Emerson was born on April 20, 2011 at 10:02 p.m. She weighed 5lbs 7oz and was 19 inches long. She is absolutley perfect and doing great!
We had a rocky road Tuesday night through her arrival Wednesday night and even once she got here due to her being so small, but it definitely was all worth it to have her home with us now. I'll have to post the story of her arrival soon b/c it was definitely a dramatic one, but for now here are some pictures of the night I went into labor and finally ms. Emerson.
in labor, but still smiling at this point :)

sweet Emerson

I'll be sure to continue posting pictures of Emerson and updating the blog as we continue this journey....

Let's get ready for a birthday party...

Last night my water broke-lovely experience. Dont worry, I will spare you the details. :) Once I talked to my doctor she told me to head to the hospital since my water broke. You are more susecptible to infections at that point, so they want you in the hospital.

They checked me and I had NOT dilated (why is this girl so stubborn?). So, I was given Cervadil overnight in hopes of softening the cervix. They plan on starting Pitocin this morning, which should really get this party started.

stay tuned....

well, the eggplant parmesean clearly did not do the trick considering I am STILL PREGNANT. I just left the doctor and there are not even any signs of Emerson arriving. Last week at my appointment I was 60% effaced, but not dilated. This week- exactly the same..not a bit of progress. So, the waiting game continues. I'm feeling fine for the most part these days. Things are starting to ache that seemingly have no reason to ache, which can make sleeping an annoying task, but I am not completely miserable. A couple of nights ago Emerson was practicing for the Olympics again and I could not believe how my belly was contorting. It was almost creepy to see my belly move like that. Now that she is bigger it doesnt feel so great, but it is still amazing to see. Of course everyone was asleep so I had no one to show. I tried to catch it on video so I would have proof. THese 2 videos are from above my belly while I"m sitting in bed. No, I am not naked. My belly is just so large you cant see my shorts. It didnt come out super clear, but hopefully you get the idea of how this girl abuses my body:

Eggplant baby

If you've been pregnant in Atlanta, you've heard of Scalini's Eggplant Parmesean and its infamous ability to send you into labor. This restaurant's Eggplant Parmesean supposedly helps you go into labor within 48 hours. If it works you get a $25 gift card to the restaurant, a baby T that says "Scalinis", and they put your baby's picture on the "Eggplant Baby" wall of fame. While I (and most likely every pregnant woman) love free food/treats, the true goal here is to have a birthday party in the next 48 hours. So, lets see if we can get Emerson on that Eggplant baby wall....I ate the Eggplant Parmesean Tuesday night. So, if it is truly magical, I will go into labor by Thursday night-4/14. . We also have another reason to get this little girl to come by Thursday. Larry's youngest brother's birthday is 4/14 (Thursday). It is always cool to have family members with the same birthday. The funny thing is little Larry was born on Larry's other brother's birthday. So, if Emerson is born on 4/14, Larry will have 2 kids born on his 2 brother's birthdays...It's a fun fact to tell at least. Lets see if Emerson cooperates..

Hurry up and wait..

Waiting is the name of the game these days..... According to the ultrasounds Emerson is growing just fine. Since that is not a concern, we just have to wait until she decides to arrive. The beginning of this pregnancy was so intense and high maitenance, its so odd that the pregnancy is ending so calmly- just waiting and waiting. There's not much to report at this point. Here are a few pix of the evergrowing belly that Emerson has claimed as home (38 weeks):

whoa Nelly....where did that belly come from???

Can you say countdown??

36 weeks- Its funny because before I got pregnant I thought that was the ending mark. 36 weeks=9 months…so I’m done, right? WRONG! Now I know this whole baby making process takes 40 weeks. So, 25 days to go. I can do this with my eyes closed! There is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel…..there better be a few margaritas at the end of that darn tunnel waiting on me too. :) I’m still feeling great for the most part. My biggest complaints are just being more tired than I ever thought possible and walking around on tree trunks every day. Everything below the knee is swollen beyond belief. I honestly have not seen my ankle bone in weeks. It looks like someone blew them up like a balloon. Larry actually cringes when he sees them sometimes- yes, they’re that bad. Speaking of Larry, if you were to ask him…His biggest complaint would probably be the snoring. He has to escape to the couch midway through the night because of my hog calling. Lets pray the snoring ends in 25 days too! This weekend I got a lot done in the nursery and feel slightly more prepared for Emerson's arrival. Mom and Meghan helped me make decisions on what to buy, how to get everything put away, etc. I definitely felt a meltdown coming on before their visit. I also packed my bag for the hospital, which made everything seem quite real. I’m really going to do this. When I bring that bag back home from the hospital, there will be a new member of our family. Wow! That is hard to believe. When I went to the dr on Friday, they said that she has definitely dropped and is very low (is there any way for me to back out of this now??). I didnt gain any weight from 35 to 36 weeks, so they are not sure if the baby is growing. They're going to do an ultrasound on Thursday to verify that she is growing/still has space to grow. Hopefully we will have good news after the ultrasound....

