Charlotte's Halloween

 

Well, Charlotte is a little young for trick or treating, but she did manage to dress up for the occasion!

Halloween here is a little different than the American model. When we first arrived in Ireland, costumes were few and far between. It was more traditional to set off fireworks. But trick or treating is beginning to take off in Ireland -- the grocery stores are full of children's costumes and there are good supplies of adult costumes at the Hallmark stores throughout the city. So, between feedings and Charlotte being noisy, we had the sound of fireworks to deal with. But I like to think they were being set off to celebrate Charlotte's birth!


 

My Favorite Photo So Far

I've learned that it's hard to get photos of your baby with her eyes open -- she's asleep about 18 hours a day. But we had a little success today. Charlotte and Erin are home and doing well. 

Two Whitakers Napping

Hi everyone. Clearly it has been a busy day for Charlotte and I -- we both needed our sleep in the hospital. Charlotte's doing very well -- she's feeding every couple of hours, is energetic, likes checking out the world, and has decided that her Dad doesn't smell TOO bad.

I've started an online album of photos. The link is in the sidebar. I'll keep updating this regularly as we take more photos.

The Sprout Is Out! Charlotte has Arrived

Well, Miss Charlotte has finally arrived at 3.17pm Dublin time after about fifteen hours of labour. Sorry for the lousy picture quality, but between low light levels and avoiding flash, this was the best I could do. I'll try to do better tomorrow. Erin and Charlotte are doing well tonight and will be in the hospital for another couple of days. Erin had good pain relief and got Charlotte out after only 35 minutes of active pushing.

So far she's sucked on her hand (favouring her left), looked around very alertly, had hiccups, done a bit of kicking, responded to singing and to whistling by wiggling, and has nursed well. I think she looks mostly like her Mom, but she has a few of my traits.

Not only was Charlotte born on her mother's birthday, Erin's parents arrived in Dublin in time for the birth! Though it was a tiring day, it was the best day we've ever had. 

We are still waiting

We had a good visit at the doctor this morning and so far things are still going well. Charlotte measured out at 8.5 pounds and she has lots of fluid around her. Since she is in the normal range of where she should be, we are going to hang out and wait for her to make her arrival when she is ready. We go to the doctor again next Thursday for a check up and if she isn't here by the 6th then we will look at options then. Until then we are all hanging out and doing well.

39 Weeks

Here I am at 39 weeks. Everything went well at the doctor this morning. My blood pressure was good and I'm still not showing any signs of going into labor. Now we wait until the scan on Thursday to see how big she is getting and what the next step is.

Keep checking the blog for updates...

 

It's all baby!

Brian and I went to the doctor this morning and everything is looking good so far. However...Charlotte is getting BIG! The doctor thinks she is about 9 pounds right now (teeny tiny tank jr???) but she isn't ready to come just yet. According to the doctor, if Charlotte hasn't made her grand entrance over the next week and a half, we will have a scan to get a more accurate measurement of her size and see what we need to do. I'll go to the doctor again next Monday for a check up too.

Here I am at 38 weeks and both the doctor and I think it is all baby!

 

36 Weeks

Here I am at 36 weeks. I feel like I'm getting bigger every day. This week is my last week at work! I'm looking forward to some time off before Charlotte gets here. I know this is the last time for a long time that I'll be bored and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!