The Little Pumpkin

What a great Halloween for B! We started off the morning (after a decent night...a hard time getting her down with Erik taking the bottle feeds at 12 and 2 and me having a fight to nurse at 4:30 and up again at 7:25) with a visit to the pedi's office at 8:30 in their new office. Since we were the only ones there (they were only seeing weight checks and sick kids since they still had a ton of unpacking and finishing up they were doing) at that time, I think B was their first patient in the new office! Heidi joined me at the appt so Erik could sleep in a bit (he was going to go hunting but rain and exhaustion thwarted his plans). B weighed in at 6'15" so she gained an ounce per day (typically 1/2 - 1 ounce/day so this was great) exactly since Tuesday and is almost back to birthweight at 8 days so we got clearance from the pedi to not come back until 1 month unless we were having issues. In addition, Dr. C also evaluated our nursing and she thought we were doing everything right but encouraged us to go through with our lactation consultant appointment tomorrow.

When we got home, Lauren worked with Erik to redo the office decor (as Erik had purged several of my books from the bookshelves so they'll be up in the attic as I haven't yet come to terms with parting with my Bio 101 or Chem 105 books and the like just quite yet). Haley and Alex came to visit and I just took a quick nap.

In the afternoon, we tried to do a photo session but B wasn't drunk on milk and was wide awake and crying most of the time so we got a few photos in, but nothing spectacular. Both Erik and Heidi stepped out to run some errands so I was able to get some of the photos with the bear and pottery barn chair done and dressed B up in her little pumpkin costume to take some more photos.

Trick or Treat started at 6 and Heidi handed out candy while we took B over to Irene's and Sara's. If I haven't mentioned it already, I love our neighborhood...all the trick-or-treaters were so polite..."trick-or-treat" followed by a "thank you" came from almost everyone. Erik was half tempted to dress up as one of our neighbors was giving out Yuengling to parents taking their kids around....that's awesome! Maybe next year, we'll be that house that gives our glasses of wine!

Afterwards, we were all pretty tired so we just settled in for the night with the Pens game (again, another great performance).

We took a bunch of pictures so hopefully we'll be able to add few here to the blog in a bit (yeah, I have way less time than I anticipated!)

Happy 1 Week Birthday!

It's so hard to believe that our baby is 1 week old. Time has flown by. This week has been a week of discovery, some occasional trying times, and realizing that there's so much room in your heart to love another humn being. You can never do too much holding, cuddling, loving, singing, dancing you can do with a newborn.

Last night, we fed her around 10:30pm and, after her slew of diaper changes, she went down at 11:30pm in the crib. Then, between 12-2, it was definitely a trying time of figuring out pacifier and feeding (she did get a bottle of BM). She went down again after feeding around 2:30, then up at 4:00 until 4:45, then up 6:30-7:15, then we all were up 10:15 for the day. After feeding, Erik had her for the morning while I got a chance to shower, shave and be a normal person. I did manage to get some laundry done. I also had the opportunity to just have a day where I didn't have anything to do (not that I don't have a list of 100 things to do but I just chose to not do any of them today). It was so nice to not have to deal with the bili lights today. Her coloring looks a lot better today.

I've been reading Happiest Baby on the Block and I must say, the swaddle, side, shhhing, swinging, and sucking have been working for us. With the bili lights, it was hard to do swaddling with her but today we tried to swaddle quite a bit and it worked well today. She's been spacing her feedings today about every 2.5-3 hours.

Our nicknames for her:
Yoda (the furrow in her brow and that round/oval head...yep, Yoda)
Pebbles (enough said....this may be our family Halloween costume next year)
Poopshitz (b/c her gastrocolic reflex is in full activity...you can almost guarantee a diaper change before feeding b/c the child refuses to touch a nipple with a drop of urine in her diaper and then is the loudest child on the face of the planet with poop letdown occuring over a period of 5 minutes then changing her before she finally eats......we've probably wasted about 20 diapers just b/c we changed her then tried to feed her and had a poop letdown)
Sweet Pea
Brookie
Brookie Bear
These are the ones that we use most frequently, but I'm sure we'll come up with a few more.

Erik and I just love smelling her....it's pure, unadulterated, perfume-free, au naturelle smell and it's so wonderful...I can't get enough of it b/c sure enough we'll be having a new smell once we start bath times. I just spent time today feeling and touching everything on her...her soft hair, her knobby knees, her wrinkled feet, her button nose with tiny milia, her soft as silk skin, her mullet-esque babyfine hair with receding hairline, her fingers with wragged nails, her flat butt with lack of a gluteus maximus, her spread eagle long-as-her-fingers toes....she's just so precious!

Tonight, Heidi, Lauren, and Nate came over tonight to watch the Pens game and they get some Brookie time. We got General Tso's from China House in Mars and are having a relaxing evening. Tomorrow morning, we have a weight check and jaundice check and hopefully our bili lights get-up can be sent back.

Lots of posts!

I have a lot of posts waiting to be finished (birth story, hospital experience, our first days home)....they should be finished tomorrow...I just needed to find a few moments! So, definitely check back through posts b/c they'll be dated the day I started the post!

MiCasa Monday: Deferred...

For obvious reasons, I haven't had time to do this post. I hope you understand! The post for next Monday is already in the works!

Our Pumpkin's Arrival...the rest of the story!

Yeah, so let me just say I totally planned to nest, facebook, catch up on blogs, etc the entire day while I labored b/c I figured a first time baby after SROM at 5am wouldn't be born until at least 5-8pm...we were even guessing when during the Pens game she'd be born (though what we thought were conservative guesses was 4pm by Erik and 4:16pm by me)...

So, needless to say, right after I posted my last update around 12:45, Dr. S walked in around 12:45pm while he was up on L&D and just wanted to check to see how far I had progressed (I had been on pit for about 5 hours by this point and granted, with contractions, I was feeling a little pressure but nothing outstanding or severe or even minor that I would call. With a few pushes of the PCEA button, any wince of pain had gone away). We were guessing I'd be maybe 5cm by this point (or at least hoping). I wanted to call our birth photographer after being checked b/c I didn't want her sitting around all day so we figured around noon would be a good time b/c I estimated being around 5-6cm which would give her enough time to get some of the casual labor shots and give me some time to get ready (mainly put in contacts...I actually wanted to see the babe when she was born!). Likewise, we figured our family was all at our house by this point so we could call to give them an update.

Needless to say, I was completely taken aback, shocked, etc when he said "oh, you're ready to push when you want to or you can labor down a bit...you're complete, complete and +2 and the head's right here." As I already mentioned, this was not something I was expecting, he was expecting, or that we were ready for. So, I hurried up and called our birth photographer and told her to RUSH in b/c we were ready to push. I asked Dr. S to let me labor down a bit and give me about 30 minutes so I could mentally get ready for this, let the photographer here and call our parents since I knew they were at lunch.

The photographer got here in about 20 minutes (as for the photographer, this was something that, based on my Nesting and some blogs I follow (lifeinmotionphotography.com), I loved the idea of birth photography and to give Erik a chance to relax and enjoy and to not worry about taking pictures. Through the Nest, I found our photographer. I saw something on her blog about her doing birth photography so after some emails back and forth, this was something she really wanted to do but had a hard time finding interested people b/c a lot of people have misconceptions thinking she'd be "right there" taking pictures...whereas, I have seen other photographer's examples where you pretty much capture the first breath, those first few moments as a family, the experience of the birth, and the fun stuff like foot prints so I knew what I wanted from the photographer. When I discussed this concept and overall style with her, we were an instant mesh in what we both wanted....we were going to be her first birth photography experience and we were getting a totally great deal instead of paying $1000+ just for the shooting based on what I researched from other photographers. I was excited for her enthusiasm to do this since I had a difficult time finding other pro photographers who wanted to do this style.).