I had another fantastic shower last weekend! A couple of neighbors and friends threw an “all dessert” shower that was absolutely amazing. Everything looked beautiful, the food was delicious, lots of friends were able to come, and the weather was perfect. It couldn’t have been better (except maybe if I could have had a glass of that cute pink champagne everyone enjoyed).
I got tons of great stuff that I cant wait to use: baby slings, onsies, sleepers, swaddling blankets, diapers, bottles, the list goes on. Everyone was very generous and I cant wait for all of them to meet Emerson!
Here are a few pix of from the shower:
delicious desserts!

a few of my neighbors who came to the shower

adorable party favors

busy opening the wonderful gifts

so many cute things....

Lets get ready to push!

Well, well, well the little gymnast has finally done THE flip. While Emerson seems to be practicing her gymnastics all day in my belly, she finally did the flip that counts- she is out of the breech position. She is “in perfect position” according to my doctor. My question was “perfect position for what”…. I was getting used to the idea of a having a c-section and avoiding all of that labor related “stuff”. J Just to be clear I asked my doctor- “ so, I have to push her out of my vagina???????????????”. You never know, there might be a back up plan with modern medicine these days. My doctor was quick to inform me that yes, I would be doing this the old fashioned way. Can you say Epidural?? To make matters worse, my doctor said “Holy Toledo” when she measured Emerson’s head. Apparently this little sweet pea has a huge noggin (measuring 3-4 weeks larger than she should be). Can they start the epidural now?? My doctor was not worried that the large head could be a sign of something wrong. She just said Emerson takes after her dad.
Other than being a bobble head, everything looked great in the ultrasound. She is 5 lbs. 2 oz. and growing steadily. I go to the doctor weekly now, so I’ll have tons to update in the next few weeks.

Last weekend I had my first shower and it was amazing!! I got lots of wonderful things for Emerson and her nursery and got to see everyone in NC. Everyone was very generous and I am extremely thankful for all of the wonderful gifts. I am very excited to find a home for everything and start making her room look like we’re actually expecting her to come sometime soon. J Here are a few pix from the shower.

The house looked absolutely amazing for my shower. The hostesses (sister and sister-in-law) looked pretty amazing too. :)

Zoe was a big help handing me the gifts!

One of my many gifts- the glider/rocker for the nursery..pretty amazing!

more gifts!!

yes, that is an ice sculpture for the big E!!! My brother in law made this contribution to the shower and it did make everything seem very fabulous! How are we going to top an ice sculpture for her 1st birthday party???

Emerson Estelle Thomas
We finally have a name for this little bundle of joy who will be here in 8 weeks!! It’s great to call her by a name, although we still call her “the baby” a lot. I’m very excited about the name and hope others will love it too. I do realize her initials will be E.T. and did stress over this slightly. I’ve been convinced many times over that it will not be a big deal and kids Emerson’s age probably wont even know who E.T. is/was. Not sure if they were sincere or just trying to appease the pregnant lady. Hopefully she wont be told to “phone home” too many times. I guess only time will tell. :)

We've also been working on the nursery little by little. We've had the furniture for a while, but then we (I) decided to paint. Larry and I embarked on this adventure to save money. Well, let me preface this story with saying--saving money isnt worth it when you lose your sanity. I was convinced the painting was horrible when we started, but it actually looked o.k. when we checked the next morning. We did run out of paint though and had to go back to get more the next weekend. We finished up the last wall of painting and touched up a few spots on the other 3 walls a week or so later. Just like the previous weekend, I went to bed worried the paint didnt look quite right. When we checked the next morning, we werent as lucky as before. I guess since mixing paint is not rocket science, they do not hire rocket scientist to do the job. This new batch of paint was a completely different color. We ordered the exact same paint/finish, but ended up with something several shades darker. So, the nursery had 3 walls one color with spots of darker paint all over where we touched up and 1 wall with darker paint- lovely. At this point my sanity was slipping fast. We decided to just pay someone to fix it (I think Larry would have paid any amount just to not hear me fuss about it anymore). THe painters were able to fix our mishap and all is well with the nursery and my sanity (relatively speaking). Here's a look at the dresser in the painted room. We'll have the bedding soon and I'll post some nursery pix.


