A Baby Story

Sunday night I went to sleep on the wrong side of the bed...literally. We have a co-sleeper and thought it might be logistically easier if it were on the side of the bed opposite the door for easier coming and going in our room. Unfortunately that is Aaron's side of the bed. I thought we could give swapping a try for a night and see how it went. I warned him, before I went to bed, that if I couldn't sleep I was waking him up to switch. After some weird dreams, a drooling incident (that's a whole post of it's own) and waking up at 4:30am with my back killing me, I decided I had had enough with HIS side of the bed. I grabbed my pillows (which is like 100 when you're 9 months pregnant), got up, grumbled to him to scoot over and nestled happily into the right side of our bed.

Eight minutes later I had my first contraction. This was no false alarm, no pre-labor. This was what I remembered from the last time. How had I mistaken my 5 hours of fakers on the 14th for this?? As I laid there through the first few, I smiled. It was time. I was finally going to have this baby!!! I waited until 6:00am to wake Aaron and let him know. At that point the contractions were 5-6 minutes apart and getting stronger. I decided I'd better eat and get a quick shower before we had to leave for the hospital. At 7 I woke Natey up and grabbed the last of our stuff and put it in the car. As I watched my handsome little boy run around in his jammies I began to tear up. This was the last time he would be an only child. All of our worlds were about to change forever. We snapped one last picture as we left the house. It was a gloomy day out as we left our house. We had planned to drop Natey off and then go to the hospital, but by the time we left the house at 7:30 my contractions had sped up to 3-4 minutes apart. I figured it would be a better bet to take me first.

I got to the hospital at 7:40, got settled into triage and waited for my midwife. When she arrived 15 minutes later, she checked me and I was dilated to 5cm. They were getting my room ready so I stayed in triage and waited for Aaron to arrive. He got there, my contractions started getting stronger and I was moved up to my labor and delivery room at 8:55am. My midwife checked me again and I was dilated to 8cm. It all seemed a little surreal this time. I was more in control. I knew what I was doing. I trusted my body and the fact that I had done this once before without drugs. There was only one point during the last 2 contractions before I started pushing when I looked at Aaron and said, "I'm scared". He smiled at me and said I was doing a great job and we'd have this baby out in no time. At 10:31 am I delivered my beautiful baby girl, Arielle Lorraine. To say it was amazingly fast would be an understatement. I could not believe it only took 6 hours from start to finish. As they laid her on me, I though she seemed so small. After carrying 35 pound Natey around, I couldn't fathom that she was 9 and a half freaking pounds!!! What?? I just delivered a gigantic baby, with no drugs, and I didn't so much as tear. How, on earth, is that possible??

For those of you who played the game, I wanted to show proof that she was, in fact, born the morning after the last guess!! Between my blog contest and the pool from my baby shower we raised 76 dollars. Since no one got the date right, it will all be donated to the MS society. What is even better is my work has a matching gift program, so a total of $150 will be donated in my mom's name!

My midwife was amazing, yet again. I loved the experience I had when I was pregnant and delivering Natey and this time was no different. I even followed her to a new practice and delivered at a different hospital than I preferred to have her. Truth be told, I would have a baby in a Walmart if she would deliver me!

Aaron was the best partner yet again. He has such a quiet calm about him that it always helps to calm my nerves. I know he truly believes in me and it reassured me all the way through.

Natey came to visit us that evening. He is the proudest big brother I have ever seen. He loved holding her and is always wanting to touch her face. He was so gentle with her and seeing them together melts my heart!

I felt surprisingly great after having her (obviously since I was tweeting and updating Facebook, via my beloved BlackBerry, 45 min after she was born). I feel a lot calmer this time. Maybe it's because I feel like I know what I'm doing. I'm not all panicky and freaking out over every detail. I let them take her to the nursery so I could get some rest (which I didn't do when Nate was born) and I felt like I was ready to go home the next day. They did her 24 hour check and said we were free to go!

Now we're home and she is the best baby. She sleeps well, is feeding well and I'm even getting rest when she sleeps. Keep your fingers crossed that it stays this way and I will update more as the days and weeks go by!

I know you want to squeeze those cheeks. How could you not??!!