I was disappointed I didn't get a ton of laboring pix but considering that when she got here, I was literally at +3 with little time left b/c she was having a dip here and there with contractions so I had to start pushing. Brooklyn was coming sooner than anyone expected. I started pushing at 1:40pm...20 minutes of pushing (like 8 sets of 3 pushes b/c my ctx weren't picking up on the monitor so we were relying on my feeling worsening pressure) and her head was pretty much out. This may be TMI but I had the mirrors down so I could watch. I was having a hard time figuring out how I needed to push so by watching the mirror, I could see what worked and waht didn't work based on how I was moving her. This allowed me just a few sets of pushes to get her from not going back in. She was stable about an inch or so out and Kelly called Dr. S. We waited a few minutes and every set of contractions, she inched (okay, millimetered) herself out a bit more so she called the charge nurse, Jane, to come in just in case. I'm talking up a storm to Erik, the photographer, the nurses, etc about every random thing I could think of to keep from pushing. After about 5 minutes of waiting for Dr. S, we had to turn off the pitocin...it was so hard not to subconsciously push with the contractions so by shutting it off, it at least made her progress slow down.

There was literally one fibrous band holding her back during this time. Finally, 15 minutes later around 2:15 or so, he arrived in the room (he was doing a procedure...in the meantime, that little fibrous band held her back b/c literally one more strong push and she would've been out). When Dr. S came in and saw her, he said "Signal fair catch...everyone step back...don't touch her or we'll have a baby right there." He got dressed and they took down the bed. That fibrous band was the only thing holding her in and after one little snip of the band, she pretty much came out and a small push brought the rest of her head out. I remember looking up and seeing her hand come out with her head...it was right up there by her face. She was born at 2:25pm. She went straight to my stomach/chest. I was in awe looking at this little precious creature on my stomach...all gooey, bloody and not as bad of a conehead as I imagined! Erik cut the cord and she stayed on my belly about 10-15 minutes while I delivered the placenta and he checked everything out.

When I was being sewed, she went over to the warmer and was cleaned up. Erik went over to see her too and then, yes, I updated FB (hey, there's not a lot to do when you're laying there with someone sewing you up). The epidural was awesome as I didn't feel a thing...I gave myself an extra few pushes of the PCEA and just laid there watching and taking everything in. My daughter was there...crying away! It was funny...right as she was coming out, I heard the text sounds and Lauren texted that they just arrived. Dr. S took the pumpkin back to the clinic...he was so excited to get candy from a patient!

Then, we had some time with just us and some photos....then we had the family come back slowly to meet her. Mom and dad, then dad sent back Andrea, then Lauren and Heidi and then they all were in the room. Lauren brought a basket with snacks and I started devouring Swedish fish and sixlets (and started on a mountain dew because I was starving!). The newborn nurses swung by and checked her out. We were in the LDR until about 5:30pm and then I was wheeled to post-partum. I ordered food the moment I got to the room (2704) so it was ready by the time we got settled :) Mom, dad, Andrea, Lauren and Heidi stuck around for a little while until around 7:00 or so and then they left to go home to get Primanti's for dinner. I must say we saw our nurse for 5 minutes to check us in, bring me an ibuprofen and that's about it...then it took like an hour for the nurse to bring me a percocet when I realized ibuprofen wasn't cutting it if I wanted to get out of bed. Let's just hope the nurse on tonight is a little responsive to when I need something.

It was just the 3 of us and we were scared to death that it was just us and our daughter. We watched the Pens game (they won!!) and around 10pm or so, a beautiful, 20-minute++ fireworks show was right outside the window in Oakland (I think it was Pitt homecoming...you could see the Cathedral of Learning in the background...we tried to get pix but we just got a reflection). It was so beautiful and we kept saying how it just capped off a perfect day.

I went into today without a birth plan (I had a general idea of what I wanted but I didn't want to be one of those people who had a detailed birth plan such that I'd be disappointed if it wasn't followed exactly) b/c I understand as well as anyone that the best laid birth plans will just go to rest and the day will turn out to be the exact opposite of the birth plan. Even though I didn't have a birth plan, the past 24 hours was exactly how I would've wanted my birth plan to read. Today was simply flawless...everything was remarkable and we have our baby, Brooklyn Sydney (yep, it was a pretty easy decision to go with Sydney), sitting here in our arms...life is perfect...our family is complete!

Brooklyn Sydney Ligda

Brooklyn Sydney Ligda arrived at 2:25pm today! She was 7lbs, 1 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. We're all doing well and we'll be posting pictures soon (probably posting them all the shutterfly then adding them to the blog next week sometime!)

An Awesome Morning...

So, I think I mentioned some of this earlier, but I'll reiterate...

We came in around 6am to the room (LDR 3), got checked in, had the IV started (on the second try), drew blood with a butterfly since the IV wouldn't draw back, etc. We started pitocin around 7am since I already had orders from the induction aspect and my ctx were only every 2-3-7 min and not regular.

Erik and I brought in those plastic jack o'lanterns for our nurses, my anesthesia peeps, the residents, the office staff (for Dr. S to take down when he remembered), and one for our post-partum nurses. They were definitely appreciated and everyone commented on them. Hey, I've been there, done that and love when patients would bring in cookies or candy for the team taking care of them.

Dr. S came in around 7:30am to check me (right after the last post) and I was 75%/2/0 and let me just say that he had to change his scrubs after....oh dear, he tried to assess whether the back of her head was in the front or back and that little bit of manipulation sent a geyser in his direction.

I noticed the ctx were way more painful after pit (I'd say 1/10 pre-pit and 3/10 post-pit in pain levels thinking of 10/10 being those women I've heard screaming their heads off). I held out until 8:30am (mainly b/c I knew there was shift change for anesthesia and also I wanted to see what ctx really felt like and tried to imagine them getting worse) and then I requested my epidural. I figure I was definitely getting one so the moment I started to feel mildly uncomfortable, I called uncle and it was the best decision ever.

Mike Maromonte had done my epidural. I definitely felt comfortable with him since he was one of the fellows when I was on my rotation and I knew that he wouldn't make me nervous. It was so weird to experience everything I've explained to my patients before...I was like, "oh, that's what that part feels like."

For the lidocaine, it truly does burn. It definitely surprised me! As for the Tuohy needle, it does feel like a pressure in your back and I really could feel him walking off bone and when he was a little to the left. It seemed like it was taking longer than usual b/c well, you're sitting there all vulnerable but it probably took about 4 minutes for him to get it. All the while, Erik is sitting there on the chair watching and Patty is helping to keep me in position. It's hard to stay in the curled shrimp or cat arching its back position and I had to reposition in the middle to help open my spaces. I couldn't feel the thread of the catheter but I did feel the bolus of lido/epi as it did feel like a small pressure in my back.

It was an awesome insertion and awesome epidural. I truly felt my legs get numb and heavy and I figured that I had a T9 level. It was really an out-of-body type experience b/c I could move and feel my legs but they felt so weird. I started on my right side and took a short nap with Erik and sure enough about an hour later when my BP cuff went up, my right leg was numb and I had to flip over. Kelly, my nurse, had to help move me b/c, while I could move my left leg, my right was really numb and hard to move. So, I flipped to the left and napped again. I kept flipping about every hour or so. I did do the PCEA and didn't really need it until maybe 11am or so. Katie stopped by to visit and likewise, Mike and Giorgio stopped in to see how things were doing.

I was lucky to have been able to nap, send emails and do stuff on the computer on and off since like 9:30 after the epidural went in. Around 11, I noticed when I was on my right side that I felt a ctx on the left side of my abdomen. I pushed the button and switched the left (while dragging my right leg with me!) and within 5 minutes, my pain was gone. Until now, I pushed the button 3 times I think.

My pitocin was adjusted quite a bit and I think I'm at 10 now but my ctx definitely have regulated themselves now at about every 1-2 minutes. I don't feel them one bit but I have noticed that I'm starting to feel some pressure with the contractions. I'm hoping Dr. S comes in to check me soon. Erik and I are having a birth photographer so that Erik didn't feel like he needed to take a bunch of pictures...we wanted him to enjoy this moment but both MB and I didn't want her sitting around the whole day.

Erik is calling 4pm as birth time but my vote is 4:16pm. I think we're both pretty conservative on this. Erik and I have just been enjoying talking about things. We spent this morning napping, on the computer, or just chatting...it's been really special. I did send him out around 11-11:30 to go grab lunch and he just got back a few minutes ago. He went to Quaker Steak for wings and fries. I told him that he could bring it back but out of respect for my ice chip status, he ate there.

It's so nice that it's just the 2 of us. Our family arrived at the house and are getting lunch and taking care of Crosby. We just wanted labor to be about us and not have family there while I labored. We plan to call them when I start to push so that they'll be here for after she's born and after I'm cleaned, they can come back to meet her. We were very happy that our family supported this decision but know they're chomping at the bit for the call to come down (heck, it wouldn't surprise me if they were sitting downstairs in the cafeteria or something).

