I only THOUGHT I knew what love was...

Eleanor finally came to meet us, God's most beautiful gift Andy and I could have ever received! She is absolutely amazing, there are really just no words we could say. It is incredible that one tiny little being can bring such a wealth of love to all she meets. Andy and I are overcome with how precious these past almost two weeks already have been.

I will definitely go into detail about the whole birth story but just spent the entire afternoon posting pictures on facebook when I wasn't feeding Ellie and am pretty beat. For now, we are laying low at home. I unfortunately thought I was better than my bladder and apparently did too much/pushed too long and had to get a catheter for a week after she was born. Disgusting having to juggle a bag of you know what while trying to be extraordinarilly sanitary around your precious newborn. I thankfully got it taken out Wed. and then this past weekend we had a visit from Eleanor's godparents, Jenna and Wyatt, and then headed to the lake for a couple of days to celebrate the holiday with my family. While it was a wonderful time, it has been a whirlwind. Now we have Andy's last week of school and preparations for Eleanor's baptism on Friday with more family and friends in town to celebrate. We are so excited and thankful for all the wonderful people we have in our lives, especially our parents who have been so helpful and full of joy and love at Eleanor's arrival.

Hopefully once summer has finally begun end of this week, things will slow down some. Until then, I am finally going to publish this post that I began last week and hopefully get to the details about our sweet Angel's birth along with sharing all the amazing things we are learning about her soon enough! Thank you everyone for all the help, support, and love! Come meet our Eleanor if you haven't yet!

It's Finally Time!

Well the day has finally come! It is time for my late night post sans the mini-wheats or any other kind of new-found cereal without high-fructose corn syrup. This time my posting is accompanied by contractions (hooray maybe this cervadil is doing something) and a not so comfortable hospital bed and poor Andy sleeping on a roll out bed next to me...or trying to. I fell asleep at 9:30ish and was on and off sleeping until now. I hope I can go back to sleep before 6 at which time we will be moved to our L&D room to start pitocin and get this show on the road!

So this isn't exactly the way we thought our labor and delivery of sweet Eleanor would go but now being 9 days late, we are taking what we can get. AND, I am starting to see the perfection in God's timing simply because we JUST finished hanging the last couple of things in Eleanor's room AND noticed that she will be born exactly 10 months to the DAY after our wedding day - so see, we really did make it a whole month before getting pregnant! Regardless, we continue to pray that she comes out safely and is super healthy. In her ultrasound today, the tech pointed out some fat rolls on her belly, I can't wait to see my little definitely not under-fed sweet girl! I LOVE fat babies!

I sit here thinking how much more painful these contractions could get. They really aren't bad now, especially since they go away and take a while to come back. It is amazing how God planned all of this out when determining how he was going to bring humans into the world. I mean literally did he think to himself one day, "Ok I am going to make it possible for woman to fit an 8lb+ baby (or even more than one OMG) inside her abdomen, and you know what, the baby is going to live inside this muscle called a uterus (where did He get that name from?!) and when it is time for him/her to come out, I am going to put that muscle through the workout of its life to make that baby come out of a hole the size of a lemon or even smaller though this baby is now as big as a watermelon...WHAT!? God is so mysterious! I will never forget the first time I hear that analogy - (put something the size of a watermelon through a hole the size of a lemon) in Look Who's Talking not really paying attn. when now it is finally a reality - interesting to see how that will work out tomorrow! How blessed we are as women (this statement might be half heartfelt and half sarcastic...) to get to experience this interesting phenomenon!

Hopefully the next post will include pics of Eleanor and an awesomely short labor story ;). Until then, signing off with REALLY swollen hands and feet (usually they go down while I am sleeping/in bed - not UP) and hopes of getting some more sleep/these contractions becoming more regular and productive so maybe miraculously I won't even need the pitocin tomorrow!

Maternity Pics

Below are a few pictures our wedding photographers shot for fun...I kind of wish we had done this a little sooner...we took them at either 38 or 39 weeks so I am pretty big! Oh well, it will still be fun for Eleanor to see herself in my belly! We can't WAIT to meet her!

