three months

Ella turned three months on Sunday. Our life has been so chaotic lately, but I didn't want to let such a momentous occasion pass without documenting it. So somehow I found the time to try my hand at tutu making, and made Ella her first tutu. I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!

Ella is seriously just a little sweetheart. I know she has known Nate and me from day one, but she now shows it with a big smile upon seeing either of us. And when Ella smiles, her whole body smiles - from the scrunching of her toes to the waving of her arms.

We have settled into a fairly great routine, going to bed around 10pm and sleeping through the night until 6am. She then eats and goes back to sleep for a couple more hours. Typically around 11am she goes down for a good two hour nap. The remainder of the day is a pattern of eat, play, sleep!

Ella loves to chat. She will just go on and on telling you all about 'it' to whomever will listen. It is seriously one of my favorite things in the world. She is at her happiest in the morning when she wakes up for the day. On days I am lucky enough to stay home, we will just lay in bed and chat for as long as we want!

I am convinced that Ella is going to be a soccer player. Anytime she is on her back, her legs are up in the air kicking. When she eats, she loves to push off against things (the chair, your hands, whatever) with her feet. All this exercise has paid off too! She is quite adept at standing, and is no longer interested in sitting.

Ella is still not the biggest fan of tummy time, but she's accepting it more and more. She can hold her head up like a champ. Ever the over achiever, she makes it even harder on herself by attempting to hold both her head AND her feet up at the same time - balancing on her tummy. What a goof.

Her pacifier seems to be her first true love. Whether it's in her mouth, or looped in her fingers, she likes to have it close by at all times. She also seems to enjoy sucking on the pacifier ribbon as much as the pacifier itself! When it falls out (which it does often), she will sometimes get lucky enough to get it back in her mouth herself - but most of the time we are compelled to come to her rescue.

She is simply our little doll. We fall more and more in love with her everyday. And as little bits and pieces of her personality begin to appear, I get more and more excited to see who my daughter will become. The past three months have been the most difficult, challenging, life-altering, wonderful and rewarding of my life. And I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

Read more...

valentine's day love

So apparently I undecidedly took maternity leave from my blog! Sorry to leave you all hanging so long. Obviously we had our baby girl. She is absolutely perfect, and we have been enjoying every second with her. But our time has been a little occupied with her, so there hasn't been much time for blogging!

Read more...

wordless wednesday: 37 week bump

Read more...

37 weeks

How far along: 37 weeks

Baby's size: A Watermelon

Ella is officially full-term! Yay! She's gaining about 1/2 ounce a day and getting her first sticky poop (called meconium) ready. She could now be born at any time and likely thrive. But while she's waiting, it's practice, practice and more practice! She's brushing up on skills for the outside world: blinking, sucking, inhaling, exhaling, and gripping (she's getting strong!).

Symptoms: Back pain, rib pain, hip pain .... had swollen ankles for the first time last Friday! But I'm sure that's just because I spent Thursday night cleaning the entire house! Probably pushed it a little too much. I was exhausted on Friday!

Sleep: Same old story here.

Total Weight Gain: 29 pounds

Maternity clothes: Yup, definitely wearing them!

Best moment this week: Dr. B "checked" me for the first time at my appointment on Friday. Ok, so that wasn't exactly the most fun moment, but definitely exciting!

Movement: I can definitely tell she's getting bigger! Her movements are starting to get more uncomfortable for me.

Food cravings: Still none ...

Gender: Girl!

Labor signs: No contractions or symptoms of labor. On Friday Dr. B said I was 1 cm dilated and Ella's head is at station 0. Dilation is the width that the cervix is open. The cervix needs to dilate from zero to 10 cm. Station refers to how high the baby's head is in the pelvis, and is determined by feeling inside the vagina. This is typically measured from -3 to +3. 0 station means the baby has dropped or engaged well into the pelvis and that her head rests right at the level of the ischial spines. +3 means the baby's head is visible at the opening of the vagina, also known as crowning. So for 36 1/2 weeks we're off to a great start!

What I miss: Feeling comfortable.

What I'm looking forward to: Meeting my baby in 3 weeks!

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week): 

Milestone: I guess I've officially "dropped"!

Emotions: I'm feeling completely torn. Part of me feels like this little girl is coming way too quickly! The other part of me feels like she can't come soon enough! I feel like there is still so much to be done, and so much I do not know! But I simply cannot wait to see her face and meet her for the first time.

Read more...

36 weeks ... one month to go!

How far along: 36 weeks

Baby's size: A Honeydew

Ella's skin is getting smooth and soft, her gums are rigid, her liver and kidneys are in working order, and her circulation and immune system are basically good to go. Her lungs are the only organs that still need to fully mature, but every day she gets a little closer to breathing on her own. Most of her bones and cartilage are are quite soft (they'll harden after the first few years of life) - allowing for an easier journey as she squeezes through the birth canal at delivery. At this stage, the skull bones are also not fused together yet so that her head can easily (well, relatively easily) maneuver through the birth canal. Her growth is slowing down now, both so she can fit through the narrow passageway to the outside and also so she can store up all the energy needed for delivery.

Symptoms: My back pain is getting worse - I really need to get in to see a masseuse or chiropractor. My friend rib pain still won't leave my side. I'm also experiencing more discomfort in my hips. I'm assuming this is because they are loosening for delivery. After sitting or standing (or even laying) in one position for a while they are pretty sore. But I'll take that as a good thing if it means easier delivery!

Sleep: Same old story here. With my back pain, I can't ever seem to get comfortable at night. Sleeping on my side puts more pressure on my back. Sleeping on my back feels the best for my back, but that's not very comfortable with my belly weighing down on my. The best position is about half way between on my back and on my side - with a pillow propped behind and in front of me. Makes it pretty hard for hubby to get anywhere near me!