At this point, I'm pretty numb and I don't feel any part of the contractions. I'm super comfortable and DH and I are just chatting and relaxing. We chose not to have anyone in the room until after she's born (minus the photographer person who is coming in a bit) so that we could enjoy these last few moments as us. I hope this continues b/c this would be like the best labor ever.

Really, I have utmost respect for anyone who does this without an epidural b/c after just a few minor pitocin contractions, I was immediately thinking that this was for the birds and no way I was going to be uncomfortable for God-only-knows how long b/c I'd rather be sleeping, relaxing, etc that tired from pain and not sleeping. I even had a fear as Mike was doing the epidural that he wouldn't be able to get it and I'd have to go au naturelle and that thought just scared me. I actually thought "I would never have gotten pregnant if I had to do this without an epi...that wasn't part of my plan"....hehe!

I must say I was GBS positive so I had to get penicillin at 8am and again at noon and damn, that burns, hurts, etc....my whole arm, elbow joint, hand...EVERYTHING just hurt and ached. When she slowed down the rate, it still hurt so I just asked her both times to run it as fast as it would go to get it over with! They have been having a hard time keeping the contraction monitor on so Kelly or Jane keep coming in to readjust and her heartbeat has dropped even lower in my abdomen so she's definitely descending...so much so that I have to keep my legs straight to keep the monitor on!

And Dr. S just walked in the room....so hopefully we've made progress (hopefully about 5cm or so) so I can call MB to come in....

The Irony...

So, we had been debating for a while about elective induction vs. letting Brooklyn choose her appearance. We were supposed to go in last night to start the induction process so by morning, Dr. S could break my water and then deliver, ideally, in the afternoon. Well, it's midnight and they still hadn't called and I heard from my sources that Magee was busy so we went to bed. I fell asleep on the couch at like 10:40 and Erik was a bit nervous and stayed up until midnight in case we got the call. At midnight, we both ventured up to bed. We had washed everything and changed the sheets b/c my parents were going to be coming in and staying in our room while we were at the hospital...but, at the last minute after I had already gotten into bed, I decided to put the blanket and chux pad on the bed, just in case.

I woke up around 3am with my regular alarm and figured since they hadn't called yet, that there was no reason to have people come to the house for 10am. I actually called the parents, sister, sister-in-law, etc around 3am to let them know to reschedule their plans/sick days since we didn't know if they'd even bring us in at that point and that she wouldn't be born anytime in the near future so they all could go to work. I actually decided that I was going to go into work this morning unless we had been called in before 6am. I figured they weren't going to bring us in, so we'd go to work and I'd call at 8am when the office opened and then we'd just wait until we had more updates.

Anyway, at 4:30, the phone rings and they give us the green light to come in. Erik and I decide to sleep in another 30 minutes then head in around 5:30 or so. This may be too much information but I noticed it felt a little "wet" but didn't think anything of it since I was sweating and feeling quite warm and cozy since Crosby and I were cuddling. Then, about 10 minutes later I go to roll over and, wham, like a gushing faucet. My water had broken! I woke Erik up with the news! I think he was a little annoyed at this tidbit of info...not realizing the implication of this moment! At that point, I felt instant relief about the induction vs. Brooklyn arriving on her own! I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulder and I was so calm yet excited at the same time!

We take our time to get up and get ready. Apparently, it's true what they say about towels after your water breaks! Erik was taking his time and I was like a kid on Christmas! Crosby had to have sensed that something was different....usually, when Erik and I are both up to go to work, Crosby is such a little zombie dog that you have to carry her downstairs in the morning to go potty then she practically drunk walks back up the stairs, goes straight to the couch or our bed and is asleep within minutes until like noon, if not 2 or 3 in the afternoon....um, not this morning! From the moment we got out of bed, she was this excited little jumpy dog with her tail wagging and she just followed us around the house whining and crying. She had no problems going potty and just had such high energy the entire time. She did her excited howls when we were going to the garage...something she NEVER does at 5am and something she usually never does before noon. She had to know or sense that something was up!

On the way in, we called the family and let them know to reschedule their plans back to the original, though they didn't "need" to be at the house first thing in the morning. Erik and I just talked the entire way about how exciting this was going to be.

We got to the hospital at 5:45am and since I was scheduled for elective induction, they already had our room ready and registration was already done so we just had to sign a few papers and they took us right back to LDR 3. It was a little while until the nurse came in but she was entering all the pitocin orders since they were already here. Since I was already scheduled, everything was filled out so we got the ball rolling early. I had still been feeling those contractions every 2-10 minutes, very irregular, and definitely not painful...I wouldn't have even noticed them if I wasn't feeling my belly.

The nurse came in around 6:15am and got me connected to the contraction monitor and fetal heart rate monitor. Another huge weight was lifted off my shoulder hearing her heart beat around 150s. Sometimes, being in medicine creates too much stress b/c you know too much...I kept thinking that I hope we didn't have a prolapsed cord when my water broke...that really was a thought that crossed through my mind so hearing her heartbeat was a relief. I asked to turn the machine up so I could hear the heartbeat the entire time. Amanda also went through the paperwork list and started my IV (she did miss the first one but got the second one....I was only going to give her 2 tries before I asked for one of my anesthesia peeps to do it but thank goodness she got it on the second one....there should've been no reason to miss my veins, there were like 8 that were like 14 gauge pipes just in my hands. The charge nurse came in to draw my blood to save some time since the IV wouldn't draw blood.

I did ask to not have any med students or interns...yes, I know it's a teaching hospital but for the med students, I may have them on a rotation some day and for the interns, well, I was an intern once too. I didn't care if a resident checked me or whatnot but I didn't know where the interns were on their rotation block.

They just started the pitocin around 7am at a level of 2 and I can definitely feel the contractions a bit more. Maybe 1-2/10 at this point. The contractions were irregular, about every 2-6 minutes on the monitor.

I'm just waiting to be checked at this point and to see where things go. I'm just super excited that Brooklyn had the chance to make her own arrival. Huge weight lifted off my shoulders! Thus, we'd be in the same boat regardless of what decision we had made (induction vs. letting her decide her arrival). Sometimes, I think God just wants to mess with my brain a little bit to keep me on my toes. So, it looks like we'll have our Mole Day (a mole is 6.02 times 10 to the 23 atoms or molecules of a substance...I know, I'm a chemistry nerd...I even have a Mole stuffed animal from the American Chemical Society) baby after all!

This is IT!

Our last day as just the two of us (and a dog)...Erik and Kristin (and Crosby)...a couple (with a dog)...we are so scared, nervous, excited, scared, anxious and did I say scared? I've had limited newborn experience and well, Erik has had none...I don't even think he's ever changed a diaper. I know he'll be an awesome father...I can see it when he's with Crosby...so gentle, caring, loving! I can't wait to see him holding our daughter...I can only imagine I'll fall in love with him all over again and love him that much more deeply and fully.

Anyway, today, I've been feeling contractions about every 10-15 minutes throughout the day. They haven't been painful but it's enough to notice b/c my abdomen feels rock hard. I've also felt some worsening pressure, kinda progressive since Tuesday. I hope this is the start of early labor but considering that it's 10pm, the hopes of a 10/22 baby are slim to none.

It was weird leaving work (after definitely a busy day) today knowing that the next time I go to work that I'll be a mother...craziness! I almost started crying on the way home thinking about how tomorrow at the time, I could be holding my daughter. Anyways, when I got home today, I did my customary nap to reenergize. Erik and I decided to go to Springfield for dinner since it may very well be our last dinner together, just the two of us, for quite some time.

As usual, it was wonderful. I had a Sirloin with their herbed butter, mashed redskins and salad and Erik had their Oktoberfest special chicken (beer, harvest cider, apples), mashed redskins and salad...both of them were great and I would love to try to make the Oktoberfest knockoff sometime in the future. We just spent time talking about everything and anticipating what may happen in the next 24 hours. Mom/dad, Lauren/Nate, Heidi/Jay and Andrea were all informed of the game plan.

As of the appt on Tuesday, Dr. S was going to have scheduled for induction in the 3-7 time block but he was going to try to have me come in around 11pm-midnight, barring any overly busy times on L&D. Then, we'd get set up with pitocin and labor overnight. In the morning, he would come in to rupture me and let me progress and hopefully deliver during the day while he was there...I made a point of seeing Dr. S the past few weeks b/c I knew he was on board with what I wanted to happen.

