Eden's birth

What a strange and surprisingly calm day it was! Literally, until about 30 minutes before she made an appearance, I wasn't convinced she was coming.
Around 9 am I called my dr's office. They were closed. That was really weird. Usually they're open by 8. I think I waited another hour and called again, I had to leave a message for the paging system. Turns out, they were in meetings which is why the phones were off. Anyways, I had some bleeding the night before and that morning and so I just wanted to chat with them and make sure it was ok. The nurse told me I needed to head to the hospital to Labor & Delivery to determine if I was in labor.
 I am thinking, no, I'm not in labor, if I was I think I would know! So I argued with her a bit, saying my husband was at work and I had my 2 year old son at home.
Bottom line: not convenient to go to the hospital right then. But she kept insisting. So I called Andrew and thankfully he was able to come home to be with Graham.
I thought maybe I was having an occasional contraction, but nothing more than I'd been having for the last 2 weeks or so. So, since the hospital is only 4 blocks from our house and parking is more trouble than it's worth, I decided to walk over. The worst part is that it was 8 degrees - brrrrrrrr!!
They hooked me up to a machine to monitor contractions for about an hour.
*Side note - the nurse on the phone had actually told me to just go ahead and bring Graham with me. This had to be the worst advice of the day! What did she possibly think he was going to do during the 2 hours I was being monitored - sit quietly in a chair?!!! Thankful I did not take that advice. *
So after an hour they came back in and determined that I was having occasional contrax, about every 10 minutes. The dr. then checked me and determined I was 5+ cm dialated and it was at that point that they told me, yeah, you're not going home. Really? I still wasn't convinced this was happening! They said they would take me to a labor room and the dr. would break my water and hopefully things would pick up. So suddenly I was thinking, ummm, I need to call my husband and get him here! We were able to contact Becky Valentine who quickly came to watch G - bless her! And then Andrew arrived. I knew I was having contrax now, but it was so strange because they honestly weren't that painful. Everyone kept saying that I must have a very high pain tolerance, but I am telling you - I don't. :)
Another hour or so and I was dialated 7-8 cm. They asked me if I wanted an epidural because this was my only chance. That was a dilemma I didn't anticipate. Since I didn't feel that much pain I felt like maybe I shouldn't, but because you never know how these things will play out, I didn't want to risk a horrible ending. So I ended up getting one. About an hour later is when I finally felt like contrax. were 5 minutes or less apart. I finally started to think that yes, this baby was going to come! Thank the Lord I wasn't at home waiting for them to be 5 minutes apart, because by the time I felt this, she arrived less than 30 minutes later!!
The dr. asked if I wanted to push. I said I didn't really feel like I needed to, but she said we could do a practice push at least. So as we did, they suddenly all sprang into action and said this baby is coming! And a few pushes later she arrived in all her beautiful perfect babyness.
The differences in the 2 births was just crazy. Graham's was just such a difficult experience and this was so calm and pleasant. I just could not be more thankful! I think I mentioned before that I was most dreading the recovery period more than anything. With Graham it was literally 4-6 months before I was pain-free. With Eden I pretty much felt recovered in about 2 weeks. I honestly didn't even know this possible!
I said all along that after a 10 lb'er, other babies should basically walk out on their own....and well, she practically did. :)

Happy 3 weeks to our sweet, sweet girl!

ready or not...........

Well, at my dr's appt this week (35+weeks), my dr. calmly told me to get ready for a January baby. Excuse me?! I am pretty sure you just absolutely jinxed me by telling me that! I have to keep telling myself this little girl might not show until middle of February, but I also better have been my plans in place! So my nesting kicked into high gear and I got all the laundry done, the house cleaned, Graham's instructions all written out, a bag packed, lists made, Eden's room close to being done....another 27 reasons why she probably won't make an appearance, right? As my neighbor put it, she'll wait until something has exploded in your microwave and the fridge is leaking, and someone gets the stomach flu............so true. :)
But wow, I would be estatic for her to make an early arrival no doubt!
The last few days I've been feeling a lot of cramping around my belly. But since I didn't go into labor on my own with Graham, I don't necessarily know what to expect. :-/ I've been told this can go on for weeks.

