Gumbo - he pretty much followed Paula Deens recipe.
And Blackened Salmon with corn salsa alongside a spinach strawberry salad with poppy seed dressing.
Some good healthy meals for some good healthy milk for HL5 :)
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Paternity leave dinners...
With Chef Hunter being home last week on paternity leave he had some time to make a couple of great meals for us!
Gumbo - he pretty much followed Paula Deens recipe.
And Blackened Salmon with corn salsa alongside a spinach strawberry salad with poppy seed dressing.
Some good healthy meals for some good healthy milk for HL5 :)
Gumbo - he pretty much followed Paula Deens recipe.
And Blackened Salmon with corn salsa alongside a spinach strawberry salad with poppy seed dressing.
Some good healthy meals for some good healthy milk for HL5 :)
Friday, November 18, 2011
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!!
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!!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Birth story part 1
Lets see where did we leave off??.....Ah yes I was 40 weeks preggers, ready, and waiting!! So Tuesday at my 40 week appt my OB scrapped the membranes of my cervix in hopes to "stir up trouble" well that he did...I lost my mucus plug on Wednesday morning, thus giving me hopes of labor soon. BUT, Wednesday came and went, Thursday came and went and friday came. My parents decided to drive down from VA anyways baby or not for the weekend to keep us company. Friday morning I had another Drs appt where we scheduled an induction for Sunday night. At that Friday appt doc tried to stir up trouble again and that he did :). Friday night I started contracting around 10:30pm and they didn't stop all night. They were consistent between 3-8 mins but never got worse. However, in the middle of the night I also started bleeding which told me this was probably true labor. Saturday morning I headed downstairs about 7:30am, told my mom what was going on and started doing some things around the house just to move around and hopefully make my contractions progress. Mom timed my contractions for me and they where coming every two minutes when I was active but I knew they weren't nearly painful enough to warrant a hospital visit. then it happened... At 8:30am while sitting on my living room floor my water broke!!! I whimpered in shock of what was happening it was such a weird feeling. Hunter heard me whimper from upstairs and hoped out of bed to see what was happening. I shared the good news, showered, put on makeup, hunter got the car loaded up and at 10:30am we headed to the hospital :)
These pics are of me doing squats the friday night I went into labor...I did them just for you Linds! And dare i say they worked?? :)
One final bump picture taken right before we walked out the door to head to the hospital :)
These pics are of me doing squats the friday night I went into labor...I did them just for you Linds! And dare i say they worked?? :)
One final bump picture taken right before we walked out the door to head to the hospital :)
Thursday, November 10, 2011
He's been here :)
Hunter Lee Lunsford V was born Saturday night November 5th 10:29 pm. He weighted 7lbs 4oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. He's just perfect :). We're in survival mode here at the house...sleepless nights and sore boobies but I'll be sure to post pics soon. Our computer died(great timing) I need to figure out if I can blog pics from our iPad. In the meantime my sister-in-law posted some pictures on her blog...head over there. Thanks Carter :)
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
40 Weeks!
And still cookin :)
I know lots are interested in how my appointment went this morning so we'll get right to it with an update. I'm 1cm. yay! better than nothing and the Dr. I saw this week agreed my Dr. last week was probably just being nice by telling me i was 1/2 a centimeter but this week I'm a LEGIT 1cm. :) They are having me come back Friday morning where I'll be checked again and no matter what I'll be induced either Monday or Tuesday of next week. Depending on how much more dilated I am on Friday will tell them when I need to come in to be induced. If I'm still only 1cm the induction will take a bit more work so they will have me come to the hospital Monday night. If by Friday I'm 2 or 3cm then I can wait and come in Tuesday morning for the induction since my body will have done more of the induction work naturally. Makes sense to me.... And of course I'm not loosing hope that little man and my body may still decide to do their thing naturally sometime in the next week.
On to the survey...
Size of baby: A watermelon. My guess is a almost 8 pounder!
Weight Gain: 168. 38 pounds and feeling like it.
Maternity clothes: strugglin. It's coooooold here and most my maternity tops are sleeveless. Solution? I paired a non maternity long sleeve shirt (that doesn't cover my belly) UNDER a maternity sleeveless shirt for the belly coverage. And all in all I really could care less at this stage in the game :)
Gender: It's a boy Hunter Lee Lunsford V
Movement: Still moving good for me. Feeling feet and knees on my right side and his back/bum arch all through my middle section. Can't wait to see that little bum in person :)
Sleep: Getting worse for sure. The past couple nights I'll wake up to pee and it will take me a couple hours to fall back asleep. I'm either analyzing any contractions I'm feeling, or he's moving around a bunch at that time and keeping me awake. I def think we're going to have some work to do in straightening out this kids days and nights :) I'm not feeling ALL that tried during the day though I think this not sleeping as well thing is a great way to ease me into the sleepness nights with a newborn.
