She arrived February 22, 2013 at 1:37 pm without waiting for the doctor to arrive, even though I asked her nicely.  They broke my water this morning, to augment the 3 weeks of on again, off again contractions, but we didn't have to have anything else.  Labor went really well, up to the last hour where I went from almost a 5 to delivering while the nurses scrambled for gloves.  She weighed in at 8 lbs and 10 oz, and was 20 inches long.  In between Britt (20.5) and Ruth (19.5) in length, and outweighing them both.  She has dark hair, and what I think are dark blue eyes.  She nursed like a champ right off the bat.  She already "complains" more than the others, and always needs her fist in her mouth.  We've already discovered that she prefers to be held sideways  and doesn't particularly like to be up on your shoulder.  We are planning to leave the hospital just as soon as Gary and the kids get back from Church on Sunday.

I had another non-stress test this morning, and everything looked good.  We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers, but I'm not going to be posting any more updates on the pregnancy, or answering questions about it.  Of course we will let everyone know after the baby arrives, but the 45,000 messages a day asking if we are in labor yet, have we had the baby, how do I feel, are really unnecessary.  If we had the baby, you would know, we aren't going to wait a week to announce it.  Right now, we just want to relax and enjoy our little family until baby decides to arrive.  I still plan to help the kids post this week, but you won't be hearing from me again until our little surprise arrives.  Have a great week everyone!

Today marks 39 weeks.  I'm hoping to at least make it to the 14th.  I figure at worst Bro. Joe and Sis. Elin will only be on call for the one day until Mother and Daddy make it in around midnight - 2am on Friday night/Saturday morning.  There are tons of little things around the house that need doing, like cleaning out the fridge and the freezer, but the only big to do left on the list is to clean out the car, and put the baby's car seat in it.  We'll just probably throw it in the back for now, and not actually install it until the baby gets here.  After  all, as long as the baby isn't here, Mother can ride with us in our car, if we don't have the seat installed.  Besides, with as many times as we've had to put them in and take them out, and move them between cars, Gary is getting to be a pro at the car seat thing.  haha.

We are looking at a busy week, I need to do the laundry and clean house today.  It's Monday again after all.   We also, need to make a trip by the library, and probably do the grocery shopping again today.  Tomorrow, someone from First Steps is going to come out and do some paperwork and such so that we can get Ruth's "articulation and gait" evaluated.  On Friday I have my chiropractor appointment.  Mother and Daddy will be here by early on Saturday.  Busy, busy week.

My friend Miss. A who is newly pregnant with a long awaited little one, has been posting various Old Wives Tales on Wednesday for figuring out if you are carrying a boy or a girl.  I've been having a good time reading them and guessing.  I thought I might look check out and see what mine say.

The Chinese birth calender takes your age when you concieved to tell you what you will have.  It was wrong for Britt, but right for Ruth.  (There's proof of the 50/50 odds there.)  For this one it says girl.

The Mayan birth calender says to take your age at conception and the year you conceived and if both are even or odd then you are having a girl, if they are opposites then you are having a boy.  It was wrong on both accounts for us.  For this one it says boy.

Apparently when you ask a pregnant woman to show you her hands the way she hands them to you indicates boy or girl.  Palms up means girl and palms down means boy.  Similarly there is a test where you lay a key in front of a pregnant woman and ask her to pick it up.  If she reaches for the rounded end it's a girl, and if you reach for the narrow end it's a boy.  I don't know about these two, since I read it before I tried it.  :)

If your hands are always dry and need lotion then you are supposedly carrying a boy.  If that's true then this is definitely a boy.  However, I'm thinking the wind of an Indiana winter has way more to do with my dry hands, face, and chapped lips.  I don't recall dry hands being a problem with the last two.

There's another old wife tale where you dangle your wedding ring or a needle by a string and depending on if it swings in circle or back and forth it tells you boy or girl.  The only problem with this, is that it's almost impossible to tell how it's actually swinging.  So don't ask me what my results have been. haha.

If you're broken out then you are supposedly carrying a girl.  The story is that a girl steals all your beauty.  But like the morning sickness predictor it might be related to higher hormone levels that are usually seen with women pregnant with girls.  I wouldn't know about this one, since I'm broke out all the time anyway... it's one of the perks of being a red head.  But I guess we'll say girl.

The next one is based on the heart rate during pregnancy.  If the fetal heart rate is above 140 it's suppose to be a girl, and if it's less it's suppose to be a boy.  Of course as my mother will point out, my heart rate was in the 130s her entire pregnancy, and the doctors assured her several times I would be a boy - that was pre-ultrasounds.  Britt's heart rates were almost always in the 160s and Ruth's were always in the 150s and 160s as well.  So that one is another 50/50.  This one has been in mostly in the 130s and low 140s, so I guess it could go either way, but we'll say boy

There are two tales about how you are carrying baby that indicates gender.  One is if you are carrying low it's a boy, and high it's a girl.  Or if your weight is mostly in front it's a boy and if it's more in the middle or spread around (think hips, backside, etc) it's a girl.  That one was more spot on for our two.  With Britt he sat lower and the weight was all out front.  With Ruth it was more spread around, and much higher than Britt.  With this one all my weight is low and out front.

Another old wife tale relates to your cravings.  If you crave sweet food then it's a girl, if you crave salty or sour stuff it's a boy.  I craved sweets with both of the other kids, but want nothing but salty tortilla chips with this one.  So it's another 50/50 predictor, but says boy this time.

Then of course there is the old morning sickness predictor.  More sever morning sickness indicates a girl.  I can say that was true with both of mine.  Britt I was only sick for the first 20 weeks, with Ruth I was sick the day she was born.  Not sure what to think about that this time around.  I had morning sickness about 12 weeks, then it went away.  Then it came back the third trimester, and I've had it off and on since.  Maybe since it's not been so bad, it means boy?

