Welcome To The World, Sweet Baby!

A little over four weeks ago, our lives changed. And I wouldn't change a bit about it! I feel like the last four weeks have gone by so very quickly but that I've known our little lady for so much longer! Norah made quite a dramatic entry into the world. Within the first seconds of her life, I had fallen in love more than I could have ever imagined all while being absolutely scared to death and feeling completely helpless. We knew during my pregnancy that our baby is going to give us a run for our money, but really Norah, did you need to start so soon?!? :) 

My labor and delivery did not go a thing like I had imagined. I truly didn't know what all to expect, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine most of what happened in the 39 hours that we waited for our sweet baby to join us. Norah's birth story is something I'll never forget, all 39 hours of it. A lot happened in 39 hours. It's going to be a long post. Here we go...

Friday, January 25 is when it all started. Kurt and I went over to my parents' house for dinner. My parents had picked up Mexican food from La Piedad for us to eat. Our three nieces were there while Andy and Quinn went to dinner to celebrate Quinn's birthday. When they were finished eating, we celebrated Quinn's birthday with a delicious ice cream cake from Coldstone. After the celebrations, Kurt and I made our way home. At 2ish in the morning is when I was awoken by contractions. I had been having quite a few Braxton Hicks in the weeks before this, so I didn't think too much about them. I tossed and turned for an hour or so and continued to have contractions. I kinda didn't believe that I could really be in labor. I thought our baby would totally be late if we let her and I had an induction scheduled for Sunday, January 27. However, the contractions did seem a bit different than the ones I had had before and definitely hurt more. Shortly after 3, I woke Kurt up because I was starting to get more uncomfortable {especially in my lower back} and thought it was about time to begin timing the contractions. 

Around 7:30/8:00, we decided it was probably time to call the doctor. My contractions had consistently been about 7 minutes apart since I started timing them and I was definitely beginning to feel more in pain. The doctor on call, Dr. Moon, told me that they typically don't recommend for women to come in until the contractions are 5 minutes apart, but that I could come in to get checked if I wanted. I decided I wanted to go in. I felt like it was definitely time. We got up, ate breakfast, showered, cleaned up the house a bit, made sure we had all of our things, and headed out the door. My contractions were starting to get worse. As we were about to walk out of the house, a contraction brought me to tears. I'm not sure if it was all just pain. I think I was overwhelmed and really couldn't believe this was happening. I was also pretty nervous about being in the car for 20-30 minutes and how contractions would feel while sitting down. It wasn't terrible. I did have a few contractions while driving, but the traffic wasn't bad and we made it there pretty quickly. 

Kurt dropped me off at the door and I waited inside for him. He grabbed all our things and we headed up to the maternity ward. We walked around for a few minutes trying to figure out where we were supposed to check in and finally found the nurse station. They knew we were coming and took us to one of the rooms. They had me undress and hooked me up to a couple monitors. They took some information from me and then went ahead and checked me. I was only 2/3cm. They said they were going to leave me in that room for a little while to keep an eye on me before they admitted me. They didn't think I was in active labor and weren't sure that Dr. Moon would want me to stay. Thankfully they gave me a shot of pain medicine in my thigh that did help with some of the pain. At this point, I needed to breathe deeply and squeeze Kurt's hand or the side of the bed with each contraction, so pain medicine was greatly appreciated! 

After a couple hours of being monitored, the nurse came in to tell me that I wasn't going to be admitted and they needed me to go home. She said that I could take Tylenol PM to help me get some rest. She told me that I should come back in when the contractions were 5 minutes apart. We were both more than frustrated. I didn't understand how they could send me home when I was clearly in labor. Maybe I wasn't about to have a baby in the next hour, but it was clear that a baby was going to be born soon. It also didn't make sense to us that they would send us home especially since I had an induction scheduled for just over 24 hours away. They unhooked me from all the monitors, we got all of our things, and headed out to the car. I remember sharing an elevator with a lady who was visiting someone else at the hospital. She asked if we were coming in to have a baby. We told her that we were actually being sent home and she could tell how frustrated we were. She didn't understand why we would be sent home and went on to say, "Don't they know you'll be back in a few hours anyway?!?" 


At that point, we were hungry but I was in no shape to sit in a restaurant. We decided to pick up Yats on the way home. While we were driving, I called my parents to let them know that we had been to the hospital but I didn't get admitted. This was the first we had told anyone that I was in labor because we wanted to make sure it was for real. It was sorta difficult to talk on the phone because I kept having contractions that I'd have to breathe through. 


When we got home, we both quickly ate our lunch and got ready to get back in bed. We were exhausted because we had basically been up all night. It was mid afternoon by the time we finally got in bed. Thankfully I had Tylenol PM at the house because I had been taking it some nights the last couple weeks of my pregnancy to help me sleep. I took a couple pills and quickly fell asleep. I slept for about an hour and a half before my contractions woke me up again. By now, my contractions were bad. I was in so much back labor, it was unreal. I used our heating pad to help with the pain a little bit. Really the only thing that felt okay was to lay in bed with the heating pad and squeeze Kurt's hand every time I had a contraction. We called Kurt's parents and asked them to come get the dogs. We weren't sure when the baby would come, but we didn't want to have to worry about the dogs and how we would get them to his parents' house. 


Around 6 or 7, my contractions actually began to space out even longer. They were coming every 10 minutes or so. I kinda stopped timing them because I thought that maybe my labor was stopping and that I'd just have to wait until Sunday evening to go in for my induction. I actually felt a little relief. While I was still in a lot of pain, I was able to get out of bed for a little bit to eat a quick dinner. Sitting up really didn't feel good, so after eating I headed back up to bed. Shortly after getting back in bed, my contractions started getting really, really bad. Like screaming in pain to get through them. But they still weren't close enough to go to the hospital. I was unbelievably frustrated at this point. I never imagined labor being that painful because I had fully planned on getting an epidural before I was in that much pain. I couldn't take the pain anymore and I felt like there was no way I could stay at home. We debated about calling for a little while because I knew she was going to say that I should wait until the contractions were closer together. Around 9:30 or so, I asked Kurt to call the doctor. I wanted to know if she could call in a pain medicine to CVS if they wouldn't let me come into the hospital. Of course, she said she couldn't do this but said that I could take more Tylenol PM. So I did. And I tried to sleep. 100% impossible. 


After trying to sleep/get comfortable for an hour or so, I had had it. I told Kurt we were leaving. I didn't care that my contractions weren't 5 minutes apart. I know my body and knew that the pain meant I was in full on labor. We didn't call, we just stormed out of the house and were on our way. I was pissed. This was not going how I wanted it to and I was so mad that I wasn't already at the hospital! It hurt so much to walk and sit so I knew the car ride was going to be terrible. And it was. This trip up north was very different than the morning trip. 

As we were leaving the house, the garage door clicker in Kurt's car broke. We were both in complete shock that this was actually happening! Kurt had to get out of the car and try to figure out a way to get the door shut so that all the stuff in our garage didn't get stolen!!! He was able to get it fixed pretty quickly and we got on our way. Of course there was a ton of traffic at 11:00 on a Saturday night. What was going on, who knows, but why wouldn't there be traffic at this point?!? Oh, and we got stopped at almost every red light. ha


Thirty minutes later, we were finally at the hospital. Because it was so late, we had to go in through the ER. Kurt dropped me off at the door and this time I couldn't stand while I waited for him. I had to sit in a wheelchair close to the door. An ER nurse came in and asked if I wanted to wait inside for him, but I was so hot, being close to the door felt good. The nurse took us upstairs to a room next to the one we were in that morning. She took my information while another nurse came in to take my vitals, get the monitors hooked up, and check me. I'm pretty sure there was no question about them admitting me. They weren't taking their time like they were that morning. At this point, I was shaking because I was in so much pain and my blood pressure had spiked. The nurse quickly checked me and I was 6 cm. All that I could think was, "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME! 6 CM! I should have been at the hospital hours ago!!!!" The nurse called Dr. Moon to let her know that I was in fact in active labor and they were in the process of admitting me. The nurse asked if/when I wanted an epidural and my answer was, "Yes, hours ago." 




