Catch Up!!

Ok, so as all of you know, Delaney was born on August 15, 2012 at 8:45AM at 7.7lbs and 21 inches long :)  She is healthy and happy :) I had a very easy and quick delivery at Rex Hospital, only had to be mild labor for about 6 hours and only pushed for 30 minutes before she arrived! 

I plan on keeping up with this blog with posts and pictures as Miss Delaney grows so that family and friends will be able to see pictures & hear our stories! 

We have decided that we prefer no pictures of Delaney to be posted on FB due to the amount of 'unknowns' who have FB pages and could copy the photos, this is more secure site for family and friends & we hope that you respect our wishes as well. 

Enjoy!! 

3 More Weeks!!!

First off.... sorry for the no updates!! Life has been hectic! So here we go!

Baby Delaney Update:

Apparently she is MUCH like her mommy and very impatient! I went into pre-term labor on 7/6/12.  I had been having mild contractions the day before that were fairly consistent and so on the 6th I called my doctor just to see what they thought it was - either real contractions or Braxton Hicks contractions.  When i got there, she checked my cervix and waaalaaaa i was 2.5cm dilated and about 70% effaced.  She sent me directly over to Labor & Delivery and had them give me 2 IV bags of saline to hydrate like crazy, a shot of Turb. to make my cervix unresponsive to the contractions (prevent dilation), and 1 or 2 shots of a steroid that would help Delaney's lungs develop faster in case she decided to hurry into the world! Luckily, the shot helped and my contractions went from every 2-3 minutes to about every 5-7 minutes but no change to my cervix.  So they let me go home :) I returned the following day (7/7/12) to get the other steroid shot and they monitored once again and i was still having contractions about every 7 minutes so they said i was to be on bed rest for 3 weeks - until i was 36 weeks along in my pregnancy which is considered full term (although you should allow baby to FULLY develop for 40 weeks before delivery).  So I've been home, mostly on my butt since July 6..... 

A few days ago, July 25, 2012, i went to my normal doctors appointment and she checked my cervix and i had progressed to a full 3cm dilated and 80% effaced.  I told her that I have been having stronger contractions, but no real pain yet.  She said the baby was healthy, everything was fine but that she would not be surprised if i went into labor in the next couple of days! Yay! She's been a OB for 30 years and said that from her past experience with patients, and looking at my progress so far, she thinks in the next few days i will go into labor and that my labor will be pretty short.  (Yay for that!!!) She said since my cervix has progressed this far already she thinks as soon as my water breaks that it will be no time for her to take her first breath of fresh air :) That's really exciting and I can't wait!
Nursery News:
We are almost all finished with the nursery! We still have some work to do and to add a few things here and there, but for the most part, its all done! Now we just need the baby to be in there!!
Baby Shower Update:
The baby shower was wonderful!! So many people showed up and I really had a great time! Thank you to Amanda and all the moms for helping out! Delaney is blessed to be born into a group of family and friends with so much love for her already!!

Next appointment is on August 7, 2012 - let's hope for a baby before then!! 

10 More Weeks !!

I can't believe we are at the 10 week countdown already! Provided we actually go the whole 10 weeks! Some people say normally with your first, you go early, and some say normally with your first you go late. I've also heard that when you are petite like me you normally go a week or two early.... we will see! As long as she is healthy I'm ok with that!!

Nursery News!!

Jason's friend came and painted the room & the trim & it looks great! I am so happy about not having to paint that room (again) myself! The furniture got delivered the day after the painting was completed which was nice! HOWEVER..... the excitement soon dulled when I opened up the box with the tall 4-drawer dresser & it looked as though someone was learning how to drive a fork-lift for the first time and plowed into this dresser over and over again.  So they are bringing me another one and taking the broken one with them... but not until July 12! Thats okay, the crib is beautiful and the other dresser is perfect for a changing table height & to store all her little outfits in that dont go in her almost-full closet!! The bedding looks amazing - so chic! I'm sort of jealous! Next is to finish the paintings i've been working on for her room & get those hung up along with some picture frames and a few other things :) We also have to go look for a chair to put in her room too. Things are coming along!!

New Paint, New Furniture :)

New crib & new dresser/changing table.

New crib with new mattress & new bedding!

New bedding :)

And in other news....