Kind of funny for the day...I have an account on babycenter.com where they tell you what your baby looks like/is doing at each stage of pregnancy and then it will do the same for after he/she is born. Today I got an email saying what my one-week-old should be doing ha! I think that is a sign enough that it is about time she make her little appearance! Thank you everyone for the prayers, going to the Dr. today!

Mini Date Nights and Dramatic TV

Marriage is amazing. As much as I have whined during the day about not having my baby girl to hold yet, I DO LOVE the precious time Andy and I get to spend together after he comes home from work. Lately it has been dinner, cleanup, and then a walk followed by a quick foot bath in the chilly pool - great for swollen feet. Last night we had some yummy wine (don't worry I just had a few sips - the Dr. approved) and today the best ice cream ever - love those Marble Slab buy one get one free coupons! I feel like we go on a little date every night, what a blessing God has given us in the middle of all the craziness in life! We are so blessed and as my mom always says, our "cups are about to runeth over" when we get to meet Eleanor soon! I will have an update tomorrow after the sonogram of Lil' Miss Ellie!



On another note, what a crazy Grey's/Private Practice! Addison really pissed me off a the end but she is good at that these days...WOW Bailey....I hope the anesthesiologist is quality and not a man slut like everyone else on the show...OMG though...I can not have this baby next Thursday - I can NOT miss the 2 hour season finale of Grey's AHHH! Maybe Eleanor will be able to watch with me! :)

ALSO - I found that my late night and throughout the day snacks of frosted mini wheats are going to have to go. I learned that the 100% Whole Grain Cereals that have high fructose corn syrup (they do) are really bad for you...BUMMER esp. when I am about to have to get all this baby weight off! Oh well, any suggestions of whole grain cereals without the fake sugar, lmk!

Peace, Love, and (read on to find out...)

Well, it's Eleanor and me and another late night post with the frosted mini's...she really is getting feisty in there at night and this time the heartburn is uncontrollable and will not allow me to sleep a wink! Maybe I had too many sips of Andy's merlot but after this afternoon, I thought it was well deserved!

So, here is the not so encouraging update from the Dr...as my mother-in-law says, her "little granddaughter has spunk," or her godfather was right and my "womb is really comfortable." I went in Wed. afternoon and still have an "unfavorable cervix." I had a hard time understanding what this means but basically my cervix isn't in line with the birth canal and if it continues to stay that way, any method used to try to induce labor including the common "cervical ripening gel" applied a night or so before labor would be induced with pitocin would not be successful probably landing me with a c-section. I haven't been able to find why a person would have an unfavorable cervix or if there are other alternatives to a c-section but my Dr. is being very sweet and understanding that we REALLY don't want to have to resort to a "c" so who knows what will happen.

I go in on Friday for a sonogram to monitor Eleanor's weight and make sure everything else is "kosher" in there and she still has room to grow and be safe and healthy. If all is well there, I will go in again on Monday for a sono and repeat check and continue with that every couple days until end of next week at which point my Dr. will probably mandate an attempt at induction. At the end of next week (Sunday) I will be 42 weeks and he doesn't like to let patients go past that point. So this little one could end up being like her momma and arrive as much as 10 days past her due date! The problem is that if my cerfix is still unfavorable by 42 weeks, he really can't induce or if he does the chances of the delivery ending up resulting in a c-section are very high.

Our biggest prayer now is that we continue to trust God and His plan for Eleanor's arrival. As everyone keeps reminding me when I freak out about a c-section, it is most important for her to arrive healthy and I of course completely agree. I am also praying for a miracle that my cervix decided to become "favorable" and cooperate for a maybe not completely natural which was the inital goal but still conventional birthing experience. BUT like Dad always sings to me in situations that aren't exactly "favorable" in my eyes, the classic Rolling Stones: "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need."

At least we know now, Andy can probably go golfing this weekend, I might actually get some curtains made, and little Ellie could have a birthday as late as in the 20's of May! So funny when I expected to be holding my little girl by now. God LOVES putting me in my place! :) Andy and I decided that either she has a strong personality like me and is doing things her way and taking control OR she is being "chill" like him and just enjoying hanging out in there and in no rush to move on to the next event in life. Whatever the case, we are just so excited to see her sweet little face in person and can't wait to share her with everyone!