Finally there's the Drano test that alot of people swear by, and is actually based in some science.  I'm not going into the details with that though.  My aunt told me about it with our first, and she had never heard of anyone doing it, and getting the "wrong answer" of course I got girl with it for Britt, and didn't try it the last time.  To be most accurate you have to do it after 4 months but before 25 or 30 weeks.  So I'm not doing it this go round either.

According to the tally our chances are 6 for boy 2 for girl.  Gary has been guessing boy most of this pregnancy. Britt has waffled back and forth, but is currently saying brother.  Even over the last month Ruth has insisted that it's a "boy baby."  As much as I would like another boy, I'm still thinking girl, but then I thought the last two were girls.  I guess I won't have to wait too much longer to see how many of these are right this time around, since we only have 2 more weeks to go.  At today's appointment the heart rate was 136, and I was only up a half a pound (go me).  No dilation or effacement, so I feel MUCH, MUCH better about Gary being gone over the weekend to his interview.

I guess I really do have to pack my hospital bag.  I've been putting it off, to be honest, I've kinda forgotten what's suppose to go in it.  Besides as long as it isn't packed, I won't need it right?  Speaking of the hospital, I had an interesting conversation with one of the nurses who was working when we went in for the tour to check out the birthing suites.  She asked questions about what we preferred during labor, and how my previous two labors had been.  After a little bit she said, you really are a red head aren't you?  We talked a few more minutes and I learned a few things I didn't realize.

I've always heard that science has shown that we are more sensitive to drugs - that we are more likely to hallucinate when they knock us out, and yet most red heads need about 20% more anesthesia.  (Which explains why the novocaine at the dentist and the lidocaine after birth, never has really helped me at all.)  Additionally anesthesiologists have scientifically proven that red heads have lower pain tolerance levels than the general population. I knew that the red gene is a mutation of the blond gene, and something about that particular gene makes you more likely to develop various skin cancers and other inflammatory diseases (even if you aren't as pale as most of us are).  I also knew that we are more likely to have low iron and bleed heavily when cut, during periods, and hemorrhage during surgeries (hence the doctor wanting to up my iron before birth).  This also accounts for why we bruise excessively and never know why.  Gary has occasionally lamented that people probably wonders if he beats me, with my supply of weird bruises.

However, I learned a few interesting things from the nurse.  Apparently we also have quicker labors, and that might be related to the hemorrhaging during labor in that the uterus is more elastic meaning it contracts alot, but doesn't contract down as quickly.  Also, we are more likely to have endometriosis and experience complications from several different drugs used in labor.  She also told me that we produce more vitamin D from the sun than the general population, and are more susceptible to both heat stroke and the cold.  I had never heard this before, so I came home and did some research, and discovered that the mutation in the blond gene I have heard about is mostly true.  Officially it is a mutation in the melanocortin 1 receptor gene, or MC1R, and because it's rare and isolated lots of study has been done.  Science has proven several of these interesting facts, and several other studies have shown correlations that with more study might connect the remaining "facts."  It's really amazing, as I assumed alot of these things were just old wives tales about red heads.  In fact, my mother has warned me if we have a red headed child to expect unwanted people coming up to rub their heads, that some tale considered it "lucky" and people did it to Matthew as a child all the time.

Additionally the nurse mentioned that red heads are on the decline.  Only 2% of the world's population has red hair.  (Scotland ranks highest with 13% of their population.)  But because red hair isn't a gene, but a mutation of a gene it's not passed on at the same rate that other hair colors are, and by marrying non-red heads the mutation is slowly leaving the gene pool.  Some scientist estimate that there will be no more red heads by 2060.  That seems a little far fetched, but it's amazing what all you can learn from labor nurses that is basically not related to giving birth at all.  However, one thing science has not proven... that our tempers are actually any more fiery than anyone else's.

Now that you've had your fun science facts for today, I suppose I should get around to actually sharing the information I got at my doctor's appointments.  First off I had an ultrasound on Friday, because they thought I might have excess amniotic fluid.  We've never had an ultrasound so late in pregnancy before.  It was different, because no mater how they zoom out and position the thing, you can't fit all of baby in one shot.  They couldn't even fit all of the stomach in one shot.  We are in the 95% for fluid, but nothing excessive.  The heart rate was 144, and everything looked pretty routine.  Today I actually went back and saw the doctor.  Nothing new to report, though we were very surprised to find a heart rate of 124, she thought surely that was wrong, and got a new doppler, since it's alot lower than it's been, but the second doppler reported the same.  We both agreed that we hope that we don't go into labor with Gary gone, but it could be any day now.  Ruth was 20 days early - that would be like having this one tomorrow.  If we were to go over, we've talked about a possible induction on the 22nd, just so I can make some plans toward that end.

Less than a month till our due date.  This past week I've been working like crazy to catch up on all the stuff that we haven't actually done yet.  I'm started to wonder what I have been doing for the last 8 months.  Monday we had our doctor's appointment, baby had a heart rate of 130, and everything looked great in the office.  They asked me to start taking an iron supplement since my iron was at the low end of normal.  One of the perks to being a red-head is that you are more likely to bleed heavily, so to be on the safe side they want my iron count up at the high end.  So, after my doctor's appointment we took a trip to CVS for iron, and a host of other stuff to get ready for labor, the only thing I haven't found yet is my red raspberry leaf tea.  I then  had an appointment to see the chiropractor, and that helped immensely.  I almost couldn't walk or stand up straight after the car ride down and back.  I hope I don't have any more pregnancies with this SPD because it's miserable.