We’re down to 8 weeks to go and have a new belly pix posted to prove it. She’s packing on the pounds and pushing my belly right on out. I’ve been greasing this belly up night and day in hopes of avoiding stretch marks. We are still stretch mark-free at this point. I can definitely see that my belly has become more “in the way” than ever. Up until now it hasn’t really impeded me in any way. Now there are several things I try to do (bend over to pick something up, put on tights, tie my shoes, sit up after lying down, etc.) and this big balloon gets in the way. :)
Emerson is most definitely trying out for the gymnastics portion of the Olympics these days. She definitely has her sleep/awake times that are obvious. When she is awake, she is flipping and turning like she’s trying to find her way out. For the most part it is a great feeling and fun to know she’s doing fine in there. There are some times when having my insides contorted in every possible direction is a little less than “fun”.
Sleeping baby- the baby sleeps 90-95% of the day, and sometimes experiences REM sleep, an indication of dreaming. When she’s not sleeping, baby's movements will peak this week. The wrinkles in your baby's face are disappearing and fat is still being deposited throughout the baby's body.Now that your baby has grown so long and your uterus is higher, you might notice a new discomfort. Your baby is probably head down and may occasionally stretch out and kick you in the ribs. The pressure on your rib cage can make you sore, especially if one of your baby's feet becomes caught.

The countdown is officially on-9 weeks to go. Can you believe I"m in the single digits? I cant (I guess that is fairly obvious considering I KEEP talking about it)!
Our doctor visit was great yesterday! So great there's really nothing to report. She is still breech, but has about 5-6 weeks to turn. If she hasnt turned by 36-37 weeks, she's not going to and we'll start talking C-section. She's growing and developing wonderfully, just packing on the pounds in these last weeks. Speaking of packing on the pounds.....I changed the weight gain counter (to the right) to "weeks" instead of "months for the rest of the time. My visits are every couple/few weeks now, so I'll get weighed at random times, not necessarily at the beginning of a month. According to the doctor, a pound a week is normal weight gain from here on out, so expect to see that number growing. :) (I think I"m mentally preparing myself)

Your baby continues to grow. Baby's lungs and digestive tract are very near to being mature. Now that almost all of the major organs are functioning, growth will focus on maturing those organs and growing muscle mass and fat stores. Baby's weight gain will exceed its growth in length from now on. He or she should more than double their weight again between now and birth. She weighs about 3.5 pounds and her total length is around 16.5 inches.
Your baby's brain is working overtime these days, developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing at a frenetic clip, and your baby can now perceive information from all five senses. The eyes have now completely opened and are responding to light and darkness. A loud noise near you may cause your little one to jump. Sure, your baby can't smell anything right now, but that's only because he or she is still submerged in amniotic fluid and needs to be breathing air to get a whiff of anything. Lucky for you — and your baby — yours will be one of the very first scents your baby breathes in, a scent that will quickly become his or her very favorite.
So what's your little dove doing all day while you're busy feathering your nest for his or her arrival? Making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands and feet along your uterine wall, and even sucking his or her thumb (please no- I cant take another thumb sucker in my house).

goodbye 20s....

30 weeks down, 10 weeks to go.....It sounds so great to be in the "thirties" now (30 weeks pregnant that is----if only it would have been exciting when my age left the 20s behind and entered the 30s... ).
Being 30 weeks really makes it sound/feel like I'm on the home stretch now. After this week, the # of weeks left will be in the single digits- woohoo!

We went to the specialist today and everything looked great. She's growing and weighs 3 pounds! She is still breech (head up instead of down), but still has time to turn. If she hasnt turned by 36 weeks, then she probably wont and that will mean a c-section for me. So, we'll just have to wait and see.

Apparently her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face.

We got some 3-d pix of her today. I think they are super clear (and super cute if I do say so myself), so hopefully you can see her...

cute profile, right??

these are more "straight on" pix..dont you just want to pinch those "chubby" cheeks?

you can see her right arm is bent with her fist right by her eye

her left hand is open in front of her left eye

her face looks a little froggish here- but she's the cutest darn frog i've ever seen :)

she has her foot in front of her face with her big toe on the bridge of her nose in both of these pix....guess she's getting kinda cramped in there!