So, as of now, we just wait for the call to come in. I'm getting ready to go to sleep to try to get as much as I can now to be ready for tomorrow. Erik and I have the car packed with all of our bags, supplies (Boppy, pillows, snacks), cameras, and diaper bags. Car seat has been installed for about a week and we're ready to go!

We are ready to meet our daughter...to see who she looks like b/c looking at the 3D U/S, she has my nose and long fingers/toes and Erik's face. We have letters written to her that hopefully she'll open when she's mature enough to understand them. We have all of our hopes and dreams for her and pray that we'll be the parents she deserves. I've cried or been on the verge so many times about how much we love her and how much her family already loves her and she's not even here yet. It's so sad to think that there are so many children born to parents who could care less about the child or who never wanted the child in the first place...then you have couples who desperately want a child and for one reason or another are suffering from infertility.

Here we are...2 young kids (yes, it's hard to believe that we're 28 and, um, now 29 and have this beautiful home, a fabulous puppy child who first taught me what it's like to love something just as much as your husband and to want to jump in front of traffic to be able to protect her from harm, growing careers, and living the life of our dreams) who it seems like we are living in a dream and one day we'll wake up from our dream and be back in high school as our 17 year old selves....but for now, our dreams are going to come true and our daughter will enter this world. I hope she knows just how much she is wanted and loved!

We love you Brooklyn and we can't wait to meet you!

Last minute...

Talk about last minute....Erik and I did the final maternity pic session tonight. Of course, I wanted the cute little picture of the baby blocks spelling her name on my belly and the first, oh, 10 minutes of pictures, Erik had spelled Brooklyn as BROOLYN...no K. Um, babe, we have to start from scratch. Of course, Crosby didn't cooperate quite as well the second time around. We have a few hundred pictures to upload so I think we're going to try to take care of that during the week we're home with her. Some of the pictures were gorgeous...I loved the pix we took at the lake 2 weekends ago.

Erik and I are still wavering on the induction arena. We feel so torn. I just wish she had arrived already then we wouldn't have to make this decision. I think we are leaning toward induction. We plan everything in our lives, even down to trying to make sure holidays were incorporated into maternity leave. If she were to be born on Friday, then our sisters and parents would have the weekend already off to spend time at the house and hospital and we'd have a full week next week of just the 3 of us before Erik would go back to work. On the other hand, we plan everything in our lives. It would be fun, for once, to have something be so spontaneous and to let nature takes it's course. Any advice? Guidance?

Maybe labor will start tonight!?!?!? Both Erik and I said a few months ago that 10/22 would be her birthday...

On the work side of things, I love Southside and regional. I guess it still stems from my decision between anesthesiology, dermatology and orthopaedics. I love the patient group in orthopaedics. It's sad that Southside is now an outpatient facility as opposed to inpatient with the addition of joints and other more invasive procedures. If this rotation is awesome now, I can only imagine it in its true heyday!

10 on Tuesday, the end is near!

For obvious reasons, this one will mostly be about pregnancy and B's arrival!
1. We cannot wait for Brooklyn's arrival...ugh! It could be any moment and while we're so excited and anxious, we are literally scared to death. To think that we'll be caring for this totally, 100% dependent being on our own without an instruction manual can be a little overwhelming.
2. I'm going to miss playing with those little feet and pushing back or rubbing her little butt. She pretty much was sideways most of the past month with her feet on the left and her butt on the right. Fortunately, I have a tall torso so I never really felt rib jabs but I loved every minute of the rolls in my belly.
3. On the other hand, I have hated the heartburn...it's been so much worse the past month to the point where I haven't even wanted to eat just to avoid the ramifications.
4. Hiccoughs: yes, I hate seeing it spelled hiccups and I wish Webster and crew would just change the spelling of the word to appease the 240 million or so Americans who spell it phonetically instead of "hiccoughs." But, why I mention hiccoughs is that I wonder if she'll have them on the outside as often as she does on the inside? It took me a while to realize that's what they were. They were just these rhythmic motions that I felt just about everywhere and then the last 10 weeks or so (since I knew she's been head down since then), I've always felt them in the same spot and figured they were hiccoughs.
5. Fall: my favorite time of the year! It's so beautiful outside. I love, love, love looking at our house and all the fall leaves and colors! It's truly God's paintbrush!
6. October: I can't wait to share our birthday month together! Will she be a Libra or a Scorpio? Erik and I both think 10/22 will be her arrival day!
7. At my appointment today, I've changed to 60/1-2cm/0. Not a significant change from last week but enough that Dr. S is amenable to my request for induction on Friday. We're still so torn about what to do. I don't want to feel as though I'm playing God selecting when she's to be born or rushing something that's meant to occur on its own but at the same time, I would hate to miss a week of maternity leave b/c she decided not to make her arrival. I know induction would put me at an increased risk of C-section but I only hope that we do not regret whatever decision we make.
8. Last minute: talk about last minute...tomorrow we'll do the last of our maternity pictures b/c I should have an early enough day to do them in the afternoon before I need a nap! We have done 2 sessions so far...one at home a few weeks ago and one the other Sunday out at the Lake. Don't worry...we'll post pictures soon!
9. Naps: seriously, I think every adult needs to take naps. This past month, I've felt utter exhaustion by the time the afternoon rolls around so I need at least 30-60 minutes just to reenergize. Maybe it's the going to the bathroom 5 times per night that's disrupting REM sleep...I guess this is just preparation for the future!
10. The end of the suspense is near.......we just pray that everything goes well in the next few days and that we'll be holding our daughter in our arms soon!

MiCasa Monday: Our House in the Fall

This is one of our favorite times of the year and we love decorating the outside and inside of the house to reflect all the beautiful fall colors...all the luscious reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and golden undertones are so beautiful!



The past few years, my mom has had a tradition of decorating the outside of our living space (whether the house or our prior townhouse) with pumpkins, hay bales, cornstalks, gourds, Indian corn, ribbons, wreathes and other decor as part of my Birthday gift. This year, mom and dad came down last weekend (I already had a few minor items of decoration out since Labor Day weekend) to decorate the house and I just love it.

Yesterday, I was able to sneak outside with the few hours of beautiful weather in the afternoon to snap some photos of the house and the foyer. While I love the new Nikon D60 and the new lens with much better zoom options, I still don't know how to upload pix from it so I will leave you with the point and shoot Sony pictures as soon as I have the chance.

Another relaxing day...

We had another morning to sleep in together. Then we ventured to Giant Eagle to get essential groceries (and Erik then vowed never to go again when the church crowd was present). While we watched some of the NFL pregame previews and the Steelers game, Erik stayed downstairs in his theater room while I went to the Craft Room to finish some organization. I made some great strides in my recent desire to purge unnecessary papers. Unfortunately, I stopped around 4pm then picked it back up at 9pm but was too tired to really put everything away so I have some stuff to do tomorrow (or in the interim, if I shall go into labor, Erik was instructed to just shove everything into a box until I have time again).

It truly turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and we washed our cars and I was able to capture the essence of fall at our house by taking some photos of our porch and entryway with our cute little maple tree whose leaves are turning a brilliant red (see tomorrow's MiCasa Monday post for pictures of our house during my favorite season of the year). We watched New England pummel the Titans and made constant remarks of Tennessee's 0-7 status since stomping on the Terrible Towel. We ordered Brooklyn her first Penguins jersey and then made a few other Amazon Blu Ray purchases to prep for the upcoming maternity leave video nights.

Erik made a wonderful French Onion Soup (recipe below). This is truly one of our favorite recipes and usually makes its appearance in the fall and at various points throughout the colder weather. Finally, we spent some time relaxing in bed with Crosby....I swear that girl just slept all day.


French Onion Soup ala Alton Brown
Ingredients
5 sweet onions (like Vidalias) about 4 pounds
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups white wine
10 ounces canned beef consume
10 ounces chicken broth
10 ounces apple cider (unfiltered is best)
Bouquet garni; thyme sprigs, bay leaf and parsley tied together with kitchen string
1 loaf country style bread (we used croutons)
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
1 cup Fontina or Gruyere cheese, grated

Directions
Trim the ends off each onion then halve lengthwise. Remove peel and finely slice into half moon shapes. Set electric skillet to 300 degrees and add butter. Once butter has melted add a layer of onions and sprinkle with a little salt. Repeat layering onions and salt until all onions are in the skillet. Do not try stirring until onions have sweated down for 15 to 20 minutes. After that, stir occasionally until onions are dark mahogany and reduced to approximately 2 cups. This should take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Do not worry about burning.

