It's a ...............

Boy!!!!!!!!

Any second. 10cm. At 0

It's coming

Not even close, bud!

Labor is close - I can feel it. But as of today, there is nothing. Last night, Andy slept great. This morning, she seems mellow and ready. Andy is going to Prenatal yoga and Oscar and I are gonna brave the cold weather and run around at a park.

Also, thanks Rachel for snapping some pics of Oscar at school. Enjoy the one to the right.

As always, keep ya posted...

P.S. Sign up for my Oscar pool, dammit! So far its just Annie Mac, Stef and me. It'll take 5 minutes. I promise :)

Join My Oscar Pool!!

Hi all. So I know this is last minute and I know that Andy and I are having a baby, like, now, but I love the Oscars and I love contests that don't include money. Naturally, it fell to me to create this Oscar pool.

If you are interested, go to this online pool I set up and choose your winners. After making your picks, you will have to include an email address at the bottom. This site has a pretty awesome privacy policy. Basically, they say they delete emails the day after the Oscars are over. No marketing - nothing. As always, proceed with caution.

Once you make your picks, an email will be sent to me and I will tally all the results and post the winner on the blog Sunday evening. You can also send yourself an email with your picks so you can check my work and follow along.

Good luck fighting it out for second!

What to expect when your expecting

Another sleepless night for Andy, the wonder mom. It felt real last night. With the crazy storm blowing through the Bay Area, we thought for sure the winds were changing - the baby is coming. But there was very little regularity to the contractions. There was, however, a new development as Andy started to feel some back pains with her contractions, not just tightening in the front. According to our amazing doula Michelle, back pain during contractions can be a sign that active labor is on the doorstep.

So I decided to head back in to work for the morning while Andy is hanging out at home with my mom. Michelle is coming over later this morning to give Andy some lovin' and so she can get a sense of the severity of the contractions.

I have to say, having a doula has completely changed the labor/birth experience. We felt like we were deer in the headlights when Oscar was born and in hindsight, it would have been nice to know the stuff we know the first time around. It is incredibly comforting for me to know we have this amazingly experienced person answering every question we have. And it is even more refreshing to know that she is our advocate. She is our resource. She is our friend and she loves us dearly.

Thanks for reading and we will keep ya posted...

There's an App for that

So when we thought the baby was coming the other night, I was trying to manually keep track of Andy's contractions so I could determine a definite pattern. And then I thought to myself. I bet there's an App for that.

After about 30 seconds of research I found an amazing free App for my IPhone that charts contractions by their duration as well as the time between contractions. It is awesome! I can't wait to put it to use when its really time.

As far as Andy and baby's arrival, no news to report. Andy slept well last night and is going to see True Grit today with my dad. If anything can get a baby to come in to this world, it will most definitely be a Coen brothers movie.

Speaking of movies, I'm thinking of putting together an online pool for the Oscars this Sunday. No money involved, just bragging rights. Anyone interested?

Mommy and Me time

So Andy had a rough sleep last night, waking up with every contraction. (I slept through it all) The contractions are nowhere near the intensity of active labor, as they are pretty short in duration and spaced apart randomly. Sometimes they are 14 minutes apart. Sometimes they are 40 minutes apart. Sometimes they last 10 seconds. Sometimes the last 30 seconds. Either way, there is no going back from here - Woo hoo!

Andy is a freakin' superstar with all of this waiting and uncertainty. Of course she wants the baby out as soon as possible, but she seems relaxed and ready and she is opening, slowly but surely. I am in awe of her - of all women actually. Truly amazing to witness and also be a part of.

I going to get as much work as possible done from home today while Andy and I are also stealing some nice alone time before the baby's arrival. Andy's sister, Erica, has come and gone - It was a fun, short visit and she was a big help with Oscar and cooking dinner and keeping Andy from doing dishes and laundry. My parents are arriving today for Stef's birthday and Andy's other sister, Mindy, arrives Sunday to help out and be witness to life with a newborn.

