Last day of Daddy's leave

What a crazy couple of days at home with the little lady. Thursday was a very big day. Gracie was introduced to her doggie. Brandy was unsure about Gracie and still is. She has to get use to a lot of changes, though she is doing really well. On Thursday we also had her first Dr. appt and everything checked out great. She gained back 3ozs in a couple days and was 8lbs. I think she has probably gained 3 more ounces since then because she is eating really well. Friday morning we had our first bath which Grace didn't love, other then having her hair washed. The photo after the bath is included.

Most nights Grace has been able to sleep fairly well, though the past couple nights have had some fussy times. We are going to try some new options tonight to see if that helps. My mother stayed with us on Friday night, which was a wonderful blessing! Adam and I were able to get some really good sleep and my mom got to remember what it was like 30+ years ago. Let's just say she went to bed really early on Saturday night.

We are also pleased to announce the birth of Grace's second cousin Andrew Joseph Peters, born September 26, 2008 at 8:50am. He was two weeks early and was still 8bs 2ozs, and 21" long. Michelle had a easier delivery with this son and they are heading home today. Hopefully this week the two cousins will be able to meet. The plan was to bring Grace to the hospital yesterday, but I wasn't feeling that great. Breastfeeding can produce a few complications, which I did experience on Saturday. Today I am feeling much better.

Grace has had some visitors over the past couple days, which she has enjoyed all of cuddle time. She is never in need of being loved on. Sadly tomorrow Daddy has to go back to work. My mother is again coming to stay the night to help us get the week started off great. It is a little scary to think that I am going to be caring for Grace by myself for most of the week. We will see how I do! I am looking forward to some fun Mommy Daughter time.

The First Night Home

Yesterday we finally left the hospital at 2pm. Three main things helped in that decision...first I felt up to it even after my procedure (to be explained in a minute), a horrible interaction with a lactation consultant/devil, and hearing my screaming hungry baby come down the hall to eat because the nursery staff waiting too long to get her to me.

Knowing I had never had major surgery I knew that an epidural was in my future...little did I know there would be three. Friday night I received two epidurals. The first went into a blood vessel, so it had to be removed. The second worked for a bit and then moved into a blood vessel. Thank goodness for the c-section they just used a spinal block. During one of those many pokes in my back, some how they must have nicked something to release a tiny bit of spinal fluid into the epidural space. Monday morning I woke-up with the largest headache I have ever felt in my life and only laying flat helped. Luckily our nurse that day was amazing and helped to diagnose the problem and got the solution quickly. The best way to fix this is to receive another "epidural" but instead of receiving medication they shoot your own blood into the area to create a "patch" to stop to fluid leak. Thank God that worked, though Monday I had the usual epidural backache. The other good thing is the pain is relieved within 30mins or less, and I was back to my normal self for the day.

The lactation consultant that checked on me yesterday sent me over the edge and Adam was amazing at interpreting my look of death to him. He shooed this woman out of our room as fast as he could because he knew I might go postal on her. Isn't their job to help you feel more comfortable at breast feeding not doing paperwork while I try to get the crying baby, which she made cry and get so upset, to latch-on and eat? Thank goodness our first lactation nurse was great!

Last night we had some really good feedings and we were able to hear our little lady tell us she was hungry before the crying. You also know you are a parent when your child's poopy & wet diapers make you happy because it has been too long since you have seen one. She felt better after them too. Adam got the joy of being peed on today...then again he is getting the joy of having his daughter nap on his chest today too. He enjoyed the nap more especially after being up with her for 40 mins last night while she hiccuped.

Thanks to Jill for the coffee today! We get a call at 8:30 this morning and couldn't imagine who was calling...our neighbor brought us coffee/tea, some cute blankets, an outfit, and met Grace. Her son is only a couple months older then Grace and it is amazing to think Grace will get that big so quickly. I am feeling good today with no problems moving around, navigating the stairs, and even got a wonderful shower.

We look forward to the next couple days at home as a family. Adam won't go back to work until Monday, so he has been my wonderful go-to man! I know woman are suppose to get the push gifts, but I think he should get the recovery gift. To use for contractions, or so I thought, I did get him a fun CSU watch that should tide him over for a bit. Well, I better get going and feed the little lady. Until the next post, have a great day!

