Aidan's Birth Story

I'll be honest, this post really is more for me to have the story of our little guy's birth and his first week recorded somewhere, many of you won't want to read all this, and that's fine :) I just wanted to make sure that before I completely loose my mind to sleep deprivation I take time to write down some thoughts and memories of the days immediately surrounding Aidan's entrance into the world. There you go, that's your disclaimer :) Feel free to stop reading now if you so desire!

We had said all along that we didn't want our son to arrive too late, since my mom only had 3 weeks vacation and I wanted to take full advantage of her time on baby help! But we also didn't want him showing up too early since she didn't fly into town until Thursday Jan. 12. We all jokingly said that having the baby on Friday Jan. 13th sounded like a great day based on our family schedule, and wouldn't it be great if he cooperated? Well Friday rolled around and I was still very pregnant. On Friday evenings here in Granada Hills a ton of food trucks from around Los Angeles come and park on a street a few blocks from our apartment, and we thought it would be fun to introduce my mom to the LA food truck phenomenon. So Charles, mom and I walked up to the trucks (more like ran, for some reason the two of them set the pace and I did all I could to keep up--we later blame the race to the food trucks as the walk the sent me into labor!) and got dinner. We were joking about how on Sunday afternoon after church we were going to go visit a restaurant in Hollywood that has this famous salad known for inducing labor. It's been on national news and on the TV show The Doctor's. Something about the herbs in the dressing--it's literally known as "The Salad." Turns out we never got to go eat The Salad.

That night we climbed into bed around ten and my husband promptly fell asleep. It always takes me a little while to settle my mind down so about 20 minutes later I was just drifting off when a stomach cramp woke me up. It wasn't super painful, just different than what I'd been experiencing with Braxton Hicks contractions up until that point. It went away and I worked on going back to sleep. Soon enough another cramp woke me up, so I checked the clock and found that 20 minutes had passed since the first one. The next two hours found me dozing as these pains (which I knew by now were contractions) came and went every 15-20 minutes. At one point I got up and went out to the living room so as to not wake my husband yet, and went back through the paperwork from our childbirth class so I could remind myself what to expect and what signs meant "head to the hospital." We had downloaded a "contraction timer" app onto Charles' iPhone, so eventually I went back to bed and lay there timing them. Finally about 1:30 I woke Charles up, mostly with my tossing and turning. When he asked what I was doing and I said "timing contractions" he definitely woke up! We hung out together watching TV, timing contractions, and putting the last things into our hospital bags for a couple hours. As a side note, going into labor at night, as you're headed to sleep, is one of the worst times in my opinion. You've already been up all day and are just looking forward to a good night's sleep when you find yourself up all night again. And then in my case up all day the next day and half the next night too. That's a lot of days/nights with no sleep.

But I digress. We finally woke my mom up around 3 to ask her what she thought we should do. They tell you to labor at home as long as you can, and head to the hospital when either A) you can't handle the pain anymore and want drugs, or B) you are at a 5-1-1 stage--your contractions are 5 minutes apart, they last for 1 minute, and this pattern continues for an hour. My contractions were 4-6 minutes apart, lasting for about 45 seconds, but weren't really increasing in intensity (something else they tell you to look for). Finally at 5 we decided to head in just to get checked to see what was going on. Both my mom and sister had fast labors, so we were assuming genetics would play a part here and mine would be too, and already I'd been laboring longer than it took for my mom to have me. The world's nicest nurse met us at admitting and got me all checked out, and said she'd call my doctor and ask what the doctor wanted me to do. I was only at about 2 centimeters, so I still had a long way to go, so there was a chance I'd be sent home to continue laboring there for awhile. They decided to admit me and let me walk the halls of the hospital for a couple hours seeing if that would help things progress. So that's what we did, only it didn't really cause anything exciting to happen. I was still at a 2, maybe 3 centimeters after a couple hours of walking around. I was starving and so since we still had so far to go they let me eat jello and a banana for a little energy, and about 30 minutes later the pain increased and my breakfast promptly came back up in response to my contractions. Yup, not eating red jello again for awhile!

