She's Here!

Santa visited us a little early to drop off the only item we asked for this Christmas: our daughter Julia Lynn.

She was due January 4, but made her appearance exactly two weeks early. Dave's parents and brother had arrived from Dallas that morning, and we spent the day running errands. I had missed my usual two-hour nap so when I started feeling funky around 5 pm, I just put it down to exhaustion. But by 6 or so, I could tell that the times I felt worst had a definite beginning and end and were, in fact, getting downright painful! I told everyone I was headed to bed, but when Dave came in I let him know that neither of us would probably get much sleep, but on the plus side, we would probably get to meet our daughter that night! He looked at me and said, "Uh, what?!?" And I said, "Yeah. That's my reaction, too!"

He started out trying to get a general feel for how often I experienced a contraction and how long the contractions were lasting. We soon realized that they were actually fairly close together and regular. Around 6:30 pm, Dave went to borrow his dad's watch to get more accurate measurements. By 7:15 pm, Dave called the answering service to let them know my contractions were every three minutes and lasting about 75 seconds. They said they would page the doctor on-call (Dr. McKeown) and have him call us. Dave started packing our bags (no, we hadn't done that yet!) because he was determined that regardless of what Dr. McKeown said, we were headed to the hospital! Fortunately when Dr. McKeown did call back, he said he'd meet us at the labor department so we headed to the hospital.

Since it was after regular hours, we had to check in at the ER. After they finished getting some information, a nurse took us up to the Women's Services floor. The nurses had me put on a hospital gown and lie down in a triage room until I could be assessed. At that point I was told that I was at 4 cm and my water had indeed broken. The nurse left to prepare a labor room and returned in about 10 minutes to wheel me down there. After she strapped on the belly monitors, Dr. McKeown came in to check me out and said, "Okay, you are completely thinned and at 8 cm!!!!!!" I wish I had been able to tell him "That's just crazy talk!" After that, things are a bit of a blur as we had three different nurses asking us questions, two other nurses trying to get an IV in me and find the baby on the monitor and Dr. McKeown asking for the epidural nurse to come quickly. The epidural nurse just blasted me with the pain meds since, by the time they made room for her, I was at 9 and a half cm!

And Julia Lynn was born kicking and screaming at 9:51 pm!
6 lbs 15.7 oz
20.5 inches

Whew! That was the most unreal experience ever.

Our daughter

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So cute ...

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Our Family

Temptation

I know I promised myself that I'd stop buying every cute outfit I saw for The Peanut. I mean, we'd like to have enough money left to dress her in clothes after her first year of life. But, this might be too cool to pass up.

Things that have happened ...

Thanksgiving

Nannie and Pa drove in from McMinnville to see our house and take us out to eat for Thanksgiving. We were excited to add "Not having to cook" on our "Things We Are Thankful For" list!! They arrived around 11:30 and took the guided tour of our property. We had snacks out (cheese, crackers, grapes, carrots, tomatoes) because our reservation wasn't until 2:45, and I knew I would have to eat before then! (The Peanut likes her food and doesn't like to be kept waiting! Definitely our child.) They brought The Peanut a teddy bear and a very cute dress that matches the teddy bear's outfit! And Pa picked out the "I Love My Great-Grandpa" bib. :)
Lunch was at the Italian Market and Grill. (This is the same restaurant we went to with my parents for our Birthday Brunch.) There was quite a bit of food: salads, roasted turkey, fried turkey, ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans, broccoli casserole, chips and spinach dip, and other stuff I don't remember. Of course, the big attraction was the dessert table. Yummy cakes and pies with a big bowl of the homemade whipped cream just ready for eating! No one walked away hungry. Thanks Nannie and Pa for a great Thanksgiving Day!

