I'm so sorry I haven't been able to comment on a ton of blogs lately, but I am thinking of and reading about everyone.  (It's just hard to type when you can't bring yourself to put down your little angel!)

Not a ton new going on, just trying to get some sleep here and there, and enjoying every second of Alice.  Here are some more photos:

Alice Katherine D is here!  :)  Born 7/20/10 at 7:47 a.m., she was 7 lbs. 10 oz., 19 inches long, and had a 15-inch head!  She somehow had a full head of dark hair, even though JTD and I both had blonde hair!

Our little girl came complete with such features as a full head of dark hair, my nose, her daddy's chin and cheeks, and lovely long fingers!

I'm pretty sure I just made up the word "variosity."  Anyway.

Lots of little stuff over the last few days.  First was last week, my husband (who does IT at the hospital where we will be having the baby) was helping one of the department heads of the L&D department helping her.  She was thanking him for his help, and telling him that she owed him one.  He joked that she could hook his wife up with a good room, and she responded, "I can do that - who is she?"  JTD explained that he was just joking, but she insisted - so, she put it on my admission paperwork that I get the best room in the place (which is already filled with good rooms, since they just redid the whole floor last fall).  Hooray for getting the pimped-out room!

I've been having contractions a lot more regularly at times - they're not always painful, and they'll sometimes slow down, so I have been pretty sure that they aren't serious.  I called my OB's office yesterday just to be sure and to establish when I SHOULD come in - they had me come in right away to put me on a monitor.  So, we did that, and he found that he's about 99.98% sure that I won't go into hard labor before our scheduled C-section - so it looks like she's in there for the long haul!

I've got a lot of blog friends who got colds just mere days before they had their babies... and it looks like I'm keeping the tradition alive.  I managed to avoid colds and all for about 8.75 months (I guess I got a slight cold when I was 8 weeks or so), but I am just in the beginning stages of a cold today.  Fantastic timing.  I can handle a cold, but I do NOT want baby girl getting sick first thing out of the womb.

Despite all of the IC and cerclage-related stuff that's gone on throughout the pregnancy, there are some symptoms I've been able to avoid.  Didn't really get any stretch marks at all, and didn't retain much water.  However, I've got a very few stretch marks that are actually a little deep that just showed up this week - they're on the side of my belly where she's been since about 28 weeks, so that makes sense.  My fingers and feet have been puffy the last few days, too - it probably has something to do with the fact that our little area here had the highest temps in the country today - 115 heat index, due to horrible humidity.  It was nice to not have to go outside today.

Just counting down the days until Tuesday!  It's funny how time is crawling this week!

Let's do some quick math...

1 frozen embryo transfer
+ 13 weeks of daily intramuscular PIO shots and estrogen patches
+ 1 Shirodkar cerclage
+ 20 weekly P17 shots
+ 25 weeks (and counting) of bedrest (since 13.5 weeks)
+ 20 weeks (and counting) of contractions (since 18 weeks)
+ a billion prayers
+ more good wishes and love than I can count
---------------------------------------
38 weeks and 2 days of pregnancy!

I'm not going to post much in-depth about Maddie's birthday, mostly just because it was incredibly quiet and private, but I thought that this was beautiful in its own way, and wanted to remember it.

JTD unfortunately had to work today from 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. (he has a huge project that is going in place this weekend).  Since he won't be home until well after dark, I picked up several balloons and took them in for us to release together at the hospital (which is where he works, and also where we were one year ago today).

We let go of the balloons, and most of them rose together and started off on their flight as expected, in a path going directly east with the wind.  One of the balloons, however, was very, very slow to rise.  It stayed near us for a while, and finally started rising - but it went north (where we could see it much better).  Rather than going the same direction as the others, it made its own way where we could see it.  As the balloons rose, it started to sprinkle (it rained a year ago today, too) - and the one balloon kept going north.  It got several blocks north, and then circled back a little bit with the wind before finally heading east.  It slowly made its way out of sight, probably 5 minutes after the others had disappeared. 

I'm not even sure what all of that means, but it reminded me so much of how Maddie was such a fighter.  She was the embryo that stuck through the FET, she grew and blossomed, and she didn't want to come out when my body went into labor.  She kicked up until almost the end (I remember her last kick, as if she was saying goodbye), and they had to do several rounds of Pitocin (she was delivered feet-first).  Much like that balloon, she stayed with us for as long as she could.  I am so grateful for every second that we had with her, and that we continue to have with her.

One year ago today, I was in labor with Maddie.  I can't stop thinking about it, I can recall what we were doing each and every minute of the day.  She was born at 12:08 a.m. on July 7, 2009 - but I know precisely what we were doing every minute before and after.

I didn't really prepare for this being so hard - I know I've got a ton more hormones surging through my body right now, but I didn't expect it to be so fresh and raw.

Thank you so much, everyone, for all of your thoughts and love - I probably won't be able to say much tomorrow, but please know that I am so grateful for the outpouring of support.  Knowing that so many others love our little girl just means so much more than I can say.

I find myself so often thinking how "lucky" I am to be so near having Baby A in my arms - and then I remember that I absolutely hate the word "lucky."  I don't believe in luck, I believe in God.  I absolutely respect everyone else's feelings and beliefs, and certainly don't judge anyone who believes otherwise - but I don't believe that random chance is keeping my baby safe.  I believe that I am blessed beyond measure and words, and am just so grateful.  This pregnancy has been harder than I ever imagined physically and emotionally in many ways, but I refuse to complain (to anyone other than my husband) - I am so truly blessed to have every minute, and am so grateful.

Today was our 36w5d (36w6d by the OB's count) appointment.  It went well.  I gained 2 lbs, which brings my grand total up to 16 lbs.  My OB said he'd still really like to see me gain some weight (since I'm naturally a pretty small person), so I "shouldn't put down the Twin.kies."  Ideal weight gain range for me would have been 25 - 35 lbs, anywhere between 15 and 50 is "normal" - but since I'm barely in that range, he would really like to see me gain some more weight. 

I'm dilated to about 1.75 cm right now.  Didn't get a report on effacement, but that's okay because I'm still a little sketchy on what it means.  I was about 60% effaced two weeks ago, so I'm assuming the answer is "more."  We got our C-section officially on the books, though (assuming no early arrivals) - July 20 at 7:30 a.m. CDT.  We get to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. - since my husband works at the very same hospital the night before until 10 p.m., I'm feeling a little bad for him!