Green is the New Black: Countdown

The ticker at the top of the blog says that I'm at 25 days till baby. Heavens, I hope it's sooner. Apparently, 37 weeks is considered full-term. I always thought it was 38? My babycenter.com update has told me, twice now, that 37 is the number, though. So can I get a shout-out for an October 22nd birthday? :)

Really, though, I'll be able to tough it out till then. I'm just waiting on my mom to give me a 12- to 24-hour heads-up.

Let me clarify. For both girls' births, my mom came in-- no joke-- the day before. And I wasn't induced. It's uncanny. Riley's story is particularly amazing.

Since my folks are out in California, we had decided that when I went into labor, I'd give them a ring, and they'd get the first flight they could. But in the middle of the night, March 28th, 2008, my mom woke my dad up and said, "We need to get out there now!" They called me on the morning of the 29th and were here for dinner that night. Actually, while we were out at Outback, I started having contractions, which I thought were Braxton Hicks (I've still never gotten those). As it turns out, I was in early labor, and we had our first little baby girl on the morning of March 30th!

She has quite a bit of equipment attached to her because her oxygen levels, initially, were slightly low. She sprung back quickly, though! Much quicker than her mom, if I recall correctly, and I recall correctly.

Granddad and Nana (the herald of all things Green baby!)

I love this picture. I love that you can see Riley's name on the card. I love that she's a little sweet pea. I love that you can see my Mountaineers sweatshirt, so the influence of my grandparents is present, as well. :)

For Noelle's birth, my mom just happened to fly out on December 3rd, 2009. Riley was excited to have Nana here, and it worked out nicely since I had a doctor's appointment on the morning of the 4th.

Noelle was measuring TINY for the whole pregnancy-- like in the 3rd percentile or so-- and my amniotic fluid levels were low, so the doctors had been telling me that she would probably come early. I was going to the doc twice a week for non-stress tests and was informed, at my 37th week, that if anything was even a little abnormal, it would be go-time. December 4th was exactly two weeks before Noelle's due date, and I had the usual stress test.

Dr. Bowles came in a checked the print-out a few times, and I think it was on the third or fourth time that he said, "Alright. You're having this baby today!" He sent me directly to the hospital (do not pass "Go"; do not collect $200) and said he'd see me soon. I called Mike (a few times-- pick up, gosh darn it!!!) and my mom, and got to the hospital at around 11. Noelle was born just a little after 1! Again, the day after my mom got to town.

She was a PEANUT!! At birth, she weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs, 11 oz. We had a few other guests at the hospital who, when they saw us with her, said, "Oh! That's Noelle! She's so tiny!" Apparently, the other babies in the nursery were giants compared to her. :)