Marly's Story

On Marly's due date (Mothers day) I kept pretty busy. I went to CVS and picked up a few cases of water; bought snacks for the hospital bag...it was just another day. We made some dinner and watched our Sunday night shows. When we decided to go to bed I said to Drew..."looks like we aren't going to have a baby today!" I got ready for bed and we started to watch The Devil Wears Prada. Of course I had to use the bathroom again..so I went. Started walking back to bed and "went again" ...I looked down in disbelief, decided I had an "accident" from all the pressure of Marly's position...got cleaned up and then attempted walking back to bed..NOPE, my water had broke!!! By this time, it was about 11: 40 pm ..still her due date. I wasn't having contractions, but if your water breaks they instruct you to come in anyways because of the risk of infection. So, we called to let the hospital know we were on our way.

We arrived around 12:30a.m. on May 12th..there was another lady that showed up at the same time. Come to find out, four more ladies showed up so if we had been any later we would have been stuck in the hall like them waiting for a room to open up! So, they took me into a room to make sure it was amniotic fluid I was leaking and then showed us to our room once it was confirmed.

Around 2: 30 a.m I still wasn't having regular contractions so they decided to give me a suppository to soften the cervix and get things going. After 6 hours of this doing it's job they decided to give me another one. By then the contractions were becoming rhythmic and starting to not feel so good. My mom came down and between her and Drew I was well taken care of. I even got the nice nurse I'd met 2 weeks earlier. At about 5 cm's dilated I decided it was time for the epidural. Right after it was administered Marly was ready to be born! They all seemed so impressed with how quickly things were progressing. The next thing I was told was that it was almost time to push. Oh shit!!!

20 minutes later she was here and everything went smooth as could be. We were very lucky. Drew was able to cut the umbilical cord and my mom took all sorts of pictures for me to see later. What a pretty baby we had. Her head was even a good shape! :)

Two weeks later and we are home and comfortably adjusting. Grandma Michele has been out to stay for a week. We are sad to see her go tomorrow. It's nice to have the extra reassurance that's for sure! Grandma Vicki and Great Grandma Jean were by several times to help that first week. No one could have prepared me for the hormones involved...I cried over everything. I'm glad to feel a bit more back to normal now!

Marly is starting to take longer naps and after going to a lactation nurse she is getting a lot more out of her feedings. She is getting bigger everyday...time is flying bye.

Here are a few photo's of the last two weeks. Enjoy!

April Showers bring May flowers...

Hi Everyone,

The countdown is on now that were nearing the end of April...we are at 37 weeks!

Grandma Michele flew out from Ohio to attend the baby shower Grandma Vicki had for us. What a whirlwind trip that was; flying in Thursday to leave on Sunday morning. She's a trooper! We set her up in Marly's bedroom. How nice it was to be able to show her all we had done around here in preparation.

We were very lucky to have two baby showers thrown for us. My mom's was on April 12th and then my co-workers held one on April 19th. Both were a lot of fun and reminded us how lucky we are to have such a caring group of people in our lives. Thank you again to everyone involved!!! I must say it was most fun sharing the 90 degree weekend with you all. :)

The appointments have been weekly this month. The doctor seems to think I should be on target with the due date based on her findings. :) We are 70% effaced so there is progress~ We had our last ultrasound today to confirm she is head down so we are pleased with that! The tech was a brat though. When I asked if she could tell me what Marly weighs she said that was a entirely different ultrasound and that it takes longer. (I was the only appointment that hour) So much for getting a cute new picture of her to post and finding out the weight! Based on my stomach measurements though, the doctor thinks she will be just over 7lbs.

Unfortunately the doctor told me since I am working full time I can no longer take walks. My blood pressure was higher than she liked so she wants me to start taking it easy to avoid going on bed rest. She wants me to take a few weeks off work, but I told her I'd like to keep on working so long as my blood pressure cooperates. So, we will take it week by week and I will try my best to not let my customer's get me all riled up. :)

Here are a few shower shots. The pink dress was my mom's shower and the green version was my work shower. I saved a special present from Ohio for Drew to open and as you can see he couldn't wait for Marly to put the Ohio State cheerleader bloomers on. :) I threw in one of Miles and my sister Sophie..such cuties!!!

Enjoy~

Sarah, Drew, Miles & Marly :)

Hi everyone!

April is zipping by already...it's hard to keep up.

Two weeks ago I had some lower abdominal pain that wasn't going away. After several phone calls with the nurse, 24 hours passed and it it still wasn't any better. They decided I should come in to be seen. The doctor told me Marly had her head resting on my pelvic bone. I was relieved with the news, but it was quite uncomfortable. After about another day of it little princess finally decided to find another position. :)

We attended our first Lamaze class. It was interesting, but after two hours of labor lecture we were both ready to head home. Class was from 6:30-9:30 pm and all of us ladies were yawning and squirming in our chairs. Normally on a work night I'm happily laying in bed by then! It wasn't until we got down on the floor the last hour and practiced some breathing that it livened up a bit. I don't think there was one couple that wasn't laughing while practicing. At any rate..of course I realize I'm in for it!!! I'll laugh while I can.