But since I am 3.5 cm. dialated, the dr. told me I better not dally once labor truly hits!

So the boys disappeared into the basement yesterday and I eventually went down to see what they were up to. A last minute painting project for Eden.....

 Graham was loving it!

 A little peak at her room....this might not be her room for too long, so it's not super extensive. We are using the same bedding we had for Graham, but adding in some girly touches! Definitely not pink & purple, but I'm ok with that. :) Her name will probably be put on that wall when we get to it!

 Some oldies, but goodies! I have had this painting for a long time and the blanket has been in Andrew's family since he was little.

Oh yes, the one thing we absolutely still need is some room-darkening curtains! I am hoping to find them in red to bring a little more color! Hopefully I can get out to Target soon or else it will be blanket "curtains" first!

the babymoon.....that almost wasn't

So thankful that Andrew made it happen for us to have an overnight get-a-way before Eden arrives!

I have always wanted to go to a bed and breakfast and it has just never happened. So we looked for a B&B in our area and found a quaint one, the Inn at Mt. Chestnut, about an hour outside of Pittsburgh, which was perfect for what we wanted. We had set up our check-in for 6 pm. We arrived to a empty, locked B&B. :-/ That wasn't good. So we called (and listened to the phone ring inside the home!) not good. Our plan was to use a Christmas gift of gift cards for dinner and a movie before we came back. So, we left a message and continued on with our plans. The hours ticked by with no return phone call. Getting more sick to my stomach and upset as the night went on! After the movie, about 10pm, we decided to head back out there one more time, no luck. So we started working on Plan B. We started looking into other hotels as well as considered driving back home. We were about to start towards a hotel when we FINALLY got a call from the B&B. She could not apologize enough. Said she had never had this happen before (I had the email confirmation with me, so I knew we had set up the correct day/time.) I was so upset by this time that I didn't really feel like running back there! But then she offered us about 50% off our room, so we decided to go. So, about 10:30pm or so, we finally got into our room. After that, things got much better. It was a lovely place, we had a relaxing evening, and a delicious breakfast in the morning. And of course ended up paying 1/2 of what we had planned, so in the end, it all worked out! The owner was very nice and I would still recommend staying there!I hope we have more future stays in B&B's, it was so cozy!  

Light snow was falling the entire time we were there and since it was tucked into the woods, it was so beautiful! 

 We stayed in the Key Largo room which is beach-themed. Reminded us of our beach house!

 hmmm, nice face....anyways, 35 weeks, almost to the end!

  lovely.

We are so thankful for this sweet girl in our life. She has become Graham's favorite babysitter and we were so thankful that we could leave with confidence that G was well taken care of. In fact, after we brought her home on friday, Graham told us to go buh-bye so he could play with her! It is such a comfort knowing that Graham loves her. Thanks, Kristin, you're the best!!

(Steeler party following our little trip, hence the Steeler gear!)

So now we've had babymoon #2 and sweet little Eden can arrive at any time. :)

23/33

Our little man is 23 months today. I can't believe in one month he'll be two!! Definitely working on some party plans and ideas!
I just recently posted some of his latest and greatest...so for today, well, here's how his morning went.....

• woke up at 7:30, oatmeal and a clementine for breakfast.

• watched Potty Power while mommy took a shower. (yes, if tv will potty-train him, I'm all for it) :) Thanks to my friend and neighbor, Christi, for passing that on to me! We still have a long ways to go, but I've realized now that it's a marathon, not a sprint and so I have much more peace of mind when looking at it that way!
• played with new toys while listening to new cd, Songs that Jesus Said, by the Gettys. We love it!
• Built forts with mommy using all the couch cushions. My poor furniture will never be the same, and it's his new favorite thing!
• had a few meltdowns resulting in 2 timeouts. Possibly still recovering from staying up way too late on New Year's Eve. :-)
• lunch - peanut butter toast and applesauce.
• nap - badly needed. :)

As for mommy.......