Nursery

We spent most of the Thanksgiving holiday sorting through the clothes and boxes that had been "temporarily" stored in the nursery closet. We made quite a bit of progress getting things thrown out or re-boxed for attic storage. I know my dad will be impressed that we've got all our hanging clothes in our own closets now. (We had been taking up about half The Peanut's closet with our overflow!)
My friend, Carole, is sewing the hem bias tape on the back of the quilt so we can hang it on the wall. (It can't go in the crib with The Peanut yet, but I didn't want to just store it away in the closet.) Dave has purchased the spray paint and other materials for making the animals to hang on the wall. Once those projects are finished, we're just waiting for Sam's to deliver the reclining glider rocker and for The Peanut to make her appearance. Then, the nursery will be complete.
Oh, wait ... I forgot. I still have to find a bookcase and we also have need of a little extra storage for her extra sheets, towels, blankets, etc. We're working on it.

Random Stuff

I went out with two friends to Cha Cha Tapas Bar on Tuesday night. Even though they had removed the Apple and Manchego Cheese Salad with White Peach Vinaigrette from the menu, I had a great time. After registering my dismay with the waitress over the elimination of my favorite tapas, we sat and talked and shared food and desserts until we could barely move! It was really nice to get out of the house for fun rather than for errands!

Dave's company Christmas party is tomorrow night. He also has a couple other holiday parties that are work related later in the month. Last year, we won the $50 gift certificate in the trivia contest and brought home a bottle of Jack Daniels from Dirty Santa. Since it hasn't even been opened, we might bring the Jack Daniels as our contribution to Dirty Santa this year!

I also have an appointment to get my hair cut at 2:30 this afternoon. Woo-hoo!

Oh, and Dave got to be my knight in shining armor and come to my rescue when I ran out of gas. Oops! Worse, it happened on the big hill of Parkdale (the street you are on RIGHT BEFORE you turn off to ours). If you've ever been to our house, you know that road has no shoulder, and people just speed up (or down) it. I ended up (mostly) in a lawn on the side of the road. It was owned by a very nice couple that let me use their phone since I didn't have the cell phone with me. I really need to get the gas gauge fixed on my car. My sweet husband left work and brought me enough gas to get to the gas station. He didn't even make very many comments! :) What a nice man.

Happy Thanksgiving!

and welcome to Week 34 ...
Echo is already jumping for joy at the idea of a new playmate!(The batteries in my camera are dying so the pictures look a little strange, but you can see that we're making progress on the Great Nursery Project 2006! Hee. And on the Great Peanut Project as well!)

I like lists

It seems like forever since the last post, but it might just be that we've had a bit going on.

1. We've been hard at work on the nursery. It's still a work in progress so I'm holding off on pictures. We've got most of the wall "art" hung up and hopefully will have all our junk cleared out of the closet this weekend. It will be the only room in the house with matching furniture and decorations. Echo and I hang out in there on lazy afternoons.

2. My friends, Diana and Shara Tonn, came by two weekends ago for a visit. They were out of town the weekend of my shower and wanted to say hello and see the baby bump! We had a great time talking with them.

3. A friend of Dave's from high school, Claire, stopped by this Saturday to crash for the night. She is moving back to Texas from New York. It's always fun to see Claire even if she still calls my husband "Davey" :)

4. Nannie and Pa are coming to Knoxville for Thanksgiving! We're very excited to have them. We weren't sure when my doctor was going to decide to keep me from traveling, but had just assumed we'd be on our own for the whole holiday season this year (except after The Peanut arrives, of course!). Now, we'll be able to show off our house and the work we've done on the nursery as well as spend some time with family!

5. Dave and I went to the breastfeeding class at the hospital last night. It was a disappointment. I'm not sure what I expected, but spending the first third of class having the teacher tell us the benefits of breastfeeding was not it. It just seemed a waste of time preaching to the choir. And maybe we're just fortunate, but we haven't had anyone question our decision to breastfeed. In addition, the teacher didn't seem to have any opinions about anything ... except how awesome breastfeeding is. Every answer she gave was preceded by "Well, there's as many ways to do that as there are mothers and babies ... " Not exactly helpful advice.

6. I have another doctor's visit scheduled for Wednesday (tomorrow). I'm hoping it's with my regular doctor this time. I haven't heard otherwise, so I'm optimistic!

