The Lawrensons--Great Progress

If you have not visited the Lawrenson's blog lately, I urge you to do so. You will find some amazing progress for both Tricia & Gwyneth. The amazing journey continues.
There is a link on the side under the heading, "Links to Sites we Like".

Thoughts & Prayers for Grace

Some of our friends from birthing class gave birth last Tuesday, 4/22/08, and their precious little baby girl, Grace, is still in the hospital. She is doing better and is expected to be released tomorrow, 5/1/08, to go home with her parents. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Weekly Checkup--37 weeks

Yesterday was our weekly check up and everything is looking good. The only thing that has changed is that Amy has dilated to about 1 1/2cm...the doctor was trying to give us 2cm, but couldn't do it. Our baby boy is very active and enjoys beating up his mommy. Contractions are getting stronger and more plentiful throughout the day. Everything else is looking great. We are very excited to see our little baby boy. The countdown is here...tomorrow marks the start of the "teens"--20 days to go until the due date.

Last phase of Pictures for tonight

Amy has been experiencing swelling in her feet and legs. So Kevin's mom had the great idea to use the bucket of ice water to soak her feet. Carlee decided to join in to see if the water was really that cold...it was!

And even more pictures

This is for us to practice until our little boy arrives...and yes it was pointed out that he is anatomically correct.


A shot of the gifts. Thanks to everyone from all showers for the wonderful & thoughtful gifts.


And some of the sweets we enjoyed at the shower.


Here we are opening some of our presents.


Any because Kevin is fearing the stinky, dirty diapers, he was given this survival kit...get ready Kevin!!!

More Pictures

YUM...cake from Ketchie Creek. This was from the shower thrown by Amy's family in NC. Thanks to everyone! It was a blast.


Here is Amy posing in front of the beautiful spread of food and the CAKE...did I mention how good that cake was?


Here is a picture of Amy and her sister Kim, one of the wonderful hostesses from the shower


And a diaper cake from the shower this past Saturday thrown by Kevin's family & Madelyn...Thanks to everyone. It was beautiful and a wonderful time for all.


And here is Cole enjoying a lolly at the shower.

Pictures

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the last two months:

Here is Amy with Katherine & Ashley Dorey. Along with their mom, Sara, they threw the first shower to celebrate our pregnancy. Thanks to Kat, Ashley, Sara and everyone who attended.


Here is a picture of Amy and her mom.


Here are Amy & Meg


And of course the progress of the belly--this is at 31 weeks


Watching you grow, loving you so--this one is at 34 weeks

Invitation to "Baby Riley Stats and More Contest"

I have sent out an email to most of my email contacts inviting them to the "Baby Riley Stats and More Contest". If you did not receive the email, I have posted the rules below. Please email me your guesses by 5pm tomorrow, Tuesday April 29, 2008.

As you all may know, Amy & I are very excited that our first child is due in 3 weeks and 1 day. I wanted to send out a quick email with a little game that we will play in anticipation of his fast-approaching due date. We will call this the “Baby Riley Stats and More Contest”.

The following contest will be closed for voting on Tuesday 4/29/08 at 5pm so get your guesses in quickly. Please email me your votes. All votes will be placed on the blog, www.amyispregnant.blogspot.com for all to see. You can also catch up on our story on this website…sorry it has not been updated much over the past weeks.



1) What day will Baby Riley be born? (5 points for closest, 2 points for next closest, 1 point for third closest)

2) What time will Baby Riley be born? (10 points for closest, 5 points for next closest, 3 points for third closest)

3) How long will Baby Riley measure at birth? (5 points for closest, 2 points for next closest, 1 point for third closest)

4) How much will Baby Riley weigh at birth? (5 points for closest, 2 points for next closest, 1 point for third closest)

5) Tie Break Question: How long will it take for Kevin to drive to the hospital when Amy is in labor? This will be used in the case of a tie after tabulating the points for the first 4 questions.



The winner will get a special prize and recognition as the winner of the first “Baby Riley Stats and More Contest”.



If I have left off anyone on this email and you think they would like to take part in this game, please forward this email to them.



Good Luck to All.



Here are my guesses…they will not count towards the contest, but will give you a place to start.



1) May 16th

2) 2:31pm

3) 21 ½ inches

4) 8 lbs, 7 ½ oz

5) Normal driving time is 20 minutes, but with a wife in labor, I am going with 14 minutes & 13 seconds.



Thanks all,

Kevin



P.S. stay tuned to the blog for more updates and to see how your guesses stack up.

Weekly Visits Started

Yesterday marked the 36 week milestone. This means that we now go for check-ups every week. It also marked the first pelvic exam on Amy. Leading up to this, I was very excited and nervous. What were they going to say? Would they rush us off to the hospital? Had Amy's Braxton Hicks contractions been preparing her uterus for the next four weeks? So many things going through my head. On top of this, I still have things to do. We finished Birthing Classes last night so I feel like I have been very well educated on what to expect and what to do, but that does not mean I am ready. I wake up in the middle of the night (now a regular occurence) and feel like I am ill-prepared as a parent. I woke up about a week ago and was stressing because I did not know how often a baby's ears had to be cleaned. Since then, I have received my answers, but things like that are keeping me up at night--that plus the fact that I am soooooo excited. I am obviously overly excited and love to have things planned and this is out of my hands. We are getting things done quickly now. The nursery is all set up (just some decorations left to complete)--i will have to post later about the ultimate makeover on my home, courtesy of my mom--we installed the car seat base in Amy's car this past weekend (that was a reality check), the baby monitors are working, etc.

I promise that we will be better at getting things posted soon. We had to replace our Dell laptop a couple weeks ago and we got a MacBook Pro. The learning curve presents another challenge for me, but once I get some time to play with it, i will post some pictures. We have our last shower on Saturday at my parent's house. I can't wait to see everyone there and celebrate Amy and the baby.

So i started this post by saying that it was the first pelvic exam and then i started rambling and did not give you the results. Here they are:
Amy's cervix is 1cm dilated & 50% effaced.
The baby is at a -2 station.
The doctor and our instructor from the birthing class were both very excited & optimistic about this. I was sent into a state of shock. Amy said she looked over at me and my jaw just dropped when Dr. Fontanares gave us the results. It is all becoming so real. Three of the couples from our birthing class gave birth in the last few days. We were talking about it last night on the drive home...last week we saw them in class and they were pregnant and now they have little babies to care for and love. We cannot wait to meet you Mr. Riley, but if you don't mind, stay in the warmth of your mommy's uterus for at least another few weeks.
Daddy

Happy Birthday Mommy!

This is the last birthday you will have without a child in your world. Enjoy It!
Daddy wrote a little poem for you because he has spent all of our money on things for me and for the new house. I hope you enjoy this:

What else can I say on this rainy day

It is my love's birthday today,

Happy Birthday to the love of my life

Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife,

The one carrying my new son

The one for which my feelings run,

I love your smile and your beautiful face

I love the way you make my heart race,

On this special birthday I want to say

Have a great day, you deserve it that way,

I love you so much and will do also always

Soon I will be walking the hallways,

With the biggest smile on my face for all to see

Knowing that all of your hard work has created this baby,

I am there for you no matter how rough

I know you can do it because you are so tough,

But for today I want you to focus on Amy

She’s the love of my life, a love never fading,

Happy Birthday to You

I hope this short poem will do,

To say all the things I long to say

On this very special Birthday.



I love you Amy Riley.

Love,
Kevin