Pictures of the Week

Every Thursday I am going to try and post our favorite picture of the week. Enjoy.

Mel's Picture of the Week

Will's Picture of the Week

More pictures of Kate

Isn't Kate just the cutest?!? These first few days have gone really well. Kate is proving to be a good eater and sleeper which is a huge blessing. We believe we have the perfect baby! I am recovering nicely from the c-section. I can now walk around the house relatively easily. Will has been a champion by taking charge of the house duties and taking great care of Kate and me.

Kate has arrived!!!!

Katherine Susan Loscutoff, or Kate for short, decided to surprise us two full days early! Labor started about 10:15 PM on Wednesday night, and she was born via c-section at 1:30 AM on 7/23/2009. 7 lbs, 7 oz, 18.5 inches long. We spent three nights in the hospital and came home Saturday morning. Mom and baby are both doing wonderful, and adapting to our new family of three!

Blast From The Past

Flashing back nine months before our scheduled C-section...here is Christmas day 2008, the day we announced to our family that we would be expecting in Summer 2009. We gave my parents a cook-book, and replaced one of the pages with a recipe called "Bun In The Oven", with cooking instructions (9 months), serving size (Hopefully no more than 8 lbs), and "excellent source of love, crying, pooping, etc". Mom figured it out pretty quick, but Dad took a little while. Enjoy the video!

C-secion date scheduled for Friday, July 24th!

We just found out that our c-section date is scheduled for Friday, July 24 at 1:30pm. We are still hoping the baby will turn herself downward before then. If she is still breeched by the 24th then the doctors will try to turn her before the c-section. If they can successfully turn her, then we will be sent home so we can wait for labor to start, but if she remains breeched then we will proceed with the c-section. I can't believe in 11 days we might be meeting our daughter! Will and I are feeling very ready to meet her. We have been anticipating her arrival for several years so we aren't too nervous or anxious. I just hope she isn't much of a screamer.

Here is the most recent picture of my big belly. I am 38 weeks along so hopefully I won't get much bigger than this!

External Versions, Webster Technique, & Moxibustion

As most of you know our little girl is breeched. We found out about 2 weeks ago and if she does not turn herself soon we will have to proceed with a scheduled c-section in about 10 days. Will and I would like to avoid a c-section at all costs so we have tried numerous techniques to try and turn her head-down.

Our first attempt was 2 external versions. This procedure took place in our hospital in which 3 people pushed on my abdomen as hard as they possible could to turn the baby downward. They successfully turned her, but both times she floated right back up! This was the most painful experience I have ever gone through in my life, but I am really glad we at least gave it a try.

Our second attempt to turn her was something called the “Webster Technique.” This is performed by a chiropractor who specializes in this particular method. The basics of the procedure is to pop my sacrum and spin into alignment to help open up my hips and give the baby more room to move down. I actually saw the chiropractor twice but nothing seemed to happen either time.

The third attempt to turn her was an old Chinese technique called moxibustion. I went to see an acupuncturist who specialized in this area and basically he burned incense at the bottom outside corner of my pinky toes and applied pressure to the region for several minutes. I guess there is supposed to be some connection between the bladder and the pinky toe and the heat helps the baby move. (I don’t quite understand it, but I guess it has a very high success rate.) Well, needless to say, the baby didn’t budge.

Aside from these techniques we have also tried playing classical music and shining a light by my underwear line, doing handstands in the pool, laying inverted on a ramp of pillows, and placing ice on the top of my belly. None of these things have worked so all we can do is pray and hope that God turns her for us. We will find out in the next few days what our scheduled c-section date will be. Stay tuned…