7. Echo seems to be adjusting well to all the baby paraphernalia that's popping up in her house. We set up the Pack 'N Play in the living room, and she now just ignores it. She also ignores the various mobiles set up. At first she would bark, growl and try to bite the mobiles whenever we turned them on. Then she decided to just tuck her tail and run from them. Now she just looks at us like she's thinking "That's old news, you guys!" We've been spending a little time each day with her in the nursery and trying to teach her that roughhousing is not allowed in that room. We are experiencing minimal success with that. She's given all The Peanut's toys, clothes and linens her sniff test of approval. The only problem came when I accidentally bought a toy that has a squeaker. We'll have to be careful with Henry the Hippo since he sounds exactly like Echo's favorite toy, the Heffalump Elephant. Oops! She's still not a big fan of the strollers, but we're working on it. I think we've got all the big stuff set up in the house so she can get used to it. We'll see how she reacts to the car seat that is soon to appear in her car!

8. It snowed here yesterday. Nothing that would stick. Basically, it was drizzling, then turned to teeny tiny sleet and then to snow flakes. It was pretty to watch while it lasted. The forecast calls for temperatures back up in the sixties for the weekend, though.

Dr. Visit

My regular doctor, Dr. Talley, was out for "unspecified medical reasons," so yesterday's appointment had been rescheduled with Dr. Owen. I tried to be tolerant of the wait since I knew they were short-staffed, but seeing the doctor at 4 pm for a 2:20 pm appointment was disappointing. I suppose I am spoiled since I've never had to wait longer than 20 minutes to see Dr. Talley.
The Peanut's heart rate was 135 bpm ... I was a little freaked out by this. Every other time I've gone to the doctor, she's been in the mid-150s. The nurse's explanation (a vague "Maybe because you're in a resting position") was less than comforting since I was in the same position I'd been in the last 10 times they've listened to the heartbeat. However, the doctor assured me that such drastic [my word, not his :)] fluctuations are normal. I guess my subconscious mind didn't believe him because I had some rather alarming nightmares last night. He did say The Peanut was in a head-down presentation, which is good news. I mentioned that she is unlikely to stay that way since she flips around like an acrobat on crack, but he seemed to think it likely that she would settle into the head-down position in a couple of weeks.
According to my weekly updates from BabyZone, BabyCenter and iVillage, she supposedly weighs a bit over three pounds and is about 16 inches long. And if it's on the Internet, you know it must be true!

Avoiding housework like I used to avoid homework

Friday morning, Dave came in after trying to leave for work to say his car wouldn't start. We didn't have time for jumper cables and all that fun stuff so I just handed him my keys. Bummer for me that I'd been saving all my fun "errands" (taking Echo to the dog park, meeting Dave for lunch, going to Gresham to see Carole) for Friday! So, I spent a good portion of my morning playing on Amazon and creating a wishlist for The Peanut.
I went all out! There are actually four different lists (Gear, DVD, Books and Toys). How organized am I when I have time on my hands?!? Actually, I created it as a reminder to myself because as I browsed through Amazon's "Baby" category, I kept seeing such cute stuff! If anyone has any suggestions to add, let me know. (And Christopher, Dave already has the "True Stories" DVD so I will not be adding it to her DVD list!)
But, go make The Peanut feel special and add her as an "Amazon Friend." Hee.

How cute is that?

Two out of three ain't bad

Now I'm sorry I made all those extravagant promises of pictures yesterday. Even though I'll be caught up on laundry and grocery shopping by the end of today, I still feel overwhelmed by the stuff left to do to catch up from the weekend.
The Weekend Recap:
Mom and Dad drove in with Lady on Thursday. They arrived that afternoon, and we tried to make our dogs be friends. Turned out to be a poor decision. Lady was still a little frazzled from her trip and took a hunk of Echo's nose fur in retaliation of Echo's repeated attempts to sniff her rear end. We decided to just let the dogs split time roaming the house for the rest of the weekend. I will say that for a dog that "never barks" [quoted from both Mom and Dad], Lady sure raised a racket whenever she saw Echo!! We were happy to see that Lady apparently learned how to play from watching Echo and Dad wrestle with each other that first day. She enjoyed hopping and pouncing around the carpeted room and on the living room rug. Very cute. Hopefully next time the two dogs meet, Lady will be feeling a little more secure, and they can be friends.
The Bouldins (David, Jackie and Christopher) arrived Friday afternoon. Dave took the afternoon off work so we could all eat lunch together and have some time to hang out. We spent the evening getting things shifted in the living room to prepare for Saturday's Furniture Rearrangement Party.
Saturday was the shower. Jackie and Mom went to Carole's early to help out. I stayed home and got all the lunch stuff ready for the guys. Grandma Steele and Aunt Bev also dropped by to see the house and eat.
We had a great time at the shower. Carole throws a mean party! It was great to see everyone and to open presents for The Peanut. How cool to have all these people show how much they love her before she even arrives!



