Photo bomb

Here's a few pictures to those of you who want to see our gorgeous little nugget.

 Right after she was born. 1st picture!

 Very awake! Look at those big blue eyes

My first headband. You can't tell but its about 2 inches too big around

Looks sooo small in her dad's arms

All ready to go home!

My birth story (with all the gory details)

Having been pregnant for almost 10 months, I found lots of enjoyment in reading about other peoples birth stories. Mainly because well- we have minimal control over what exactly happens in our labor and delivery. So many things are out of our control and its interesting to me to see how everyone responds to the surprises. So I thought I'd share my birth story with all of those who are interested in reading all the gory details of how our gorgeous daughter entered this world!

Saturday, April 21st

Saturday was just an ordinary day for us. We ran errands, did some yard work, and like typical- I complained much about being overdue and pregnant. When I went to bed, I found myself suffering from intense insomnia. Literally it got to the point that I had to climb out of bed because I was lurking around on my phone and waking Luke with my constant tossing and turning. I don't think I got an hour of sleep and I woke up Sunday telling myself, today has to be the day!

Sunday, April 22nd

So  I woke up very positive and ended up not actually thinking that anything was going to happen. I was convinced that I was going to be pregnant forever. I went to bed Sunday night practically expecting to not get any sleep, and was not surprised when I was left tossing and turning. I immediately went out on the couch at midnight and around 2:00 am realized that I was most likely having contractions. I whipped out my contraction counter on my iPhone and discovered that the contractions were pretty consistent and ranged from about 5:30-8 minutes long. At that point it was just straight pain (more annoying than intolerable) and only lasted about 30 seconds long. 

Monday, April 23rd

The contractions remained throughout the day and I did EVERYTHING I could to progress labor along. Luke and I went for a morning walk, my mom and friend came over and we went for another walk! I noticed the contractions getting a little bit stronger. I could still talk through them, but it was uncomfortable to do so. I called the midwife on call around 12 and she told me it was completely up to me. She said they weren't super consistent so I may not be in active labor, so I decided to labor it out until it was the sure thing. I toughed it out until about 3:00pm when Luke suggested I take a bath to try to relax. In my mind I was worried that I was going to relax to the point that I'd stop labor, but the opposite actually happened. I was in the tub about 20 minutes and had 5 contractions that ended up being about 2:30-3:30 minutes apart and over a minute long. That's when my midwife says that my actual labor probably began. I was so concerned that I would be turned away from the hospital- I kept saying it over and over again. I just DONT WANT THEM TO SEND ME HOME! Everyone assured me that at this point, I probably didn't have anything to worry about, but I still thought about it in the back of my mind. I called the midwife for a second time and told her we were coming in and she called ahead and told the staff! We arrived at the hospital, got all checked in, settled in our room, and ready to be looked at around 6:30. The midwife arrived and did a pelvic exam and said that I was dilated to a 6 and 90% effaced. So you won't send me home? was obviously my first question, and she assured me that I wasn't going anywhere and that I was going to have my baby today or the next. She also told me that once you get to 5cm, your labor is 2/3 over, so I only had 1/3 to go. Piece of cake- right!? Sooo wrong. At this point, the contractions grew longer and stronger, and started progressing slowly, the peaks were longer and at times the even overlapped. The pain was inexplainable, but Luke and my mom were the best people to have in the room. They were so helpful and encouraging. At around 8:00-8:30pm the nurse checked me again and found that I was dilated to an 8. My plan was to have a waterbirth, so she started filling the tub for me and I headed over while in transition. When they say transition is the most intense part of labor, they really mean it. Its really the only part that during I told myself I couldn't do it. The pain was constant, but the water was hot, took away some of the pain, and allowed me the ability to move in a lot of different positions. Around 10:00 I told the nurse the pressure was unbelievably intense and that I'd like her to see if it was time to push. I was dilated to 9.5 and there was the tiniest bit of tissue left for me to efface, so she had me push through it and soon enough I was a full 10cm, and bracing down. I started pushing, did a couple different positions, and within 30 minutes, they could see the head. Everyone kept mentioning her full head of black hair and I was dying to meet her. 15 minutes and a few pushes later, she was born in the water at exactly 10:46pm. The midwife swayed her under the water for about 10-20 seconds and at that point I was literally screaming "LOOK AT HOW BEAUTIFUL SHE IS." She was put on my chest and I felt something I've never felt before. Instant love. I got up out of the tub almost immediately and Luke got to hold her while I was getting checked out. The look in his eyes was precious. You could just see the love in his eyes. He sat there holding her and talking to her (I have yet to discover what that conversation consisted of). She immediately recognized his voice and was so calm and so perfect. 