Total Weight Gain: 27 pounds

Maternity clothes: Did some outlet shopping this weekend. Bought a dress, a cardigan, a 3/4 sleeve shirt, a tshirt and a tank top all for about $40! None of which were maternity. I'm still having more luck finding styles that accommodate a belly, or simply buying a larger size. Maternity clothes just don't seem to fit me well - or if they do, they're often too expensive for my taste!

Best moment this week: Had my second "unofficial" baby shower on Sunday. Got together with all my girlfriends from college for cider, yummy fall desserts, and some good catch up time. They all went together and bought me a white and pink BabyBjorn. So sweet!

Movement: Yup, still moving! I never did get around to start doing kick counts. I guess she moves so much that it hasn't seemed necessary.

Food cravings: Still none ...

Gender: Girl!

Labor signs: None. Thankfully!

What I miss: Feeling comfortable.

What I'm looking forward to: Meeting my baby in 4 weeks!

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week): 

Milestone: One month to go!


Emotions: Pregnancy hormones can be really annoying at times! A simple inconsiderate comment, that would normally just roll off my back, can send me into tears. Poor hubby doesn't know what to do sometime! But he is so sweet and considerate and never makes me feel stupid. He just listens - which is usually all I need anyway. Not sure how I got so lucky to have him!

Read more...

35 weeks ... 35 days to go

How far along: 35 weeks

Baby's size: A Honeydew

From now on, Ella's growth is mostly in the plumping up department - though she won't get much longer, she'll put on a pound or more of baby fat before birth. BAck in the middle of pregnancy, Ella's weight was made up of only 2% fat; now she's about 15% and will be about 30% by full-term.) Her hearing is totally developed (though she responds best to higher pitches.) Also continuing to grow at an amazing pace is her brain power. Luckily, the part that surrounds that amazing brain - the skull - remains soft. And for good reason: a soft skull will allow her to squeeze more easily through the birth canal. God was really thinking this one through - imagine trying to push out a rock-hard head ... ouch!

Symptoms: Back pain, rib pain, leg cramps, frequent bathroom trips ...and started getting a little heartburn in the evenings sometimes.

Sleep: Getting comfortable at night is nearly impossible. But once I fall asleep I seem to sleep well. Thankfully I don't really wake up to go to the bathroom much at all. But IF I do wake up for another reason, it most certainly means a trip to the bathroom!

Total Weight Gain: 26 pounds ... my weight gain seems to be slow lately - not that I'm complaining! Hopefully it's nothing to worry about. I continue to measure right on schedule at every OB visit, so I'll just wait and see!

Maternity clothes: My wardrobe is getting more and more limited. I've been pretty lucky so far that a lot of my regular clothes have still worked. But more and more of my tshirts are not making it over my growing bump! But I guess with only 5 weeks left there doesn't seem like much point in buying more maternity clothes, so I'll just make due!

Best moment this week: Had my first baby shower on Saturday. It was SO fun to have so many come, especially a lot of my cousins who surprised me by driving up (many from out of state) for the afternoon.

Movement: She's moving just as much as ever. According to Dr. B and Dr. F, she's been head down for over a month, but she loves to stick her butt out near my belly button ... I told her daddy he's going to have to talk to her about being modest :)

Food cravings: Still none ...

Gender: Girl!

Labor signs: None. Thankfully!

What I miss: Feeling comfortable.

What I'm looking forward to: Meeting my baby in 5 weeks! And my second shower this weekend.

Weekly Wisdom (aka what I learned this week): 

Milestone:

Emotions: Kind of freaking out about the whole labor and delivery thing - mostly because I simply don't know what to expect, so it seems impossible to have any sort of realistic 'plan' in place. But lamaze class is helping, so we'll see.

Read more...

lamaze childbirth education

We started our childbirth education classes on Tuesday. I mentioned Monday that I was freaking out about delivery, and was hoping these classes would help ... I'm not so certain it did. At least not yet.

I'm sure it didn't help that I had this picture in my mind of what Lamaze class would be like - all the moms sitting around on mats (think yoga class), with dads sitting behind them, practicing breathing techniques. In reality, this was not at all my experience.

She covered SO much information, and really made me realize just how much I DON'T know. I just sat there trying to soak everything in, and feeling like I should have been taking copious notes! But I didn't. Really because I know I can always go back and look up the information, and just wanted to take advantage of hearing someone explain it all rather than just reading it. But it left me feeling a little overwhelmed to say the least.

And then the worst part. We watched a birthing video. Somehow both hubby and I made it through high school health class without ever having to partake in this joy. I think hubby was scared for life. And I didn't enjoy it much more. It didn't help that the video - a VHS tape - was from the late 80's. It also didn't help that the lady giving birth was actually naked and moaned like she was having sex rather than delivering a baby! Thankfully we were warned about the naked part so it wasn't a shock, but the whole thing was a little weird.

Towards the end of class we learned some massage techniques and some relaxation techniques. I found it slightly awkward sitting around with seven other couples while my husband massaged my head and arms ... trying to use it as a teach time to tell him what did and didn't feel good. Also the "nonscented" lotion smelled like baby powder and made us both feel sick. The relaxation techniques were helpful but nothing to earth shattering, and hubby didn't really understand what HE was suppose to be doing during the whole thing. But when the times comes I'm sure we'll be happy to have these tools to use.

Don't get me wrong, the class was very helpful. And I'm looking forward the the next few classes. I just feel so out of place and unprepared. But that is exactly what theses classes are suppose to eliminate, so I am optimistic at this point.

Read more...