So excited that Kate is here!

So I technically was in labor for 24 hours, but it sure didn't feel like it! I had my first contraction at 11:50 pm on the 17th, but it was totally manageable. I mean, they kept me up, but they weren't too bad. They were no worse than menstrual cramps and totally manageable by doing deep breathing. I even managed to sleep from 11 am to 1:30 pm (obviously I didn't go into work yesterday). They lasted all day, but honestly didn't even hurt that much, nothing like the horror stories you see on TV! So I thought, ok, I'm still in early labor (I mean, don't get me wrong, they were uncomfortable, but nothing terrible, and I learned what positions made them feel better). I spent two hours in the bathtub, and whenever i felt a contraction coming on, I turned on the hot water again, and the pain literally vanished.

Dan and I already had an appointment scheduled for yesterday at 5 pm at the birth center, so we went there as scheduled, bringing the birth center bag just in case, although Dan didn't think I was actually going to be in active labor any time soon. So we get there, and the midwife tells me I'm already dilated to a 7. I was like, what??? Seriously, the contractions I'd been having all day that didn't even hurt very much had dilated me to a 7? I was thinking, this is awesome!! So, we got settled in our room (well, Dan ran over to the grocery store first to get strawberries and ice cream, two things I was really craving), and I spent a good portion of the night in the tub (from like 5:45 to 10 or so). It helped with the pain so much (these contractions were obviously a lot stronger and more painful, but again, by doing all the breathing I had learned, it really wasn't *that* bad. And they only lasted a minute, and you can do anything for a minute, right?) I mean yes, there were a few contractions where I tensed up and forgot to breathe, and those KILLED. I think I may have screamed, "I can't do this!" But those were the exception, not the rule. Whenever i remembered to do the deep, low breathing, it really, really helped. I even managed to fall asleep between many of the contractions! (I had a water pillow-type thing, and I literally just slept between the contractions).

So around 10 pm I went to sit on the toilet (I know, that sounds weird, but I was starting to have pushing sensations, and they say that since subconsciously you associate pushing with the toilet--like when you have bowel movements--it makes that part of labor easier). So I was on there for about an hour, and those contractions were a bit more painful (although strangely, the pushing itself felt good). I think there may have been one or two instances where I told Dan that if he really loved me, he would take me to St. Mary's for a c-section, or at least an epidural, haha. So yeah, they were painful (I'd say a 7 on a scale of one to ten) but overall, they were fine. Again, the deep breathing REALLY helped.

At around 1045, I wanted to change positions, so I got on the bed on all fours, putting my head down on the pillows like in a yoga position. This is when the pushing started to get crazy. Pretty soon i was like, "Is that the baby's head?" So at 11:30 or so, I got on the birthing stool, with Dan sitting behind me on the bed, and I started pushing for real. That was probably the most painful, because before when I pushed, I was just moving her down the birth canal, so it actually felt good, like I was doing something. But this part hurt a lot more, since her head was actually coming out. I admit, I was screaming at this point, but it was over so fast. They said, "Oh, I can see the baby's head, push slowly," and I'm thinking, "What? I'm just going to push, I want this thing out of me!" So I gave one big giant push and she just FLEW out. It was funny b/c they were saying, "Push slowly.... ok, maybe not!" because she was out before they could even finish the sentence :) I told them that I wanted them to announce it, and one of the birth center assistants said, "It's a baby.... girl!" But I saw she was a girl before she even got the word out, and we were absolutely thrilled :) I absolutely could NOT believe it. I was so certain she was a boy, but I am so incredibly over the moon that she's a girl!

It was kinda scary, though; normally they don't cut the cord until it finishes pulsing, and they put the baby on the mom right away. Well, not in our case. All of a sudden the lights flew on, they were cutting the cord immediately, and they handed her to Dan and kind of pushed him out of the way (gently, of course) and my normally very calm midwife was kind of snapping at the birth assistants (in an urgent way, not a mean way.) They had to put pitocin in my IV and give me like four different shots of things because blood was EVERYWHERE. I looked over at Dan and he was clearly happy about the baby, but he was also terrified. They didn't even wait for me to push the placenta out; they just grabbed it out so they could start massaging my uterus and try and stop the blood loss. Obviously they were successful, but it was a scary 20 minutes or so (and the uterus massaging was PAINFUL)! Ow. They say I probably lost over a liter of blood, which is twice the amount that moms normally lose in a normal birth.

