Today I met some friends for lunch.

We met up at noon, and they ooh-ed and ahhh-ed over Georgia. Ken came a few minutes later and took her home so that I could eat and visit in peace. Both Sarah and Nicole are pregnant with their first child, so that dominated the conversation. We chatted about babies and pregnancy, gossipped about people from St. Clare, and talked about the people at the next table. We were there for about four hours. It was so nice that we decided to meet up once a week.

Tomorrow Jasmine and Sarah are coming over. We'll be going to Metro Beach. It'll be great, and I can't wait!

On Monday, Georgia gave Daddy her first true smile. When Dad came home from work, he said hi to Georgia. She looked, recognized, and gave Daddy a big smile. It melted our hearts. It's hard to imagine how much more you love your kid each day. Some times it's hard to hold back from kissing her and playing with her. Yet mom keeps telling me that Georgia needs her rest and I have to calm down once and awhile.

On Wednesday, Georgia went for her 2 month check-up and shots. Dr. Mandy said she is doing great. Georgia's 15 inch head is on the smaller side, but no reason to be concerned. Her 23.25 inch height is in the top 75% bracket, and her weight of 10lbs 4oz is average. The doctor said she's sleeping well, eating well, and doing great. We can keep it up because anytime now Georgia may sleep the night through.

The hard part of the visit was the 5 shots Georgia received. She cried at first but settled down really fast. She did great and has been resting all day today.That's it for now. Georgia says HI to all and she wishes all the dads out there a Happy Father's Day!

Two months have come and gone, and I sometimes still cannot believe that we have a baby! I can tell that she has grown, and we'll find out how much at Georgie's two-month wellness check-up tomorrow.

We have settled into a nice evening and morning routine. Georgie gets a diaper change around 7:00 - 7:30 and giggles at herself for about 5 minutes. In the evening, Ken reads to her while I feed her. After that Georgie and I say our prayers, which takes a long time with all the family and friends we have. Finally, I put her in her bed. She holds my fingers for about 10-15 minutes and (hopefully) falls asleep.

In another month, she will graduate to her crib in her own room. If I can bear it.

Baptism Day

Thank you all for coming to the baptism. We were happy to see so many of our family and friends with us yesterday. Thank you also for your thoughtful and generous gifts. Georgia now has more money in her savings account than we do, has a great start to a beautiful jewelry collection, and will never be at a loss for prayers! Thank you all.

Georgie did a great job at church considering that she had to get naked in front of you all. I couldn't have been as graceful about it as she was. And being held up that high-- I really wouldn't have handled that well. I nearly fainted when I saw Father Cyril lift her up!

Georgie had such an exciting day. I know not everyone got to hold her (sorry Laura), but there's always next time. Sarah took some great pictures for us and we'll send them through email to you as soon as we can. I took some with Mom's camera and will have to get them from her next weekend.

A huge thank you to Mom and Dad for letting us use the house, for all of you who brought food to share, for Ben and Rachael for bringing up the chairs and taking them all down again, for Kirstie who brought the tents and set them up even though we didn't get to use them, and for Jane and Lynn for doing the dishes. But especially for each and every one of you for sharing our special day with us. A million thanks!

All Our Love,
Nancy, Ken, and Georgia

Georgie is now five weeks and two days old. Something new that she didn't do last week: make cooing sounds. It's flippin' adorable!

She's also sleeping more often in her bed instead of always in my arms; it's especially nice when she does it at night!

It's a wonderful feeling to see Georgie growing and changing. I can't wait to see what she'll be doing in the coming weeks.

Tuesday (the 11th) evening I was admitted to Labor & Delivery. I was given a medicine to help me dilate. I was also hooked up onto the fetal heartbeat monitor and my contraction monitor. Then Ken and I watched TV and went to sleep.

Wednesday morning I was awakened at 4:15 for bloodwork, hooked up to an IV and was given Pitocin. The contractions started and that helped me dilate. I asked for something to take the edge off the pain and was given a drug that kicked my butt-- I was nauseaus and was throwing up for quite a while. It finally wore off at about the time the contractions were getting really intense.

At 10:30 I was given an epidural that only numbed my left side. All the pain was then concentrated on the right side. Oy vey! They finally fixed that problem around noon.

Okay, fast-forward: I started pushing at about 6:00 and gave it my all for two and a half hours. My ob came in around 8:40, looked at the baby's vitals and determined that she wasn't doing so well. He checked my cervix and though I was fully dilated, she was facing the wrong way and wouldn't be able to fit through the birth canal.

So C-Section it was.That went really quickly and Georgia Anna Czarny was born at 9:26 pm on Wednesday. She was 7lbs and 2 oz- 21 inches long. And healthy!

Happy Easter 2007

It was a great day for getting together with our families. We spent our day at church, at my parents' house and at Ken's parents' house. We got to visit with most of our families and we ate two huge meals. Needless to say, we had to roll ourselves home. Ken said he was so full, he was ready to give birth. And oh, did I think that was funny. *rolls eyes*

It's Monday and I feel great... unfortunately. No back pain, no cramps, no water breaking, no nothing. I know it isn't uncommon for first time mommies to give birth after their due date, I understand that. I really do. It's just all very frustrating when the doctor says it could be literally any day. Yeah, well, any day since Thursday has come and gone. I am left with today and tomorrow.