Add enough wine to cover the onions and turn heat to high, reducing the wine to a syrup consistency. Add consume, chicken broth, apple cider and bouquet garni. Reduce heat and simmer 15 to 20 minutes.

Place oven rack in top 1/3 of oven and heat broiler.

Season soup mixture with salt, pepper and cognac. Remove bouquet garni and ladle soup into crocks leaving one inch to the lip. Place croutons on top of soup and top with grated cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly and golden, 1 to 2 minutes.

One Week (or Less) to Go!

As busy as our schedules seem to be, Erik and I purposely scheduled NOTHING for this weekend to enjoy our last weekend before Brooklyn's arrival. Yesterday, I was fortunate to have an early day (7 shoulder blocks, done around 1pm) and headed to Above All Grand Salon where I treated myself to a massage (gift to self) and a spa pedicure (gift card from Sara). It was quite relaxing but I didn't realize my spa pedicure was going to be about 100 minutes long so I didn't get a chance to get a manicure so I scheduled one at Capelli's for today.

I got home around 4pm and took a jetted bath, complete with bubble baths! While we had dozens of restaurants to pick to go out to eat, I went with my favorite comfort food and wanted Long John Silvers Chicken and Corn-on-the-cob and man, was it the comfort food I had so desired. The heartburn has just been horrid the past 3-ish weeks. We then went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and picked up a humidifier for B's room. We ventured to Costco and picked up one of their super duper metal shelving units for the storage room and went around to various places attempting to seek a Blu Ray movie to watch in the newly completed home theater in the basement but couldn't find anything we wanted to actually buy so we just watched Blue Planet. The quality of the picture on the Kuro is outstanding and Erik did a great job setting up the multitude of speakers. I had an early night falling asleep on the couch but we did have a nice couple pick up the China Cabinet...I'm sure the country style will look great in their house, it's just not our style. We have more of a modern classic style and I just didn't have the time to refinish it to something more espresso or black in color to go with the associated decor (just like Erik never had the chance to get into all this hacking of satellite stuff with the extra Direct TV dishes on our house).

This morning, we slept in until 9am (which compared to my 5am wake-ups is definitely sleeping in). Erik didn't go hunting initially b/c it was raining at 5am. I went downstairs and made Belgian waffles....a small plain waffle for Crosby with Cocoa Chocolate Chip waffles for us. We were out of chocolate syrup so I made a syrupy chocolate ganache out of some chocolate chips and heavy cream I already had in the fridge. I also made a simple syrup and cut up a big bowl of strawberries for myself. After filling up some of our breakfast glasses with milk, I brought breakfast in bed upstairs and we had an enjoyable breakfast. I just hope Crosby realized how spoiled she is by getting homemade dog-friendly waffles in bed and then was cuddled by her mommy and daddy for another 30 minutes.

Erik went hunting while the pregnancy nesting instinct was in full force as I attempted to clean out and purge items from my craft room. In the middle, I had my French manicure at Capelli's and returned to find my nesting instinct was still strong. I have decided that I am no longer keeping old bills (aside from credit card bills for record keeping) and once the new bill comes in showing the balance, the old bills get shredded. I've been keeping bills for years so I figured I had better act on my current need to shred those old bills while it was in my mind. Likewise, I also went through and purged a good bit of papers, journal articles and memos and other info from med school that I haven't looked at in ages. I am trying to organize my coupons, create a binder for my stash of BBB coupons and reorganize product info receipts and brochures that I want to keep. In addition, I am organizing all my fabrics and ribbons so that I can make some feeble attempts at efficiency for my crafting projects while I'm on maternity leave.

By late afternoon, Erik returned empty-handed and we put together the storage unit in the back part of the basement. Right now, it is holding our paint supplies and organizing our alcohol since we got rid of the China Cabinet last night (love Craigslist!). We now have a semi-carpeted storage room with yet, to be determined organizing space.

After getting Chinese for dinner, we watched Couples Retreat (don't even ask) and then followed that by the Pens Game where they trumped Tampa Bay. Nothing better than enjoying the home theater, having the Pens on while cuddled up with a blanket, having Crosby asleep on our laps with the laptop coming up with my 60+ item to-do list for maternity leave. The biggest tasks while I'm on leave: organizing the craft room to complete efficiency, obtaining a secretary desk (custom made or found in store) for the entryway, craigslisting half the items sitting out in the basement and organizing the rest of the items into storage totes.

Now, it's off to bed....awaiting that moment anytime in the next 7 days where Brooklyn will let us know she's ready to make her appearance.

Holidays

I absolutely love fall and the beautiful weather and the changing leaves and the wondrous scenery. I also love that I really can decorate most areas of the house just once in early September and have it last through Thanksgiving (but I do put out some Halloween-specific items in there that get taken down or switched out in early November). From September to November, our house has gold, orange, yellow, deep red, and brown accents to it to bring out the lustrous fall colors.

Then the Saturday after Thanksgiving, all the fall items get packed away and we decorate for Christmas and winter. Again, I try to do some versatile decorations like pine cones and garland that can stay up for the winteryness of January. Last year, I adored our entryway with the posts and knolls all covered with garland and bulbs...I loved walking in the door just to see our foyer.

In December, I try to focus on reds, greens, golds or silvers (depending on the room) with pine cones and pine garland as the focal accents. I'm so excited to have 2, large formal Christmas trees this year. Our traditional red, green and gold tree is displayed in our dining room as the dining room is viewable from the road and I love having that twinkling in our windows with all of the wreaths and lights. We haven't decided where we will put our second tree. I'm thinking now that we have the basement theater room and anticipate spending a significant amount of time down there that we will put the second tree there. The second tree will be mainly silver based and will hold all the sentimental ornaments we have collected through the years...all of our Swarovski, Hallmark, sports, homemade, annuals, Firsts, exchanges, etc. Then, our living room which now has a swing where I originally envisioned the second tree will be formally decorated with garlands and accents but no large tree.

The next step is selecting Brooklyn's First Christmas ornament. I plan to get one of the Baby's First Christmas ornaments from Lenox to continue with our Lenox Firsts ornament and also the traditional, everyone-gets-a-Hallmark First Christmas ornament. I would also like to start a tradition for Brooklyn of getting her an ornament each year (inspired by Kisa and her Frosty Friends collection). I know Erik and I have collected (or will Ebay the remaining missing ornaments) the Swarovski Annual Snowflake for each year since we started dating (so we have to go all the way back to 1998) b/c in 30 years or so, I'd love to see an entire tree glimmering with the beauty of the Swarovski snowflakes and thinking about what we did that year.

So, any thoughts on what to do for Brooklyn? I'd love to have her take these ornaments with her to her own home some day so I definitely want them to "go together." I'd love if the company put out the ornament in each year's version and dating and include a story behind what happened that year for her so it would be like a walk down memory lane every time she put up the ornaments. Maybe the Swarovski snowflake; what about the Lenox snowflake; Waterford bell? Any thoughts??

Finally in January, I keep most of the pine and garland and transition to the lovely, wintry icy blue color and have accents of snowmen in the house. By February, everything's exchanged out for reds and roses for Valentine's Day and then March, it's greens and golds for St. Patrick's Day. April, hopefully unless Easter is early, brings out the eggs and pastels. By the time we get to May-August, it's summer and I usually just have summery wreathes up and avoid more of formal decorating.

We're separating...

and parting ways with Direct TV (so totally not what you were thinking). So, when we first bought the house in March 2008, we wanted to discuss Direct TV vs our provider, Armstrong cable. We had the TOUGHEST time getting in touch with Armstrong representatives and then when we did, since our house was only 2 years old at the time and had never had cable service to it, they had to do an inspection of the house to make sure it was cable appropriate and all the cables were run that needed to be run. This would take 3 weeks to get them to come out and then they couldn't hook up cable that day if we did have the appropriate connections so it would be another 3 weeks until we could have that done. We had called mid-March and we didn't want to wait until May to get this done b/c Erik would have been at the house plenty in the interim. Anyway, we had called Direct TV and literally, they were ready to set it up the very next day so we then just waited until it was convenient for us to have them come out.