Smile for the camera

I forgot to post this pix from the dr. visit last week. I hope that you can make out her face. The picture is taken of her looking straight ahead (not the profile like the last few times). You can see her left eye, her nose, and her mouth. I am convinced she is smiling in this picture, but I am her mother. So, just agree with me for the fun of it! :)

Everything went great at the dr. appointment last week except for one small detail....I gained 10 pounds in ONE MONTH. I honestly could not believe it. I asked the nurse to weigh me again because I just knew there had to be an error. I gained 7 pounds in 6 months and then I gain 10 pounds in one month???? Yes ma'am, you better believe it. We are in the double digits now baby. The dr. didnt seem too concerned as long as I dont gain 10lbs every month for the next few months. She said 17lbs is completely normal at 28 weeks. All I know is it pained me to be honest about the weight gain total, but I'm doing it. :)

I'm still feeling pretty great at this point in the pregnancy. I haven't gotten to the miserable/uncomfortable phase yet. The worst thing is probably the cankles right now. My calves, ankles and feet are swollen every day. There's not an ankle bone in sight. Dont beleive me?? Check these sausages out:

Everything else did go great at the dr. She is growing fine and doing great! At 29 weeks the baby's head is in proportion to the rest of the body. Fat continues to accumulate under the skin. The brain can control primitive breathing and body temperature control, and the eyes can move in the sockets. The baby is becoming sensitive to light, sound, taste and smell. She weighs nearly three pounds now and measures about 17 inches. Though she's getting pretty close to her birth length, she still has to chub out a bit. In fact, over the next 11 weeks, she'll more than double — or even come close to tripling — her weight. And as she grows and the room in your womb gets tighter, you'll be less likely to feel those big kicks and more likely to get poked by an elbow or jabbed by a knee.

7 months….wow. Time passed so slowly the first 5ish months of this pregnancy. Now it seems like the weeks are flying by. I’m heading to the dr today and am hoping for another great report. I’m getting used to these dr visits that end with no drama!
Baby's lungs are mature enough that, if born right now, she has a pretty good chance of surviving (with help from medical technology). Her skin is still pretty wrinkly (one byproduct of living in amniotic fluid) but will smoothen as fat continues to deposit. Your baby is about 14 ¼ inches long and weighs in at 2 ½ pounds. This still seems very small, but remember that during the last several weeks of pregnancy your baby will gain a significant amount of weight. Your baby’s brain is really beginning to develop into a more complex organ. Up until this point, your baby’s brain has been relatively smooth, but beginning this week his/her brain will develop grooves and indentions along its surface. The amount of brain tissue also begins to increase during the 28th week. The development of hair also continues. Eyebrows and eyelashes are visible, while the hair on your baby’s head grows even longer. Your baby is also starting to look a little rounder as the fat storage under the skin continues to develop. This is an important part of development that will continue through the remainder of your pregnancy.
Child care- I’m beginning to hate those words. Sadly enough this is becoming one of my biggest stresses right now. I am having an extremely hard time finding child care for the babe. We toured a few day cares. As all things go- we loved a couple, liked a couple, and disliked the rest. The ones that we loved the most are just too expensive for us. Everyone says “you’ll find the money, it just always works out”. Maybe they are right. I know we can be resourceful when we’re in a pinch, but I honestly don’t know that we could come up with it month after month. It’s not like it would be a one-time bill. Even if we did scrape it together monthly, we would be so strapped financially, NOTHING could go wrong. I’m just not sure this is feasible for us. Sooooooooooooo, we are looking into in home day cares. This comes with its own problems (what doesn’t, right?). I want to find someone based off of a reference/recommendation. I do not want to drop my baby off to a complete stranger. I would prefer to find someone that a friend of a friend has used in the past. This is becoming harder than I imagined. There just aren’t a lot of people who used in home day cares, love the caregiver, is near where we live or work, AND who happens to have an opening in August. Hopefully we will find something soon so that we’re not still looking last minute.

