INTRODUCING....

Asher Scott Lein arrived at 6:10 p.m. on Friday, June 20th, 2008. He weighed in at 7lbs 7 ounces and measured 19 inches. He is absolutely beautiful and the whole experience has been truly amazing. I can't even begin to tell you the number of prayers that were answered this week in our little man's birth story. I'll have to save that for another day when we're not so tired. Enjoy the picture's for now and I'll fill you in on the rest later. Thanks to all for the calls and prayers, we appreciate all the love and support. Feel free to come visit, just be sure to call first. And now, for the pictures you've all been waiting for....

June 16th, Our Due Date

In the words of Tom Petty...

....the waiting is the hardest part.

We've packed our bags and filled out everything we can in the baby book. The relaxing mixed CD's have been made and my focal point picture has been chosen. The bags are in the car, along with a sleeping bag for extra comfort for Kyle, and of course we have the car seat installed. All the little socks and outfits, blankets and bedding have been washed in baby detergent and folded and put in their place.

Our laundry is caught up and the spare room has been made up for the guests that will be arriving. We have a point person ready to send out the mass text message to our friends when our bundle of joy arrives. I'm carrying my camera and two sets of batteries in my purse everywhere I go, and my mom and sister have started to get jumpy when they see my number on their caller ID. Kyle never turns off his phone, and he carries his stopwatch 24/7.

My last day of work will be Monday, June 16th. My official due date. My shower thank you's have been sent (finally) and we even have a pediatrician. Now all we need is that baby!

I've been blessed with a pretty painless pregnancy. Sure I had my complaints and tough moments, but overall I couldn't have asked for anything better. So it's not out of pain, discomfort, or even exhaustion that I can't wait for it to be over. It's the unknown, the uncertainty of when and how it will happen. And Kyle and I just can't wait to meet our little man, hold him in our arms, and love on him like crazy.

And that is why the days pass so slowly and I can't get Tom Petty out of my head.

End in sight...

There is a definate end in sight now. My due date is less than a week away and my doctor won't let me go much longer than a week after that. So either way, there will be a baby in about two weeks, give or take. I pray I don't have to be induced...

Well, I gained back that pound I lost but I'm not overly devastated. I've gained about 39 lbs total and now my belly is 39 centimeters up and down. Notice I said centimeters, not inches. I think in all my past posts I've said inches. Thank goodness it's centimeters!! My word!

No one thinks that the baby has really dropped any yet, but somehow the waistband on all my pants is getting ruined. The belly juts out so abruptly that the band gets folded over. I'm afraid on my weaker pairs, I may not get a second baby's worth of wear!

And I would walk five hundred miles...

Well, I missed my day in the baby pool at work. It chose yesterday, and it would've made sense from the way my day went. But alas, still no baby boy.

I started off the day with a trip to the doctor. Normally I go to the East Clinic but yesterday I had to go to the hosital. For those of you who don't know, St Mary's is under major construction and I'm a bit challenged when it comes to navigating that part of town. So I parked where the signs sort of told me to, even though my gut was telling me it was wrong. Should've went with the gut feeling because I ended up walking about 5 blocks to the hospital entrance, through the construction, and among the hard hat clad workers. None of whom whistled or made any flattering comments toward me. Hmmmm.....

I finally made it to the doctor's office and I was tired, hot, and crabby. Did I mention it was already in the seventies at 9:00 in the morning? I told the doctor about my long hike and her unsympathetic response was "well good, maybe that'll put you into labor". Let me tell you, that would've made it all worth it. But it was not his time I guess.

There was an upside to this appointment though; I may have gained another inch up and down my belly (now I'm 37.5) but I lost 1.1 lbs! And don't say it was probably the walk! There is no more room for food in the half/whole basketball.

After the hospital ordeal, I went to work only to have people staring at me all day as if I may burst into labor at any moment. I think they thought I had some mother's intuition about the day I picked in the pool. But really I just picked that day because Kyle had a double-header in softball and was so excited about it, that it seemed the most Murphy's law-ish day to choose.

Yep, that's right, you heard me. Last night we had a double header in softball. Yes, I went to both games. Yes, it rained almost the entire time. And yes, they locked the nasty park bathrooms so preggos like me had to use the even nastier port-a-potty. But all in all it was a really fun night. Kyle got his second home run of the season, and we even won our last game!

So after all that walking at the hospital, trudging to and from the ballfield, eating extra Cholula sauce at Taco John's, and making myself as exhausted as could be, still no baby boy. I suppose it's for the best, I may have been too exhausted to even get in the car to make the mad dash to town.

Full Size Basketball?

Tomorrow I'll be 38 weeks along. Wow, that's amazing! I just looked at the little ticker at the top of the screen here and it says only 15 days to go. Shocking. All week I've been wanting the baby to come NOW but when I read that, 15 days doesn't seem so long! I feel so anxious for him to get here and so unprepared at the same time. Good thing he'll come on his own time, otherwise I'd never be able to decide if I was ready or not.

This week has been pretty uneventful. On Tuesday at my doctor's appointment, I weighed in at 38.5 lbs gained and she measured me at 36.5 inches up and down the belly. At home, Kyle measured me at 41 inches around the belly. I'm not sure how big a basketball is, but I'm pretty sure I've got one under my shirt. Just take a look at this picture taken minutes ago:

When I look in the mirror it really doesn't look this big! And Kyle says that it's only about half a basketball, so we'll go with his description because it's better.

The last few days have been draining since I caught a nasty cold at work. Sore throat and stuffy nose....no fun. Hopefully that will go away before baby comes.

As for excitement this week, we packed our hospital bags and wrote out our birth plan. Kyle's bag mostly contains snacks, which is a good thing. He can get pretty crabby when he's hungry! Also, I decided to take the next two wednesdays off of work so I can get more rest and then Friday the 13th will be my last day, even if the baby hasn't come yet. Yay! The countdown begins!! =) Kyle is convinced little man is coming this week though, so it may be even sooner than that. We'll keep you posted!