Thank you everyone for your prayers, Eleanor's Grammie also said to pray to St. Gerard, the patron of expectant Mothers - I love how we Catholics have a patron saint to petition intercessory prayers from for just about anything you could need! Until next time as Eleanor's Aunt Katie would say, "Peace, Love, and Favorable Cervixes"...wow sorry for those of you reading who haven't dealt with childbirth...you really have no filter in regards to women's body parts after it is all said and done...

Still Waiting...Due Date Came and Went

I can't sleep! I woke up for my nightly ritual and decided I couldn't get back in bed to sleep because I am still NOT having contractions and unfortunately (I can't believe I am saying this) didn't wake up to a wet bed...oh how I wish I could say I was like Grandma and Andy could give me crap like Grandpa because I ruined the mattress and my water broke in bed. I guess that isn't God's plan yet ha...

After hoping all day yesterday that maybe she would come, now it is onto May 10th for a probable birthday for Eleanor Ann. I never had any idea how it would feel to wait wondering when your child would be born. It is crazy to me that Andy and I are just like we have been the past almost 10 months of marriage (though I have gradually gotten SO MUCH bigger) and in a snap we could be something completely new with our sweet daughter here! Oh how I wish I could know when that would be!

I think I am about to make a list of all the methods I have been recommended to use to try naturally inducing labor. Just a few would include: walking a lot but not working too hard, getting your rest is another important one I am told though you can't lay around too much because then she will get complacent and never come out (so WHICH ONE IS IT I wonder...), eat pineapple, eat spicy food, go up and down stairs, do squat thrusts and jumping jacks, acupressure to start contractions (need to try that one still), the option Andy can help with (and by the way have been advised on this one by people I would have never thought including my mom's friends ha), a classic recommended by Dad: sit in the back of Andy's truck and let him drive down a bumpy road (WHAT?!), de-stress and meditate...the list goes on. I have come to realize, after trying so many of them and going on a date night with Andy ordering two spicy sushi rolls, one being the "Lava Roll" which included huge chunks of fresh jalapeno AND putting way more wasabi in my soy sauce than I normally would that some of these "suggestions" all but gave me heartburn and still no Eleanor.

So here I am at 3:30am popping frosted mini wheats on the couch, wondering if maybe I should go tackle the stairs a few times on our 3rd floor apartment. Or maybe I should go to bed so Andy doesn't wake up in excitement thinking I am up working through contractions and in real labor. I wish I could say I had this unexplainable energy and desire to bake cookies right now because I am about to go into labor but unfortunately no other signs exist, namely contractions. SO for now, I am going to hope that Andy's prayer last night for patience and peace that the Holy Spirit brings me to accept that Eleanor will come on God's time when she is ready even though in the back of my mind I am thinking well 5.10.10 is such a good birth date and clinging to multiples of 5 for a birthday...so if not today then maybe 5.15.10 or were any of those numbers on the fortune cookie yesterday going to pan out...I sure hope not the 25th!

Until then, I will keep you posted but SURE HOPE I don't have to write too many more entries before I am posting pictures of Eleanor! Thank you everyone for prayers and can't wait to share Ellie with you soon!

Awaiting Eleanor - 39 weeks and 3 days

Today I went to the Dr. HOPING that my contractions this past week did SOMETHING to help Eleanor come "closer to the light" but much to my dismay I am told I am still far away. No cm. to report if you know what I mean!

I never thought I would have so many feelings about a single event in my life. On one hand, it is like Christmas when I was little except with that you KNOW Santa is coming on December 24th. We are so excited for Ellie to get here and just want to know so badly when it will be. Having a baby has stripped me of any control which, if you know me at all, know that is SO HARD! God is amazing though and just LOVES to remind me how NOT in control of my life I am! On another hand, I want Eleanor to stay in there longer so I can get more done to make her arrival just PERFECT. I realized though in this whole journey that nothing in life is perfect and that this "beautiful mess" in which we live is so much better than any glimpse of perfection I could have ever imagined.

SO, I have resided myself to the fact that she could come without my pictures being hung and before the new apartment gets a good cleaning, maybe even before her room is exactly how I want it. Andy and I both are just so excited to hold this sweet little bug we have been reading to, singing to, and feeling complete a kickboxing class in my uterus the past 9 months.

Here are a few of her latest snapshots from the womb, can't wait to see her in person.