She's Here!!

Kathryn Clare was born August 3, 2009 at 2:55 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20.5 inches tall. Fortunately, Miss Katie decided she was ready to come out on her own terms and we did not have to induced. The delivery itself went quickly and Katie and Mommy did just great! Mommy & Daddy could not be happier with our new little princess!

Inducing

Well, the doctor didn't have anything exciting to tell us. Katie apparently really likes it in my womb, but the doctor thinks it is about time for her to make her grand debut. So *if* I don't go into labor on my own by Sunday night, we will go in and start the induction process. I'll spare you all the details, but my doctor thinks that by Monday night, our little girl will be here. Thoughts & prayers for an easy delivery and healthy baby will be much appreciated. The next time I post it will be baby pictures!!

Overdue

Yep, we're officially overdue. Yesterday was the day. Of course, babies don't know this kind of thing, so what can we really expect? So now we're just waiting until this princess decides to grace us with her presence. We couldn't be more ready for her arrival. My bag is packed (Doug even has stuff to change into in case I go into labor in the middle of the night), her outfit is chosen and the baby laundry is done! We have a doctor's appointment in the morning and hopefully it will be better than last week's. Keep checking in with us. She's got to come out sooner or later!

Pictures!

To take a peek at the completed nursery, go here.

31 Days...

My Grandma & Me (31w5d) 6/7/09 at my baby shower.

...until my due date. Wow! Time is flying by! We've been putting the finishing touches on the nursery. It's almost done, just waiting on a few things that have been ordered to arrive. It's really looking cute.

Doug & I attended a one day all inclusive childbirth class in early June. Best money we ever spent! We came away feeling so calm and confident about everything that's coming our way. I hope we can maintain this feeling during the actual birth.

I had my baby shower the day after the class, which was awesome! Mom & Sarah did an excellent job. And the best part were the adorable scrapbook pages everyone made. It will be so fun to actually show Katie who came to celebrate her impending arrival! Everyone was so generous too. We got so much stuff that Doug probably should have brought the truck when he came to pick me up! As it was, we had stuff crammed into every available inch of my car, even my lap. :) We never thought we'd get it all in the nursery, but so far, we've managed to find a place for just about everything!

We're getting caught up on the baby laundry. My mom came and helped one night, and we did 3 loads. You'd think as tiny as baby things are 3 loads would just about do it, but that was really just some clothes, blankets, & sheets. I've done at least 3 more since then and I still have a couple more blankets and another whole load of clothes to do. I'm debating on whether to wash the clothes in the next size up. Opinions?

I had the last of my 2 week/first of my weekly appointments yesterday. I had all the regular checks (I gained 3 pounds in 2 weeks...oops!), my blood pressure was "excellent" and Katie's heart rate is staying consistent at 148-150. Then I had the Group B Strep test and she did an internal exam to check me for dilation and whatnot. Not much to tell. My cervix is softening (sorry, that maybe is TMI), but that's about it. Her head has not made it's way down to my pelvis just yet, but she's staying head down. At this point, we don't want her to turn, because she may not have enough room to get back in the head down position. We talked about how the way her movements are starting to feel different. Dr. V said that at this point, since there isn't as much room, she's doing more rolling and wiggling and less kicks and punches. I can see her roll across my belly and it totally fascinates me. Sometimes I just lift up my shirt and watch my belly. I think it kind of creeps Doug out! He said last night he came to bed and put his hand on my belly and she rolled across it and it was just too weird for him. :) Also, I haven't had any contractions, that I know of. My back's been a little achey, but carrying all that extra weight in the front probably does not help that.

I think that's it. Sorry for the lack of updates! I'll try to stay on top of them better in the next few weeks!

Making Progress

Doug spent alot of time working on the nursery this weekend. In the first picture he's putting together the shelving unit we got for her room. It turned out great, as you'll see further down.

He also set up the crib, with a little help from his sister-in-law, Becky. Becky & Eric were kind enough to pass down this crib to us. It used to be their oldest son's, but since he's almost 5 now, he doesn't have much use for it anymore! I'm not so sure how thrilled he is about having his new cousin sleep in it though. He's not too crazy about having a girl for a cousin. :) Anyhow, after they put it together I got to have my own little bit of fun. I put up the bumper and the mobile (that I picked up at a garage sale for $10!), just to get an idea of how it would all look. And Saturday morning when we were at Sam's Club, after showing Doug the adorable rug, he ran back and got it for me just as we were leaving. Mom & I picked it out a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't so sure that was what I was wanting. But, I'm so glad I got it. It looks so cute with the bedding and the price was excellent. It fits perfectly in front of her crib. And you really can't see it in the picture, but the wall next to her crib is where the quilt is going to hang. And I want to get this to put above her crib. I love that it is vinyl and so totally removable, not to mention that there will be nothing heavy hanging over her. So many cute things to do! :)

We also decided for the sake of utilizing as much space as possible, to remove the closet doors. I promise it won't look nearly this messy in the future, but it seemed like a good spot to put the bookcase and it doesn't look half bad, minus the fact that we didn't get the top of the closet painted! Oh well, there's still time for that. Or maybe I'll just some cute baskets to put up there. :) Once we get the dresser, alot of the stuff on the shelves will be put away and we'll use it for what it was really intended for, books! :) Doesn't it look cute though? Doug still plans to attach it to the wall though, so there'll be no chance of Katie pulling it down or anything like that when she starts climbing.

New window treatment, I had a yellow sheer up there, but it wasn't quite the right shade, it was a little muddy. This white really brightens things up and the light that filters through is cleaner. The changing table (also a garage sale find) is actually on its way to get a paint job. You may have noticed it is a little darker than the finish on the rest of the furniture, so my mom has agreed to paint it for us. But for now, it's doing it's job holding diapers and other assorted items.