Dan said that she opened her eyes right away and she was SO active; not lethargic at all. She was sticking her fingers in her mouth immediately and really interacting with Dan right away, as they sat in the rocking chair and waited for me to get the bleeding under control.

I suffered a second degree tear, which is not really a big deal. They numbed me and stitched me up, so it was fine. All in all, it didn't seem like I was in labor for 24 hours; it only felt like 7, although tack on a few for all the repair measures! I wouldn't change a thing about her birth; it was so perfect, and honestly, cheesy as it sounds, I'd do it all over again, pain and all. She is so perfect and I can't believe I'm a mom!! I love all the little squeaky sounds she makes, and she is SO calm. She rarely cries, and she is just adorable! The way she opens her eyes and looks right into mine just melts my heart.

We only got a couple hours of sleep at the birth center, which is fine. Kate slept right between us, and every time I woke up, I just looked down to see this adorable, tiny little thing curled up next to me on her side. I just can't believe that I have a daughter, and such a perfect one, at that! :)


Me on Valentine's Day; one of the last pregnant pictures I took!

Our room; the Mary Breckenridge Room


Just hanging out in the tub, which helped with the contractions so much. (This is obviously when I first got in; later I got my hair all wet, which is why it's so curly in subsequent pictures. But I wasn't really thinking of my hair at that point, haha).


Me just looking up at Dan in total shock (and happiness). I just kept saying, "I can't believe we have a daughter! I can't believe it's a girl!"


Dan holding his daughter for the first time. He looks worried, though, because this is when they were trying to stop all my bleeding.


I finally got to hold her after about 45 minutes, after they got the bleeding under control.


She was having a little trouble regulating her body temperature, so they suggested putting her skin to skin. I was getting stitched up at this point, which is why they put her on Dan and not me.


Getting weighed; she was 304 grams, which is 6 pounds, 11 ounces. She was 19.5 inches long :)



Dan diapering her, since she decided that it would be fun to poop on me as I was feeding her, so we figured a diaper was in order.


Dan looking MUCH more relaxed, since everything was under control now with me.


Exhausted but so happy :)




The next day, just waiting for Dan to bring the car around so we can go home.




We brought two going home outfits; one for a boy, and one for a girl, so that's why we had this gender-specific one on us. We kept the Target receipt so we'll return the boy one.


Getting ready to go home in the bunting Grandma Patty bought her.








They always hang out a sign saying the baby's gender and weight, so this is Kate's info.

We are so excited!!

No, I'm not in labor, but I'm still really, really excited. We just made our last credit card payment ever, meaning we are now officially credit card debt free! We started out in August of 2007 with 25,000 (yes, THOUSAND) dollars in credit card debt. (Luckily it's been 0% interest the whole time, but still...) With my paycheck today, I submitted the final online payment of $600, so we have a credit card balance of 0! YAY! We will never, ever use credit cards again (well, except to book flights or hotels, but we will only book them after we already have the money in our vacation fund, and that money will be immediately transferred to pay off the card).

I am so glad we got smart about our finances after we got married. I read this book called Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, and it was an awesome kick in the pants. I honestly don't even know what most of that 25k went to; useless, stupid purchases, probably. (Well, except for our 6k honeymoon to Paris; I'm not going to lie, I would charge THAT all over again; it was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I don't regret charging that, especially since Dan was still in school when we got married so there is no way we would have been able to save up the cash for that.) But everything else? Stupid, stupid purchases. I'm glad we're no longer paying on things that I can't even remember what they were for!

We just sat down in August of 2007 and created a budget and found that even with budgeting with entertainment and vacations, we could still put a sizeable amount towards our debt, which helped. Once Dan got a "real" job after college, we were really able to accelerate the payments towards our CCs, even with still budgeting for entertainment and vacations. (Dave Ramsey's advice is to not use CCs ever, because even though people say they'll pay them off every month, they rarely do). So we paid cash for everything, and once that $$ was gone, it was gone. The minute we got paid, I'd take our "snowball" amount, as Ramsey calls it, and immediately apply it to our credit cards, so there was no temptation to spend it. I cannot believe that we were able to pay off $25k in two and a half years; if you had told me that back in 2005 or 2006, I would have said, "Nah, there's no way." But we did it; yay!

Next up? We'll pay off my car. It's currently got 15k left on the loan, and isn't scheduled to be paid off until May of 2014. But with using our "snowball" amount that we put towards our credit cards each month, we should have it paid off by February of next year--over three years ahead of time! Then it's on to student loans... but I'm just going to take it one step at a time. I feel so great right now; I'm so proud of us! :)

Getting closer...

