New Week, New News

In this case, the title implies good news. No, this update is not coming from the hospital, although if it were, Little Giant Baby Nyla would have arrived already, because there's no way I would blog while Ginny was in labor, despite the fact that I really think it would be fun to do. (By the way, I think that last sentence was not a run-on. Grammar folks, let me know.) Anyway, Ginny has had a good weekend. Despite an episode Friday night, she slept well and had an almost pain-free Saturday. She had no terrible pain, just some dull pain here and there. Last night was a bit uncomfortable for her with some hip/leg pain, but nothing remotely close to earlier in the week. Today? Another good day, so I think this means she's turned a corner. Perhaps it really was the UTI giving her terrible pain all along, since she finishes her antibiotics tonight. Still, she has another appointment with the physical therapist tomorrow, where she'll get her hip worked on again. Thursday afternoon is a regular appointment with her usual doctor, at which point Ginny will pretty much tell the doctor that Little Giant Baby Nyla has to come out whether she wants to or not. Then again, Nyla may decide tomorrow that she would love to see the world. In either case, I cannot wait to hold her.

Today, our wonderful church family threw the final shower for our soon-to-be family of three. Let me tell you, we are extremely blessed that we have had four showers and Nyla has gotten a lot of stuff. Nyla has gotten a number of outfits, bottles, diapers, towels, and many other items that babies need. Hopefully soon we will post some pictures of her room, since all of her stuff is more or less here now.

That is all for now. We're praying Ginny continues to feel good, and that Little Giant Baby Nyla will come soon, strong, cute, and healthy!

-D

Sometimes Pregnancy is a Pain in the Back

The one thing I am sure of is that this is Friday. Two of the things I have learned to be thankful for (or additionally thankful for) are a) the opportunity to work from home; and b) bosses who are very understanding of personal situations. I am also thankful for the nice lady with AT&T DSL Support who finally was able to solve our lack of DSL problem before I became a permanent wi-fi thief switched to that other internet provider. In actuality, today has been a series of small victories at Casa Gafforda.

Yesterday was another painful day for my beloved bride. She had some serious pain from 4:30 to 8:00 in the morning. That prompted her to make an appointment with her doctor. Her regular doctor is out of town, the one we saw in the hospital and on Tuesday was not in the office, so we saw another doctor in the practice (tip for all those who want to become moms: pick a practice with several doctors, because it makes a big difference). The absent doctors turned out to be a blessing. The doctor we saw did the examination (no change, a "generous" 2 cm dilated). Ginny began describing the pain, and the doctor said, "Hold on a minute, let me call my son who's a physical therapist." Well, 15 minutes later we were off to his office. Around 3:30, he got around to Ginny and spent some time talking with her and figuring out her pain. As it turns out, her left hip is, for lack of better terms, slightly twisted and turned up. I'm sure there's a better phrase, but I'm just a blogger. Anyway, he did a few stretches and massaged her hip area. She immediately felt better. She still had another bad episode later in the evening, but she had a pain-free night of sleep. Today has been the best day out of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Her pain spells, generally speaking, have been shorter and not as intense (although as I type this she is going through a pretty rough one). As a spectator, I feel absolutely helpless knowing I cannot make her pain go away. She just has to ride it out.

We have another physical therapy appointment Monday, so we'll get some more stretches and exercises she can do. We also see her regular doctor Thursday, at which point Ginny will beg, plead, and attempt to get Little Giant Baby Nyla out as soon as possible. Until then, she'll fight through the pain; I'll attempt to be the best massuse in the world; and Little Giant Baby will probably just sit there, not wanting to move.

