Baby Piper

We finally had our baby girl…Piper Grace on April 28th at 1:55 am.  She weighed 8lbs. 13oz. and was 22 1/4 inches long!  This is just a quick update to let everyone know that we had her.  I will post her birth story and some pictures very soon.  As soon as she lets me get caught up on some sleep.

Curtain Issues

About a month or so ago I took down my curtains to wash them and get the wrinkles out.  Yes I am guilty of hanging them up right out of the package a few months back because I was just being really lazy.  I did have morning sickness at the time so I should be excused!  Anyway I finally got around to washing them and then because they were so wrinkled the didn’t get put back up…until this weekend.  I had to wash them again because they were so wrinkled at that point that I just started over.

Well to get to the point of my story when I first washed them a month ago our dryer was on its way out.  It was overheating and has since actually caught on fire and we had to replace it.  Well I am assuming that my curtains shrunk when it was overheating because they are now way too short for my windows!  They originally hit right at the floor with out dragging.  Now look how terrible they look!

What a waste of money!  They are sorta cheap curtains to begin with being 10 dollars a panel but I had to have 6 panels.  All of them are on the same wall and so they just scream “look how short we are” when you look that direction.  I don’t know what to do now.  My sister suggested mistreating them.  However being that they are white and the style of them I would not know what to do to make them look good.  My other option is buying new ones and reusing this fabric to make Piper some play clothes.  Like the Von Trapp children!  Any have any ideas?  Please share!

Starting to take shape

Our yard has been a terrible mess!  Here you can see when all we had was lots of mud!  It was terrible!  We had stepping stones but they didn’t really help.  We were having to wear rain boots to get up to our driveway.  Then finally we had our walkway finished at the end of this winter.  You can see how it turned out here.  Now while we are waiting on this baby to arrive we have been doing lots of work in the yard.  We can finally sit outside and really enjoy it.  There are still so many plants I would like to plant but we are just getting a little start.  Everything is starting to green up really well.  We are getting some grass to grow successfully and added a few plants here and there.

We planted a flowering burgundy cherry tree, a honeysuckle, 2 blue hydrangeas, and some veggies and herbs.  We also put in the solar lights to help light up the walkway.  I can’t wait till we get the lattice up around the bottom of the deck.  That will help give the area a cleaner more finished look.  But for now I think it is looking far better than it was months ago!  By the time Piper can crawl around outside we should have some thick grass for her!

40 Weeks

Today is Pipers due date.  She is still not here.  I thought I was going to go into labor Sunday morning but here I am…  I was having my first strong, painful contractions.  Others till then had mostly just hurt my back.  I was up for a few hours because I was so uncomfortable but decided to try to sleep more in case I did go into labor.  When I woke up the contractions were gone.

So here we are.  Still waiting and wishing this little one would come soon.  It is hard not to be impatient when I just want to see her so bad.  And not to mention that I am huge and miserably uncomfortable.  At this point she can’t wait that much longer!  I just try to remind myself that God is in control and He has a plan for when she needs to come.  Until then…

39 Weeks

Wow!  On one hand I can’t believe the end is here on the other I feel like I have been pregnant forever!  I find myself having mixed feelings as the end draws near.  I am so excited to see Piper and hold her I can’t stand it.  But I will miss some aspects of being pregnant!  There is nothing like feeling a baby growing inside of you.  Very weird sometimes but so very neat too!  I will not miss the pain and discomfort of carrying all this weight!  I can’t wait to sleep on my stomach again, these hips need a break!

But the end is here!  Any day now we will have a little baby in our home.  We will be parents to something more than a dog.  I was feeling great yesterday and had lots of energy.  I met with the midwife and the baby has dropped back down low.  Everything else is going well just waiting for the baby to decide she is ready.  I think she is going to be big!  I hope not too big!  Last night I started having some contractions and lots of back pain.  I slept horrible all night but finally got comfortable this morning and slept for a few hours.  I am having a few contractions this afternoon as well but nothing that seems to be turning into much.  I am just trying to take it easy by bouncing on the birth ball and waiting.  I think I am going to clean the bedroom so that we are ready for the home birth when the time comes.  It just needs vacuumed and dusted more than anything.  We got the rest of the house clean over the weekend.

From the beginning I had said that I wanted to have her on Earth Day.  I just thought it would be fun.  Well Earth Day is tomorrow!  We will see how that turns out.  Otherwise I know I have someone wanting me to have her Saturday because it is her birthday!  Hopefully I will have her soon and will have some pictures to show everyone!

