This is the photo I just received in an email from my parents. They just bought a highchair for Julianna and are evidently well-stocked with healthy and nutritious foods for their granddaughter!

Julianna had her 4-month well-baby visit with the pediatrician last week. She weighed in at 16 pounds 7 ounces and 26 inches tall - 90th percentiles in both weight and height!

Here’s Julianna on the examining table at the doctor’s office:

I’ve discovered this online community dedicated to “babywearing,” the practice of “wearing” your baby in various types of carriers. The term was coined by Dr. Sears, the author of many child rearing books and the man behind the attachment parenting philosophy. The website is The Babywearer and it’s full of carrier and vendor reviews as well as a message board where moms (and dads) discuss babywearing and parenting in general. Julianna is usually happiest when she’s being held, so finding the perfect carrier has been important to me just so I can function throughout the day. There are many different types of carriers - pouches, ring slings, mei tais, wraps … the list goes on. I started first with a Baby Bjorn, which is OK but not all that comfortable. Then I purchased a Babyhawk mei tai, which I’ve been pretty happy with - it’s much more comfortable (and good looking) than the Baby Bjorn. I recently purchased a Hoppediz (a German brand) wrap from Attached To Baby which I LOVE. It’s a bit of a learning curve to wear it correctly, but it’s extremely comfortable. Now I’ve got my eye on the Didymos (another German brand), which is referred to as the “Rolls Royce of Wraps” according to the babywearing community. There are many videos on YouTube from parents demonstrating how to use these things. One of my favorites is this video from a woman in Germany - I can’t understand a word, but it doesn’t matter:

Isn’t this the cutest little bunny stuffed animal? “Stripes the Bunny” is available for $20 at http://www.modernseed.com.

Wow, these past 10 weeks have been extraordinary. A crash course in parenthood - I guess it’s the only way to learn. We’re doing really well … Julianna is over 14 pounds now and healthy as can be. Breastfeeding has finally become comfortable and she’s actually starting to sleep for stretches longer than 3 hours! We’ve even ventured out of the house a handful of times! And yesterday my parents gave us a very nice Valentine’s Day gift - 2.5 hours of babysitting so we could enjoy dinner at a local Thai restaurant. It was the first time Andrew and I had been out without Julianna, and we were OK!

Here’s a little video of Julianna observing her mobile while on the changing table. We have to play with the mobile for a good 5 - 10 minutes before even attempting a diaper change since she seems to be potty trained to poop at just the moment we’re placing a new diaper under her. With a little delay, we might get lucky and whatever needs to come out will happen in those first few minutes.

Julianna loves her IKEA mobile from jennyology on Vimeo.

I talked to my doctor yesterday evening about my options following the distressing ultrasound. She confirmed that she thought the baby might be large (medical term: “macrosomia”) when she had palpated my abdomen. She says she supports my desire to go forward with induction, but I can tell that she probably thinks a c-section is a wiser choice. And when I say “my desire to go forward with induction,” I don’t mean that I actually want to do that. I would prefer to go naturally above all else. But confronted with the potentially large size of this baby, if I wait any longer the hospital will take the induction option off the table and require a c-section. My doctors says that c-sections are mandatory when the baby’s size is estimated at 4,500 grams (about 10 pounds), and my baby’s estimate is 4,300 grams (9 pounds, 10 ounces). In the event I go for induction, I’ll be closely monitored and they will not attempt delivery with the vacuum or forceps if the pushing stage is prolonged due to the risk of “shoulder dystocia,” where the shoulders get stuck in the birth canal. They’d require a c-section at that point.

Tomorrow morning I’ll call my doctor and ask about a second ultrasound - I just want another one for confirmation. The baby was pretty active during it, and I’m wondering if those little snapshots they take for measurements might have been too blurry - perhaps it threw the measurements off. I really don’t know if that’s possible, but it’s worth asking about.

So back to my original problem - no progress as far as station or dilation, I found some information about how obstetricians determine the likelihood of a successful labor induction. Induction is particularly likely to lead to c-sections in nulliparous (never given birth before) women. They use a method called the “Bishop Score”:

Bishop Score

I’ve highlighted my current situation in the table above. A score of less than 5 is considered unfavorable, and my score is a whopping 3. So when I take that into account along with the potential size of the baby, it seems my odds for a c-section are pretty darned high. So I’m juggling the idea of inducing with a small chance of success and a large chance of emergency c-section, or just going for the c-section where at least I know what I’m going into and the recovery will probably be slightly easier than if I’d gone through hours of labor beforehand.

Here I am in the examination room right before yesterday’s doctor’s appointment:

Feeling just a bit uneasy!

I just returned from my doctor’s appointment. I’m so confused about everything.

Here are my stats:

• Baby is at -3 station, which is only marginally better than last week when her head evidently hadn’t even entered my pelvis
• Cervix is still closed
• 50% effaced.

We discussed induction and my doctor was going to see if there was any time available for me on Tuesday or Wednesday next week, when I’ll be 41 weeks 4/5 days. The possibility of a c-section also came up, but I’m even more afraid of that than induction.

But the BIG news is what happened after my doctor left and I went to get my ultrasound. Evidently little Julianna is measuring in at a whopping 9 lbs 10 oz. Now, I know these ultrasounds at this stage are notoriously inaccurate, but HOW inaccurate is what I’d like to know. I’m waiting for a call from the doctor to discuss it. I’m starting to wonder if I should just bite the bullet and induce earlier - like on Friday - in case she’s truly that big. At this gestation, babies gain an average of half a pound a week, so I’m looking at a 10 pounder if I wait a week and the ultrasound is accurate. I have NO idea how I could have a baby this large - no one in my family or Andrew’s was particularly large at birth. I’m wondering if I had gestational diabetes all along and it was never caught … is that possible?

I’m also wondering if her potentially large size could be a reason she hasn’t descended.

In other pregnancy news, I’ve been getting contractions all day. I’ve never had a day like this before. Nothing would make me happier than for these contractions to progress to full-on labor. I wish they’d get more painful.

Here I am at 38 weeks and 42 weeks & 3 days, respectively:

Today I am 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon - this should be an interesting visit. We’ll check my progress and discuss an induction date. I’m really hoping I won’t need to be induced. In fact, I’ve been having some very mild contractions this morning … I’ve never had morning contractions before. And these are different - it feels like my whole stomach is steadily inflating, starting way down low and moving upward. It’s hard to tell what I’m experiencing when I’ve never gone through anything like this before. Part of me hopes this is the start of something, and the other part of me is completely freaked out by what might be in store if it is the real thing! I don’t think I’ll every truly feel ready for this. I’ve still got to load up the iPod with my “labor music.” I loaded a bunch of classical and jazz cds into iTunes last night. I wonder what I’ll actually want to listen to during the ordeal.

I just saw this on Apartment Therapy’s nursery blog, OhDeeDoh.com. I’m currently waiting for my Hotslings order to be delivered by DHL (stupid DHL, it’s been “with delivery courier” since Friday morning, and the DHL HQ here is only 10 miles away), but I had also considered a Moby Wrap. This guy does a great job demonstrating how to wear the Moby Wrap:

OK, this is kind of weird … a few of my Flickr photos of my pregnant belly have been favorited by male Flickr users. And when I go to check out their other favorites, they’re all of pregnant women. It’s creeping me out … I wish I knew that there was an innocent reason for it. Does anyone know of any GOOD reasons for someone to be interested in these kinds of photos?