The Miller Family

Since a few of our past posts have been cause of concern for friends and family, we thought it would be appropriate to post a family photo of the Miller trio. Proof that we survived the week quite nicely, in fact, we might even be grinning a little. You'll have to excuse Gwennie - her thoughts these days largely revolve around food....and when her provider appears to have her priorities out of order, it doesn't exactly delight her. Also included is her official hospital portrait (her mommy had just fed her, so life was good at that point). Thank you all for the uplifting thoughts and prayers - we know they have helped!

Suntan Baby, Vistors

Well folks, tomorrow (fingers crossed) appears to be the day of going home. Baby Gwen has been under the "grow lights" , aka UV lights, for jaundice treatment since o'dark thirty yesterday morning between routine feedings. Although leaving promptly with our little child was very appealing, something told us that her coloration resembling autumn leaves would gain quite a bit of attention from concerned onlookers. Gwennie is the perfect picture of health overall, so spending a little time under the lights and starting her tanning career a little early (we hope this is the only tanning bed she ever decides to see) is no biggie. We parental units took the opportunity to to snap some cute pics of the daughter wearing her shades in the "box." It must be confessed though that Eric had been all packed and ready to leave that morning - so sly comments were made about whether or not the equipment for her treatment could be snuck out the back door and loaded into the pickup!

Anne was offically given guest status today and discharged from hospital treatment, meaning two things: 1) She is no longer walking like a 80 year old man 2) She received the opportunity to duck out of the hospital for some fresh air (and coffee from the favorite cafe) This was the first day she was able to wear her own clothes, be free of the possiblity of any more needles chasing her and stand up straight (the sitting down part is still a little creative).





We also got visitors like crazy! Yesterday, Anne's mom, aunt and uncle all made it from Idaho and Washington, respectively. Still working on what she would like to be called as a grandparent, Sal was very eager and happy to take Gwennie at any and all opportunities given, as evidenced in the pictures. We think she will do just fine at spoiling the wee one - since she and Aunt Cin have already shown signs of shopaholics in the baby departments. It is believed that Macy's and JCPenney's stock will go up, up, up...... :) We also had several other members of our "Jordan family" drop in - although many were sly enough to avoid camera evidence.

Just Pictures.........for now

To View these pictures full size, left click on them.

Dads and Husbands Are Amazing

Well, we're still "here," meaning that the little room graced with beautiful flowers and the newest addition to the Miller family is beginning to resemble one of my long hitch campsites from trail crew days. While Eric is flipping through channels and stops shortly on an aerobics program, I must confess that I would nearly give all of the gold fillings in my mouth to be able to move that perkily right now. One broken tail bone, a probable hernia and a blood transfusion later, I might be accused of pulling off the Jordan-style one stop shopping in Miles City - the "go to town and get it all done while you are there" method. I might suggest to the Pediatricians Association that they add another chapter to their pregnancy guide entitled "When it feels like the bus hit you, you still feel extremely grateful."

Everyone that knows Eric will know that he means business when it comes to learning new things and making sure "stuff gets done." He is an AMAZING DAD and I am SO LUCKY to have him as my husband! (I knew the latter already and figured on the former, but that still doesn't change the grateful factor) When most might have pulled all their hair out - he managed posting new pictures, burping, rocking and changing the new babe, caring for a wife and amusing the nurses by cheerily stealing their coffee each morning (we will be restocking them). He hadn't posted a picture of himself and Gwen yet....so I though I'd better find the computer and give credit where it was due. Gwen falls asleep right in his arms and they watch their first football game together last night. I've been able to do the swaddling, burping and changing since last night - but have relied on Eric for the pro tips - like how to get the blanket wrapped properly.
More to Come .................

LITTLE'UN

Fast pic...
Gwen is bruised from being in the pelvis for so long....

Asleep now, so no open eyes for another hour....tough to type with 1 hand and baby on lap.
But I have a HUGE grin...


Not possible to do, but I will try.............

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED US THROUGH THE PAST 9 MONTHS. YOUR THOUGHTS, PRAYERS AND FRIENDSHIP MEAN THE WORLD TO US.

Induction + 24 hours 55 min

Well, What a night,

Please Welcome........
Gwendolyn Ray Miller
7 pounds 11 oz to our family........
She was born at 6.55 September 24th 2008 in Miles City, Montana

We apologize to everyone for the long delay in post...to put it mildly we had a long night.

Anne started with migraines around 7pm last night and was given several does of drugs to try and relieve the pain.,,, to no avail.....
Around 9 pm she decided to have an epidural, figuring she could only deal with severe pain in one location at a time.

Contractions ran the entire time......Around 4 this morning things got serious and Anne was at 8 cm. and then 10 and then the pushing began....

