Happy Birthday!

I woke up on Thursday the 21st still pregnant.  I was ready to get labor going.  There are a ton of theories and induction superstitions out there.  Some have a loose medical tie (walking, etc.) and some are just down right stupid (touch your left foot to your left ear...who can even do that when they are 9 months preggo!). 

I decided that I was going to up my efforts to move baby girl along.  As stated above I was unable to get my foot to my ear (yes I tried) so I went a bit more conventional.

My Mom and I went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant to get some spicy food.  I had initially planned on meeting a friend downtown to get some amazing enchilada suzas but decided at the last minute that I probably shouldn't be driving over an hour away from home base. 

 

Next up on the "get the baby out mission" was some shopping.  Went headed to the mall to do some window shopping while getting in some good power walking.  At the beginning of the walking efforts I was pretty sure that I was going to be pregnant forever...however toward the end I was feeling a bit "off."  We made one final quick stop to pick up a baby book.  I had been going back and forth on if I actually wanted to do an actual book...I decided yes.

With baby book in the backseat we headed home.  We had only been home about an hour when I felt my first contraction.  Of course I wasn't sure at the time that was what was going on, only that it hurt and it was a new sensation. What happened after that was a roller coaster that ended in the birth of my beautiful baby girl.

4:00 PM First contractions started.

4:15 Called the husband at work and told him that he needed to skip his 5:00 meeting as "I think things are getting started".

5:00 The husband came home.  He instantly thought I was probably over reacting and that if I was in fact having contractions we still had a long way to go.

6:15 We made the decision to head into the hospital.  I had been having regular very strong contractions every 20 minutes...however I was having some slightly milder contractions every in between the strong ones.  Obviously 20 minutes apart is too far to head into labor and delivery...but if you counted the milder ones we were looking at every 5 minutes apart.  I panicked.  I was convinced that all of the contractions should be counted and we needed to head in.  The husband was prepared to be sent home.

6:20 While the husband quickly packed up the car I quickly slapped a layer of frosting on the cake in between contractions.  This was probably one of the stupidest things I have done but at the time it was really important to me.  I will admit that my Mom had to finish the frosting effort as the contraction pain knocked me down a bit and I needed to get in the car.

7:00 Arrived at the hospital and got checked into labor and delivery.  The husband insisted on leaving all of the bags in the car as he didn't want to have to do the "walk of shame" back out with all of our stuff when they sent us home to labor a bit more before admitting us.

7:45 The decision was made to admit us (Ha!  I knew it was the real thing!).  I was dilated to a 4+ so we were still expecting a long labor ahead of us...but thankfully it would be with an epidural.

8:00  We were in our labor and delivery room waiting for the IV to get placed.  As soon as the IV was in the anesthesiologist can in to do the epi.  I will admit I was pretty nervous about getting the epi.  I mean it is a needle going toward my spinal cord!  I know the topic of drugs vs. natural is a huge one for pregnant women.  I personally cannot recommend the epi more!  It was amazing and took the pain away instantly.  Mine was also a really good one that allowed me to still be able to move my legs a bit.  I never felt overly drugged up and I didn't have any side effects.  The doc did mention that because of my height (I am a shortie) I would most likely have my blood pressure drop a bit which would be fine as they could correct that with a simple administration of drugs.  I was supposed to let them know if I got nauseous.  So all was good. 

9:00 The doctor broke my water to try and jump start everything.

9:30 The nurse told us to get ready to wait around for the next 5-9 hours while my body dilated from the 4 to a 10.  The husband was doing jumping jacks trying to wake up a bit and we were getting ready to watch a couple of movies on Netflix.  I started to feel nauseous.  I called the nurse and waited.  While waiting the alarm on my blood pressure went off.  My blood pressure had begun to drop rapidly.  The anesthesiologist and nurse came in and gave me the mediation to stabilize my blood pressure.  The OB doctor also came in around that time.  He said he wanted to do a quick check on my progress as there was a VERY SLIM chance that the blood pressure drop and nauseous was due to me being in the final stages of labor and not actually due to the epidural.  The doc and nurses reassured us that this was REALLY RARE for a first time mom. 

10:15 "You are dilated to a 9.  Get ready to push in 30 minutes."  After the doctor made that statement pretty much everything else is a blur.  There was a flourish of activity with nurses getting things ready.  The husband had to make a quick call to the Grandmas (both my Mom and his Mom) to let them know that they needed to get in the car and drive to the hospital NOW.  I got a bit panicky as things were happening so fast I did not have time to mentally prepare myself.  Looking back it was probably a good thing as I would have only succeeded in stressing myself out. 