"Nesting"

I have given new meaning to the word "nesting". Most people equate nesting with organizing, cleaning and preparing their home for a new baby. Don't get me wrong, I have done my fair share of that in the past 2 weeks since I have been off of work, but I take the word to a whole new level! The "theme", if you will, of baby girl's room is birds. The inspiration for her room was the 2 yellow bird cages I found one Saturday while yard-saling. I wanted something sweet and girlie without gagging myself in pepto bismol pink so I painted her room a pale shade of limey green and the bedding takes care of the pink factor. I don't have the crib set up since Natey is still sleeping in it still, but here is what the bedding looks like.

About a year ago I saw a pattern to make fabric birds. Liz made one and I attempted to make one, but I tried to be all smarty pants and use my sewing machine, and it was fugly. Yeah, it didn't work. These babies need to be hand sewn. There was also a picture of a mobile made up of these birds. I thought it was the cutest idea but, not even being pregnant at the time, didn't really have a use for it. Fast forward a year and I had picked out the room decor and it just fell into place. I was meant to make one of these mobiles! It looked simple enough. Cut out coordinating fabric, enough for 11 birds. Sew and stuff birds. Sew birds to the sticks. Attach sticks together and hang. In reality it was "that easy" but VERY time consuming. It took me a total of 10 hours to finish this project!

Here are the birds just after I sewed them.

And here is the final product!!

I love how it turned out. The hardest thing was getting the branches balanced. I swear, if you ever make one of these start the balancing at the bottom! You can't really get a feel for the color of the room since I took these pictures with no natural light, but after the nursery is all put together I will do a post showing the whole thing!! Oh and baby girl, if you were waiting for me to finish this project before you arrived,

I'M DONE!!!! YOU CAN COME OUT NOW!!!!

Wordless Wednesday- 40 Weeks

Post-it note that the lab tech stuck to my belly at yesterday's weekly visit!

I concur!

False Alarm

No baby yet folks. Sorry to get everyone worked up yesterday. I never had "false" or "pre-labor" pains with Nate. I was kinda hesitant to tweet anything until I had been having the pains for a while. I was contracting at about 7-10 minutes apart for a little over 5 hours. They weren't bad, but it felt like it did when labor began with Natey. I guess I got a little excited, but truth be told, I wasn't ready. When it started with Nate, I was ready. I felt like I had everything finished and I was rested and geared up for the long haul. When it started yesterday, I went into a frenzy. We ate dinner, I did the dishes, finished organizing baby clothes, straightened the family room, swept, and blogged a little. I guess it was good motivation if nothing else. I still have 3 tasks I'd like to get done today and have this adamant thing about her NOT being born on the 15th, so let's hope she holds out another day or 2...or 3. The best thing about it being a false alarm is the fact that I got a full night's sleep last night. I went to bed at 10 and Nate so graciously let me sleep until 7am for the second day in a row. This past week has not been restful since he has been sick, so I am glad to have gotten 2 nights in a row of rest. Who knows, they could be my last ones for a while. I'll keep ya posted, but I might just wait until I'm on my way to the hospital before I say something this time. Don't wanna be the pregnant girl who cried baby!

Random Ramblings

Crap, it's Thursday. I know I am usually rejoicing at this point in the week, but it seems the week goes spinning by unnoticed when you aren't working!!!

Let's recap:

Monday: Did abso-freakin-loutely nothing. I needed a day to decompress. Went to lunch by myself and had my birthday massage (a gift from Joelle).

Tuesday: Did about one million loads of laundry or so it seemed. Nate got a fever, it turned into a high fever of 104.9, we ended up in the ER of Children's hospital in the middle of the night, left because it was 4 am and we would still have to wait 2 more hours, drugged him with Motrin, got a total of 3 hours sleep, prayed I wouldn't go into labor because I was exhausted.

Wednesday: Woke up to miracle boy with NO FEVER (so random). Got a pedicure, got my hair did. Still had done nothing on my house to-do list except laundry. Cursed in my mind at my lack of motivation. Went to sleep at 8pm since I was tired and needed to get rest. Woke up 3 times in the night (2 because of my congested little boy and once to pee).

New Hair and 2 new zits on my chin (talk about adding insult to injury of being so pregnant I could explode)!
Festive and girlie toes for my trip to the hospital!