The food was delicious. Perfect shower food.








Look at all those gifts!












Silly Meredith






Um, I didn't find myself at all attractive in any of the pictures, so I left those out. Blogger's prerogative.
While the ladies partied like it was 1999, the guys put together the crib and dresser. Well, first they moved the couch and other furniture out of the nursery! By the time I got home, the nursery furniture was arranged and ready for the little touches (clothes in the dresser, wall hangings, bedding, etc.) No pictures yet. I want to wait until it is all set up. Give the full effect all at once!
Mom and Dad left at 5 am on Sunday. Whew, that's early! After brunch at The Creamery with the Bouldins, they headed back to Texas.
Dave and I still had to attend our Infant/Child CPR and First Aid class, but after that, we came home and crashed. Everybody was pooped!

Echo does enjoy the new furniture arrangement in the living room. She has a much more comfortable view of the yard.

The Kitchen
Last month, my dad stayed with us while my mom went to a quilt show in Nashville. Dad spent three days repainting our kitchen for us. [THANKS, DAD!] Dave and I painted the cabinet doors and replaced the hardware. We've finally got everything put together and back where it belongs.
And just so you can get the full effect, a few before pictures. These were taken just after we moved in. I had already taken the doors off because I found the barn door-like hardware too hideous to even look at.

Now, one year later ...

Wiped

This weekend was crazy. With the excitement of having family in town for my baby shower, I missed all my naps! I'll probably spend today recuperating. More about the shower tomorrow. Plus pictures of the finished kitchen! Oh, boy! And pictures of the nursery! That's right, it'll be a photo extravaganza! In the meantime, with extra photographers around, we were finally able to get pictures of both Dave and I during the pregnancy.

The Baby Belly at 30 weeks (hard to see since I'm not sideways!)

Our Family :)

A Weekend Review

SATURDAY: Good Ol' St. Joseph

I'm rather unfamiliar with the identity of various saints. I have no idea if St. Joseph was the husband of Mary or if some other Joseph accomplished miraculous deeds thereby achieving his sainthood. Regardless, St. Joseph has lent his name to a private school near our house that threw its annual Fall Festival this weekend. Last year, I stumbled upon the BBQ booth at the edge of the festival and had the best BBQ since arriving in Knoxville.
This year, Dave and I walked around the festival, but weren't really interested in the games and crafts. We zipped through and headed to the BBQ!! Since it was a bit nippy (high in the low 60s--I felt sorry for the student in the dunking booth!), we took our purchases home. We ate the pulled pork sandwiches for lunch and put the rack of ribs and half a chicken in the oven to stay warm until supper.
Not even my near poisoning of Dave could ruin the supper! (I found some baking dishes my mom had brought me from Spain and used Goo Gone to get the very sticky labels off. Apparently I didn't wash the Goo Gone off as thoroughly as I should have ... Dave's mac and cheese had a distinct orange flavor. I checked the label and right on the front it says "HARMFUL OR FATAL IF SWALLOWED!" Fortunately he suffered no ill effects.) I nearly did in Echo as well. I handed her a rib bone and she had crunched down half of it before I noticed. I spent the evening worrying about perforated stomachs and intestines, but other than a little urping on Sunday morning (She graciously jumped off the bed before throwing up this time.), she was fine.

Saturday in a nutshell: I nearly killed off my family.