11:00 - After some great coaching from the doctor about how to push we were ready to go.  It was just a couple of nurses, the doctor, and the husband in the room.  It was the hardest thing I have ever done.  Because I had the epi I could not feel when to push or if I was pushing correctly.  The doctor had to guide me.  After a few rounds of pushing the alarm on baby girl's heart started sounding.  She was in distress and stuck in the birth canal.  The husband and I could tell that the nurses and doc were concerned.  Out came the vacuum.  I had hoped to avoid it but obviously we needed to get baby girl out.

11:30 - Our lives changed.  One final set of pushes and one application of the vacuum and Hadley Anne was born.

Through a bunch of tears I finally was able to see my baby girl as she was placed on my chest.  The husband cut the cord and she was quickly whisked away to be checked out by the pediatric nurse.  The husband went to the other side of the room with baby girl while the doctor finished with me.  I ended up having a pretty good number of stitches but honestly I didn't even ask anything about myself I just wanted to hear her cry and see if she needed any time in the nursery or NICU.  Thankfully she did not.  She passed all tests and was eventually placed into my arms.

I can't even describe that feeling...there are no words.

(She was upset that she didn't get any cake!)

 

Happy Birthday Hadley!
Love Mom & Dad

The Final Eye

Years ago a good friend gave me a Daruma Doll.  It is a Japanese figurine that has two blank white eyes.  The receiver is supposed to fill in the pupal of one of the eyes while setting a goal or making a wish.  Only once the goal/wish has been achieved does the other eye get colored in.

For the past 4 years my doll has sat on my desk at work with one colored eye. 

When I received my doll it was easy to determine what I would be making my goal....

...to become a Mom.

On February 21st 2013 at 11:30 PM  I was able to color in the other eye.

Hadley Anne took her first breath.

Pug Condo

One of the final projects on the "honey-do" checklist for the husband to complete before the baby comes was installing a dog door window in the basement.

When we are gone during the day all three pugs are locked downstairs in a little kennel area with a dog bed and a "pee pad area."  It worked out okay but we did want to eventually make it so that they could go outside during the day. 

The husband worked up a plan to convert one of the basement windows that is level with the ground into a window with a dog door.  Because the window is not level with the basement ground he would also have to build some stairs and a pen area to complete the pug paradise.

After a ton of research a dog door window kit was ordered online.  It finally showed up a couple of weeks ago so work began.

I unfortunately didn't get a ton of in progress pictures but the end result is perfect!

They have space to lounge around in the house and non-stop access to the outside.

Unfortunately only one of the three pugs has been brave enough to actually go in and out of the door (and then only with a large amount of coaxing...and some pushing, lots of pushing.  I suspect some of the reluctance is due to the fact that there is a 2 foot deep bank of drifted snow outside the window.  Hopefully once the weather turns and it melts they will realize what an upgrade this is for their little basement dwelling.

We Have Cake

During one of my third trimester energy spurts I decided that I wanted to make a birthday cake to take to the hospital for after baby girl is born.  I had seen the idea somewhere and liked the concept of celebrating her first true birthday with a cake to share with family, friends and hospital staff.

I decided that I was going to make the cake from scratch versus my usual method of cake mix.  I am not exactly sure why I decided to do this as I have complete faith in Betty and Hines's cake skills.  I guess I just figured it would be more special if I did it myself.

There is a reason I don't really make cakes from scratch...

1) I don't actually like to bake.  I like to cook but baking I can leave more than I take.

2) I am not much for following exact measurements.  I like to round and estimate.  This is actually kind of funny as this is a bit against my normal nature for most of my projects where I like to be pretty precise.

3) They tend to be a bit dryer than the box mixes and I do like me a moist cake.

I managed to get the layers made and frozen.  I still need to make the frosting but I do have back-up store bought in case I go into labor before I get that done.

Logistics of this plan are still being worked out.  In my mind I will be frosting the cake while in between contractions right before heading out the door.  I suspect that this will not actually be how it goes down and it will be my Mom that ends up frosting the cake after baby girl has made her entrance into this world.

I looked around for a "0" candle for the top of the cake but all of them were either blue or red and looked pretty stupid.  I decided to make a little paper flag bunting for the top.

We have plastic plates, forks, and a serving slicer all ready to go along with plastic champagne glasses for the sparkling cider.  What I really will want is a glass of actual champagne but it is probably not advised with all of the meds (God willing I get an epi) I may have in my system.  So sparkling cider it is!

Come out baby girl....we have cake!