Marly's room is almost finished. Drew assembled the rocking chair my grandparents got for us today. It is so comfy! We also hung up some pictures and found a rug we liked. I hung up a photo board with the intent of putting pictures up of our family so we can show her everyday who everyone is and she can learn names. Time to start collecting those photo's.

The doctor wants to see me every two weeks now. They predict she's going to be an average size..just over 7lbs. Sounds good to me :)

Next Saturday is the shower my mom is throwing for me. Grandma Michele is flying out for it.The Saturday after that the gals at work are throwing me a shower. We are so lucky.. I can't wait to see everyone!

After the next two weeks of showers and fun we really don't have but about 3 weeks until May 11Th; her due date.

Here are a few photo's...

Me and Drew today -35 weeks pregnant
& Marly's room

Love to you all!

Oh my.. it's March already!

Hi Everyone..

Not to much new to report, just waiting.

The Last two weeks Marly's room has started to come together. Drew picked up her dresser which is very cute! Our buddy Chris also helped him set up the crib. Aside from a little gnawing on the rail from my sister it's in great condition. (I think that adds to it's charm!) Both pieces really made the room shrink. Luckily all we have left to put in there is the rocker when it comes in. I brought the cradle home from my mom's house yesterday. We are lucky to inherit these items!!!

Recently I've found myself start to hobble around in positions that feel best on my back. (Usually at the end of the day) I've never had much discomfort there before, it's not too fun! I signed up for yoga again and it seems to help, along with a nightly lower back message from my husband. :) Other than starting to get tired the last few hours of work, I feel great!

I'm pretty sure I felt her hiccup for the first time the other morning. It was a repetitive twitching in my side that lasted too long in the same spot to be anything else. So cute!

At night I've been reading up in my books on labor. I'm just trying to be familiar with all the different things that can happen and all the different phases of it. I figure if I'm more prepared it may help ease some of the anxiety. :)

Here is a picture of Drew and Chris setting up the crib and one of me today at 31 weeks.

XO

February improves!

Boy were we happy to get our mattress. We are in absolute heaven! On Valentines day I made an executive decision that it was time to ditch the hand me down furniture in our bedroom now that we had this lovely mattress. For the last year I've been eyeing a bedroom set at work and it just so happened there's a set that was returned for a few nicks. They were just going to sell it off at full price after touching it up with a furniture pen, but I talked my boss into selling it to me at an extra discount on top of my employee discount. :) So, Valentines night I loaded up two nightstands and told Drew there was something heavy in the car I needed help with. Later that night when we were laying there we looked at each other and just smiled. We felt so "grown up" with our new nightstands and bed. We have the dressers on reserve. Fresh paint, a new bed and matching furniture..there was a bright side to the mini disaster.

I signed us up for the hopsital tour. It was huge! About 200 people (half of them pregnant) in a banquet room with vendors offering freebies, punch and cake, and a stroller raffle. It was a big ordeal. They even had a damn pianist! It was taking so long to get it all underway we were tempted to ditch and do our own tour. In the end though we were glad we stuck it out. We learned alot about the hospital and got to check out a birthing suite. They are very bright and roomy. She won't even have to leave the room after she is born. I was so impressed with the room I started to get dizzy while checking it all out. I think I'm in for it! :)

Last Saturday I went to a really cool mom and pop "babies r us" style store called Bergstrum's. I picked up my grandma and we met my mom and little sister there. We were there for half the day, but we had a lot of fun! We were able to get all the big stuff. We got her dresser, stroller, cradle mattress, crib mattress & rocking chair. Miles and Drew are finishing the green accent wall tomorrow and then Marly's room is ready to be put together. We are on our way to getting our upstairs back to normal. I'll post pics when done. :)

Monday night we were in bed watching TV and she started to do her normal movements. Then I noticed the blankets over my stomach were moving too! I kicked them off and we proceeded to watch my belly move in waves with her movements. What a trip!

Tuesday I had my glucose test. This is where you fast and drink a concentrated sugar drink and after an hour they draw your blood. It made me feel nasty the rest of the day, but the nurse called and told me my results were normal thank goodness. If you fail, you do it all over again, but have to sit for 3 hours and get blood drawn four times! It turns out though I am slightly anemic. Maybe that explains the dizziness??? Anyways, Im now taking iron pills.

Wednesday night we went to check out car seats at babies r us and sign up for the registry since it wasnt letting me do it on line. Mostly its nice to have a organized list of what you still need and how much its all gonna cost! What's really cool is that we have up to a year after the due date to purchase whatever we don't buy right away at a 10% discount.

