Night Owl

I love this little peanut so much, but for someone so tiny she sure makes a ruckus at night!! She snorts and grunts and strains in her sleep about every 15 minutes and then is back to being quietly asleep. I can't tell if there's something wrong, if she can't breathe, if she needs to be in a different position, or if she's just an active sleeper. She doesn't seem to do it when she's asleep in our arms or in the swing during the day, but when she's in her bassinet at night she seems restless or uncomfortable. I've tried propping her slightly to the side and putting her in her bouncer, but neither of those seem to help. It doesn't necessarily appear to bother her, she makes a lot of noise and wiggles a lot but she doesn't cry. However, it's so loud and I'm such a nervous new mom that I can't just ignore it. If any of you blog readers have any advice for me, I will gladly accept it!!

SPECIAL DELIVERY!!!

She's here!!! Hailey has arrived!

Stats: Hailey made her grand debut at 4:36am on Thursday, August 13th. She weighed 6lbs 1oz and was 19 1/2 in long.

Now, if you've been paying attention, you may have noticed that little miss wasn't actually due until August 23rd. Here's how the whole thing went down:

I went to my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment on Wed morning anticipating that he would tell me I wasn't even close to having this kid. At 38 1/2 weeks, she had not dropped and I wasn't feeling any contractions (not even Braxton Hicks). Imagine my surprise when the doctor informed me that I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced!! During the exam he stripped the membranes a little to help move things along, but he told me it could still end up being a few days and even had me make an office appt for the following week. He told me to go about my business and that I could still go to work the next day, which was scheduled to be my first day back from summer vacation. So...I took his advice and ran some errands, ate dinner, and Bryan and I decided to take the dog for a walk.

When we got home from the walk, I noticed I was feeling a little crampy and, as April so succinctly put it, like I'd had bad Mexican. :) The pain in my back started getting worse so I thought "Hmm, these might be contractions." I decided to see how far apart I was feeling the pains and, holy crap, they were 6 minutes apart! Bryan practically shoved me in the car and off we went to the hospital. My contractions rapidly got stronger and by the time we got there, I was in a pretty good amount of pain. When we got to the maternity triage, the worst nurse in the universe barely glanced at us and informed us there were no triage beds so we were just going to have to wait. The nurse was really rude and didn't even ask me anything about my contractions, whether my water had broken (it had not), how long I had been in labor...nothing. At this point my contractions were 4 minutes apart and REALLY painful and I started to panic that I was going to miss my opportunity for an epidural. We finally got into the triage area and she determined that I was ready to be admitted.

Once I was in my room, we informed my new nurse that I was ready for my epidural NOW!!! It finally came about an hour later, at which point my contractions were 1 to 2 minutes apart and excruciating! I was about to seriously lose it when my knight in shining armor walked in and gave me the good stuff. From then on I was one happy girl. :) My water broke a short while later and the nurse came in and told me it was time to push. An hour and 20 min later my daughter was born! Bryan cut the cord and my mom took pictures of Hailey's first minutes in the world. It was so amazing to finally hold my daughter and look at her beautiful face! It was the happiest moment of my life.

We have been home for a week now and every day I fall more and more in love with her. She is so tiny and perfect, I can't stop staring at her! She is eating really well and is even sleeping in 3 to 4 hour chunks at night. I can't believe that this amazing little person belongs to me! I'm so excited to get to know her. I feel like the happiest mom in the world!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

I'm still working on catching up on my blog posts....I think I'm almost there!

A few weeks ago my friends Ashley and Meredith threw me a baby shower here in town. It was so much fun and so beautiful! Ashley worked REALLY hard on the decorations: diaper butterflies, floral centerpieces. diaper cake, and matted photo frame. Meredith lined up a caterer who made an amazing lunch and super yummy desserts. I really enjoyed sharing my excitement for Hailey's arrival, I can't wait until she's here and I get to hold her for the first time!

Everyone who came to the shower was so generous and I had such fun opening all the adorable gifts. Little girls get the cutest stuff!!!

I've also been in full-blown nesting mode this past week. I had another shower in LA for my side of the family (I'm waiting on my mom to send me the pictures) and the minute I got back I turned into a tornado of decorating and organizing! I finally got the futon moved out and the dresser/changing table moved in, I washed all her clothes in the special baby detergent, and I put up her name and pictures on the walls. Now all it needs is a baby!!