Thursday: Nate decided 5:45 was an awesome time to wake up for the day. Thanked God that I decided to go to bed at 8pm last night. Took Natey to daycare so I could get SOMETHING accomplished! Got the crib moved into Natey's room since he is still not sold on his big boy bed. Painted the nursery. Love the color!! Went to lunch with my friend. Attempted to catch up on a few blog posts.

It all seems like a lot even though it is a whole bunch of nothing!!!
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Nate is officially potty trained and can go pee all by himself! I'm talking, tells me when he has to go, taking off his own pants and undies, peeing and (mostly) pulling them back up when he's done! I also found those diaper doublers which have solved the night time peeing through issues we were having. Woo hoo!
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I am 6 days from my due date. Good Lawd I wanna be done, but have a feeling baby girl is going to come exactly on her due date. I wanted her to be born on 11/11, but since that has passed, I am really holding out hope that she comes on the 18th. I think it would just be the universe's way of turning the worst day of my life into one of the best. It will be even crazier if she comes between 1 and 2 am on the 18th since we think that's when my momma passed away.

39 week pregnant belly shot! Sorry about the headless shot...see above for head...
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I have loads more to do tomorrow and I will finally give you the reveal of Natey's big Boy room! I know, I suck! I will be tweeting when I go into labor so if you don't hear from me, and you don't follow me on Twitter, check my sidebar for updates!! You still have some time to get in on the CONTEST!! Check the sidebar for more details!

36 Weeks

Woo hoo! I have made it to 36 weeks. I feel like I am 39 weeks with all of the aches and pains this girl has been causing! I have heartburn non-stop, sciatica that keeps me at the chiropractor 2 times a week, and I swear I could wet my pants at any given moment.

All that aside, I am loving it and am getting so excited for her arrival. Not excited enough to actually get her room (or Nate's for that matter) finished, but you know, that terrified kind of excited. I say that because this time I know what's coming. Last time I think not knowing what to expect was on my side since I did it with zero drugs. Yes people, I am one of those crazies that went all natural. I guess it couldn't have been THAT bad since I am opting to do it again, but I'm just a tad freaked out this time.

I am still keeping track of the weight gain and, so far, I am at 29 pounds. I am hoping this will keep me within my 35 pound goal (I gained 38 with Nate). Not that the half pint of Ben & Jerry's that I scarfed down yesterday is going to help with that, but I am trying to be good. It helps that I can't eat so much as a grape without getting heartburn these days, so the portions I have been eating are pretty reasonable!

Thanks for coming along on my journey with me. It has been fun to share it with everyone and have a lot of support and a few laughs too! Don't forget to get in on the guessing game of when baby girl will make her appearance. It is a fun competition as well as donating to a very worthy cause! You can click on the link to get to the game or check out the details in my sidebar!

When Will I POP??

We always have a friendly wager regarding the date and time babies will be born in this family. Call it their competitive nature. Last time, Aaron's little cousin guessed the right day and was only off by 2 hours on the time! My friend Joelle took this friendly wager one step further and touched my heart at the same time. You see, my due date has a very special significance to me and my family. Both my grandpa and my mom passed away on November 18th just one year apart. Weird, I know. When I was told that was the day I was due, I knew I was having a girl. It was just a strange feeling I got, and I sort of felt like it was my mom's gift to me to make that day less painful. My mother suffered for 15 years with Multiple Sclerosis and her body finally couldn't handle all of the medications any more. I was only 23 years old at the time. My mom didn't get to see me get married and never got to hold my babies. I miss her every day and was just pleased as punch to see Joelle wanted to honor her memory by creating a baby pool for baby girl!

She created a chart with the days surrounding my due date and divided them into am and pm. Each person at my sprinkle that wanted to guess, put $2 in the kitty and wrote their name in a time slot. The money collected will be split 1/3 to the winner and 2/3 will be donated to the MS Society in honor of my mother. After I posted about my Sprinkle the other day and talked about the baby pool, Rachel had the idea that I should open it up to all of you! I thought that would be an awesome idea!! What a fun way to have a little raffle of sorts and raise money for a great cause all at the same time!

So here's the gist...

