Photo of the Week

Happy two weeks baby girl! I love you!

Photo Highlights: Week 2

Here's the photos from McNugget's second week!

Photo op with Aunt ju-ju

The Birth Story

On Thursday the 8th, I started having false labor. The contractions were lovely and easy - but i knew they weren't real. Then, almost my entire family was out of town and bo's mom had just driven all the way home to NC the night before.

So Monday evening, when I had very different contractions, I almost didn't recognize them for what they were. the pains were entirely in my pelvis - no back pain or pain anywhere else. Bo was working until 11, and i thought - well this could definitely be it when they were 20 minutes apart. I decided to go to bed early (you know, just in case I'd need the sleep later) and at 10:40 pm, I jumped out of bed and my water broke. I couldn't believe it. I thought to myself - "really? Is this really happening??" So I called Bo, my mom, dad and doctor. By the time Bo got home - contractions went from 15 minutes to 5 minutes apart. By the time we were in the car, they were only 3 minutes apart. We drove (very carefully) to the hospital and were quickly wheeled up to labor and delivery.

By the time I was up in the delivery room, I was only 2 cm dilated and the pain was so bad that I knew my plans for a natural birth were out the window. I had been thinking about it for hours - but it really was the worst pain ever - and making the decision to get an epidural was an awful one for me. As it turns out, I probably shouldn't have made that call - it took an hour to put the epidural in - getting stabbed over and over, with my chin on my chest (the best I could) and a sprightly ~100 lb woman holding me down (emotionally and physically). Mind you it never takes more than 15 minutes for anyone to receive an epidural and the anesthesiologist almost gave up on me. I was able to keep it pretty light - even joking with the anesthesiologist after the hour of hell that I was put through. After the hour though, I felt pretty good. I could still feel the contractions, but they weren't bad. That is, until the epidural wore off 30 minutes later. They couldn't give me another - it caused my heart rate to drop along with the baby's. They tried to 'boost' my pain meds but nothing worked.

So basically it was all-natural regardless. While we're working through the contractions the best we could (my delivery nurse Beth was an absolute god-send), 3 computer monitors broke, the nurse broke the saline bag and my id bracelet wouldn't read in the computer. It was a complete comedy of errors at this point - and I was screaming to high-heaven (literally) in a panic anytime the contractions hit. I was shaking so bad from feeling cold and then sweating from the heat. My nurse guided us through all of it - and kept me from *completely* losing it.

At almost 5 am, we went from 4 cm dilated to 9 in the course of an hour. They checked in on me, and I still wasn't 100% effaced yet - so no pushing just yet. Just after being checked, the baby's heart rate went from 147 to 70 in the course of 30 seconds. The doctor looked up apologizing, but said that we have to have an emergency c-section. Poor Bo couldn't even go because they had to put me under general anesthesia. All I cared about as we were wheeling down the hall was them putting me under. The pain was that unbearable. I was screaming (though I tried not to!) to 'just give me the anesthesia'. Afterwards, they said I was really polite about it and kept everyone's spirits up about the whole thing. I don't know how much of that was true or if they were just placating me.

2 hours later, they woke me up in recovery and told me I had delivered a healthy, beautiful baby girl; born 6:10 am on Tuesday the 13th. I was then wheeled back to my room, where I saw my sister in the hall telling me that 'she was perfect'. (Ahh, how could anyone see her before me!?! Oh well... as long as she was healthy!)

Then came the waiting. Another hour dragged on, and they finally brought my daughter in to meet me. I tried to not get too anxious, but it was difficult waiting all that time. Then I saw her. The brown hair - the chubby cheeks - the perfect lips and skin. I couldn't believe it - she really was here - and she really was ours!

Her fingers and toes are definitely mine - they are so very long. The nose looks like it belongs to her dad right now - and everything else is up in the air. I'm horrible at matching babies to their parents, but I swear sometimes I can see flashes of my sister Julie and brother Sean. My dad saw his dad in her, and my mom thought she looked like Bo.

So that's the story of how I met my daughter. All beautiful 7lbs, 5 oz and 20.5 inches of her. I loved her from that very first minute - and more and more each day.

Happy One Week McNugget!

Dear baby girl, I can't believe how fast a week has flown by. You have now been in our arms for 7 days - and both your daddy and I are beyond happy. You are absolutely the love of our lives - making us adore you in ways we had no idea we could feel.

This week has really been a roller-coaster. The labor was an event in and of itself - both painful and crazy. But after a successful emergency c-section, you were in my arms.

