Welcome to the World, Grace Catherine

So we had what turned out to be our FINAL check-up on December 23rd. They did a non-stress test for what seemed like forever. Overall, everything looked great! Grace was ready to come, so we schedule an induction for that night.
We went home, packed our bags and ate dinner. Then before we knew it, we were on our way back to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at 8:45pm on 12-23. We were checked in and put in our birthing suite room. At about 10:30 an IV was inserted and Pitocin was started. They started it at a very low dose and I felt fine. A little bit of pressure of now and then, but nothing major. They came in about every hour to up the dosage. Around 5am I was still only at 3cm. I was beginning to think Grace was never coming. It was also around this time that the contractions became extremely strong and right on top of each other.
At 8:00 am 12-24, I couldn't handle the strength of the contractions anymore and opted for the epidural. I had not slept at all up to this point because of the contractions. At 8:15am I was being given my epidural. I made 10 hours without one, I was happy about that. The epidural was a godsend. I was able to rest a little after that. At 8:30am I was checked again and was 4.5cm dilated and 80% effaced. By 9:30am I reached 6cm and was officially 100% effaced, -1 (which means the baby's head is 1cm outside the pelvis.) We were excited to hear it wouldn't be too much longer. I decided to try to nap since I was going to have to start pushing soon. My doctor and nurse went to lunch and said they'd check me when they got back. 1:00pm I was 10cm, 100% effaced and -2. We started pushing at 1:20. About 5 pushes later and Grace had arrived. 1:32pm Christmas Eve, was when she joined us! John got to assist in the whole delivery. Once I pushed her shoulders out I was able to reach down and pull her the rest of the way out and straight to my chest. It was the most amazing moment ever. She is absolutely beautiful. She was 7lbs 6oz, 19.5 inches long with a 33cm head. She had a full head of dark hair. She has full pouty lips, big brown eyes (for now), Mommy's nose and Daddy's chin.
We are so excited to finally have her with us. She is our dream come true.

Pictures to follow soon.

Getting ready

So we had our latest visit today. Doctor had us hooked up to the
fetal monitors for a little while doing a non-stress test. Everything
is looking good. So now we're at the hospital waiting for Grace to
arrive. Hopefully that will be soon. : )
We'll keep everyone updated!

Jenn Neumann

Not much new...

We had our dr appointment on Friday, there wasn't much to report. I'm still 3cm dilated, but Grace has dropped a lot. So really we're still playing the waiting game. I'm officially off of work til April now & John is done with classes for the quarter! YAY! We go back to the dr on Wednesday, the 23rd. We are 8 days away from our due date. EXCITING...but I was hoping she'd make her appearance before Christmas. So far, it doesn't seem as though she's going to.

I'll keep everyone posted with the news when she arrives!

Picture update

37 weeks

Baby Update!

We went for our latest checkup today. Everything went well, John had much more luck with the doppler today. Grace was much more cooperative. He was able to find her easier and listen to her heartbeat. It was very exciting for him. We also found out that I am 3cm dilated now! So it really is a matter of, us waiting on her. Dr Jones kept telling us we have her number, she'll be waiting for our call. Her cell phone and pager will be on her all weekend. Everyone seems to be ready for her to be here. I'm more nervous than ready, but I'm sure that's all normal. We're still predicting her to be on the smaller side weight-wise. (Which doesn't make me feel great about the 50lbs I've gained) : )
All in all, that's really all that was reported today. I'll keep everyone in the loop; if we end up with exciting news before our next appointment next Friday.
Stay warm!

More pictures

33 weeks


35 weeks


36 weeks

Whenever you're ready...

36 weeks...it's gone so fast. I can't believe it. I have moments where I'm ready to be done, and others where I can't imagine not feeling her move all the time. Last week we had our first weekly appointment. It went well. Uncomfortable, but good. Last week I was 1 cm dilated but not thinning at all. So we were started, but nothing to get excited about.
We had a great Thanksgiving with both families. Lots of food (not that I need another excuse to eat) and fun with family. I had some spotting and such throughout the weekend, but didn't think much of it.
Then today we had another appointment and while I'm still only about 1 cm, I am 50% effaced! That's big in one week! My doctor said I should try to stay within an hour of the hospital, just in case. Everyone keeps thinking I'm going to go early, but we'll see. Like I said, I can't wait for her to be here; to meet her and hold her, but I'm gonna miss her movements and hiccups. John got to use the doppler to listen to her heartbeat today at our appointment. But he didn't have much luck. She was a bit of a brat. Everytime he moved it to find her, she would move again. So the doctor ended up doing it and there she was, she still tried to move away, but she wouldn't let her. : ) The doctor said that spotting last week was the lining thinning. So we were told anytime she's ready at this point. She could be here anytime now. So, we're nervous, excited and every emotion possible all at once.
We're still guessing that she's a little over 5lbs. So she's still smaller, but it's only an estimate of course. Not that I'm complaining about a small baby. : )

