Welcome Charlotte Mary Curran

This little peach arrived yesterday, November 29th (two days early), at 9:06 am.

She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 19 3/4 " long. She had quite the traumatic event happen as she was being welcomed into this world which I'll explain below. These picture are some random ones of her first 24 hours and are in reverse order.

Darling little girl finally sleeping for hours in the morning. This was taken exactly 24 hours after she was born.

Throughout the night she didn't quite know what she wanted and we didn't know what she wanted... it was a rough first night. But Ben was awesome and switched off all night with her because she refused to be put down.

She looks really different now than in these first few shots of her.

LOVE all of her hair. As I was pushing, Ben and everyone else announced that she had a ton of dark brown hair. We high fived - I was that excited.

My whole 15 seconds with her before they took her for monitoring for a few hours.

The NICU team was there waiting to help her out.

Right before the lovely epidural.

I know what you're thinking about the picture below... hot. This is me pacing the hallway trying to get the labor to progress a bit more.

I think this picture can speak for itself

For the past week or so I had been having contractions and by Thanksgiving they were getting pretty strong and closer together. Ben and I both thought it would happen over the weekend, rather than on the due date. So we were able to enjoy Thanksgiving, black Friday shopping, and getting our Christmas tree on Saturday. Then on Saturday the contractions were consistently 3-5 min apart for 2 hours by 6:30 pm. We went to the hospital, but they said I was only dilated to 2 cm; so they had me walk around for an hour to see if I was in labor. After that hour, I was dilated to 3 cm and they admitted me. At this point, the contractions were now 1.5-2.5 min apart and strong enough that I couldn't walk anymore. They started me on pitocen and inserted the epidural, which only worked on my right side, but was fortunately corrected after a few hours. Shortly after starting the epidural, my water broke spontaneously, which had meconium in it (Charlotte's first bowel movement), so they had to contact the NICU team to be there when she came out. At 8:15 am or so I started to push and when she arrived they immediately had Ben cut the cord and they worked on her for a good 10 - 15 min because she had inhaled the meconium. She wasn't moving much the whole time so we were both scared for awhile but she ended up being fine and there aren't any lasting effects.

I absolutely loved the nurses, residents, and attendings - everyone had a great sense of humor which totally helped me because when I get nervous I joke a lot. It was definitely an interesting experience - the whole giving birth thing. We definitely had a rough night, but are getting the hang of certain things and completely guessing on others. But we absolutely adore and love her to pieces!

an update

Today we (yes, Ben was actually able to come) went to my 39 week appointment. I'm dilated to a 1 - I was excited at first but now that doesn't sound quite as thrilling... dang it. Anyway, my contractions have been getting stronger and more frequent but still really random. My doctor offered to strip my membrane (sorry if that's too much information) to speed things up but Ben and I were a little selfish and wanted to enjoy Thanksgiving and Black Friday before we're in the hospital for awhile. He said that if she doesn't come by next Tuesday's appointment that they'll probably induce me then. Yay! Weird to think that a week from today we'll finally have her. What a looooong nine months.

Above 37 weeks and 3 days.

Below 38 weeks and 5 days - she's practically bursting out here.

if you're interested...

If you were thinking about taking advantage of Black Friday in a few days. Here's a website to look at the deals ahead of time. At the bottom of the website they have links to a bunch of stores and the deals they'll have. =)

www.blackfriday.info

l-o-v-e-d it

better acting (minus Jacob... eesh)

better special effects

better music

even got Ben to go with me (where he asked about a million questions)

loved it

almost done...

Yesterday was a super busy day. We went about shopping for everything else we would need before she gets here in two weeks. We still didn't have any receiving blankets, burp cloths, diapers, socks... some pretty essential things. Then we put together the rest of her room. We just need the bumper, window covering, and bed skirt. Ben put the car seat in and put together the swing. I'm almost done packing my hospital bag. We're almost good to go!

Our space ship stroller. This puppy can have attachments to hike, snow shoe, cross country ski, jog, and attach to a bike. Nuts.

Our washed out picture of our swing with super cute owls... which she'll probably be afraid of.

We finished the last two walls.

Billy Goats Gruff

Mother Goose herself.