1. You click on the link to go to my Guessing Page (game name is WhenWillKamPop) and make your guess on the date and whether baby girl will be born in the am or pm. Make sure you don't pick the same time slot as someone else has already. (Read the instruction on the guessing site before you pick!)


2. You come back to my blog and click on the donate Paypal button (In this post or in the sidebar). It is $2 per guess and you can guess as many slots as you'd like.










3. The contest will be open until I have the baby and then the time and day will be posted and the person who guessed correctly will win and so will the MS society!!

If we raise $50 dollars or more, I can get a matching gift through my work, so start guessing!!!

A Sprinkle for baby

On Sunday I started out having a very bad day, but luckily I had something wonderful to look forward to when my mood was at it's darkest. My dear friend Joelle threw me a "Sprinkle" for baby girl. What is a sprinkle you ask? Well, read the invite (if you have super good vision) or else I can just tell you! Since I have all of the big stuff still from Natey, we didn't need to have a traditional shower where people give you tons of stuff. Every baby deserves to have their own party though, so she threw me a sprinkle instead where guests were encouraged to give things we might not have for baby girl such as diapers, wipes, and super-cute-ruffly-pink-polka dotted-frilly {ahem, sorry got excited for a minute} clothes.

It was such a sweet idea and Joelle and her mom pulled off the best celebration of baby girl this mommy could have asked for. There was tons of yummy food, a delicious cake (What? You count that as food? Nope, cake is it's own food group to me!), games that did not involve measuring my roundness, opening presents and spending time with my friends and family. When I first looked at the cake, we all had a laugh at how disproportionately long the arms seemed. It wasn't until we checked out the invitation again that we noticed the baker had just copied what he saw and the girl on the invite was Elastigirl too!

Joelle also decided we needed a friendly wager to liven things up. She made up a chart and people paid to make guesses as to when baby girl will arrive. The winner gets 1/3 of the money and the other 2/3 is going to be donated to the M.S. Society on behalf of my mom. I thought this idea was so sweet and I love that Joelle thought of my mom, as baby girl's due date is the day she passed away.

The sprinkle was at Joelle's mom's house and I couldn't resist taking a pic in the mirror of her gorgeous bathroom. The hubbs is going to wish I hadn't been inspired by this bathroom! Baby girl's room is definitely getting wainscoting now! So here I am at 33 weeks, 4 days, in all of my round glory!

I'm trucking along at 34 weeks now and tempted to start counting down the days. I have never been the most patient person, so this waiting game is going to start to get to me soon! I'm feeling pretty good at this point and am 4 pounds lighter than I was at this point with Natey, so I am happy about that! I'll keep you posted as these last 6 weeks (hopefully) zip on by!

28 Weeks

28 weeks with Natey~~~~~~28 weeks with baby girl

Only 12 more weeks to go people! It seems like the time is just flying by. I am feeling great right now, so let's hope that keeps up!

To Shower or Not to Shower?

I know what you're thinking... Yuck, this girl is disgusting. What do you mean she is debating on whether or not to bathe. Honestly girl, just do it. Wash that funk off ya!

No really. Let's get into the true reason behind this post. I have a hot debate brewing in my circle of friends and I want to hear your opinion on the subject. One of my friends wants to throw me a baby shower for baby girl. I feel a little uncomfortable about this. First of all , this is baby number 2. Isn't it just un-PC to have a second baby shower? I mean, I have all of the big stuff that I got for Natey so, I wouldn't even register. Still, I feel weird about it. Does it look so selfish and greedy to have a shower to celebrate a second child? On the other hand, Natey got a party to celebrate his impending arrival, so why shouldn't she?

Ugh, I am so torn. What do you think? Do you have any alternative ideas to a "shower". Should I just have a party before she comes without the pressure of gifts? Every girl loves a party, and this one is no different. Help me out, you wise, multi-kiddo'd women!! Even if you don't have multiple children, or any for that matter, let me know your thoughts on this whole thing. I want all different perspectives!

24 Weeks

24 weeks with Natey~~~~~~~~~24 weeks with Baby Girl

I think it's starting to even out..at least a little bit!

20 weeks

Alternatively titled: Oh crap is my belly growing fast.

20 weeks with Natey~~~~~~~~~~~~20 weeks with baby girl