He's Here!!!

Riley Donald Miller made his arrival on Thanksgiving Day, November 22nd at 9:37 a.m. He weighed in at 7lbs, 5 oz, and 20 inches long. As of now, he's down to 6 lbs, 13 oz, but we're working on getting that back up! He's so beautiful and I can't imagine him being anymore perfect. Kevin and I are having lots of sleepless fun learning about our new little boy. He's great! Taking a small break from internet fun while we settle in, but here's a couple of pics of the cuteness!

It's beginning....

Soooo, I've been having contractions all. day. long. It's been a long 15 hours of counting and waiting. I started out with contractions about 15 minutes apart and have made it to around 5-7 minutes. They are super intense. More than I imagined, for sure! Guess you're never really prepared for that feeling.... Anyhow, Kevin and I will be headed to the hospital soon to get checked out. Hopefully, the next time I post it will be with pictures of Riley! Send good thoughts for a smooth delivery. :-)

Baby weigh-in...

We went today for a final ultrasound to check Riley's size and position and got some great news -- he's not huge! He's weighing in at a respectable 6 lbs, 12 oz. Our doctor told us that the results could be off by a pound in either direction, which is fine with me. I was truly afraid of a 9 lb baby...

We also found out that he's measuring a little behind because apparently Mr. Man has some short legs! That, I would have never guessed.

What else...he's really low, still showing hair, and has a very squished up face right now with a super cute double chin.

All in all, in was great to get one more glimpse of our baby before he makes his in-person debut! Here's hoping that's soon!

38 week update!

Just a quick update with the latest report from the doctor today...

2 cm dilated
50% effaced
-2 station

Also, I asked how big he was and she said "not too big," which kind of freaked me out. I asked what that meant and she ordered an ultrasound to determine size. We'll have that tomorrow afternoon, so look for another update soon!

Some FYI on what all that means:
The concept of "station" denotes the degree of engagement of the fetal head as it navigates the maternal pelvis. Station is the relationship of the presentng part to an imaginary line drawn between the ischial spines of the pelvis. The ischial spines are two bony prominences that demarcate the middle of the pelvis.

Although we assess station during the last weeks of prenatal care (or in the case of preterm labor), its most frequent application is in labor. Progress in labor is assessed by means of several parameters, namely cervical consistency (soft to firm), cervical effacement (shortening), cervical position (posterior, anterior, or mid), cervical dilatation (0 to 10 cm) and station (-4 which is just coming into the pelvis to +4 station which is on the perineum or ready to be born). When the top of the fetal head (or other presenting part as in a breech presentation), arrives at the level of the ischial spines, the baby is said to be at 0 station or "engaged.”

Primigravidas (women having their first baby) typically engage before labor and may enter labor at -1, 0 or even +1 station.

Riley's nursery ROCKS!

Since I haven't had a baby yet, I thought I would share pictures of my son's rockin' nursery. I had so much fun planning and decorating this little part of our house. It's now the only completely decorated and finished room in the house and I love to go in and sit in the glider and relax. The calm before the storm...

Before the transformation....a plain, white, and empty room (and a picture of the "before" light fixture).


Kevin working hard at cutting in on the ceiling. (I only painted at floor level.)

Kevin nails in the trim. (And a good shot of the blue ceiling!)


The completed room!!




Here's a good pic of his bedding. I designed it and my super-talented mom made it all. I LOVE how it turned out. Can't wait to see it with spit-up all over it. (Also, note the AMAZING baby blanket that Jimmy's mom made for us from a swatch of our bedding fabric. It is PERFECT!)


A not-so-good shot of the awesome valance that my mom also made. Panels are courtesy of Target. :-)


Various detail shots:


His wall shelves (ignore the generic babies!)


I finally found the perfect lamp for the table last week! It turned out to be one the trickiest things to find.



Another shot of the blue ceiling--completed. (and Kevin's skills with the new ceiling fan--he rules at home repair!)


Riley's new furry friends from Brandi and Virginia.



My Projects! Pregnancy apparently brings on craftiness! I made this bulletin board, painted the letters and painted and decorated a once very boring (and plain wood) trashcan. (pretty sure these new skills will disappear with delivery.)

The bulletin board (for tracking feedings!)


His wall letters. They took a lot of time, but I'm probably most proud of these!


And the trashcan (A similar one sold online for $50. Are you kidding me? Mine was $7.)

Still no news to report except that contractions are a way of life right now, but they seem to be getting stronger...
Sprinkle labor dust my way!

One year down!!

This is totally not Riley-related, but this is, after all, the Miller Spot....

I came across this today and couldn't remember if I ever even passed it on to anyone! This is the feature that the Knot.com did on our wedding. It is on the site as one of Oklahoma's featured weddings...so cool! Anyway, in honor of our anniversary (which was about a week and two days ago), I thought I would post the link! Check it out if you haven't. I love to look at how slim my face appears and how I actually have a waist!

Little did we know where we'd be a year from then....
http://tinyurl.com/2wec2r

P.S. I love my husband!!! I'm seriously the luckiest girl in the world.

Full Term!!!

I can hardly believe it, but I'm officially full-term! Riley is free to make his entrance whenever he feels ready. Today would normally be our weekly doctor visit, but she had a surgery which pushed our appointment to Wednesday. So excited to see what might be going on.

Last Monday I was 1cm dilated and 50% effaced, which is a little bit of progress. Contractions are coming all the time right now, but nothing consistent yet. The longest consistent run we had was last week at 10 minutes apart for about 3 hours. They eventually went away though... Anyway you look at it, this little guy will be here within the month and Kevin and I are so excited to meet him! Here's another belly pic for your enjoyment. Taken today, at exactly 37 weeks. Riley is much lower than he once was--can you tell the difference?