Here's a shot of me at 38 weeks (Wednesday). Not really much change from 37 weeks, but they say the later you get in your pregnancy, the more you change week by week, so I want to be sure to document each week until the baby is born.

Our weekend

We had a fun-filled, busy weekend. Friday night, I got a bunch of laundry done and my kitchen cleaned (yes, I really do consider that fun, or at least satisfying!) Then on Saturday we had our second-to-last childbirth class, and we went to Biaggi's afterward (we kind of got in the habit of always going out to eat after our class, which is fun). Here I am before we headed to the class; I'm 37 weeks, 3 days in this picture.



We then headed to Rori's birthday party for her friends, which was held at Bounce U. The kids LOVED it, and Dan and I even said that we would have fun doing all the activities (when I'm not pregnant, of course!)


Rori and Kirsti racing down the slide










Waiting to get crowned...









Today was Rori's family birthday party, which was also a lot of fun. Dan and I got her a really cool hoodie and matching tank top to go underneath (she LOVES clothes, even though she's only 7; she always has). We also got her a book (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) and a lip gloss/chapstick/nail polish/body gel set from Lip Smackers. She seemed to really like it :) She had a Princess & the Frog theme for both parties, so that was really cute.




Laughing at our singing....




This was a gift from her mom and dad, but I thought her expression was so cute!


Opening our card...


Opening our gifts...


She seemed to like the hoodie we got her!



Last night, when we were shopping for Rori's gift, we also got the "coming home" outfit for the baby. We, obviously, bought one for each sex, and then we'll just return the one we end up not needing. They're so cute, but so tiny! I can't believe I'm going to have a tiny little human being that will fit in these soon!

So I'm full-term as of Wednesday!

I can't believe it! On Wednesday the 27th, I officially turned 37 weeks, and therefore am full-term. We had our midwife appointment, which went well, although I tested positive as a carrier for Group B strep, which means that can pass from the mother to baby during the birth, so I'll have to have IVs with antibiotics during labor to reduce the risk of transmission to the baby. It's not a big deal, I suppose, but I was thinking I wouldn't have it, since our midwives told us that 70% of women test negative for Group B Strep. I wasn't really thinking that I'd be in that 30% that tested positive! Oh well, at least we know, so we can take steps to reduce the risk of transmission to the baby (they say that antibiotics during labor are 96% effective with regards to preventing transmission to the baby).

After our appointment, I went out with some friends to try this new place called Bonfyre; it was a really cool atmosphere, and the food was pretty good (although the butternut squash soup I had was spicy, which seemed weird!) It was funny because they were all saying, "Oh, I bet we won't be able to get together again before the baby is born; you could go at any time!" I'm thinking, "Yes, anything is technically possible, but I have a feeling this baby is going to be in here for a looooong time!"

This weekend we have Rori's two parties; her family one and her friend one. I cannot believe she is almost 7; I remember the day she was born so clearly, and can't believe how much time has flown by! She is so excited for the baby and will be such a cute helper; I can't wait to see the two of them together.

Our Weekend

Well, we had a nice, relaxing weekend. We saw two movies--Sherlock Holmes and The Lovely Bones--both of which were excellent. We figured we should see as many movies as we can now, since who knows when we'll be able to go again once the baby is born! We also had our fifth childbirth class (only two more to go!) This one was on complications, which was interesting and reassuring, since they detailed the common fixes for any complications that may arise.

I turn 37 weeks on Wednesday; full-term! I can't believe it. I still kind of hope this baby goes late, though; I really would like a March baby. Then again, I'm kind of sick of being pregnant, so maybe I don't want to go 12 days over!

Childbirth classes are going well!

We had our third one today (it's technically the fourth class in the series, but we missed the second one since we were still in Utah), and we talked a lot about pushing and crowning.... yikes. Looks painful! Dan, of course, is so sweet and always pays so much attention during the classes and asks a lot of questions; it really means so much to me to have such an amazing husband who is so involved with this pregnancy. How did I get so lucky?!?

Afterward, we went to Toys R' Us to get our stroller, which Nancy got for us as a shower gift. I can't wait to put it together and actually get to USE it! It's really cute; I'll post pictures once we get it put together. I think we're also going to get the crib and bassinet this weekend, thanks to all the gift cards we got from the shower (and the big one from my mom! :)) Dan also wants to see Avatar, so I think we'll do that today, too.