rolling with my hommies

This last week, Brian and I got to use our BOB stroller (the cadillac of strollers) for the first time! We have spent a lot of time talking about how excited we were for stroller walks. For some reason, the idea of walking our baby in a stroller seemed like the epitome of parenthood. Like a rolling right of passage. We decide to enjoy some of the beautiful spring weather and introduce Lila to one of the prettiest parks in Durham, the Duke Gardens. While all the flowers were not quite in bloom, its still fun to finally see some buds after a cold, hard winter. Huh...kind of like an analogy for our life right now :-)

Spring is nature's way of saying,
"Let's party!"
~Robin Williams

g-rents

This post is all about the grandparents :-) Because no 4 individuals have waited longer or prayed harder to become grandparents than Brian and mine's parents. And it has been quite a journey!

Brian's parents have had to watch a lot of our pregnancy from afar, as they live in Gastonia about 3 hours away. This is the first grandbaby for them (just like my parents) and they have been so excited for this little girl to get here. Brian's mom has found some of the cutest outfits for Lila, scouring the outlets and saving up her Kohl's and Gap bucks. I am so looking forward to getting to dress her in all of them as she grows. Here are some pictures of Lila with her Nanny and PaPa!

My parents have also been praying long and hard for Miss Lila to arrive. They have been a big part of taking care of me on bed rest, and shuttling me back and forth to doctors appointments. My mom was actually able to be in the delivery room when Lila was born and has been able to give me lots of mom advice over the past two weeks. Here are some pictures of Lila Bean with her Mimi and G.Thanks to all 4 of you for all that you do for Brian and Lila and I! Lila can't wait for all of the fun adventures ahead with all of you!

What children need most are the essentials

that grandparents provide in abundance.

They give unconditional love, kindness,

patience, humor, comfort, lessons in life.

And most importantly, cookies.

~Rudolph Giuliani

welcome Lila!

Announcing Miss Lila Addison!!

Wow, a lot can change in two weeks! Lila Addison was born on Wednesday, March 10 at 12:38am. She was 7lbs 11oz at birth and 20 inches long. Okay, so let's back track a little bit. I went for my weekly doctor's appointment on Tuesday, March 9 and I was going to beg him to induce me sometime before the weekend. I. WAS. DONE. I don't know how many of you are women who have ever been pregnant, but for those of you who are not familiar with the feeling, there comes a point where you will say or do anything to get that baby out.

After listening to all my symptoms and checking to see how dilated I was (4cm!!), my doctor stepped out of the room and I heard him on the phone with one of his fellow attendings. He walked back in, looked at me and said the best words I have ever heard: "We're admitting you today. Let's head on upstairs to Labor & Delivery." I am not exaggerating when I say I jumped up and hugged the man.

Thank God my dad had driven me to my appointment so he started making frantic phone calls while my nurse took me upstairs to be admitted. I was promptly told by all the nurses at the nurses station that I was entirely too happy looking to be checking in to Labor & Delivery. To which I just smiled wider.

They started me on Pitocin (to induce labor) at 5pm and until 10pm I was still in fairly good spirits and dealing with the contractions well. Brian ran over from work (poor thing had already worked a full day!), my mom ran over from her job at the airport, my sister hopped on a flight in Florida, and Brian's family jumped in the car to drive up from Gastonia.

At 10:45pm, I hit transition and got the full body shakes. To which I said: "Bring on the epidural!" They got in my room fairly quickly for that and then at 11:50pm my water broke, the nurse checked me and said "Don't push!" and about 15 people in scrubs ran in the room. My sister Katelyn got to make a dramatic entrance, running up the hall yelling "I'm here!!" literally as we started the delivery.

Then finally, after so many prayers, so much uncertainty, so many scary doctors appointments and emergency room visits, so many sleepless nights, so much begging...at 12:38am, Lila Addison made her debut and we haven't stopped smiling since.

