Birth story part 2...

So around 10:30am we headed to the hospital. I had called my OB dr's office and the dr on call agreed I should come in. When we arrived we were put into triage and I was hooked up to monitors that tracked baby's heart beat and my contractions. Here's the catch... After my water broke my contractions practically stopped. One maybe every 15mins and not very painful at all. Your water breaking is suppose to make labor progress faster and with that said I know the dr and nurse in triage where sceptical that my water actually broke. "This chic just pee'd her pants" ...I know that's what they where all thinking. After over 2hrs in triage and three different tests they finally determined my water did actually break and I was still only 1cm dilated. Finally, this all meant we would be admitted, I would be started on pitocin to get my contractions going, and we were having a baby! Yay!
By the time we were settled in our room, and pitocin was started it was 2pm. I labored from 2pm until 3:30 when the nurse came in and asked me to rank my contraction pains 1-10. I said they were around a 4 or 5 and I didnt want to be checked yet. Once she checked me I wanted to hear at least 3cm so I choose to hold out in fear of disappointment. At 4:15 nurse came back in and gave me no choice, she needed to check me. I was 3cm and def feeling more pain at this point so though it was a good time to ask for the epidural. By the time I got the epidural it was 5pm and those 45mins of contractions going from 3cm to 4cm where def painful. No talking all breathing and all I kept thinking was I was hooked up to a torture chamber( aka pitocin drip) every time I heard the drip I cringed dreading the contractions it was creating. The epidural couldn't have gone more smoothly and I felt almost immediate relief yet just the right amount of pressure where I could still tell when I was having a contraction (important for the pushing process later).
Now pain free, my parents, Hunters parents, myself and Hunter all hung out in my room watching college football for the rest of the evening while my body did it's thing.. From 5pm to 9:30pm I went from 5cm to 10cm and was ready to push. The rents stepped out, I pushed for 40mins and sweet baby boy made his appearance at 10:29pm!
Overall I look back and am very thankful for my labor experience. I guess I fully expected something to go wrong or array and nothing did. It was pretty text book!

And some pictures of the joyous day!!

Wish lists and Push Presents

I'm honestly getting tired of blogging about my pregnancy and I'm sure you all are getting bored reading about it. BUT its been a struggle to even just get that weekly blog in. We've been so busy the past 3 weeks and have two more jam packed weekends ahead.

The Last weekend in August I had my family in town for my shower weekend. The weekend after that we had Hunter's family in town for the ECU/SC game. Last weekend we traveled to Greenville NC to attend the ECU/VT game and celebrate our brother in laws Chad's 30th Birthday! The Lunsfords are a house divided with Hunter's sister Carter and her husband Chad attending ECU and Hunter along with his father AND Uncle all attending VT. We look forward to the ECU/VT rival game every year :)

Anywho I'll do a post and share some pics from that tomorrow but getting back on track to me talking about how busy we are.... We are going up to the VT/Arkansas state game this coming Saturday, and then the last weekend in September going on a little baby moon. I feel torn, our home is a mess, there SO MUCH left to do before baby yet I don't want to sacrifice going on these trips in order to do those things because I know we are going to be stuck at home once he comes. This weekend will be the last football game I can attend and the only time this year I'll get to go up to VT so I DEF don't want to miss that, and our baby moon is done/paid for so we certainly aren't going to cancel that. I am just HOPING and PRAYING this little man stays in side me until 40 weeks because we NEED the month of October to get ready for him. I have a looooooong WISH list of things I'd love to get done before he comes and while I'm at it I wanted to blog about something more fun like....PUSH PRESENT IDEAS :)

Wish list of things I WISH I had time to do:

1. Make a pretty autumn wreath! Putting up fall decor around the house is DEF on the to-do list before baby comes. Change my outside pots to Mums, make a pretty fall wreath for the front door, change our couch pillows from summer to fall, decorate with pumpkins, leaves, pine cones ah first weekend in October you know what I'll be doing!

2. Finish making diaper cloths. I own a sewing machine but am still learning how to use it. I thought an easy project to practice using it would be sewing ribbon on diaper cloths. I'm sure you've seen these before. Something like this....

I have the diaper clothes, I have the ribbon and actually have one completed now if I could just find time to finish the other 5!