Thursday I had my monthly check up. To my surprise Miles mom Laura happened to be the appointment before me, so that was nice. Made the time go quick for both of us being as how they like to keep you waiting a good 45 minutes usually. I had the follow-up ultrasound to check up on the placenta. As my uterus expanded the Placenta moved up right into place. Marly is now 3 pounds and she is growing right on track. I also had the tech confirm she is indeed a girl ...again. :) (I've heard some crazy stories!) Anyways, I feel like I'm having a normal pregnancy again, its nice!

I can't believe I'm 7 months now, its flying by.

Here is the latest ultrasound pic.

Love to you all..
Sarah

February starts off a little crazy...

Well, Im six months now and I officially lost my belly button :) My last doctor's appointment on 1/24 was routine other than they want me to start counting her movements everyday now. At my next appointment i'll have another ultrasound to check up on the placenta. Monday we go for a tour of the hospital. Everything is moving along.
I don't know if its coincidence but on several occasions now she has started to kick when Drew is talking right next to me. Alot of times he will go to feel my belly for her and when I tell him she's sleeping he will give it a little shake and she kicks back. It's pretty funny!

Projects around the house have been trying this week...
Yesterday our leasing office sent a guy to inspect the sprinkler heads in our apartment. He was in our bedroom "inspecting" the one above our bed and set it off! Luckily Drew was upstairs and was able to keep the pouring water sort of contained dumping strait down into our comforter instead of all over the room. The guy couldn't make it stop so he had to run downstairs and outside to shut off the main pipe. It soaked through our mattress,box spring,carpet, padding and onto the wood below it. We proceeded to spend our day/night drying off pictures,clothes,books and had to move our belongins into the hallway. In an attempt to salvage our bedding Drew threw it in the wash. A few mintues later he noticed our laundry room was flooded into the hallway by then his nerves were shot, and it was another mess , plus we didn't have a working washer to keep up with the laundry that was quickly accrewing! Come to find out today it was too full. ha!~

So our backyard has been looking especially nice with an old mattress and boxspring propped against the fence and towels drying out over the lawnchairs & patio. We have taken up residence in the living room since our bedroom is in the hallway and the kids rooms are filled with fresh paint fumes. BUT we are getting a brand new Simmons pillow top Cal King bed out of the deal. Hopefully by saturday we should have it. I know one day we will look back and laugh, just not tonight. :)

According to Gavin we are lucky. He says usually if one sprinkler goes off it sets the sprinklers off inside the entire building!!!

Above is January's picture of Miles and me.. :)

More later, hopefully not as entertaining.

Xo

the latest

Hello All~

Well, not too much going on lately. In our typical slow fashion we finally started getting the spare room cleaned out in an attempt to move Miles into it. Miles bedroom is closer to ours and is pretty small, so we figure it would be better for Marly. Drew has to finish up with some sanding and a coat of paint and then it is good to go. So, hopefully just another two weekends of getting Miles moved and set up and then we can get to painting Marly's room. Miles is excited to get the bigger room, he needs the space!

My mom saved us my little sister's crib and matching bedside cradle which are currently in the hallway. Between those,the little gifts people keep sending & my little sisters baby wardrobe we inherited, the hallway is jam packed! I cannot wait to get the crib set up and start in on the decorating/organizing. It will be a nice project for me to zone out on. I think nesting is setting in.

I literally went crazy the last few weeks looking all over the Internet for crib bedding sets. It drove me crazy mostly because I did not like what I saw out there. I am extremely picky we found out. :) Either they were super typical cheesy themed or super-duper expensive. Our happy medium was at Pottery Barn kids. Still a bit more pricey than we like, but we BOTH really agreed on their style.

We found we want to mix and match two of their sets..Drew liked the Garden Sprouts crib bedding and I liked the Penelope (birdie) set. So, were doing the Garden sprouts crib set with the birdie sheets and a few birdie decorations for accents. Just a little bit of a theme. I don't want her feeling like she is waking up in a bird cage. haha...

Anyway, Marly is growing rapidly and so is my belly of course. Drew now has to help pull me up off the couch and I am preferring my Vans slip on tennie's rather than lace up shoe's. Strangers and co-workers have begun to rub my belly whenever they want. It was cute at first. I also noticed that Marly usually wakes up about an hour after I get to work. It's been that way the last few weeks. I am absolutely in love with her movements.

We have another monthly doctor's appointment on the 24th and then the doctor wants to do a follow up ultrasound to check on my low sitting Placenta. I'm hoping all is well with that as you can imagine!

Above are a few pics of the bedding/decoration I stole from the catalog and another one Drew took of me today before we went to check out Pottery Barn .

Love to you all!

P.S. - this blog site does not allow you to put photo's where you like them. Don't judge the editing. :)