Lucy Johanna Moore Hall

. . . was born at 6:31 Friday morning, September 14, 2012.  She's 20 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces.  My water broke at 12:30 or so, just before bed, and six hours (and one false alarm, one epidural, and 28 minutes of pushing (!)) later, I heard this crying sound!  We're both doing pretty well: came home yesterday (Sunday), she's a champion nurser (so far), and my mom and dad are here from Cincinnati to help out.  Since I'm not great at typing left handed, here are a bunch of pictures instead of any more words, for the present:

. . .

Still pregnant, just fyi.  Going shopping for a washer and dryer today, maybe?  The due date is Tuesday, so if she doesn't make her appearance this week, we're looking at inducing next weekend.

September!

Well, here we are in September, and still no baby yet.  It's heartening to think that, one way or another, this is the month in which she'll be born.  And who knows, I could still go into labor later today and my dad could have a birthday buddy (Happy Birthday, Dad!).  In the meantime, we've met with and really liked a pediatrician and gotten the room pretty much set up, although we're still waiting for the plumber to finish up before we go get a washer and dryer and get most of the clothes and linens laundered.

These photos are a little dark, but can you spot the cat's new favorite napping spot?  Here's a close-up:

Oh, Speedy, I don't think you'll like it there so much once this room and that changing pad are put to their intended uses!  Or maybe he will, I don't know.  I'm just glad he decided this was his spot, rather than the crib, which would of course be a big "No!" that he wouldn't really understand.

Oh, and can you make out the new purple-ness of the rocker in the corner?  I was hunting around for fabric we already had to slipcover it, and thought the purple of my old sheets would work well, so I just draped the fitted sheet over those pink faux-velvet cushions to see how it would look.  Then I started thinking, and 5 minutes of tucking and pulling later, and I had the laziest, no-sew slipcover ever.  And hey, it'll be easy to remove for washing!

...Still Pregnant...

Which, despite my growing discomfort, is probably a good thing, as we're still waiting on the crib and the dresser, among other things.  But, the following have arrived in the past few days:

• car seat
• stroller
• crib mattress
• mattress pad
• bathtub
• nursing tops for me

I'm starting to get to know the UPS guy pretty well.  He's very nice, and his wife is 38 weeks pregnant!

Notes from Waco

Hello, all!  Well, that was a busy month.  We are landed and somewhat settled in our new digs in Waco, Texas.  We've rented a cute little 2 bedroom/2bath house:

We're generally very happy with it, except for one or two things.  Mostly, there's the fact that there's a problem with the plumbing and sewer connections.  At 9 months pregnant, you really need to be able to rely on having toilets that actually work in your new home.  The problem is being fixed, but I don't love that it was an issue at all, and that it's involved multiple calls to the landlords and the plumber.  We have enough to worry about without that.

Like, for instance, the current state of the Nestling's room:

We purposefully held off on buying any bulky items, like nursery furniture, until now, so we didn't have to move them a thousand miles, but now we're feeling distinctly underprepared if she should decide to arrive a bit early (more on that in a moment!).  So, several large orders to Amazon and Bed, Bath, and Beyond/Buy, Buy Baby later, and we're awaiting delivery of a crib and mattress, car seat, stroller, diaper pail, and all that kind of good stuff.  

Speaking of which, I had my first appointment with my new OB on Thursday, and I really like both her and the office, so that's a huge relief.  But!  We found out I'm already 3-4 cm dilated, and so might not/probably won't make it to my actual due date, September 11.  That's not so bad medically speaking, as I'll be 37 weeks, which is considered full term, tomorrow (Tuesday August 21).  But we're now busily preparing ourselves, mentally and physically, for the possibility that she could be here rather sooner than we'd thought!  We've bought a pack 'n' play from Target with a bassinet feature, in case the crib isn't here in time, and I'm anxiously copy-and-paste-ing the tracking number for the car seat into UPS's website.  If she can just hang in there until Thursday at least, we should be good!

That's about all the news that's fit to print, baby-wise.  We'll go back Wednesday for another appointment, and hope to schedule a tour of the childbirth center sometime this week.  My project for this afternoon: find a pediatrician!  I'll leave you with a few baby bump pictures (I've been getting that "you look like you're ready to pop!" a lot these days).

Here's my perspective:

And here, since we had the mirror sitting on the ground for a while before we hung it, is what I imagine  I look like from the cat's perspective:

And the Nestling Will Be Born In. . .

. . . Waco, Texas.  You know, unless something goes quite, quite wrong and Baylor University decides to be a total jerk or the Nestling decides to come rather early, which we're really hoping won't be the case, obviously.

30 Weeks

The past few weekends, we've been hitting up Craigslist and garage sales for some second-hand baby things.  The highlights:

• the super high-tech Summer Infant Best View Handheld Color Video Monitor for $100
• a glider-style rocking chair for $30 (It has pink faux-velvet cushions, though.  I'm going to try and make slipcovers)
• a new-in-package and ridiculously named but well-reviewed "My Brest Friend" Nursing Pillow for $25
• A changing pad and cover for $15
• a mess of used clothes, mostly onesies

Check-up earlier this week went fine.  My next one in two weeks will probably be the last one in Madison- we'll be talking about finding a new OB wherever we'll be moving, among other things.  It's one of the sadder parts about the job/moving situation, that we won't be able to stay with the same OB and hospital/health care group (Meriter).  She and they have been really great.

Oh, and I caved and bought some more maternity clothes, from the Motherhood Maternity in the mall and everything.  I had hoped to get by on what I had, or to try and find any additional things second-hand, but it was just so damn hot, I needed more tank tops.  Found another pair of shorts and a breezy tank dress, as well.  This one, in fact, but in a red/white stripe.  I wore it for the Fourth with some big ol' star shaped earrings and my blue blue nail polish.  We went and saw The Avengers.

found here