Lila is doing amazing at home and is a very calm baby. She really only cries when she needs something and just hangs out and makes baby noises and faces the rest of the time. She is sleeping in fairly long spurts in the night, with a couple of hours in between feeding. She is also feeding like a champ and had already passed her birth weight last Wednesday (after dropping 8%, which is normal, in the days after her birth). Brian and I are feeling pretty good, just getting used to the new schedule. Did you know there is really boring/horrible TV on at 3:45am?? We are looking forward to getting Lila on a more predictable schedule (with longer night time sleeping hours) over the next month or two. But for now, we can both take naps during the day and take turns rocking and burping her at night (too bad I have the whole feeding job :-)I promise to try to be better about about posting with lots of pictures and Lila stories. Crazy as it is to believe, its really hard to write a blog post with a newborn baby. It has in fact taken me 3 hours just to post this one!

And when she wraps her hand around my finger
Oh it puts a smile in my heart
Everything becomes a little clearer
I realize what life is all about

It's hanging on when your heart has had enough
It's giving more when you feel like giving up
I've seen the light
It's in my daughter's eyes
~"In My Daughter's Eyes" by Martina McBride

spring in my step

Baby #2 in our playgroup is now officially on the way! Our friends Jen and Evan are at the hospital right now getting ready to deliver their little girl. They were due on March 3, so I guess we are actually following the original order of due dates. Our playgroup is very rule-oriented like that. Since we're all such rule followers in life...riggggghtttt...

I was so excited that it has gotten a little warmer each day this week. I love the sunshine and love getting the dogs out of the house to play in the backyard all day. I mean, I would actually like to have a baby to put in our stroller to walk down the street on days like this. I almost took a test run with Penelope the stuffed zebra but decided against it in favor of keeping up our street cred with the neighbors. I did however decide to dress like it was spring today to give Lila the reminder that this was the season that she was already supposed to be here for. Let's see if she takes the hint.

Or maybe this note to Lila from my Elon friend Rory will do the trick:
"Darling girl- While I know you're super comfy where you are right now, I can guarantee you that once you join us on "the outside" life will only get better - there will be infinite hugs and kisses from all sorts of friends, family & dogs, soft and comfy blankets to be swaddled in, lullabies from Mommy & Daddy, and a whole world to explore! We're trying to resist sending you an eviction notice, but this is getting a little absurd - your parents have waited so long already for your arrival... please don't make them wait much longer!"

A little bird, he told me so
He said come on, get on the go
Open your eyes, the sky is full of butterflies
The blossoms on the trees stir up the honeybees
Spring makes my fever right

~"Spring Fever" by Elvis Presley

drop it like its hot

Basically there have been no posts lately because, what is there to say, other than I am big, pregnant, and apparently have a "womb potato." That by the way is my new favorite expression, thanks to Melissa, my mom's friend. She is just waaaay too comfortable in there. And apparently wants to stay inside and lounge it up.

Photo Credit

We have been back to Labor & Delivery once over the weekend. I had about 8 hours of very strong contractions on Friday, but they ended up slowing down. Then on Saturday, Lila was being very sluggish, which is unusual for her. Honestly, I feel like Dance Party USA is going on most hours of the day (and night) right now. I am not sure who she learned the pop and lock from but you will not be getting a thank you card from me in the mail.

Anyway, she was just very quiet on Saturday, so the doctor asked me to come in so they could watch her on the monitor for a while. She was of course, just being a drama queen, as her heartrate looks awesome and they think she was just super tired from all those contractions the day before. Let's recap: SHE was super tired from 8 hours of contractions??

On Saturday I was almost 3cm and 75% effaced. Meaning I only have a tiny bit more to go before they consider me in active labor. The doctor is not sure why I keep having all these contractions that stop, but my body is just taking this part of labor and spacing it over weeks, rather than hours like most people. I go back this afternoon for another check, so we'll see if we made any progress from all the other contractions in the last 3 days.

My doctor is pretty conservative and says he will not induce me until 41 weeks. But we're not gonna talk about that because I cannot fathom that amount of time still being pregnant. Let's talk about happy things instead...like the fact that the flowers Brian bought me on Valentines Day are still alive and smiling on my coffee table! Or the fact that I just washed a pink jacket with bunny ears for Lila to wear on Easter. Because who doesn't need bunny ears??

"All good things arrive unto them that wait -
and don't die in the meantime."
~Mark Twain