5+ weeks old

It's hard to believe that Delaney is 5 weeks and 2 days old and Christmas is rapidly approaching. Many people ask what I do all day? Well, I really have no idea where the time goes. Every time I change and feed her - that takes about an hour and that's 8-10x a day. She has a couple fussy periods a day where she likes to be walked. We try to get out on occasion and meet friends for lunch or have a visitor now and then. And in the meantime, we sleep!!!!

Delaney loves to be held, thus making it difficult to get TOO much done around the house or anything.

Every Monday we go to a Baby & Me group at Jenny Ed hospital. It's a support group for breastfeeding moms and is hosted by a lactation consultant. It's nice to talk to other moms and find out everything we're going through is normal. They also weigh her every week and she is now up to 10 lbs. 5.4 oz.

She's been sleeping in her crib for 2+ weeks and in the past week or so she's been sleeping a little longer at night which has been a relief for me.

A lot of people ask how I am doing? I am getting by and trying to get the hang of being a mom - something that you really cannot prepare for, you just have to do it. I generally end up getting spit up on once or twice a day so when you see me I'm usually in comfy clothes and if I am wearing something nice I probably just changed right before walking out the door. But, all that being said - I love it and I love her very much. Who knows if we'll have more kids or not so I am just going to enjoy this one as much as I can.

Here's some pics...
top down
December 9th - bundled up to go have lunch (2 pics)
December 4th - 1 month old, on our way to go get pictures taken
November 30th - taking a nap with mom
December 7th - 4 generation picture (and Thanksgiving with my family)

more pics - 12/1/2008

posted some more pics. link is below. we're getting professional pics done thursday

http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/Tiffaneyj79/Delaney%20-%20December%202008/

11-19-2008 - New pics

I've posted a few new pictures to photobucket (link below). we plan to go get professional pictures taken in December.

http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/Tiffaneyj79/delaney%20-%20november%2008/

Hospital Baby Pictures

Here's a link to the pics taken at the hospital - she's awfully cute if I do say so myself.

http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=ff78612c-99ae-4099-80ff-91567f33c593

If that doesn't work, please go try this:

http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/HospitalResults.aspx?sid=3636

search by babies born Nov 4th
click on my name
Password is: 36361250044076
Last Name: Kupe

more pics

here's what i have so far

http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/Tiffaneyj79/delaney%20-%20november%2008/

Mini-Kuper has arrived

No time to talk but I wanted to post the details and some pics for those of you following the blog.

Delaney Kathryn Kuper was born on 11/4/2008 at 8:39 a.m. She is 20-1/2 inches long and weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz. We're all doing well and couldn't be happier.

Enjoy the pics!

November 4th

Mini-Kuper will be making her appearance sometime in the morning of November 4th via c-section. Please keep all of us in your prayers and I will post pictures when I can.

Thanks for checking in!

40 Weeks

That's right - 40 weeks!

Looks like the poll ended with Halloween being the top guess. Labor would have to start soon and progress rather quickly in order for mini-kuper to arrive on Halloween.

I had my doctor's appointment on Tuesday and I had made a little progress but still barely dilated to a 1 and still 50% effaced. I've tried all the wivestales, but to no avail she is just not ready to come out yet. I go back to the doctor on Monday and will talk induction (if I haven't gone on my own by then).

Pretty much everything is done and ready except for the name letters. And the Grandma's are getting awfully anxious!

39 Weeks

This week at my doctor's appointment I found out I was almost dilated to 1 and 50% effaced. Doc doesn't feel that the conditions were right for induction at this time so I go back this Wednesday for another checkup. Had a few more contractions Friday night but not enough to send me to the hospital or anything.

So...it's just the waiting game now. I made it through all the important stuff at work so I feel like I am really ready to go.

When we do have the baby and get settled at home I'll post pictures and info here. Thanks for checking in!~

38 Weeks

2 weeks left to go. no news to report at my doctor's visit this week (still not dilated).

Here's a couple new pictures:

Adorable and hilarious onesie from my friend Amy from work (let me know if you don't get it)














updated crib picture - my mom made the bedskirt















other pics of the nursery - all stocked!

37 Weeks

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

...well, almost anyhow. It's been a very productive weekend so far. Last night and today I did several loads of laundry and just put away the last of mini-kuper's clothes - this girl is set as far as clothing is concerned! I also got the crib sheets, changing pad cover, towels, burp cloths, etc. washed and will put them away tomorrow. John helped a lot tonight as well and says he's learning a lot about what babies need.

Most importantly (to John) I picked up the rest of the itmes needed in order to pack our bags for the hospital so the bags will get packed tomorrow.