3. Gah this just popped in my head...I NEED to finish writing thank you cards from my shower. If you haven't gotten a thank you card from me yet...YOU WILL I PROMISE! SOON! xoxo

4. I still want to make this....

5. CLEAN CLEAN and more CLEANING....I enjoy cleaning and would love to time before Hunter comes to get make our house SPOTLESS! Stay in there baby Hunter for 7 more weeks and you'll come home to nice clean house!

6. Time to read books! Thanks to my wonderful mommy friends we've been gifted with the great baby advice books that worked for them. Moms on call, baby wise, and the baby whisperer. I've gotten through Moms on call and I know that I will want to refer back to them all once Hunter is here but I'd like to be able to read through them first before he gets here as well! It would also be nice to TOTALLY get my mind off of baby and be able to read a non-baby book before he comes. My sister in law gave me The Help to borrow, can I PLEASE find time to read that too!? Maybe on our babymoon...

7. And all the things we have left to do before baby I'm trying not to think about because when I do it gives me a bit of anxiety.

- wash and put away all his clothes - wash all his bedding, make his bed, wash all his blankets, boppy covers, changing pad covers, pretty much lots of WASH. - Sterilize all his bottles, nipples and Binky's - Put together his swing - hang up everything on the walls of his nursery, mirror, selves, book rack, picture frames, curtains. - Set up the monitors - Install his car seats - pack a hospital bag for him and me. - Go shopping for the last few things we need.

I know we could get all of the above done in one solid weekend at home but knowing that weekend is still 3 weeks away is a racking my preggers anxiety....

Now onto some fun stuff, Push Presents! Within a month of eachother I will be giving birth and turning 30 so here's some items I may or may not have sent to Hunter as some present ideas.... :) Some are realistic, some are more pipe dreams of mine!

1. A Tiffany's celebration ring...I mean giving birth and turning 30 are two things certainly worth celebrating right! ??? :) I mean Hunter can pick one, anyone...I won't be picky!
2. Tory Burch Celinah Ballet Flat - I feel like more than ever a leapard flat is a MUST have this fall!

3. Tory Burch Selma Riding boot

4. Kate Spade Black Bixby bag

5. Just a few items from J.crew (for after baby of course)

Merino turtleneck sweater in vibrant flame

Cafe Capri in wool in bright Dahilia


Schoolboy blazer in wool flannel in Marasachino Cherry

Pique stripe tee
Timex Travelers watch with

>/a authentic red strap


6. The EF-S 55-250mm Telephoto lens for our Cannon Rebel T2i.

And that's all folks, What's a girl gotta do to get more time and more money??

It's Official!

None of my pants fit :( At 10 weeks this happened much quicker than I expected. Although, according to baby's size I'm 10 weeks 5 days (almost 11 weeks) which I'm thinking might be more accurate. And I hate to say it but my Mom was right! About 3.5 weeks ago when Hunter was on the bachelor trip for the wedding we are in this weekend, I tried on a bunch of my clothes to see what I had to wear for the big wedding weekend in Charleston. I was on the phone with my mom while doing so and she said "why are doing that now your gonna grow before you have to leave" My response. "Yeah but not that much". She was right. Last night, we were packing and I tried on the same clothes I had in mind to bring (that fit 3.5 weeks ago) and nada. Not ONE of them buttoned. Unfortunately I'm also struggling with the belly band on some of my low cut pants. In order for the belly band to work on them it has to be down to my crouch which looks ridiculous.

Anyhoo - I managed to get creative and piece together different outfits last night for our trip to Charleston tomorrow! TGIW for me!

One of my BESTIES is getting married!!! Hunter and I are both in the wedding. It will be a "true southern affair" with the groomsman sporting head to toe seersucker, and myself in a slate blue bridesmaids dress. I can't wait to see everyone all dolled up in their southern garb and take part in all the fun wedding festivities. I might even see if I can find a cute maternity boutique down there...perhaps purchase some pants :)

Hunter on our wedding day with the Groom to be this weekend!

And myself as a bride with the bride to be!

Hope you all have a great rest of the week and wonderful weekend. TTYa Monday!