On Friday I had a baby shower at work. The kindergarten kids made me a book with name suggestions: Nalani, Miss, Taka, Rylie, Eva (love that name), Avery, Syla, Princess, Lollipop, Sofia (love that name too), Emily, Rose, Savo, Sam, Michaela, Alf, Jasmine, Leti, and Ella.

Wow...

a lovely surprise... and not the one you're thinking of...

This week I planned on packing my hospital bag. There were certain things I knew I wanted to get and pack so my stay at the hospital would be 'comfortable'. I bought new cozy pjs and a comfy outfit to come home in. I was on the lookout for yummy/comforting lotion, body scrub, and shampoo/conditioner. Well, this evening Ben surprised me with a new "weekender" Vera Bradley bag (he knows my love for those bags), and ordered body butter, scrub, and wash from the company that supplies it to the Hyatt (where we stayed for our honeymoon and anniversary) and the shampoo/conditioner from Crabtree and Evelyn who supplies it to the Hilton (where we have stayed for anniversaries as well). Exactly the scents I would have chosen to bring! Oh I love Ben.

the tiniest nursery ever...

I know... attractive eh? But I finally got in the most comfortable position of my life and was so happy.

We are about halfway done with the nursery. We still need two Jim Shore figurines that are coming in the mail and then there's another picture and shelf to put up sometime this weekend. Oh and the bumper, skirt, and window panel (no pressure, Mom =) But it's getting there. Here are about a gazillion pictures if you're at all interested. It is a very very small room, but it'll do the job. It used to be Ben's study room.

Then star nightlight in action.

The crib, mini-hamper, and rocking chair.

That's a jar full of hair bows, ribbons, etc. Then next to it will be one of the figurines we're waiting for.

Teeny weenie room =)

I don't think she'll lack in children's literature. Thank heavens I've been a teacher and have gotten most of these for free.

All of the pictures are vintage nursery rhymes that I framed awhile back.

Those are the two walls that need their picture, shelf, window panel, etc.

My sister made this sign for me =)

I'm sure in the next week/week and a half it'll be finished and I'll post those pictures later.

my country 'tis of thee...

Awhile back Ben and I went with our friends Eli and Krista to Washington D.C. for a four day trip. We got to visit Arlington Cemetery, Ford's Theater where we also watched a play right next to the balcony where Lincoln was assassinated, Holocaust Museum (we spent an entire day just there and could have used a few more hours), a few different Smithsonians, the Capitol, we stared at the White House one night... sooo close..., National Archives, Lincoln/Washington/WW2/Vietnam/Korean War Monuments at night all lit up - and the best part was that everything (minus the play) was free. I love that about Washington D.C. Here are a few pictures from our visit.

this obnoxious picture is us at Ebbitt's Grill - a famous pub where all of the presidents eat when they're first put in office

Ford's Theater - the balcony where Abe Lincoln was killed - we sat in the red seats to the right of the balcony for the play

getting our National Parks passport book stamped

it just keeps getting bigger....

how is that possible..?

So I still have three weeks left... and uncomfortable doesn't quite cover it.

What I'm excited for (mostly very selfish things):

*sleeping on my stomach and back

*not waking up in the middle of the night for relief

*bending over without grunting like a beast

*not having to worry about a stretch mark appearing

*eating without getting a stomach ache... every day...

*having normal-sized ankles

*not jumping off of the treadmill to use the facilities after 10 minutes

*oh, and meeting my daughter of course

What I'll miss:

*Ben painting my toenails

*strangers getting up on the subway to give me their seat

*not being responsible for someone else's well-being yet

*yeah, that's about it

no pig flu here

So this whole swine flu thing has been spinning around in my head for awhile now. Just a few days ago another pregnant (25 year old) woman died in Chicago. So I definitely knew I wanted to get it but I hadn't really worried about it... until I heard that it takes a few weeks to work in you in order for you to be immune and for your antibodies to also help your baby out. Well I only have 4 weeks left and it takes about 2 to work. Ben received his last week because he works in the hospital now and had to get it, as did all other employees, but no one else. No other dr. office, hospital, or clinic in our area had any available. Finally I found a community college in the ghetto of the south side of Chicago and had Ben drive me there immediately. 15 minutes later I walked out vaccinated - hallelujah!