3 Days Old

Grace is now a little over 75 hours old and is doing great! We have been blessed in that she will sleep for 3, or sometimes 4, hours at a time during the night if she's well fed. A lot of that is due to keeping her in the nursery during the night and taking advantage of the great nursing staff here at Sky Ridge. We are also very blessed to have a number of our family and friends visit us over the past few days. Grace in not usually fussy, but she'll definitely let you know if she's hungry, has a messy diaper or is dealing with gas!

Here are a few highlights...

Everyone seems to love Grace's chubby cheeks, blue eyes and strawberry-blonde hair. We especially like watching her sleep and seeing all of the "old man" faces she makes while dreaming. We are still debating which features come more from Mommy vs. Daddy. Not totally sure on that yet, but we do know she's got Adam's pinkies and his smile. She gets the blue eyes and blonde hair from mom (although Karla was born with dark hair). Grace also makes a noise like a baby crocodile (google the "umph" sound); not sure who she got that from but it's very cute.

As of right now (9/23) we are still in the hospital. Yesterday, Karla had her 3rd epidural "poke" since Saturday morning. While that got rid of the splitting headache, it also gave her more of a backache which is starting to get better. Although we can stay until tomorrow morning if we'd like or to allow more time for Karla to recoup, we are thinking this afternoon will be the right time to take Grace home.

Thanks again to all of you who stopped by, called or emails with your best wishes, gifts, food, encouragement and love. Look forward to seeing all of you in the very near future and introducing you to our sweet baby girl. Here is our first official family photo.

It's a Girl, September 20,2008

We officially had our daughter at 6:02am on September 20, 2008 via a c. section. After 20 hours of trying pitocin, breaking my water, and doing what we thought we could to not have a c section, the baby had a mind of her own. She wouldn't drop at all and was very happy where she was. So at 5am we decided on the c-section and we went in...we will add more details later.

Grace Karla was born at 6:02am, 8lbs 9ozs, 21" long

We have all been doing great! She has been eating like a champ, Adam is the king of diapers, since the section has been limiting my activities, and I am healing very well. Here are a couple photos of our little lady...she has officially broken the streak of only male Peters for 3 generations. That is our girl! The middle name is also a family tradition and we decided to continue on my mothers side. We can't wait to share our little blonde haired, blue eyed sweetie with you all.

We will update when we have more time.

Congratulations to Grace's birthday buddy...George O'Reilly. We were lucky enough to be pregnant with Adam's good friend and co-worker, we even told mutual friends about the pregnancies on the same night. Little did we know that they would share a birthday. CONGRATULATIONS O'REILLY FAMILY.

Induction Date

For all of you that are anxiously awaiting Sweet Pea's arrival...you can keep waiting. That's what we are doing! We arrived at the hospital today at 7:30 and Karla got her Pitocin drip started by 9am. 8 hours later there is not much to report. She is having more contractions but not the consistency the Dr. would like. They've been changing the amount of Pitocin to see if we can establish more regular contractions, and hopefully have Sweet Pea drop down (he or she is still "very high" which means we're probably not that close). Hence the reason I can update the blog during the early evening.

We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers from our family and friends. We'll let you know more as news develops.

No update & Coldplay

Well I haven't had much of a change since the dr appt yesterday. Today is my last day at work and I am going to enjoy some time off tomorrow, if the baby lets me. We will let you know of any changes. BTW, the song last night was Coldplay's Viva La Vida.

We are getting very excited!!!

Dr. Appt & music, music, music

Today's dr. appt was a little disappointing. There really is no change with me or the baby. The baby hasn't dropped/engaged, making it hard for the dr to even guess the weight of the baby. About 7.5lbs is the current guess and that would be mine as well or a bit bigger. I am on my way to about 2cm, this doctor is known for being generous in her dilation amounts and she said I was 2cm. The next sentence has warnings: non-partners you can skip it, men ask your wives if they know, and many women can relate. To try and get things moving the dr "stripped my membranes." This action has a 50% chance of starting labor within 48 hours...which is right near our induction date anyway.

