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MCYM Bitburg, Germany- John and Shannon Glaser
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December 05, 2008    
Grace Elizabeth is here!!!

Grace Elizabeth Glaser made her entrance into the world May 29, 2007, at 11:42 am. She was 10 lbs, 11 oz, 22 inches long. Her birth story is below. John and I are so excited that she is finally here. She is such a blessing to us!
 
 
 
On May 29, 2007, my water broke at 7am. I went to the hospital at 8am, as the water was a little yellow-greenish, signaling meconium in the water. I was hooked up to the fetal monitor for 30-40 minutes. I was having regular contractions every 4-5 minutes, but I wasn't even feeling some of them. Grace's heartbeat was pretty high, around 170 bpm. (During pregnancy, she was usually 130-150.) The doctor took some blood and ran some tests. (Not sure what they were testing for.) As I waited my water got greener and greener. The chief OB took me for an ultrasound and could barely see anything because there was no amniotic fluid and because the baby was so big. The doctor said he wasn't comfortable waiting for me to go into labor and deliver 10-12 hours later since I had the meconium in the water. He said the baby is too big and I'm too small (I'm 5'3") to have an easy natural delivery, and the chance of infection was too great. He thought it would be too stressful for Grace. He decide to do a c-section.
 
I was shocked, as I had wanted a natural delivery, med-free, and had really been hoping for a water birth. To hear instead that I was going to have surgery for the first time ever and that all my hopes for delivery were gone was heart-breaking. But I knew that it was for the best to have a healthy baby.
 
Everything at that point happened so fast. They wheeled a bed in for me while I read info and consented to the c-section. I was taken immediately to the OR, given an epidural (which wasn't as bad as I had always feared) and prepped for surgery. John came in at that point, dressed like a doctor. At first, I didn’t realize that was him sitting next to me! The anesthesiologist told me that the surgery was beginning, and soon we heard a gurgling cry and then a very strong cry. John's first words were, "Oh my gosh! She's HUGE!!!" They took her across the room and I could see her a little bit, but not enough to see how big she was. They finally brought her over to me to see her. She was so beautiful!!! John and I were both crying.
 
John went with Grace and the midwife back to Labor and Delivery where he got to hold her for over an hour (after helping clean her.) They even left some umbilical cord on so he could cut some. ) I was in post-op. My blood pressure was pretty high so they needed to get that under control first before I could go to L&D. I finally got to go up after about an hour. The midwife told me while wheeling my bed up how big she was. I was amazed! 10 pounds, 11 ounces, 22 inches long!! I never expected a baby THAT big! I was thinking maybe 9 pounds. I got up to the L&D room and finally got to hold her for the first time. She was so beautiful and wide-eyed! John and I couldn't believe that she was ours!

Week 37 Update
Our appointment today went well. She is healthy and big! The doctor said she can come anytime now!
 
We set up a game to guess the due date. It is on www.expectnet.com. The game name is babyglaser. Have fun guessing! It's set up like an office pool or something, but there's no prize. It's just for fun!
 
Week 36 Update
Four more weeks until the due date of our baby! We are so excited that it is getting closer every day. We had our 36 week appointment, and everything looks good. She looks great, and the doctor is estimating she's going to be a big baby. She estimates that our little girl is already over 6 lbs, plus or minus 10%!
 
The doctor said I'm safe to deliver any time now. She's not making any guesses on me delivering early, although I hope I do, since she's so big already!
 
John has been hard at work getting our nursery ready, painting, cleaning, and washing all the baby clothes we've been given. John has been so awesome at preparing for this baby! We have just about everything we need.
 
Week 34 Update
Wow! We're already at 34 weeks! It's hard to believe that our little girl will be here in about 6 weeks! The time has flown by. The baby is growing really well. The doctor can't get ultrasound pictures anymore because she is too big, so we won't have any more pictures until she's here. But everything is progressing normally. She is very healthy.
 
We are busy preparing for her arrival! There's so much to do that sneaks up on us! But hopefully in a couple of weeks we'll have the nursery done and everything will be ready and waiting for her. We appreciate your prayers during our final few weeks of pregnancy!
 
Week 30 Update
30 weeks down, 10 to go!! Baby Girl Glaser is growing well! The doctor says she has long legs, taking after her daddy. She's very active, kicking Shannon constantly! John loves watching Shannon's belly jump around.
 
We are looking forward to the last 10 weeks! Please pray for our last trimester, for safety and healthy of both Shannon and Baby! Thanks!
 
Week 24 Update
We just got back from our Week 24 appointment. Everything looks good with Baby Girl Glaser! There are new photos in the ultrasound photo album.
 
The doctor took one look at the ultrasound and said it is very clearly a girl. We're excited to have more certainty over the gender!
 
Everything looks good with the baby. She looks healthy and is moving up a storm. John has started feeling her kick more and more lately. He wasn't sure before if what he felt was a kick before, but now he knows that it was her that he felt! She's a pretty strong kicker (or puncher!)
 
We were blessed to get a few 3D/4D shots of the baby. In this picture, Baby girl has her arm over her face, but you can see her eyes, nose and mouth. How amazing that we can see her face!
 
We appreciate your prayers as we get closer to delivery. (I know it's still a long way off (16 more weeks!), but we're past the halfway mark now, so it just seems closer and closer!)
 
Week 22 Update

Week 22 is now here!! We are halfway through the pregnancy. It's getting exciting with all the changes! Shannon has started showing and gets bigger every week. The baby is kicking up a storm, and John has gotten to feel it once on the outside. 

We found out the doctor thinks it's a girl!! We'll hopefully get a better confirmation on our next appointment, but the doctor said at both of the last 2 appointments that she really thinks it's a girl.

The question we've been asked the most is, "Do you have a name picked out yet?" We do, but we're keeping it a secret until Baby Girl arrives!

Our students are so excited and are constantly talking about spoiling the baby. It's fun for us to have them be a part of this exciting time in our lives.

We've put new "belly" pictures in the photo gallery under the "John and Shannon" album. We've also put new ultrasound photos in the "Baby Glaser" album.

Week 17 Update

We are now in Week 17 of the pregnancy. Shannon is doing really well. The morning sickness has been gone for a few weeks, and she has a lot of her energy back.

The baby is growing. At the last appointment, the baby measured just over 11 cm from head to hips. He/She is growing fast!

We don't know yet the gender of the baby. The doctor couldn't give us a good idea at that appointment, but hopefully in January we'll find out.

Shannon loves her doctor. She is very nice and speaks great English. (We're going to a German doctor.) Because it's in the German system, we get ultrasounds every visit. We are getting very spoiled, getting to see so many pictures of our baby growing! We've seen the heartbeat at every ultrasound. The baby is healthy and is growing right on schedule (actually, he/she is measuring a few days ahead!)