Grace had her 2-month check up last week. I know hard to believe it’s been 2 months already. She weighed 11 lbs 3 oz and was 23.5 in. long. She is in the 75 percentile for weight and the 95 percentile for height. So as you can see she is a big girl. Every thing else also checked out great. While she was there she got 4 shots. 2 in each leg. And boy was she a trooper. She calmed right down and went to sleep after I picked her up. We gave her some Tylenol and she slept most of the rest of the day. The next day she was her old smiling self.

Well here it is three days past my due date and still no baby. We are all ready for her. Just waiting for her to pick the right moment. I have been having contractions on and off for a little over three weeks so at least we know my body is getting ready.

We just added pics of the wedding and hopefully will be adding more soon. I am also hopping to write up our wedding story and get that on here soon. The longer we have to wait for this baby the more I’ll get done I guess :) The midwives are coming to check me tomorrow so I will let everyone know how things go. And as we all know this baby can’t stay in there forever.

Well here it is sat. and I only have 2 days till my due date. I have been dilated to 2 cm. and 50 % effaced since my 37 week apt. The baby’s head is also very low. I have had several instances of contractions starting but not going anywhere in the last 2 weeks. We thought it might be time on thurs. but when the midwives checked me I was still only 2 cm. dilated. The good news is that my body is getting ready to have this baby and I know for a fact that I will not be pregnant forever. Today I mowed the lawn and laid some weed blocker and bark mulch. The yard looks great. And I am hopping that being physical will help speed this labor thing along. Mon. is a full moon and they say that is when lots of babies are born so maybe we will have her then.

My mom came down for a couple of days and we went garage saleing and grocery shopping. It was nice to spend some time with her and my freezer is now stocked. She will be coming back for the birth. So that is where we are at. Now we just continue to wait.

We just got our birthing pool and I was so excited I decided to set it up right away. So we got it all set up and filled it and I got in and played around. I think it will be so wonderful. It takes about 2 hours to fill since we have to wait for the hot water tank to refill but well worth it. I am 37w4d's today and now we have everything in place I am ready to go. I can hardly wait to meet my little one.

[Entry by John]

Well I thought that it would be real neat if I could get a live webcam going for the birth. I think we will have a camera setup in the living room broadcasting live. The actual birth will not be on camera but, after Gracie is born we will bring her out to the living room.

The room where Molly will be giving birth is small so everyone who is at the house will be in the living room as well. This way those of you that can not be here in person can still attend via the wonders of technology.

The camera and software are almost all setup. I am planning on providing 2 methods of broadcasting. One for slow speed connections and one for high speed connections. The slow speed will consist of a still image updated every 30 - 60 seconds. The high speed will be a streaming video at somewhere between 15 - 30 frames per second.

I hope you all get to see Gracie on her big day.

P.S. Make sure Molly has your current email address as I will send out a group email when she goes into labor.

It has been a busy week. John and I went to Mt. Rainier on a geology field trip yesterday. It was very fun. It snowed a little when we got there but the roads remained mostly clear. (with 15 foot snow banks on either side of us) We saw lots of little gray birds which were called gray something but I forget what. We also saw a couple of deer and a silver fox. The silver fox was sitting on a snow bank on the side of the road and just sat there as we all passed in our vans so we got a very good look at her. We also got to see some great geology and a lot of really beautiful water falls. I would like to go back in the summer when all the wild flowers are in bloom. When we got home we went to see Spider Man at the movies. It was good. So as you can see we had a very full day yesterday. I was a little sore from all of the sitting and driving but all and all I had a great day.

Thurs. we had a doctor’s appt. I gained another 10 lbs. in 4 weeks. ACK! So Linda (our midwife) has decided I need to eat a very low carb diet to see if that helps. Basically no simple carbs. Like bread and pasta and cereal and stuff :( If that doesn’t help slow down the weight gain she is concerned about pre-eclampsia. I am not very excited about the diet but I guess it is only for 7 weeks and it will help me get my eating back on track.

We also had our first birthing class on thurs. We practiced breathing techniques while holding ice so we could work on pain coping techniques. We also did a lot of talking about expectations. John said he would do whatever needed to be done to support me. During and after the labor. He is such a sweet guy I teared up when he was talking. And later when we were discussing the class he said he had gotten a lump in his throat too. It is so nice and reassuring to know that he supports me and our child. And that even if we don’t have all the answers I am confident we will figure them out together.

We had our baby shower last Sunday. And of course I am just now getting around to writing about it. It was fun there were only a few people but we had fun playing games and opening gifts. We got lots of cute clothes for Grace. And had a yummy banana cake. Jocie and John were both there and had a great time. Jocie and Lilly (Nina’s little girl) were my helpers and they brought me all of the presents and helped me open them.