Welcome home!

We decided that 2 nights in the hospital was enough. Tuesday night we got almost NO sleep because there were 3 births over night and it is a little distracting to hear screams and PUSH, PUSH over and over again. We also felt like we were confined to our room. Well- essentially we WERE confined to our room and I was tired of living out of our suitcase and not being able to be up and moving around. We got home about 1:30 yesterday and boy did the hormones and sleep deprivation take their toll on me. Riley cried all the way home from the hospital and when I put her in her swing, and I immediately broke down. The nurse said its normal with all of the hormonal changes in my body, in combination with the obvious huge change in our lives. I am so scared to do the wrong thing, to not know how to sooth her. My parents came over to help us, brought us dinner and offered to watch Riley for a bit as we slept, but the moment I went in the bedroom without her, my heart was beating out of my chest. I heard every fuss, every movement, and hated that I didn't have her right next to me. My mom offerred to spend the night- which we were so grateful of, but we ended up keeping her in our room over night. We brought her out once for my mom (who happily and willingly just held her and soothed her as she and us slept). I got an hour or 2 of sleep after a couple feedings, and got a solid 2 1/2 hours when my mom took her. Luke also took her this morning as I slept for an hour & 1/2. Luke is very helpful when she wakes up in the night and ensures that we are both comfortable and settled in- then he goes to sleep. So he has been getting a pretty good nights sleep, though heavily interrupted. You can tell that he's exhausted and that makes ME feel bad. I am able to function on little sleep (which I learned throughout my pregnancy) and I hate that its hard for him. We survived our first night home, and have now been home a full day! Baby is doing so great- I have no doubt that she's going to grow big and strong pretty quickly because she eats all the time! I'm cherishing these first few weeks, because I know how much she's going to change and grow. 

Special thanks to all of our friends and family for the kind words, visits, thoughts, and wonderful gifts. This baby is so lucky and so are we!

Photo bomb post to follow!

Blog from an overdue (crabby) pregnant chick

Does my belly look as big as it feels?!

Its official. I have been welcomed into a club that most pregnant women dread being a part of- the overdue pregnant chicks club. I am now OVER 40 weeks pregnant, and definitely feeling it. Its miraculous that my body can even stretch more than it already has (and believe me, it has) but somehow baby and I manage to continue growing. At my 40 week appointment (which I never thought/hoped I'd make it to), my midwife estimated that the baby is currently 7 1/2 lbs. It makes me a little concerned because at this time in the pregnancy, they say the baby grows about 1/2 a lb a week and they'll let me go 2 more weeks  before inducing me! Hearing the size of our baby also makes things seem so real. She could come out and be a full-sized healthy baby.

I think I focused so hard on my due date and forgot to remember that the due date is an actual estimated due date. My midwife tells me that my lack of any signs of labor is completely normal for first time moms, and that most deliver around 41 weeks. At this point, I feel like I can absolutely handle that (which is good because I have to), but the anticipation and excitement has been building so much that I feel like I'm going to explode. Its to the point where my wonderful friends and family are checking in on me on a daily basis, and I feel like I'm letting people down having to say "Nope- nothing yet. . . not even close." I just can't wait for that day when I can send that message or that e-mail and picture welcoming our little bundle of joy to the world.

There are just a few things that I'm having troubles with. Work: Its difficult to wake up early on little to no sleep (I know, I know- I'll have to get used to it) and sit, sit, SIT! When I sit down, it compresses my abdomen, and then baby's big butt jams into my rib cage. I've been doing the stairs at each of my bathroom breaks, which is quite often, so that gives me a boost of energy and keeps me moving a little. Getting up: I had been so proud of my self for being so independent. I still put my compression socks and shoes on in the morning, rolling out of bed, and getting up off the couch, but honestly, all of those things have become 2 person tasks. Luke is so used to rolling me out of bed when I get up in the middle of the night, helping me up when I'm in a low chair, taking my socks off for me, putting my shoes on. If I try to do it alone, it is accompanied with a lot of unintentional grunting. Relaxing: My friend who just had a baby told me that I should rest up now while I can because once baby comes, rest will be forgotten. Its difficult because I don't want to sit around and dwell on the fact that I'm still pregnant, so I've been trying to stay busy and active and may be overdoing it.

