The Latest in a Long Line

Well, after 41 weeks and 4 days, Tahra and I welcomed Drake Burl Boatright into the world on Tuesday morning.  He was born at 8:37 am, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz, and measured 20.5 inches long.  Tahra ended up not receiving pitocin that morning, as the Cytotec she received the night before was sufficient to put her into labor.  Her water broke at about 3:30 am, so those of you who can do math can see that her labor was very short!

Of course, as the dad, all I had to do was take pictures; Tahra had the hard job, and she did a very fine job indeed.  We made it home from the hospital yesterday (Thursday), and survived the first night home alone pretty well, I thought.  He didn’t keep us up all night, and we are getting better about learning the meaning of all his squeaks and cries.

Here is the link to all the pictures (and one video)

Well, yesterday marked the 41st week of the pregnancy, and Tahra and I went in to have a non-stress test done in order to determine that the baby is not under any undue stress (this might indicate that we would induce sooner than what we have already scheduled).  Last Wednesday the doctor determined that Tahra was still only dialated 1 cm, and was not progressing, so we scheduled an induction for Tuesday morning (September 8).  The NST showed that the baby is doing well, and so, barring a labor event this weekend, on Monday night we will check into the hospital and sometime on Tuesday we will welcome Baby Boatright into the world.

If the delivery goes as planned, we will be at the hospital for a couple of days afterward, so for those of you in the area, feel free to come visit us on Wednesday or Thursday.  We will be at the Seton Hospital at 38th and Lamar.

Also, I would like to congratulate Tessa on the successful delivery of her son, Nathaniel James McKeever, who arrived this morning at about 7 am.  Way to go!

Hello everyone again, we are inside the 10 day countdown to the due date, and Tahra wishes that he would have come yesterday!  At our doctor’s appointment yesterday Tahra was examined by Dr. Oliver, a partner at the practice we visit, because our normal OB, Dr. Ikbal, was in delivery.  It was nice to meet another one of the partners, because there is no guarantee that Dr. Ikbal will deliver us (due to the practice’s call schedule).  Dr. Oliver was very nice, very talkative, and very knowledgable.  For those out there making side bets on the due date and weight of the baby, Dr. Oliver made the prediction that Tahra would deliver close to her due date (8/28) and that the baby is currently 7 lbs, 3 oz.

Tahra lost her mucous plug about 2 weeks ago, and we were excited that labor was imminent.  It turns out, though, that the loss of the mucous plug is hardly an indicator of labor, and we have gone from getting excited about every “maybe” contraction to a more reserved state of waiting.  Our bags are packed, however, and the baby-carrier dock is installed in the car, so that we will be ready to go at a moment’s notice.

Yesterday Tahra received her “push present”, this being something that I never knew existed, but apparently is commonplace (or so Tahra claims).  Our unhappy relationship with Sprint had ended earlier this month, and we signed on with Verizon and got some fancy cell phones along with it.  So feel free to text and email Tahra so she can play on her BlackBerry Storm (touch screen thing, kinda like an iPhone, but better)!

Hi everyone and sorry for the delay in postings.

Tahra and I have both had a busy summer, with fixing up the new house and nursery taking up all our spare time at home, and I still have 2 weeks left of summer school.  Anyway, we are fast approaching the due date (it was a month from yesterday) and everything is right on schedule.  We are taking a birthing class at Seton NW on Tuesday nights, and we had a breast-feeding class the Monday before last.

I would also like to thank everyone who purchased a gift for us at one of the showers, or the “showers by mail”.  Your generosity is staggering, and while it seems like we have way too much stuff for this kid, I am sure that there will be a need for all of it (and more) at some point very soon.

Our most recent doctor’s visit was on Tuesday morning and while Tahra did feel a little nausea (probably due to the drive in), she measured right on target and weighed in at 134.5 lbs.  She has been gaining about a half pound per week, so while she is on the low end of normal, everything should be fine.  The baby has continued to be active in utero, but since he has grown, his kicks are much stronger and when he changes positions I can even see the difference in the shape of her tummy.

Tahra and I had an appointment last Friday to check the growth of the baby.  Since Tahra’s weight gain is stil on the low end of normal, the doctor ordered a sonogram appointment to check the size and health of the baby, which turned out to be normal, so everything is fine.  Mom was staying with us last week while she painted the nursery, and we invited her along to appointment.  She was tickled to see how the technology has changed since her pregnancies, and was playing the grandmother card very well, showing off the sonogram pictures to anyone who would listen to her.

We only have about 2 months to go until the due date, and Tahra is going to be growing at about a pound per week until she delivers (so says the baby books).  She has started waking up to eat during the middle of the night, as well as taking well-deserved naps during particularly taxing days.  Young Boatright is still as active as ever; I can really feel his limbs moving around when he does somersaults, and his kicks have some force behind them now. 

I apologize for the lack of posting, but things have been a little hectic around the Boatright household as of late.  Our trip to the doctor last Tuesday was short and sweet, Tahra actually lost 2 lbs since the last visit, and the baby was very active.  In fact, the doctor had a hard time getting a clear sonogram of the baby, she said that the baby kept moving its head this way and that, banging it against the placenta.  The baby is about the size of a shrimp this week, and Tahra’s belly is starting to get firmer, although she is not really showing yet.