We are gonna go for a slow stroll down our street as it is a beautiful day here in the Bay Area. Keep ya posted, but for now, enjoy a video of Andy dancing this past weekend.

Don't look at me with that efface!

Andy had a doctors appointment today and after examination, the doctor told Andy she was already 3-4 cm dilated and starting to efface.

"Um. what?" I said nervously when Andy called me and told me what the baby doc said. So despite not having any real patterns of labor contractions, Andy is on her way!

I came home from work early to be with her as it seems I am more nervous and stressed than Andy, although I am trying my best to remain calm throughout. The baby doc told Andy that she expects to hear from us in the next day or two that it is time. If I knew posting a Tom Petty video would induce labor, I would have done it long ago. :)

And the beat goes on

I took Oscar to school this morning. I am at work. Andy is home resting. It's almost like we are back to business without anything to look forward to.

Sunday was a bit of a letdown. It's good that her water didn't break because its now obvious that the baby wants to stay in there for a bit longer. But for those few hours when we were sure it was time to have a baby, we had entered the "new baby is on its way out" stage and to be told that it was nothing was hard to come down from.

I'm sure once the baby comes, we will forget about all this waiting. For now, please enjoy the video below from Tom Petty and The Heartbreaks called "The waiting is the hardest part"

President's Day

Well, after an eventful Sunday, it seems the baby is not fully cooked. We went to the hospital to get checked out yesterday evening to make sure that Andy's water did, in fact, break. And much to our surprise, it did not! So they sent us home and said, "see ya soon!"

Andy felt a lot of movement last night, but no patterns (ie. labor contractions). So I am at work now to get some stuff done while Andy, Ricky and Oscar are playing together.

FYI, today is the actual due date they gave us. Very exciting times for all of us!

Water has not broken

Water has not broken. I repeat, water has not broken. Apparently Andy just had to pee real bad. :)

Cats Stevens new single "Water has Broken"

We just went swimming at the Richmond Plunge (new community pool in Point Richmond that rocks, by the way) and had an amazingly fun time. Oscar and I got ready in the boys room while Andy got ready on her own. When Andy came out, she informed us she had a gush of water while peeing. She doesn't feel any contractions but we definitely think this is it. We are about to call our doctor and let her know what's up. As always, we'll keep ya posted...

Nothing new ... sorry folks

Hey hey. It's a rainy Saturday afternoon and nothing new to report on the baby front. Oscar and I went out for a little dance party this morning to see The Bubble Lady while Andy and Aunt Ricky went to yoga. The little contractions Andy was feeling the last two days have died down. Seems the little bambino(a) is staying put.

After yoga, Andy and Aunt Ricky went shopping at Berkeley Bowl and picked up a ton of yummy yums for dinner. Aunt Ricky is an amazing chef and we are looking forward to see what she whips up tonight.

So, as of 3:47pm on Saturday, we re chilling in Richmond. I am about to make a fire and get ready for the NBA slam dunk contest. My money is on Blake Griffin.

I'm Done

"I'm done," Andy said.

Unfortunately for mom, the baby seems pretty happy in the belly. Keep ya posted...

Are you coming out today?

This is my first contribution to the blog.. So far Eric has been the only one writing, but encouraging me to write every day. Today I have been having some contractions, not very regular yet. So who knows? My sister Erica is coming in this afternoon and hoping the baby arrives before she leaves on Tuesday! So we have started helping the baby along with some natural labor inducers- black licorice, primrose oil, walking/dancing, stretching/yoga, bumpy roads, and other methods....For dinner we might have eggplant parmesan with oregano, and pinapple for dessert. (all of which are possible triggers for labor).

We are ready and waiting for this little one to arrive!

We'll keep you posted if anything changes...
:)andy

Who are you?

Andy got an awesome night sleep and seems energized for the day. No cramping, no contractions, no signs, just a big belly with a little baby inside. Who are you, little baby?!?