Ultrasound Pictures

1st trimester ultrasound


2nd trimester ultrasound


2nd trimester ultrasound

Can you believe...

we have slightly over a month left! I just logged into the blog and looked at the ticker to realize we have roughly 36 days left til Gracie's due date!! I can't believe it! Time has really flown. Thanksgiving is in 2 days! We officially start our WEEKLY appointments this week! We only have like 4 appointments left. I feel like I have so much to do still. I'm starting to get nervous about her being here. I'm super excited that I'll have so much time to spend with her though! I definitely can't wait for that. She has started moving into positions that make my belly stick out funny. I tried to roll over the other night from one side to the other and the way she had her little feet sticking out made it impossible for me to change sides. I tried pushing on her feet, she wasn't budging. She decided she was comfortable and that's all there was to it! While I can't wait to meet her, I'm definitely going to miss being pregnant. I've loved every part of it. I'm definitely not ready to give up feeling her move and have the hiccups all the time. That will be what I miss the most. But having her here to hold will make up for it. : )
John and I are hoping to get some pictures taken, and we'll try to find the time to put them up here. Along, with her latest ultrasound. I'll update with new news after our appointment on Wednesday!

33 weeks....7 weeks to go!

3rd Trimester Ultrasound!

We went today for our final ultrasound. We got so see Grace's eyes open and close along with her mouth too. She's already talking back. She's the ready to go position and is weighing in at 5 lbs. She kept putting her hand under her chin like she was posing for the pictures. We were also informed that she is DEFINITELY a girl. Good thing otherwise we'd have a little boy wearing pink and purple! : )
We have our last 2 week appointment next Wednesday. Then we'll be seeing the doctor every week! It's so hard to believe that I'm already at that point. We have barely over a month to go. It was absolutely amazing to see her today. She's definitely going to be a little spoiled princess. John got so watch her heartbeat and he couldn't get over it. It is such an amazing process everytime we hear her or feel her we're just in awe.

More Pics....

15 weeks





16 weeks








17 weeks

Much Needed Pictures!

Grace's crib and changing table with all of her bedding. I'll try to post more pics that have been requested later.

A much needed update

So it's been awhile since we updated this...sorry about that. Things
have been quite hectic on our end.
Well we had our baby shower on the 24th. A lot of people came out in
the icky cold, rainy weather we has that day. We had a lot of fun and
really appreciated all the people that joined us that day. Grace got
A LOT of stuff that day. We couldn't be more grateful to all of our
loving family and friends, Grace will definitely know how loved she is.
We also had our latest doctor appointment last Monday. Again we got
nothing but good news for our little Gracie. She's right on schedule
so far. She certainly is active and like to let mommy get comfy then
start her kickboxing training, which is always a good time at 2 in the
morning. I'm definitely swelling more now in all my joints, which
sometimes makes it hard for me to move around. The fun part is not
only can I not wear my gym shoes, but washing dishes is quite the task
now too. I've officially gained 30 lbs so far, not sure how I'm
feeling about that, as long as Grace is healthy that's all that
matters to me right now.
I promise I will try to keep this updated better. We have our next
appt on the 11th, so I am going to try to update again then with
anything we see, hear or otherwise then.
We Love you all. Thank you so much for all your love and support.

The countdown continues!

We're reaching the home stretch here! : ) It's gone so fast, at least most of the time it seems that way. So we got some good news the other day, my gestational diabetes test came back negative! Well the second test came back negative. I had to do the 4 hour test, which was definitely NOT fun! Our shower is coming up, which is super exciting! We can't wait to see what Baby Grace is gonna get. Other than that it's been pretty uneventful. Which is good! She's very active and we battle periodically throughout the day. She's trying to push out of my stomach, while I have to push on my stomach. It's so weird to see sometimes.

26 weeks down, only 14 to go!

It's hard to believe that we're getting into our 3rd trimester now! We officially start seeing the dr every 2 weeks now. (TIME FLIES!) I'm at work, and unfortunately have to keep cutting my workload down. The spotting has lessened but unfortunately, I've got swelling that's pretty bad down my right leg. So I have to take it easy. The good news is that Grace is doing good. She has quite a strong kick and head butt. Her heartbeat is also very strong. At my next appointment I will have my gestational diabetes test, which will be so much fun of course. I have gained 14 lbs total. Most of which has really been in the last 2 months!! So will about three months left, it's going to be exciting.
The date is set for our shower; Oct. 24th and the invitations for our shower have gone out. So pretty much everything for that is set, we just have to order food. Which will obviously have to wait until we have an idea of how many people are coming. Our registry is ready and up to date. (Babies R Us & Wal-Mart.)
I'll probably have more frequent updates with my appointments being closer together now.

