first few days home

Holy cow, the first week with a newborn is ridiculously rough. Little by little we're figuring things out and our night times are getting better (although when darkness falls my anxiety level rises). We've been able to get out and about which definitely helps me not want to pull my hair out being cooped indoors all day. But Charlotte is so flippin' cute and fun to stare at. Here are some pictures from the first few days at home.

Her first trip to REI. I can already tell she'll be an outdoor girl.

Her first manicure.

My mom is in town for a week and a half - yay!

Ignore my interesting facial expression here and notice the adorable giraffe booty.

Such a cuddler!

My favorite picture.

At her first doctor's appointment.

Headed out to go pick up Grandma.

All bundled up for our evening walk.

Ben is like the baby whisperer - I could definitely not do this without him.

Her first night at home.

On her way home from the hospital.

Getting ready to go home from the hospital Monday afternoon. I thought I'd want to stay there longer but was much happier once I got home.

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.