Baby Addie's Second Week

Baby Addie's second week flew by quickly. Justin was home to help thankfully. We started to get the hang of things at this point. They say you can differentiate between their cries, and surprisingly I can. She has a grunting/coughing cry when she needs her diaper changed, and a pitiful whining cry when she's hungry. Pretty crazy how you can learn to pick up on the subtle differences.

Here's Addie at exactly one week old, on the morning of the 31st.

This is her favorite sleeping position....unfortunately she never stays on her back like she's supposed to. The minute you put her down on her back, she rolls to her side. I actually found her twice on her stomach in the first week! She's not supposed to be able to roll onto her stomach for a few months! She's one strong little girl. 

This is her "I'm really unhappy" pose....

Here she is with daddy's favorite hat on...with the bear ears. As he says, how can you not smile?

Addie's first field trip was to Barnes & Noble...seems fitting considering that's where her mommy and daddy met. ;)

Here she is wrapped up in her cocoon for a walk. Nice and snug  ;)

Lastly, a few more photos of sweet Adelaide from her second week...

Introducing....Adelaide Maureen McLeod

It's a GIRL! A beautiful baby girl.  :)  Fortunately Justin was right, and I was wrong. I was absolutely convinced it was a boy....guess my maternal instincts didn't kick in until after birth.  ;)

Baby Adelaide came one week early. My OB determined I had preeclampsia when I went in for my normal appointment on August 23rd, so she sent us straight to the hospital to be induced. My feet had been swollen for the past few weeks, but it had spread to my legs a day or two before. It looked like I had elephantitis. Another clear indicator was my extremely high blood pressure - up in the 190s. Since I was obviously sick, and getting sicker by the day, she told us we'd be having a baby within the day.

I was already 4cm at that point, and had been having contractions for the previous hour. What the OB didn't tell me at the time was that she separated my membrane....this later explained why the contractions started to get much closer together and stronger when we arrived at the hospital. They hadn't even induced me yet and I was already progressing.

We arrived at the hospital at around 5pm. They gave us the suite right next to the nurses station, which luckily was about 3 times the size of the other rooms. We definitely lucked out!

The OB broke my water at about 6:30pm, and they started the epidural shortly after that. Unfortunately it didn't take the first time. After about an hour of horrible pain, I asked if the epidural should have kicked in by then....it should have. The anesthesiologist came in and repositioned it, and within five minutes I could feel it in my toes. I didn't feel much pain until the next morning. They started me on pitocin at around 11pm because I wasn't progressing as quickly as needed.

The epidural started to wear off in the early morning hours, so I had to keep self-administering more. At around 7am the OB came in and said it was time to push. I had been lulled into thinking labor wouldn't be too bad considering I hadn't been in pain all night....the last 2.5 hours of labor were excruciating. Every time I pushed the OB and nurse said you're almost there, we can see the head. That went on for two hours! Adelaide was crowned for an hour. She was a little too large to make it out on her own, so the doctor used the vacuum to help her out. To add to that, the epidural ran out towards the beginning of this phase...so I could feel everything - including the cut the OB had to make. Although it was a horrible few hours, it was entirely worth it.

Baby Adelaide was finally born at 9:31am on Saturday, August 24th. All in all, labor was about 17 hours long. When she made it out, the OB handed her to Justin so he could put her on my chest and tell me if she was a girl or boy. He was about to pass out at that point, but luckily held it together. ;)  We were both incredibly emotional when he called out that it was a girl. We'd both wanted a girl for our first so badly, and she had finally arrived.

Justin got an amazing video of Addie's first minutes of life as they were cleaning her off and checking her reflexes. He was able to hold her soon after.

He's one proud papa!  :)   

Unfortunately the magnesium sulfate they'd given me for the preeclampsia made me feel horrible after her birth. I was extremely weak and couldn't see very well because my vision was really blurry. This meant that I couldn't hold or feed her, which really upset me. It also made me crash twice in the hours after labor. My blood pressure plummeted and my whole body started to shake. I think that may have been more scary than the labor process. Luckily after taking me off of the magnesium sulfate I started to level off again. I was finally able to hold and feed her later that afternoon, at around 4pm. Being able to finally hold her and see her was the most amazing feeling - I'll never forget that moment.