I haven’t updated the journal in a while so I thought I should do it. We are very busy here. Life seems to be going at top speed. Our baby shower is Sun. and we are so excited! John just mowed the lawn yesterday and edged the patio. It looks great! I also have planted the majority of the veggie. garden. Our next project is to put down weed block and cover it with mulch. My goal is to have the yard looking ship shape in the next couple of weeks and making it as minimal maintenance as possible as I don’t think we will have very much time to keep it up when the new baby comes.

School is flying by I just had my first mid-term and my second one is scheduled for Thurs. Next Sat. John and I are going on a field trip to Mt. Raineer with my geology class. It should be lots of fun.

Believe it or not my stomach is still growing I’m starting to worry if I will have enough room in there by 40 weeks. Grace has definitely grown because she is not doing all her gymnastics anymore just some more subtle stretching and kicking. They say this is normal as the baby grows and runs out of room. Grace can come any time after the next 6 weeks. It’s exciting and scary all in one.

10.5 weeks to go give or take two weeks. (But who’s counting) I am getting so excited to meet our little Grace. I was just saying to John that it is like Christmas where you get to shake the present and you have a pretty good idea of what it is but don’t know the specifics. Except my package shakes her self ;) I am having my work baby shower on the 28th of this month and can hardly wait.

It is getting more difficult to concentrate at school. If I am not falling asleep or daydreaming then I have to go to the bathroom. I swear I am constantly thirsty so I try to drink lots of water but I’m afraid one of these days I won’t make it from school to home. It is only about an hour trip but even if I use the bathroom right before I leave school it never fails I have to go again about half way home. The hardest part is walking from the MAX to my car. I just take very tiny steps! :)

Other then that life is good and I am enjoying feeling my little girl move around in there. She will be here before we know it.

I just had my 28-week doctors appt. on Thurs. I gained 10 lbs. in 3 weeks. Yikes! My midwife says everyone goes through at least one huge growth spurt so I figure my body is just doing what it needs to support me and my baby. I also took my gestational diabetes test and the results came back normal. Yeah!

I am starting to feel like this pregnancy just might go smoothly. Only 11 weeks to go till June 24. I am getting so excited I can hardly wait to meet little Grace. She is still very active and even pushes back and plays with me when I push on my tummy. She also likes playing with her daddy and kicking his hand.

Well I am officially 26 weeks 3 days along now. So far there have been no major complaints. Last night I had a hard time breathing but I think it was because Grace was pushing against my lungs. My stomach continues to grow rapidly and Grace can’t seem to be still for more then a few min. at a time. We have our next Dr. appt. on April 4th and will be doing the glucose test to test for gestational diabetes. I will continue to keep all updated.

Well, We finally got the wallpaper up in the nursery and it looks so cute. I think John and I did a really great job considering it was the first time either of us has done anything like this. Now we just need to finish redoing the furniture and replacing the outlets. Oh yeah and of course I get to do the decorating :)! It is so fun and exciting to see the room take shape.

Yeah! We finally got the office cleaned out! Now I can officially refer to it as the nursery. We also got the wallpaper boarder off. Of course as soon as we did that we decided we needed to paint. So I called the landlord and asked her what color was on the wall and not only did she tell me the color but she told me to just go in and charge it to her account with a roller and all. I guess someone is looking out for us.

So now I can hardly wait to get painting. I think I will clean and sand the rough spots on the walls so John can paint this weekend. Then next weekend we can put the boarder up. It’s nice to finally have things moving along.

This morning when John got home he put his hand on my belly and felt Grace move for the first time. She kicked right where his hand was. This was the first time she did not stop moving when he put his hand on my belly. It was so exciting!

I woke up this morning with the oddest song stuck in my head. It was a song by Tiny Tim “Never Hit Your Grandma With a Shovel” Ok I know it’s a strange song. So as I was laying there trying to figure out why I was thinking of that particular song it occurred to me that it is a song I really only associate with my dad. I have decided that it is my dad’s way of saying he is here with me and watching over my family and me.

I have been so busy with life and my family I haven’t thought of my dad much lately. I find it very comforting to know that he is here in spirit during this major transition time in my life. I am sure he is watching the changes and very proud to know that he will be a grandfather.

At times I miss him a great deal, but then I remember he is always in my heart and any time I need to talk to him all I have to do is pray. It makes me smile to know that he will always be watching over me.

Well, I finally have some time to do some work on the site. As most of you probably already know we had our ultra sound on Feb. 5th. We are having a healthy baby girl. We are so excited! Even though the ultra sound results are not 100% we have decided to name the baby Grace Ann Goldstein. If by some chance she turns out to be a he we’ll have to come up with a boy’s name then. Until then feel free to call her Grace or Gracie.

I also felt her kick my hand for the first time on the 6th. I was lying in bed and with my hands on my stomach and she gave me a good kick. It was so exciting. I just wish John could have been here to feel it. (He was at work and of course she hasn’t done it since.)

