I'm still alive - just tired

Hello my blogging friends! I have missed you so. Thank you so much for the nice comments and well wishes. It has been a bumpy ride this last week. I knew there would be adjustments and hard times but I was shocked at what was hard.

1st let me say that my water did end up breaking on 10/20 at 1:30am so I got to the hospital on no sleep. Contractions were hard (until I got an epidural) and then it was all smooth sailing and sunny skies. I went to a hospital that pushes breast feeding (really hard) which I wanted to do anyway. When I left on Friday I specifically followed the instructions of the pediatrician. What a HUGE mistake. I ended up with 10 hours of sleep in a 4 day time span, a starving baby, I cried non-stop for 4 days and I have 2nd degree blisters on my nipples.

I sought the help of the lactation consultant and things are looking up. She is getting boob milk but I had to take her off and kind of start over so I could heal. But the tears stopped. I got a little more sleep and my baby is happy and rid of her jaundice issue. Thank goodness for this SUPER awesome lactation lady.

Evie is pretty much perfect. She is strong, beautiful and healthy. I could ask for nothing more. So I will sum it up in pictures for you.

1st family photo

Best bud's beautiful daughters who thought Evie lived in a turtle tank at the hospital (how cute is that?)

The dogs are adjusting (or claiming territory)

She has enough hair to wear bows (thanks to best bud for giving us bows so soon)

Oh and hats that make Evie look British to me (spot of tea anyone?)

The day I finally stopped crying, we went for a family walk for the first time in our super awesome BOB stroller.

Things seem to be on the up swing again for the moment. I feel pretty good. I can fit in a size 16 and button and zip the pants but I have a spectacular muffin top. I am a LONG way from my size 10s and may never see them again but I will try my best.

I hope to start catching up on your blogs. Sorry for the absence, I will try to be better about posting again. Have a great week!

She's Here! {Guest Post}

Best bud, here. Dennille is kind of busy being a new mom, and didn't have time to post this...

Evie Friday was born at 9:04 AM on 10/20/10.

She weighs 7 pounds 9 ounces and is 20 inches long.

She is perfectly perfect and has tons of blond hair. We are all in love with her, and Dennille is doing well.

The End is Near....

Had a doc appt yesterday. Saw a different doc. When he came in, he asked how I was. I told him I was looking for an end to this pregnancy and he said he was too. What? The only issue I have had that some of the docs don't like is my blood pressure. It has been 140/90 for past 3 weeks at my appointments. Not a huge worry as I don't have anything else that concerns them. My numb hand is getting really annoying though.

Warning - Yucky pregnancy stuff below:

Of course he checked me. He told me I was dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. And he continued to check me. And he checked some more. Right when I was going to say something he said "I know, I know, you can stop checking me now." I told him I thought it was a bit excessive and then he told me he was stripping membranes to see if that would help things. I did have some contractions last night and I still have pain in the left side of my back but no labor.

They also scheduled me to be induced in case she decides not to come out. He wanted Monday or Wednesday - I ended up with Thursday. With a doc I have never met. Oh well. I think it may get to the point where I don't care if my husband delivers her, let's just get on with it.

I want to start recovering so I can get back on track. I decided to move up my last day at work to yesterday. Teaching 1st grade is tiring. At 39 weeks pregnant, I don't need to be doing all that. I was ready and a good thing since one way or another, Evie is coming this week!

I just need to put some more crap away but I am tired today so I think I will be napping. Interrupted only by eating and playing with my dogs (and they are old and don't play a ton).

Hopefully next post will have some super good news and a picture or two. Enjoy your weekend!

Pregnant....STILL

I am still here. Still pregnant. Uncomfortable. Ready for her to be here so my life can be changed for the better. So I can start to feel like I have a normal body again. Like breathing normally and getting the feeling back in my numb hand.

Had doc appt last Friday. Have another one this Friday. Last week she was head down, looking good. I was dilated to a 2. Sunday I lost my mucus plug (gross, I know). I have had horrific heartburn for 3 days and felt a little sick today. I think this maybe her week (or maybe that is wishful thinking since I am ready to be finished with pregnancy). This maybe my last week at work. I am just so uncomfortable. It is hard to do 50 things at a time with a class of 1st graders when you feel like you are gasping for air.

Not much else to say. School stuff is ready, her stuff is ready, had the house professionally cleaned, dogs are groomed. Now we just need Evie to make her appearance. Hopefully sooner rather than later. I will post again after this week's appointment!

From the mouths of babes

Seen and heard on my first grade field trip today.

"The pig's butt is hanging out!"

37 Week Photo

Evie is large and in charge in there. After a nap today, I decided I wanted to go out to dinner. We almost NEVER go out to dinner. But hubby thinks we get better service when I am pregnant so he is willing to go. We went to Outback (I wanted bread and veggie pasta). It was very good and then something unusual happened. The bartender came around offering free samples of margaritas! AN ENTIRE TRAY OF DELICIOUS ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES IN FRONT OF MY FACE. I had to tell him that was cruel. That is one of the things I miss with a passion! I think I will avoid restaurants until I can partake in those beverages.

Decisions Are Being Made!

Well friends, it has been quite a crazy last few days. Working on school stuff so I can be ready for my sub, ANOTHER baby shower, doc appt with sonogram and more!

I cannot believe I had another shower and people were so generous again!! Baby girl got TONS of stuff. Over 40 people came to the shower. I work with awesome people. I don't have all the pics yet but here are a few of us eating cake....YUM! I am the second in on the left.

Went to the doc on Friday. I was there for an hour and a half. I totally imagined them doing unspeakable things to me but it was not near as bad as I thought. I will not relive it all for you but I left pretty happy. My blood pressure is on the high side now so I am trying to take it easy. Kind of hard for my personality but I want a healthy baby and no emergency hospital visits or bed rest.

The sonogram looked good. She is measuring back on schedule for her Oct 24th due date. She did flip and is head down now (I am not saying crawling around on my hands and knees did it but I am sure that did not hurt). She is measuring 19 1/2 inches long and weighs about 6 lbs 9 oz. I am dilated 1 cm.

Today I used hundreds of dollars in gift cards. I made hubby go with me to Babies R Us. I hate that store. Always full of dumb people or screaming babies but I was on a mission. I had items to exchange with no receipt, items to return - some with receipts, some without, and a special purchase that I wanted my extra 10% off on. It was quite a good idea I had and it seems to have worked out but it took us well over an hour and waiting in many lines and dealing with many uneducated people. Let's just say part of my deal was placing a special order at the special order desk to get something from the online store. The dude at the counter told me if they did not sell it in the store, he could not order it. I had to explain to him that if I could get it in the store THEN IT WOULDN'T BE A SPECIAL ORDER. He tried it and I was right. Ha! Hubby and I both laughed at him. He was nice but come on.

I hired a cleaning lady. She is coming to deep clean in 8 days. YAHOO!!! I pick things up but I am too big to bend over and scrub. I have gotten so many things from showers I have run out of room, still working on that. I am packing my bag for the hospital. I am hoping to at least make it through next week. Lots of school stuff and best bud will be out of the country. Don't really want to go through this without her.

But the biggest accomplishment? Hubby agreed to baby girl's name today!!

Her name is Evie Friday (the middle name Friday is after my grandfather's family and we have had that picked out from the beginning). It really took us a while on the first name. Although hubby did not want to decide, he did not suggest any names either so I was SHOCKED today when he came in the room and asked if I was sure that should be her name. I told him there is no turning back now. Evie means little life and she sure is a lively one.

Hope all is well in your world. The time is coming soon. I am hoping to be back in pants with real buttons and zipper by the end of the year.