What I miss: Everything about not being pregnant. I think that sums it ALL up :)
Best Moment this week: Today, going to the Dr. having a came plan in mind and feeling better about where things are going. Last week was tough just thinking every day was the day and it wasn't. Yesterday was pretty great too shopping and lunching with a bestie :)
Looking forward to: Having this baby! And holding him and kissing him, and changing his diaper and feeding him. All of it!
Cravings: none
Symptoms: Lots of contractions but they never get progressively worse and they always seems to go away at some point. Back soreness, harder time sleeping, nasal congestion especially at night I can't breath through my nose.
Pictures!
Well it's been fun! Considering I'll be induced next tuesday I'm gonna say this is the last weekly survey. Thanks for following and BIG thanks for all your kind words of encouragement you guys bring every week. Your sweet sweet people! xoxo
I know lots are interested in how my appointment went this morning so we'll get right to it with an update. I'm 1cm. yay! better than nothing and the Dr. I saw this week agreed my Dr. last week was probably just being nice by telling me i was 1/2 a centimeter but this week I'm a LEGIT 1cm. :) They are having me come back Friday morning where I'll be checked again and no matter what I'll be induced either Monday or Tuesday of next week. Depending on how much more dilated I am on Friday will tell them when I need to come in to be induced. If I'm still only 1cm the induction will take a bit more work so they will have me come to the hospital Monday night. If by Friday I'm 2 or 3cm then I can wait and come in Tuesday morning for the induction since my body will have done more of the induction work naturally. Makes sense to me.... And of course I'm not loosing hope that little man and my body may still decide to do their thing naturally sometime in the next week.
On to the survey...
Size of baby: A watermelon. My guess is a almost 8 pounder!
Weight Gain: 168. 38 pounds and feeling like it.
Maternity clothes: strugglin. It's coooooold here and most my maternity tops are sleeveless. Solution? I paired a non maternity long sleeve shirt (that doesn't cover my belly) UNDER a maternity sleeveless shirt for the belly coverage. And all in all I really could care less at this stage in the game :)
Gender: It's a boy Hunter Lee Lunsford V
Movement: Still moving good for me. Feeling feet and knees on my right side and his back/bum arch all through my middle section. Can't wait to see that little bum in person :)
Sleep: Getting worse for sure. The past couple nights I'll wake up to pee and it will take me a couple hours to fall back asleep. I'm either analyzing any contractions I'm feeling, or he's moving around a bunch at that time and keeping me awake. I def think we're going to have some work to do in straightening out this kids days and nights :) I'm not feeling ALL that tried during the day though I think this not sleeping as well thing is a great way to ease me into the sleepness nights with a newborn.
What I miss: Everything about not being pregnant. I think that sums it ALL up :)
Best Moment this week: Today, going to the Dr. having a came plan in mind and feeling better about where things are going. Last week was tough just thinking every day was the day and it wasn't. Yesterday was pretty great too shopping and lunching with a bestie :)
Looking forward to: Having this baby! And holding him and kissing him, and changing his diaper and feeding him. All of it!
Cravings: none
Symptoms: Lots of contractions but they never get progressively worse and they always seems to go away at some point. Back soreness, harder time sleeping, nasal congestion especially at night I can't breath through my nose.
Pictures!
Well it's been fun! Considering I'll be induced next tuesday I'm gonna say this is the last weekly survey. Thanks for following and BIG thanks for all your kind words of encouragement you guys bring every week. Your sweet sweet people! xoxo
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sweater Vases
After seeing these sweater vases in the latest crate and barrel catalog I fell in love.
However after looking at them more closely I realized they aren't the real soft sweater material they are porcelain with just a sweater imprint. I started the search for real sweater vases and found my next project!!
In between trying to learn how to take care of and breastfeed a newborn hopefully I'll find time to make a few of these for our homes Christmas decor this year...aren't they pretty!?
However after looking at them more closely I realized they aren't the real soft sweater material they are porcelain with just a sweater imprint. I started the search for real sweater vases and found my next project!!
In between trying to learn how to take care of and breastfeed a newborn hopefully I'll find time to make a few of these for our homes Christmas decor this year...aren't they pretty!?
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
39 Weeks!
A part of me really hoped I wouldn't get to this post and baby would be here in my arms already BUT that's not the case so here goes...
Size: Still a watermelon. Probably a 7 pounder by now I'm sure of it!
Weight gain: 166 at today's appointment. 36 pounds gained.
Maternity Clothes: I headed to Express last week and purchased a couple pairs of black yoga pants. As you can see below they are my new go to :) I'm only working a couple days a week now but when I do have to dress for the office I'm really rotating between two pairs of maternity work pants and two maternity cotton dresses.
Gender: It's a boy! Hunter Lee Lunsford V.