So if nothing changes before Friday, we will be heading to the hospital about 7am. If the baby still hasn't dropped by Friday they will have to hook me up to pitocin first to start contractions and get the baby to drop. Then we will progress from there.

Music, music, music, every night at one of the many bathroom breaks while trying to fall back asleep and I have a new song in my head keeping me from sleeping. Sunday was "Rock Star" by Nickelback, Monday was Pink's new song "So What", Tuesday was Maroon 5. It doesn't sound like a problem until you can't get the song out of your head for 30+ mins and you are singing many of the same lines over and over again. I wonder what tonight's song will be.

Thank you everyone for your calls and emails. We will keep you updated if the baby decides to come before Friday.

40 weeks and ready as we will ever be.

Well even with some painless contractions Friday and Saturday, Sweet P wasn't ready to enter the world this weekend. The baby allowed us one final weekend to work on final projects, enjoy some alone time together, time with friends/family, and a really good Broncos game (I know, with a bad call.) It was so nice to get a few things done around the house: trim hedges, laundry, organizing the baby's room just a bit more, and enjoying time together. In honor of the baby we did watch Baby Mama. It has been ages since we rented a movie at blockbuster, we had Netflix for some time and then we just rented at the $1 red box. This will also be one of the last times we rent at Blockbuster because it was over $5!!! We did enjoy the predictable movie.

Tomorrow is our 40 week appointment and we will have a better idea if any of the aches and painless contractions I have been having are getting my body more ready for labor. Our appt is at 11am. If we do make the induction date, my last day at work will be Wednesday because one day to myself to get anything finalized sounds perfect to me!

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We will be sure to keep you updated via the blog, emails, and calls when possible.

Almost 40 weeks and no baby.

For those that are checking the blog I thought I would update again...with the fact that there is no change with me or the baby. Sweet P has decided to allow Adam and I time to get our work completely squared away. It actually scared me that we would be having the baby today because Adam said "You can't go into labor on Friday I have 4 meetings scheduled." Don't worry he would have cancelled the meetings :P

Maybe the change in weather this week will impact the baby's decision to greet the world. Today is a high of 62 and rainy. So much for the adorable girl summer outfit I bought. The baby could be a boy and it wouldn't have mattered anyway. This morning I did say to Adam that I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, for one of the last times in a while.

Hope you have enjoyed this tiny update. Monday is the official due date, September 15, 2009. Our next Dr. appt is Tuesday the 16th though. Our induction is with Dr. Chu on Friday Sept 19th at 7:30am and she doesn't work on Mondays, so we are having a 40 week and one day appt. I can't believe in a week we will officially be parents. The thought is very surreal that is for sure. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers this week. We will let everyone know as soon as we can.

Sept 10th, a day to celebrate (IKEA)

My mother just called and told me some of the best news....Ikea is coming, Ikea is coming!!!! Ikea, one of the stores I love to stop at, is coming to Centennial, CO. This is one town away from me. Parker now has Costco and will have the Ikea close to it. Big box stores make the suburban wife happy :)

This store is wonderful and I can't wait to take Sweet P there. There is so much to shop for that the store has a play area for kids to keep them busy while the parents shop. This should help me through some possible postpartum depression because this store is something huge to look forward to and budget for.

Call me crazy I know, but this is so exciting!!!

39 weeks & counting

Classes, car seats, bags, oh my. We are officially done with all of our classes, the car seats have been checked and installed correctly and the 3 hospital bags are packed (one for me, one for hubby, and one for baby). The car seat location had to be confirmed by Hillary and Adam passed the installation with pretty much flying colors!

Our 39 week appt yesterday was good. The baby still hasn't engaged, though it feels lower then ever, I am 1cm dilated still and now 70% effaced. To make sure we have a good appt time, we scheduled an induction for Friday Sept 19th at 7:30am. Based on my mother's history with quick induction deliveries, Sweet P will be here within the next 10 days if history repeats it's self.