We would like to publicly thank the great nurses that worked with us through the entire experience, they simply put are FANTASTIC!!!! Thank you Ladies..

pictures in a few minutes

Induction + 12 hours

Ok faithful followers or the frantic Anne program.....
At this point there is still not a Mini Miller.....
Currently Anne is peacefully sleeping. She started to have a miserable headache, so to get rid of it and let her relax, she was given a pain reliever.
Her contractions are still very good, short intervals and great bell curves.. The sleep seems to have relaxed her and thinks are progressing nicely.......
She will be checked before 7 pm to determine if she has dilated. At the last check just prior to the pain killer she was at 3 cm and 90% effaced. Mini's head was in place and the nurse was very pleased the the position....
It would appear things are settling into place and in the near future Mini should join the world outside.
Thanks for your thoughts,
We will continue to keep things updated..

Induction + 7.5 hours

Well, things should get going now, the contraction rate has increased, the intensity is increasing, a minor headache coming on and broken water.....
All in all she is doing well, the graph is now showing good bell like curves with the intensity levels significantly higher than the past hour... Still no tears or howling , that is a good thing in the husbands way of thinking:)

For the interested parties, dilation was only at 2 cm 45 minutes ago, but we hope that increase exponentially now.

Induction + 5.5 hours

So now the intensity starts... The breathing is becoming sharp and the husband can now hear when the contractions occur.....The sharp look in her eyes is a good give away it is progressing and the pain is intensifying.

She is doing very well though. Still reading pregnancy literature so she can't be too upset yet...:)

Husband thinks now is a good time to find some food, may get busy around here shortly, or so we can hope.

Thanks for all your great thoughts and words of encouragement!

And so it Begins.............Induction + 4 Hours

Ok folks, so here we go. If you don't know what you are seeing, this is a picture of the baby's heartbeat (redline) and Anne's contractions....The black line shows when there is contraction activity.....The increases in the line show things are starting. We want to see an increase in the line, have it stay high and then comeback down.....then a short flatter line followed again by the increase or bell curve again.....

She is discussing the constant desire to get up and run.......but it is just the contractions moving down.....A very good sign things are progressing nicely :)

INDUCTION...............

This is where the husband gets in hot water, he is able to run the camera and she is able to walk and stay comfy in bed....

It is 8.45 local, Anne checked into the hospital at 6 am and was all wired up by 6.15! The IV was a tough go, but it was accomplished and by 6.45 a constant flow of pitocan (oxytocin) was surging through her..
The contractions have been slow to start, but hopefully in the next few hours things should progress, or so we hope for Anne's sanity.
I don't know how often this will be updated though out the day, but we will do our best.....

Oh Yeah, Uncle Kirk.....A great big Happy Birthday.....No, I wasn't planned this way, but neither was it planned to be on our 2nd Anniversary!!!

Anne trying to get more comfy.......

Sally, This is where she is displaying her lovely new nightgown......



More Later...................

"Yard Ape" Update

This is most likely my last post prior to entering motherhood (no offense, dedicated readers...but I am not planning to enter the delivery room with laptop in hand). Considering that I am currently sitting in a Miles City hotel room burning time by working on budgets and arranging last minute meeting details for my producers...I still worry that my mental health is officially slipping. In an extreme irony in my work world - the theme chosen this past year for the October seminar series is "Nurturing Success in Farrowing," covering gestation, induction and lactation in swine. More than a few livestock producers in Montana are amused at the situation, but (to be totally honest) I've had fun too....treating everyone to a very tasteful but largely pink mailing with the schedule and speaker listings.

If you are following the comments section below in the Blackmail Pics entry, you will find Soon-to-be -Auntie Mandy stepping in for us to fill in the details. Here is a link to the website that will feature Mini-Miller's mug once she has entered the world. Eric will do his best to keep up the occasional news and post, but otherwise, look to Mandy and several folks in Jordan for updates in the comments section of this post!!

I seriously think that I've walked more in the past 3 days than in the past months combined! It's certainly good that we have a Super Walmart down here and staff that is getting used to the Pregnant Lady Walking mini-series. Not much for steady contractions yet - they come in streaks and I have yet to tie them to any one trigger (was really, really hoping it was all of the Mud Pie ice cream yesterday...)

