Samuel Gray Miller - Developing

Developing

End of July 2003

Baby miller is conceived during vacation in Chicago!

Four Weeks - August 2003

We announced the pregnancy to the Grandparents-to-be at a concert at Conner Prairie.

Seven Weeks

Our GP officially confirms the pregnancy, of course, by now we've told many of our friends and church members.

Eight Weeks - September 2003

Angela sees her OB for the first pre-natal checkup.
The doctor uses an ultrasound to make sure all is well and everything seems to check out fine.
The due date is set at April 20, 2004.

Twelve Weeks - October 2003

Another visit to the doctor, we get to hear the baby's heart beating! How exciting.

Sixteen Weeks - November 2003

Another monthly check all is well. Good baby heart rate and Angela's blood pressure is good.

Twenty Weeks - December 2003

Angela and Ben come to this visit, as it's for the ultrasound that will show the gender of the baby. Sister Ella comes too.
It's a boy! Wow, first boy of this generation with five other girls. Everyone is very excited.
Angela gets influenza this month, but since we all had a flu shot it's a mild case and the baby is fine.

The baby's face, hands and tummy

The baby's gender, shown with the arrow

Twenty Five Weeks - January 2004

Monthly prenatal checkup. All is going well.

Twenty Six Weeks

Angela visits her GP for a sinus infection and has to remind him that she pregnant as he is prescribing her antibiotics.

Twenty Seven Weeks

Get on some real antibiotics and other meds to fight the sinus infection. My OB doesn't mess around with this stuff! Yay!

Twenty Nine Weeks

On bi-monthly prenatal checkups now. During this visit they take some blood after Angela drinks a sugar mixture for a glucose intolerance test. A few weeks later we find out that Angela passed the one hour test. This is great news because she had a false positive with Ella's pregnancy and had to do the four-hour test.

Thirty Weeks - February 2004

Everything is looking good.
Angela had two more fights with colds, but they didn't turn into an infection.
The doctor said that the baby is measuring two weeks ahead of schedule based on external measurements, but they were off will Ella (by 3+ pounds), so we aren't too worried.

Thirty Two Weeks

All checks out fine.
At 33 weeks, Angela gets another sinus infection and goes back on antibiotics. This one keeps her down for 12 days before she is feeling better. This baby is taking a lot out of her.

Thirty Five Weeks - March 15, 2004

The baby is measuring well and has a good heartbeat. The baby is positioned head down. Angela's cervix is about 50% effaced, 1-2 cm dilated and the baby is in about
a -1 station. | compare to week 35 with Ella |

Thirty Six Weeks - March 26, 2004

Angela woke up this morning with what seemed like light cramping at first. As she was getting ready for the scheduled doctor's appointment, the cramps began to feel more like contractions. However, these didn't start at the top and work down, they started at the bottom and shot around the back. Since this usually doesn't describe real labor, Angela just thought they were Braxton-Hicks contractions that she'd never had before.
The contractions were coming at irregular intervals but fairly close together and they were painful. It was hard to walk or stand through them. Angela asked a neighbor to watch Ella so she could go to the appointment alone, since she was in so much pain.
The doctor said she was now about 75% effaced and 2 cm dilated and that the contractions were probably Braxton-Hicks.
The contractions continued for 8 hours, coming very close together at times, every 2 minutes, but it was difficult to tell because the pain was there even when the contraction had stopped.
Finally after trying to walk through the pain and work around the house, Angela managed to lay down and sleep for two hours. After that, the contractions were much more mild that night.
Upon reading more about it, Braxton-Hicks are supposed to be painless and when contractions bring pain and more than 4 an hour, then it's considered false labor. However technically being in labor with her cervix dilating and effacing, it seems very confusing.
Anyway, no more contractions since that Friday (five days ago).

Thirty Seven Weeks (Term) - March 31, 2004

At this week's schedule appointment all was well. Mother has good BP, baby has good heart beat. The doctor estimates that Angela is 75% effaced, 3 cm dilated, so there has been some change since the last visit 5 days ago. Baby boy Miller could be joining the family any day.
Angela's regular doctor is on vacation in Hawaii, but there are good doctors on call in case the baby comes before she gets back.

Thirty Eight Weeks - April 5, 2004

All is well, no dilation change this week. The doctor stripped Angela's membranes (separated the amniotic sac from the cervix) and this could trigger labor. Last time with Ella, it took a week after her membranes were stripped for labor to start and it began with her water breaking.
Angela got the carpets cleaned today, so as far as she's concerned, the baby can come at any time.

Thirty Nine Weeks - April 13, 2004

Wow, we are surprised that baby Miller is still hanging in there at 39 weeks. After his sister was so eager to make her entrance into the world, we thought this one might come early too.
Angela's BP was good and the doctor said her weight was good as was the baby's heart rate. The doctor asked if Angela was interested in inducing but she wanted to wait and see the baby come on his own. Hopefully it won't be too much longer anyway.
Angela is getting pretty sore and it's difficult to walk and lift Ella.

April 15, 2003

All day this day, Angela had a pretty severe head ache. She took her BP a couple of times, and it was high with a diastolic of 104 - 115, however our home machine tends to run high. She took a lot of Tylenol and took a nap.

Woke up from the nap with the head ache.

April 16th, 2003 - Samuel's Birthday

At 4:00 am, Angela awoke for the second or third time with a pounding headache. She took her BP, and it was high. She weighed herself to see if she'd been retaining water, and the scale was showing a 7 pound gain from the day before.

We called the doctor to report the symptoms, knowing we'd be making a trip to the hospital to have it checked out.

We quickly finished packing a few items, made arrangements to drop Ella off at a neighbor's at 5:30 am and headed off to the hospital.

The full birth story will be posted later, but for now, you can see the end result pictures.

Forty Weeks - April 20, 2004 (Baby's Due Date)