That's what we've got for now. We still need to find a chair and get the dresser and then we'll be just about set. Not bad with 9 weeks to go!

26 Weeks 5 days

Sorry, it's been so long since I've posted a picture. Doug's not a very willing photographer, so my mom took this one while we were over there earlier today. My last doctor's appointment was Thursday. I had to do the glucose screening test, which I passed and Katie's heart rate was 155 bpm. Doctor says I'm measuring right on schedule and she gave me lots of paperwork on childbirth classes and parenting classes. It's all starting to become very real, very quickly. :)

We're making some progress on getting things done around the house. Doug painted our room, and got the door hung last week. It looks great. This week, he's going to start working on Katie's room. I also found an adorable crib set (comforter, bumper & sheet) at Once Upon a Child for $10!! Looks practically new and really, considering you can't use the comforter (I'm going to use it as a wall hanging) and her bumper won't be there for long I'm happy to pay that. Especially considering everything else I was looking at was $50 and up. I'll post some pictures once we get started.

Time For an Update

Well, I haven't posted much more than pictures lately, so I thought I'd type up a little update this morning. Things are still going well. I had another doctor's appointment this week. Everything was great. Katie's heart rate was 150 and the doctor said I was measuring fine. I finally gained a little weight this month, 6 pounds. I'm up to 9 pounds total since I got pregnant.

We're starting to get things organized around the house and ready to paint bedrooms soon. We're switching bedrooms, so that Katie will have the warmer of the 2 rooms. We've got paint for her room already (thanks, mom & dad!) and I've been looking at a couple different bedding (another option) sets that I might want for her room. I guess I should run these past Doug first, to see what he thinks, but I imagine he's going to be fine with it. He's not putting up much of a fuss at all this girly stuff.

I'm starting to get a little uncomfortable at night and so is poor Doug. I've got myself surrounded by pillows and between that and my belly, I take up a decent portion of the bed. Too bad we already took down our guest bed! Oh well, we keep telling ourselves it is only temporary and it will be worth it in the end.

It's a Girl!!

We went to our sonogram today and were pleasantly surprised to find out that we're having a GIRL! We're still in shock. We really thought it was going to be a boy. But, everything looked good and if everything goes as planned we'll have a sweet little girl at the end of July.

It's Been Awhile...

I didn't mean to go this long without posting. We've had some sad times these last few weeks and I just really haven't felt much like blogging. We lost Doug's dad to cancer on January 19, 2009. It was hard letting him go, but we know he's in a better place now and no longer suffering.

So onto the happy part. Everything is still going well with my pregnancy. The weeks are starting to fly by. I'm already 15 weeks and 2 days! I wish I had a picture for you to see my growing belly, but life has been so crazy lately that taking a picture of my belly has been the furthest thing from my mind. My most recent appointment was a week ago. They just weighed me and listened to the heartbeat. Still going strong at 158 bpm. Now old wives' tales say that a fast heart rate like that means we're having a girl, but we're not convinced. According to Doug's mom, Doug also had a fast heart rate in the 150-160 range. So we'll see. They also scheduled the ultrasound at this appointment. So on February 26, we'll get to see what's going on in there. Hopefully the baby will cooperate and show us "the goods." Otherwise, we'll just keep on calling it "Peanut." :)

12 Weeks

Picture from Sunday 1/11/09

Well today marks the momentous 12 week mark of my pregnancy. This is when it's supposed to be acceptable to tell everyone, but I've already done that! :) Time is moving incredibly fast and incredibly slow all at the same time. Some days it feels like I've already been pregnant forever and other days I can't believe that in 6 1/2 months we're going to have a baby in our house!

The 2nd Appointment: 1/2/09

• 10 weeks, 3 days
• 3 pounds gained since 12/22/08 (hey, it was Christmas!)
  
• my heart rate 92 bpm
• baby's heart rate 160 bpm (estimated)
• still no nausea or morning sickness (yay!!!)
  

My second doctor's appointment went well. I actually got to meet the doctor this time. The first appointment was just with the nurse. I signed a million papers then, it was boring. Doug's been able to go to my appointments so far and that has been great. He may not make it to every single one of them, but he'll get to the important ones. He did miss meeting the doctor. He had to leave to take care of his dad because the doctor was running late. He did get the chance to hear the baby's heartbeat before he left, which was awesome. :) The tech was concerned we might not hear it because it was still a little early, but she found it after a minute or so. It was still too soon for it to register on her monitor, but she estimated that it was 160 bpm (beats per minute) from what we heard. She was really surprised that we were able to hear it at all, which of course makes us feel extra good about everything. I think it means the baby is already very strong and healthy. The rest of the appointment went well, we did some personal things that I just won't get into here. I really liked the doctor and can't wait to go back again.

Everything's OK

Had a little scare the other day that sent me to the ER. I won't go into all the details, but I will reassure you that everything is just fine. I even had an ultrasound and could see the baby and the heartbeat (147 BPM, very strong.) They were also able to determine a more accurate due date based on the size of the baby. My new due date is 8/1/2009, otherwise known as my 29th birthday. While that would be a lovely present and I'm sure my husband would try to pass off the baby as my present every year, I'm thinking this baby will need its very own birthday. But if this little peanut wants to show up on mine, I certainly won't be stopping it. :)

Good News!!

Most of you have probably already heard the good news, but just in case you missed it...

Yep, that's exactly what you think it is. Estimated due date is 7/28/09. :)