aaaahhh, the joys of pregnancy

Well, pregnancy brings new and exciting symptoms every day. Trust me; I’m using “exciting” very loosely. I will spare you the details of some symptoms because they’re just TMI and really nothing you want to hear about-ever. I should just say that I wake up often, notice a lovely change to my body and just say “REALLY?” I’ll leave it at that.
I will say I am the newest member of the cankles club. I honestly thought I might skip this lovely side effect of pregnancy because I have not gained a lot of weight and it’s winter time. I know that most pregnant women get cankles in the summer when it is so hot and humid, but I guess cankles strike in the winter too. I have been trying to be “good” and wear flats every day (you know giving up heels is a real sacrifice for me), but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. By the end of the day my feet are folding over my shoes and my ankle bone has completely disappeared. It is HOT, let me tell you. If I MUST find something positive (only if I must), it’s good that I have cankles in the winter because they are mostly covered with my pant leg and shoes. If it was summer and I had to put these puppies in sandals, they would eat the sandals alive.
Another side effect that I can tell you about is snoring. Yes, full on calling the hogs. I don’t know what happened but as soon as I entered the 3rd trimester I started snoring every night. The bad part about it is I already sleep on my side. So, it’s not even like I can turn over to get it to stop. Larry honestly has to leave the room most nights.
Cankles and snoring- it doesn't get much hotter than that, does it?

I head back to the dr. in a week for my 7 month visit. They will do an ultrasound at that appointment, so I’m very excited to get to check in on her again! Hopefully she’s doing great.
Baby is over 2 pounds and 15 inches long. Hard to believe she’s grown that much in 27 weeks!
Got a sudden pain in your rear? That's just baby, settling into place for her upcoming debut. Her head might be pressing on your sciatic nerve, which can cause pain and numbness down the backs of your legs. Don't worry -- it'll ease up soon after labor. For now, your aching back deserves a pat. You've reached trimester three!
Baby's lungs are going through some major developments these days, which (combined with the opening of previously plugged nostrils) means she's now able to practice inhaling and exhaling. The lack of air in your womb means every "breath" is filled with amniotic fluid, but hey -- it's progress.

whoa, why is there baby stuff in my house??

I know this is going to sound absolutely absurd, but I honestly dont know if I have totally connected this pregnancy to having a baby. Told you it would sound weird.... I have come to terms with the fact that I'm pregnant (kinda hard to deny with this gut), but I'm not sure I really GET the fact that there will be a baby joining our family in April- 100 days to be exact.

Larry put the stroller together recently and it was soooooooo weird to see it and the carrier/car seat sitting around our house. I woke up the next morning to see the carrier sitting on our couch and literally had to do a double take, thinking to myself- why is there baby stuff here?.. Sometimes I look at the carrier/stroller and tell myself- wow, there's going to be a baby in there..

I warned you all of this would sound weird, but I guess it's all part of the process of getting ready for motherhood (hope I"m not the only one that's felt this way).

Houston, we have a problem...

Ok, I take it all back.....Remember all of those previous posts I made wishing my belly would just look pregnant?? Well, apparently all of the wishes were saved up and cashed in all in the same week. My belly has literally been growing by the hour this week. There have been days this week where you could honestly see the difference from when I got up in the morning to when I went to bed that night-it's growing that fast. I am not sure this much belly is what I had in mind. :) If I've grown this much in one week, I'm petrified to see how much I will grow in 15 more weeks.... I think it's fair to assume I wont still be at 7lbs total weight gain at 7 months.....

Here is a pix from 24 weeks vs. 25 weeks. That's a lot of change for one week! What the???

For the record: yes, Larry did tell me so.

Baby's now the size of an eggplant!That oh-so-handy sense of equilibrium is kicking in, and baby's learning to distinguish right side up from upside down. Your uterus has grown quite a bit bigger this week. The top of your uterus is between your bellybutton and your sternum. Your uterus is about the size of a soccer ball now! Your baby is able to do more with their fingers now and can move his fingers to make a complete fist. As your baby becomes more dexterous, he will be able to touch and hold his feet. Babies also begin to prefer their left hand or right hand at this time. Because babies settle into routines of sleep and activity, you might begin to notice these patterns as well. Some women experience the most fetal movements while they are trying to rest. Exploring the structures inside your uterus may have become baby's prime entertainment. Fascinated by the amount of tactile stimulation a fetus gives itself; it touches a hand to the face, one hand to the other hand, clasps its feet, touches its foot to its leg, its hand to its umbilical cord. Blood vessels of the lungs develop. Your baby's nostrils begin to open. The nerves around the mouth and lip area are showing more sensitivity now.