Things are really picking up with Holland Mechanical! Everything is really coming together well.  Jason has been working really hard on picking up some new customers (Panera Bread) and I've been working really hard to try and ensure that our books are looking good before the end of the year (ewww tax time!).

Shower News!!

Shower invitations have been sent out :) I can't wait! Thank you Amanda & Jo for getting things ready for this! I'm very excited to have everyone there helping Jason & I get ready for little Miss Laney Bug!

Mommy to be at 30 Weeks Pregnant:

• Mommy to be is very sleepy! I feel like i could sleep all day, but when i try, i get restless and get up!
• The book says my excuse for being clumsy is due to the weight of my pregnancy belly which throws my center of gravity off.... yeah ok.... i'll go with that!
• Heartburrrrrrrrn. This baby better have tons of hair lol

Laney Bug to be at 30 Weeks Growing:

• Almost 16 inches long now & almost 3 pounds!
• Her eyesight is improving, but even after she is born, her eyes will stay closed for most of the day to continue developing! (Interesting fact.... when babies are born, the first few days, their eyesight is 20/400! They can only make out images a few inches from their face! ....side note... this doesnt mean breathe in baby laney bugs face lol they are very suseptable to catching colds that little!)
• She kicks and punches and does other jazzercize moves in my belly....... but only from about 930pm - 3am.... that will be nice after she is born - a nightowl already... hmmm... wonder where she got that from.....

Only 12 More Weeks!!

Since we are getting so close, I thought a change in the title would be good :) Now we can just count down the remainder weeks!! Since they first said August 9, and then changed it to August 22, maybe we should say "Only 10-12 more weeks :)!!" Wishful thinking right? Doctors said as long as we make it until close to 36 weeks - then all will be fine :) That is when baby Delaney can breathe well enough to skip out on all the crazy machines that help little ones breathe better :)
Also - update on the glucose testing.... i passed :) No more worries there! They will retest my iron levels to make sure the supplement I'm taking is helping with that on my 35 week visit. 
Next appointment is on June 11 and we VERY excited about this one! We will be having the 3D/4D ultra sound done so we can see what our little bug looks like! We will be sure to post photos after the appointment!

Nursery News:

Ummm...... I walked in there this past weekend..... :) I can't really do much until Jason's friend paints & the furniture comes in, but i promise - after that i will have a better update!

Other News:

Normal summer semesters at my school at 10 weeks long (compared to the normal 16 week long courses i take in regular semesters).... pregnancy brain took over my thought process as I registered for school this semester....... i registered for the "mini-summer semester" which is a full 16 week course that is finished in 5 weeks... oops. So that is where all my time will be spent! However, I did just get an A on the first test! Go me!

Mommy-to-be at 28 weeks pregnant:

• Belly is growing :) Last appointment I was up 14.5 pounds which is still pretty great! The doctor said I should now be gaining a pound every week until delivery which will hopefully put me right on track to be at about 30 pounds total :)
• I will start to feel less kicks as the baby grows and runs out of room in my belly! That may be a welcoming feeling as she is constantly awake at exactly 9:45PM kicking and squirming.... which just happens to be the same time I'm trying to sleep :)
• The book says i should avoid stress.... hmmm.... work, other job, school, home, yikes.

28 Weeks Pregnant before work :)

28 Weeks Pregnant :) Still is pre-pregnancy gym clothes :)

Delaney-to-be at 28 weeks growing:

• Weighs about 2.5 pounds and is almost 15 inches long!
• She can blink her eyes now!
• She is starting to move into birthing position with her head down and feet in my ribs (can't wait....).
• Baby can actually start dreaming now :)

**** Other news I forgot about :) Baby Showe invites are going out this week :) yay! I'm really excited! June 30 is our shower & we are registered at Babies R Us and at Target! I'm sure I've forgotten a million things on the registries that I'll probably need, but seeing as how this is our first baby, I wasn't sure what to really put on there! Hopefully I did ok :) Hope to see you there! ****

27 Weeks Down, 13 More To Go!!

Helllloooooo THIRD TRIMESTER!!

