Ashley's coming home today

Ashley decided to make an early arrival.  On Thursday night  (04.22) I finished up my water aerobics class at 7p and something felt a little off.  After showering and getting dressed, my water broke (!!) on my way out of the locker room!  I was sort of in denial, like maybe I peed my pants....but as I continued to walk to my car and more kept coming I knew it was time.  Despite being across the street from the hospital, I drove home to take a "real" shower, get my stuff and most importantly tell Pete!  We called the doctor who told us to make our way to the hospital, so we got there about 8:45p.

We got up to the unit by about 9p and I was 3cm dilated.  The nurse said "How much pain would you like to feel during labor?" I said not really any!!!  So I still foolishly tried to wait it out, and then when I asked for my epidural I was having short painful contractions every 2 minutes.  The epidural hurt alot going in, more than I was prepared for but once it was all set the Epidural was amazing...not quite sure why someone would pass up that opportunity!  At that point I was 5 cm so they opted not to start pitocin and I slept from about 11:30p - 3:30a.  At 3:30 the nurse came in to check on things because the heart rate was dipping a little with each contraction, although not dramatically so.  By then I was 8 cm, so decided it was time to wake up and start paying attention!  By 4a-430 I was 10 cm, so they called the Dr who was making her way to the hospital.  It was Dr Goldin who was a very sweet doctor, and we were relieved because there were 2 doctors we really didnt like.  When she got there we did some "practice pushes" and basically realized I couldnt feel contractions....i thought this was a great thing, but the monitor wasnt picking up my contractions so they said we had to turn down the epidural and start some pitocin (which causes contractions).  So there was a few more practice pushes, but mostly fussing around and waiting, then the real pushing began at about 6a.  That lasted til 7:21a when Ashley was born!!  So epidural helped alot still but definitly hard work....and whoever thinks there is a difference between pressure and pain is kidding themselves!

So since then things have been pretty mellow - Ashley seems like a pretty good baby so far (knock on wood!).  We had Dee and Sara visit, and of course Caitlin, but other than that just me and Pete - which is nice because I get pretty tired.  So we are heading home today, just waiting for the pediatrician to come around and discharge Ashley.

We are probably going to do most of our photo sharing so if your not already our friend, find us! But if you dont have facebook, here is the link to the album for now

And so much for the big baby they were telling us we were having, even though she was 3 weeks early, she still couldnt have got that big - she is 6 lbs 4 oz

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2230367&id=14306913&l=c03b0488b2

25 days to go - guess the weight/due date

So the countdown is officially on - less than a month to go, can now even be counted in days!  Since the last posting we had 2 (!!) baby showers - one hosted by Dee + Sara, and had a theme "Sweet Addition" with lots of treats and sweets, and another on Wednesday was a surprise one hosted by work.  Going into the shower I thought we had everything we could possibly need, so now we have all that and more!  We literally have a closet full of outfits - I am pretty certain Ashley is not going to wear the same outfit twice - insane! It continues to amaze me how generous people are with the baby!!!

So between the 2 showers and all the cakes and cookies at them, the fact I skipped my water aerobics twice this week (bad head cold), and I am totally retaining fluid (cankles do not even begin to explain - cankles mean your ankles blend in wth your calves - well my feet and ankles are BIGGER than my calves!) I have officialy hit 50 lbs.....yikes!  From all my celebrity gossip magazines most of them gain about 40 lbs, so 10lbs more than a celebrity isnt so bad, plus the water weight in my cankles has got to count for something

36.5 weeks (+50 lbs)            34.5 weeks (+43.1 lbs)

So below I added the app to guess the weight and due date.  Next Saturday I am having another ultrasound because they say the baby looked big (91%) at her 30 week ultrasound, so thats the only hint...apparently ultrasounds can be off as much as 20% though.  So guess now, because after the ultrasound we may know too many details to make it fun.....and only vote once!  Some people (ahem ahem my dad) voted multiple times on the gender poll to skew the results towards what he thought it would be!!

Less than 5 weeks to go....

In the last 2.5 weeks not too much new has happened. We did finish our final birthing class - where we watched 3 filmed births and 1 c-section. And it’s a little late for us but I strongly encourage anyone looking for a good birth-control method to watch those scary videos….I am sure my birth experience will be much better, cleaner and easier than they made it look on the video ;-) We also have pretty much finished the nursery, with the exception of hanging a few pictures on the wall – but since the baby will be in them, hanging empty frames seems a little silly! I included pictures of that below. Other excitement includes my mom visiting this weekend, as well as Caitlin arriving for a month long stay. She is going to be interning at Loyola for her final month of undergrad, so that will be fun. Also this weekend, Dee and Sara are throwing a little shower for my Chicago friends – a mix of people I have come to know via Baxter and Kellogg – so that will be fun and nice!


I am trudging along physically, starting to get more uncomfortable but nothing unbearable. I am slow. I waddle. My hips, back and inner thigh ache. I guess that about sums up what late-stage pregnancy is for most people though.

So this last appointment I was up 2.3 lbs – so now 43.1. With 5 weeks to go my new goal is to keep it under 45 – haha – I have sort have had to adjust my goals on the fly. My original goal of staying under 25 lbs is looong gone.  Some peopel are saying it looks like my stomach has dropped...i think it looks like its in the same position, just bigger!


Week 34.5 (+43.1 lbs)                        Week 32 (+40.8 lbs)
 

And here are some more nursery pictures

 

And finally a picture of Pete, practicing being a good dad with the Baby Bjorn