So, the plan is that if I don't have this baby today or tomorrow, I will be induced on Wednesday. If only I weren't a diabetic, I would be able to wait for her to come when she's ready. (Even though I want her to come ASAP.) But, I can't control what my pregnancy hormones have given me, so I will have to deal with the plan. I just don't want to deal with the pitocin. I think that's what it's called.

Not much else going on. Ken went to work uber-early today to get as much done as he can. He wants everything to be easy for when he goes back after the birth. He has such a good work ethic. He could easily let the other guys take over for him, as he does for them when they're out. Instead, he's working his butt off to get it all done. What a guy.

Happy Monday, ya'll.

Let the Maternity Leave Begin...

After getting no sleep Monday night and having to drag myself to school that morning, I decided that Monday would be my last day at work. And the only reason I went in at all is because I had the lesson plan book and all the teaching manuals. I did plans for the next month for four of the six classes I have. The sub can do the rest. And I also wanted to tie up a bunch of loose ends.

And to top it off, I took Monday as a half-day, too. It was wonderful for my sub to come in at 11:00, show her a bunch of things she needs to know, and then leave at 11:30. It was... priceless! And the best part is that I don't have to go back, except to visit. Halleluiah!

It feels good to have that all off my shoulders and focus on getting me ready for the birth. The first order of business? Catch up on some CBC movies I've taped and take many naps. It was heavenly. I plan to do the same today.

Only ONE WEEK until the due date. Do you hear that, Bunny? One week left for you to hop all around inside me. According to K, I'm going to miss my belly and all her hopping. You know... he may just be right!

Apparently I am not able to go near a hospital without something unexpected happening. Thursday was the second of many regular appointments to get my amniotic fluids checked (AFI) and to have the baby's heartbeat recorded (NST).

So there I was at 5:00, hooked up for the NST. The monitor showed the baby's heartbeat as well as my uterus activity. Right away we noticed that I had a small Braxton-Hicks contraction. Twenty minutes or so we saw that I had another one. I didn't feel them, but there they were. The baby was moving around, but her heartbeat wasn't very active on the screen. So when the doctor and nurse came in, Ken and I assumed they were going to give me an ultrasound to see what the baby was actually doing. This is what happened last time we were there.

Nope. According to the doctor, having two contractions (small though they were) in a half hour is not good. They needed to take some tests to make sure that I wasn't going into pre-term labor. So one urine sample, a cervical exam, and two swab tests later... they let me go home. While my cervix was extremely soft, it wasn't at all dilated. Thank goodness. Ken and I aren't ready for a baby quite yet.

I ended up taking Friday off from work. I think the stress of the students and all the stairs are not helping with this pregnancy. Plus, my mom told me to take it easy. What very good advice!

Globetrottin' Saturday

Ken and I just got home from seeing the Harlem Globetrotters at the Palace. It was a lot of fun, especially as it was a family-orientated show. Though, I have to say that I was ready to leave at half-time. My back was killing me sitting in that tiny seat. Such is life.

If you take a very careful look at the awful picture above, you will see a person in a white and red jacket in the front row. That would be Eminem, videotaping a young dance troupe- his daughter was one of the dancers, I assume. You can barely see them on the court- they would be the greenish blobs. Eminem left after the girls were finished. I will be editing my "Brushes with the Famous" list to include him.

Nancy's "Brushes with the Famous, the Not Really Famous, and the Famous I Really Didn't Meet"

1. My family and I bumped into John Sally (former Detroit Piston) years and years and years ago at the Detroit Zoo. All I remember is that he was the tallest man I had ever stood near.

2. Some coworkers and I went to the Detroit Science Center a few years back to hear Jane Goodall (famous anthropologist) speak. She answered one of my questions!! And because she is one of my heros, this made me almost faint.

3. My orthodontist was a dead-ringer for the Dunkn' "It's Time to Make the Donuts" Donut man. I had little confidence in his orthodontic abilities because of that.

4. During a visit to New York, I had eaten in the same little deli as Spalding Gray, the actor. Not that I knew who he was, but he was there.

5. I've driven by Eminem's gated community. It's gorgeous during the holidays- all the tree lights!

6. The mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, came to my school's Open House Sunday and stayed for the 7th grade basketball games. Okay, I didn't meet him, but many of my students did.Wow-wee. What a list!

7. How could I have almost forgotten the most famous of all? I met Bill Clinton when he came to Eastern Michigan University on one of his tours back in 1996 or 1997. I believe I shook his hand.

----- EDIT -----

8. Ken and I went to see the Harlem Globetrotters today, 2-3-07. We saw them AND Eminem. He was sitting a scant 23 rows in front of us. He stayed until half-time, videotaped his ?daughter? performing with her dance troupe, and then left. Tres' exciting. (See next post)