Well, I've hit 33 weeks! This is the first time that I am starting to feel like it's getting close. 7 weeks (or less!) just doesn't seem so far away. Though when I think about being preggo for 7 more weeks then it feels like forever. :) I have definitely hit that "ugh" stage. feeling very large, bulky and uncomfortable!
Last week someone told me, "wow, you're 8 months? You're tiny". And then someone else told me (on the same day), "wow, you've really gotten big in the last few weeks". I won't tell you which statement was made by my dear husband. :-) but someone MAY be sleeping in the doghouse - if we had one.
It is very uncomfortable to bend over and pick up little toys all the time. So it's not getting done as much as it probably should be! Though it is helpful to force me to teach Graham to consistently pick up his toys. It's definitely easier to do it myself, but there is no doubt that he is fully capable of doing his portion as well. So that's a good thing! I also keep reminding Andrew that the last 2 months of pregnancy and the first 3 months of newbornland does not mean that life has changed forever! There will be a time when he gets his more efficient, energetic, and helpful wife back. :)
Much to my sister's chagrin, I have not hardly taken any pregnancy pics, so this one will have to do!
Wow, this girl kicks! Her movements have seriously been painful at times and while I remember Graham moving a lot, I don't remember them hurting. Oh boy, an active little girl soccer player on the way?!
I am most surprised about my lack of swelling. With Graham, I couldn't wear my engagement ring after about the 5/6 months mark! My rings still fit with no problem. Though I do wonder if that is partially because I lived in a much warmer climate then. But I am thankful anyways!
I also don't remember any real braxton hicks contractions with G, but have definitely started to feel a few uncomfortable pinches in the last week or so. Hopefully that's a good thing!
My dr. is not going to allow me to go past 40 weeks due to Graham's large size. So that is comforting to know, that at the MOST I will only go 40 weeks. I know the waiting game at the end if the worst. So, crossing my fingers to go early of course!!
At Christmas, my SIL gave me a lot of clothes for Eden for 0-9 months. Such a blessing! Now I am getting excited to see some girly stuff! Of course, I can't pass up picking out a few items for her myself! Got this little dress set with a gift card and the jean jacket was $6 at Macy's and then I got back a $10 coupon from their weekend promotion. How cute are they? :)

So here's hoping for the next 7 weeks to go by quickly. :)

round two

well, you may have heard this from every other girl who has more than one child, but it still caught me by surprise. Pregnancy #2 has been absolutely different in every way than with Graham. It's really hard to believe! I guess that could mean that - no brainer - this one is a girl...but Andrew & I are still up in the air about that. We both keep getting the same "feeling", however, it sometimes changes back & forth. odd. At first all we were really sure was that it wasn't a boy. But then, we thought, yep, it's definitely a girl. But lately, we've kind of gone back, it might be a boy. Yeah, we're pretty much going to drive ourselves crazy. :)

• I definitely have had some serious cases of pregnancy brain. Like when I thought I was having my ultrasound yesterday, however (thankfully I discovered before I went in!) I realized it was actually next friday. oops. not only did we ramp up our anticipation, but Andrew even went in to work at 6:30AM in order to get off early. I also thought I had nursery on Thursday and didn't. And I was talking to Andrew about it being friday and it was only Tuesday. Seriously, my brain is so foggy right now.

Anyways.................

• The biggest and most unexpected surprise of this pregnancy was that I was not sick. I never expected to be so lucky. With graham, I threw up every day for at least 5 weeks. Barely more than a little nausea this time. Holy cow. That is one of the best blessings ever!!

However, to counter that was the exhaustion. During my first trimester, I could barely pull myself to Graham's naptime, then I would crash and try to drag myself thru the rest of the day. It was crazy. I never had that with Graham, even thru his newborn days! The good news is, 2nd trimester has given me some relief and life doesn't end if I don't get a nap these days. But I am still more tired than normal and wear out quickly. Must be the sprints I do keeping up with the Gman. :) However, I will take exhaustion over sickness any day!

• Probably the very best thing about not being the first baby is that the anticipation doesn't about kill you. For that first one, it seems like you spend 9 months tapping your fingers, waiting, waiting, waiting.....for the 2nd one, it feels more like your due date is coming at you like a steam engine!! Wait, hold on, I'm not ready for 2 yet!

