two weeks old...

Today was Kayah's 2 week old birthday! She's doing so well. She has another appointment with the doctor on Thursday, but I suspect she will pass with flying colors. I've been taking pictures of this little girl like crazy, so I thought I'd post a few more new ones for you to see.
...very satisfied after a good meal...

...she says, "Taa Daa"...

...so pretty...

...what a beautiful little face...

...i just really like how this one turned out...

...and we have to have a good crying one in here...

what's behind the name...

Many people have been asking where we came up with the name Kayah Luann (pronounced Kay-ah, not Ky-ah). Well, my mom's name was Luann Kay, so Josh and I were playing around with the name "Kay" when I thought I cleverly came up with the name Kayah. Josh had me look it up just to make sure that if it did have a meaning, it wasn't something bad. Come to find out it is actually a name. In Native American it means, "eldest sister/sibling," which really fit because Josh and I always felt we had so much in common because we were both the oldest children in our families. In Scandinavian it means, "pure." And in Japanese it means, "wise." We also wanted a name that ended in the "-a" sound to go along with Joshua & Melissa. It also just-so-happens that when you say the alphabet our initials are all lined up...J K L M (joshua, kayah luann, melissa). Kayah Luann is just meant to be.

And speaking of Kayah Luann, she is amazing! We just had her first doctor's appointment today. At 9 days old she is already up past her birth weight...she's up to 8lb 7 1/2 oz now. She has also grown in length...she's up to 22in now. Dr. Rogers says Kayah is looking great; in the upper percentiles for all of the baby check-up stuff. She's been doing really well with breastfeeding, so I'm encouraged to really make it work. I had prayed that it would go smoothly for us and thankfully it has. All is looking good!

Well, I won't be updating the blog with belly pictures any more because it's just not as pretty when there's not a baby inside! ha! But in case you'd like to know, I'm proud to say I'm already wearing some of my pre-pregnancy jeans...yay! Also, I may not be quite as vigilant with updating the blog every weekend, but I'll try to stay on top of it as much as I can to record important events in both my life and Kayah's life. Plus, this is a great place for me to share pics of my beautiful little girl! Thanks to all of you who have kept up with Baby Girl Amen's journey into my arms. Make sure to check back to read up on the latest and greatest happenings!

more pictures to share...

Let Me Introduce...

Kayah Luann Amen!






She is beautiful!
Her birthday is August 14, 2007.
She was born at 8:48pm.
She weighed 8lbs 4oz.
She is 20 1/4 in long.

The hospital called early in the morning to do my pre-admission interview over the phone since I was scheduled to be induced on Thursday. Well, I think Kayah heard all of that and decided she wanted to come on her own time! I started getting contractions right after I hung up the phone. However, I didn't know I was having contractions...I just thought they were bad cramps again. The only difference this time is that they were coming in waves...so, I started timing them. They were pretty random, but eventually got down to about 7-4 minutes apart consistently, so I decided my mom and dad better come over to the house. When they started to get stronger and stronger I called my doctor and she told me if I could, to hold out for another hour or so before going to the hospital...just because I'd probably be more comfortable at home. I agreed. Well, that hour passed and my contractions were coming on pretty quick and pretty strong. We hopped in the car and drove to the hospital. My contractions were getting extra strong. Once we got up to the labor and delivery floor they hooked me up to monitors and decided to check me since it seemed my contractions were coming pretty fast. Lo and behold...I was already 9cm dilated with a huge bulging bag of water!!! That's right! 9cm!! They rushed the guy giving epidurals up to my room to get it going quickly. And oh was I thankful for that! By then my contractions had poured on thick and the pain was getting pretty intense. After the epidural, we sat around for a little while as the medicine tried to catch up with the pain. I was feeling A LOT of pressure, so they decided to break my water and have me start pushing. After breaking my water things moved pretty quick. They had me start pushing at about +2. I was feeling intense pressure...the epidural never really caught up to that...and after maybe 6 or 7 contractions the nurse told me to stop pushing and breathe through them until the doctor could get there. TORTURE!! I was so ready to push her out! I'll have to admit, it was pretty crazy while waiting for the doctor to show up! But once she did, I let out about a push and a half and TAADAA...Kayah Luann!

Now we are resting comfortably. Kayah and I are both healthy...and both tired. I'll have more to post in the next few days, but I thought I'd get the announcement and birth story out there for everyone!

the last week is here...