This was a busy week with work and fun. Wednesday was a perfect day...for a shower gift my parents paid to have our house to be cleaned. There is nothing like a clean house to make you feel more ready for a baby. During the week I was fighting the cold and was able to slow myself down a little to not get the brunt of it. My marathon Saturday was wonderful!! The shower with our neighbors was so much fun and a special time to spend with everyone that is going to watch Sweet P grow so quickly. Thank you Jill & Michelle! Then off to my sister-in-law's shower for our nephew, who right now will be named Andrew Joseph or as Alex likes to call his little brother "cake". Then that night we had some of our good friends over, the Shiers & Evans. The infant care class on Sunday went well and I was able to finally work on the growing thank you list, which is now almost completed.

Yesterday we completed our legal paperwork, thank you to the Boschens! It was a bit weird discussing some contingencies in there for our grandchildren! Between now and then I am sure things will change and get updated, but it was surreal. Tonight I get to go and see Avenue Q with my mom. The baby was sweet enough to let me make it until the show, which I really wanted to see again. We first saw it in London, which was something I was curious about. How would a group of Londoners sing and act like characters from Queens, NY? Because the baby does like musicals so much, the baby moves all the time during the shows, maybe it wanted to hear the show too. We won't say that it could be a coincidence, the baby's love for musicals and it's normal active time is in the evenings from 7-9, which is during the shows...baby likes the theatre. I do hope to also make it to my hair cut on Thursday. Other then that, baby you can come any time :P

Here are a few new photos. Yes my shirt color is the same, though these photos are a sweater since it was a high of 55 yesterday. This is probably our last family photo without Sweet P. Our new camera makes really funny beeps when the timer is going and it makes Brandy give her curious face, which I love! The second photo is of me next to the rocker that Adam and his father restored. This was the rocker my folks used for my brother and me. We can't wait to use it for Sweet P.

Hopefully the next posting will be about Sweet P.'s arrival or at the very least an update on my dilation progress. Thank you for all your prayers and wonderful thoughts. I have tried my best to respond to all emails, though it had been more difficult lately with the many, many, many thoughts in my head. We will update soon.

38 weeks: the good, the bad, the ugly

Let us start off with the good. Adam and I had a great Labor Day weekend. He hiked Longs peak, a 14er, with our friend Phil, as well as Meeker, a Centennial peak. After limited sleep in the 4-runner they started hiking with headlamps at 3am. {adam- limited sleep is an understatement...the most amount of sleep I think I got was about 1.5 hours. Apparently someone snores, yeah, for only an hour straight....damn you Phil. Well, that is not really the amount you want to get before going on a 12+ hour hike. The "loft" route up to Meeker and Long's was a great idea that I have to give thanks to Phil for. It was an incredible sight to see the summit of Meeker and Long's in the "morning-glow" at 6am. This was three hours into our twelve hour trek. The day was perfect for hiking/climbing but we now can empathize with all of those folks who say the last part of the day is the 'death-march' back to your car. Funny how long seven miles takes after you've been climbing for seven hours already. Overall, it was a challenging but very rewarding day on the peaks}

The men hiked, while Shawna and I enjoyed much needed girl time together with the kids. Abigail is adorable and ever active. She will be on the hike with them in only a few years. Sunday and Monday we were able to get a whole lot done around the house. Adam got the lawn ready, we hung the canvases (FINALLY), got the baby's room ready and finished the black-out shades.

The bad, hanging curtain rods is never fun! A couple hours later we were able to hang the two rods. Let's just say, it is better when the instructions are actually right with sizes and recommendations. Also, this week I started getting a cold that I am getting over.

The ugly, and updates. We went to our 38 week appt on Tuesday morning. Yes, I have finally dilated 1cm and am still 50% effaced. Based on the slow moving baby, during our 39 week appt on Monday we will schedule an induction. The hospital we are delivering at, Sky Ridge Medical Facility, is very popular for delivering and we need to make sure we can get some time scheduled. I want to make sure I have a medicine ball for me to use during labor...depending on how they might induce.

This week we continue to get ready for the baby...and Saturday is my last marathon day. We have a shower with our neighbors, my sister-in-law's shower, car seat checks, and friends over for dinner. If that doesn't help me move along in dilation I don't know what will. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. We continue to get excited when the baby is moving, which is usually 7-9pm guaranteed. Sweet P responds to Adam's voice which is so special. When asked, Sweet P still won't give us a clue on it's sex. We are about 50/50 on boy and girl. In about 10 days we will probably know. We will keep you posted.