That's exciting news right?! In the home stretch! Today is May 22, so that means her due date is exactly 3 months from today.  I think she will be here in the first week or so of August, but we will see!! So here is an update on the Glucose Testing I had done on 5/15..... I took the first test, the 1 hour test, and received a call the following day saying that my blood/sugar levels were elevated & I failed the test.  Great. That meant that I had to return the next morning (5/17) for the 3 hour glucose test....... no eating after 9pm the night before the test, only small amounts of water, and did i mention no breakfast!? I got to the doc's office at 830am, gave blood, drank a bigger/nastier sugar drink, gave blood at 950am, again at 1050am, again at 1150am, and was finally released around 1230pm.  Needless to say, i went through a drive thru for immediate food & then home for a nap! Now it's 5/22 and i still have no idea if i passed or failed :( No call from the doc yet.  I will probably call them again this afternoon to see if they've received them or not.  Next appointment is 5/28 & i will be making our appointment for our 3D/4D ultrasound while I'm there :) EXCITING!! We will get to see what her little face looks like!

Nursery News:

Well, there was not too much progress made in the past week on her nursery.  I have worked a little more on some paintings, but they are still far from being complete & started a new one (pics below).  Hopefully the nursery will be painted by next week... the furniture will be here then!

I also started making a few other small things for her closet - my OCD organizing has transferred not only from the rest of the house but now into her room too, poor girl!

Mommy entering her 3rd trimester:

• Not to much else.... not a lot you can do when you have to go to the restroom every 5 minutes :) lol!! Now would be a terrible time for a road trip!
• Only up 12 pounds from pre-pregnancy weight - let's hope we can keep it below the 30 pound mark! Just 3 more months left :)

Delaney entering the home stretch:

• She is staying about the same size around 14 inches long & about 2 pounds.
• She is beginning to have lots of brain activity.
• She has the hiccups a lot... just like mommy has always had them :)
• IF something were to happen & she decided now was a good time to come into the world, her chances of living a normal life have increased TONS.  With the help of the NICU unit, she would more than likely be A-OK :) That makes Mommy & Daddy feel MUCH better.

Happy Mother's Day 2012

This is just a little side note from the normal entries to let you all know that my husband surprised me on Mother's Day morning :) He woke me up with a gift from Miss Delaney.  Here is my card & my first Mother's Day present! Love him :)

D for Delaney & green is the color of her birthstone :)

Jason's got jokes lol

26 Weeks Down, 14 To Go!

We are one week away from being in the 3rd Trimester! I can't wait! We are so close!

Delaney & I had our glucose test yesterday (5/15) to ensure that we don't have gestational diabetes.  The test consisted of me downing a bottle of "drink" as it was labeled which tasted like a flat, over-sugared bottle of Sunkist or maybe like a children's orange flavored cough syrup....yuck. I was given a generous (not!) 5 minutes to drink that bottle and then we waited for an hour and had several tubes of blood drawn to test our blood sugar & several other normal tests that are completed at this time in the pregnancy.  I'm sure all is fine, but we wont know for a couple days. 

Nursery News

 I received a call from JCP about the nursery furniture! Seems as though it wont be here until after Delaney arrives..... just kidding :) Jason fell for that too!! They said that the back order date of July 12 was actually canceled due to the shipment arriving early :) Miss Delaney's furniture will be here the last week of May!! So excited! Hopefully, the nursery will be painted by then and we can start putting things away! Here are some of the "before" pictures of the baby's room (excuse the stuff in there, I'm still attempting to clean it out!).

I also started painting a few things for Miss Delaney's room - be nice... i just started these & they are no where near being finished :)

Holland Mechanical News

Jason got a new customer yesterday :) Cantina South - it's a new restaurant downtown and they are all ours! Exciting! He also met with a couple other people so hopefully we will see some calls coming in from them shortly!

And in Other News

I have started 2012 Summer Semester at school & I'm taking another Sociology course.  After this one I only have 4 more to go and then it's graduation time :) After graduation time.... well, then it's more school time! But I'm getting there, sllllllooooowwwwllllyyyy but surely! Persistence is key right? 

Mommy at 26 weeks pregnant:

• I get no sleep - already.
• Lots of Braxton Hicks contractions... normal...
• Out of breath frequently - the doc says that's due to increased blood flow & the baby pushing my lungs & diaphragm up higher and smushing them (yes, smushing was the technical term used :))
• And just to share... my uterus is approximately the size of a basketball.... ouch.

Delaney Bug (Mommy's "De Lady Bug"):

• She is about 14 inches long-ish and weighs about 2 pounds
• She is soaking in mommy's antibodies that will prepare her for life out here so she won't get sick :)
• She has started to take breaths in there... of amniotic fluid that is :) Just practicing to be able to breathe once she is here.