Since we only had the plasma in the living room and a regular TV in the bedroom at the time, we got an HD receiver and a standard receiver. We were told by the Direct TV people that it was "no problem" to get additional receivers when we added TVs. We did like Direct TV and still do like Direct TV and their service.

However, fast forward to the past months/weeks when we finished the basement and had an old TV down there setup without a receiver and then we were purchasing the Pioneer Kuro for the basement, now we had this extra TV we were going to take to the guest room/Brooklyn's future room once she grows out of the nursery...so now we need an additional HD receiver/DVR for the basement and a standard receiver for the guest room (not to mention that in the next few months, we plan to buy a plasma for our bedroom so we'll need to upgrade to an HD receiver there and get rid of the standard receiver we currently have).

So, this week, Erik has an intelligent, educated conversation with Direct TV. Sure, we can add an HD receiver/DVR now but that will extend our contract an additional 24 months (our contract is up in April 2009 so that would extend it an additional 24 months so we would have like a 31 month contract from here on out...not to mention if we needed another receiver for the guest room and an upgrade for the bedroom) and add $10/month to the bill and the receiver, b/c we are already a current Direct TV customer, is $300.....whoa!

Step back a moment baby. Erik then inquires about buying a receiver off Ebay for $70 and just getting the activation card and then Direct TV gets all snippy and states that anything off Ebay, even if you purchase yourself, is still their equipment and you have to give it back in the end when you get rid of your equipment, even if we purchased the receiver off Ebay and not from them. So, our bill initially with Direct TV was like $65/month for 12 months with an HD receiver/DVR and standard receiver then increased to $95/month for the 12 month remainder of our contract...then if we add the additional receivers and their lease fees, it would bring it close to $115/month with no chance of ever coming down since we just relocked ourselves into this rate by adding the receivers.

Anyway, a quick call to Armstrong Cable and a quick response and quick action (apparently, since we're currently Direct TV customers, they're more than happy to come out like TOMORROW to assess for cable and set up the same day..........jeesh, where was this like 19 months ago!). They anticipate that, based on what Erik told them now that we've gotten to know our house a little better, that we're fine for the cable. Then, since we're transferring service from a satellite provider to Armstrong, we have a locked in special for 12 months at $65/month which includes the standard channels, the additional channel package, the second additional channel package (so we get the NHL network), the HD channels, and 2 HD DVRs for the living room and basement. We would not need receivers on each TV as our house would already have the HD capabilities just by plugging into the existing cable outlets (so we would have TVs in our bedroom and guestroom and if/when we upgrade to the plasma in the bedroom, we wouldn't need anything different unless we wanted a DVR). As the person repeated themselves like 3 times to make sure everything he said truly was included, we were like "sign us up!"

Thus, on October 28th, we're crossing over to the dark side and going with Armstrong Cable. We figure the money we would save in the next 4 months alone would pay for our termination fee with Direct TV. Don't get me wrong, we've like Direct TV but we just really don't care for their business practices as all this contract extending and receiver BS is really just that, BS. We'll take our business elsewhere. Then next fall when our contract with Armstrong is up, we can always recall to see what special they will be able to offer us...otherwise, we'll be happy to pull the "we'll go back to Direct TV" card again.

We still have yet to make the call to Direct TV but anticipate we'll cancel the next week to make sure we're happy with Armstrong through the weekend.

Southside, southside, oh how I love thee!

I'm on my Regional Month at Southside and since there were only 2 blocks on the schedule, I was done at 10am and then home by 11am. This rotation would be awesome but UPMC has screwed Southside by buying Mercy which they had no idea what they were going to do with when they bought it. Anyway, the faculty at Southside are awesome...such wonderful teachers and despite low numbers given the exodus of surgeons and conversion to an outpatient status, the learning experience is phenomenal...I could only imagine what it would have been like with 4-5x the current patient load.


So, when I got home, I definitely opted for the nap and slept until 1pm. Thank goodness Crosby is just as much of a sleeper/cuddler b/c she was my cuddle bug for my nap. Then a nice shower and off for errands...some fabric for photo props at Joanns and to make the baby blocks for Brooklyn, some returns to Target then a deposit at the bank. I took one look at my nails and realized I couldn't go into labor without a manicure b/c my nails looked horrid from all the handwashing (I am already going for my pedicure on Friday) and was getting ready to go to the nail salon (b/c Erik was supposed to be out hunting) but then felt hunger pangs and headed home to find that Erik didn't feel like going out since it was dreary. Erik and I spent some time discussing speaker placement for the theater room (to be a future Mi Casa Monday post) and then had caramelized onions and butter with pierogies and sauteed asparagus for dinner. God do I love pierogies (and halushki and halupki)!

We then watched a bit of the game and I went on a nesting rampage in Brooklyn's room realizing that I needed to reorganize 2 totes of supplies and reordered the books in her room...yep, I'm sure this will continue until she's here! We watched Top Chef (we think it's been Ash's card for a while but Robin NEEDS to go...she's horible and we both can't stand her) while I finished up some crafts and off to bed.

The countdown is on...

I was woken up at like 12:30am, 1:45am, and 3:30am with my first real contraction pain...this pain woke me up from a deep sleep each time. Now, I see why women get an epidural. Those suckers HURT enough that my groan woke Crosby up too. I was convinced this was the start of labor but nope, not really. When I did wake up at 5:15, I was in a sheer state of panic because Erik was in Johnstown for the day and I was here and had a semi-packed but not ready hospital bag. I, of course, spent the next 15 minutes gathering way too many items of clothing that I know I won't wear because I'll probably just want to stay in the comfy hospital gown or sweats. I packed up my toiletries, grabbed Brooklyn's already-packed hospital-to-be-turned-into-diaper bag, and made sure I at least had the car seat in my car. Now, Brooklyn, she must take after her mother (probably because her mother packed her bag) already because she has more outfits for the hospital than she could possibly wear in 48 hours; she also has some stylish burp cloths (thanks Kisa) and blankets so she can spit up in style.

Off to work for a nice light day then I had my appointment in the afternoon with Dr. Seiavitch. The cervix had made some progress from closed/25%/-1 to 1/50%/0...so cervix starting it's dilation and continuing it's softening and Brooklyn continues to descend a little lower which is why her little knobby knees and tiny feet protrusions keep lowering in my belly.

I feel her shoulders up against my right > left iliac wing. Her butt is in the upper right side of my abdomen and her feet/knees protrude on the upper left side of my abdomen. It took me a while to figure out that the rhythmic thumping that would occur in 5 minute spurts was probably her hiccoughs as opposed to her attempt at being "Million Dollar Baby" with routine, rhythmic punching of my bladder, intestines, colon, etc. I guess I'll chalk that up to it being the first time pregnancy as I probably felt those around 20 weeks or so but I just thought it was her movement...then in the ICU while sitting at the computer typing up yet another admit note, I would feel those what-I-thought-were punches. Thus, she earned the nickname "Thumper." However, in retrospect, after all the reading I did, those probably were just the hiccough fits so common in utero. It'll be cute to see if she continues with the hiccoughs ex utero.

Thankfully, given my 5'9"-5'10" height or the outward protrusion of my abdomen, I never had true rib kicking because she never made it up that high...however, I did get some liver and plenty of stomach kicks. Acid reflux and GERD have been the bane of this pregnancy and really my only complaints. I am so looking forward to getting rid of this GERD once she comes and my lower esophageal sphincter tone can reset itself after withdrawal of the pressure and progesterone influence.

Back to the appointment, as I've encountered Drs. Simmonds, Corey and Seiavitch almost equally, I love Dr. Seiavitch's humerous personality. At the appointment, Dr. S did mention that he didn't think i would make it to the 24th. Even though many primes go late, I don't think I've ever known a resident to go late (chalk it up to our constantly being on our feet and moving and thinking anything less than a 10-hr work day is an early day). I mentioned the possibility of induction at the due date (this is more for my comfort levels and the fact that I will still officially go back to work on January 4th but may go back one day on December 21st just to reset the "work" time frame with regard to time owed since I'm taking about a week of vacation and utilizing the departments generosity with holiday time to minimize my vacation time usage so my 5 days of vacation should translate to about 2 full weeks off....and people think that I don't "plan" my life down to the exact science). So, since he's on next Friday, we discussed coming in at midnight/1am on 10/23 for induction then proceeding from there so hopefully baby by mid-afternoon NEXT FRIDAY.

