4 days old...

here are a few photos of karys at 4 days old...


-ty

my “plans” vs. reality…

(anyone who knows me well knows) i am a planner. i make checklists on top of checklists (dill calls me obsessive). i remember getting so excited to buy planners at the beginning of each school year. once palm pilot came out i switched from paper planners to electronic. not that i always get to check everything off my planner but it’s reassuring to have “a plan”. well, God and karys are showing me that my plans mean NOTHING! so far here are the “plans” that went out the door…

1. the “plan”: natural childbirth—no epidural, labor in birthing tub, and water birth. our hospital has these wonderful labor rooms that i was so excited about using. NOT! reality: not only did I have an epidural and not get to use the labor room—i had a c-section. i'm okay with it, especially since we’re both healthy and the recovering is going surprisingly well.

2. the “plan”: no pacifiers—i am nursing and didn’t want K to get “nipple confusion”. i was very specific about asking the nursing staff at the hospital not to give her a pacifier. reality: little miss K got a paci as we were leaving the hospital (at our request—more dill than mine but i was in agreement). the nurse said “are you sure you don’t want a pacifier” babies are smart and they know the difference between a plastic pacifier and mommy’s milk. after a very short discussion we decided to take the pacifier because we were going to be home all alone and didn’t have a nursery/nursing staff to send K to if necessary. (i’m sure my sister is laugh while reading this one b/c when i first said i wasn’t using a pacifier she just smiled and purchased me a cute pink pacifier and pacifier holder with and elephant on it—thanks LB I’m sure karys will get lots of use out of it and i don’t even mind if you say “i told you so”).

3. the “plan”: keeping karys in the hospital room with us 24hrs.—no nursery. reality: the hospital does assessments and cleans the babies daily between midnight and 6am. we requested that they bring her back right after her assessment on night one. on night two they offered to keep her in the nursery until she need to be fed (which is usually every 2-3 hrs.) and we happily accepted. on night three we requested that they keep her after the assessment (but only until she needed to be fed). i certainly missed karys when she was in the nursery and was so excited when she came back but those 2-3 hrs of sleep each of those nights were wonderful!

i must add that although i make plans i am open to change and don't often say "i'll never" (you never know what you'll do in certain situations). i can be flexible in most situations (or at least i like to think so). which is a good thing because i'm sure i'll be humbled hundreds of more times as my “plans” get changed...
-ty

the story behind of her name...

we're home! it feels so good to be back. we left as a family of two (just dill and i) and came back a family of three! here's a photo of karys right before she got dressed in her "coming home outfit" (i'll post photos of her in that later...)


a few people have asked about her name. well, the name has both greek & welsh origin. in greek it means "grace" (it is more commonly spelled karis--but dill liked it with the "y"). in welsh it means "love" or "to love" (and is more commonly spelled carys). her middle name (which means "consecrated to God") is in honor of my great-grandmother "mom".

i heard the name karys when i was in college and really liked it and said to myself "if/when i have a daughter i would like to name her karys" so i kept the name in the back of my mind but didn't share it with many people. when dill and i first started dating (i'm not even sure you could call it dating--it was like date #2) somehow the topic of children and names came up. as i said i hadn't shared the name with many people--but i told him that if/when i had a daughter i planned to name her karys. he immediately said "me too". I though it was so weird. i was sure he'd never heard the name before so i asked and he said he hadn't but my daughter karys was going to be his daughter too. well (obviously) i thought he was CRAZY (since we had just started our relationship) but as fate would have it my karys is also his karys...
-ty

Home at last!

Finally mom and baby are home. They are doing great. Karys was sound asleep after the car drive, and has been snoozing since we got home. I think she knows that this is her house! Well I am signing off it has been a pleasure but Ty is home and will be taking over.

Dill


UPDATE (ADDED BY TY):
karys and i were welcomed home with flowers from dill. a large bouquet and card for me and smaller bouquet for K. they were beautiful. here is a photo of my flowers

what a guy! i love him so...
-ty

Day 3

It looks like this will be the last post that is done by me! Ty and Karys will be coming home in the morning. I am very excited about this and I am sure Ty is as well. We are blessed that Ty's mom and sister will be with us to give some support. I would like to thank everyone for the support and well wishes. I leave you all with a picture of K and me.

Day 2

Ty is doing well she is tired but enjoying her time with the baby. Karys is a natural when it comes to feeding and very inquisitive. Ty sends her thanks to everyone for all of the well wishes and she cannot wait to up date the blog herself.

