out in my belly.

I've been on several long walks the past two days but nothing major to report as far as contractions go. They continue to come and go.

Anyway, I appreciate all the birthday wishes and look forward to posting other exciting news soon!

No News Yet!

I know a lot of folks are curious... because for all our delinquency lately, I promise we will post an update when we are in labor and the baby has been born.

But unfortunately, we don't have any news yet. We are 48 hours from due date and we don't have any clue how long it will be until it's time.

We had our latest doctor's appointment yesterday and he confirmed that mini-chinny is very, very low and in position -- the problem is there is no room for him to exit right now. I have no dilation or effacing really happening. Once contractions start, the baby is in position so things should move decently once I start with some heavy contractions. But so far, I've just been having light contractions on and off for a week. One night they lasted a while and I started timing them, but they stopped and it was a false alarm. So there's really not much to report... yet.

But I promise we'll update when there is something to say. Keep checking back!

August!

The month of August has flown by...

The first weekend we had a 2-day childbirth preparation class at the hospital. We learned all about labor and how to breathe during it. We took a hospital tour and found out a lot of good information to help prepare us for the big day.

This next picture was taken Monday, August 3 before work...


We've been at home every weekend, not traveling this month because our baby is due Aug. 29. This meant we missed the annual NLCF staff retreat, which was the second weekend of August. While it was a bummer to miss out on hanging out with our friends, we enjoyed a relaxing weekend full of getting things done around the home. We also were able to go to Steppin' Out, Blacksburg's annual downtown summer festival.

Jeanette's birthday was on Saturday, August 8th, which is when the staff were out of town. When they returned on Sunday, some of us went out to dinner to celebrate her birthday. (Her dad was staying with us for a few weeks while he worked on the house he and Mrs. Staats own in Blacksburg and plan to retire in this fall!)


On Monday, August 10, my wonderful friends threw me a baby shower here in Blacksburg. My mom and sis drove up from Richmond and my sis came with me to the shower while my mom entertained my hubby. It was definitely a unique baby shower, full of interesting games (one with melted chocolate in diapers), and of course I was showered with wonderful gifts. It was a huge blessing to receive all that we did, and I had a great time celebrating with everyone. Probably the most original shower food for a baby shower, too, since my friends had all my favorites: cream soda, grilled cheese, oat fudge bars, and dark chocolate candy! Also, the ladies made origami animals to hang on a homemade mobile for the nursery (nice idea Jessamyn!). It's pretty cool.

Some other folks have better pics I know, but here are two taken on my camera. The first is of me and Kristal, who returned from being gone all summer at LT. She had fun making up for lost time talking to Mini-Chinny. The second is a pic of Rachel's head on a stick along with booties from Guatemala she mailed me. She wasn't able to come to B'burg for the shower so I made sure she "attended" while I opened her gift. :)




Finally, we have gotten the nursery ready for Mini-Chinny. I think I mentioned before that we were using a panda theme, and have as a result named the room "The Panda Room." (All the rooms in houseofchinn have a name...) We moved "The Cheetah Suite" to the basement, where the guest room now is, and it makes more sense since Peter started his Cheetah research living in the room in the basement.

Here are some pictures from the nursery...






This past week was "move-in" here in Blacksburg, as the students have all returned. We had several church events in the evenings that kept us busy, which helped pass the time as I have been anxious to get this "show" on the road!

So here we are... August 22 and awaiting the arrival of the baby. David has been nesting like crazy this month, doing a deep clean and organization of our house. I cannot explain how much he has gotten done -- so much that has needed to be done for years. He has been amazing!

I have had "false labor" several times this week, having been experiencing contractions for about four days now. Of course they come and go -- sometimes in the middle of the night -- and a few times I have thought "this is it!" For now, we are just waiting, though, knowing that the time will come soon enough!

We'll keep everyone posted as we count down the final 7 days until our due date. I promise we'll send a few updates when I go into labor/deliver Mini-Chinny.

July in Pictures

The summer has continued to cruise along since the holiday weekend. On July 10, David's mom came in town for a 10-day visit to Virginia. We welcomed her to town by dressing up in cow costumes so we could get a free meal at Chick-Fil-A.


On July 12, I spoke for the final time this summer at NLCF. (Messages from this summer have finally been loaded online and are available to listen to now.)

David has enjoyed taking pics of my belly growing... this one was from July 13 before we left for work.


On July 18, my mom and sister joined David's mom and sister in throwing us a baby shower for mini-chinny. It was a blast to celebrate with folks and prepare for the big day. We were extremely blessed by all of the generous gifts. After the shower, my mom treated a small group of us to afternoon tea at the Jefferson Hotel. Included with my immediate family (mom, dad, sis and I) were David and his mom, both my grandmothers, and my aunt Elsie. We had a wonderful time eating sandwiches and tea breads, and the scones were to die for. :)




We said farewell to David's mom on July 20 and spent this past week getting the nursery together. We've gotten a lot of stuff arranged, and even though we have some things left to do, we are feeling much more settled.

Finally, this weekend, David thought it would be a wise idea if we sold our 2-door '94 Camry that has about 200,000 miles and bought a little bit newer 4-door car with less miles. We've heard putting a baby seat in and out of a 2-door car can be frustrating, and since David is an avid Craigslist stalker, he found some viable options for us to get a 4-door car. We met a Chinese graduate student at Tech on Saturday morning to test-drive his '97 Nissan Altima and ended up making him an offer and buying his car. He was about to return to China after getting his PhD and his car only has 120,000 miles. So now we just have to sell the Camry and we'll be set!



That's about it for us this month... more to come!

July 4th

This past weekend, we celebrated the July 4th holiday with our friends Kelly, Kevin, Jorie & Steve at Smith Mountain Lake. Kelly's folks own a lake house and they were gracious enough to allow Kelly and Kevin to invite the Jorie, Steve and David and I to have a nice, relaxing weekend at the lake. This was a mini-reunion from our France trip (minus Dom & Hilary, who are obviously in France), and we all enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

We spent Friday and Saturday relaxing on the dock reading, riding wave runners, and eating delicious food, such as roasting marshmallows. We topped it off by ending the night sitting down on the dock in the dark watching other people set off fireworks. Today was a bit rainy, but it was still relaxing. Below are some pics from the weekend.



After our wave runner ride... we did tip off at one point as David wasn't used to the extra weight on board! :)


The Schmidts look like they could be right out of a J. Crew advertisement...


Everyone relaxing in the lake, tossing a football and floating on rafts/noodles.

All in all, it was a terrific weekend with friends. :)