Blackmail Pics

Well, the final days of pregnancy must make one weak mentally, because Anne has finally succumbed (again) to requests for a few final photos before the chance slips away. We go in to be induced on Tuesday at 6am, if nothing has happened yet. Which means that Monday night will find us camped out in Miles City, rather than trying to wake up at o'dark thirty and running down there on "The Day." After going off meds early this morning, not a ton is happening here yet other than the occasional random contraction (which is old hat to us by now)....not for lack of trying either. Anne feels pretty darned great after finally giving up on the "no physical activity of massive proportions" clause...since the doc is pretty open to seeing us prior to "The Day." Hence, we unloaded a short truck (ie. several ton gas truck with sideracks) of wood and stacked it all. Then we went on a walk this evening to try to signal Mini that "Now is the time for action." The pictures were selected by their ability to show the massive proportions right now, rather than shots worthy of a Covergirl magazine shoot. Aka, the prego lady doesn't look the greatest but at this point isn't quite so worried about it (or her pride either). Apologies to anyone scandalized by the full tummy view! :)

Nesting With Power Tools

After building much anticipation, we are happy to show off the progress made over Labor Day on the house. On Tuesday of the previous week, Mr. Miller happily announced that, unless the dr apt that week changed plans, he would finish the floors in the house over the long weekend. At this point, it should be mentioned that our floors are tongue and groove pine in the majority of rooms (with tile in the entry, downstairs bath & sunroom and bamboo in the upstairs bath and office). When we built the house, the main floor was exposed to the elements prior to getting the roof - therefore the wood had darkened considerably and bore all of the marks of construction projects, the occasional dropping of a tool and/or Anne's near daily coffee-spilling experiences. Since the floors had not yet been sealed, any moisture on them that wasn't soaked up immediately had a habit of staying put...along with any stains. On an interesting sidenote, socks and/or shoes were also needed to prevent catching bare feet on the uneven (ie non-sanded) surfaces.

After this description, it is probably hard to believe that the pregnant lady of the house (whom was well into the nesting stage) had a bit of a conniption over the thought of moving all of the furniture, packing and/or covering anything hard to clean and residing in town for the weekend. She quickly responded to her loving spouse's commentary by reaching for the Mud Pie ice cream at roughly 8am that morning and calling several friends for moral support. It had not occurred to her that the father of the incoming child might also exhibit nesting behavior, granted, with a significant increase in tool and power use.

Late that Monday found us still happily married, with finished floors and a much brighter, more finished looking house. Eric should receive MAJOR kudos for managing to sand every floor with the rental from Ace, grind down the wood in a few uneven spots, vacuum all of the massive amounts of sawdust off the surface and then, painstakingly, apply a coat of wood sealer and 2 coats of polyurethane. It looks positively beautiful AND (after the stubborn woman of the house got her eyes off the horrifyingly dusty kitchen) made Mrs. Miller realize that sealed and level floors are much easier to clean and that "moving back" into the various rooms was actually somewhat fun.

The "Plan"

Well folks - we apologize for the gap in media coverage at the good 'ol House of Miller. Labor Day found Eric working from dawn til dusk Fri-Mon at finishing all of the floors in the house. Needless to say, a female over 8 months pregnant with severe nesting syndrome was somewhat useless and resided in town with good friends for the weekend. Stay posted for excessive pictures and details to follow!

In honor of Labor Day, we are happy to announce that if Mini-Miller has not made her early arrival by Sept 23rd (our anniversary), then she will be "helped along" that day. The plan is for Anne to go off the meds during the weekend prior and then show up at the hospital that Tuesday ready for action. (Haha, they assume we will be ready to become parents at that point.....we think we could really use those extra two weeks to be really sure ;) ) Although technically, she isn't supposed to show up until October 7th, the decision was made that it would be better to control the exit strategy that she seems to be so bent on accomplishing and pick a date when the Dr. is ready to meet her. Yet another up side is not having to camp out in Miles City waiting for things to get moving. Our favorite quote from the Dr so far: "Geographically speaking, Anne, I'm not quite sure what to do with you...." This was in reference to the 90 mile drive from Jordan to Miles City, yet Anne (and Eric)'s desperate pleas not to be inserted into the hospital any earlier than possible (ie. NO bedrest).

Everything else on our appointment last week is looking good. Still no twins, the weight gain is acceptable (Anne isn't sure to whom...) and the baby's size/length is on the increase. We're now on the weekly schedule of trekking to Miles City for appointments. The next one is this coming Thursday, on our way to help certify 4H shooting sports instructors down in Baker. Eric is a state instructor and Anne is certified to coach kids in air rifle (ie our program here) and in shotgun (she isn't exactly throwing her hand up to start that program). The state coordinator for the shooting program has been slightly nervous about the pregnant lady showing up, but after joking references to bringing calf-pulling chains....we didn't have a lot of sympathy for him. In fact, he was told that everything should go just fine....although hopefully he only gets two of us and not three. This was the point in the conversation that we heard his chair screech and voice jump significantly........... :)