Just a quick update…
I went into labor on Tuesday while at work. Tuesday I was exactly 39 weeks. I will share more later but everything went very well and our baby girl was born Wednesday morning at 8:03. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. We are sooo in love! Best, best gift in the world! We are currently awaiting her bilirubin results and then will be discharged home!
We named her Eden Rose!!! She is one precious little jewel!
I am soooo excited to post a few pictures of our nursery. It has been a labor of love and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. We made most of the decorations apart from the two framed pictures I ordered off of Etsy (one of which still sits on the dresser and needs to be hung). It is my favorite room in the house and I just can’t wait to create so many memories in here.
Once she is born we are going to move the fabric wheels into some sort of a circle that will enclose her name. I bought wooden letters and painted them off white. Honestly, we have had her name picked out since about a week after our gender reveal party. I can hardly wait for everyone to call her by name!!!
Other then that, we are pretty much done in here. I have a chair in the corner. It’s not a rocker so we’ll see if we need to do something else. We have also adopted a wait and see mentality on all things changing pad/table for now and plan to change her diaper on the pack and play changing area or on the floor or bed or couch or wherever we happen to be. Time will tell how this plan will hold up.
Also, I had another OB appointment today and we are making good progress. I am now dilated 1.5cm and 60-70% effaced and she is at a -2 station. Very, very low!!! We are 11 days out from our due date and anxious to see how things play out!
I think we are officially BABY READY! I never thought I would say that…but here we are, as ready as I think a couple could possibly be. This reminds me that I need to post some nursery pix (maybe later today)! I still find myself sitting away endless amounts of time just soaking up our sweet little girl’s room. I LOVE it!
It has been a VERY busy past week. My friends threw a shower for me last Sunday which turned out just absolutely beautiful and WAS so incredibly special. It was pretty emotional for me. So many faces filled the room, faces who had endured with us and walked through so many months and years of our pain. It was surreal to see all our hopes and dreams come to fruition in this sweet moment of us all celebrating this God-given BLESSING of a daughter to us.
I am continuing to work 30 hours a week. I’m not sure how I would make it without my maternity cradle support band and ted hose, though often I feel like one big compression stocking. It definitely has been wearing me out these past few weeks but has been a GREAT distraction and I hope to work through the end of next week. I am trying to walk as much as possible too and keep climbing hills around our house. I figure they maximize the bang for my buck. I don’t have a whole lot of energy for LONG walks, so I crank it up those hills a few times and it sure feels GOOD!
Friday was my husband’s BIRTHday! The Big 3-0. We had a lovely little shindig for him at his parent’s house. He has some southern roots on both sides of his family so we cooked up a southern feast, played some human sized jenga, and had a camp fire. It was a so much fun to celebrate him. I LOVE that guy!
Friday was also the day I got my upper braces put on…and let me tell you…I am feeling HOT! Teen mom here I come. I have patients all the time ask me if I am old enough to give anesthesia…well, now with these braces I am afraid it will be even harder to convince them that I am almost twice the age of most teenagers. Between the braces and my rings not really fitting anymore, I feel like I am fitting the stereotype quite well. : ) I say that all in jest and fun.
In pregnancy related things, the Braxton Hicks have come on STRONG this week. I had not experienced them in this pregnancy until last Sunday after my shower. A few times this week we wondered if I might be going into labor especially since we know we are already dilated and effaced a bit. But laying down always seems to calm them down. So, we keep marching on. I don’t have another OB appointment until this coming Friday. It will have been almost 2.5 weeks since my last one. I though I would have weekly appointments at this point, but my clinic seems to be pretty laid back about things. I can hardly wait to see if we have made any progress.
Have a GREAT Sunday! I am off to church…gotta get my walk in while the weather is holding up.
Oh and HAPPY St. Patrick’s DAY!
For these last few weeks of pregnancy, I am going to do my best to be super intentional about posting how things are going…more for my own sake so that I have some documentation to look back on.
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The countdown is officially on!
THE OB APPOINTMENT: We had a GREAT OB appointment this morning. We were able to confirm that the gender REALLY is a girl as we got a nice little picture of her lady parts. We have been a tad nervous about this as we have heard many stories over the past few months about a couple being told one thing and then birthing something else. The picture pretty much sealed the deal for us though. Even better, we also found out I am dilated 1cm and 40% effaced!!! I know this means NOTHING in terms of predicting labor or timing of everything, but I am just thankful that my body is getting ready. She also guesstimated the weight to be about 5.5lbs at this point and said that our baby will probably be in the 7lb range. Sounds pretty perfect to me! : ) Lastly, we have been thinking about doing some perineal massage to help prevent tearing during delivery. Today, our OB showed us the proper technique and boy did it HURT!!!!! WOW, right then and there I understood the need for an epidural. She did it for about 5 seconds to me…and told us we should aim for 4-5 x/day for 1 min. OH MY HURTNESS! I told my husband we would have to work up to that. Tearing is one of my biggest fears with delivery and so we are willing to try anything that could help. Who knows if it’ll really help, but my OB said it certainly couldn’t hurt things.
I also picked up my breast pump today. Thankfully, since my insurance is going to cover most if not all of it, I was able to splurge and get the breast pump I really want. The Medela Freestyle, which is a hands free, battery operated pump. Key for a mom like me who will be pumping in the shower stalls at work on my breaks. Not much access to power near the showers. Before they came out with the battery operated pump, my colleagues who pumped had to bring in 15 foot power cords to plug in their pumps. NO FUN! Anyway, it’s just nice to check another thing off the list.
Overall, I am feeling great. The hemorrhoids are in check and once again tolerable and it is nice to be able to walk and work in relative comfort. : ) I am hoping to work right up to a few days before I deliver as I find it a great distraction and a good opportunity to get some good exercise during the day. So 3 weeks more weeks as of tomorrow!
Like I said, the countdown is officially on. I am SOOO beyond excited I can hardly stand it!
The Hopeful Pink Lady... 