For the first one, you know everything in life is about to change, but you can't really imagine what it's going to be like and how much it will change. For the 2nd, it's nice because you know life is not going to take that drastic curve. You have some idea what to expect and you're already used to lugging the car seats, strollers, diaper bags and thousand other pieces of baby gear.

• All in all, even though I hear people say it was harder to go from one to two, than zero to one, I still feel way more peace of mind and calmness about the coming chaos. I've been thru newbornland and survived, we got the baby on a schedule and it worked, and now I also know how quickly those snuggly baby days pass by!

I definitely still have apprehension about the whole labor/delivery thing. Lots of moms have totally different experiences there as well. Now the good news is, after the crazy birth I went thru, I wouldn't think (hope or pray!) that it would be worse...but who knows, maybe I'll grow a 12 pounder this time. (Dear Jesus, please no.)
Probably my biggest apprehension is post-delivery. With my last birth, it was 4-6 months before I could walk without pain and even longer before I felt like "normal" again. I also was able to clear my schedule and pretty much stayed home a lot during those first 3 months, both to recover and figure out babies! This time around, I have a lot more on my plate and especially with Graham, I really don't have the option of staying home/in/quiet for very long! But, the Lord knows, and will obviously give grace as needed!!

• We haven't really talked about baby with Graham yet. I figure I will probably wait till I start getting larger and he starts realizing that something is going on with mom's belly before we start trying to explain about "baby" being in there! It's almost like he has this sense though, because he has become extra snuggly and extra attached to mommy in the last few weeks! He also doesn't like to see me holding other babies right now. hmmmm..... But I've been watching a little girl 2 mornings a week and she likes me to hold her, so I think that's really the best thing for graham that he is getting used to sharing mommy in these next few months!

The other day I was gone for about 30 mintues and when I came back it was mommy, mommy, mommy!! as he pulled me to come see and play with what he & daddy were building. How can I not love that?!!

• I'm starting to enter the annoying stage where my regular clothes aren't fitting right, yet maternity clothes just look big. And preggo jeans are so annoying. When I tried on a pair the other day, I was reminded that no matter how large you get, they never stay up! Like, why can't they put belt loops on them?!! But I'm in no hurry to grow out of my clothes, this time around I'll probably make them go until I possibly can. Unlike round #1 when you can't wait to wear them. :)

So, here's my overall synopsis.....

• While round one is extra special because everything is a first, I think subsequent pregnancies are even better. The time doesn't drag so much and you have plenty else to keep you occupied! But the biggest reason is this: now that I have experienced the amazing love & joy that Graham has brought to our lives, in some ways, I can anticipate this child that much more because I know that experiencing that x2 is going to be even more thrilling.

So baby #2, five more days and we get to find out what kind of little person you are and we can't wait to give you a special name picked just for you. We love you, sweet baby.

Big brother tells all

I am so happy to tell you that mommy & daddy are finally getting around to the business of giving me a brother or sister. Yay!! Well, I'm kind of hoping for a brother, but I'll be sweet to a sister too. Mommy thinks I'm going to be a good helper and is starting to teach me many things that I'll need to know in order to be a big brother (it's a big responsibility, you know.) Mommy would really like me to potty-train, but I haven't made up my mind on that one yet.

We're excited to have another February birthday (I sense a pattern here!). We'll be 2 years and 2 weeks apart. The official date is Feb. 20. Mommy is 13 weeks already and excited to be finishing the 1st trimester. (She waited a little longer to tell everyone, because we got to tell her family in person last week!)
The best news is that she has not been very sick, but exhaustion has been a big battle. She said something about having a crazy man to run after all day.........she must be talking about my daddy. But she is already feeling less tired as she heads into tri 2.
So that's all the news for now, I am sure she will be sharing more later. We're all very excited!!!

yep, still preggers

So my due date has come and gone...and no baby. Not a big surprise. I have been told countless times that first babies are always late. And that's what I have tried to put my mind to this whole pregnancy. I guess the thing that threw me off was that 10 days ago my dr. & nurses all assured me I was about to give birth any second! So, naturally, I began to think that was true. (big mistake :)

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This weekend, God definitely gave me a peace about the timing of this baby. I know it's in His hands. I feel absolutely assured that Graham will come when he comes and making myself feel pressure to accommodate certain people's schedules is not going to help anything.

