Baby Sierra has arrived

I am back at work today so I cannot give you a long update. The AWESOME news is that Sierra Rein Miller arrived around 1am this morning. Click HERE to read my sister Katie's blog for more information.

Once I hear more from my family - and I get a bit more rest - I will post more updates (and hopefully pictures!)

Thank you all for you continued thoughts and prayers.

Karen/Sierra Update

We don't have much information but this is what we know so far:

Karen and Brian went back to the Birthing Center at 5pm because Karen was contracting every 1-2 minutes for about 2.5 hours - my mom went with them for support.

Mom just called and said that she is only 2 cm dialated.

They have transferred her from the Birthing Center to the Labor & Deliver floor of the hospital because she is not dialating.

They are now going to break her water and see what happens in the next 2 hours.

We'll know more at that time. Katie, Pierce and I are heading over to the hospital now. I am taking my computer with me so I will try and update when I can.

Thank you for all of your continued loving thoughts and prayers.

No baby yet....

We are still awaiting the arrival of Sierra. Karen was seen by the midwife at the birthing center this morning around 9am and unfortunately they were sent back home! :( Karen had an exam and this did some monitoring of her contractions and also of the baby. She was told at that time that she was only 1 cm dialated!! (Which is unbelievable since she has been having contractions for OVER 24 hours and they were around 5-6 minutes apart!)

So....back home they came and she was told to rest. They gave her something to help her sleep and hoped that she could get 4-6 hours of sleep. The ultimate hope is that her body would speed up her contractions, cause her to dialate more and she would "officially" start labor once she got some rest.

Katie, Pierce, Mom and I went to the mall for a little while this morning when Brian and Karen went up to bed. Pierce played in the mall indoor play area, us girls did a little shopping and we ate lunch. We arrived back here to Karen and Brian's house about 30 minutes ago and Brian told us that Karen had woken up about 1:30pm. That means that she got about 3 1/2 hours of very much needed sleep! He said that she was having contractions and they seemed to be getting closer together. Of course, none of us are getting our hopes up because who knows what is going to happen! Only God knows!!!

We will continue to update you as things change or progress. Katie and I are taking it one hour at a time now and aren't quite sure what our plans are for a return trip to C'ville. I am supposed to be back at work tomorrow since I have been out since yesterday. But we really don't want to leave until Sierra is here! We'll see what happens....

Still Waiting...

It is currently 6:19am and we are still waiting for Baby Sierra to arrive. Karen has been in labor since 4:30 yesterday morning! She has been having contractions now for over 24 hours and she is extremely tired! Katie, Pierce and I left C'ville yesterday around 11am thinking that Sierra would make her entrance into this world in the afternoon or evening. We made a stop in Richmond and then headed to VA Beach around 4pm with my parents. From the time we got here until we all headed to bed around midnight, Karen continued to have contractions that were pretty strong, lasting about one minute and occuring every 5-10 minutes. Unfortunately at times, they were more like 15 minutes apart. It didn't seem like she was really making any progress. She decided to go up to bed and see if she could get some rest.

Around 4:30 this morning, I woke up (I had been waking up every 30 minutes or so) and heard some talking. Brian came out of their bedroom to get Karen something to drink and he said that they had just talked to their midwife. He said Karen has continued to have strong contractions all night and unfortunately they are not getting closer together, but they are getting stronger, more painful, and lasting longer - like 2 minutes. The midwife said that she would like them to come into the birthing center at 8am for a checkup. Hopefully she will get there and they will tell her she is 8 cm dialated and that there is not much longer to go!!! That is her hope!

I will continue to keep you updated. It has been a REALLY long night for Karen and Brian. She hasn't had any real quality sleep for over 24 hours now and she is really exhausted. Please continue to pray that this process will speed up and that everything will go well for Karen and Sierra.

Weight Watchers Update

I neglected to post after my WW meeting last Monday night. To be honest, it wasn't necessarily an oversight on my part. I have not been as faithful to my eating and exercising plan as I should be so last Monday I was not surprised that I gained 1.2 lbs. I was upset with myself and vowed to do better this week, although I can't say that I was 100% perfect.

But, apparently I was pretty good because tonight when I weighed in I was down 4 lbs!! That means in 12 weeks I have lost 17.4 lbs! I am so happy with my progress so far and I am happy that I hit a small personal milestone (under a certain weight) this week!

Now this gives me the motivation to do well in the upcoming week. In addition, I had two people at work today tell me that I looked good and that they could tell I was losing weight. That always makes a person feel good! :-)

"Patiently" waiting....

We are all patiently (ok, really more like impatiently!) waiting for Sierra Miller to make her grand entrance in this world. Apparently the girl is wise beyond her years already and she knows that staying in the warmth of her mommy's tummy is better than being in this cold, damp almost-Spring weather that we are having here in Virginia!! :-)

Yesterday we woke up to a text message from Karen saying that she was having cramping and some blood and she thought the baby might be coming sometime during the day. Yippee! I was so excited to finally meet our family's newest addition!

Keith left to go to a library conference in DC in the morning so I finished up some house cleaning, took a shower, packed a bag and headed to Katie and Shaun's house. Since Keith was going to be away I had planned on spending some time yesterday with them and Katie agreed to go to some Open Houses with me. The whole time we were looking at the houses, I think both of us were thinking, "When is the call from Karen going to come?!" We were all packed a ready and being very impatient!

I sent Karen a text message in the late afternoon when we got back from our house expedition and she said "Still nothing". I feel really bad for her and Brian because I know that they are SO ready to have little Sierra arrive. I know that as much as we are all anticipating her arrival, Karen is hoping for it 100 times more! (And she also has the cramping and all to deal with!!)

I want to take this time to say how proud I am of Karen and all that she has gone through with this pregnancy. She has been a trouper through all the sickness and such that has occurred. I know that she and Brian are going to be great parents!

Happy Birthday to my dear sister

Happy 28th Birthday to my dear sister Karen. We are so blessed to have her as part of our family and we can't wait for her little bundle of joy to arrive.

We pray that this year is filled with many blessings and much happiness for her. She certainly deserves it!

We love you, Karen!