The good news is.....

everything is good with baby Grace, and I can still work. The bad news is I'm still spotting. They're hoping that the placenta continues to travel upwards and the spotting will stop. I have to take it easy as much as possible, which working with Autistic kids, you can guess how easy that is. : )
I gained 8 lbs since my last appointment which everyone was happy to hear! (Except me of course.) Grace is definitely an active little thing! She is constantly moving around in there. We go back and see the dr on September 21st. And we're hoping that things are low-key until then!
We officially have a date for our baby shower now, it is going to be on October 24th from 12:30 to 3:30. Invites should be going out soon.
Other than that, I'm pretty sure that's all that's been going on in our life. (Baby-wise that is).
Of course we'll keep you updated with any spectacular news that may come up.
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Stress-free weekend followed by a STRESSFUL day!

So this past weekend we went camping and had a nice relaxing weekend before the school year starts back up on Wednesday.

We got back from camping on Sunday night, I had a horrible pain in my left side. At about dinner time I ended up with a decent amount of spotting. I waited til Monday morning and the spotting was still there. I had been feeling Baby Grace move all weekend, but I wasn't feeling anything yesterday. I called my dr and was told to go to L&D for an evalution. Because of the low-lying placenta they think that's what was causing the spotting. The pain could have been caused by a mountain of things. The hooked me up to the monitors and right away we could hear the heartbeat. It was an enormous relief. Of course then she was moving like crazy! They did an ultrasound and things looked good. So after a urine sample they discharged me and sent us home. I have been told to relax until next Monday (which is when we go back for a check-up with the dr). Only problem is that I'm supposed to go back to work on Wednesday. So we'll see how that all goes. Today is a day of bedrest though. Which is a little boring already, but whatever it takes to make sure everything's ok. : ) I'll keep everyone updated with anything else that comes up.
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20 week update!!

John and I went for our 20 week ultrasound yesterday morning. The baby is looking very good. And we found out we're having a GIRL!! We are very excited to know that the baby is doing well.
I had to go today for a 2nd ultrasound because the tech forgot to look at something. It turns out that I have a low-lying placenta. It's nothing serious though. I will go back at about 30ish weeks to have another ultrasound to see where the placenta is. 9 times out of 10 it moves before 30 weeks. I will be going back to see my doctor on the 24th, where she will give me more information. Otherwise everything is looking good. Baby's measuring perfectly. She is very active, and apparently doesn't like to have her picture taken. She also has a great right and left hook. We got to watch her punch my insides like she was a pro boxer. In the pictures they gave us you can see her little arms and legs and her lips and nose. They showed us a view that you could see her whole face, although they didn't give us a copy of that one. It was surreal to look at the pictures from our 10 week ultrasound and compare them to the pictures from yesterday. Hard to believe that in those 10 weeks you can actually see a human being in my belly. It's almost as equally hard to believe that I am halfway through this pregnancy.
I have started feeling little movements which is very weird, but amazing at the same time.
We are looking at early November for our baby shower. I think that about updates the last couple weeks! :)

Hopefully by the end of December we will welcome Baby Grace Catherine Neumann into our family!

17 weeks down....lots more to go

So we went to the dr again on Monday and everything is looking good. We have a super active baby on our hands. He/She kept moving from the doppler (which allows us to listen to the heartbeat.) Everytime the doctor would find the heartbeat Baby N would quickly move in another direction. At first he/she was kicking at the doppler which also makes it difficult to hear the heartbeat. But once we finally were able to listen all was going well. The heartbeat was very strong, it was about 150bpm. :)
We were also given our paperwork to make our appointment for our 20 week ultrasound. We are going on Monday, August 10th at 7:45am! :) Hopefully our active little peanut will cooperate for Mommy and Daddy and we'll get to announce whether we're having a boy or girl. We will also announce to everyone our little peanuts name. I'm so excited!! :) We're almost halfway done. Hard to believe.
Other than the sometimes excruciating back pain that I have, which fun fun is normal, everything is going great. I will try to update more often. I'm still not feeling a whole lot. Little things every now and again, but nothing consistent.
Check back soon for more updates. :)

So we're gonna have a baby!

The title of this post pretty much says it all! We're having a baby!! I'm about 15 weeks along. Glad to be out of the first trimester and done with the nausea. I'm feeling good, exhausted all the time but overall, feeling good.
For those of you wondering; yes I am showing. Thought it seemed a hair early to me to be showing already, my doctor says its not, and was sad to see I only gained a pound from my last appointment. (I on the other hand was not!)

We had our first ultrasound at about 10 weeks. We got to hear the extremely fast heartbeat; 171 bpm, and we got to see what looked like a blob on the screen. :) At our last appointment we heard the heartbeat again, but this time we were able to record it! So now we can listen to it whenever we want which is fantastic! We are seeing the doctor every 4 weeks for now. At our next appointment we will schedule our 20 week ultrasound which is when we will hopefully get to find out if we're having a boy or girl. We should be able to post those ultrasound pictures at that time.

John is still recovering from his back surgery and going to school. He has less than a year of school left! YAY!!!!!!! Other than that; there's not much else going on right now. I'm working summer school, which is thankfully almost done! Then I will have a few weeks of R&R before the regular school year starts up.

That's all I've got for now for updates! TTFN!!