Baby Showers
I had a Halloween-themed baby shower thrown by my friends today. It was really nice, great food and good to catch up with everyone before I have a little one to worry about. Got lots of great gifts and we played some cool games - including the infamous 'candy bar in a baby diaper' guessing game which was hilarious! my friend Beth made this adorable diaper cake - I'll try to post pics of it next time I do an update.

Last Saturday my family and John's family hosted a family baby shower for me. Had a really good turnout and we all decorated quilt squares in leu of playing games. Aunt Kristi was in town for the shower and to celebrate (Grandpa) Jim's (john's dad) 60th Birthday. John and I asked Aunt Kristi and Uncle John to be mini-kuper's godparents and they happily accepted.

Doctor's Visit
Had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday. She guestimates that the baby weighs about 6.5 lbs. right now and is still head down. I am not yet dilated at all but doc says that rarely means anything as babies come when they feel like it. I go back this coming Wednesday and will go every week until she arrives.

Good News
My best friend, Kristin, found out this week that her son, Keegan, will be arriving from Korea this Tuesday evening. She and her husband, Shawn, are very excited as they've been waiting about a year and a half for him to arrive. We've only seen 2 pictures of him so I'm anxious to see what he looks like and also happy for Kristin becoming a mom.

Sad News
Lastly, I have some sad news for this blog update. John's grandpa Kuper passed away Monday night. The visitation and wake was Thursday night and the Funeral Friday morning, followed by a luncheon at the church. It was a nice ceremony and was fun to hear lots of stories during the wake. One I liked a lot was that Grandpa Kuper believed children should be seen and not heard - wonder if I can get that to work with baby kuper??

Busy Week & Things To Do:
This will be a very busy week at work as we're doing our annual health screenings - quite a stressful time for me and I'll be working crazy hours so if you don't hear from me, that's why. If I hear anything exciting at my Wednesday doc appt I'll try to do a quick blog update. If the stress of the upcoming week doesn't bring on mini-kuper's arrival then I think she might just stay put till Election Day.

Almost ready for her to be here; this is what I have left:
- pack bags
- make name letters
- install carseat base
- VOTE! (absent tee ballot of course)
- send out thank you notes from the last 2 showers
- catch up on DVR (ok, not really a priority but it would be nice
- sleep (yeah, right...like I sleep much these days anyhow)
- finish reading my book on nursing

35 Weeks

Hard to believe it's been 4 weeks since I did an update and now only 5 weeks left to go until mini-kuper is due. Let's see...what's been going on???

Doctor's Visits - I had an appointment on 9/10 and 9/24 - both were pretty uneventful for the most part. Her heartbeat was 140 bpm on 9/10 and 150 bpm on 9/24 and at both appointments everything looked normal. At my last appointment they said that anytime after 36 weeks if I go into labor they will not stop it (and that generally the meds to stop it after that point don't work if you really are in labor). I go back in 2 weeks - October 10th - and they'll start doing pelvic exams to check for progress. This will be the start of weekly appointments.

Childbirth Classes - John and I completed our last childbirth class this week. Overall the classes were good and I'm glad that we went through them. A few weeks ago we took a tour of labor & delivery at Methodist Hospital - it really made things seem real, that's for sure.

Nursery - Last weekend I bought a glider and ottoman off of craigslist which was one of the last big items needed for the nursery. My next project for the nursery is to sort through clothes, get them washed and put away.

Baby Showers - I had my first baby shower today at work. It was awesome! We had a fondue themed food day and instead of playing games, everyone made onesies. Basically, you take a piece of sandpaper and you color a design on it in crayon, then you put it face-down on the onesie and iron over the back side of the sandpaper. The heat transfers the crayon to the onesie and you're left with a personalized gift - pretty sweet. I got lots of great gifts, too, from the people in HR which was very generous and thoughtful. Now I just need to get to work putting those things away in the nursery.

I have a family shower next weekend, October 4th and a friends shower the following weekend, October 11th. 'Aunt Kristi' and 'Uncle John' will be coming in to town October 3rd for the weekend. We're going out to dinner Friday night to celebrate Jim's (baby kuper's grandpa) 60th birthday...location still being determined. =)

Contractions - I almost forgot to mention that I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a while and this week I had my first "real" contraction...or preview of what's to come as I like to call it.

Lots left to do in the next 5 weeks: books to read, get the nursery finished, pick up last minute necessities, pack bags for the hospital, try to act prepared to be parents...etc. etc. etc.... yikes!!! I guess I better end this update and get to work.

Here's a picture from today at 35 weeks, she's definitely dropping.

