Our Hospital Stay...

We made it to our recovery room around 9ish and had nurses with us until around midnight. At that point we had been awake almost 40 straight hours and were e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d! Caroline's temperature was low, so they had to keep coming to check her and finally take her to put her under a warming lamp, so that postponed nursing a bit which I was really worried about, but luckily she's a great eater so the delay didn't seem to impact her. The first night was great! We stayed up for a little bit longer just looking at her and talking about how perfect we think she is...typical new parent stuff. She barely made a peep and we were both so tired that we both actually fell asleep. I was so paranoid though that she would stop breathing for some reason so I kept waking up to look at her and make sure she was breathing haha. Monday we enjoyed visits from our family and a few friends. We really appreciated our parents bringing food because the hospital food was pretty bad and that way Greg could have something other than McDonald's. Monday night was a little bit more difficult than the previous night, as Caroline decided that would be a good time to party, but considering she only cried on and off for a couple of hours and the baby next door screamed all.night.long...I'd say we still had it pretty easy! Tuesday morning our nurse came in to tell us that we would be getting to go home as soon as Caroline's jaundice results were back. We were so excited to be getting to go home! Even though she did have jaundice, it wasn't bad enough to keep her, so around 2pm we packed up and headed home! The nurses at Northside were AMAZING and we really appreciated all there help, but we were so glad to be getting things started "for real."

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Caroline's Birth Story...

Saturday we woke up to another morning of no baby! Since we already had our induction set for Sunday, I didn't have my hopes set too high on going into labor on my own, even though I really, really wanted to. Throughout the day I was pretty crampy, but I had been having Braxton Hicks and cramps for about 2 months, so it didn't really bother me. Greg and I spent the day relaxing and running a few errands (one being taking back a few newborn clothes since we had been told she would probably weigh around 9lb 2 oz), then we went to Henry's for dessert that evening. We went to bed around 10:00 and watched a movie. Around 11:15pm I had a few pretty strong contractions, but decided to just go to sleep and see if they passed. By 12am they were too strong to stay in bed, so I went and got on the computer and started timing. They were already consistently 6-7 minutes apart and I timed for over an hour before going to tell Greg that this may be the real deal. Around 1:30 they moved to around 4-5 minutes apart and were VERY strong. I called my midwife, Judy, and told her what was going on and she said, "well, do you wanna have a baby today? If so, come on over and I will meet you in labor and delivery!" I woke up Greg and told him we were going to be going to the hospital so I was going to take a shower. We both got ready very quickly and were out the door by around 2:15am. The contractions were painful but bearable at this point and I remember thinking "I'm already 4 minutes apart, I must at least be getting close to 5 or 6 cm, I can do this natural thing after all"...how little did I know =) Once we got to the hospital and checked in, my midwife- who I am SOO thankful was on call she is my favorite in the practice and I've seen her the most- came in to check me. Well guess what? I had barely changed from Friday! I was still sitting at barely 3 cm! This was very discouraging because the contractions were already pretty painful and I knew we had quite a ways to go. We decided to walk the halls for a while to see if that would move things along. I spent the early morning walking, sitting on my yoga ball, using all kinds of Bradley stretches and relaxation techniques, and by around 9:30 am I was in PAIN! Greg was AMAZING and the absolute perfect couch, but the contractions were coming so close together that there didn't seem to be a break in between. I started getting very nauseous and eventually got sick in between contractions. I had the midwife come back and check me around 10am, and guess what?! STILL only around 3 cm!! After almost 11 hours of active labor, I'd barely progressed a full cm! I was SO upset because I knew I couldn't take it anymore and if I didn't have some kind of relief I was going to be too exhausted when it came time for pushing. So, I finally had to throw my "plan" out the window and go for the epidural. I cried about it and felt disappointed that I couldn't go unmedicated the way I had wanted and planned, but I knew it was right for me at the time. So around 10:45 I got the epidural and then guess what...I was in heaven! I finally felt like I could breathe and I was able to enjoy the whole process. Around 3 pm, Judy came in to check me and to break my water. FINALLY some progress! I was already 7 cm, which was music to my ears! She told me that after my water broke, things would probably go even faster so she was going to be back in little bit to start pushing! I was so excited! She came back around 6pm, checked me and said, "well, are you ready to start pushing?" Greg and I just looked at each other and grinned, we were PUMPED! After the first couple of pushes Judy said that she didn't think I'd be pushing long so she recruited some nurses and told them to get ready because this baby was going to come fast. I ended up asking for the mirror so I could see everything and I was so glad I did because, I could see the progress the pushes were making and it encouraged me to push harder. After 40 minutes of pushing, our sweet baby girl was placed on my chest! It was SO emotional and Greg and I were were both crying and trying to look at her. After a few minutes, they took her to the table to clean her up and to let Judy stitch me up. Greg went and stood with Caroline to take pictures and watch her get weighed. After a few minutes she was brought back over to me. It was so surreal finally getting to hold my baby girl who I had been carrying around for 9.5 months! Greg was AWESOME and was so encouraging through the whole labor and my midwife was amazing! After a few minutes of just the three of us, Greg went to tell the family that Caroline was here! We had everyone come back to see her before we headed up to our recovery room, but it was a quick visit because they were trying to get us upstairs quickly. I'll stop here for now and write about our stay next...

Anxiously awaiting daddy!

Before the epidural

Caroline Gray makes her appearance at 7:09pm!

Weighed in at 8lb even and 21 and 1/2 in long
Me and Judy- my midwife

Getting to hold my baby girl for the first time =) Heaven!!

Out with the old...