-D

And The Hits Just Keep on Coming

The saga continues... let's pick up where we left off. Monday night was a good night for all three of us. Ginny had little pain, and we both got a quality night's sleep. I did some work from home Tuesday in case Ginny had more pain. Fortunately, she felt better than Monday, and her doctor visit went well. Unfortunately, at around 8:00 last night, she had another spell of sharp pains that lasted for about an hour. She was able to fall asleep, only to wake up around 12:15 with more terrible, piercing pain in her lower back. She moved to our couch in the den, and I sat next to her until she finally dozed off to sleep. Of course I got little sleep, but I was not going to leave her like that. I managed to make it through the day at work (thanks in part to the heroics of Landon Donovan), and she did fairly well today. She had another hour-long spell this afternoon, but eventually she falls asleep for a little bit and wakes up feeling better.

We're starting to suspect, as do some of our family, that she is having back labor pains. While one might think that is good and means Little Giant Baby Nyla is almost here, on the contrary, these pains can last for weeks. In other words, if Nyla comes on her scheduled due date, well, it will be a long 4 weeks.

Ginny is such a trooper, though. She's dealt with these episodes very well. I'm just praying (and asking for you to as well) that this pain goes away, or that Little Giant Baby Nyla decides she's ready to see the real world.

With that, I'm out!

-D

It's Been a Looooooong 24 Hours

Good Monday afternoon, our readers, at least I sure hope it is Monday afternoon, because quite frankly, the last 24 hours have been long, tiring, and a little scary.

Let's get to the good news - Baby Nyla is still cooking and still kicking. With that out of the way, our story begins last night. We had just finished up a nice dinner with Ginny's parents and sister as well as my mom and brother. Around 7:30, Ginny all of a sudden felt a sharp pain in her back. She immediately sat down on the couch with an ice pack. The pain progressively got worse. Around 8:30, after my scurrying around to pack up a suitcase for the both of us, we set out for the hospital. I have to say, after Ginny went back to get examined, the 20 minutes I had to sit and wait in the waiting room before being called back were not fun. After finally getting called back to see her, she said, "I'm in labor. I'm 1 cm dilated." Wow. At this point, I'm preparing myself for a long night of labor. BUT not so fast, my friend. 1 cm dilated was it. No water break, and Baby Nyla was still up high. After an hour, Ginny was discharged with instructions to come back if the pain increased, her water broke, or a couple of other "women" symptoms. Oh yeah, she got 10 mg of Ambien to take to help her sleep. All would be good now, right?

WRONG! At about 2:30, she wakes me up (after sleeping for all of 45 minutes), and the pain is worse. On the road again to the hospital. This time, she is now 2 cm dilated. Ok, so we're progressing well. Still no water break, and Nyla is still riding high. (She also is such a wiggle worm or rebel, because the nurses had to move their heartbeat-sensor 3 or 4 times to find a place where her heartbeat was detected.) The pain is still intense, and Ginny is so, so uncomfortable. She finally got some pain medication and was able to grab a nap. One of the doctors in her OB/GYN group (not the one she sees but one in the practice) walks in, tells her she is going home, and that she is getting some antibiotics. As it turns out, she has a urinary tract infection. That would explain the terrible pain in the lower back and the nausea.

After sleeping for much of the day, I am extremely happy and thankful to report that Ginny is doing much better. She's gradually been getting down some fluids, sitting up in the den on the couch, and snacking on that delicious snack of Saltines. Again, to reiterate, Baby Nyla is still in there, still kicking, and still being persnickety when it comes to finding out where she is.

So to recap, we had a false alarm but got good practice on packing up and heading out. Ginny has a UTI. Baby is still cooking. And Ginny is 2 cm dilated. So it looks like we're really heading down the home stretch. Let's hope we don't have to go through another night like last night!

Continue to pray for Ginny and Nyla. G has been in a lot of pain the last 24 hours but is improving. And Nyla's little heartbeat (when they can find it!) is strong.

Long post, but a lot has happened. And if there are any grammar errors or missing words, I blame it on the 90 minutes of sleep I've gotten in the last 30 hours.