31 Weeks

Wednesday night we had our childbirth class through Methodist Hospital. We learned a lot about labor positions, counting contractions, when to go to the hospital, etc. Also watched a few childbirth videos but the instructor felt it wasn't enough so we're going to watch more this week too. You could tell the guys were pretty shocked but John managed to hold it together quite well. On Septemer 10th we'll take a tour of Labor & Delivery at Methodist and I'll also have my next doctor's appointment so I'll do an update around that time.

Here's a picture from last night - 31 weeks 2 days:

Ultrasound Today - 30 weeks 5 days

Had a doctor's appointment and ultrasound today to measure mini-kuper. To everyone's surprise, I'm sure, we are not having a huge baby! She's weighing about 3 lbs. 10 oz. which is right on track so as of now I do not plan her arriving early into this world.

John and I tried to determine on the ultrasound which of us she looks like. I think she has his nose and my cheeks. On the 4D picture you can really tell how chubby her cheeks are. And we also got a picture that shows she has a ton of hair (according to the wivestale, it would explain all the heartburn).

She is head down so she's in good position for birth and was kicking away. We can't wait to meet her in 9+ more weeks!

I will take new belly pictures this weekend (31 weeks).

Bottom- arrow pointing toward full head of hair. Top- profile picture (nose and lips).

4D pictures of her face...look at those chubby cheeks!

Nursery is done!

I had a very productive weekend - finally got the nursery done, other than name letters and putting away whatever I get at my showers.

Nursery - Before:



















Nursery - After:

Baby Kuper's Coming Home Outfit(s) - A gift from Great Grandma Durham on our trip to Muscatine last month.

29 Week Pictures

As promised, here's pics from today - 29 weeks 2 days. Our Childbirth classes start Wednesday; I'll let you know how they go

Week 28

Finally... A reason for all the comments about how huge I am.

Had a doctor's appointment today, had lots of questions. One of which wondering if the size of John and I as babies will have any effect on the size of mini-kuper...or mega-kuper as some are now calling her. She said that if John and I were both 9 lb. babies (John was 9-3, I was 9-4) that there's a good chance that we would have a 9 lb. baby as well. She said that is why they measure the uterus at each appointment and if it measures large then she will do an ultrasound to get an idea of the baby's actual size.

After all that was said, I hopped up on the exam table and she took her measurements and my uterus measured 31 weeks (I was 28.5 at the exam) so they are going to do an ultrasound at my next appointment (August 27th) to see how big she is. It will be nice to see her again and see how much she's grown in 10 weeks...and make sure that she is still a SHE.

Depending on her size, we'll need to talk about options and make a decision from there (going early, c-section, etc.). I am on the 2 week plan for appointments now and then at 36 weeks I'll go every week. Needless to say, we are very committed to getting the nursery done soon and hope to get a lot of work done on in this weekend.

Names - It's been entertaining to let people guess names. My aunt, Kathe, has been the most creative - coming up with a new one every time she sends an e-mail. My mom continues to call her Walter - funny story for those of you who haven't heard it yet: My friend Beth was explaining to her 3 year old daughter that Kristin (friend) and I were both expecting babies and that's why they were giving away some of their stuff. Beth explained that Kristin was getting a boy but that I didn't know yet what I was having so Hannah predicted that I was having a girl named Walter. She was right about it being a girl, but I can't say that I am in love with the name Walter, especially for a girl. I later found out that she picked this name from one of her current favorite books: Walter the Farting Dog (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Walter-the-Farting-Dog/William-Kotzwinkle/e/9781583940532/?itm=1).

I will take some pictures on Friday (29 weeks) and post them soon.

Rough Week

As much as I enjoy being able to see and feel mini-kuper move...it's been a rough week for me. I keep getting rude comments about how big I am and wonder "what's wrong with people?" Were they brought up to act that way?? No manners? You don't see me going around saying "geez, looks like you've gained some weight". Of course, the raging hormones don't help either...

John's cousin gave us a crib so I went and picked it up last night. We're taking the crib I had bought on craigslist over to my parents house. Last night we celebrated my birthday and also farewell dinner for Grandma Durham (John's Grandma). Tonight, we'll be celebrating my birthday over at my parents house and tomorrow night I am going to Mineola for the Taco Run and will celebrate my actual birthday with John and some of my friends from work.

25 Weeks

wow...only 15 more weeks to go. it seems that ever since we hit the halfway point (20 weeks) that things seem to be going more and more quickly. We signed up for prepared childbirth and infant feeding classes which begin August 20th and will run for 6 weeks (one night a week). We have our daycare provider and pediatrician all lined up and I checked into Infant/Child CPR classes as well.

