Baby Lucille

It is about time I announce the arrival of our new little one here on the blog! We welcomed her to the world last Saturday after a long few days in the hospital. I intend to write a more detailed post about our hospital stay and her birth, but I didn't want to leave you waiting until I got around to doing that.

We're so on love with our sweet little Lucille Renée.

7 pounds and 4.7 ounces

20 inches long

She's such a good baby...

...even though her favorite time to cry is at night. :)

We've spent the past six days enjoying our new family of three.

Michael is amazing with her. He's such a natural at this parenting thing.

She's breastfeeding like a champ and was already above her birthweight by day five.

I can't believe she will already be a week old tomorrow. Time needs to slow down. Please.

Thirty-Nine Weeks

Anytime now, Baby Girl. Anytime.

I'm getting pretty anxious for our little one's arrival... mostly because I'm not sure how much longer the doctors are going to let me go. I'm still praying that I'll go into labor naturally, but induction is brought up EVERY time I go to the hospital now. Which is every other day at the moment. It's really weighing on me. I absolutely hate that my chart has gestational hypertension written in it. I'm blessed that I've had such a easy pregnancy so far, but this diagnosis is so frustrating because I feel so good. I don't mind being pregnant and I really don't want to force it to be over.

I'm glad that our baby girl is happy and comfortable and doesn't want to come out quite yet. It would just be best for the both of us if she decides to come sooner than later. Until then, every other day I go to the hospital for pre-eclampisa labs and a NST. The last two times they've also checked baby girl's growth and fluid levels. Her growth is right on target and her fluid levels are awesome. She aways passes her NSTs with no problem. My labs keep on coming back perfect. I always can bring my blood pressure down into normal range with some relaxation, but the doctors only seem to care about the first blood pressure they take when I get there, which is always high. I don't have any other symptoms. When we're done and waiting to be discharged from L&D we always get pestered about inducing because baby girl is full term.

I have an appointment with my midwife tomorrow. I'll interested to see how she feels about the fact that we've declined induction at this point. Perhaps she'll agree with the doctors. Who knows.

I'm just trying my best to relax and stay positive.

My Mother's Day was wonderful, we had breakfast and then I took a nap. Right after I woke up Michael came strolling in the door straight from the bookstore with a book I've been wanting to get for a while now. And a piece of cheesecake. Red velvet cheesecake. :)

Someone said I didn't make the cut off for Mother's Day this year. I understand their reasoning, but Michael and I are already making some really tough parental decisions and the statement kind of hurt my super-hormonal-pregnant-feelings. We could have chosen to induce and could have brought baby girl into the world by last Sunday. We're doing the hard part without any of the good stuff. Being a parent is so much more than bringing a child into the world.

Family picture anyone?

This could quite possibly be my last post with Baby Girl my belly.

End of the Week Update and Maternity Photos!

I'm hoping that this isn't going to be my last post before baby girl arrives, but that isn't really something I can control. I'm not ready to be done being pregnant!

This week is going much like last week. I had appointment yesterday with one of our favorite providers, we've been meeting a few new ones seeing that I have to go in multiple times a week now. My blood pressure was high at my appointment again, but in my defense, I've been dreading them taking it and was super stressed about it. She sent me to the lab and then to labor and delivery after my appointment. Initial labs look good and baby girl did wonderfully on her NST. I got a cherry popsicle from my nurse this time, which was much better than the grape one I got at my last NST. :) My blood pressure dropped back down to 130s/70s and she sent me on my merry way. I'm just praying that I'll go into labor naturally before my blood pressure becomes too worrisome. It was suggested that we bring our hospital bags with us to the NST this Saturday, hopefully we won't need them!

The photographer finished up our maternity photos! They are so beautiful! She did a great job. Here are some of our favorites:

I think this one is my favorite:

Michael, looking dashing, as usual!

Loving the belly!

 These are the only pair of shoes she has right now!

Thirty-Eight Weeks

So I'm a day late posting my thirty-eight week update... and you have all been so spoiled with my timely Tuesday baby updates, that you probably thought that I went into labor or something. I just didn't feel like spending a lot of time at the computer yesterday. We did take pictures though!

