For Lainey's Uncle Matt

This one is for you, Matt! :) In other news, I've recently learned that I can do many things quickly (5 minutes can feel like a lifetime!), one-handed, and using my foot instead of my hand. :)

First playdate

So, Lainey had her first playdate. As you can tell from the picture, Keegan was a bit more into it than she was. :) Thanks to Maddie, Gray, and Keegan for coming over and spoiling us with a fabulous dinner!

On another, less-pleasing note, I need to state for the record that I have now been projectile-peed on 5 times. Gross! You would think I would learn my lesson after the first time. One of those wasn't just pee, either. I guess I thought only boys really had that problem...but nooooo... and it happens so fast!!

Update on our new life!

Wow! What a new experience. We're having fun, though, and I think that things are getting better. Our first night was very rough, but the next night was better and then last night was good. I woke her up only to feed her. She's been awake now since about 8:30, but she's falling alseep now so hopefully she'll stay that way for a little bit! She's pretty cute (so we think!) and I love being her mom. She's getting a visitor today - Reagan - so we'll see how that goes. I hope she's okay with small, barky, slightly-disabled dogs. :) Here are a few pictures! Thanks to Rheannon and James for the cute tye-dyed onesie!!

Sweet swaddled baby

I am awake! Eyes are open!

Our Baby

Our little baby, Lainey Cathryn Harris, arrived on Thursday, April 24th, at 12:35 p.m. She weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20 inches long. She is completely precious and we are loving her to pieces.

I went into labor on the 23rd between 2-3:00 p.m. Not knowing what contractions "felt like", I wasn't sure what exactly was going on. I just knew that I was feeling differently...and in some pain. So finally, at 10:30 p.m., we headed to the hospital in the midst of a giant rainstorm. I was having contractions about 7-8 minutes apart, so I wasn't sure if they were going to let me stay at the hospital or not. Thankfully, at about 2:o0 a.m., they decided it was okay to let me stay. At that point I was in some serious pain but had barely (and I mean barely!) dilated. They started Pitosin and everything started rolling. I guess I had the epidural around 6 something? I have no idea...it's amazing how my sense of time completely flew out the window. It's still out there, I think... ;) Anyway, family started arriving around 9:30 or so and then at 12:35, little Lainey was born! We enjoyed many visitors at the hospital and the little girl was a very happy and cooperative hostess. Thank you to everyone who came by for a visit!

We got home yesterday, Saturday, and are trying to settle in here. It's been a long night but I am sure I'm not the first first-time mom who's said that. I'm posting a few pictures for now but I'm sure I'll post more when I have time. :) She's adorable - I think she looks like Ben!

Comfortable Baby

So...I'm 50% effaced, but not dilated! So Lainey's very happy and content where she is!! Tomorrow is my last day of work. I have mixed emotions. I am sad, sad about leaving my team. And it doesn't help that I'm emotional anyway right now. We were interviewing a person who could possibly take my place next year and I started crying! In the interview! Oh well. Emotional pregnant lady. :)

My good friend Kate, who is due April 19th (our pregnancy experiences have been so similar - very crazy!), actually went to the hospital today to have her baby! I'm so very excited for her and her husband and I am eagerly awaiting for news...!

We will keep you updated. Right now, I am scheduled for an induction on April 28th. If she holds out until then, I might be okay with that. It means a whole week of no work and relaxation before she comes!

Update

Well, baby Lainey is happily hanging out! There has been very little progress from my last appointment. But, everything looks great and her heartrate sounds good. My doctor said we can go a week late...so after the next appointment we should have some idea about what we're going to do. I think my doctor is going to put us "on the schedule" for an induction on April 28th. That is so close to my birthday!! That would be neat, I think. :) Unfortunately, Lainey has settled a foot or something underneath my right rib...no big breaths for me. Ow. I thought she was supposed to be dropping, not moving higher. Haha. :) Anyway, this just happened today so maybe she'll scoot out of the way by tomorrow.

Sleeping has become interesting...I don't wake up because I'm uncomfortable or anything, but I am waking up a lot and having trouble falling back asleep. I think it's just the anxiety of it all. :) A lot on my mind!! And last night was interesting due to the CRAZY storm that blew through here and a dog who vomited all over the bed at 2 something. Not kidding. So hopefully tonight will be calmer. :)

Belly Pics - 38 1/2 weeks

Here we are! :) Just waiting...I officially decided that my last day at work will be the 18th. It's hard for me to say that because I feel like I'm leaving at a really bad time. But thankfully, my team is amazing. I will miss them a lot!! I go to the doctor on Thursday to see if we have made any progress (cross your fingers!). We'll let you know if there's anything to report.

