Emskyrooney

(Be warned- this is lengthy!) So my final pre-baby post was all about my appointment at the doctor on Thursday, November 13th and the fact that my amniotic fluid was on the low side.... The doctor told me to come back the following week to have it checked again but that it wasn't really a problem and that I shouldn't worry about it.... Well here's what happened after that which led to little Paul Thomas arriving on November 17, about 3 weeks before his due date: (Feel free to skim- this is pretty detailed so that I can remember what happened years from now!) Thursday afternoon I spent worrying about the amniotic fluid levels- was there something I had done to cause this problem? Was there something I could do to fix it? I wasn't worried about the possibility of being induced the following week if my fluid levels were still low but I was worried about the health of the baby. Thursday evening I went to my regular prenatal swimming class at the hospital. There were thr...

I just read this quote on someone else's blog and thought it was quite appropriate and wanted to share it with you all: "If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice" --Meister Eckhart Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Big Paul, Little Paul, Socks, Gabby and I are waiting for Biggest Paul (Grandpa) and Grammy to arrive for Thanksgiving here in Massachusetts.... Paul did most of the cooking; he planned the menu, did the shopping, brined the turkey and made the stuffing and butternut squash.  His parents are bringing more side dishes, appetizers and dessert.  I'm normally much more involved but this year got away with chopping some mushrooms and setting the table as my only tasks! Obviously we have a lot to be thankful for this year- we're all in good health, we have a beautiful home, our jobs are (fairly) secure, we have family and friends and dogs who love us and we truly want for nothing... Plus we have the ex...

Normally on a Sunday I'd be getting ready to post the weekly update from babycenter.com.  This would have been week 38, Wednesday was supposed to be my last day of work until my maternity leave is over... Instead little Paul Thomas decided to make an early entrance into this world!  I'm pretty sure he didn't want to miss out on his Daddy's Thanksgiving turkey! Paul Thomas was born at 2:31 a.m. on Monday, November 17 by c-section after 2 days of induced labor.  He was 5 lbs, 12 oz. and 18 inches long and is absolutely perfect in every way! I'm working on writing up the official birth story as it was quite a saga and will post that in the next day or so hopefully (give or take a week as I can't promise anything with a newborn in the house!)....

This morning I had an ultrasound to check the size and position of the baby.  He's head down, lying on his left side with his feet up under my ribs...   I didn't get any good pictures as the little guy was moving around too much but I DID get to see his little foot (he has 5 toes- yay!) and his chest moving up and down as he practices breathing.  So that was cool!  The tech estimated him at 5 lbs, 15 oz. right now which is a little small but nothing to worry about especially since I was a small baby too. After my ultrasound I had a regular appointment.  Apparently one of the things they also checked during the ultrasound was the amount of amniotic fluid.  And apparently the amount of fluid in me is on the low side.  Normal levels are 10 or higher, they induce labor at 5 or lower, and I was measured at a 7.  The doctor said that this is just an estimate and that I shouldn't worry about it, it could just be that the little guy hadn't peed lately a...

Wow.. As of Friday this little guy will be considered Full Term.. Which means he can be born and most likely won't have to spend any extra time in the hospital... The official due date is Dec. 6 but I certainly wouldn't mind if he chose to arrive a couple of days early!  Wishful thinking, I know, as most first-time mothers give birth LATER than their due dates, not early!  Still, a girl can dream! Here's the official weekly update, it's a long one this time!: "How your baby's growing: Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds ( like a crenshaw melon ) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, ca...

When we moved into our house a year ago we knew that one of the things we wanted to replace before we had kids was the wall-to-wall carpet in our living room, stairway and upstairs hall. We also wanted to replace the carpetin the basement family room.... The upstairs carpet had been used by the pets of the previous homeowners as their very own bathroom and no matter how many times we steam-vacced it we couldn't get rid of the smell, the stains, and the cat hair... Well, today the upstairs carpet was replaced! Here are a few before pictures: The Living Room: The stairs (note that we didn't bother taping off the trim when we painted as we knew we'd be replacing the carpet): The worst part, the nasty upstairs hallway: And here's the after! The living room: The stairs: The upstairs hallway (the door to the nursery is straight ahead!) View of the living room from the stairs: Now we just have to get the rest of the furniture back in place and we can enjoy our cush...

As mentioned before our second anniversary was on October 21. We'd agreed not to exchange gifts but then Paul came home with a fancy new video camera for me- we'd talked about getting one for the baby but I certainly hadn't expected it so soon! In the meantime I'd been working on a gift of my own- a wall hanging, since the second anniversary is either China or Cotton... I came up with a design using one of our wedding photos and the words to one of the readings from our wedding. Then I used Spoonflower to print the fabric and sewed it into a wall hanging... If you're not familiar with Spoonflower it's a great new website where you can upload your own fabric designs and then have them printed- very cool! When I gave it to Paul he said "I'm not normally a very sentimental guy but I really LOVE this- it's beautiful!".... So that was good! Here's my original design (click on any picture for a larger and clearer image!): And here's how it ...

It's as American as apple pie.... [sidenote: The photo above is my brother's girlfriend San and I enjoying Mrs. Hogarth's famous apple pie after my baby shower- Mrs. Hogarth baked it that morning and brought it still warm to the shower for us!  The morning after my wedding her son showed up at our house with an apple pie for the newlyweds- Mrs. Hogarth had gone home after the big event and stayed up to bake the pie!  Yum....  It's seriously the best apple pie EVER.] So Paul and I voted tonight- it took us all of 5 minutes as we live in a small town and since Massachusetts isn't exactly a swing state- things weren't too busy at the polls... I did, however, manage to screw up my ballot and had to re-do it- I'm blaming my pregnancy-addled brain for that one... We're now settling down to watch the results come in and have a few drinks (Paul's going with the all-American whiskey and Coke, I'm going with the also uber-American Shirley Temple!)... ...

Wow... 33 days to go (officially anyway)... Of course, very few babies actually arrive on their due dates but hopefully our little guy won't want to hang out inside me TOO much longer! Week 35: "Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds ( pick up a honeydew melon ). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight." Things are going well.. The nursery is organized and clean and if this little guy decided to arrive tomorrow we'd have a nice place to bring him home to, so that feels good. Although I'm wondering why nobody warned me about how difficult it is to put a sheet on a crib mattress...

Just popping in for a minute to link you all to a post that one of my dear college friends wrote entitled " The Waa-Waa Sisterhood ".... Anyone who is or will be a mother (or father for that matter) should read this post. Her little boy is three months old (and super cute!) and I love that along with adorable photos of her little guy she also posts regularly about things she's learning about motherhood along the way... Check it out.. I'll be back later to post some more but right now we're enjoying a lazy Sunday morning in the LeBaron house...