In other news, Andy's sister, Erica, is coming from New Mexico this afternoon to help out for a few days. She's gonna love touching the belly and watching Andy rock the baby boulder.

New developments

Andy had trouble sleeping last night while things started to move around. She asked me to stay with her today in case this is actual labor. So we've been hanging out together, just the two of us, talking, snuggling, playing cards. (I let her win)

Then Andy wanted to float in water. So, because our hot tub is perpetually broken, I called my cousin and asked if we could come and soak in his tubby. After a cryptic lesson on how to find his hidden key, we were in! It was an amazing tub. It's a super rainy day here in the bay and we just mellowed in the tub while the rain came pouring down on us. I held the belly in my lap as Andy floated. I think it really helped take some pressure off her little back.

We'll keep ya posted....

No news

Andy had her weekly check up with the doctor today and all is well. Tons of fluid, baby positioned correctly, mom is uncomfortable - just your typical 39.5 week report.

Andy is moving around less and less, which is a good thing if you ask me. It is my hope that these last few days of waiting are filled with some serious chilling. She worked so hard for the last five months, she deserves to do nothing but watch Oprah and eat ice cream.

It is taking all my power to stop her from doing the dishes and folding laundry. She's one tough cookie and I love her madly.

Ready as we'll ever be

The baby room is cleaned and set up. The onesies are folded. We just got our new infant car seat and stroller delivered and installed. What am I forgetting???

Valentine's Day

No baby yet. No labor pains. Today is Monday and Andy is home chilling, getting the house in order while Oscar and I are at school and work, respectively.

A fun fact: Oscar was born on my grandmother's birthday (May 28th) and if baby #2 comes Wednesday, it will be born on my other grandmother's birthday (Feb. 16th). Synergy, baby, synergy.

Easy like Sunday morn

No news as of Sunday morning. We've been laying in bed, just the three of us, giggling, talking. Oscar jumped on Andy's belly by accident and I had a vision of the baby shooting out of the exit hole and smacking up against our ketubah. Talk about quick labor.

As I reflect on the change that is coming, I thought I'd share a video from the moment we found out we were pregnant. Andy woke up that late June morning in a panic. It was 6am and she rolled over in bed and said, "I'll be right back." I asked where she was going. "Walgreens. I'll be right back." She sounded nervous, which in turn made me a little uneasy.

I had no idea what was going on until she returned from the drug store and I looked in her white plastic bags. She came home with three early pregnancy test.

"You think your pregnant?"

Woooaaahhh....

What a gal!

Andy let me sleep late this morning. What a gal! There are no signs that this is the day so it looks like just another mellow Saturday with my favorite people in the world.

I think there is something in there

The weekend

It's Friday night and we're home for the weekend to relax from a very long week. Andy finished school and is now on maternity leave. We celebrated with a nice bottle of wine, some pizza and a family slow dance to The Beatles "Julia" in our kitchen. It was a really nice moment, just the three of us.

It's been weighing on me to know that it's not just gonna be sweet, little Oscar. I've got to split my energy and that bums me out, at times. I give so much to him, without complaint. I love it. And to think I have to take away from that, makes me kind of melancholy.

And let's not forget the fact that loving and adoring a child is tiring. I am having a hard time imagining what two kids will feel like. I had a moment earlier tonight trying to envision a crying baby while Oscar is doing his rambling rant of random thoughts during dinner. The whole scenario made me a little queasy, I'm not gonna lie.

Andy just got out of the tub. Just a few 40 week twinges reported, so nothing major as of Friday at 9:10pm.

Baby on the way

We are expecting our second baby any day now. It's kind of hard to write that even though the inevitable is right around the corner. The first due date we were given was Feb. 16. Later on, we were told it would be Feb. 20. So, basically, it was all about Feb. 1. Once we hit February, in my mind, it was go time.

Andrea just finished work so now its just a waiting game. She is big and uncomfortable and ready to get her body back. Although, I think she looks amazing.

Follow this blog for updates on labor and all things baby as the days progress....