38 weeks and counting...

Today I had my 38 week checkup with Dr. Paul. I had another ultrasound today and thankfully my amniotic fluid levels are good enough (11) that I don’t have to have any more. The interesting part of the ultrasound was getting her measurements – Kendall is measuring 8 lbs 9 oz!! Today is only two days past when Ella was born and she was only 6 lbs 5 oz! It’ll be exciting to see how big she actually is. Amy, the ultrasound tech, kept saying that she didn’t think my belly looked big enough for Kendall to be that large, and she also said that the measurements could be off by as much as 1 pound, so we’ll see! I’m guessing it’s pretty close – my belly is definitely bigger than it was last time and this baby could be taking more after my side of the family. I was 8 lbs 15 oz and the smallest baby amongst my siblings.

After the ultrasound Ella grabbed the ultrasound photos and said she was going to show them to Brittany, Dr. Paul's nurse. Then she started peeking in every door looking for Dr. Paul. She said “Mommy let’s go find Dr. Paul!” When Dr. Paul came to see us she said that I am almost 4 cm dilated and about 80% effaced – so some change from last week but nothing drastic. I had a lot of contractions last night so I was hoping to come in and hear that I needed to be admitted to the hospital. :) So the wait continues. It’s gorgeous outside today so when Ella wakes up from her nap we are going to do a lot of walking through the neighborhood. Dr. Paul is on call tonight and I would love for her to deliver again. We’re so ready for her to be here, and I’m even more ready knowing that she is big – delivering a 9 lb baby doesn’t exactly excite me! Can I get my epidural now, please?

Sunday, March 28

To Grandma and Grandpa's House She Goes...

For the last three or four days Ella has talked of nothing else but going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. She kept asking to go, then would go through her list of favorite things to do there… “Go ride Rocky, play outside, see Peanut, see James and the tractor, eat corn and green beans…" Rocky is Travis’s old rocking horse, Peanut is mom and dad’s yellow Labrador, James is their neighbor who has a tractor and Ella LOVES the corn and green beans from their garden.

So this morning we were enjoying a lazy Saturday – Ella was watching Dora and I was folding some clothes – and she starts again with “Go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house?” Ronnie suggested that we just give them a call to see if they had plans and would like to meet us halfway so she could spend a few days with them. So Ronnie calls and of course Dad nearly loses his mind when Ronnie says, “Do you guys want Ella for a few days?” Ella has my Dad wrapped around her little finger…well, all her fingers and toes. He says he needs to call Mom to make sure they don’t have plans, then about ½ a second later the phone rings again and he can barely talk from the excitement. So I started packing her suitcase and Ella basically ran in circles for the next hour with “Going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house!” on repeat.

So we set off for E-town. Ella went back and forth between quoting the Lion King (which she was watching in the car) and making sure that she was still going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. We met Dad and Travis at Texas Roadhouse and enjoyed a yummy lunch. We had never been there before but we discovered that they have awesome rolls, fried chicken and sweet tea. Thanks, Dad, for lunch!

After lunch Ronnie and I went to the car to get her stuff out. Ronnie started fiddling with her car seat (because he had to put it in Dad’s car) and Ella nearly burst into tears and cried out “Go to Grandpa’s house!!!!” She thought we were going to put her in the car seat to go back home. After we explained that we had to move her car seat to Grandpa’s car so she could ride with him she was on cloud nine. So we got her in Grandpa’s car, supplied Grandpa with Ella’s traveling necessities – The Lion King and a Veggie Tales CD – and she was off, barely telling us “bye!”

We’re excited that Ella will get to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa and I will get to rest for a few days before my resting days end for a LONG time! We will meet halfway in a couple of days to get her back, or if Kendall arrives soon (COME ON KENDALL!!) they will bring her up with them. Ella's “Big Sister” outfit is packed in her suitcase in case they have to bring her to the hospital. :)

Our Trip to Build-a-Bear

Last week we took Ella to Build-a-Bear to make a stuffed animal to bring to Kendall at the hospital. Ronnie and I took Ella there on her first Valentine’s Day – she was almost 1 month old – and made her a bunny. We wanted Kendall to have one and thought this would be a fun way to involve Ella and let the gift be from her.

We didn’t actually expect to get out of there with only one creation but surprisingly we did (sort of). Ella was excited to be making a gift for her little sister. She picked out (with our encouragement) a cute puppy that we ended up naming Snuggles. If anyone isn't familiar with Build-a-Bear, you can record a message that they stick inside of the animal (usually in its arm or leg) and you can press it to hear the message. Ella's message to Kendall says, “Hi baby Kendall…I love you.” At one point we recorded “Hi baby Kendall…whatcha doin’…see you later…bye!” It was hilarious but Ronnie accidentally hit the record button instead of the playback button and deleted it.

It worked out well because there was a smaller (cheaper) version of Snuggles we bought so Ella could have something, too. Her name is Snuggie. Actually, Snuggles can carry Snuggie in her mouth. Ella has been great understanding that Snuggles is for Kendall while Flops, the bunny, and Snuggie are her special animals.

We are still anxiously awaiting Kendall’s arrival and we’re excited to see Ella’s reaction when she comes to the hospital. We also can’t wait to see if Ella will actually hand Snuggles over to Kendall. :)

Kendall is full term!