She was born at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and 19.75 inches in length. The doctors and nurses said her umbilical cord was the largest (in diameter) they'd ever seen. She was definitely a healthy baby! Thank goodness I didn't go another week or she really would have been a 10-pound baby. I would have needed a c-section at that point.

We were both discharged on Monday the 26th at around noon, just in time for lunch. Here's sweet Addie and I right before we left the hospital.

Here she is on her way home. She look so tiny in her car seat.   ;)

And lastly, a few photos from her first few days at home.

 

I'll try to post pictures more frequently. We have a ton already! This girl's entire life will be documented!  ;)

Rustic Outdoor Maternity & Anniversary Photos

Justin and I recently celebrated our fifth anniversary....my how time flies! Can't believe it's already been five years! We decided (well I did really, and Justin was a great sport) to get some professional taken. The last time we had professional photos was our wedding, so it seemed fitting with our anniversary, and the little one on the way. I wanted some maternity photos of my growing belly, so Justin was kind enough to play along.

Although we had to drive two hours to the photographer, it was well worth the drive. Unfortunately it started raining literally five minutes before we arrived at the location. Such great timing!  :(   We had to jump in and out of the car whenever the rain stopped for a bit. Of course every woman reading this knows the result....my gorgeously curled hair that I spent an hour on quickly became frizzy and limp. Not the best look for photos. Luckily we still got some amazing shots. 

The photographer, Kelly Williams, does brilliant work! You can find her website here. If I hadn't already bought some props to do baby photos myself, I would use her again for photos of our little one. 

The shoot was in Harrisonburg, VA, at an old mill. It had a beautiful pond, an old barn in the background, some brick walls, and an amazing old wooden fence. It gave the perfect rustic, outdoor feel I was hoping for.

Here are some of my favorite shots. Hope you enjoy!!

The first one is a shot I requested for our anniversary, with both of our wedding rings in it (and my belly of course!). I love how it turned out!

This may be my favorite. I got the banner on Etsy, and I absolutely love that fence! It gives the vintage, rustic look I was looking for.  :)

I'm sitting on the quilt my Nana made for me when I graduated from high school. It's always in the trunk of my car, always handy for whenever we need it.  :)  The photographer loved it!

These were taken at 36 weeks. My belly looks like a bowling ball!!! I don't think I look quite that big....the camera adds ten pounds, right?!?!? I'm just glad Justin and I were able to document our 5th anniversary, and the impending arrival of our first child. Now I just need to scrapbook all of these!  ;)

My Hubby is a Partner!!

I'm thrilled to report that Justin became a partner at his firm today! It's been in the works for several months now, so it's nice that it's finally a reality! I couldn't be more proud of him!! Not even 30, with a baby on the way (hopefully any day now), and he's a partner! Congrats to my amazing, smart, talented, loving husband!!

Here's an old photo from last year of Mr. Partner tackling our mold problem in the basement. ;)

38.5 Weeks and Ready to Pop!

It's been far too long since I've posted some belly shots....about 12 weeks it looks like! My how time flies! Currently it's not flying quite fast enough, as Justin and I are ready to meet our little one. We've been saying "any day now..." for the past few weeks, and each day that passes I get more and more anxious. My OB said last week that she thought we'd have a baby by the 26th...hopefully that's true. Between the SEVERELY swollen feet and ankles, and consistent contractions, I'm definitely ready. Unfortunately the contractions aren't cyclical at this point, but they're coming more frequently and are getting more and more painful. Hopefully we'll meet our little one soon!

Here are the last few belly shot photos showing our little one growing in size!

 33 Weeks

35 Weeks:

38.5 Weeks:

I look like a giant whale now! I'm worried this will be a 10 pound baby!  ;)  Hopefully not...

The countdown continues....only 11 more days until the due date....hopefully sooner...