A while back, my mom invited me to Madame Butterfly Opera at the Ordway. She asked, "What do you want to be doing on your due date if you're not having the baby?"I responded, "Well I hope I'll have a baby by then, but I obviously wasn't and she had tickets to the opera that she got from one of her clients and she wanted to take ME! Attending an opera was on both of our bucket lists, and let me tell you- I'm so glad we went. The Ordway is so beautiful and the voices were out of this world. Plus, its nice to have some mother daughter time.  Luke and I went last night and walked over 3 miles at the MOA then went to a movie. It felt so nice to be out and shop and walk, but at the same time, by the time we got to our 7:55p movie, I felt like I was ready to fall asleep! I came home thinking, 3 miles, heck yeah- that'll make something happen. Wrong-o! I woke up equally as pregnant as I was the night before. I think I've reached the point that I no longer want to try the labor inducing remedies, I just want to relax and enjoy the down time I have.

For now I'm going to kick back and try to relax a little. Maybe open a book and indulge in a delicious snack! Happy Saturday, everyone :)

40 weeks!

Hi-yo! Week 40 of pregnancy is a- knockin' on my door and I can NOT believe it. Ask any pregnant woman and they will tell you that for 37 weeks, you pray that the baby in your belly "cooks," grows, gets stronger and healthier in your belly, and once you hit that full term mark, your entire mindset changes. For me, it was because EVERYONE assumed I would go early. I don't know if its the way I carry the baby, how active I was throughout the pregnancy (up until now) or the fact that I really wanted to go early, but boy were we wrong. After tomorrow, I am officially overdue. AHHH! Crazy. My midwife DID tell me that most first time mom's deliver at 41 weeks. Blasphemy!

It seems like these last few weeks have just crawwlllleed by. Every day the anticipation builds. I go to bed and think, oooh tonight could be the night! Then I wake up a little disappointed. Our bag is laid out, and Luke has the list memorized of the last minute things to bring. The car seat is installed, and mom and dad are READY! It also makes me more and more excited because my co-workers wife, who has become a friend, had her baby on Sunday. The two of us had been through this pregnancy journey together, and now I see her with her adorable little bundle of joy, and get even more excited to hold our baby. PS, please check out her blog here. Its like- really, really good! Kind of puts mine to shame!

I've been feeling good for the most part. Besides being physically pretty uncomfortable, and mentally a little overly anxious I can't really complain (I'm sure my husband would tell you I DO find a way to complain). He and my loving mother have been great about just listening and letting me say what I feel. It is getting more and more difficult to go to work and sit for the majority of the day. I find myself taking frequent breaks to get up and move around, and I've gotten into the habit of walking the stairs every time I take a trip to the bathroom, which, as you can imagine, equals out to be a LOT throughout the day. Luke and I have also been walking a lot. A couple trips to the MOA and around the neighborhood have kept me active and moving.

So here I welcome 40 weeks of pregnancy with a furrowed brow and a frowny face.

Another day, another blog post

Well. . here I am. Writing another blog post, with no baby in my arms. Almost 39 weeks and going strong! Its hard to believe there are little hands and feet, eyelashes, hair (maybe), and little tiny eyes that will be looking at me soon.

How I'm feeling
Right now, I'm kind of a flood of emotions. I am the stereotypical pregnant chick. Happy and energetic one moment, and I can cry the next. It really doesn't even have to be anything sad- I have cried at episodes of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. (pathetic, I know). Right now I think the anticipation is going to drive me insane. I am a very controlling person, and the fact that I am completely out of control of the situation, kind of drives me insane. I don't like not knowing. Everyone keeps checking in on me, and I hate not being able to say- I'm making progress!

What I've been doing
I've heard of so many different remedies for inducing labor and I've tried a lot of them. Rasberry leaf tea (which actually prepares your body for labor, doesn't induce it) with cinnamon, bouncing on an exercise ball, exercising, and walking. . . Lots and lots of walking. Last night, it was a bit cold to go for a walk, so the hubby and I headed to the Mall of America after dinner and walked the entire mall (with a DQ blizzard in hand, of course).  I downloaded a pedometer app on my phone, so I counted our steps and tracked our distance and we put on over 4,000 steps! I doubt any of these things will actually put me into labor, but I have been trying to stay active, doing stairs at work, walking, yoga, and some pilates, so if anything, I'll at least be more physically prepared for labor.

