I do have a few photos that I posted on Facebook and forgot to put up on my blog. So, without further ado here is
Sedona Jean
born March 4 2010 12:40 am
8lb 7 oz, 20.5 inches.

Wednesday morning I woke up to a contraction at 7:17 am. I know the time because I wrote it down in my pregnancy planner and I continued to write each one down all throughout the day. I don't normally do this, because of braxton hicks and all, but for some reason on that day I decided to keep track.

All day they went up and down, ranging anywhere from an hour to 15 minutes apart. Not too consistent or intense, but enough to give me the lingering thought of "I wonder if this will be the day?" By the afternoon I told my mom "Well I guess I will be going to church tonight because this just isn't progressing." and off I went. I continued to time them all throughout church. The contraction were coming about 10 minutes apart, but no one knew that I was in labor, not even me.

When I arrived home there was a plate of eggplant parmesan waiting for me, a dish that is known for it's labor inducing affects. My parents had ordered take out from Maggiano's and whether or not the old wives tale is true, I am not one to turn down good Italian. At this point we reverted to the iphone app for timing contractions and I suggested we play a game to keep me distracted. As my parents, husband, and I played bananagram we talked and laughed and the contractions were ranging anywhere from 10 to 6 minutes apart. At 11:45 pm they were 5 minutes apart and I thought I should take a warm bath to see if they would stop. After I got up though the next contraction was a lot more intense. I called my midwife at 12:00 am and told her details, I also casually mentioned that she could wait until after I took my bath. Luckily she insisted that she was going to leave immediately. After that the next contraction was tons of pressure and I told my mom to make up the bed and get my music ready, I was finally convinced that I was about to have a baby. I told J to call my midwife again and update her. The contractions started coming one on top of the other and I sat in the tub praying and trying to focus on relaxation. I was so worried about having the baby before my midwife who was still 15 minutes away could get there. I told J how scared I was, but he comforted me and helped me with my breathing techniques.

All of the sudden I shouted "UH OH! I HAVE TO PUSH" and right then my midwife burst in the door in her scrubs and gloves calm and ready to go. She dipped her hand into the water and told me the baby's head was right there. I declined the offer to move to the bed, I wasn't going anywhere at that point. They helped me lean back in the tub so that I could push which only took once and the head was out. She told me I just needed one more push. In disbelief I said "are you sure? I don't have to hold back?" and having been given the okay I pushed once more and at 12:40 am J reached down, grabbed Sedona, and laid her on my chest. I was in shock! I couldn't believe that I was holding my baby! It seemed too quick, too easy, too good to be true. After a minute of these thoughts, it finally sunk in that this was not a dream. I looked down at my daughter, my beautiful healthy baby girl and I welcomed her home.

I definitely will be posting more details and photos in the future, but I wanted to make a quick announcement. I had my baby last night (well technically this morning) at 12:40 am. Sedona Jean weighed 8 lb 7 oz, was 20.5 in, and as healthy and cute as can be. She latched on pretty much right off the bat and so breast feeding has been easy, other than the postpartum contractions which just make me want to pass out!

Everything about the birth was amazing. The intense labor lasted less than an hour so things progressed very quickly! It was a little scary at times, with plenty of unplanned events (let's just say I didn't wear my birth gown during the birth), but it was everything I could have ever dreamed of and more.

More to come my friends, more to come...

Yesterday I reached 39 weeks, this is the week that I was in when I had Z. Things are going well. I am officially on maternity leave now, so other than answering emails I am done with work. I have about a 12 week break which is great, except I just got my last check today. This is a little scary because I still have a car payment and a couple other bills to cover, so I pretty much have zero dollars in spending money until I start working again. It's a tight squeeze, but we'll be fine.

Here are the ups and downs for week 38.

I mentioned a successful prenatal appointment, but I forgot to share that I am GBS negative. This is great news because I tested positive last pregnancy.

Another cool thing is that I have been wanting to get a special gown to have for when I go into labor. This is what I consider one of the perks of an out of hospital birth, silly as it may seem. I have had no luck, until I went to JCPenney and found something simple and comfortable that I really liked which was normally $34.00 and 40% off, making it $20. I normally would not have considered this a good deal, but for this special occasion I was willing to go for it. The best part is I got to the check out and my total was just over $6.00. So I got it for 80% off!

I was happy about the surprise sale and having one less thing to worry about in preparing for the big day.

The down side of the week would be that my body is changing and it's been quite an adjustment for me. I haven't shed any tears over the stretch marks (this go round), but they have spread and become more prominent. I am kind of dreading what they will look like on a postpartum tummy, or what kind of swimsuit I will be wearing in a few months. I also have an outie, it's not a big deal, but I have never had one and it is strange to me.

That's it though, I don't have much to complain about. Tomorrow is my next appointment, so I should have some updates and see if anything has progressed over the past week. I'll definitely keep ya posted.

Well, obviously I haven't had the baby yet. I guess last night was false labor, but a good practice run none the less. It means I had the chance to squeeze in one last date night with my husband tonight which was really nice. So last week was the last hurrah with the girls and tonight was a little time alone with my man. We went to the Macaroni Grill because we had a gift card. It is actually kind of sentimental though because when I was pregnant with Z I announced it to J by writing it on the table at the Macaroni Grill. I guess it's the first place we went last time I was pregnant and it might be the last place we eat out at this time. Plus, March 1st is a significant date for us. It was on this day 10 years ago that we first talked about our feelings for each other.

Even though I was excited last night when I thought the baby was coming, I know she will come when the time is right and I am feeling really comfortable so I am just going to continue to enjoy my last days of pregnancy. That's what I say right now, we'll see how I feel if I am still pregnant 10 days from now.

Now that I'm back on my feet it is time to get back to business when it comes to preparing for the baby. This past week was all about baby.

It started with my parents arriving on Sunday. They will be in town for 3 weeks to help out and be here on the big day. They have been a HUGE help already.

On Monday I invited some of my gal pals to a night on the town. I know once the baby comes it will be a long time before I have a chance to get out and even longer before I can get out by myself without a baby attached to me. First off one of my friends treated me to a pedicure which was quite relaxing and now I will have cute pink toenails when I go into labor. That night we went to a restaurant called Grand Lux. The evening included high heels, valet parking, luxurious decor, and desserts made from scratch.



It was everything girls night out should be.

The rest of the week was a huge success. Besides the in home prenatal appointment, I got lots of stuff done around the house, and almost everything checked off my to do list. Overall I feel like a million bucks.

Just for the record I did call my midwife a couple hours ago to give her a heads up just in case. It's hard to say what is going on right now because with Z my contractions were sporadic and mild up until about 3 hours before he was born. Right now I am having contractions about 10 minutes apart. Could be a false alarm, but if I do have my baby girl tomorrow my dad has my log in info and so the blogosphere will be notified. That's the plan anyway. Time to try and get some sleep...

I've heard about pets having an intuition about pregnancy, and even labor, and now I am curious if toddlers are the same way. Here I am just 10 days away from my due date and out of now where Z digs into the very bottom of his toy box and pulls out his potty training doll. It's something he's never played with, which makes sense because he is your typical BOY, but now he has seemed to have an attachment to this baby. He is so sweet and tender with the doll. He puts it in blankets, sits and watches movies with it, and as you can see from the video he even requested a bottle for the baby. The cutest thing is when he says that the baby is screaming and then he will hold the doll and say "What's wrong? Baby are you okay?" It's just adorable. He is going to be such a good big brother.