SUNDAY: Snooze

We had such a lazy Sunday. I went back to the bedroom to wake Dave up after I ate breakfast and ended up falling back asleep. We didn't roll out of bed until noon! I guess we should enjoy these opportunities while we can! Of course, we soon realized that we had to eat, shower and get ready for our 2 pm class. So we ran around like crazy, but managed to make it in time to snag a seat in the back row.
Class was wonderful! The birth partners practiced massage techniques. :) I had a great time. We also were able to tour the Women's Services area of the hospital.
Sometime that night, after one of my many bathroom breaks, I nearly gave Dave a heart attack. I don't know how, but as I was getting back into bed, I missed the mattress with my knee and ended up doing a face plant into the mattress. It startled him awake and he checked, re-checked and re-re-checked to make sure I was okay. I blame The Peanut for my clumsiness. (I don't know what I'll do once she's born and I don't have pregnancy as my excuse anymore!)

Sunday in a nutshell: I once again nearly do in my husband.

For Dave's sake, I'm glad today is Monday and he has to head to work. Perhaps he'll be safer there!

It's important to have clear expectations

Dave and I had our first childbirth class yesterday. A round of introductions, watch the birthing video and talk about general pregnancy woes vs. real warning signs. The instructor is very ... perky. And tends to get off track with stories about her kid or previous class members. I doubt if we'll ever get out at the 5:00 pm end time.
I think the big, gross video of a live birth has lost a bit of its impact. After all, I just have to flip the channel to TLC during the day and I can pretty much see the same thing.
Except for the emergence of the placenta. That was nasty. No one needs to see that.
So, I told Dave after class, these are the rules:

1. You stay up by my head. (And definitely NO photos or video below the waist. Who the heck would be allowed to watch
it?!? That certainly wouldn't be included in the iMovie!)
2. After The Peanut arrives, you follow it around. Take as many pictures as you want of the naked, screaming baby. Avoid seeing what happens to me afterwards at all cost. Blech.
3. Cut the cord, don't cut the cord. Don't care. You can make that choice on the spur of the moment if you want. I don't think The Peanut or I will remember whether you do or don't.

He seemed okay with all those.
He also was okay with telling the class we were naming our kid Pork Chop. I know this because he did it.
Oh, and as the instructor was discussing early labor, she mentioned that you could eat/drink "clear" things. Someone in the class suggested water. My husband suggested vodka.
Hee. He's funny.
It's not really the sort of class you take pictures in, but of course we have Super Cute Echo Dog Pictures.






Echo looking cute, as viewed from above.












Echo likes to lick the leftovers out of my yogurt carton.

Clothes

(Edited: The Wry Baby website has the "I can't read" in a t-shirt. I'm even more tempted by this article of clothing since The Peanut would probably get more use out of it. Say, every week at the public library's story time? :P)
I am not a big fan of people spending outrageous amounts on baby clothes. Even the adorable Ralph Lauren play outfit at Marshall's seemed a bit expensive at $15. I don't want to be more worried about The Peanut's clothes than I am about The Peanut. :)
However, I do find myself severely tempted by these outfits from BabyAnt.com:

No Name Bouldin?

We're actually making progress in our search for The Peanut's name. We've made it through the R's in our 100,000+ baby names book, and I've talked Dave out of naming her Day Vidleigh Bouldin.

Saturday Fun and Other Notes

I forgot to mention ...
1. I went to the doctor on Thursday and everything looks good. The heartbeat sounded exceptionally strong and my baby belly measured right on target. If I could only be normal during one time in my life, I'm happy to have a run-of-the-mill pregnancy. In three weeks I get to go back to drink the yummy sugar juice and test my blood sugar.
2. Did you notice the difference in my maternity pants between weeks 20 and 25? My mom (or Grandma or Aunt Bev) hemmed them! Yeah! I can walk around without stepping all over the bottoms of my pant legs. The pants will probably last a bit longer as well.
Saturday Fun ...
It poured pretty much all day Saturday. We had several errands that had been piling up as we used the nice weekends to accomplish yard work. We used the weather as an excuse to get out of the house and get stuff done. The first stop wasn't so much an errand as it was a craving. There's a small lunch counter inside Long's Drugstore on Kingston Pike. We used to eat there when we lived in the married student housing. Cheap prices, decent food and I love the vanilla Cokes. Yummy. We always get there too late for breakfast so Dave's never been able to try the biscuits and sausage gravy, but maybe one of these days we can get moving in time. It was our lucky day since we didn't even have to wait for a table!
After lunch, we went to Hancock Fabrics to pick out materials for our baby slings. My friend, Jana, recommended I get my sling from Lucky Baby. If you send in your own fabric (two different patterns), they will sew the sling based on your measurements. Jana said this is the most comfortable sling she's been able to find. Since Dave and I have such a size difference, we each need our own sling. I'll let you guess which two fabrics are Dave's and which two are mine.