Dillard

Hello Karys

Say Hello to Karys Elizabeth Elmore. She was born at 3:02 PM weighing 8 lbs 6 oz and measuring 19 inches. Mom is doing well and cannot wait to update the blog herself. I know the question everyone will ask is how do you pronounce the name. You can say the letters KRS or just put a K in the place of the P in Paris!

happy birthday baby elmore...

today is our baby's birthday. she isn't here yet but i have a scheduled c-section for today. not only is she late but she's a pretty big girl. i had an ultrasound on monday and she was measuring about 8 1/2 lbs. and i still haven't made much progress (as far as labor goes). i was considering getting induced but my OB strongly, strongly, strongly suggested a c-section. after much prayer and deliberation we decided to take their advice and have the c-section. so today is baby elmore's birthday! september 26, 2007 (coincidentally it's also karen c.'s birthday--happy birthday to you!) so around 2pm today please say a pray for a safe delivery and a healthy baby...
-ty

UPDATE:
here are a few photos from karys' birthday...

eviction notice

i saw this on someone else's blog and thought it was pretty cute...

eviction notice for little miss elmore
september 24, 2007

dear baby elmore:

please note that friday was september 21st, which, as you have been orally reminded for several months now, was the "due date" referenced in the lease that you agreed to approximately nine months ago, and thus the date by which you were supposed to vacate your current premises. following a routine inspection of the property this morning, i have been advised that you have not yet begun to make sufficient preparations towards moving. i am also advised that you may have changed the locks, as the inspector was unable to obtain access to the property.

please note that, if your departure continues at this pace, you will be in violation of the lease, which was entered into in good faith, with the expectation that you would honor its terms. accordingly, i have no choice but to advise you that if you do not voluntarily remove yourself from the premises within the next 7 days, i will have no choice but to commence formal eviction proceedings, and i have already put the proper authorities on notice. as you have been repeatedly advised, your new accommodations are in fact ready and awaiting your arrival, so your cooperation in voluntarily moving out of the current premises, avoiding the time and inconvenience of more formal, compelled proceedings, would be much appreciated. thank you for your attention to this matter.

sincerely,
the landlord

it's official, she's LATE!

it's official, she's LATE! i'm overdue and really, really, really ready to meet this baby. so she didn't come on her due date, she didn't come on the 22 (michele's guess was wrong too) and it doesn't look like she's coming on the 23. i have an OB appointment tomorrow and i'm praying for progress. maybe, just maybe she'll make her appearance on the 24 (i'm hope!). oh yeah, she's officially NOT a virgo (sorry nicole, ni, cleo, & patty)...

"So we keep waiting,
Waiting on the world to change..."
-John Mayer

-ty

due date...

today is my due date! i'm not sure if little miss elmore knows she's supposed to make her appearance today. i'll just have to wait and see...

(not) september 19th or the 20th...

so i didn't give birth on september 19th or the 20th (sorry LB and dill). but i went to the doctor's both days. on wednesday i had my regular scheduled OB appointment and i finally had progress--although not much. today i went back because my stomach felt red and hot (and when i called my midwife she said to come in). they monitored me and i had a little more progress (but again not much). i have another OB appointment scheduled for tomorrow (my due date) but hopefully i won't have to keep it because i'll already in labor (wishful thinking)...
-ty

mucus plug...

today i lost my mucus plug. at first wasn't sure what it was. i went to the bathroom and when i wiped i saw what looked like snot (only coming from the other end). i thought i might be the mucus plug but called michele and tamisha (who weren't there), my mom (who didn't know what a mucus plug was) and janice (who said she thought that's what it was) before i finally ju photo.st looked on the internet and found a photo. thank goodness for google/the internet. after seeing a photo i knew for sure it was my mucus plug. it was gross but i got really excited b/c (hopefully) that means labor will start soon)..

wrong...

so dill, kanaiya, (my cousin) nisha, and cleo were wrong. no baby on the 15 (dill, kanaiya, and ni's guess--although dill and ni didn't post their guess on our blog) or the 16 (cleo's guess). sorry, i wish you HAD been right. i would have loved to have had the baby this weekend (my favorite midwife was on call). but guess someone had other plans. oh well. so the "predictions" that are still out there are sept. 19 (lashona's guess), sept. 20 (dill's "new" guess), and sept. 22 (michele's guess--which is after my due date--thanks michele!). any other predictions?
-ty

9 days (and counting)...

there are nine day until my due date. single digits! i'm counting down the days. hopefully it won't be longer. today i had a ob. appointment and she's finally dropped but i'm still not dilated...
-ty

belly cast....

tonight we made a belly cast or mold of my (huge) stomach. i got the kit at baby depot and dill put it on (i was surprised...this time he actually read the directions!). it felt weird to be wrapped in plaster of paris (dill said i was "mommy-fied"--he thinks he's so funny). this is what it looked like (obviously that's not me in the photo--it's a college of another woman getting her belly casted)...
i'm excited about how it turned out. now i just need to figure out if/how i'm going to decorate and display it. here are some examples of how other people decorated theirs...


-ty

38 weeks...

i'm now 38 weeks pregnant. and still no progress. ugh! at my dr. appointment she said our daughter still isn't quite ready to move out. so i guess i'll just wait till she decides to make her appearance...
-ty

labor day...

today is labor day. i was thinking maybe it would be the day i went into labor. wrong! but it was a day of doing lots of work (or labor) getting ready for our daughter's arrival. we cleaned the basement and put together the stroller, bassinet, bouncer/rocker, snap & go (which is turns our car seat into a stroller), and sit & step (which is similar to an exersaucer). it felt good to check some things off of my "to do" list. hopefully tomorrow we can set up the pack & play, swing, and high chair. oh yeah, i also learned that men (or at least dill) don't like reading directions...
-ty