Going Green

I thought a lot this weekend about organic and green products for me and our growing baby inside me. It all started with my Aunt. In order to keep fully hydrated I always carry around a plastic tumbler cup with lid & straw. My aunt took notice this past weekend and advised that if I am going to drink out of a water bottle 24/7 that I switch to glass, ESPECIALLY since I am carrying baby. I knew of the BPA hazards in plastic and was aware of the big BPA free plastic baby bottle craze. I also had already given thought to us using glass baby bottles to avoid all the toxins in plastic in general and give our baby the best. I started buying more organic milk, meat, friuts, and veggies since I became pregnant. BUT, it never even crossed my mind that the toxins from the plastic waterbottle I'm drinking out of 24/7is being passed on to baby. So Stoop!! I purchased a new glass water bottle that day!

This little revalation led to me thinking of the other items I'd like to purchase organic for baby. I know I want an organic mattress for sure. I'm thinking along the lines of items baby with use day in/day out ALL the time. Those are the items I'd like to keep as natural as possible. Mattress, diapers, sheets, swaddle blankets, bath towels pretty much organic cotton is easy to come by so why not? And lastly, I'll end with cleaning supplies. As soon as I run out of the stuff I own I will be switching to natural/organic. I've heard GREAT things about the Mrs. Meyers brand sold at Walmart so I'll start there. Everytime I have smelled cleaning supplies while cleaning since being pregnant, I can't help but think it so strong smelling it CAN'T be good for me to be inhaling this stuff. I've even gone to the extreme of tying a scarf around my nose and mouth while cleaning our bathtub with clorox. Crazy mom already, maybe :) My Aunt also reminded me we have a fully functioning livers to detoxify out the bad before it reaches baby and I pray my liver is working well these days and keeping baby safe!

I don't ever see myself as being one of those Mom's that won't allow anything not organic to touch my child. I will not take this to the extreme but I do think even going green a little can make a big difference. And if it doesn't, it certainly isn't going to hurt anything! In case you don't know much about the toxins in platics here's a quick excert from a TIME MAGAZINE article I found online.

"As scientists get better at detecting the chemicals in our bodies, they're discovering that even tiny quantities of toxins can have a potentially serious impact on our health — and our children's future. Chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates — key ingredients in modern plastics — may disrupt the delicate endocrine system, leading to developmental problems. A host of modern ills that have been rising unchecked for a generation — obesity, diabetes, autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder — could have chemical connections."

Read more: The Perils of Plastic

Below are a few of the organic items I'm thinking of for baby...

1. Naturepedic No Compromise Organic Cotton Classic 150 Crib Mattress:

2. Natursutten BPA-Free Natural Rubber Pacifier, Orthodontic: 3. SwaddleMe Infant Wrap Organic Cotton: 4. Gerber 4-Pack Organic Onesies Brand: 5. Nature's Baby Organics Shampoo & Body Wash: 6. Seventh Generation Free and Clear Baby Diapers and Wipes:<>

7. Evenflo Classic Glass Bottle or Green to Grow Glass Bottles: 8. Summer Infant Ultimate Organic Crib Sheet 9. Boppy 100% Organic Cotton Slipcover: 10. And lastly, they really do have the most adorable organic baby clothes! Some of my favorite brands are Kate Quinn, Hudson Baby, Baby Soy, and Under the Nile. Above are kate quinn and baby soy layette. I hear these things are great for changing baby, NO buttons!! :)

Petunia Pickle Bottom & Belly Bands

I feel like I have turned the corner this morning with this pregnancy! Hopefully I'm not writing this too soon and I remain feeling good but I just can't believe the amount of energy I have this morning and absolutely zero nausea. It could be adrenaline because its Friday and my mommy and daddy are here for the weekend but hopefully I'm just starting a new leaf! (is that a saying? a new leaf?) oh well ha!

I also officially broke out the belly band this morning! I could probably squeeze the button closed on my work pants but it would be so uncomfortable. So far, one of the best things about pregnancy is the excuse to be able to wear your pants unbuttoned all day! ha! I swear my wardrobe has gotten larger not smaller since I have the excuse to do that :) In other news, I made the first big baby purchase! Our DIAPER BAG!!! Hunter's sister has this Petunia Pickle Bottom Diaper bag (how cute is that name btw Petunia Pickle Bottom, love it!) anyways, I learned of PPB from Carter and really like her diaper bag. After visiting them the other weekend Hunter even commented on how much he liked it. Done, sold, check it off the list now and spread out the expenses because over the summer we'll be purchasing nursery furniture! We went with this design (Peaceful Portofino). I figure it will go for boy, or girl and is pretty enough for Hunter to carry too ;)



Check out some of PPB's clothes and other products as well. Nordstrom has a pretty good selection, as well as Amazon.com. We received PPB social set and it's ADORABLE in person!! You can sign up for emails and they do an outlet sale a few times a year! I fear the day we find out the gender of baby and I can really start shopping! :)

Happy weekend everyone! Ours will be filled with family. My grandparents from NY, Parents from VA, and Aunt/Uncle/Cousins from Asheville NC are all here visiting for the weekend!

