Yesterday we had what should be our last prenatal doctor appointment. Everything is looking good. Lauren is about 2 cm dilated now so at least she is making slight progress. Induction is scheduled for Monday. Lauren's belly seems huge to her and we will try to get a photo up here. Aaron is ready to take a few days off work. We hope to have more news soon!

We are still here

This weekend we tried various methods to help coax McMiller out. Funnily, our doctor predicted this would happen back when she put Lauren on bed rest back a few weeks ago. She told us 'watch you will be one of those people who has this scare and ends up going until your due date.' Yup, thanks, Dr. Kim! We are relieved that we have made it this far so McMiller could continue to grow and develop. And granted, we are not overdue yet, but we are ready to meet our girl and now that it is getting hot, Lauren's belly just makes it harder to move around.
This weekend we tried fried pickles from Hooters and a Dodger game. No baby. Then Sunday we went to the LA Times Bookfair at UCLA. It was sooooo hot. No baby. We also completed two household projects - we planted some flowers and plants in the front yard, and painted the kitchen. You can see a few photos on our family blog, but still no baby :)
There is a sort of pregnancy urban legend in Southern California (actually we are not sure how far it reaches) that a restaurant called Caiote in Studio City has a salad that will get you to go into labor. One of the books Lauren read with Jordyn said yeah, the salad is 100% effective because obviously the baby is eventually going to come. But we thought, hey, why not give it a try? If nothing else, its a new restaurant to try and it makes for a fun blog update. There was one other pregnant woman there. The salad was good - but no baby yet! :) They keep a book and have all the pregnant women write in it and we were amazed that 1 1/2 books that are good sized have been completed since October! This place is popular! Here's hoping that sometime soon "the salad" works for us!

Baby Name Poll Now Closed

Lauren and Aaron would like to thank everyone that voted in the McMiller name poll. As you can see Isobel Mae won with 37% of the votes. Rest assured your votes are being taken into consideration for the naming of McMiller. Here's the breakdown:

Isobel Mae - 37%
Daphne Erynn - 25%
Tinkerbell Harmony (joking!) - 12%
Apple Carmel (we weren't serious about this one either) - 3%
Savannah Autumn - 21%

38 weeks

Well, tomorrow we are 38 weeks. We went to the doctor today and Lauren is 1+ cm dilated. We know this really does not mean much but its nice to know there is a bit of progress. We talked about the possibility of induction and we will go see the doctor again next Tuesday the 29th because she will be out of town the end of next week. Then if the baby has not arrived we will induce May 5. Its very exciting but also a bit scary. Yes we have been through this before but a big change is about to occur :) Lauren will be a little disappointed if we induce because she really wants the experience of "going into labor" but maybe with making arrangements for Jordyn its better to know ahead of time. Either which way, McMiller will be arriving soon and we are looking forward to meeting her. We are so ready to meet her!

We are 37 weeks tomorrow and went to the doctor's today. We were not checked so we don't know if Lauren is dilated or effaced. McMiller has definitely dropped - Lauren's belly is much lower and she can breathe better now. Lauren has been having sporadic contractions but there is no pattern and they don't get more intese, so pretty much they mean nothing. The doctor said the baby seemed to be "large" or at least growing nicely when he measured the belly, and she is still head down.
Since coming off bed rest Lauren has spent some of her days preparing for the baby by getting the last items we need to have before McMiller comes and doing lots of laundry so Aaron will not have to worry about that the first few days. We are so excited to meet McMiller and see what its like with two little ones! Jordyn still doesn't understand that a baby will be here in our home soon but she is seeing us prepare the room so it won't be a total surprise (we do a little every day or so, we don't want to overwhelm her), and she has taken to wanting to pat Lauren's belly and say "Hi, baby" or put lotion on "the baby" (Lauren's belly). We don't think she understands more than that yet, but McMiller, your big sister loves you already!

We are off bedrest! Woohoo! We saw the doctor today and since we have had no more scares and tomorrow Lauren is 36 weeks she is off bedrest! Ideally McMiller will stay a few more weeks but the doctor said if Lauren were to go into labor tomorrow she wouldn't stop it. We don't think McMiller will come this early but Lauren (and Aaron) are so relieved that she can now do more. We also got the results of the Group B Strep test taken last week, and Lauren does not have it, so that is wonderful news. We will go back next week for another checkup.
Many of you have asked about a baby shower for us. We decided that since this is not our first and the two are so close together that we were uncomfortable having a shower thrown for us. But we thank everyone for the sentiment. We have decided, instead, to allow a "shower" of sorts to be thrown after the baby comes so that everyone can come and meet McMiller. Yet another reason to look forward to her debut!