It is difficult to tell by the pictures, but the baby has dropped some compared to last week. Which is nice because my heartburn has been a lot better and rarely is waking me up at night these days.

I feel so blessed that I'm still feeling so good. I wouldn't mind being pregnant for another month or two! Ha. The only thing that I could live without is all the doctor's appointments! I understand that they're being cautious, but now that they're watching my blood pressure so closely, it totally stresses me out! I hate getting my blood pressure taken now! I have my fifth appointment at the hospital in two weeks time tomorrow. I've been up to labor and delivery a couple times now for NSTs (Non Stress Tests) to make sure the baby is healthy. She always does wonderfully! I've also gotten extra labs done to rule out pre-eclampsia and they look great, but I expect that they're probably going to want to repeat them weekly until baby girl gets here. Bummer. On a good note, we absolutely LOVE all the L&D nurses we've met so far.

We started our Lamaze classes this week. We had a pretty good time at the first class. They are three hours long, but it goes by fast. We don't sit on the the floor practicing the hee-hee-hee breathing the whole class.  Although there is a little of that and I have a real hard time taking is seriously. Ha. A lot of the class was just relaxation techniques, which are really nice. I'm practicing to use them when they take my blood pressure tomorrow. Maybe it'll help. :)

I'm definitely the most pregnant lady in the class, seeing that I'm due in two weeks. We talked to the instructor and she said that if we think we're going to miss the last class, she'd be more than happy to do some one-on-one stuff with us. I think we'll be good though.

We finally decided to get a glider for the nursery. We've been thinking about it for a while, but have been putting it off because it really isn't a necessity. Michael put it together on Monday. I love it. I spend way too much time sitting in it. Her nursery is really coming together, which is funny because she'll probably won't even use it before we move. I just needed to get it ready for her. Just like I needed to rearrange some furniture and sort through closets and clean the house this week. Nesting much?

Baby girl is the size of a pumpkin now!

Thirty-Seven Weeks

Baby girl is technically considered full term now that we've hit the 37 week mark. It is crazy to think that she could really be here any day, but I have a feeling that I won't be going into labor time soon. In fact, I'm guessing that I'll go past my due date! Who knows though! You can vote in the new poll on the right if you'd like to throw a guess out there. I'm not anxious to evict her, we want her to gain that last little bit of baby fat and choose to come on her own time. :)

Baby girl gets hiccups daily now! I was happy to read that hiccups are a good sign that her respiratory tract is developing properly. It is too funny to watch my stomach move when she has them.

I'm finally getting that heartburn/acid reflux I was expecting; it has been waking me up all week. It doesn't seem to matter what I eat or how much or when... laying down just really aggravates it. My stomach must be completing for space and losing! I try to prop myself up with pillows, but I can't seem to get to sleep like that. It is a bummer because I've been sleeping so well up until now! Probably better than I was before I was pregnant though, so I really can't complain too much. :)

I had an appointment at the end of last week and everything is looking good! Baby girl is head down, which I expected ... but I'm no expert, so I really wasn't positive! Her feet are usually at my right side by my ribs and she puts her butt at the top of my belly. It must be pretty comfy for her because she'll move into a different position now and then, but always moves back exactly how she was. I'm being seen once a week now, so their office is becoming a really familiar place. After my last appointment I had to come back for a blood pressure recheck because they were worried about it being a little high. They made me sit and relax for ten minutes. And surprise... I got the best reading I'd had since being pregnant. In fact, it was so low for someone coming back for a recheck that the nurse was worried she didn't hear it right and took it again.

They also checked my urine for protein, because they were worried about pre-eclampsia, but it was clear. Thanks kidneys! So, next time the nurse takes my blood pressure a couple times and tells me repeatedly that my blood pressure is high (hello, don't stress me out!)... I'll just ask if I can have them retake it after I've been sitting for 10 minutes or so. They always call me back so quickly after I get there and then take my blood pressure the minute I finally get to sit down. I think I'm always still recoving from the long walk in (because parking is horrible)! :)

We had maternity pictures taken last Sunday and had a great time. Melody, the photographer, has a few sneak peaks posted on Facebook that you can check out. They turned out beautifully! I'll post some on here once we get the rest back, probably in a week or two. :)

Thirty-Six Weeks

Ahhh.... thirty-six weeks today! We're in the ninth month; four more weeks until baby girl's due date and only ONE more week until she is considered full term.  I wasn't really feeling pictures this week, but for the sake of record keeping I had Michael take some anyways. :)

I think my husband compared me to a cruise ship last night. I'm still not sure what he meant by that. Doesn't really sound like a compliment does it? No, I didn't think so either. I've been so tired lately I feel like I could sleep all day! I don't -- I just take an extra long nap in the middle of the day. I'm still feeling really good though, probably too good for being this pregnant.