Baby Catch up...

So now that the news is out I've got to catch you all up. Following weekend after we found out (JUST 4 weeks into the pregnancy) Hunter's Aunt and Uncle invited us to their home for a Birthday dinner for his Grandmother. Hunter's parents would be there. Perfect timing. Told an uncle, aunt, 3 cousins, a grandma, and two parents all at one dinner.

8 birds, one stone, love it.

There reaction...no joke literally all of them screamed "we knew it" cause i had denied a glass of wine when i walked in the door. REALLY? Maybe this 9 month detox is needed for more than just baby :) That same weekend we placed phone calls to my brothers, my grandparents, and Hunter's grandfather. Best reaction was from my brother Matt...

"Hey Matt, just calling to tell you we are giving you another niece or nephew."

"FROM YOU?" haha

"yes, me"

"Oh, no SHIT...hang on let me get Katy she's gonna FREAK!" haha

4.5weeks...told the starbucks lady. She asked me what was up with my decaf order. I couldn't lie.

Throughout weeks 4 and 5 we told our close close friends here in Charlotte when we saw them. I mean I'm always either drinking alcohol or coffee so when I'm with them and not doing either is sort of a red flag. And if anything was to happen to baby these would be the people we would turn to anyways. So telling friends too soon? no way.

Middle of week 5....told the BFF who lives in NYC over the phone, hense her visit first weekend in March. She immediately booked a flight to come see us. Everyone at once...AWWWWWW. Sweetest friend ever. I'll keep her!

Week 6 (march 8th) first Dr's appt. They verified the pregnancy through a urine test, the Dr. felt the size of my uterus to make sure it was growing nice a big. (which it is, and he even said based on how well its growing he thought my chances of a miscarriage were slim) Music to my ears! Did a little answer/? with the Doc, they took blood for testing, and told me I weighed 134. GULP. (can i blame that on baby weight yet?)

Week 7 Went on a bachelorette trip to Miami! It actually worked out great. I got to relax, not get up at 8am for work, soak in some vitamin D for me and baby and spend time with girls I love. Since there is smoking in bars in Miami I did dinner with everyone and then stayed in when they hit the clubs. I was uterly EXHAUSTED though when we returned. I don't think traveling is meant for a 7week preggers women. Had to call in sick to work on tuesday because I literally could no open my eyes that morning. soooooooooooooo tired.

Week 8 (march 23rd) first ultrasound. This appointment came at a PERFECT time. I was really starting to be sick and tired (pun intended) of being pregnant with no proof or reassurrance as to why I was going through all of this! Then it happened. What everyone says would. The unbelievable feeling of seeing your child for the first time. Tears ran down my face as we watched our little baby move around in side of me and we starred in amazement at his fast beating heart on the screen. I'm ready to go, I'll feel nauseaus for the rest of my life and never regain energy if it means I get to be a Mom for that little rasberry inside me! Our God almighty was thanked ALOT that afternoon.

A few of Hunter's humorous comments in the dr's office: When the nurse pointed out that I had ovualted from my right ovary Hunter fired back "That means boy right" haha :) Then right after we walked out of the ultrasound, pictures in hand, my dying to have a boy husband says to me "I saw a penis, did you see the penis?" Oh Hunter....

Baby/Mom Stats at 8 week appointment:
Fetal HeartRate: 185
Baby Size: 2.04cm (almost an inch long)!
Gestational age: Based on baby's size they said I was 8 weeks 4 days.
My Weight: 133 (one pound less than at 6wk appt) whoot whoot!!