37 1/2 weeks

So, my appointment today was uneventful. I haven't progressed from last week; Lainey is a comfortable baby!! But, most importantly, she's doing fine and I'm doing fine. :) Last night we had a fun time putting together baby things...I think someone could go into buisness doing that for people. Truly! You could be "that person" who is hired to go to homes and assemble baby toys and play things and strollers and all of that. I am glad that everything is put together now, but sadly, our battery supply is wiped out. :)

Shower picture and baby update!

Thank you to Linda, Patsy, Ally, Tisha, Judy, Sue, and Joan for a fabulous shower today! It was beautiful and I was so happy to see so many friends. I feel very, very blessed! Thank you for a fabulous day, ladies. :) And thank you to everyone else for coming and sharing in this experience with me!

Doctor update: I went on Thursday and found that I was 25% effaced. I just have a feeling that this baby will be with me until her due date! We shall see...everything else went well, though. I go again on Thursday to see how we're doing then. On another note, I'm definitely feeling 8 months pregnant. I have decided that all goes downhill at about 7:00 p.m. My feet and hands swell (very hard to get the wedding ring off!!) and suddenly small tasks become hard. Like getting up from the couch, getting in and out of a car, finding a comfortable position in which to lie down...all of those things. :) I feel lucky that these things are just now difficult; I don't have too many weeks left! :)

Happy Easter!

Nieces: Brooke and Cally

Niece: Kate

Niece: Cally

Nephew: Collin (the lone boy!)

Niece: Ella

Nursery pictures

It's almost complete! Just a few finishing touches needed... :)

Update on Baby Lainey

We went to the doctor today for a checkup and sonogram and we found out that Lainey has officially flipped! So her head is down and she's in the right position! That's a relief. She measures well - all around the 34/35 week mark and she's about 5.6 lbs. and 17.4 inches. Of course, those are just estimates but I was happy to have that information! The only thing that measures large is her head. She has Ben's head! Her head measures at 36 1/2 weeks. And, on the flipside, her little legs (obviously my short legs) measure at 33 weeks. She hasn't officially "dropped" yet. I am posting a picture, and it's one where she is facing us! Her bow is in the middle of her forehead, and you can see one eye clearly underneath it to the left. Then there's her nose and her mouth is open! She has hair! And chubby cheeks! :) It was fun to see her in this position - she would NOT pose for a profile shot but we were happy with this one. 

Back home!

Reagan is back home with medictions and a page of typed instructions. She's doing well; she's not too happy about the monsoon raging outside, but happy to be home. :) She has a follow-up appointment in 10 days and then in 8 weeks, she'll get her apparatus removed. The apparatus holds everything in place right now - it's the big blue thing in the pictures. We have to keep her pretty calm for 8 weeks - that means confining her when we're gone (she won't like that too much) and no walks or playtime. That will be sad but it will be what's best for her. Oh, and in that time, she'll have to adjust to a new member of our family! Wish us luck. :)

Feeling more like herself

Yesterday, finally, Reagan felt comfortable enough to hobble and hop on her three legs. This was a major relief to us. She's pretty fast on her little three legs until she gets tired, at which point she cries to be held. :) This morning she even wanted to chase a bunny but I had to hold her back - I don't want her feeling toooo confident!! We're taking her in for surgery in the next few minutes, so we'll let you know how it goes. Our vet has been amazing. We are so thankful for her!

Our poor dog

So sad! While out on our evening walk last night, Reagan was bitten badly by a Rottweiler! We were walking in a neighborhood next to ours, and we (Reagan and I - Ben was not with us) had stopped to talk to some neighbors in front of a house. The owners of the house (not the people I was talking to) had their door open. People seemed to be kinda going in and out of their house - grown kids I think. Anyway, all of a sudden their giant dog flew out and targeted Reagan. He got her quickly and grabbed her front left leg and bit her. It was horrifying, particularly because it happened SO fast and truly without warning. We went to the ER last night and learned that the bone in her front left leg is completley broken. It looks like a broken twig whose pieces have been set a couple centimeters apart. Truly scary! She's in this giant cast now and she's on two pain medicines and an anti-inflammatory and an antibiotic. I think she's pretty uncomfortable but she's not squealing or anything. Hopefully we'll get her into surgery on Monday. She is one sad little thing and it was a loooong night - mostly because I kept replaying the entire incident in my head. We are thankful, however, because this could have been 100 times worse. I think we were lucky. And, timing-wise, this happened at a good time. I'm off all next week for Spring Break so I'll have time to take her to the vet and to monitor her. Here's a picture of the poor little thing last night...

Only in Texas

This has been the strangest week ever of Texas weather.  Monday night it snowed overnight and actually STUCK to the ground (despite the fact that it had been about 70 degrees on Sunday) and then Tuesday and Wednesday were nice days (Wednesday reaching 68) and then today, Thursday, it's been snowing!! A LOT! Since before 11 it has been alternating snow/ice/rain and now it's just snow flying down. It's so funny. Only in Texas. 