Holy sh*t, NEXT FRIDAY. That's like 10 days from now...um, yeah, our lives will be turned upside down and we'll be parents of the humankind. This just about took my breath away. So, when I got home tonight after lecture and our resident education meeting, Erik arrived home about 5 minutes after me. Once I told him of this news, I think a combination of excitement and sheer terror set in and we went into full-speed ahead mode...heck, at this rate, 10 days from now or 10 minutes from now, either way, it was a reality check. We finished our must-grab list such as all the things we (or Erik, in case something happens while I'm already here at work) need to grab on the way out the door (including cameras, toothbrushes, contacts, glasses, snacks, pillows, etc). Erik packed his hospital bag and then installed the car seat (of course the silver one that complements the interior decor of his car) into his Benz. Erik was a little frustrated that it wouldn't fit behind his seat so we have it behind the passenger seat but the passenger seat has to be moved forward a bit to accommodate the seat. We then installed the other base in my SUV. We took some time last night to just relax as the two of us.

I know we're hoping she doesn't arrive until next week. It would give us this weekend by ourselves to enjoy a few moments of peace, quiet and togetherness before we embark on this journey of parenthood together (that and I have my next manicure and pedicure scheduled on Friday...it's the little things, ya know). But, alas, we are ready to go should she decide that she wants to arrive a bit early.

Happy Birthday...

The best birthday present ever: making it through the day without going into labor. Since we celebrated my birthday all weekend and I already got an early birthday gift (my much coveted Nikon D60 with an 18-55 and 55-200 lens plus wide angle and macro kit), it was actually quite a nice present to just have the evening to myself.

Erik was back in Johnstown as he has a presentation tomorrow to give. I had an early day from work (home at 2...yay!) and made yet another Babies R Us run (Hi, BRU people...it's me again...you practically know my phone number by heart after all my recent trips). I also woke Crosby up from her deep sleep in our bed when I got home...um, her head is on the pillow, back to my body pillow and she pulled the sheet to nicely cover her to just below her arms. I swear she mimics what she sees humans do!

I then napped for 2 hours...so much for my alarm at 3:30! I formally packed my hospital bag and other gear we'll take with us, loaded the car seat into my car (the silver base is in Erik's car already...gotta love a man who wanted the car seat base to match his car), preregistered for admission, filled out our umbilical cord donation forms, and just tidied up things a bit. We also had a very nice couple swing by the house to look at the China Cabinet we had for sale...they paid a deposit and voila, they'll be picking it up on Saturday!

I also never have enough time to work on crafty things so this evening afforded me several hours of uninterrupted and guilt-free crafting (spend time on the sewing machine or with my hot glue gun in my craft room OR spend time with the husband...hmmmmm...decisions...thus, sometimes the best birthday gifts are free and I loved having this time to myself since I can imagine it'll be virtually non-exsistent in a few days).

On my To Do List for tonight:

Baby Legs: CHECK with most of them If you don't know what these are for, they're essential leg warmers so when Brooklyn is wearing a onesie, she can just wear the baby legs and socks instead of pants...makes for an easier time changing her diaper. I have a few pairs already done but spent the rest of the time finishing the ones I already started. Essentially, you take a women's knee high type sock and cut it down, sew a quick cuff and attach the cuff. I have some for a variety of seasons ready to go.

Wipes Cases: CHECK I was able to finish the wipes case for her nursery and our travel wipes case. I simply took a few wipes cases, covered them with batting, then covered them with matching fabric and finished with a ribbon edge.

Nursing Cover: CHECK for the cover While I could go with one from the Peanut Shell or other places, I'm all about the DIY and picking the exact style I want. So, when I found some turqoise these are so easy to make...about a yard of fabric, some boning and 2 D rings. I have yet to finish the strap part...maybe tomorrow?

Hospital Gown: um, in process...not that I don't want to wear the industrial pattern hospital gown that hundreds of other birthing women with their blood and amniotic fluid have worn, but I really was selfish and just wanted something that would make me feel kinda normal (and I guess look pretty in pictures) while going through labor. So, I have taken a few styles that I liked (dearjohnnies.com, girlygowns.com, Peanut Shell, and a few off Etsy that I liked) and used those as a guide to make one for me. I also bought one from babysteals just in case I didn't finish mine in time. So, I just need to finish some of the edging for this...the gown is done, just the piping and the pretty ties.

Burp Cloths: no chance to even get to Pretty much Gerber diapers with fabric down the center....however, thanks to Miss Kisa's craftiness, I have a beautiful set of burp cloths that complement the fabulous quilt she made for Brooklyn (that in the past few weeks, I have hijacked since you know, she's indirectly using it when I use it).

All the while, I was enjoying a wonderful birthday gob and Mulled Caramel Apple Cider. I did have to make a call to Adams Township non-emergency because there was this car out front of our place, cross-parked since about 6pm. Around 9pm, my neighbor asked who was at our house and I was befuddled as I thought the car was one of their friends' cars. Anyway, after calling around our hood and assuring that there aren't any stealth parties going on and the fact that last night at like 9pm someone rang our back patio door bell (I think...I swear it wasn't on TV even though what I heard b/c I was downstairs didn't sound like our back doorbell and definitely wasn't our front door bell and we weren't boo'd or anything like that) and that a house in our plan got egged over the weekend and that Erik isn't here and that I'm 9 months pregnant and that our dog is about useless for creating fear in any would-be attacker (she's a true scaredy dog), I called the non-emergency number and within like 5 minutes, the po-po was out front. Everything checked out on the car and in the 'hood so we shall see.

Anyways, a nice glass of Nestle Quik Milk for me and then off to bed!

Mi Casa Monday: Brooklyn's Nursery!

For the first installment of Mi Casa Monday, I'm going to feature Brooklyn's nursery! We spent months, literally, agonizing over the design, colors, etc. We were going to go with Blues/Browns but then found this bedding that was too soft and cuddly to pass up (so many of the baby bedding sets out there are made from scratchy cotton based fabric...this bedding is the soft, cuddly, minky fabric). We love the honeybee theme with the soft yellows and greens with the crisp black to finish it off.

The first photo features the dresser combo from Babies R Us (Babi Italia Pinehurst Espresso). We spent agonizing hours selecting the furniture (we knew we wanted Espresso) and finding a convertible set (this can be used as a dresser and the crib as her future headboard/footboard for a full bed) that was within a normal budget (it's going to be chewed on...I couldn't justify spending thousands of dollars on a set not knowing what it may look like after 1 and hopefully 2 kids get use from it). The frames above the dresser (Burnes of Boston set) will contain some of her newborn pictures. On the shelves are Mr. Frogs (on the shelf b/c they are Crosby's favorite toys) and Erik's baby cup. Erik and mom painted the nursery while I was in the ICU over the summer. Around the room are matching honeybee stickers with sharpied buzz tails!

Brooklyn has her outfits ready to go for her first week, scratch that, first DAY, home! She has her Penguins fleece sleeper (from Target; I'm still looking for a Penguins Infant jersey...I may have to just order it online), a glow-in-the-dark skeleton onesie (from Walmart; she must arrive before Halloween...we have too many cute outfits for newborn and 0-3 month for Halloween that she has to wear) and an adorable brown polk dot romper (thanks Lisa!). You can see the sage minky changer cover (thanks Steph!) and the obligatory, every-child-needs-to-have key teethers (thanks Michelle!).


Above the changer, we have my favorite vinyl quote: "First we had each other, then we had you, now we have everything." I agonized for months trying to come up with a quote that would include Crosby but we're interpretting the "you" to be plural and include Brooklyn and Crosby. This is done on black vinyl from Etsy seller, designaline. It's so easy to stick on the wall then peel off the front portion, leaving the vinyl attached to the wall.



In the corner, you can see the SimpleHuman Deluxe Fingerprintproof trash can (we have one in the kitchen and it truly is smell proof...a must have for the nursery!). We have the busy bee canvas on the wall that I ordered from Ebay and we have Mr. Bear on the floor (a gift from my Baba for Brooklyn...we plan to take a picture a month of Brooklyn next to the bear to see how much she has grown!)