Week 9 I BARELY survived Hunter's Birthday Party weekend. I hate to complain because it was a great weekend with wonderful friends and I really didn't feel tired while all the hussle and bussle was going on. I felt GREAT! But the sunday after everybody left I crashed! HARD! Literally couldn't move from the couch. I felt numb and was so tired I even cried!!! (that could have been hormones too though) :) I woke up the Monday morning to my daily what to expect email and the subject was Week 9: I'm feeling so TIRED!! How timely, dead on to how I was feeling! I slowly made it into work that morning at 9:30am! It was the fastest I could move. As far as other symptoms go as long as I eat when I wake up I can keep the nausea in check. The freguent urination thing is another story. Up two times a night at minimum....which wakes Hunter up as well. He never fails to ask me "where are you going, are you okay" I know he's just being sweet but a part of me wants to say back to him "Where do you think I'm going" ha!

AND drum roll please.... BABY's first pictures :)



We ARE going to find out the sex. Middle of June, gender reveal party style, don't try to stop us! :)

Remember When?

We went to visit Carter and Chad a month or so back? Well, our life sort of changed forever that weekend and until now we failed to share it with some of you!

I'm PREGNANT ( I say "I'm" and not "We" because Hunter doesn't like it when people say "we" because he insists that HE is not pregnant) Whatever... :)

The Story: ...
A little while ago we had decided that February would be THE month. The first month we would "try." Since we've been together, and, well, you know, we have used the "withdrawal" method of birth control meaning I've never been on any pill or contraption or anything. For that reason, with our withdrawal method being successfully used for the past years we thought it might take a few months and fully expected a pregnancy over the summer. However, I'm a very regularly scheduled girl and I know my body very well so a part of me also thought we might succeed on the first time. Either way, we knew that if we tried in Feb and it worked we'd be ecstatic and if it didn't we would be okay with that as well since it was on the early side of us being ready for baby.

Ready or not here it comes! "That was easy" was the first sentence out of Hunter's mouth when we found out. Of course, for the next two weeks after we "tried" I was analyzing every little thing my body did. How often I was peeing, looking for implantation spotting, taking note of whether or not my breasts were more tender. And sure enough about a week after, I noticed all of the above. Then we traveled to Carter and Chads for the weekend and I LITERALLY got up to pee about 10 times in a 3 hour period of all of us hanging out in the garage chatting. So, we told Carter and Chad what was going on (being they are family) and got the exciting idea of taking a pregnancy test that weekend. On Saturday I was still 5 days away from a missed period and on Sunday 4. Saturday I took the first test, negative. I'd be lying if I said I didn't care. I was a little bummed. NOT that I wasn't pregnant but that I was feeling ALL of these symptoms and I wasn't pregnant. I started to think I was crazy and wondered if I was making all the symptoms up in my head. The mind is a powerful thing and I def. would not put that past me :) But I snapped out of it for the night, poured myself a glass of wine and we had a great time with Carter, Chad and their friends that Saturday night.
Sunday we woke up, went to church and on the car ride home I got a nauseous feeling. Is it just car sickness? Or am I and yesterday was just too soon to take a test? All these thoughts were going through my head. We got back to Carter and Chads and everyone dispersed to their rooms to change out of church clothes. I dispersed to the bathroom and secretly took another test.

Within seconds, POSITIVE!!!

I ran into the living room (where Hunter was) shaking, crying and holding the test asking him to look at it to see if he saw what I saw. After hearing the commotion Carter came into the living room to see what was going on. I showed her, and all agreed its was there...

TWO lines, crossed, to make a positive. (I know its faint, but it was there!)

LOTS of hugs, tears and excitement went on for the next few minutes and I wouldn't have wanted us to find out ANY other way. I tell my mom everything, immediately, so it wasn't any big surprise when I called her right then and told her the news. She knew we had tried that month and her motherly instincts had already told her I was pregnant :) None the less, of course her and Dad are THRILLED for us!! (and themselves) :)

The rest of the afternoon we spent doing an answer and question session with Carter and Chad....really nice having them there, being they JUST went through all of this. Carter sent me home with her "What to expect when expecting book" and our 4hr car ride home FLEW BY! (even though I made Hunter stop TWICE so I could pee) :)

There ya have it, I'M pregnant, WE'RE having a baby. The doctors say baby Lunsford will be here on November 1st! :)

And ANOTHER positive of having Carter and Chad there with us...we got some great pictures :) Thanks guys, we love you! xoxo