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Luke Andrew Hoffmann

Born Monday October 27th at 6:35pm

8 pounds 6.3 ounces

20 inches long

The Final Countdown

We are getting closer to meeting Baby Hoffmann! We had our last ultrasound on Monday to see how big Baby is getting. We didn't get any pictures because the printer wasn't working, but we saw so much. We saw so much more than 2 weeks ago- we did see his face VERY clearly. This time I could tell what features were without having it explained to me. He has chubby cheeks, which tells me he could look like a Jarolimek! We also saw his foot (yes, there were 5 toes- we counted them!) and we were able to confirm that he is a BOY! It was quite obvious on the screen, actually!
Tuesday we had our doctor appointment, and I haven't made any real progress since last week. We did talk about induction though. If I don't go naturally on my own by next week, the tentative plan is to go in possibly Wednesday night where they would get the ball rolling by giving me some gel or a pill to start the process, and then start Pitocin to start my contractions Thursday morning. So Thursday the 30th could be Baby's birthday. The ultrasound estimated Baby to be at about 7 lbs. 3 oz. right now. It's hard to know how accurate that is, but they feel pretty confidant that he won't grow that much more. My hope is that he isn't an 8 1/2 lb. baby, and I am hoping that a C-section is not in my future. But if it means a healthy baby, I'm going to have to suck it up and do that. I'm just hoping that if that's the case, I don't have to go through hours of labor and then have to have a last minute C-section after all of that. We'll see.

We are so excited!!! The Final Countdown is really on in our house. We have finished unpacking the last of our gifts and equipment, washing everything and getting our house prepared for our new arrival. The amount of phone calls have picked up with friends and family wondering if there is any news yet. I'm now done with work too. I thought I might go in this week, but it turns out that I'm too tired to do really much of anything and to be productive there. So I'm getting things ready at home and taking lots of naps. Andy is working all this week. He was hearing from his boss that he might be either completely or partially laid off this winter if a house deal didn't go through, but yesterday he found out that even if this house doesn't go through that he will more than likely be able to work through the winter! That is great news since I am about to have several weeks of unpaid leave that will not be good for us as it is.

Andy is also suffering the effects of his "traumatic" flu shot experience. When we were in the doctor's office on Monday, both Doctor H. and I convinced him that since Baby was on the way, he had to get the flu shot this year. I wasn't sure if it was a fear thing or just stubborn guy thing that has prevented him from getting one in the past, but he was all of the sudden was adamant- he DID-NOT-WANT-A-SHOT. The same guy who put a rusty nail through his wrist and missed his eyeball my millimeters with a screwdriver last year and didn't go to the ER did not want a shot! We told him it was for the good of the baby, and that if I could endure childbirth in a few short days, he could certainly handle a little poke. I took my shot in front of him with a smile and gave him lots of encouragement. So he did it and belly-ached the entire night about how much pain he was in and how now he was going to get the flu.... I told him he was crazy and rolled my eyes at him. But then Wednesday night he came home and laid down on the couch and didn't look so good. I felt him and- he was warm! He had a fever! Now, fevers have been making the rounds at my work for the last month, but of course Andy's convinced there's a direct correlation. To make him feel better I looked up flu shots on the CDC's website and low-grade fevers are a side effect of the shot. Oops!! I'm sure he probably won't be listening to me again when I tell him that things are a good idea.

We are counting down the days until Baby is here. Only a few days to go!! We are anxiously awaiting news from our brother and sister-in-law to see if there baby boy is going to arrive close to ours. With the way things are going, we could have 2 Hoffmann boy cousins born on the same day!!! Keep your fingers crossed!!!

One Way or Another

I went to the doctor again this morning- basically nothing new has happened over the last week- I'm in the same spot I was a week ago. We're going to have another ultrasound this week to see if we can estimate the baby's size. If the baby is estimated to be really big, I might be induced next week. If not, then we'll have him within the next 2 weeks (the doctor said he won't let me go beyond 40 weeks) or sooner if he decides he's ready to make his appearance. One way or another, we should be meeting our son within the next 2 weeks!!!

The Closer You Get

A lot of progress has been made lately. We MAY meet our Baby Boy a little sooner than we had expected (sooner than our Oct. 29th due date). I went to the doctor on Monday and he said that I was thinning out (about 50% effaced) and that Baby's head is lower than he had expected. This may mean that I'm getting closer, but it might not mean a thing. Since babies and dates can't be predicted, I could have another 3 weeks or another 3 days left to go. I might be one of those people that progresses slowly or have everything happen immediately- you never know. Of course this is starting to drive us a little crazy since we heard that on Monday. Since I'm a planner, I'd like to know the day that I should be expecting this all to happen. Yeah. I basically have to pack my bags and just WAIT- so hard to do. I think it would have been better just to not have known any info because now it's starting to dominate my thinking- could this be the day? Should I do this project at work? Should I even GO to work?
I'm still working- I figure as long as my body is hanging in there, I'll continue to work as long as I can so I'll have more time with Baby later. I'm down to 4 days a week (I think my boss is doing me a favor by giving me Mondays off now). Of course I'm bombarded all day with questions about when I'm leaving and if I'll be back. So far I'm planning to be back. I wish that I could be home, but I'm hoping that Powerball will somehow come through just like the rest of you are, I'm sure.

We've had a lot of questions lately about whether or not we want visitors at the hospital. Well, we'll say that we haven't made that choice yet, and we're waiting to see how the delivery goes! If things go well, we'll call and give the green light. If things don't go as well, we'll still call everyone on our list to let you know that he has arrived and his NAME, but we'll let you know when we'd like to have everyone come by. Of course if it's a Monday, we'll know that most people will need to wait for the weekend. Our prediction is that Baby will come on the Sunday that Dr. H. is going to the Vikings game at the Dome. Just a prediction!

As far as the Baby's size, since he was estimated to be so big on last week's ultrasound my doctor wants to do another ultrasound next week to see if the 6 lb. 10 oz. estimation was just a fluke or if I'm really on target to have an 8 or 9 lb. baby. If so, for those of you that know me, that would be a cruel joke. I'm hoping the results were way off and he'll be 6-7 pounds at birth just like Andy and I were when we were born.

We are getting more and more ready for Baby as the days get closer. Andy's parents were here last weekend, and we washed all of his clothes and put stuff away. We also took a mega shopping trip to Target and cashed in the big gift card I got from the girls at work to get all of the rest of the stuff we needed. Andy has installed the car seat, and I'm packing my bag for the hospital. We finished up the last of the classes now. Our last class on car seat safety and infant CPR was taped for a news story and ended up on the news on the local Fox station. Andy and I were shown A LOT during that story. I wish that channel had a website so you could all see it, but they don't. We saved it on TiVo, so if anyone comes over, you can see our family TV debut. I'm hoping I can convert it to a tape or DVD and show Baby one day what we were like when he was almost here. We'll just see if "almost" is this week or Thanksgiving- you just never know.