We have Brooklyn's crib with the bedding and mobile. We have some of her stuffed animals in the toy bag that Melanie's grandma made for us with coordinating fabrics. As a side note on the bedding, since Erik and I loved this pattern for a while, I actually bought it on clearance before we ever got pregnant because Babies R Us was discontinuing this pattern. Then, after we found out the news, I was stalking Ebay looking for the accessories like the mobile, pillow, canvas, blanket, and Boppy.



Above her crib (a gift from my mom and dad), we have her name. We were going to do vinyl letters, then canvases inspired by another blog, but then Erik thought about simply using wood. We used a prefinished white 7 inch wide shelf and cut it down into 7 inch squares. I painted all the squares in their base color (white, onyx, avocado green or honeysuckle yellow...Glidden paint samples from Lowe's). Then I printed out letters in various fonts in various sizes that would fill the 7 inch squares. I traced the letters onto the wood squares with a pencil and that left the indents in the wood. I then traced the letter indents with pencil and filled them in with the corresponding paint color for the letters. After they were dry, Erik put picture hanging hooks on the back and then voila, her name letters were complete! We love them and think that they add yet another special touch to her room!


Inside the crib, her wearable blanket and sheet saver (thanks Steph) are ready to go!


In front of the window, we have the Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair with her name on it...again, we plan to take monthly photos of her on the chair to see how big she gets each month. There are white sheers on the window with a black wrought iron curtain rod. The valance is a testament to my craftiness as there was a valance that was supposed to be to the Honey Bee set on clearance at Babies R Us...I, of course, bought it but didn't realize until later that it was too another set so it only partially matched the honey bee. After spending some time ripping off the fabric from the top of the valance (there was another fabric where the white was), I then sewed white minky fabric to the top to create the valance as it is currently. You can't tell and I'm proud of my sewing accomplishment.


The glider, a fabulous gift from my sister and her husband, is one item where we are sure to spend a significant amount of time. It's actually very comfortable so it's selection was an easy choice. We actually got it at Walmart because the espresso wood perfectly matched the rest of the nursery. It's currently draped with the Honeybee blanket and matching Boppy. Crosby finds the glider to be a wonderful nap spot and I'm sure she and Brooklyn will have some bonding to do on that glider. On each side of the glider is a basket of books for her story time. The books were actually gifts from my baby shower guests as my hostesses asked each guest to bring a book for Brooklyn with a message to her instead of a card. This wonderful gesture has started a beautiful library of books for Brooklyn. We can't wait to share our love of reading and learning with her...one story at a time.


No nursery is complete without the obligatory photo of the closet full of clothes...these are all for larger than 3 month sizes as everything 0-3 are in the dresser (I think I'll refrain from showing you her shoe drawer!!). She has her hamper (thanks Marie!) ready for all the changes of clothes. We also have totes for some of the larger size clothes, the breast pump, blankets, larger bottles, and other items we'll need in the future in storage in the closet.


The last thing to do yet in her room is hang the picture frame that's on the floor on that empty space behind the door. The picture frame, one of my DIY projects, is actually a frame, the insert covered by fabric then with ribbons hotglued to it. It makes for a decorative, yet functional place to store the influx of hair bows that I'm sure is just beginning. On the back of the door is the pink tutu I made for her for her newborn pictures. We have the blessed cross above the door and the matching Busy Bee light switch plate (thanks Lauren).


So, this completes the first MiCasa Monday and the tour of Brooklyn's nursery. We love this room and I will find myself sneaking into it at times over the past few weeks just to sit in the glider and think about what it will be like after she arrives. I find the room to be calming and peaceful and can't wait to grab book after book and read story after story to her....

What a Busy Weekend!!!

We had such a busy and productive weekend around here!

First off, I wanted to mention that Andrea was here on Tuesday and Wednesday giving the house a deep fall cleaning in prep for Brooklyn's arrival. We were very thankful to not have to worry about scrubbing tubs/toilets, dusting, vacuuming, windexing or the multitude of other things she did that we weren't able to fit in in these last few weeks.

Friday night, I had a few friends over for a party...it was nice to have a chance to catch up (and meet for the first time in person for one of the ladies) with some old friends. It just reminded me that we don't get together nearly as often as I'd like. Unfortunately, work commitments or family commitments kept some of our usual crew from getting together

So with 13 girls at the house so with that much estrogen upstairs, Erik and Crosby retreated to the basement where Erik was happy to explore his new TV and surround sound system. Around 10:30, my mom and dad arrived and then around 11pm, most of the girls had left so Erik, Crosby and I spent some time relaxing with mom and dad in the basement.

Saturday, we hit the 38 week mark...scary to think that literally ANY DAY she could arrive and our lives, as we know them, will be totally and forever changed. Dad and Erik got up at the crack of dawn to go bow hunting while mom and I slept in, made our venture to our Starbucks for the usual (mom: white chocolate macchiato, me: caramel apple spice) then off to Target for some baby purchases, Costco for our traditional Saturday stock up and sampling fest (oh, how I love that place), Michaels for some fall home decor, Bed Bath and Beyond for the heck of it, Babies R Us for some last minute baby items then Joann's where I signed up for Wilton Level II Cake Decorating for December (it'll give me something to look forward to during maternity leave....and a few hours out of the house as I'm sure I'll be in cabin fever by then). On the way home, we picked up a DiBella's Godfather sub...so so good!

The boys had just arrived home from their Costco and Best Buy venture where dad picked out their new plasma TV. We spent the afternoon outside where dad and Erik did some pruning of the bushes and plucking of weeds, mom decorated the porch and front of the house, and I, in my sad looking 9-month pregnant state, weeded my mulch because, well, I wanted to.

We then had a late dinner at the house....salad (awesome deal at Giant Eagle) with homemade Luigi's recipe vinaigrette, shrimp scampi and spinach/mozzarella ravioli followed by tiramisu (my birthday request) for dessert. We would have gone to Springfield but it was Mars Homecoming dance so the place was full of teeny boppers. Dinner finished up late and we just relaxed the rest of the evening.

Today, we started off with my birthday Champagne brunch at Springfield where the boys had Eggs Benedict and the girls had Sunday Quiche. I subbed my fruit for their Cream of Mushroom soup and my Sunday Quiche with cottage potatoes was, yet again, a delicious choice. Since it was my birthday and I had my free dessert email coupon, I ordered the Pumpkin Pie Spice Creme Brulee which mom happily shared with me. Then it was off to Best Buy to see said-TV that mom and dad are getting and Costco where they stocked up for their trip home.

We watched the Steeler game then Erik and I then headed to Glade Pike where we took some maternity pictures against the scenic fall backgrounds and then picnicked with Crosby by the lake. God how I love our Nikon D60...as Erik said, "this camera makes my pictures look good!" We can't wait to test out our photography capabilities with Brooklyn.

While we were there, Crosby took her customary swim in the lake which then warranted a bath when she got home. Erik then headed into NC as he's in Johnstown Monday and Tuesday.

Tonight, though, I admit that I was a horrible puppy mommy...Erik had just left and Crosby was doing her usual whining. I had to go downstairs to take some photos of some items that we are selling on Craigslist. I still thought Crosby was upstairs by the door so when I came up from the basement, I went to upload my pictures. About 45 minutes later, I was searching the house for Crosby...not in any of her usual sleeping places and then I heard this little whine by the basement door and low and behold, I had locked her in the basement in the dark! The little sneakazoid must have snuck down there while I was in the back part in our storage room taking pictures. The look on her face with her downturned ears and sad expression just made me want to cry...she was like "I have no idea what I did to deserve this but I beg of your mercy." She was afraid that she had done something wrong and I spent the next 5 minutes whipping out every treat I could find trying to tell her that she was a good girl. It didn't take her long to forget and then she was back into her usual spot on the couch...asleep, of course!

Look for the first installment of Mi Casa Mondays where I'll feature a room in our house...tomorrow: the nursery!

Inauguration 2009...

The inauguration of our blog, that is! We have both blogged haphazardly in the past but now with the impending, strike that, upcoming arrival of Miss Brooklyn, we wanted to be share our family and our latest adventures or lack thereof, sleepless nights, etc with our family and friends. Be sure to check out us out or add us to your Google Reader (or other newsfeed). In addition to documenting the growth and activities of our family, we plan to post our pictures of Brooklyn and Crosby, add recipes for your enjoyment, take a tour of our house, and share in the recent happenings. Don't hesitate to email and keep in contact.