A Long Overdue Date

With the baby just around the corner we decided that we needed to try to have sometime for ourselves before she comes.  Blake had Friday off of work so we decided to spend the day relaxing and enjoying the time together.  I was really hoping for a sunny day so that we could go to the horse park and have a picnic…but it rained and stormed all day long.  We headed out of the house early to get breakfast.  While at breakfast we tried to decide what to do since it was going to rain all day.

With not many options to choose from we decided on going to see a movie.  This is something we have said we needed to do before the baby came because we have never been to the theater together.  We dated for 8 long months long distance so the things we could do were just over the phone.  We did watch movies over the phone by syncing a dvd to start on our computers at the same time.  Sounds weird but it worked and when you are apart for 8 months you will do anything to spend time together and try to make things feel normal!

After getting married we couldn’t justify spending the money to go see a movie when we enjoyed the comfort of watching one at home.  So with the rain we decided to have a traditional movie date before the baby comes.  We watched Knowing which was very good!  It was nice because we catch an early show time and so there were only a couple of other people in the theater.

After the movie we went to a few stores to look for some deals on a few baby items that we still need.  We didn’t really find anything so then we headed to dinner.  We ate a quick dinner at Steak n Shake; Blake had never been there before.  We shared a milk shake after dinner and then headed home.  We spent the rest of the night like a few teenagers playing video games all night.  We had just gotten Mario Cart for the Wii and battled it out all night.  We had so much fun!  We must have really decided we could still act like teenagers because we ordered a very late greasy pizza at 10:30.  We had a fun time but the next day realized we just can’t eat like that anymore.

So I guess now we are completly ready for this baby.

38 Weeks

We finally have the internet up and running again!  We are still waiting for the baby so no one missed anything!

I have been feeling pretty good.  Just tired and a bit out of breath.  I have been sleeping terrible, I can’t wait until I can sleep on my stomach again!  Or just roll over for that matter!  I am really hoping to have this baby soon!  She has been really low for the past few weeks and I have started to dilate and my cervix is pretty thin as of 2 weeks ago.  The midwife usually doesn’t do an internal exam but needed to a few weeks ago to make sure the baby wasn’t breech.  I really haven’t been having many contractions that I can tell at least.  I will notice my stomach getting rock hard but not really having any pain or discomfort with it.

I have my next midwife appointment tomorrow and can’t wait!  Sarah will be bringing with her the midwife who will help her during the birth.  I really look forward to meeting her!  The only thing really left to do before we have the baby is finding a pediatrician!  I have gotten a few suggestions of some doctors and now just need to give them a call.

I just can’t wait to have this little girl now!  I sure hope she decides she is ready very soon!

37 weeks

I thought I should check in.  Our internet is down right now and I didn’t want anyone thinking I was having the baby yet.  I will be sure to post on here as soon as I can or Blake can that we had her!  I haven’t been having any contractions so I don’t really feel like the time is that close.  I don’t think I am completely ready for her this week but will be ready next week.  There are just a handful of things I would like to finish around the house first.  As far as all the birth supplies I am completely ready.  Everything is in the bed room and ready to go.  I even have her bed all ready and a diaper and outfit set out for her arrival!  I can’t wait!

I haven’t been sleeping the best so I am trying to get as much rest as I can.  I had a couple of good days over the weekend and then with the cold weather started feeling icky.  My head is feeling some sinus pressure and I am feeling a little nauseous from time to time.  I think the weather is due to warm up in the next few days so hopefully that will help me feel better!  This snow in April has to go!

Birth Class

Last night we attended birth class!  It was really helpful.  I did have to deal with Blake wanting to crack jokes before class got started but he finally behaved and I think he actually enjoyed it.  We learned all sorts of great positions I can labor in to help relax and ways Blake can massage my back during contractions.  We also went over the 3 stages of labor and what to expect and do during each one.  I think this all helped so that we can stay calm and know a bit more about what to expect.  The best part of the whole class was that it eased Blake’s mind on the fact that we are having a home birth.  He has really started to get nervous of that and was ready to cancel it all and go to the hospital.  Our teacher talked so highly of the home birth experience and I think he just needed to hear that.  And of course hear that it is safe!  Unfortunately he hasn’t been able to attend the visits I have with the midwife so he is a little out of the loop.

I really learned how much I enjoyed using the birth ball and need to go get one now!  Just sitting on it now was so much more comfortable than any chair.  I think using it while in labor will help tremendously with my back pain!  I learned a few other great positions that I think will help with that!

Now just a few more things to do and we will be ready!  It is April!!!  It feels great to say we will have our baby this month!