Tick, tock. . . 
Now its a waiting game. My mom could've sworn that baby Harvey was going to be born on the Saturday before Easter. That was her guess. When Saturday rolled by, I then thought it could be that night, then Sunday, etc. etc. Now-it's Wednesday tomorrow and still no baby. I know the majority of women go OVER with their first, but I honestly thought we would be the freaks that'd go weeks early ( I guess we still could be). Its like every night I think- will I wake up with contractions or to my water breaking?

On my BabyCenter April Births club,  I've been having a lot of fun sharing this journey with everyone.  Now, people are starting to post pics of their babies that have been born, and are sharing tricks that they think helped them go into labor. Its kind of funny to see how much everyone's attitude has changed, and it makes me feel a little less guilty about the way I've been feeling. Once people hit the 37 week mark, a lot of women say, Enough is enough! There are the few who say, you've waited this long, what's another week? Well I explained it to Luke as being similar to when you are on a long car ride and have to go to the bathroom. You're told it'll be a 1/2 hour until you reach a bathroom, and although you can go the first 25 minutes without any hesitation, the last 5 minutes feels like torture. That's how it feels right now. The last few minutes is the hardest, because you're the most uncomfortable and you know how close you are to that relief.

I know, I know. . .Baby will come when she is good and ready. So for now I will suffer through the sleepless nights with jabs in my ribs, the heartburn, and the pressure, because I know once she's here, I'm going to miss that special bond I have when she's in my belly.

Happy 39 weeks!

In the home stretch

Phew, ok.
So- I can't believe I'm saying this but, we are on to Week 38.

I read in one of my groups on BabyCenter that about 13% of women have their babies at 38 weeks. Ugh! That percentage does NOT seem high enough for my liking. It's weird to think about people who haven't made it this far in their pregnancy. I keep venting to one of my other pregnant friends and she merely replies, "I don't really know how you're feeling, I never made it that far" She delivered at 35 weeks. Crazy! Its also crazy to think that if my midwife allows me to go 2 weeks passed my due date, I could be pregnant for another month. That is what terrifies me!

Emotions
Right now I'm experiencing a flood of emotions (I assume this is normal). Not only am I experiencing the pregnancy hormones (which cause the occasional cry for no reason), but the nervousness, the fear, and the anger about not knowing when this is going to happen. Its miraculous to think that at ANY moment our life will change forever. We will have to transition from our duo, to a full-on family. Luke and I are going to be responsible for a tiny, little life, and have to shape this person into a respectful and beautiful bigger person. Good lord I hope I don't fail.

Not only is there fear in that, but also- LABOR. I know it is an indescribable experience and I just hope to goodness I can handle it. I need to quit reading about horror stories, and just trust that my experience will be nothing more than I can handle.

Appointments
I've obviously transitioned to weekly doctors appointments and so far, so good. It seems as though I'm progressing and my body is preparing itself for labor. Its a miracle what the body can do without me even having to tell it to. The baby has definitely dropped, which in turn means, PRESSURE. Pressure that I can't even explain. More trips to the bathroom, and more motivation required to engage in physical activity, 'cause I'm just plain uncomfortable!

Good husband
Luke has been so amazing through all of this.  Its been such a roller coaster of a journey. Some days I'm great, and some days I'm just a mess. Yesterday he consoled me as I cried because I had a bad day, came home and the cat scratched me on accident (apparently that was the last straw). If I ask to go on a walk, he doesn't even hesitate, he will drop what he's doing and go on a walk with me. He's been more willing to do chores, and help prepare for the delivery, rub my feet, paint my toe nails, and just be next to me when I'm too tired to do anything. He is also wonderful just because- well, he's him. He tells me on a daily basis how excited he is to meet our baby and that makes me even more excited. I see his brother, who is an amazing father, his sister, who seriously deserves a best mommy award, and his parents, who are so good with kids, I have no doubt in my mind that it is in his genes. We have such a strong support system- family and friends that have offered to help us in any way I am feeling truly blessed.

Hopefully my next post will include pics of baby Harvey! Wish me luck :)