Welcome Kaitlyn Elizabeth

It has been a little less than 2 years since my last post....I am definitely not the best at journaling! A lot has happened in the past couple of years. Grace is now 2 1/2 years old and is a Big Sister!

We were blessed with the arrival of our second daughter Kaitlyn Elizabeth on February 9 at 12:35am. She was 8lbs and was 22 inches of absolute perfection! I am amazed at how I can be in love with two beautiful girls at the same time. Our family definitely feels complete!

We checked into the hospital at 6:30am on February 8 with the expectation of meeting out little girl by lunch time. Afterall, her big sister arrived about 7 hours after induction. Kaitlyn was on a schedule of her own and decided to make us wait 16 hours before making her appearance. Maybe Kaitlyn knew that mommy and daddy had yet to pick out a name for her.

As you can see from the picture, Grace is one proud "Big Sister". She was at the hospital most of the day with family eagerly awaiting the arrival of "baby sister". Finally around 1:30am on the 9th, Grace had the privilege of meeting Kaitlyn. Grace was all smiles and was ready to introduce her sister to the rest of the family.

Kaitlyn is two weeks old today and thankfully Grace still thinks she is pretty cool. There have been moments of unhappiness that "baby sister" is here, but overall things are going well. Grace loves to give Kaitlyn kisses and hugs. She also enjoys holding "baby sister" (with mommy's helps) as well as making sure Kaitlyn has her paci.

Mommy is adjusting to life with two little girls. This has been my second day without daddy around to help. At this moment, we are taking each day hour by hour. Nothing is on my agenda and no list of things to accomplish for the day is being made. Instead, Grace and Kaitlyn are guiding me through each day. Aside from being exhausted, things are going well. I do have moments of feeling overwhelmed, but those thoughts are quickly adverted by Grace or Kaitlyn making me smile. I feel so blessed to have two healthy and happy girls.

Grace Ellen Casterline

Baby Grace has arrived! One week earlier then expected. She was born on Saturday, June 14th at 12:38pm. Grace weighed 7lbs and 4oz and was 20 and 1/2 inches long. I ended up having to be induced due to developing preeclampsia. After waiting all day for a labor room to come available, Andrew and I were finally moved to the room around 4pm Friday afternoon. I was admitted to the hospital around 10am Friday morning and spent most of the day hooked up to a heart monitor for the baby and contraction belt. I was induced around 6:45am on Saturday morning and Grace was born about 6 hours later. Things progressed much faster then the nurses or doctor thought. The doctor was at home and had to be called. She did not think that I would have Grace until Saturday evening. I went from being dilated from a 4 to a 10 in about an hour and a half. The delivery process was not at all painful thanks to the epidural.

Having Grace was a blessing and an awesome experience to watch. The entire labor process was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Seeing that beautiful baby made every moment of morning sickness, heart burn, swollen feet, labor pains, and all of the other joys of being pregnant totally worth it. She is a wonderful miracle from God.

Having Grace around has been quite an adjustment for Andrew and I. As you can tell with this post being over three weeks late.....Grace takes up a lot of my free time. :) She is a lot of fun, but can be quite demanding. :) It was wonderful having Andrew home the first two weeks while we adjusted from going from a family of two to a family of three. He has been and continues to be a huge help and encouragement to me. I have had the baby blues a little and can get cranky due to a lack of sleep.

Big brother Quincy has been a great dog. He was curious of Grace at first, but now she is old news. He will give her a few licks every once in a while and looks concerned when she cries. Other then that he pretty much ignores her. As she gets older, I am sure they will become best buddies.

I will continue to post updates and pictures of Grace as she grows. Thanks for sharing in this special moment with us.

Andrew, Jennifer, and Grace

Upside Down...Finally

I had my 36 week check up today and I have great news! The baby has finally turned! She is head down and ready to go! Baby is right on schedule to arrive around June 21st. I am 50% effaced but not dilated at all. The doctor thinks that she is about 5 1/2 pounds. Her heartbeat is a strong 144 beats per minute.

Over the last week or so I have started to swell. I can no longer wear my wedding ring and I don't really have ankles at the end of the day! :) I get tired more frequently and am finding that I don't have the energy that I did during the 2nd trimester. I have given up on getting a full nights sleep as well. Between the heartburn, indigestion, and getting up to go to the bathroom at least three times a night, I manage to get a steady two hours of sleep at a time. I figure this is just preparation for long late nights with a newborn baby.

We have a good start on the baby's room. The crib and dresser are assembled and in their place. Of course there is plenty of laundry to do. We have a ton of baby clothes and blankets - thanks to all of our wonderful friends and family. I still need to decorate the walls and find a rug and curtains for the room. I will post pictures of the bedroom and baby bedding soon.

