First Bath

Getting undressed

"I hate being naked!!"

Me telling Jamie to put her in the tub, and Jamie saying he doesn't want to be the one to make her cry.

Before she started screaming bloody murder

All done!

All snuggly in her hooded towel

All better, warm and snuggly with Daddy

Combing out her lovely locks

All clean and pretty

The Living Definition...

...of a dream come true.

Anna Marie Hotalen
August 3rd, 2011 4:45 PM
7lbs. 0oz., 20 1/2 inches

I'll write out the whole birth story soon. Warning: if you were planning on having children any time soon you may not want to read this one...

The Best Laid Plans...

Remember this quote from my last post "when she comes on the 4th you may all laugh at me. Well get ready to giggle...

Tuesday morning I had a 9:45 appointment at my OB. After waiting almost an HOUR I finally got called back. The nurse said my blood pressure was a little high. I was thinking 'Yeah because for the SECOND week IN A ROW you left me waiting FOREVER to get back here. And I'm hormonal and irritable.' I figured I'd relax, get another reading and go home. Maybe with instructions to take it easy.

NOPE.

Instead they took a urine sample, put me on the fetal monitors and had me lay down to hopefully bring down my pressure. But the urine sample tested positive for proteins and though baby looked fine, my pressure stayed high. So I got what no pregnant woman goes into an appointment anticipating: "Go straight to the hospital. You're having this baby now."

Yipes.

I'm posting from my iPod and it's tough, so I'll quit now and finish the detailed story later. But big picture: I'm at the hospital now and baby girl should arrive in the next 24 hours or so. Wish us luck!!

August

It's officially August. The month our baby girl will be born, and the month we'll celebrate her birthday for the rest of time. I can't believe it!

I said to Jamie last night that I figure she'll be born sometime in the next two weeks, give or take (I wouldn't be too surprised if it's closer to 2 1/2. My official guess for her birthday is August 16th. You may all laugh at me when she's born on the 4th). That's crazy! Of course, if she loves her daddy, she'll come either on or before her due date or after August 14th. He has tickets to go to the PGA championship on the 14th, and we're both really hoping he can make it! He came home from work last week and told me someone offered him tickets, but the dates were too close to my due date (actually, his exact words were, "It's the weekend you're pregnant." But I knew what he meant). I told him take them! What a cool opportunity! If she comes early and we're settled at home with Mom here to help, he's going. Or if she's not yet arrived, he's going. We worked out all the details to make sure he could get home quick if needed - a little bit tricky considering you can't have a cell phone on when you're at a PGA event. And since he has two tickets, he has a friend going with him and that friend has another friend on stand-by, just in case Jamie can't go. But like I said, we hope he can! We'll just have to wait and see if Baby Girl has the same goal.

I also realized last night that we're actually ready for her. There are still things I'd like to get done around the house (for instance, pooch needs a haircut REALLY bad!), but as far as baby stuff goes, she could come right now and we'd be fine. The nursery is about 98% done (stay tuned for a picture tour once my mom arrives on Wednesday; I don't want to post any pictures until she sees it), the carseat is here and just needs to go in the car. We have strollers, diapers, baby clothes and pretty much everything else we could think of to buy or borrow. Physically, this place is just about ready for her!

Emotionally, I'm not ready yet! I'm not ready for pregnancy to end, and I'm not ready to go through labor and delivery, although I did get all teary reading my books on labor and delivery and picturing Jamie and I holding her for the first time. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around the ENORMOUS change that's going to take place in our lives. And as much as I dislike waking up several times a night for potty trips, I'm not expecting the sleep thing to get much easier once she arrives!

But ready or not, it's August and our little peanut is coming! I can't believe how fast this 9 months went!

So I didn't have the best day. Not the worst day either. I was just kind of cranky. And really tired. But when I got home from work, our stroller had been delivered and there's nothing like putting together new baby stuff to cheer a girl up. Especially when the directions read like this:

"Let the front foot move forwards , till make the joint send out a "Ka" noise"(wait foot? This stroller has feet? )

"Waming: Don ' t open the safety lock while the stroller is opened"

"Put the back foot upwards" (feet again? I see no feet on this thing)

"Dial the safety switch off according to the direction, turn the handle off according to the indication"

Got it. Believe it or not, it's not the most expensive, top-of-the-line stroller. But I just wanted something super light and basic for now until we can invest a little more into a higher quality jogging stroller. And this one not only does the trick - once I figured out how to assemble it - but also gave me a laugh on an otherwise cranky day. So thank you, Chinese manufacturers for brightening my day a little.

Prepare to Hate Me

If you've ever been pregnant, you have my permission to dislike me. Because I'm finding this whole experience SO enjoyable! I'm not miserably uncomfortable by a long shot. We only have 3 weeks left, and as excited as I am to meet this little princess in person, I'm so sad that it's almost over! I'm a little bit uncomfortable and miss getting a full night's sleep, but I doubt that's going to change after she's born. And in the meantime, I love feeling her move and feeling like we have this special connection. I'm sure there will be times after she's born when I'm BEGGING someone else to take her for a while and just let me be alone. But right now I love feeling like she's just mine. Jamie and my friends and family can enjoy feeling her kick sometimes, and I know they love her already, too, just like I do. But she's literally always with me. I recognize her little movements and I'm starting to feel like I know her. I'm going to miss this special time! I feel like it just flew by, and now even though I'm so, so eager to meet her I'm not quite ready for her debut. And not just because labor terrifies me :)

Getting So Close!

Look at my little stork up there. He's really getting close to the end of that line! I can't believe our baby girl will be here in only 8 weeks! Sometimes it feels like I've been pregnant for such a long time and other days I can't believe it's flying by so fast! I have, of course, been terrible about blogging, journaling and taking pictures to chronicle this journey despite the fact that I was determined to do a good job! Oh well...I am what I am. And that's just not a journaler. Here's the 32 week shot:







I can't believe I'm going to keep growing for 8 more weeks! I'm feeling like I'll be totally immoblized by the end. Which is why my mommy is going to come take care of me...and clean my house for me. Right, Mommy?? I actually have had a bit of a nesting urge lately and feel like I MUST organize every closet, cabinet and drawer in the house. Unfortunately, I haven't felt an uncontrollable urge to vacuum. So if you come to my house, please look at my ultra-organized master closet before you judge my disgusting floors too harshly. And remember, these carpets are getting torn out soon anyway. Speaking of, I highly recommend painting your house right before you get the carpets replaced. It's so freeing to not lay a drop cloth down and drip paint on the floor. I felt so wild and crazy. We really live on the edge around here.