From a Jelly Bean to a Jenna Bean

Although this post is delayed thanks to our hospital's blocking of Fa.cebook, Blogg.er and various other websites critical to my daily survival, I am happy to announce that our rainbow has arrived!!  Instead of a Jelly Bean, we now have a Jenna Bean.  :-D

Jenna Nicole was born on Wednesday, September 15th at 10:20 p.m.  She weighed 6 lbs, 11 ounces and was 19 inches long.  She even has hair, which I was doubting, since my sister and I didn't have hair and Jeff and his brothers didn't have much either. 

So far, all is well with one exception.  She developed quite a case of jaundice on Thursday, and since yesterday morning has been on a structured feeding schedule and under lights to help bring her bilirubin levels down and resolve her pumpkin coloring.  I was officially discharged last night, and we were hoping that we would be able to take Jenna home today some time, but we just got the word that she will have one more night under the lights.  Fingers crossed that tomorrow's 0600 labs look better and we can have her home bright and early.  And for those who have been following a while and might be afraid to ask, there are no obvious indications of Down Syndrome at this point.

I apologize those of you who have been waiting for additional communication - the browser on my phone has been getting quite a work out over the last few days (again, thanks to the hospital) and it's been slow going.  I still haven't sent out my text message announcements, which were planned as being the first 'wave of announcement.'  I guess at this point, I can abandon that plan.  :-/

Hoping to post more when we get Jenna home and get her settled...

37 Weeks

I had an ultrasound, NST and midwife appointment on Tuesday afternoon. 

Everything with the ultrasound was good; Bean scored 8/8 on that portion.  She was moving all over the place, which was great!  She apparently wore herself out during the ultrasound, because she decided to take a nap during the NST.  The NST was eventually declared non-reactive, and the midwife in the office sent me over to L&D for another NST on a 'better machine.'  It was appropriately reactive within 30-40 minutes, so no concerns.  The midwife appointment was otherwise uneventful.  No physical signs yet that Bean is contemplating making her appearance in the immediate future.

I had a NST this afternoon that was appropriately reactive, so we were in and out pretty quickly.  We are all set to head to L&D, as I did all of my pre-admission paperwork this afternoon, too. 

Ultimately, things continue to be pretty uneventful.  True to Andrews and Houseknecht family style, she is not following the 'rules' of being a fetus.  Generally movement is expected to slow down a bit as babies bet closer to birth, since they have less room to wind up and fire their arms and legs at the uterine wall.  Bean, on the other hand, has started to pound the heck out of my insides over the last two days.  The amount and intensity of her movement has been substantially more in the last two days than it has been during the last 4-6 weeks.  It's wonderful, except between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. 

Bean will make her first trip to Baltimore this weekend for cousin Julia's wedding.  It will be good to get away for a day or two and see family.  Over the next couple of weeks we are also anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby girl Crane (daughter of cousin Dave and his wife Jen).  She is due 13 days before Bean, so they may end up with birthdays that are very close together.  I am excited for Bean to have a cousin so close in age!! 

Nothing else exciting to report.  We have another NST, ultrasound and midwife appointment scheduled for Tuesday, and a NST next Friday afternoon.  In the meantime, we are just keeping our fingers crossed that she stays put until the new therapist secures his P.T. license!!!