We made it! I’m 37 weeks today so with Kendall’s due date only 3 weeks away (April 13) we have officially made it to full term. It was 4 weeks ago when we found out that I had started progressing so we never thought I would make it this far. Now we’re wondering if maybe Kendall will bake longer than Ella did! Ella was born at 37 weeks 6 days. I’m about where I was last week – I’ve just gone from 3 cm to 3.5 cm. Dr. Paul mentioned that her head is so low that if I start exercising again (which I am VERY excited to do!) it probably won’t be long. When I woke Ella up this morning so we could leave I told her that we were going to see Dr. Paul and check on baby Kendall. She loves going to the doctor's office and is clearly a doctor's child - she is completely fascinated by all things medical. Her hilarious comment this morning was "she check mommy's heart...put sanitizer on her belly." Apparently Ella thinks the gel they put on my belly for the ultrasound is hand sanitizer - which she is also obsessed with!


My appointment went well. I had another ultrasound to check my amniotic fluid levels because they have been borderline low the last 2 weeks. It was still low but nothing to be too concerned about. Ella is fantastic at the doctor’s office and loves watching ultrasounds. Today she sat as still as could be in a chair next to me and kept saying “There’s baby Kendall!...Look Mommy it’s baby Kendall!...What is baby Kendall doing?” The ultrasound tech, Amy, gets a kick out of her. Kendall , my usually hyperactive girl, was a sleepy girl this morning. She slept through most of the ultrasound and kept putting her hands over her face when Amy was banging the wand on my stomach to try to wake her up.

Ella absolutely adores Dr. Paul, my OB. We got lucky and she was the doctor on call when Ella was born. We have a picture of her holding Ella right after she was born and Ella likes looking at that picture and seeing Dr. Paul. We also love Dr. Paul because she let Ronnie help deliver Ella! Today Dr. Paul’s baby was at the office so Ella loved seeing baby Liam and has been talking about him since we left. She is on call tomorrow so we would love for tomorrow to be the day!

Ella's 2 Year Pictures

Ella recently had her 2 year pictures made and we were thrilled with the results. Our photographer, Hollie Colwick, is located in Louisville and we highly recommend her! Her prices are very affordable and as you can see the results were great! Here are a few of our favorites:

Welcome to our blog!

Hi everyone! Welcome to the Pridemore family blog! I intended to do this when Ella was born so that our friends and family who don’t see us very often could keep up…now 2 years later with baby #2 almost here we are finally up and running. If we haven’t spoken with some of you in awhile – here is an update on how the 3 (and a ½) of us are doing…

Ronnie is completing his 2nd year of residency at the University of Louisville. He is specializing in Emergency Medicine and will finish up in June, 2011. He has already started communicating with hospitals about his first “real” job and we can’t wait to see where God takes us! He works a lot of hours right now, but we are thankful because the ER has tougher restrictions on the number of hours residents are allowed to work so it could be much worse. And the best part is he is never on call. He also comes home with some very interesting stories! About 6 months ago Ronnie had knee surgery after tearing the ACL, MCL & Meniscus in his left knee while playing softball. (You can feel free to tease him for having such a brutal injury while playing softball.) Conveniently, one of his teammates is a very well respected orthopedic surgeon and Ronnie’s surgery went well. His knee has healed well, though he has been frustrated lately as he has tried to exercise more and isn’t able to do things as well as he could before. A couple of days ago he took Ella out for a 4 mile run in the jogging stroller and I caught him limping soon after. He tries not to limp in front of me because I tell him to stop pushing himself so hard and remind him to wear his brace!

I’m doing great. I quit my job about a year ago and absolutely love being a stay at home mom. Ella and I have a blast together. We spend a lot of time at the YMCA, once a week we go to Open Gym at the Kentucky Gymnastics Association and we often get together to play with friends. I am currently nearing full term in my pregnancy. At 33 weeks we discovered that I had started progressing so I was told to rest and take it easy. I’m still trying to figure out how you are supposed to rest when you find out that your baby may come early and you have nothing ready…not to mention when you chase a 2 year old around all day long! But thankfully she has stayed put and I will be full term (37 weeks) on Tuesday. Though she is likely to make her debut any minute – at my appointment on Wednesday I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. Ronnie has a few days off this week so we are now hoping that she comes sooner rather than later!

Ella is fantastic. She turned 2 in January and is extremely active and enthusiastic in everything she does! She constantly makes us laugh with her goofy personality. She loves to talk in silly voices and make silly faces. She loves reading books – I have to set a limit on how many we read before nap time and bed time or we would read for hours. During my “rest” time I allowed her to watch more TV than usual and her favorite movie is now The Lion King. One of the first things she asks every morning is if we can watch The Lion King. She quotes lines from it all the time (often telling Ronnie, “Dad, you promised!!”) and sings Hakuna Matata. She also loves Dora and had a Dora birthday party. We don’t have cable so she doesn’t have the pleasure of watching it on TV, but she has tons of Dora books and one video that I found at a consignment store. She also loves to play outside and we have been enjoying the spring weather we have had recently.

Our second little girl, Kendall Brooke, will be here any day! We are so anxious to meet her. We often wonder if she will look like Ella (though we think she won’t have much choice since Ronnie and I could pass for siblings when you look at our baby pictures) and if they will have similar personalities. One thing we do know is that she will start out bigger than Ella! I had an ultrasound at 35 weeks and she was already measuring as big as Ella was when she was born (6 lbs 5 oz) at almost 38 weeks! Ella has always been long and lean. At her 2 year checkup she was in the 8th percentile for weight (a jump up since she was at one point below 3rd percentile) and 50th percentile for height. Kendall also seems to be extremely active. Ella was very quiet in the womb but Kendall feels like she is going to kick herself out or break ribs! She isn't even here yet and she is already keeping me up at night!

I hope you all enjoy keeping up with us this way!

Kelly