I can't sleep, so I guess I'll put up a new message. It's official...I'm on my last week of pregnancy. Sad and exciting all at once. It's difficult knowing this is all coming to an end and now I'm moving on to another HUGE stage of life without Josh at my side. I think that's why I feel so sad about the fact that I won't be pregnant for much longer. It took me a while to figure out why I am feeling the way that I am, but I think I finally got it. Maybe now that I know that's why I'm feeling this way, I'll be able to deal with it a little better. Don't get me wrong, though...I am THRILLED to have Baby Girl Amen in my arms! I can't wait to be her mother and love her and kiss her and hold her! So, I'm thinking that once she's actually here it might be easier for me to cope with the sadness. I'm expecting a gigantic range of emotions when I see my beautiful baby girl for the first time, so I'll allow myself to feel a little sadness if I need to because I know I'll also be feeling complete joy and happiness along with it, too.

My mom and dad were over at my house to take care of the lawn on Saturday so I had them take a couple of pictures of me.

They also decided to take me to the mall so I could walk and hopefully bring on some contractions...no luck,though. I'm still hoping I can go into labor on my own before Thursday so I don't have to do the induction. But only God knows when this baby girl is going to make her appearance!

Since I'm being quite sentimental about these being the last few days of my pregnancy, I took a few pictures of me and my belly in the nursery. I put a couple of them along the right side of the blog down by the belly pictures. I actually ended up taking 20-some pictures of myself and my baby belly, but I won't bore you with all of them! There are a few that I think turned out really good that I'll probably change into black and white and frame, so I'm glad I took the time while I could to take the pictures.

Well, I guess that's all I have for now. It's possible that the next time I add a message to this blog it'll be to announce the arrival of Baby Girl Amen! Of course I'll also be announcing her name! (I know it's driving you all crazy...only a few more days to go!) I know I said this before, but say some prayers for me and Baby Girl Amen that she has a smooth and easy delivery into the world.

back from another appointment...

If Baby Girl Amen hasn't made an appearance by Thursday, August 16th, 2007, that will be the day they induce me. It's scheduled! Of course, it's always a possibility that I'll go into labor on my own at any time, but if I don't then I'll have this baby next week for sure. I'm very excited and also sad at the same time. I'm going to miss being pregnant so much!! Although, I can't wait to hold my little girl in my arms, so I guess I'll just have to get over the sadness part. My hope is that Baby Girl Amen decides to come on her own before the scheduled day because I'd rather work my way into contractions rather than just start off full-steam with meds, but whatever gets my baby to me safely I guess I'll go through. So, I'm still hanging on the edge of my seat, waiting for this little girl. It is exciting to think that a week from right this second I could be holding my daughter in my arms, staring into her little baby eyes. I can't wait!

Next Week?!?!

So Baby Girl Amen could be here at any moment. I went in for my 37 week appointment and found out that I am 70% effaced and 3 cm dilated! They also did an ultrasound to check on her size and she is already a whopping 7lbs 11oz!! That means if I were to go to 40 weeks I may have over a 9lb baby! Yikes! However, the fact that I've already progressed so far and the fact that the doctor says she can already feel my bag of water, I'm not going the full 40 weeks. If I don't already go into labor on my own, they are actually thinking about inducing me next week!!! That's right! I'm going to have my baby girl by the end of next week!!! I can't believe we're here! It's amazing! I'd start running around the house to get last minute things done, but I don't even know what I need to do!

Actually, last night I'm pretty sure I started nesting. At 10:30pm I suddenly got the urge to vacuum my family room. So, I moved practically everything out of the room (minus the T.V., couch, and recliner) and vacuumed. Then when I was done with that and got everything back into it's place I decided I needed to sit on the floor in front of my vertical blinds with the lint roller and extract all of the cat hair. When I was finished with that I thought I should probably check my email and go to bed, however while I was getting ready for bed I decided my toilets needed to be cleaned. So there I was at about 12:30am, scrubbing my toilets. I think that was the last cleaning thing that I did, so it could have been much worse. However, if you know me and my enthusiasm for cleaning, that was definitely out of the ordinary!

I'll keep you all posted as to when and if I spontaneously go into labor. But I'll know more for sure this Thursday because I have another doctor appointment so they can decide if they for sure want to induce me and when exactly they plan on doing it. Cross your fingers and say some prayers for me and Baby Girl Amen! I know I'll have a lot of support from a lot of different people...but I'll be leaning most on the strength I get from some very important people up Above. :)