The ony thing that is somewhat discouraging is knowing that I still may have to be induced after the whole emotional upheaval we went through last week! But, again, God is in control of this situation and I rest in Him.

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I do have a few small suggestions to anyone who may interact with anyone who is pregnant...

I have been shocked at the words that people will say to some who is pregnant. It's like all tact flys right out of the window and does not apply to someone who is pregnant. Some of these have been said to me, some of my friends have recently told me they've been said to them.

They are meant to be funny...but seriously...think about it. :)

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1. do not ask a woman if she is having any twins

(do you want her to be any more sensitive about this?!)

2. do not tell her that she seems to be too small

(do you want to make her worry? are you her dr?!)

3. do not ask if she has stretch marks

(now, mercifully, I do not, but I think if I did, I would have been very tempted to LIE!)

4. do not tell her how swollen she is

(yes, someone did tell me yesterday how swollen my face was. ummm, thank you?)

5. do not tell her if she just does "this", it will induce labor.

(yes, I have tried them all, and no, they do not work if baby is not ready to come!)

6. do not tell her the last month or 2 flys by.

(are you kidding me? it's the longest month of my life!)

7. do not criticize the name choice

(we have lots of positive comments about our name, but if you don't like it, it's ok to pretend you do!)

8. do not badger those who choose to keep gender or name a secret.

(this wasn't us, but I know it can be hard for those who go this route!)

9. do not be critical of childbirth classes or birthing methods that a couple chooses.

(wow, I didn't know what a big deal it was between going "natural" or using medication or using a midwife vs. dr. or to circumsize or not to, to vaccinate or not to...people have very strong opinions on both sides of all these issues!)

10. Just be supportive and love. Only give advice when asked.

(we appreciate the many words of wisdom that people have shared with us. I think it's just that by month 9 we heard the same things so many times, that it gets a little overwhelming!)

11. It's ok to talk to a pregnant woman about something other than her pregnancy.

(I love conversation that has nothing to do with it at this point!)

12. How much weight have you gained?

what?? how much do YOU weigh?

13. let's remove this comment from our vocab - "still pregnant, huh?"

(why, yes, I am. thank you for the reminder :)

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> does anyone else have crazy things that people have said to them?? <

Almost there...

I feel like I've lapsed a little on here...but this week I was looking over my list of "to-do before Graham comes" and realized I might not even get it all done before he arrives!! So I've been busy, busy checking things off my list. Plus, I've been trying to get in every appt. that I can think of! So between this week and next I will have been to the eye dr., dentist, salon, and of course my ob. appts. which are now every week!!! The anticipation of Graham's arrival is just about killing me! I am sincerely hoping he comes early but to realize that we could have a baby in less than 3 weeks is extremely daunting!!

We finally received the last baby items that we needed this week and so I feel now if he does come, we are ready (in that sense!). Andrew is putting together the crib on Saturday and then I can finally post some pics of the nursery!!

This week was my final week at the church where I have worked (very part-time) for the last 3 years. They threw me a little surprise baby shower which was so kind of them. They mostly gave either cash or gift cards which was perfect for this stage!! My funniest gift from one of the maintenance guys was a pack of 80 diapers and bottle of Glade air freshener!! But, hey, I will certainly use them!!! We praise God for providing!

Things I am most looking forward to about not being pregnant...

-being able to hold my sweet boy on the outside (and give him to his daddy when I am tired of carrying him :)
-not having to pee every 30 seconds
-being able to roll over without feeling like a beached whale
-pants without elastic!
-being able to run
-sleeping on my back or stomach if I feel like it
-being able to wear my engagement ring (I got it off just in time, but have hated not being able to wear it!)
-getting back to my normal size (I hope!) and not having a big ol' belly to lug around
-not having swollen joints
-and...did I mention this...meeting our baby boy!! Come out soon, Graham!