I still feel like there is so much to do before baby girl gets here, but we're almost completely done with the necessary things. Her little clothes are all washed and folded and put away. Her crib and bassinet have clean sheets on them - and extra clean sheets ready to go. Her carseat is installed in the car (although we've been car shopping, so a switcheroo might have to happen soon). We've put batteries in the bouncer and baby monitor. I'm working on washing her cloth diapers tonight. I'm starting with the prefolds since that is what we'll probably have to start her out in. They have to be washed a few times before their first use to make them absorbant.

A sweet friend sent baby girl some adorable gifts this week, including this lovely piece of art for her nursery. I love it, thank you Nickie!

We're getting maternity photos done this Sunday with our favorite photographer. We're pretty excited. I'll be sure to share once we get them back! :)

Thirty-Five Weeks

Well, here we are in week thirty-five of this pregnancy, only five more weeks until the due date, and we're as excited as ever for our little girl to arrive. I'm looking round, as usual these days.

The breastfeeding class we attended last week was awesome. One of the hospital's lactation consultants taught the class. I'm hoping that she'll be working when baby girl makes her grand entrance, just so we can say hi!

We're doing the hospital labor and delivery tour tomorrow. The lamaze classes do their own tour, the last class is actually just the tour, but if you're like me and wait too long to register for lamaze then the tour will probably be scheduled the day before your due date. And then it might be a good idea to just do an earlier tour. Just in case. The hospital is doing construction at the main entrance, which makes getting to new places in the hospital a pain. So, if we just learn how to actually find labor and delivery during the tour, I'll be happy. :)

We're continuing to make progress on our to-do list. Baby girl's bassinet is all set up, but we're waiting to put it in our bedroom for the time being. I made my DIY nursing pillow this weekend. I was able to make it for just a fraction of the cost of an actual Boppy pillow and I like it way better! I used plain white pique cotton fabric for the pillow, because I wanted something sturdy for washing and soft at the same time. Here it is all cut out and pinned, waiting to be stiched up and stuffed with poly-fil.

I'll probably make another cover at some point, but I love the one I just made. It is a pretty floral flannel fabric and it is sooooo soft.

[Side note: How awesome is that pin cushion? I didn't have one, so I used this tutorial I found on Pinterest to make one.]

I still needed to get a picture of the finished product today, so I grabbed it when we went outside to take the weekly photo. I need to remind you of one of the dangers of going outside in NC. Bugs. They land on your face and if you're lucky like me your husband will document it happening:

Don't worry, I recovered. Here's the pillow:

I haven't given you a fruit/veggie update in a while! Baby girl is now the size of a butternut squash, according to The Bump. Her hearing has completely developed and she's working on gaining some baby fat before her big day!

So Proud of My Love!

I just wanted to let everyone know how proud I am of Michael. During his yearlong deployment he spent a lot of time thinking about what he wants to do after he gets out of the Marine Corps, which led him to take his SATs while in Afghanistan. He had to travel to a base where the test was being proctored during thanksgiving weekend. Then he had to wait TWICE as long as a normal test-taker to find out his scores.

Not to my surprise, he did great on the exam! I mean, he took his SATs in a combat zone after being out of school for 4.5 years and did as well as I did when I took them.

Once he returned home, we were in a rush to get applications in by their deadlines. A lot of colleges wanted their applications right around the same time he got back, and some deadlines had already passed. He ended up only applying to a few, the ones he was really interested in that were still accepting applications.

He spent the many weeks after applying diligently checking the mail with anticipation of decision letters. Then one lazy Saturday, I checked the mail for the first time in a really long time and waiting for Michael was an envelope from WSU. A big envelope. A big envelope that said congratulations on the outside of it. I let Michael open it, even though I really wanted to.