(You can click on each picture for a larger view.)

We also headed to the mall to see if JC Penney's happened to have the crib and dresser we like in stock. (Apparently they no longer carry the changer/hutch we liked. Bummer.) The web site misdirected us and we found out we were at the wrong mall. I did get to go to the Mac store, though. It eased the irritation a bit. The other Penney's didn't have the furniture in stock. I guess we'll be catalog ordering. (Interesting: When you order the crib, shipping charges are $107. Add the dresser onto the order and the shipping charges go up to $108. Good to know.)
That evening we spent the time taking pictures of the Echo dog.

Week 25

I don't really notice much difference on the outside. She's definitely getting bigger on the inside, though! Echo's getting jealous because Dave spends so much time with his hands on my belly. Saturday, she jumped up into bed and laid down right between us. Then she looked at David as if to say "Hey! I'm the one who's supposed to be petted!"

Books are fun

I bought The Peanut her first books today. I know, most of you are wondering what took me so long. Actually, if you've been to our house you know that several shelves of our bookcases are filled with children's books. However, I have stayed away from board books since most of them are just picture books in a sturdier format. Today, though, I found the bargain books bin at Marshall's (the store that will bankrupt us before The Peanut is even born because I ALWAYS find something cute for her there). I didn't really expect to discover anything worthwhile in there, but ended up finding several of my favorite read-alouds from my days at the Dallas Public Library Children's Center.
So, these are the first books I've bought for The Peanut as an actual person, not just some vague idea of the kids I'd have "someday."

I also had the idea that (if anyone is interested) those people that live far away and won't get to see The Peanut that often should tape themselves reading her a book. If you happen to have a video camera that uses MiniDV cassettes, you could film yourselves, send me the tape and I could make it into a DVD for her to watch. Eh, if you like the idea and have the time, drop me a line or just send me the tape of yourself. I promise, no posting the performances on the Internet, and I'll return the video tapes.
We haven't started reading to The Peanut yet, but I want to do so soon.
And here is Echo wondering why I leave the house so often in my great, rumbling beast, but keep coming back carrying bags that don't contain any toys or treats for her. Who could I be spending my money on if not her?

Playing

Dave and I went to Babies 'R Us the other night to work on our gift registry. I think Dave mainly went along because he has fond memories of being in charge of the scanner while registering for our wedding gifts! (Hee. And not true. He figured out how the strollers worked so we could test out each one on our list.) We got started on our registry, but realized we had more research to do about what we need. If anyone has a good suggestion for a store to find baby furniture, let us know. We weren't taken with any of the options we saw last night.

Clarification

For everyone who was scared to ask:

The name "Stewby" was a joke. We wouldn't do that to our kid.

I don't know

I'm not sure what's going on with the Comments. I've had trouble getting my comments to post, and other people have told me their comments aren't showing up, either. I'll see what I can figure out. (That makes it sound like I actually know enough to identify AND fix the problem. HA!)
Dave and I had a good time last week seeing my parents and Grandma Steele. Grandma and Mom brought us tons of goodies for the baby. Once I get caught up with my housework, I'll take the time to take pictures and post them.
Dad spent all his time painting the kitchen. It looks GREAT! I'm so excited about it. I won't take pictures for a bit because I want to show off the finished product, and Dave and I still have doors to paint and hang as well as returning all the food and equipment to the cabinets.
The Peanut is moving around all over usually just as I lie down to sleep. I told Dave that I'll be glad when she's out and can kick him for a change! :) I love feeling her moving around in there. (Still no name ... )