Kurt helped me into a wheelchair and grabbed all of our things. The nurse showed us to our labor and delivery room. She let me know that before I could get an epidural, she needed to give me a whole bag of fluid. She put my IV in and pumped a bag of fluid into me as quickly as she could. About 11:45, the nurse was able to call the anesthesiologist to come in for my epidural. Thank the Lord! The doctor was extremely nice and told me everything that she was doing while she worked. The first part hurt a little bit but the rest was just a little uncomfortable. I ended up having a couple contractions while she was working. Once she was finished, I was able to feel two or three contractions and then the medicine set in. It was unbelievable. Why anyone would not want an epidural is a mystery to me! Within minutes I was able to relax and my mood drastically changed. I was able to get comfortable and knew I was ready to get some sleep. We called/texted a few people to update them and then turned out the lights to get some rest. 




Kurt and I slept so much that night! We got a good 7-8 hours of awesome rest. After about 4 hours, I could tell my epidural was wearing off. I ended up getting some more medicine about every 4 hours or so to make sure I stayed comfortable. At 7am I could hear the nurses switching. I could hear my nurse updating the new nurse, Amy, with what was going on with me. Then I heard Amy call Dr. Moon to let her know that she was going to start me on pitocin because after 7 hours, I was still at 6 cm. Amy came in to our room to introduce herself and let me know that she had just put an order in for pitocin. She said that my contractions were still not consistent enough and that's probably why I wasn't dilating. {Side note - this was over 24 hours after my labor started and my contractions still weren't consistently 5 minutes apart. Thank God I didn't wait any longer for them to get closer together at home because they never did on their own!!!}

Because epidurals are so awesome, I didn't feel the pitocin kick in at all. A couple hours after she started the drip, Amy came in to tell me that my contractions were now consistently coming every two to three minutes. Thankfully, I didn't feel a thing! She continued to check me and while the contractions were getting closer together, I was stuck at 6cm. She told us she was going to give my body a little more time to dilate and if it didn't, they would insert an internal fetal monitor to check the strength of my contractions. 

My parents called us after they went to mass and wondered if they could come up for a visit. This was around 9am and we had pretty much just woken up. They brought Kurt some breakfast and hung out for a bit. It was nice to have visitors since we had been there for so long. Once they left, we decided to put a movie on to try and pass some time. Shortly after, Dr. Moon came in for the first time. They went ahead and checked me again and I was still at 6cm. They decided to put in the fetal monitor to check things out. They had to leave that in for an hour or so before they could tell if my contractions were strong enough or not. 

We decided to rest a little more once they left the room. About an hour or so later, Amy came in to report that my contractions were as strong as they were ever going to get and that the strength of them should be causing my body to dilate to 10cm. She did not need to increase the pitocin. I went ahead and asked her at what point we'd do a c-section. I had been in labor for so long that I wanted to have a vaginal delivery but we were so ready to have the baby. I was definitely not opposed to having a c-section if I needed one. Amy said they were going to give my body 2 hours {this was right before 1pm -- the start of the IU game} to get from 6 to 10cm. If I didn't fully dilate by 3pm, they were going to do a c-section. She asked us if that was ok and if that would give us enough time to watch the game. We assured her that the plan was perfect. :) 

Kurt and I contacted both of our parents to let them know of the plan. We told them that we'd let them know at 3 what was going to happen. Around 2:30, my epidural started to wear off a little bit so I asked Amy to call the anesthesiologist for me. She wondered if I wanted to wait until 3 to get checked or if I wanted her to just see what was going on at that point. I told her to just check me because if my body wasn't doing anything they might as well start prepping the OR for the surgery. As she checked me she got this look of disbelief on her face...I was 10cm and ready to start pushing when I felt ready! We couldn't believe it! We were pretty much ready for a c-section. 

As she started prepping the room and getting all the supplies together, we finished watching IU beat Michigan St. I was getting more uncomfortable as the game was finishing up, so I wasn't totally paying attention. I was hoping that the anesthesiologist would hurry up and give me some more meds! He came in but only gave me a little bit of medicine. They didn't want me to have too much so that I could push. When the game was over, we turned off the TV, Dr. Moon came in, and I got started pushing! {Kurt quickly texted our parents to let them know I was ready to push...they were shocked! They all came to the hospital at this point and waited for the big news in the waiting room!} This was shortly after 3pm. The next two hours went pretty quickly for me because I was pushing every 2 to 3 minutes when I had a contraction. Midway through, the pain was starting to come back. They went ahead and decided it was best for me to get more epidural medicine because I wasn't able to push very well with the pain I was feeling. Thank goodness I got more medicine! It helped me relax and push much better. 

At 5:12 pm, our little girl was born. Within seconds, everything changed. I felt a ton of pressure once she was born and could tell that she was out. I heard, "It's a girl!" and the next thing I knew she was being whisked away to the warming station and 5 or 6 NICU nurses and doctors were rushing in the room. Norah was not crying. I know enough about babies to know that something was really wrong at this point and I completely lost it. Not only was I emotional from just having a baby {A GIRL!} and being in labor for 39 hours, but now my little baby wasn't breathing for all I could tell! The worst part...there was not a single thing I could do. I laid in the bed helpless crying out, "She's not crying! She's not crying!" as the doctors and nurses tried to update me on her status and reassure me that in fact she was breathing. At this point, I had absolutely no idea what in the world happened. Amy and Dr. Moon commented the whole pushing process at how well the baby was tolerating labor/my contractions so I didn't know where everything went downhill. We later found out that Norah scored a 1 on her one minute APGAR test. The scores go from 0 (being the worst) to 10. Pretty scary. 

The doctors/nurses worked on Norah for a few minutes {what felt like hours to me} in our room before swaddling her up and taking her to the NICU. They did bring her over to me for a quick peek before leaving the room. I was so confused and worried at this point. I had no idea what all just happened and pretty much thought that my baby was going to die. So many bad thoughts kept circling my head and I didn't know what to do. Once Dr. Moon had me cleaned up and Kurt and I had calmed down a bit, we started talking about what in the world just happened. 

Norah's umbilical cord was around her neck but it was never tight. On the very last push the cord tugged and tightened around her neck. As this happened, she became shocked and took a big gasp. When babies are born, they are supposed to cry because there is so much fluid that needs to come out of their mouths/lungs. When Norah gasped, she inhaled the fluid that she had been living in for the past 9 months. Her lungs became full of fluid, making it difficult for her to breath. She wasn't crying, she was gasping for air. I'm so glad I wasn't able to see any of this going on. Kurt watched the whole thing unfold before him...how scary! Dr. Moon tested the oxygen levels in the cord blood. Thankfully, the oxygen levels in the cord blood was not low because Dr. Moon was able to cut it from being around her neck so quickly. 

Once all the doctors and nurses left the room, Kurt and I just sat there in disbelief. We couldn't believe that we had a girl. We absolutely couldn't believe we had such a small baby! And we were shocked at the events that unfolded in the last hour or so. I was in no mood to see anyone because I knew I'd totally loose it. However, I knew we couldn't keep our families waiting any longer. They had been there for a long time and it was now well after 6:00. I told Kurt that he should probably go to the waiting room and let our families know the news but that I absolutely didn't want anyone to come back to see me. 

So there I was, all alone in this huge hospital room. I had no idea what was going on with my new baby. I lost it. 

Kurt came back to the room and wanted to know if I wanted to eat. You would think I would have been starving, but I couldn't even think about food. I was really thirsty though and he was able to go across the hall to get me a sprite. Amy came in and asked if she could take our camera to the NICU to take some pictures of Norah and check in on her. This helped calm me a little. She was able to give us a little update on her. She also reminded me that I really needed to eat. She went and grabbed a ton of snacks for us. We got news from the nurses that we would get to go see Norah in a little while before I moved to my post-partum room. Kurt went to the waiting room to let our parents know that they probably weren't going to get to see Norah anytime soon and they should probably go grab dinner while waiting. He asked if they could bring us back some food too. 

Amy came back with some snacks for us and to say goodbye because her shift was over. Thank God we had her the whole day. What an amazing nurse she is! I am so thankful for everything she did for us. As she was walking out of the room, she said, "See you in about two years!" We all started laughing and I was thinking, "No way in hell I'll be back in two years after what just happened!" Whenever baby #2 comes around, I will be praying for a nurse half as good as Amy is. Maybe we'll even be lucky enough to have her again! 

Around 7:30ish, a nurse came in and told us she was going to take us to see Norah. She prepped us for what she'd look like, but also told us that we weren't allowed to touch her or arouse her in any way because of some test she was having done at 9pm. Over two hours after delivering Norah, we were finally able to see her and talk to her. It was the worst feeling in the world to see her hooked up to all the machines. I would have done anything in that moment to take all the pain away from her. It was even worse when she started to cry and we couldn't do a thing for her. I'll never forget that. 

We stayed in her NICU room for a little while. I remember feeling a little disconnected from her, like she wasn't really mine. The whole experience felt so surreal. 

We left her room so that she could have her test done and we could get all of our things moved into our new room. As Kurt was wheeling me down to our new room, our families returned from dinner with a HUGE pizza for us! But, the nurse was also waiting for me to do my first check up. We asked our families to leave the room so the nurse could check me and I could get situated in bed. Once she was finished, our families came back in our room and we were finally able to eat. I don't think we've ever eaten so quickly in our lives! Our families visited for a little while and then decided to head home. By the time they left, it was time for the nurse to do another check up on me. 

We ended up needing to stay in our room for a little while longer because the nurse didn't want me to leave before I needed to get my next check up. Once she checked me for the third time, she was able to help me into a wheel chair and we headed back to Norah's room. Around midnight, we were finally able to hold our little girl for the first time. 

{Hooked up to so many things...}

The next morning while I showered, Kurt went down to check on Norah. He came back with good news. She was doing so well they were able to take her off the oxygen. Norah didn't start eating until almost 24 hours after she was born. It was a bit stressful trying to get her interested in eating. Once they confirmed that she did not in fact have pneumonia, the doctors wanted to make sure that she was eating enough before they would allow us to take her home. Once she was finally able to get latched on and interested, she was quite the eating champ...and still is now! 

{Finally getting to spend time together.}

Within the first 48 hours of her life, Norah proved to all of us how strong she is and that she'll never give up. It was amazing to see how calm she was when the nurses and doctors picked and prodded at her. Kurt and I will never forget the neonatal doctor coming in to tell us that we were going to get to take her home just 48 hours after her delivery. Even she was shocked that she was able to give us that news. As she left the room, I broke down into tears. Those 48 hours were the most scary and tiring of my life, and we were SO happy to be able to see Norah all wire free and ready to go home. 

{I hated seeing her with all these cords. It was so nice when they all came off!}

We thank God every day for our precious, healthy little girl. We are so thankful for everything that the nurses and doctors did during our short stay at the hospital. They did an amazing job. Thankfully the complications that occurred during birth have no lingering effects. She is completely healthy and doing really well. Although that whole experience was painful, stressful, and unimaginable, this is Norah's story and we wouldn't change it a bit. 

    

Week 38 {and preview of week 39}

Week 38...Almost Baby Time!

My belly can't get a.n.y. bigger!

What's going on with baby and me:

The baby is just chillin'. He/she is clearly not in any hurry to come into this world and is putting on weight as we wait. Today my doctor said, "I think you're going to have a big baby." Just what I wanted to hear! :) I've been fighting a little bit of a cold for the last week. I haven't felt terrible, I'm just congested. It's made it even more difficult to sleep. Thankfully my doctor told me last week that taking Tylenol PM is okay. I've taken it a couple times in the past week and it's really been helpful. I'm still feeling quite a bit of pressure and having contractions on and off. I haven't really been paying as much attention to my contractions because I know that they are not the real deal at this point. The baby hasn't been moving around as much because there truly is no room left! All movements are clearly visible from the outside. So if you look at me and my belly is completely lopsided, it's not an optical allusion...it's really lopsided! 

What happened this week: 

-Monday I had another doctor appointment. She checked me and I was 1 cm, but my cervix wasn't very "favorable." She made me a deal that if I had dilated to 3 cm by my next appointment {today}, she'd go ahead and admit me. Clearly my body didn't get that memo! :) After my appointment, Kurt and I went to the grocery store to stock up on some food since we knew we wouldn't be checking into the hospital any time soon. 

-After school Tuesday I had a meeting. I left school around 5 and headed up to 5 seasons to work out with my mom. It felt good to actually get a good work out in. When I got home, we cooked dinner and then I showered before the IU game at 9. They played horribly, so I ended up falling asleep in the middle of the second half. 

-The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Wednesday I didn't do anything but work, eat, and go to bed early. Thursday I took a nap at my parents' house after school before working out with my mom. We grabbed dinner after our workout and then I came home to go to bed. Friday after school I came home and watched a movie before Kurt and I went out for dinner together. I ended up falling asleep pretty early once we got home. 

-Saturday morning we slept in. We ran up to my parents' house to drop off all the diapers and wipes that my students and their families bought us. We had no room to store them here! Kurt was craving Chipolte so we stopped by there for lunch before heading home to watch the first Blackhawk game {finally!}. Later that night, we walked down to Josh and Mer's to eat some dinner and watch some more hockey. 

-Sunday we slept in again...we're taking advantage of this as much as we possibly can! We picked up some wings and headed over to Kate and Mike's house to meet their new little man, Henry, and watch the IU game. It was great to get to hang out with them for a bit and talk to Kate about labor, delivery, and babies. I can't wait to have play dates with them while we're both off work! We left their house towards the end of the game so Kurt could get his hockey stuff together and head up to his game. I took a quick 30 minute nap before Mer picked me up to go watch the hockey game. My parents and Julia ended up coming to watch the game, too. After the game, we went to Ram to watch some of the football game and eat dinner. Josh and Mer came down to our house to watch the second half of the game and then the beginning part of the Blackhawk game. We had so many different games to watch yesterday! 

-Today I slept in {because I didn't go to bed until late} and then I met Susanah at First Watch for lunch. After lunch we went to go get our nails done. I had been waiting for WAY too long to get them done, but I wanted to get them done right before the baby comes. Even Kurt asked if I was planning to get a pedicure because my toes looked so horrible! :) I met Kurt at home after my nail appointment and then we headed back up north for my doctor appointment. This was my very last appointment before the baby is here!! The next time I'll be in that office will be for my postpartum appointment in 7 weeks...crazy! She checked me today and my cervix had soften a little bit and I'm now 2 cm...better than nothing! On the way home, we stopped at CVS for Kurt to finally get his flu and whopping cough shots {nothing like waiting till the last minute!} and then came home to cook a delicious dinner. He's now at hockey and I'm just hanging with the pups. 

This week will probably be pretty uneventful. I'm planning to work out with my mom on Tuesday and Thursday and I have pilates on Thursday. Tomorrow I'm going into school for a half day for a professional development meeting and to say bye to the kids. Wednesday I plan on staying at home to get the house cleaned and the laundry done. Thursday Kurt and I are planning to get some errands run. The rest of the time I plan on relaxing and sleeping some. 

Someone from St. Vincent Carmel called me last week to set up my induction appointment. We have to be at the hospital at 6 on Sunday. This time next week, Kurt and I should have a baby in our arms. We can't wait!! 

Week 37

I don't have a belly picture to share this week, mainly because the last four days I've felt so miserable, putting on makeup and something other than pj's sounds terrible! 

What's going on with baby: Our baby is now considered full term. He/she weighs somewhere around 6 and 1/2 pounds and is probably 19 inches long. Baby W is spending time adding fat to his/her body while the brain and lungs continue to develop. 

What's going on with me: The week started off fine and has ended not so great! I'm finally now feeling "pregnant" and completely physically and mentally drained. I know I'm lucky that I've made it this far without feeling badly. I hate to complain, but I'm not sure how much longer I can wait for this baby to be here!  I absolutely cannot imagine how women carry multiples if this is how I feel carrying one baby!! 

What happened this week:
-Monday I had a doctor appointment. I didn't have her check me because I had just been in the Wednesday before. I talked to my doctor about the possibility of scheduling an induction. Because I don't have a medical reason to induce early, the earliest she could induce me is my due date {January 27}. She checked her schedule and is actually on call that day. I told her I needed to talk to Kurt about it before she scheduled me. What she would have me do is come to the hospital in the evening on the 27th. They get things ready and then start the medicine the next morning. If I make it to my due date, it looks like Baby W should arrive on Monday, January 28th!! 
-Tuesday was the kids first day back to school. It was so great seeing them and hearing all about their breaks. I felt pretty tired after school and didn't go work out with my mom. 
-Wednesday was definitely a bit more difficult at work. I was much more tired than I was on Tuesday. The kids had a surprise baby shower for me! It was so cute. The parents sent in diapers, wipes, and books for the baby. It is unbelievable how many diapers and wipes we have! My whole trunk is full with different size diapers that we're going to have to store at my parents because we have no room here! After school, I went to pilates and then came home to eat and get in bed early. 
-Thursday is when things started to change a bit. I had a really difficult time getting up in the morning. I noticed my body beginning to ache more and I was having more difficulty moving around. I started having more and more contractions as the day went on. My pelvis and lower back began aching and I was having some mild cramping. Instead of going to work out, I came home and started timing my contractions. I took a hot shower and relaxed as much as I could. My contractions were happening consistently every 7 minutes for at least two hours. I planned on calling the doctor that night but wanted to make sure I ate dinner if they said it was time to come in. We made a quick dinner {mac n' cheese}. I decided not to call the doctor because I wasn't in a ton of pain. It just seemed like it wasn't what I should do. Kurt suggested I call my sister-in-law who suggested that I drink even more water than I already had and relax. I decided to lay down. The contractions started to slow down and I ended up falling asleep pretty early. That night, I slept horribly. My back was aching so much and I continued to have random contractions throughout the night. 
-Friday morning I almost called in to say I would either be late or not come in at all. I was almost in tears a couple times that morning because of the pain and the fact that I'm feeling so over being pregnant! I'm glad I decided to go into work because I felt like it would help keep things moving along and I really thought the baby would come sometime over the weekend. I kept myself busy during the day, but tried to sit as much as possible. I started to notice how swollen my feet and hands had all the sudden become and made sure to drink a ton of water all day. I kept my phone with me all day and tried as best as possible to keep track of my contractions throughout the day. My mom called after school wanting to know if we wanted to go to dinner with them. I heard that the Mexican pizza at Bazbeaux was a great way to help induce labor, so I told her we would go to dinner as long as we could go get pizza! Around 6, I started keeping track of my contractions consistently. I did this until about 9. They were pretty consistently coming every 4-5 minutes and started getting a bit stronger at dinner. I was pretty uncomfortable sitting at dinner but was trying not to make it obvious. I kept thinking to myself that I would call the doctor when Kurt and I got in the car after dinner, that we'd run home and get our stuff, then we'd be heading to the hospital. When we got in the car, Kurt suggested that I call the doctor. I thought about it, but then I decided that I should wait to see what happened when we get home and I lay down for a bit. Of course, when I did lie down, the contractions began to slow down even if the cramping and back pain didn't go away. Kurt thought it'd be good to shower and shave just in case we were going to head into the hospital. I ended up cutting his hair, too. I decided to take a shower to see if that would help. After showering I came downstairs and sat/bounced on our workout ball to see if that would help things move along any. Nothing worked and the contractions didn't get any stronger. We were both exhausted and decided to try to get some sleep. I did sleep a little better Friday night, probably because I was so exhausted from not sleeping on Thursday night. 
-Yesterday we didn't do much. The weather was really nice, but my body ached and I didn't really feel like being out and about. Kurt had some studying to do so I took down the outside Christmas lights and then watched the IU game. After the game, I cleaned up the house a bit and did some laundry. We watched some of the football game and decided to hit up Chipolte for dinner {in the pouring down rain!}. I wasn't having many contractions during the day, but my body didn't really feel any better. Mexican food didn't help get anything moving, but it sure was delicious! When we got home, I changed into my pj's and hung out on the couch while watching football. Of course, I fell asleep on the couch and then headed upstairs for the night. 
-Today was another incredibly lazy day. I hate being so lazy, especially since I know being up helps get things moving even more. My body aches so much, that being lazy is about the only thing that makes me feel a bit better. Sleeping isn't really comfortable anymore and it's impossible to walk without waddling now...how attractive! My feet and hands are still pretty swollen. I've been having a few more contractions today than I did yesterday, but nothing like I was having on Thursday and Friday. I'm thinking that being up on my feet all day at work is causing me to have a ton of Braxton Hicks. If I'm going to feel this miserable and have so many contractions being up and around, I'm not sure I'm going to make it 6 more days at work! We'll see what happens!

I have a doctor appointment tomorrow after school. On Friday, I totally thought the baby would have already been here and I wouldn't even need to have an appointment tomorrow! I'm definitely going to have her check me tomorrow to see if anything is going on. We talked about taking our hospital bag with us tomorrow just in case, but now I'm feeling like that is really wishful thinking! 

I'm even more ready for this baby now than I was last week. I hate to sit around and complain, but I'm not sure I can take this achy body much longer! Plus, I'm so ready to meet our baby! Keep your fingers crossed that Baby W makes his/her appearance sooner rather than later!

Ready or Not?!?

I'm 37 weeks pregnant today and SO ready to have a baby. I'm so excited to see what Baby W looks like and if it's a boy or girl! I'm ready to get our new life started with another member of our family. I'm ready to use all of the new baby gear we've added to our house. I'm ready to actually get comfortable in bed {even if I don't get a lot of sleep} and not have my right arm fall asleep every 5 seconds. I'm ready to be able to bend over again and not ask for help putting on my shoes...or see my feet again!

I am so ready.

Come on, baby! I'm really not sure I can wait any longer!

Belly Photo {Week 36?}

I'm a huge slacker and I'm not even going to try to play catch up on the 5 weeks I've now missed! Here is the most recent picture Kurt has taken of me. I'm pretty sure my skin can't stretch anymore! 

The four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to drag on FOREVER. I was looking forward to Winter Break so much, and now as I sit here typing this, break is almost over... Our weekends between the two holidays were full of Christmas parties, shopping, IU games, and family celebrations. 

What's going on with baby: Since the last update, the baby has most likely doubled his/her weight and is probably somewhere between 18 and 19 inches long. I can definitely tell that the space is getting tight for Baby W. Most movements I feel can also be clearly seen. The baby is spending time right now practicing his/her breathing skills. It is said that if the baby were to be born right now, he/she could survive just fine {especially since I'll be 37 weeks -- full term tomorrow}...I'm soooo ready, baby! We'd be MORE than happy for you to make an early appearance. :)

What's going on with me: Other than being 100% impatient, nothing. We had a 36 week doctor appointment last week, and now my appointments are weekly. She checked me. While I haven't dilated, my doctor said my cervix seemed very soft and not as high up as a typical first time mom. Better than nothing! Winter break has been amazing for me. I've been sleeping in every day, getting SO much done around the house {which makes spending time at home way more enjoyable!}, reading lots of books, and eating some good food {I have worked out a couple times...not nearly enough!}. While I do think going back to work will be good for me {to keep my mind off the baby as much as possible, to help the kids transition, to pass time quickly, etc.}, I'm really wishing that I didn't have to go back for two weeks before my maternity leave begins. I need to enjoy the last couple days of my break and jump back into reality on Monday. Only 11 more days to get up early...no problem! 

Last day - Tuesday, January 22nd. {Maybe, just maybe earlier if the baby comes early!!}

As for now, I'll enjoy the time with the pups and Kurt. We have most everything ready for the baby. Our hospital bag is semi-packed. Now we wait for Baby W, which is probably one of the most difficult things for me. Waiting for something I'm SO, SO, SO excited about but have absolutely NO idea when I'm going to get to meet him/her. Any ideas of how to induce labor are warmly welcomed! 

PS - My husband has been sick and in bed/on the couch all day today. It's been a wonderful excuse for me to do absolutely nothing today, too! :)

New Year Project

I'm not one to make New Years Resolutions. For one, I find it difficult to keep them. However, this year Kurt and I decided to begin a project of sorts. We had a mason jar laying around the house. We decided to make it our jar of memories for the year. We set it on our desk next to a pad of paper. As things happen throughout the year we'd like to remember, we'll write them down and stick them in the jar. On December 31st {while in Cabo!!}, we'll pull out all the 2013 memories we've written down and read through them together. I can't wait to see what all happens this year!

Caught Ya!

Coop has a new favorite spot to relax...in the nursery! Kurt and I have recently been "catching" Cooper sleeping on the floor by the baby's crib. And it's really stinkin' cute! He's going to be such a protective "big brother"!

happy

Did a little Christmas shopping after school today and realized I was going to be late for my workout. Decided to skip my workout and head home. Wrapped some presents {until we ran out of tape} next to our glowing Christmas tree and changed into my PJs early. Ate some delicious cookie dough, ordered some pizza, and addressed our Christmas cards that came in the mail today. Now watching Home Alone with the pups and my hubs {while Baby W is dancing in my belly}. Only thing that might make this evening better? Snow. 

Perfect.

Few, Quick Updates

I'm feeling way too lazy right now to do a whole two week belly update {plus I haven't had Kurt take any pictures for the last three weeks...oops!}, so I thought I'd share a couple things that have been going on around here lately. 

I got a call last week that our glider/ottoman had arrived at Buy Buy Baby. We were really excited to pick it up but knew it wouldn't fit in my car. Friday night we asked my brother and Quinn if we could borrow their car so we could go pick them up. We stopped by their house and ended up hanging out with them {minus Julia who went to Yuletide with my parents} and eating dinner. We eventually made it to Buy Buy Baby around 8:30. They had it ready for us, so we put it in the car and headed home. Josh helped Kurt bring it upstairs. We probably shouldn't have ordered both the ottoman and chair, but the ottoman came with this particular one so we figured we should go ahead and get it. There really just isn't a ton of room. We'll keep the ottoman off to the side for now and we'll move it more towards the middle of the room once we are really using it. The color looks great with the bedding and it is SO comfy. I can already see many late nights spent half asleep feeding and rocking Baby W...!

{This picture doesn't really do it justice since I took it on my phone. But, you get the picture! I wish you could see the cute Boppy cover that is already for the baby...my friend Anne got it for us and we l.o.v.e it. It's covered in dogs. One looks like Coop and another looks like Olive. Perfect.}

There are TONS of Christmas parties going on right now. We had three two weekends ago and were invited to two this past weekend. We ended up only going to one. Here's a picture we took from the one we went to this weekend...while we didn't dress the part {ugly xmas sweaters}, we still had a good time. I didn't get to participate in the Dizzy Elephant gift exchange....guess I'll have to wait until next year! 

I'm feeling pretty good. Only 6 weeks left {hopefully} AND I only have 15 days of school left before I begin my maternity leave!!! I have my 34 week appointment on Wednesday. We'll see if the doctor still thinks the baby is breech or not. I'm not really sure anymore. I absolutely cannot believe that Christmas Eve is a week from today. I can't wait for school to be over so we can spend time together and celebrate our 10th Christmas together! Enjoy the week. Hopefully I'll be back sometime to share more of what has been going on around here. 

More Nursery Updates!

Okay, this is probably going to be a long post, but I am SO excited to share all of the work we got done this weekend in the baby's room! I'm not going to lie, I have been putting off decorating Baby W's room and really been dreading it. I'm not great at decorating, but I always have these great visions of how I want something to look. Things never really work out how I have envisioned. Last weekend while we were hanging out, I spent quite a bit of time writing down things we needed to do/buy for the baby's room and looking up pictures online of ideas for the room. This week while I was out running errands, I spent a lot of time looking around for things to buy for the room. I have a habit of looking around for decorations but not buying them thinking something else better may come along. I didn't do that this week and I'm so glad I bought the few things I did! 

We had a couple big projects we were working on this weekend.

1. Making/painting bookshelves to hang.

2. Cleaning, organizing, and adding shelves to the closet.

3. Cleaning, folding, and organizing all the baby clothes {and baby gifts we've received}. 

Project #1 - Bookshelves

I found a couple different bookshelf ideas on pinterest that looked fairly easy to make. Kurt and I went to Lowe's on Friday night to buy the wood and paint for the bookshelves. This project was pretty cheap and I'm so glad we attempted it. We probably spent around $25 with all the materials and now we have plenty of room for the baby's books...we actually need more to add! :)

Lowe's cut the wood to the size we wanted for free so we didn't have to do anything but assemble them. Kurt borrowed the nail gun from his dad {and now wants one of his own!} and it made putting the shelves together a breeze. It took us no longer than 10 minutes to put all the shelves together before painting. 

We used three pieces of wood and nailed them into an L shape. Each shelf is 2 feet long and there is plenty of space to put a bunch of books on each one. 

This is what each shelf looked like before we sanded, primed, and painted. Pretty easy. After Kurt stapled them together and helped sand them, he went upstairs to work on the closet while I primed and painted the shelves. {I also managed to do 6 loads of laundry while we were doing all this work!} 

I didn't take any pictures of the bookshelves in the middle of painting because I was on a mission to get them finished as fast as possible...not to mention the paint that was on my hands that I didn't want on my camera! Thank God it was so warm on December 1st or I wouldn't have probably been able to do this project on my own. I think the paint fumes would have been a little much for me if we had to do it inside. Plus it was much easier to not have to clean up a mess inside!  

This picture was taken after one coat of primer and two coats of paint had been applied. Since I was out in the sun, the bookshelves look MUCH more yellow than they do inside and on the wall in the baby's room. I was a bit worried about the color when I was painting yesterday, but I really do love them in the room now that they're up. I'm guessing you're wondering what the yellow W is that is sitting on the cardboard as well. I found a project on pinterest that I did yesterday and I went ahead and quickly painted the W while I was painting the bookshelves. You'll see a picture of that project in a bit...

So here's the finished product...

What do you think? We love them! They were SO easy to make and really inexpensive. We plan to put the chair we bought next to the bookshelves so we can grab a book to read while we're sitting with the baby. Now we just need to buy some more books! 

If you look below the bookshelves, you'll see one of the things I bought this week while I was out and about. I wanted one place to put all the baby toys to keep them somewhat organized and accessible for when the baby is more mobile. I found this grey wicker basket at Home Goods this week for $20! I love how the grey matches the room and is big enough to fit a bunch of toys. Keep your fingers crossed that neither of our four legged children get into the basket and play with some of the toys! :) {We left the room open today while we were gone for 3 or 4 hours and everything was okay.}

Project #2 - Closet  

I didn't take a very good 'before' picture of the closet yesterday before Kurt starting working. I thought I had one, but not really. Here's a picture I took awhile ago before we even painted the room. You can kind of see what the closet looked like before... 

Anyway, the closet had only one shelf. The top of the shelf was FULL of our stuff that we had been throwing up there since we moved in. The half that you can't see in this picture has some of Kurt's clothes and shoes. We had already cleaned out some of the closet when this picture was taken, but I couldn't believe how much stuff we had stored in there when we took everything out yesterday...

Not too long ago, we spent a ton of time cleaning out this room and this is what it looked like yesterday when we took everything out of the closet {and before I was able to put all the baby gifts away...}! You literally couldn't move in the room! Where did we get all this crap?!?

So after we got the closet cleaned out, Kurt moved the one shelf that was in there up a foot or two. If you look closely in this picture, you can see the holes from where this shelf was originally hanging. 

 While we were at Lowe's, we bought another long shelf to add into the closet. We hung one of Kurt's shirts from the top shelf to make sure that he could still use some of the closet before hanging the second shelf. We also had an extra shelf in our garage that Kurt cut in half. The plan was to put two half shelves in the closet on the left side to have more room, but we ended up only hanging one. That way, we have quite a bit of space at the bottom of the closet to store baby things that we don't want out around the house. 

 Here are both sides of the closet. I wish I would have taken a picture before Kurt put the doors back on. Either way, we feel like we have a ton more space/storage and we were actually able to put a lot of our crap back on the top shelf! Kurt can still use the right side for a few of his things that can't fit in our closet and the left side has a bunch of room for baby things. We've put a lot of baby things in the closet that will probably be left out once the baby arrives, but it feels good to have them out of the way for now. Let's see how long we can keep the closet this organized...

Project #3 - Organize

I love organizing things. It makes me feel less stressed out. However, I wish I was better at keeping things organized. I was having a hard time starting this project. If you asked me to organize my clothes, I'd have an easy time doing it because I know how I like my things organized. I've never had to organize baby clothes before so it kinda stressed me out. I want to make sure I have things in places that make sense and are most accessible. I'm probably not making any sense, but it stressed me out. I made myself finally start getting things put away yesterday. Here's what I've decided on so far...

I didn't take a very close up picture, but next to the changing pad you can see another cute basket I bought from Home Goods. It's perfect. It has a little yellow in it and I think it's a perfect size for the changing table. I put some diapers, rash ointment, hand sanitizer, and a few other things we may need on a regular basis when changing Baby W. 

In the top three drawers, I tried to think of things we'd use a lot. In the left drawer, I started putting burp cloths, swaddling blankets, and Boppy pillow covers. In the middle we have lots of extra diapers and wipes. And in the right drawer, I put onesies.  

Underneath those drawers, I started putting outfits. In the left drawer, I put all the sleepers and in the right I started putting outfits. There are a few things that are hanging. We have tons of hangers and space in the closet that we can use when we need it.

What's so great is we have SO many more drawers for other things. I'm so happy we bought both dressers because I know we can use the storage for so many things. So I know things are pretty organized right now, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do once we have more outfits in a variety of sizes. How am I going to keep different size outfits organized...stress. 

While those were our main projects this weekend, I thought I'd show you a couple other things in the room. 

I'm not quite sure this is where all of these things are going to permanently live, but here are a few fun things we've gotten for the room...

From the left to the right:

-That is the W from the picture above with the bookshelves. This week, I bought a wooden W, one piece of scrapbook paper, and a picture frame {$12} from Michaels. I painted the W the same yellow as the bookshelves. When it was dry, I set it on the glass, cut the paper to fit in the frame and put it behind the W, and closed up the frame. It was a quick and cheap project! 

-The owl is something I bought from West Elm. I've been eyeing it and knew it would be a cute addition to the room. 

-Paddington Bear is SO cute. My mom bought that for the baby while they were in London this Fall. We need to keep him high up so Coop and Olive don't eat him. :)

-The frame on the right is from my aunt. That is not a picture of us...yet! It says on the top, "One Lucky Baby, One Happy Family." I can't wait to put a picture of us in it soon! 

Kurt and I are not huge stuffed animal people. However, while we were cleaning out the guest room this fall, we found three that we knew we wanted to keep for Baby W. They are currently waiting in the crib...until they need to find a new place until the baby is older. 

The dog on the left was a gift from Kurt to me one Christmas. He bought it for me because it kinda looks like Coop. The IU bear in the middle is Kurt's from when he was a baby! We absolutely love it and can't wait for our baby to have it. The bear on the right was a present that I bought Kurt when we first started dating. I'm not really sure why I thought it'd be good to buy him a stuffed animal, but Kurt kept that bear in his room all through college. 

On the front of the crib, we have this little sheep hanging. {Thanks Peck!} Not only is the sheep cute, he is a sound maker. Kurt and I sleep with our white noise app {crickets and water to be exact!} so we thought our baby would like some noise, too. 

If you look behind the lamb, you'll see the new bedding! The crib skirt is already on and the two sheets we bought are washed and folded on top of the mattress. I'm waiting to put one of the sheets on until we get a waterproof mattress cover. 

The latest addition to the room is above the crib and I absolutely love it. My friend Lauren lives in San Fran and obviously couldn't come to my shower today. She is so thoughtful and sent Mer some decorations for the shower today. We loved this little banner so much, we decided to hang it above the crib! It's so perfect. 

 I was kinda dreading having to buy more things to fill the wall space above the crib and now I don't have to worry. And, it will always remind me of how much fun I had at my shower today and Lauren! 

 It may not look like we got much done, but it feels like we did SO much yesterday. I'm actually starting to fall in love with this room and absolutely cannot wait to spend time with our baby in the room. We still have some things to do and do have quite a bit of things to find places for {see corner of the room in the next pictures}, but we're getting there! I'd like to also buy a fun mirror to put somewhere in the room. We have a few more projects we'd like to do, too. 

So what do you think? I think I'm ready for a baby to be in this room! :)

Week 31

Week 31

Well I must say, I was pretty productive last Sunday after I finished blogging. I got the first 5 Christmas presents wrapped and under the tree and finished a couple weeks worth of laundry. This week definitely wasn't as crazy as the month before, but we still had quite a bit going on. Only 3 more weeks of school before Winter Break. I. Can't. Wait. 

What's going on with baby: Baby W continues to grow {let's hope not too big!}. He/she is around 16 inches long and over 3 pounds. The baby can turn it's head from side to side, which I can definitely feel at the top of my belly since it's breech....I don't think there is much room up top for a head and shoulders! The baby continues to move around quite a bit, especially when Daddy puts his hand on my belly. 

What's going on with me: All the books/websites say that I could start feeling Braxton Hicks contractions now. I'm not really sure if I have or not, but there are definite times when my belly is harder than others. Some of those times I think it's the baby's head or shoulders I can feel. My back doesn't hurt as much as I expected it to. I've been sleeping pretty well. I usually wake up between 2 & 3 to go to the bathroom and sometimes have a hard time falling back to sleep. While it's hard for me to stay up later than 10ish most nights, I do sleep better the later I go to bed. I typically get a good 4-5 hour stretch of sleep before I'm tossing and turning. The 20+ pounds I've gained have started making my feet really hurt by the end of the day. I try to stay off my feet as much as possible, but that's not really realistic with my job! :) I am starting to notice my feet and hands swelling a bit by the end of the day. Nothing crazy. My rings still fit, but they are a little more difficult to take off than usual. I'm still feeling really pretty great! I do think that working out 2-3 times a week has really helped. My plan is to continue working out until I deliver. It's definitely getting a litter harder to workout and I don't really feel like I've done much when I'm finished. But, it's better than nothing! 

What happened this week:

-Monday after school I had a quick parent conference. After that, I came home. Kurt and I actually had time to make dinner together and enjoy some time just relaxing. 

-Tuesday was another day with meetings after school. After I was finished, I rushed up to Noblesville {thank God we don't live up there because the traffic is terrible!} to pick up the bedding for the baby's crib! I really probably should have gone another day, but I was too excited to wait. After driving for close to 45 minutes to get up to the store, I rushed back to get to 5 Seasons to work out with my mom. I was pretty late and only got in about 30 minutes of working out. When I got home, I helped Kurt pick up the house a bit before Lauren and Tom came over for dinner. Kurt made chili in the morning and I made some cookies when I got home. Both were delicious! Lauren and Tom hung out for a bit and then we watched the IU/North Carolina bball game. It was a pretty late night considering the game didn't start until 9:30!

-Wednesday I had pilates after school. I decided to run a few errands after working out to try and buy some more Christmas presents. I made it to a few stores before I was ready to get home and eat some dinner! I hate how early it gets dark now...it feels so much later than it really is!

-Thursday after school, I went to run some more errands. This time with ideas of things I wanted to buy for the baby's room. It was a really successful trip to a couple stores! {Pictures to come of things I bought for the room...} After shopping, I met my mom to work out. We went to dinner together and went to The Blue Door to do a little shopping. I was pretty tired by the end of the evening from being on my feet a ton all day. I was ready to get home and get in bed after a long day. 

-Friday I went to get a manicure. When I was finished, I met Kurt at Lowe's to pick up some things for our projects we wanted to do in the baby's room. After that, we went to my parent's house and all went out to dinner with them. We finally got home around 9:30. We hung out for a bit before heading to bed. We knew Saturday was going to be a busy day. 

-Saturday, Kurt had to get up early to go pick up a few tools from his parent's house and the head to IU North for his New Dad class! When he left, I got up and watched a few shows before cleaning the house. He got home around noon and we got right to work on all of our projects {bookshelves, closet shelves & reorganizing, laundry, etc}. We worked on things for over 7 hours. I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the day, but felt SO great about all the work we completed. I am absolutely loving how the baby's room is coming together and am so excited to be able to spend time in there with our little one!! Once we finally sat down, we really didn't feel like cooking anything for dinner. We picked up some Chinese food, watched the second half of the IU game, and relaxed for the rest of the night. Of course, I fell asleep on the couch pretty early while Kurt stayed up and watched some Christmas movies without me....there is NO way I could have stayed awake! :) 

-Today was another great day! Mer and Magee hosted a baby shower for me. I'm so thankful for great friends! I had so much fun seeing so many friends I don't get to see very often. When I got home, Kurt and I finished up a few things in the baby's room and I put another load of baby clothes in the washer. I plan to put that all away tonight before heading to bed. 

Our next doctor appointment is Tuesday. I'm guessing it will be quick and painless {although I have to get a shot...ugh} like last time. I know the baby is still breech so we'll probably talk about that some more. We HAVE to get a  pediatrician finalized so I'd like to talk to the dr about that. 

Only 15 more days that I have to get up early before I'm off work for two weeks. I'm SO excited.  

Good Day!

I picked up the baby bedding today after school. It's so cute! I can't wait to see it all in the crib. After working out, I came home to a house smelling of yummy chili. I made some of these awesome cookies {I think I've already had 5!!!}. Lauren and Tom came over for a bit to have dinner. Now watching the IU game. Go Hoosiers! It's been a good day! :)

Catching Up! {Weeks 27-30}

Since I'm so far behind {thanks to a crazy, crazy life}, I'm going to do a quick overview of things that happened from week 27 to week 30. I could literally write a chapter in a book telling all the things that have been going on...I don't want to bore you! Since being in the third trimester {I can't believe it!!!}, the weekly updates I get about the baby are pretty much the same - growing/adding body fat and the brain is getting more and more advanced. I'm still feeling great. I'm just impatient and can't wait to meet our baby! 

Weeks 27 & 28

{I needed to include a picture with my pups!} 

How big is baby: 

The baby is around 2 pounds and 14 and a half inches long, about the size of a head of cauliflower. 

What happened these two weeks: 

{two whole weeks of ZERO workouts...ugh!}

Considering this was a month ago, I don't remember every little thing that happened. However, I do know that this was a week full of long days and late nights. I was trying to work on reports as much as possible. 

Monday - Coop had surgery. Kurt picked him up when he was finished {everything went okay} so I could stay late at school to write reports. 

Tuesday - We had our second childbirth class from 6-9 at IU North. 

Wednesday - Halloween! I didn't have pilates after school, so I stayed until 6ish to write reports. I rushed home so Kurt and I could pass out candy. We didn't buy much this year and we ended up running out by 7:30. We ended up ordering a pizza and hanging out the rest of the night. 

Thursday - We had our first CPR/First Aid class at IU North from 6:30-8:30. I came home quickly from school so we could eat a quick dinner before heading up to the hospital. 

Saturday - A bunch of us headed down to Bloomington to tailgate. It was absolutely freezing! We didn't stay out in the field for too long because the weather was so miserable. We left the field and headed to Yogi's to get a bite to eat before going over to Nick's. We stayed there for awhile and watched the end of the IU and ND games. It was great being back in town, but not as much fun...especially when I had to sit and watch a fun game of sink the biz. :) We went over to Upstairs for a bit before heading home that night. 

Sunday - Kurt and I went to the Colts game with my parents. It was a good win! After the game, we decided to go grab a bite to eat. We ended up going to La Margarita in Fountain Square. It was delicious. We'll definitely need to go there some more...especially when the weather is nicer. 

Monday - I stayed really late after school writing reports. I ended up getting a lot done and worked some more after coming home. 

Tuesday - I had my 28 week doctor appointment and glucose test. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! My test results were normal. My doctor said everything looked good at the appointment and that the baby was measuring right where he/she should be. 

Wednesday - I changed pilates to Friday so I could stay after school to write more reports. Another late night at school. 

Thursday - I stayed after school until 5ish to try and finish reports. Of course I didn't finish, but I was close! I met Kurt at my parent's house so we could head up to the hospital for our second CPR/First Aid class. Julia and Lauren were at my parent's house because Quinn was in labor. We all decided to grab a bite to eat at McAlister's before Kurt and I headed up to our class. At the end of class, I had a bunch of texts because Quinn had the baby. My dad took Julia up to see the baby that night. We were going to stop by, but they weren't in the mood for more visitors that night and it was getting late. When we got home, I went back to work on report writing. I ended up staying up until after midnight finishing up reports. I was exhausted! 

Friday - I headed to pilates directly from school. After that, I met Kurt at the hospital to meet Ally. We hung out there for a bit before heading home to watch the IU basketball game with some friends. Once the game was over, I went straight to bed because I was so tired! 

{Meeting Ally for the first time!}

Saturday - I had to get up kinda early because I had a writing workshop conference downtown. It took up most of the day. After the conference, I went to pick up my mom. We went to run a few errands together and then went to get our nails done. We picked up some food on the way home. I dropped her off at home and then I came home to bring dinner to Kurt. We stayed home and watched football. I'm sure I fell asleep early on the couch. 

Sunday - My aunt and cousin had a baby shower for me! It was so much fun. I'm planning to post about it sometime this week. After the shower, I came home to show Kurt some of the gifts. My dad and brother brought my mom's car down later to drop off the rest of the gifts. Kurt left for hockey and I went to dinner with Christopher and my mom. Christopher and I were going to go to Kurt's game, but it was too late once we were finished eating. After dinner, I headed home and got in bed early. 

Weeks 29 & 30

How big is baby: The baby is growing quickly and is around three pounds by the end of week 30!! He/she is somewhere around 15 inches long. Seems like the baby might start feeling pretty squished soon! 

What happened these two weeks:
Tuesday - I went and got my hair cut. I got like 3 or 4 inches cut off, but it's kinda hard to tell! I'm glad I didn't get it cut any shorter. I'm not quite ready to have short hair again. I rushed to 5 Seasons after my hair cut to get my first workout in in over two weeks. I was late, but 30 minutes was better than nothing! 
Wednesday - I had pilates after school. After I got home and ate dinner, I headed up to watch some tv in bed. I ended up falling asleep by 8:30 that night...I must have really been exhausted!
Thursday - After school, Kurt and I headed to Bloomington for the basketball game. Before the game, we went to Macri's for dinner. It was delicious! We wanted to do a little shopping before the game, but didn't have enough time. We had fun at the game even though they weren't playing that great of a team. We knew this would probably be the only game we'd get to go to this year. 
Friday was conference day at school. We had meetings starting at 7:30. I left the house at 6:50 to grab Starbucks before getting to school. I didn't leave school until after 5 and met my mom at her house. We went to Panera for dinner and then went to Holiday Mart. I bought a couple things, but was pretty disappointed because my favorite ornament lady wasn't there. We were there until 10. We went back to get my car and I went directly home. I went to bed pretty much right after I got home. 
Saturday morning, Kurt and I woke up early. He headed up to Carmel to pick up a used crib from one of my families at school {they gave us one they didn't need anymore!}. His brothers helped him move the crib to his parents house to have for when the baby stays there. I went downtown for a much needed facial. It wasn't the best one I've ever had, but it was better than nothing. My face is looking a little better after it. When we both got home, we got some work done around the house. We cleaned our cars and the garage. We made dinner for Andy, Quinn, and the girls. After we cleaned, we took the food to their house and hung out with them for a bit. 
Sunday - Kurt woke up really wanting a good breakfast. We decided to try Zest. It was really good, but took a lot longer than we thought it would! We went to the grocery store after we ate. When we got home, I took a little nap before the Colts game started. 

This past week was a short week at school with the holiday. I'm so thankful for the 5 days I had off school but still feeling behind on things I need to get done!
Monday - We had a meeting before and after school. After my afternoon meeting, I headed to Dawn's to get my eyebrows waxed. I went home quickly because IU had an early game. 
Tuesday - We had another meeting after school. I was so ready to leave after the meeting and get break started! I went up to 5 Seasons to work out with my mom before heading home. 
Wednesday - I was supposed to work out with my mom at 9, but didn't get up in time. Kurt had an early meeting. When he got home, he helped me get started on cleaning the house...something that hadn't been done in over a month...gross! He had to go to the office, but I stayed home and finished cleaning. I met him up at St. Vincent Carmel for my 30 week doctor appointment. It was a quick appointment. The baby is still breech...my doctor was able to feel the head! If the baby is still breech at my 36 week appointment, they'll do an ultrasound and then schedule a c-section. We'll see what happens! After my appointment, I went to Anne's house for pilates. Then I met Kurt at the mall to get our new pj pants for when we decorated the house for Christmas. We grabbed dinner at Puccini's and then headed home to chill for the evening. 
Thursday - Thanksgiving! We woke up early to do the Turkey Trot with my parents. I'm glad we got a little workout in before we ate the rest of the day! We came home to shower and put the corn casserole together. Then we headed up to Kurt's parent's house with the dogs. We spent a couple hours there and then went to my parent's house. We stayed there until around 8 and then went back up to Kurt's parent's to pick up the dogs. When we got home, we watched a little football before heading to bed. 
Friday - My mom and I went shopping. We got a few presents and took advantage of some good deals. Now I just need to wrap the presents I've bought so far! After we shopped, I met Kurt at Sullivans to pick out our Christmas tree. He hadn't really eaten much all day and wanted to grab a bite to eat before going home. We decided to meet my parents for dinner. We probably should have grabbed something quick on our way home, but it was nice having dinner with my parents. We thought we were getting a really early start on our decorating, but ended up getting started really late after dinner! We didn't get everything finished until about 1. Kurt started a movie and I fell asleep on the couch. 
Saturday - We finished decorating for Christmas by putting lights outside. It was absolutely freezing! Of course, one of our strands was out so we ran to Target to grab another strand of lights and some dog food. When we got home, we finished with decorations. We were going to do some work in the baby's room, but didn't even know where to start. I started making a list of all the things we need to do in the baby's room and things we'd like to buy for the room. We have a long way to go... Kurt, Josh, Mer, OG and I went to Susanah and Ryan's house for a party they were having. It was great seeing them! We stopped by Little Caesar's on the way home and finished watching the ND football game. 

This morning, we were going to get up early and head to church before going to Lowe's and the grocery store. We didn't get up early and didn't have time for Lowe's! We got home in time for the Colts game. I got started on some laundry while I've been writing this blog post. Kurt is at his hockey game now. I'd like to be productive tonight and get some presents wrapped, the laundry finished, and maybe start working in the baby's room. We'll see how much I actually get finished! For the first time in a really, really long time I can say this upcoming week is going to be pretty uneventful! Thank goodness!