On Tuesday, I had an OB appointment which included a Gestational Diabetes test where I had to drink this glucola drink that tasted like flat orange pop with added sugar (actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be). Good news is that I passed the test! The doctor measured my belly and checked mini-kuper's heartbeat with the doppler (150 bpm)...and told me not to eat so many tums - 6 in 24 hours is the limit (oops!), but I found relief in learning that I could take Prilosec, Pepcid or Zantac to help relieve the heartburn. I go back in 4 more weeks for a checkup and then after that I will start going every 2 weeks.

John celebrated his 30th birthday this past weekend, man we're growing up! We also went camping with Linda and Mack at their cabin on Big Lake, Missouri - had a great time boating and just relaxing. John and Linda went on a giant raft - great big Mable - and got bucked off a few times which was quite entertaining being a spectator and all.

Thanks for participating in the polls on guessing Mini-Kuper's due date and weight...

Here's a couple pics at 25 weeks:

Pregnancy through Week 24

I have never blogged before so hopefully this works. I decided to start one so that everyone has a central place to go for Baby (mini) Kuper updates, guesses, etc... Here's what I can remember thus far about pregnancy up until now:

Weeks 21-24

My belly is getting huge and starting to feel very pregnant. Still have a ways to go... We bought a dresser and a changing table and set everything up in the nursery. Still deciding on whether or not to paint the walls. Need to paint the dresser for sure. Talked Grandma Pam into making a bedskirt as I couldn't bring myself to spend $70.00 on one I found on the internet. Bought a baby book and started filling it out. John's sister, (Aunt Kristi) started working on shower invites - hard to believe it's time to start thinking of those things already. At week 21 I started to notice her move ALL the time which is such a great and amazing feeling, makes all the days of being uncomfortable and sleepless nights all worth it. Here are some belly pics to show how much I'm growing:

16.5 weeks compared to 20.5 weeks

We also picked out a name last week which was a huge step for us. We decided to keep it a secret between John and I until she is born. Funny story though...here's how we picked a name: we each picked our top 5 names, then each of us got to knock 2 off the other person's list. The remaining 6 names were put into a hat and the first one drawn was Kennedy, which would make her initials KKK (very bad!). Since we were pretty set on a middle name already we decided to nix Kennedy and draw again. Hopefully our daughter appreciates this story when she gets older.

Week 20

Finally hit the halfway mark which was such a relief, a mini-milestone. At 20.5 weeks John and I went for the big ultrasound which lasted about 30 minutes. They checked out the brain, spinal cord, face, heart (lots of time spent looking at the heart), took a lot of measurements, etc. and they told us the big news - Mini-Kuper had girl parts! John and a few others bet it was a boy but everyone else was suspecting girl. It made it seem all the more real to know that "it" was now a "she". Here are some pictures from the ultrasound:

Weeks 12-19

were pretty uneventful. I started to get a little bit of energy back and felt less sick. My mom (Grandma Pam) bought quite a bit of baby clothes at garage sales and Grandma Linda (john's mom) bought a crib for all the babysitting she'll be doing. At 15 weeks exactly I felt Mini-Kuper kick for the first time - very cool, these little tiny kicks that almost felt like muscle twitches. At my doctor's appointments (14.5 weeks and 18.5 weeks) they pretty much just answer questions and measure your belly and listen to the heartbeat (160 bpm @ 14.5 weeks; 150 bpm @ 18.5 weeks). I also started getting some swelling in my hands and feet around 16 weeks.

Aunt Kristi and Uncle John were in town a couple times - Aunt Kristi enjoys talking to my belly and saying "y'all" a lot. =) Found out that my sister (Aunt Dena/Aunt Dean & Uncle Aaron) are expecting a baby in February 2009. My baby girl will still get to be the first & only grandchild for a few months at least. ;-)

Weeks 1-12 (well, really - weeks 4-12)

It was exciting to tell family about the baby news, but we were also very cautious about whether or not this little bean would stick. I had an ultrasound at 6.5 weeks - the baby literally looked like a jelly bean and had a heart rate of 178bpm. I had to have another ultrasound at 10.5 weeks because they couldn't find a heartbeat with the doppler machine. I was pretty sick, not with morning sickness but rather all-day sickness until about 11 weeks and then it finally started to get a little better. We bought a crib, stroller, and carseat off of craigslist. Here's an ultrasound pic from 10.5 weeks (heartbeat 173 bpm):

At about 11.5 weeks John and I went on a cruise as a last hoorah before the baby gets here. We had a great time both in San Diego as well as on the cruise and our ports of call: La Paz, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. Here's a few pics:

John - Senor Frogs - Mazatlan ~ Tiff - Cabo San Lucas

Tiff & John - Midway Aircraft Carrier - San Diego, CA