Movement: His movement has DEF changed over the past week. Movement has decreased and is more compact. Little pokes here or there or I'll see one side of my stomach go up not so much waves anymore. Space is tight in there I'm sure!
Sleep: Pretty good, up only once usually, but moving positions a lot to get comfy. I'm sleeping though no just laying in bed awake and that's a GREAT thing!
What I miss: I think what I miss most is still snuggling with Hunter. I build what Hunter calls "my nest" when i get into bed which consists of no joke 3 regular pillows, one body pillow, and one euro size pillow. Hunter I know is also looking forward to sleeping with less pillows on our bed, he has made that comment a couple times :)
Best Moment this week: Having tuesday and wednesday off work to continue to get things done and relax. I finished making some burp cloths, kept the house clean, read up some more of my baby books, and have taken Jake for long walks everyday. With each passing day, I feel more and more ready to meet our little one!
Looking forward to: of course, having this baby!
Cravings: None, oh wait...I did request McDonalds for dinner on Monday night. That was yummy, but then craved and consumed salad last night probably out of quilt.
Symptoms: So far the story goes, Sunday we walked and I cramped/felt pelvic pressure down there off and on sunday. It was more uncomfortable, not painful and random so I knew it was nothing. Monday after work we walked. I felt LOTS of menstraul like pain/burning sensation and pressure from about 10pm til 11:30 or so. It was pretty consistent every 10-15 minutes but not getting worse. Also, at that same time the baby was moving a TON...more than usual. I still to this day don't know if my pain was from him moving, or if I was having braxton hicks contractions and the contractions where making him move. I'm thinking the latter because at times in that 1.5hrs I could feel him move and it wouldnt hurt. Either way, what does it matter...by the time I layed my head on the pillow for bed all was calm and pain free again :) Then yesterday...tuesday, I walked again our same route and felt nothing all day.
Today I walked before my Dr's appt...secretly hoping it would start some contractions for my appt. ha! The Dr. did say my uterus was super thin and baby's head was very very low (which explains all the pressure I feel down there) but I'm only about 1/2 centimeter dialated. Just need some good strong contractions to open me up and baby will be ready to come on out!
Pictures:
Size: Still a watermelon. Probably a 7 pounder by now I'm sure of it!
Weight gain: 166 at today's appointment. 36 pounds gained.
Maternity Clothes: I headed to Express last week and purchased a couple pairs of black yoga pants. As you can see below they are my new go to :) I'm only working a couple days a week now but when I do have to dress for the office I'm really rotating between two pairs of maternity work pants and two maternity cotton dresses.
Gender: It's a boy! Hunter Lee Lunsford V.
Movement: His movement has DEF changed over the past week. Movement has decreased and is more compact. Little pokes here or there or I'll see one side of my stomach go up not so much waves anymore. Space is tight in there I'm sure!
Sleep: Pretty good, up only once usually, but moving positions a lot to get comfy. I'm sleeping though no just laying in bed awake and that's a GREAT thing!
What I miss: I think what I miss most is still snuggling with Hunter. I build what Hunter calls "my nest" when i get into bed which consists of no joke 3 regular pillows, one body pillow, and one euro size pillow. Hunter I know is also looking forward to sleeping with less pillows on our bed, he has made that comment a couple times :)
Best Moment this week: Having tuesday and wednesday off work to continue to get things done and relax. I finished making some burp cloths, kept the house clean, read up some more of my baby books, and have taken Jake for long walks everyday. With each passing day, I feel more and more ready to meet our little one!
Looking forward to: of course, having this baby!
Cravings: None, oh wait...I did request McDonalds for dinner on Monday night. That was yummy, but then craved and consumed salad last night probably out of quilt.
Symptoms: So far the story goes, Sunday we walked and I cramped/felt pelvic pressure down there off and on sunday. It was more uncomfortable, not painful and random so I knew it was nothing. Monday after work we walked. I felt LOTS of menstraul like pain/burning sensation and pressure from about 10pm til 11:30 or so. It was pretty consistent every 10-15 minutes but not getting worse. Also, at that same time the baby was moving a TON...more than usual. I still to this day don't know if my pain was from him moving, or if I was having braxton hicks contractions and the contractions where making him move. I'm thinking the latter because at times in that 1.5hrs I could feel him move and it wouldnt hurt. Either way, what does it matter...by the time I layed my head on the pillow for bed all was calm and pain free again :) Then yesterday...tuesday, I walked again our same route and felt nothing all day.
Today I walked before my Dr's appt...secretly hoping it would start some contractions for my appt. ha! The Dr. did say my uterus was super thin and baby's head was very very low (which explains all the pressure I feel down there) but I'm only about 1/2 centimeter dialated. Just need some good strong contractions to open me up and baby will be ready to come on out!
Pictures:
