He's here!

On September 17 at 6:30pm, the little man finally arrived!

And, while I know we're biased, we kind of think he's perfect.

We arrived at the hospital Sunday night to be induced, and by 3:30 am, contractions had begun. They weren't terrible, and I was able to sleep through many of them until about 5:45 am. By 8:30 my water had been broken and we were in full blown labor. Unfortunately, by 2:30 pm I had only progressed to 3-4 cm dilated, so we used an epidural. I slept for a few hours, and at 4:30 pm, I was still only 3-4 cm dilated. In addition, Nolan had not dropped at all, and his head was getting very cone shaped from trying to drop. Luckily, aside from a headache he was doing great. We decided that it was in all of our best interest to go for a c-section. At 5:45 pm I was wheeled into surgery, and after swapping out the epidural for a spinal block (because I could feel all of the pokes they were using as a test to see if I was numb enough), Nolan was born at 6:30 pm. 

On the way out of the OR, the doctor advised that I never again attempt to have a baby naturally, that I would be scheduling a c-section ahead of time for the next one. Apparently Adam and I make babies bigger than my body can handle. Oh well, at least I'll know what to expect...

Now that he's here, we could not be happier. He was 8 lbs 11 oz and 21.5 in long. In the days after his birth he dropped to 7 lbs 11 oz, but at his two week check up yesterday he was back to 9 lbs! I can't believe he's already outgrowing clothes!

Go Bag Update

Oh, and that lovely go bag I featured in a previous post. I used almost none of it. My Nook was useless since any time I wasn't in pain I was sleeping. The suckers were silly, I wasn't allowed to eat. I didn't want the tennis balls or any of the other massage tools anywhere near me. (Before the epidural the only touch I wanted my Adam rubbing my arm or back gently.) 

The only things we did use were Adam's snacks (though not many of those), the camera, phone chargers and chapstick. Once I was in the recovery room I used a few more of the items (laptop, slippers, night gown and toiletries), but if and when there is a next one I'll be packing a lot lighter. 

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully I'll get better at posting more regularly now that we're starting to get in to a routine. Now, I'm going to go shower, since little man is finally asleep. 

Wait... spoke too soon... :)

Beer Cap Magnets & An Upgrade to the Calendar

Nearly every man in my family loves craft beer. I guess I shouldn't leave myself out, but since I haven't had one in nine months...

Some time ago, I decided to make a few magnets out of the cooler of the bottle caps. This led to Adam saving every cool bottle cap, and eventually every bottle cap that came in the house. So yesterday, to stave off boredom, I ran to JoAnn's and picked up some magnets and got to work. 

Sadly, they no longer carried the super strong magnets I used last time, but I made due. 

Yeah for a bunch more magnets! However the backs of some of them looked like junk:

So, I pulled out the blowdryer and heated up the backs of them. It did a decent job of smoothing out the backs, and an excellent job of getting rid of all of the little strings that hot glue can leave behind!

So, not perfect, but they look great on the fridge. If I make them again (and I have enough bottle caps to make about a hundred more) I'll do a little more searching for the stronger magnets, but these ones did a pretty good job. 

Also, I upgraded the calendar journal that I made yesterday. Instead of washi tape, I found a pretty ribbon to cover up the label from the cards, and reprinted the dates on some pretty scrapbook paper. 

Now I can't wait to use it!

DIY Calendar Journal

Well, I was going to post the contents of the bag for the hospital stay, but after repacking that bag, I realized that it's really just an overnight bag. Nothing too special there aside from the nursing bras and perhaps the fact that I bought new pajama pants for the hospital stay (all of my old ones were deemed too ratty for public consumption...)

So, onto today's post!

I spent part of our lazy Memorial Day waiting impatiently to go into labor making a calendar journal like this one found at Design*Sponge.

I realize, I'm a few years behind making this, but, to be honest, when I first saw it I couldn't figure out why you'd want to make one. Now that the little man could be making his appearance any day, I really like the idea of jotting down a sentence about what went on each day as the little one grows - even if that's days events are totally mundane.

I used 4x6 cards, and had to cut each card by hand since my paper cutter is still packed in a box in the garage (and days away from giving birth I don't think I'm supposed to be moving huge boxes, or maybe that would induce labor... nevermind). Cutting the cards was a little bit tedious, but not nearly as tedious as hand stamping each and every card. On the back of each card I've started writing birthdays and anniversaries to hopefully help me remember!

Instead of the berry box shown in the original post, I used the cute little cardboard box that the thank you notes from my shower came in. I didn't have any vintage post cards around so instead I printed the month on the back of cards and cut them longer than the calendar cards. I'm now searching for something to cover the green paper that goes around the box (I was thinking washi tape, but only if I can find some that's really opaque.) Also, I'm thinking I'll add a little scrapbooking paper to the dividers to make them a little prettier. 

So, that's what I worked on yesterday while waiting for the baby. Let's see what kind of trouble I can get into  crafting I can manage today!

Things To Do While You Wait...

Well, we're just in waiting mode around here. Waiting for the little man to decide it's time to make his appearance. I really thought that maybe, just maybe the full moon last night (combined with a long walk) would provide some necessary encouragement, but nope. Still pregnant.

Yes, I know I'm not due until the 7th. Yes, I'm aware I could be waiting a few more weeks. I'm choosing to ignore those facts and instead hope that the tiny little remnants of Hurricane Isaac will change the barometric pressure and encourage the little guy. I realize that this is about as fool-proof as my full moon theory. Like I said, there are some things I'm just choosing to ignore.

So, what to do while you wait?

Well, yesterday I scrubbed some of the kitchen floor. On my hands and knees scrubbing. All that gave me was a sore back, and the knowledge that no, contrary to the old wives tale, it will not cause labor.

I've organized the laundry closet in our new home. Someday soon I'll share pictures and printables.

I've made a couple of prints to fill up the picture frames that were filled with the creepy people from the store place holder picture.

Today, I unpacked and repacked our hospital bag, which we tend to refer to as the "Go Bag". I figured as my first 'real' post, I'd share the items in the bag.

And now, the list:

- Insurance information, Important Information & Phone Numbers, Birth Plan, Lamaze Books and Handouts, small brown paper bag and a few pictures to focus on, all in the folders in the back.
- Lotions: Peppermint, Relaxing and Mango Scents since I'm not really sure what smells I'll like while in labor.
-  Suckers, granola bars and trail mix. (Granola bars and trail mix are for dad, suckers for me.)
- Camera (charged)
- Uno, Nook charger
- Rolling pin (to use for back massage)
- Cheap Slippers and Socks
- Bathing suit for coach, night gown for me.
- Toothbrushes, toothpaste
- Notebook for anything we need to write down
- Baby Book (so that we can get the footprints when they do them at the hospital)
- Washcloths in a ziplock bag
- Chapstick!
- Giant red plaid bag, gifted to Adam by the band boosters at his new school. It's perfect for this job!

- Notebook of all of the things we will need to pack that day (or need to buy). This includes:
     - Laptop, Phone Chargers, Pillows, Toiletries, my Nook and maybe some knitting.
     - We need to find the video camera (not for taping the birth, but maybe for after when grandparents hold the little man for the first time) and I should probably add a black tank top incase I don't want to wear the night gown.
     - Today we're making a sock filled with rice to use on my back, and adding a tennis ball or two to use for massage.

Phew! I think that's everything! I'm curious to see how much of this we use, and am definitely going to follow Diane, our lamaze teacher's advice: when we get in to the room, dump out the bag! If we don't I can see how we would end up not using a ton of this.

After I put everything back in the bag, Dodger made himself comfortable on the sheet I spread out to hide our shag frise carpeting.

He really wanted to be in the go bag pictures, so I figured I'd let him have his moment in the sun.

Well, next on the list of things to do: Get a pedicure! Gotta have pretty toes for labor, right?  I think tomorrow I'll share what we've packed in our overnight bag. Perhaps someone will stumble upon my blog and let me know something I've forgotten to pack.

Stupid Cold

The cold I managed to catch just will not go away, so I decided it was probably best to stay at home and rest up in the hopes that this cold will go away! The bigger bummer is this is the first time I've really been sick all school year - in fact the first virus like thing in about a year. (Well the first one that I haven't been able to knock out in a day or two.)

The bright side has been that sitting on the couch all day has left me with lots of time to feel the little bean kicking and punching, so that's been a nice little bonus. Oh that, and I think I've pinned 50 new sewing projects onto Pinterest.

Let's try something new

Since both Adam and I have family out of town, I decided to start posting to this blog in the hopes that it would make it easier to keep everyone informed about our pregnancy! I'll try and post how everything is going, and pictures as I take them. (Yes mom, that includes the weekly one you requested... )