He’s here! Dyson Raider Grant

Born May 22, 2008 at 2:45 pm; weighing in at 8lbs, 6oz and 21 inches long.

Sorry for the delay!! With a newborn in the house, blogging quickly fell in priority. We had a wonderful delivery – inducing at 8 AM, breaking my water at 10 AM then STRONG contractions which led to the epidural (literally going from a 2 or 3 on the pain scale to a 9 in a matter of minutes!)… we were pushing for about an hour and had a new baby at 2:45!!

We are very blessed, thank you all for your support and well wishes.

Love,

Daddy Mike, Mommy Kristi and Baby Dyson
(and pups Brutus and Portia)

Whew… few days offline and I’m totally behind!

Where to begin? We had a good doctor’s appointment last Friday. We moved from 0 to 1 cm which doesn’t sound like much, but knowing you have to get to 10 cm, you’ll take just about anything. The doctor said technically we could “go any time” but that he’d be surprised if we didn’t make it to our next appointment, which is tomorrow.

He appears to be right on the money because despite a few contractions that lead no where and a lot of back ache I’m still all belly! So we have another appointment tomorrow and an *induction* scheduled for a week from yesterday – one day after baby D is due… May 22nd is also right between Grandpa Tunila and Grandma Grant’s birthdays…. It’s also a special date because it’s the four year anniversary of Mike and me meeting in North Carolina. We’ll see if we make it that far…

I’m weighing in at plus 33 pounds and have been pretty steady for the last few weeks so I expect this will be it. Just flirting with 200 at 194!

Work’s been good – I’m working from home so eliminating the commute has helped a lot! Mike’s finished the semester yesterday and Crossland is just about done for the year.

We’re ready – everyone’s waiting on baby!!

Grandma and Grandpa Tunila will be in VA visiting for the big arrival!

Another well check up…. 37 weeks!

The doctor said we’re right on track – but again, no progress really. He did give us some “homework” to help speed things along. Basically told us to “get busy” – oh my! :)

Baby D had hiccups for the first time the other night… everything was pulsating down there, but it had this calming rhythm – felt very strange but kind of cool.

We’re less than 20 days away from baby’s arrival! Everything is in it’s place (except for the car seats) and we’ve moved our room around to make room for the baby :)

SO EXCITED!!!

36 week doctor appointment – another great visit

Doctor said we look on track…. Which is good to hear, but I would have welcomed a “looks like we’re going to deliver early” report as well. With the DC heat starting up it’s getting hard to carry these 30 extra pounds around J

Baby D also reacted quickly to the doctor’s poke which he said is a great sign of a healthy baby – passed that test!

Doctor also said we’re on track for a 7 ½ pound baby still, which is great news because Tunila’s are known for big bundles of joy!

We go back to the doctor next week.

The nursery is ready… just waiting for baby!!

Back to School...

Everyone jokes that you have to pass a test to get your driving license but anyone can have a baby. Well we’re taking just about every class there is… first we had childbirth prep, which was great – answered a lot of questions, gave us a better idea of what to expect and let us take a tour of where we’ll be delivering. We both decided we do not want a dula – personal birth coach – to sit with us. We didn’t like how they were all up in the moms face and made the dad take a back seat… awkward. They had a lot of literature and handouts – and a few life size posters depicting dilation/effacement – um yeah, basically a soda bottle to a mayo bottle – WOW!

We also had out baptism prep class… it went well. We enjoyed the tutorial (what it means to baptize your child) and what to expect the day of… the priest said it wouldn’t be a problem to have the class in CA which is great because we’ll be flying home in December and want to do it then at my home church.

Two more classes to go… breastfeeding 101 and baby basics. Not expecting anything too ground breaking, just a little more confidence as we head in to mommy- and daddy-hood!

Laker baby... game one - we win!

I'm watching my favorite NBA team - the Lakers - with my daddy and mommy. It's game one of the series and we won! I like Bryant and Gasol, they are grrr-eat! I'm excited for game two, which will be in LA. My uncle may be at the game - maybe he'll get me some swag. :)

Had my eye on (hint, hint unc) -->

Odom and I have the same hairstyle.. he copied me.

Auntee Lori already got me sippy cups and a bottle so I can show my LA pride!

Up 30 pounds with less than 5 weeks to go!!

Everything is going great… sleeping with the belly is getting creative. With about half a dozen pillows and a fan I can just about get through the night (assuming I’m up 2-3 times for a bathroom break).

But really, I can’t complain – we’re blessed to have a happy and healthy (on track) baby and very pregnant momma… we’re so excited to meet our new addition! Can’t wait till the big day!

Taking the pups to the dog park today – figure we better spoil them as much as possible before baby D arrives and steals all the attention J