He got in!

I love this man.

So, it's official.... we're headed back to our home state after Michael's enlistment is completed. And my hubby is going to a university! He's excited and I'm so excited for him! I have a feeling that this is going to be quite the adventure for our little family. :)

Trip Home: The Wedding

This is the second post for our trip home we took a couple weeks ago. While we were home, we took a little mini-trip to Oregon for our friends' wedding. We only spent like 30ish hours there, but we had a great time nonetheless.

We arrived and checked into our hotel early so we were able to venture into the town a bit before the rehearsal. We checked out an antique store and ended up finding a few things, including a little shadow box for baby girl's room and an old book for Michael. It was so nice and sunny that we just left our car parked and walked around to see what else we would find. We stumbled upon a consignment shop for children's clothes with awesome deals and picked out a few things to bring home with us.

Here is Michael with Nick, the groom. Nick was one of the medics that was with Michael during his last deployment. They're enjoying their pre-wedding facial hair here. Ha. :)

It had snowed earlier in the week, but the weather was BEAUTIFUL the day of the rehearsal and for the wedding.... pretty lucky for a March wedding in the Northwest!

We woke up early to eat breakfast, get dressed up for the wedding, and check out of the hotel so Michael could get his pictures taken with the wedding party. Here he is looking all handsome:

After pictures we headed to the venue, no one else was there yet, but a lady that worked at the community center offered to take our picture together.

I was rocking my 31 week + 4 day baby bump for the wedding. :)

Here is Rae arriving at the venue looking so pretty!

The guys (and me!) walked over to a cafe before the wedding and got some lunch. Thank goodness... I was so hungry!

The wedding decor was music themed. The aisle runner was made out of sheet music, it was too cool! The ceremony was very sweet and I took a lot of pictures. I'll only post a couple on here though.

We had to leave the reception a bit early, for our long drive home, but we had a great time! We met so many friendly people and were so happy that we were able to attend! Congratulations Nick and Rae!

Thirty-Four Weeks

I'm halfway through my third trimester now and have only six more weeks until my due date! We've been busy crossing things off our to-do list, but there is still a lot left to do. I'm hoping to get all of her laundry done this week and then I'll be packing our hospital bags this weekend.

Michael and I have started attending all the free baby classes we signed up for. We went to a budgeting for baby class last Friday, which wasn't filled with vital information... but we did get a pretty decent sized gift bag at the end of class packed full of some really nice stuff... 2 crib sheets, 2 blankets, 3 burp cloths, 3 bibs, 2 pairs of mittens, 5 onsies, 2 sleepers, and a hooded towel with a matching washcloth. Totally worth sitting there and paying attention for two hours. :) We're attending a breastfeeding basics class tonight, hopefully it'll be helpful!

The weather is starting to warm up quite a bit and I'm enjoying the nice sunny days. I'm so grateful that I won't be pregnant for the summer here in North Carolina. I definitely wouldn't be a happy camper with the humidity and heat they have here.

Thirty-Three Weeks

I can't believe that I'm only a few weeks away from being in my ninth month of pregnancy! Time seems to be going by pretty quickly and baby girl is going to be here before we know it. I'm rocking some new maternity capris this week:

So how am I feeling at thiry-three weeks? Still really good! Ha, I'm not sure if that is supposed to change. I guess I kind of expected to feel less-good by now, but there is plenty of time for that, eh? The baby still moves around all the time and likes to surprise me with a kick in the ribs on occasion (which isn't painful, just uncomfortable... if you were curious). I have more heartburn than I did a couple weeks ago, but it is really mild and infrequent.

The pregnancy carpal tunnel continues, it usually doesn't irritate me, but writing is no fun, which is why I only have about a third of my baby shower thank-you cards done. I'll have them done before the weekend though, because I'm really excited to start working on my sewing projects for baby girl.

Michael put the crib together last weekend. I watched and took pictures... my way of helping when he puts furniture together. :)

I love the vintage Jenny Lind style! It is exactly what I was looking for. I'm excited to see what it looks like all made up with her bedding.

The next several weeks are going to be busy for us! We have classes to attend and bags to pack and a nursery to finish setting up. :)