Things are winding down for us. We are only a few weeks away from meeting our little girl. I am excited, nervous, and scared all at the same time! I know that God is in control and that everything will work out just as he has planned. :)

Week 36

Well I am a few days from being 36 weeks along. I go to the doctor on Thursday for my last two week checkup. From here on out I go once a week. Right now our little one is a little confused on her positioning. She is currently breech. If she has not figured out how to turn and be head down by week 37, my doctor will do a procedure forcing her to turn. I have heard that this is not a painful process....but it is not too comfortable either. At that point the doctor will go ahead and induce me. So, we could have a little girl in the next week and a half. I will keep you posted on how things go. Right now, a lot is up in the air. She could easily decide to turn tomorrow and not come until her due date....June 21st. Please keep all three of us in your thoughts and prayers.

Watch Me Grow

Over the last 7 plus months my belly has gone through some changes! I have included pictures for all to see. The first picture was taken around 17 weeks. The second picture was taken on March 17th (St. Patties Day). Of course baby and I dressed in green that day. The third picture was taken this past weekend (April 26th) at my baby shower in Indianapolis. I am amazed at the growth over the past month! I am now almost 33 weeks along. I cannot believe that we are only 7 weeks away from meeting our little girl.

Being pregnant has been a wonderful experience. The baby's movements are more human like now - compared the the little flutters I felt early on. I have gotten a few good kicks from her lately. Sometimes I think she is doing somersaults. She is still moving all of the time. She lets me know that I am invading her space when I sit to close to my desk at work.

One neat thing lately has been the hiccups. I noticed them last week for the first time. I had to put my hand on my belly to really feel them. They lasted for a good 10 minutes. About 8 minutes in, she went nuts - moving all over the place. The hiccups stopped shortly after all of the movement. Apparently she was done with the hiccups! Yesterday, I did not have to put my hand on my belly to feel the hiccups. My entire belly shook every few seconds. Feeling the hiccups makes the pregnancy feel more real.

Since week 26 I have had Andrew help me measure my belly. I have gone from being 40 inches round to 42 inches. Tonight we will measure the belly again. I predict some major growth. Of course we had to measure Quincy's belly at week 26 as well. I had him beat by about 4 inches. Poor puppy has gained some pregnancy weight with me.

Enjoy the pictures.

Ultra Sound Pictures - 20 weeks along

At our 20 week check up (almost 9 weeks ago) we were able to see these precious pictures of our little baby girl. They are kind of hard to figure out so I will assist. :) The top left picture shows her feet (which are enlarged). Picture 2 is the verification that we are having a baby girl. Picture 3 is a great view of her mouth. If you look closely you can see her lips. Picture 4 is a view of her head.
Unfortunately, we were not able to get a cute side picture. She was rather active and stubborn that day. She was most comfortable on her belly.

We are having a little baby.....

Okay, if you do not want to know if our baby is a boy or a girl do not read any further.....dad! :) I am sure my dad is not the only one that wants to be surprised on June 21st! So to all that want to be surprised, here is your heads up!

Today we went to the doctor for our 20 week checkup which involved an ultrasound. Before I get into all of the details, I will share what we are having! We are having a baby girl! We are both very excited. I thought that we were having a girl all along, mostly based on a few wives tales. I am a believer, but Andrew is still on the fence when it come to predicting the gender of a baby based on a wives tale.

Our little girl showed that she has a bit of a stubborn streak in her. She did not want to cooperate with the technician this morning. She is also a very active baby! She was bouning all over the place! But with a little patience and effort from the technician we were able to see most of her organs, head, spine, arms, legs, feet, and her face. She enjoyed kicking my bladder (which was rather full) as well. Her face is cute, but we have no clue who she looks like! I am hoping that she has her daddies dimples and brown cruly hair like her mother. I cannot wait for June 21st to come. We were not able to get a good picture of her on her side. She loved laying on her stomach and was not willing to turn....even with some pushing on my belly. She would move around but never quite left her comfy position of laying on her belly. She weighs about 20 ounces and is about the size of a can of coke. Right now she is laying at an angle. Her head is on the upper right side even with my belly button and her legs are to the lower left near my bladder. Right now her heart rate is 150. It was wonderful to hear the strong, fast beating of her heart.

We don't have an official name picked out yet. There are several girl names that we like. We do know that her middle name will be Tracy. Now we just have to find the perfect first name!

We will post the ultra sound pictures soon for all to see. Thanks for sharing in our special time. We are so excited to be parents! Quincy is thrilled to be a big brother. He has no idea what is around the corner!

Jennifer and Andrew