Little Girl Clothes

Call it nesting, call it keeping my mind off of the fact that I am STILL pregnant, call it whatever you want.  I made my first little girl dress this past weekend.  This is actually my first attempt at clothing period, baby or otherwise.

I will admit that as soon as we found out we were having a girl I started getting excited for all of the little clothes I could make. 

I have really enjoyed sewing but until now it really has been limited to craft projects which are a bit more forgiving as far as fit.  I was a bit nervous to try my hand at clothes but at least they are baby things and don't have to fit perfectly, right?

I really like rather simple styles without a ton of fluff and flounce.  (Although I do have a bit of a weakness for ruffles on baby behinds...).  I like my dresses with straight lines and not a ton of ruffles. 

I came across a Butterick pattern at a JoAnn's sale I thought it fit the bill.  In addition to the pattern I found this super cute seersucker fabric in the red line clearance section for half off.  It ended up being a dollar a yard!  Score.  Plus it seemed perfect for summer.

There is no tutorial here as it is not my pattern but I will share some things that I learned along the way.

1) I have become a bit spoiled by online tutorials.  Working off of a pattern is not my favorite as you are left to make some leaps of faith when the instructions don't necessarily make sense.

2) When in doubt go with your gut.  When I was working on the arm holes I didn't like one of the instructions as I felt it was going to turn out a bit bulky.  I decided to try it as written on the first side...  Guess what it turned out really bulky so I made an adjustment for the second side and I liked the result much better.  Maybe I didn't read the instructions correctly...or maybe I am just really awesome and my way was better (let's go with the second option).

3) Basting is for suckers.  Holy cow I have never seen so may basting steps.  I decided early on that I was not going to waste my time basting every 2 seconds and I would "honey badger" it using pins and such.  Potentially my lines would have been a bit sharper if I had done the basting but I honestly think it came out great in probably half of the time it would have taken me if I had followed all of the basting craziness.

4) Baby girl may be wearing this dress in the dead of winter vs. summer.  I think I ended up with a 9-12 month dress vs. the 3-6 month I was shooting for.  I am not sure if this was due to me or just the sizing in the pattern.  If she doesn't end up a chunker-nutter/Michelin Man baby she may have to wear a baggy dress or plan on being in a cardigan in the winter.

All in all it was pretty easy to put together and I will definitely be making another one.  I am really excited to start making some clothes and I already have my next project picked out...however if baby girl decides to actually come out it may need to wait for a bit!

Baby Monsoon

Back in January I was lucky enough to have some very good friends throw me a baby shower.

I should call it a baby monsoon!

What an afternoon filled with family and friends all to celebrate the upcoming arrival of baby girl.

It was a combination work/friend/family shower and it was perfect.  Because both the husband and I work at the same place (and have for 12 years) we have a bunch of common friends/co-workers...all of whom are very excited that we are finally pregnant.

There were fun decorations...

Amazing homemade gummies for take home gifts...

Yummy foods...

 

Great friends...

 

And presents...practical presents...

Super cute presents...

Handmade presents...

 

And more presents...!

I seriously do not think we will have to buy clothes for an entire year (but I probably still will!).

I did learn one thing.  Opening a bunch of adorable baby gifts when you are 8 months pregnant and have a raging double chin does not lead to the most flattering pictures.  Seriously could I make anymore stupid faces!

One of the highlights for me was that the shower was planned around my Mom's visit for the holidays. 

As an only child this will be my Mom's first grand baby and it was very special to have her at the shower.  I broke down a bit while opening her gifts as I know she had been waiting for that day a long time. 

I couldn't have better friends, those memories will last a lifetime.

Final Countdown

Sorry the posts have been non-existent.  I'm busy growing a human.

A human that I love with all my heart...but she has worn out her welcome in my uterus.  Eviction looms.

My due date of Sunday the 24th is rapidly approaching and each morning when I wake up still pregnant I will admit it is a bit of a disappointment.  It is funny as I spent the first 8 1/2 months of my pregnancy worrying about her coming too early!

All in all I have had a great pregnancy but she is now causing a bit of damage in her tight confines.  About a month ago she decided it would be a good idea to kick Mom in the intercostal muscle so much that she caused a small rip. This has limited my mobility, not to mention my crafts, quite a bit. 

Obviously, my main reason for wanting her out is the fact that I just want to hold her!  I will however miss feeling her move around in there and I am not sure what I will do with my hands as they spend 99% of their time rubbing my belly.

I did have a bit of an energy rush this past weekend and I managed to sew my first piece of clothing for baby girl.  I think it came out great so I will have to post the final product.

As for now I sit in wait with bags packed, nursery done, and clothes washed. 

Baby girl we are all waiting for you!