On another note, I managed to make my 4:00 p.m. doctor appointment today and all went well. We couldn't find her for a little bit (panic) but we did; she was hiding under my belly button. She is still head up so we're going to do a sonogram in two weeks to see if she's decided to flip. My doctor said that at 37 weeks, if she hasn't flipped, then we'll have a "chat" to talk about what we're going to do with this baby. I feel like she still has some time to turn herself in the right direction... :)


Our snowy house... taken this afternoon!

Many thanks!

Thanks to Tracey, Laura, Sherry, and Jenny for a beautiful shower today!! It was wonderful to spend time with all of you. The decorations were perfect and the food was delicious. I'm still trying to keep myself from devouring all the food you sent home with me!

Thanks to those friends who traveled into town for the shower: Sherry, Kate, Sarah, and Leslie. That truly meant so much to me and it was great to see all of you and catch up a little bit.

And finally, thanks to everyone who came and showered Baby Lainey with love and sweet gifts. I am grateful to all of you. :) I am one lucky mom-to-be (still looks weird typing that!) and she is one lucky (and quite fashionable, I must say) baby.

I didn't get any pictures this time except for one hostess picture, but if I get any I will post them! It was a great day overall and despite our dreary morning, the weather turned out to be quite beautiful. I am READY for warm weather - I can't wait.

Growing!! 32 1/2 weeks

OK, here are some belly pictures!! I am GROWING!! I know that is what I am supposed to be doing, but it always looks bigger on camera than in real life, right? :) Hello, baby Lainey! 



A close up...

Update - almost 32 weeks!

It's hard to believe that we will meet this baby girl in less than two months!! I've started to get a bit nervous...okay, really nervous. There's just so much to learn!! We've finished our 7 childbirth classes (including infant CPR) and Ben made them pretty enjoyable. You can probably picture us. Abby: serious, quiet, paying attention, maybe doing some doodling. Ben: listening but also looking at his Blackberry...maybe sending a text or two...shying away from any crazy things on videos...and making me and the people behind us giggle. I felt like I was in high school again - I was scared that I was going to get in trouble! :) I am so glad he was there for moral support, and chances are he'll remember more of the stuff we learned than me! He's good like that.

Other than that, all is well. I'm battling a sinus infection that will not go away. UGH. Thankfully I don't feel that badly but sleeping is challenging (not to mention that the growing belly is making things more difficult in that department, anyway) and my throat just hurts a lot. We went to the doctor on Wednesday and all is fine with the baby. I started to ask some questions - when will she turn, how does the doctor feel about inducing, etc. I got some answers but I also realize that we still have 8 weeks to go. I'm sure I'll have more questions for her next time!

School is also going well...just moving along. We have Spring Break the week of March 17; I think that after that, things will FLY by. I have a wonderful sub taking care of my class while I'm out. I think she'll do a great job with the little ones.

Well, that's about it for now...I'll post belly pictures sometime soon. Maybe when I start feeling more like myself again after finally getting rid of this sinus infection! :)

Second Shower!

Today I had my second shower hosted by my cousins Kate and Anne and my Aunt Nancy. It was a fun day with family and friends - thank you all so much!! I loved seeing everyone today. Thank you, also, to those friends and family members who made the trip to Dallas. It was great to see you! Here are a few pictures from the event and a family dinner afterwards.

And here are a couple shots of the bedding! Hard to see in the first one...but you can see the fabrics better in the second picture.

First Shower!

This weekend was so fun. I had my first shower hosted by my dear friends from college: Ann, Anne, Caroline, and Nicole. It was a beautiful shower and I am thankful for the opportunity I had to catch up with some good friends. Thank you, everyone, for coming! It was great to see you! Here are a few pictures from the event.

Yes...that's the name!! We're planning on naming the little one "Lainey". We think her full first name will be Elaine (not totally sure), but we're planning on calling her Lainey. We don't have a middle name. That will come at the 11th hour, I'm sure.

26 1/2 weeks

Here we are!!

Doctor Appointment

All is well with baby Harris and with us, too. :) We had an appt. today and everything is going well. I'm measuring fine, all looks well, etc. Nothing really new to report from our end of things. We're both trying to get back in the swing of things with work and I officially made a countdown of work days until the baby's born. It still seems like a lot! I think I'm getting very anxious and excited. After our Dr. appt. on Feb. 4th, we start going to the doctor every two weeks!! Now that's crazy. We start our childbirth preparation classes tonight. Ben is not the most excited person in the world about doing this, but he's being supportive. :) I am also about to start the process of looking for a chair for the nursery; that's the one major thing we're lacking. Our bedding is almost finished and it looks beautiful!! Ben's co-worker Christa is making it for us - she's very, very talented! Everything's coming together...and it's becoming quite real!

So that's about it. More soon!