-D

New Beginnings

Hello, dear readers. D here again, ready to take you through another post. This post is brought to you today by the letters H, O, and T. We have been stuck in a pattern of heat and humidity. While that is status quo for us here in the South, the last two weeks have been a bit much. I guess this is just my punishment for making fun of Al Gore on Twitter one of those heat waves that comes around every so often. The heat has been especially tough on Ginny, but she has been a trooper and coped well. The lower back and leg pain bothers her more, but with only 4 weeks and a couple of days until splashdown, she's in the home stretch.

As for the title of this post, I am writing this from the love-seat in the den of our house! Although we had been taking about 5 boxes over here each day for the last week, today we moved the majority of our belongings from the apartment. We began at 7 am sharp and ended at 11 am (almost sharp). We hit our goal end time, which was great given that I lost about 10 pounds of water weight in the process and smelled like a high school locker room. We had a tremendous amount of help, for which Ginny and I are so very thankful. Mom, Ma'am, Andrew, Erin, Emily, Seth, Patsy, Mike, and our truck and trailer man Michael all chipped in, which was good, because frankly there's no way Ginny could have moved the washer and dryer down the stairs by herself. (Note to all, she was forbidden from carrying any box.)

Ginny will be along with pictures at some point I'm sure, but right now she's a little preoccupied with boxes, baby, and taking it easy. She'll be 36 weeks Monday and starts her once-a-week appointments, too. Little Giant Baby Nyla is almost here; her room is ready; and I'm ready to live blog from the delivery room welcome her into my arms and family.

Until next time, remember, drink lots of water and stay cool!

-D

On Baby Showers and Houses

Well, dear readers, your friend Daniel is back to captain this post on a Sunday morning. Ginny is still asleep, and I'm awake.

As Ginny's last post explained, we have become homeowners. Work is progressing nicely on the house, and the professional work should be completed this Wednesday, at which point the non-professionals (yours truly and whoever else I can get to work for free), will come in to finish the painting of the hall and master bedroom. Note to all married women, if you don't want to help move, paint, and do a lot of work for the house, get pregnant. Anyway, we plan to move in two weekends from now, which is the weekend of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Not ideal, I know, but the tournament is at Pebble Beach on the left coast, meaning a later start and finish to coverage. Both of us are excited to get into our own place, and Nyla is especially excited to have her own room, at least that what I would imagine.

Speaking of Nyla, Ginny and the Giant Baby Nyla will be 34 weeks Monday. 6 weeks until the due date... wow! At the 32-week appointment, Ginny's belly measured 34 weeks. Our little girl continues to be above average (I never had any doubt of course). At 28 weeks, her weight was estimated at 3 lbs 1 oz. By this point, babies gain about an ounce a day, so if you figure one ounce gained per day for 6 weeks, that's 42 days --> 42 ounces, or 2 lbs 10 oz. So she is already at 5 pounds 11 oz, give or take a few ounces. Of course, with Ginny continuing to measure ahead, she could be larger. Watching Nyla move around in Ginny's belly is pretty cool. It never fails that every night, when we get in bed to read, the wave pool in her belly starts. What she does in there I have no idea. I imagine she's working on her jump shot or backswing.

Anyway, the last two days Nyla has been spoiled rotten, first my co-workers Friday, then my family and friends yesterday. Better for other people to spoil her than me though. I'm sure G will be along later with some pictures of her room and goodies we have received.

While we're on the topic of showers, can I just say that being the one to open the presents is a big responsibility? Both Friday and Saturday, I would open the presents and show the gift off for all to see. The problem? Several times, the clothes were either backwards, upside down, or some other variation. I had better figure out how they go on before I try and put Nyla's head through a pants leg. I'm sure she'll let me know if I'm doing something wrong!

That's all for now. We'll try and keep this updated a little better. We have been busy with doctor visits, house searches, and trying to stop the Gulf oil spill. (Ok, that last one isn't true, but I wouldn't have to work ever again if I could be the one to stop it.)

-D