Day 19:

Ever since we moved into the house we made a checklist of things we wanted to change or update, and a few of those things were our kitchen appliances. We got the dishwasher first, then did so many other things around the house we kept putting off the stove and refrigerator. Well, for the past couple of weeks we've been deciding on what new stove to get and then decided we really wanted a new refrigerator first, SO we did lots of shopping around and then just happened to browse Craigslist and happened to find one of the ones we were looking at! It is only a year old, and a fraction of the cost! Brand new it cost around $2,000 and we got it for less than $500...DEAL ALERT! They were selling it so cheap because they had actually won it in a Lowes' survey a year ago, and now they were moving and their new house already had a new refrigerator. Score! So, Thursday night Cindy and Thomas came over to help us go pick it up and then Thomas came back last night to help Greg switch it out with our old one. Unfortunately, our measurements were slightly off, and it wouldn't fit under our cabinets, but luckily Greg and Thomas are two of the handiest men I know, so they simply sawed and sanded the trim of the cabinet and it was able to fit perfectly. I'm SO glad to have a side-by-side instead of our old one and this one has so much more room which is nice. Next up is our stove, which we will get in a few weeks, we figure we'll wait until things calm down a bit considering we'll be having a baby in the next few days =)

I forgot to take a picture of the old one, but I did find a picture of the kitchen...

In with the new...

Just an update...

Day 18:

Well...I missed a day. Oops. Oh well, I will continue on in the challenge as long as I can =)

First a picture since I forgot to post one with my 40 week survey...
....looking a little bit like Barney.

Our day started bright and early (well, mine started around 4am...seems to be a good time to wake up for no good reason) and headed to the doctor for our ultrasound. They wanted to check and make sure everything looks healthy and that there is still plenty of amniotic fluid and such for Caroline and to measure her. Everything looks great and they say she looks super healthy which is music to my hears, but what was not so exciting was after the technician plugged in all the measurements she said "hmm...let me check these again, because maybe these are wrong" and then said "nope, they're all right! Looks like you're going to have a big baby! She's measuring in the 92 percentile and estimated to weigh around 9 pounds 2 ounces!"...yikes! They told us on Wednesday that thought she was a big girl, but hearing a more precise measurement certainly made me nervous about pushing this baby out unmedicated...however, I'm still going to give it a shot! After the ultrasound, we headed over to see our midwife. She suggested since Caroline is so big already and since I'll be 41 weeks on Sunday, that we go ahead and try to induce. Fortunately, she has been awesome in working with what we want and trying to stick to our "plan" that she is going to try and help us avoid pitocin so I can have the best chance of not having an epidural. However, I've come to terms with the fact that my "plan" may not work out just the way I want it to, and I'm ok with that. I just want to have my girl here! It is so crazy to think that wait is almost over and by Monday we should be holding our daughter! The midwife checked me again today and said there is a VERY good chance I will go into labor on my own before Sunday because I am 2 cm and 100% effaced and Caroline is very low, so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that happens! We will see soon enough =)

After a morning of appointments and a long afternoon nap, Greg and I went on one last date to see Breaking Dawn and then to dinner at La Bamba. I was SO glad I got to see the movie in the theater, because I was so bummed whenever the trailer was released and I saw it came out the 18th...maybe Caroline just wanted me to be able to see it haha! After dinner we came home and had Thomas come over to move in our new refrigerator! It is so much better than our old one, and I'll post about that tomorrow!

Sitting, Wating, Wishing...

Day 16:

Well, here we are...stilllll pregnant. I know that the due date is "just an estimate" but you do create this mental finish line, so when it comes and goes, it's a bit disappointing. I'm still only around 2 cm dilated and my midwife stripped my membranes yesterday-that was pleasant. So, IF that is going to help speed things along any, we should see some movement within 48 hours of that happening. Tomorrow we have an ultrasound scheduled to measure Caroline. They are guessing she is around 8lb 8 oz...big girl already! We considered being induced, even though it's been against our "plan" from the beginning, but since they couldn't do it Friday and the earliest was Sunday we chose to just wait it out as planned. So, still waiting and hoping she gets here soon! Greg has worked from home since last Thursday and will continue to do so until she is born, so we're hoping she comes over the weekend so he has the most time home with us. We are certainly on pins and needles as we wait for our baby girl! This is not working well for my type 'A' planning personality =)

Tasty Tuesday...

Day 15:

(This picture is from Pinterest)

This soup as become one of our favorites! It is SO easy and SO delicious. I add a bit of cayenne to add some heat, and it hits the spot every time! Enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken Corn Chowder

can of rotel
can of corn
can of black beans (drained & rinsed)
2-3 frozen chicken breasts,
8 oz cream cheese
1 packet dry ranch dressing (I use spicy ranch)
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
Put all ingredients in crock pot and cook 6-8 hours. Shred chicken, and enjoy!

Musical Monday...

Day 14:

I am pretty much a sucker for any musical talent show- American Idol, The Sing-Off, The Voice, and now The X-Factor. I told myself I wasn't going to watch the X-Factor because I thought it was just a stupid play off of American Idol...but who was I kidding? I've watched from day one and love it! There are several similarities between it and AI but several difference as well. There are a few contestants that I really like so here they are with my favorite performance so far...

This girl, Rachel Crow, is SO stinking cute! Her personality is just adorable AND to top it off...she is only 13-years-old! Just think of how incredible her voice will be after a little training (even though it is already pretty awesome)!


This is Melanie Amaro, probably my favorite girl and the most talented in the whole show. Beautiful voice...


This is Josh Krajick. I. Love. His. Voice! May be tied for first in my opinion with Melanie, but definitely the best guy!



Anyway, if you like these type of shows, check this one out =)