John and I went shopping yesterday and bought a couple of girl outfits. They are so cute. We got two at Goodwill and one at Target. We also went to baby Gap, who knew new baby clothes were so expensive? I guess I’ll probably wait for a couple of good garage sales to find the majority of her clothes. Besides babies grow so fast they don’t wear anything for very long anyways :0)

Well here we are at the halfway point. I can hardly believe it’s been 20 weeks since I got pregnant. Just 20 more to go. As I’m sure all expectant mother’s do I worry about how the baby is doing and it will be a great relief to see the baby on the ultra sound next Tues. Just to confirm everything is going fine.

I have been busy setting my house in order and clearing out the extraneous stuff to make room for the new arrival and all the stuff that will come along with them. I am currently working on building a desk for the computers so we can get them out of the office and start turning the office into the baby’s room. So far I am very pleased with the desk. I hope to have pics of it up sometime in the next week or two. I still have to stain the shelves but once that is done we will be able to get the desk together and the pictures up. The hardest part of all my projects is remembering they take time to complete and not starting too many at a time. (Otherwise we don’t have any room to move during the projects.)

I just wanted to share a little bit about how my higher power has worked with me during this pregnancy because I believe in giving credit where credit is due and God knows I did not do all of this on my own.

I have wanted to have a child for as long as I can remember. I always said I would like to get pregnant in Sep. or Oct. so I could have the baby during the summer and still continue with work or school. (Plus the baby has all summer to grow big and strong before the cold damp weather sets in) Well, there is prayer number one answered. Because believe me it had nothing to do with planning. I also planned on having my first child around the age of 28 like my mom. I’m 27 now. I am also very fortunate to have health insurance that will cover the birth and since I want to have a home birth I am doubly blessed that my insurance covers a provider that is able to do this for me.

Ok here is prayer number two. I had been looking for a crib for several weeks and had only seen ones I could not afford. I was getting ancy to get a crib but pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to wait. Then I e-mailed Nanette and asked her to keep an eye out for one. I also looked up garage sales in our area even though it isn’t exactly garage sale season. So on Thurs. I saw a sale advertised in the paper for Fri. and promptly forgot about it.

Fri. rolled around and I had to pick Jocie up from school. I had and extra half hour to kill when and I remembered the garage sale that just happened to be close to our house so I drove over and checked it out. There in the back corner of the garage was my crib. And it was very inexpensive too. The woman (Shawn) who sold it to me said she was so pleased the crib had gone to someone who needed it.

I got it home and assembled it the next weekend. It was missing the springs for the drop side of the crib so I went back to ask if she had them. She didn’t have them as she had also purchased the crib from a garage sale. But in talking to her I learned that her 14-month-old daughter had gotten some weird virus and had been to the hospital with a severe rash and 104 temp. (This all happened the night after I bought the crib.) So any ways when she called to tell me she didn’t have the springs she ended up telling me about her baby (who is recovering now) and we spent about 20 min. on the phone together. I mostly listened but it seemed like that is what she really needed, someone to listen to her. And I think she felt better after being able to get the stress of the last week off her chest. I feel that not only did God answer my prayer to get the crib I needed but he also answered Shawn’s prayer to have someone to share with in her time of need. I know God will be with me every step of my life and especially during my pregnancy. And I look forward to recognizing and acknowledging many more answered prayers. Even when I don’t remember the question.

No one ever told me a baby would need so much stuff. But as I read and learn more I am finding that there really isn’t all that much you have to have, but there sure are a lot of extras. I have been having fun getting things for the nursery and putting things on my registry. I found a crib for $30.00 at a garage sale and I feel so great that I found it. Not only did I get a great crib but the woman who sold it to me was very nice too.

On Thurs. Jan. 10th 2002 we went in for our routine prenatal check-up. While there I got my stomach measured and was a little large for my 16 weeks. John started joking about how it might be twins so Linda (our midwife) took a quick ultra sound to check things out. At the time we only saw one baby and my placenta, which was also a little larger then average. (But nothing to worry about.) It just means I will be able to feed my baby plenty of the stuff he/she needs. The big surprise though was the activity level of the baby he/she was waving and kicking and moving all around. And even though the picture doesn’t show it very well when it was on the ultra sound screen we could see the baby very clearly.

John and Jocie and I were so excited we had a hard time containing ourselves and broke into smiles every few min. on the way home. It is so exciting to see this little person evolving inside of me. I can’t wait to meet him/her.

We first heard the baby’s heart beat on Fri. Dec. 14th 2001. It was just John and the nurse and I. It was so exciting to hear the heartbeat and be given the first proof that yes there really is something alive in me.

I felt the baby move for the first time around 7:00 pm on Jan. 9th 2002. I was sitting in front of the computer looking up baby stuff of course when I felt a flutter in my stomach. I was so excited I called John and mom right away to tell them.