Welcome to the World!

Edward Grannan Russell is here! He was born at Baystate Hospital in Springfield, MA on Wednesday, August 27th at 11:42am. He was 9 pounds, 11.8 ounces and 23.5 inches long (ouch!). Teddy is home with us now and we are all doing great. Sorry for the delayed posting. I will update again soon!


Only a few minutes old!


The proud daddy.

Midwife Visit: 40-Week Update

Sadly, the baby has yet to arrive.

I had an ultrasound this morning, which showed that the baby is doing well in the womb. After the ultrasound, I had a midwife visit. Not too much to report. I'm still dilated 3cm despite my best efforts to dilate more (maybe eating eggplant, walking, doing lunges, drinking raspberry leaf tea, etc. work for other people, but not for me). The midwife stripped my membranes and said this might stimulate contractions within the next 72 hours, but if I don't have the baby by Friday they will do some more tests and schedule an induction for next week.

Please send your happy contraction thoughts in my direction!

Due Date

Today is my due date and nothing seems to be stirring. Unless this baby comes today, it will be born under the sign of Virgo. I don't necessarily believe in that stuff, but I do know that there are far too many Virgo's on the Grannan side of the family (including me) and I'm afraid to add one more, for Michael's sake. Sorry, honey!

Trinity College

The weather has been beautiful this week so I took my camera around campus to take a few pictures of my beloved Trinity before heading off on maternity leave. Enjoy!


The newly restored and renovated Long Walk. $34 million later and I bet it looks as beautiful today as it did when it was built 130 years ago.


The College Chapel. Built during the depression by builders who loved it so much that they continued to work without pay until it was completed.


One of the pew endcaps in the Chapel. This one reminds me of Michael!

Midwife Visit: 39 Week Update

Progress has been made! I am 3cm dilated, 70% effaced, and the baby is between -2 and -1 station. Unfortunately, all of these things cannot predict when labor will begin so we are still waiting...

Off to a nice dinner tonight at Cafe Lebanon. Might be our last one for a while!

I found my thrills...

A list minute burst of energy led Michael and I to the top of Blueberry Hill at the lake. It's no K2 but, to a woman just 6 days from her due date, it's quite a hike. I thought all that walking would encourage the little one to make an appearance, but no such luck as of yet. I have another mid-wife visit this afternoon. Hope she has some good news!

Taco Time

Meet Taco! He is the donkey at the Gran-Val Scoop in Granville, MA. I think he is baby blog worthy because he is just so darn cute. Sadly, he bites so this was as close as I could get without him snatching my camera.

Midwife Visit: 38 Week Update

Again, not too much has changed with this week's midwife visit. They decided not to manually manipulate the baby into position because my womb is so "roomy" (because I am so tall) that the baby probably won't stay in whatever position they put it in. Oh well! I'm now on Evening Primrose Oil to help my body prepare for pregnancy. Sounds strange but I'm kind of digging the holistic approach to child birth.

Sebastian

Here is a picture of our beautiful dog, Sebastian, from this past weekend. He won't be our baby for long!

Belly Shoot

Our friend, Amanda Harris Herzberger, took some beautiful pictures of our almost-family in a recent "belly shoot" at the lake. Amanda is a truly amazing professional photographer. Please check out her website at www.orchardcovephotography.com and her great blog at www.orchardcovephotography.com/blog. Besides the belly pictures, we have been so touched by Operation Love ReUnited.

Hot Rod Calendar Babe!

My friend, Hilary, visited this past weekend and was given a cherry red Ford Mustang as her rental car. This car was just calling for some hot babe to climb onto the hood and pose...unfortunately, only the pregnant lady was available. Should I call Hef or do you want to?

Midwife Visit: 37 Week Update

Literally nothing has changed since my last appointment! The baby is still facing out despite my best attempt to "wiggle" it into facing in the other direction. If the baby doesn't turn by the next appointment, the midwife will try to turn it from the outside, which sounds very uncomfortable and might induce labor. Yikes!

They estimate that the baby weighs between 6.5 and 7.2 pounds and is VERY long. Again, yikes!