Gramma's Visit

Last week, Elyse and Jessica's Gramma visited us for a whole seven days! We had a wonderful time while she was here, and she got to spend some good quality time with her granddaughters. Here are some pictures from her visit:

Sleeping in Gramma's arms:

While Gramma played with Jessica, Mommy, Elyse, and Daddy enjoyed a game of Scrabble:

Gramma spending time with Elyse:

Elyse spending quality aware time with Gramma:

You can read about Gramma's visit from a Jessica-centric perspective here.

Happy Birthday, Elyse!

Our newest little daughter, Elyse Bethany Burdett, was born today at 3:58 p.m. We were expecting her exactly a week later, but Anna started having high blood pressure on Sunday, and two days of bedrest didn't help, so they decided to go in after her early.

Mother and Daughter and Father are all doing well, but Mother and Father are very, very tired.

We'll post pictures soon.

--Chris

UPDATE: Two days later, we've come home, and I really should be in bed, but I wanted to post some pictures first. Here's a chronological but very incomplete view of our last three days, starting with Anna in the Labor & Delivery room getting ready to go back for the C-section:

"Guess what, Molly? We're having a baby today!"

Ready for the surgery.

Ten minutes later, we've got a baby!

Daddy is even tireder than he looks on the second day.

Elyse is tired, too.

Ready to go home!

Thirty-Three Weeks

We went in for a thirty-three week ultrasound today. Apparently, the baby is doing very well; they estimate her to be almost five pounds, which is about two weeks ahead of schedule, and a full pound more than Jessica weighed when she was born at thirty-seven weeks.

We also scheduled her delivery via C-section. If everything goes as planned, she'll be born on January 26, 2010, around 3:00 in the afternoon.

We can't wait to meet her!

It's a...!

We went in for the Littlest Burdett's twenty-week ultrasound this afternoon; that's the one where, among other things, they might be able to tell the sex of the squirming little baby. And boy, did she squirm! She wriggled around and flailed her arms and kicked her legs, and oh does she have a heartbeat! A hundred beats a minute at least.

Can you guess what they think she will be?

Forty-Percent Through

Today Anna had her sixteen-week appointment with her doctor. Everything appears to be going just fine; they baby has a good, strong heartbeat, though it was a bit hard to keep track of. This baby squirms around a lot, just like Jessica did.

Sixteen weeks behind us; twenty-four more to go: Anna is now 40% of the way through this pregnancy. On September 16 we'll go in for the twenty-week ultrasound, and we may then learn the sex of this baby!

The First Picture of the Littlest Burdett

Today's ultrasound went very well; we heard a very firm (and fast) heartbeat, saw four distinct limbs wiggling about, and saw the Littlest Burdett squirm around as though trying to avoid the camera. It was awe-inspiring and beautiful.

The picture doesn't really do justice to the experience; when you see it live, the ultrasound really presents a picture of a tiny little human being rolling around in Mommy's belly. But here's the picture anyway:

--Chris

Anticipation

Tomorrow, Friday, July 17th, we go to Anna's OB/GYN for her first ultrasound. It is both something to be excited about and something to be nervous about.

Fortunately, for this particular procedure, Anna is required to have a full bladder; they suggest drinking 32 ounces of water an hour before the appointment. This means that mostly what we'll be thinking about is how quickly it can be over so she can get to the bathroom.

We will post a picture of the ultrasound picture tomorrow; simply for nostalgia's sake, here is what Jessica's first ultrasound looked like, almost exactly three years ago:

--Chris