This week you've opened your eyes and looked around - your daddy likes to talk to you about everything in your room, colors, toys, the puppies, etc. He has already been clothes shopping for you - picking out tons of adorable outfits and has enjoys dressing you up all the time. You've found your hand as a pacifier already, and love sleeping on our chests. You're making friends with both Missy & Trotter already- who have been beyond wonderful with you. My favorite past time these days is nibbling on your adorably chubby cheeks, laying with you skin-to-skin and holding your hands.

The hardest part of the past week has been dealing with your (lack of) weight-gain. It has beyond stressful for me to ensure that you're gaining enough weight - we're breastfeeding and pumping. You 'eat like a champ' but still are losing weight. The doctors say everything is going to be okay though, and we're working very hard to 'pack on some pounds' for you.

So for next week, I pray that you keep that healthy baby glow, and put on some pounds again. I love you so much already, my sunshine. I look forward to all the nights and days we'll be spending together, and can't wait to learn more about you as you grow.

xoxo,

Your Mommy

Photo Highlights: Week 1

So here's a fun game of catch-up. I wanted to put some of my favorite weekly highlights of the babe on here - so here's some of week 1!

McNugget & Mommy


McNugget & Daddy

McNugget smusherface

McNugget in Daddy's Arms

The Eyes!!

McNugget & Uncle Sean

McNugget & Grandpop

McNugget & "Grandmomme"

McNugget at 3 Days Old

Here's our sleepy beautiful baby. How precious is she?!?

Welcome McNugget!

McNugget's a girl! Our wonderful daughter was born on July 13th at 6:10 am. Weighing in at 7 lbs- 5 ounces and 20-1/2 inches long, she has already stolen all our hearts. Happy Birthday McNugget!

"Sew" Pretty

So unfortunately I'm still blogging about inanimate objects like my newly recovered furniture instead of a very animated baby - who has NOT yet arrived on scene. Boo.

But the furniture is egg-citing enough for now. Last week I featured my newly covered knee chair. Today features my beautimous computer chair. Seems kind of silly that we have two seats meant for sitting in front of the computer, but still, they're pretty.

Here's the computer chair that we had. It was free from my mom's work. Well, she may have paid a nominal fee for it - like $20 or something. It's a super comfy chair, but man was it beat. Pilled red fabric, glue coming out of the seems, etc.

So with the help of my ruggedly strong and manly husband, I took the chair apart, piece by piece.

And there were a lot of pieces. Advice to all who venture down this route, please do something to remember which holes all the screws came from!

I then cut the fabric to match the old pieces, and stapled them over the top of the red.

The exception was the plastic back of the chair, which we had to use spray adhesive. I let my hubby do that part (since I'm still carrying the precious cargo). It worked really well though, and I think I'm ready for more (legal) adventures with spray adhesive soon. (Wouldn't want it to go to waste!)

So for the cost of the chair (free to me), $11 in upholstery fabric, and a can of spray adhesive, we have a new office chair. What do you think of the transformation?

An Update On The Bathroom Craziness

It has been months since I've given an update on the bathroom renovation; with McNugget only days away, we're in a mad scramble to get things done.

All of April and most of May was dedicated (with love) to manual demo work by my ever-loving husband, which means that I've been living in a one-bathroom house (which is on the first floor) for that long, and all the meanwhile very pregnant. Oddly enough, I didn't mind at all - since that bathroom was so lovely and redone in January.

Bathroom Reno: Yes We're Crazy - The Before

Bathroom Reno: Yes We're Crazy

June was the moving of the pipes, the framing of the walls, and the installation of a tub and toilet (again, all done by the husband and 2 uncles). My dad did make 2 cameo appearances to help out, which was completely wonderful of him! He convinced my uncle to move the toilet for us to give us a few more inches of room in the itsy-bitsy family bathroom. And really, the magic my uncle has created is amazing.




That brings us to July - which was the completion of wallboard and tiling!! This is when it really starts to look ah-mazing.

The Hanging Gardens Of My Laundry Room

So it may not be as impressive as Babylon, but it is fancy for us here at east sixth. While out and about this weekend with my mom, I saw these awesomely cute plant hangers and coveted them almost immediately... but at $10 for a small one, and $20+ for the larger hangers, why on earth would I want to buy something I could make in an afternoon? (Especially since I'm on the look out for easy projects!)

So I pulled out the sewing machine (which hadn't quite got put away yet from all the other projects I've been working on these past 2 weeks) and went to work. I used a scrap of long fabric that I had gotten from some basket packaging at my bridal shower, and cut 2 lengths of 3" wide fabric, about 3' long each (I needed just under 1-1/2 feet for how long I wanted my plant hanger to be). Then I sewed each piece wrong-side out for the tubing (which takes about a minute to do), and spent the next 2 hours turning them right-side out.

I then laid them out crossing in the center so the ends were nice and even, then sewed them together at the bottom of the hanger.

Next, I sewed the tops together several times so that the plant wouldn't slide out when hanging. It didn't look quite finished though, and the husband suggested I add 4" of a fabric sleeve to pull the 4 arms tighter. (Same process for a smaller tube, just creating a tube and sliding the top of the piece through). The sleeve is movable up or down to handle a larger or smaller planter. It looks great now thanks to him!

This project was 100% free thanks to those scraps of fabric, and it got me thinking this would be a GREAT use for cool old ties or belts also. I may have to try my hand at that if I find some cast-offs.

Time Keeps On Ticking, Ticking, Ticking - Into The Future...

14 days from today is McNugget's due date. If he or she doesn't decide to pull up stakes he/she will be evicted in 21 days. Hooray!

But in the meantime, I'm playing the waiting game. Its pretty much my only activity that I have been permitted to do. I'm sneaking in doing laundry and light cleaning here and there -but really, I'm not able to do much more than that. But with energy through the roof, I really am in need of keeping my hands and mind away from idle... hence the nursing covers and shopping cart covers from last week.

To quote my mom "good Lord, please let this baby come before she sews something else!" Well, sorry to say, the baby hasn't come yet so I picked two new projects - which didn't take very long, but had FANTABULOUS results. I'm still dancing around the living room in celebration of them.


The first project was to reupholster my kneeling chair. The second was to recover my computer chair (I'll post more on that later this week). I picked the chair up off of freecycle - having wanted one forever, but not willing to spend $70 to buy it. The fabric was pilled (as the girl mentioned in the ad), but all in all the chair was in great shape. She left it on her front porch so I just picked it up while I was in the neighborhood.

So I just unscrewed the four bolts from each the top and bottom, then cut fabric to fit, pulled it tight on the chair and stapled. I like to alternate sides for stapling so that my fabric doesn't get too short in any one direction. I save the corners for the end - creating small tight pleats.



All told the chair was done in under an hour - and for the cost of 1/2 a yard of upholstery fabric ($5). Doesn't it look superb?!?

"Seamingly" Thrifty Sewing - Part 2

"Sew" what did I do with the rest of that Ikea duvet cover? I made a shopping cart cover of course! I'd never been around a shopping cart cover, but my dad swore it was a lifesaver and the husband said EVERYONE has them. Well, then, if everyone has them, mcNugget and I can't be left out in the cold as outcasts, can we?? (The shame we would feel!) I didn't even know we were missing out - I hadn't thought to register for one.

Anywho, since I'd never experienced the glory of a shopping cart cover in person, I needed a pattern. None free online - well none useful to me who couldn't understand the darned thing without seeing one in person. So off to the store I went to buy a fancy-schmancy McCall's pattern and some elastic (I had all the fabric at home).

The cover is actually 3 layers. Top, bottom (aka the 'contrast') and batting in the middle. Well guess what, I didn't have the batting - or rather I probably do, but I couldn't find it - so I used thick fleece instead.

I cut out the rounded square (a squoval?) from all three fabrics, stacked them and stitched them together inside out, and then turned them right-side out. The pattern did a pretty good job of walking me through cutting and what to layer where (though I made an error in judgement of layering and had to unstitch the whole darn ring... whatever, practice makes perfect.) I even sewed up the edging and got the elastic in the band without any problems.

When it came to finishing of the leg holes, however, the pattern confused me, so I jimmy-rigged it. No one will be looking that closely to that part anyway. I also nixed the fancy pockets and belt straps to save myself time. Heck, I didn't even register for a cart cover in the first place- why does it need bells and whistles?

Here's my finished product. Isn't it awesome? Bonus, it's "green" from that reclaimed material, cost me a pattern and under two yards of elastic (I shelled out a whopping $10). I already had the 'contrast' (underside) fabric and the fleece for the 'padding'. It took me 2 evenings - one for cutting and the other for sewing. Now that I understand it, it would probably only take 1 night for me to make another.

Seriously, this was magical fabric. What else do you know that can turn from a bed comforter cover to a boob cover and a germy shopping cart cover in the course of 3 days? I am totally taking this to the store this weekend to see how it fits in their carts.