I felt bad for how long and boring the day was for my poor mom and husband! They were awesome though, they took turns doing pressure points and massage on my back, feeding me ice chips, holding bags as I got sick, walking the halls with me, and Charles even entertained me by reading to me from the book we're reading aloud (Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief). Finally at 2 I'd had it--I'd been up all night, the pain was increasing, and I knew I still had such a long ways to go that I asked for the epidural. It had been my plan all along to get one, I didn't feel bad about it at all, nor did I feel any desire or need to try for a natural childbirth. The anesthesiologist came in and he was amazing, so so funny and kind and kept me distracted and calm through the inserting of the epidural. Wow. Talk about amazing relief after hours of not being able to rest. It was incredible and I would have no qualms about recommending an epidural to anyone! It allowed me to get some sleep which I needed so badly.

A little while later I was dozing and all of a sudden there was a ton of commotion in the room. The anesthesiologist was there, my nurse came running in, the charge nurse came in and maybe some others? My mom's expression looked worried, and I had no idea what was going on. I know that oxygen was put on my face and I was told to take deep breaths to help the baby out, and a nurse said "I'm going to give you a shot in your arm right now" and I heard them say "have them on standby" (I'm assuming they were talking about the OR). Everyone nervously watched the monitors and eventually decided things were okay. Apparently what had happened is I had a tetanic contraction that is essentially one really long contraction with no break (mine lasted over 2.5 minutes) which puts a lot of pressure on baby's head and usually causes a sudden drop in their heartbeat. Which is exactly what happened, Aidan's heartbeat plummeted. So they gave me a shot super fast to stop the contraction and let the pressure ease up on him, and thankfully it worked, but it was pretty scary. I think this happened one other time during my labor, I know I was given oxygen more than that once, and I know at some point they turned off the pitocin they'd been giving me to let things ease up a bit.

Contractions continued and at some point the doctor came into break my water to see if that would speed things up a bit. It didn't. She said she'd be back to check me at 10 that evening, but if no progress had been made then she was predicting Aidan was tangled up in his cord and wasn't able to make the descent he needed to, and if that was the case there wasn't really anything they could do besides a c-section. The hours dragged on, broken up by a super sweet visit from our pastor and his wife. Jim and Chris drove all the way down to the hospital just to bring my mom and Charles coffee and to pray with us. It was so good to see them in the midst of a long day! Eventually it was 10. Pretty much no more progress had been made even though I'd been having strong contractions every 90 seconds for hours. At that point, I think we just wanted things to be done, we wanted our baby out safely. And the doctor, nurses, and my mom reassured Charles and I that this was in no way a result of any choices we'd made, there was absolutely nothing we could have done differently to have a different outcome. They moved pretty quick after that, and before I knew it I was in the OR being moved to the operating table being prepped for surgery. My husband was given a super cool outfit and was brought in to sit by my head. I was really surprised at how fast the surgery was, before I realized they'd even started (I was SUPER numb, literally could not tell anyone was even touching anything below my chest!) I heard the beautiful sound of our baby wailing away as they brought him out. Then I heard the doctor say "I was right! He was wearing his cord like a necklace and couldn't move down." Everything after that was kind of a blur, I know they toweled the baby off a bit, and handed him to Charles right away. He brought him over to see me, but I was shaking SO badly from the medicine I couldn't really touch him. I started crying asking if he was really okay. He was howling but quieted quickly as his daddy settled him down. The nurses took our first family photo and then they took Aidan to the nursery to clean him up and check him over. Charles got to go spend those first two hours with him while they put me into a light sleep to finish up the surgery and get me into recovery. I remember waking up in a different room, still really numb, and my mom was there. I remember asking her if she had seen him yet and she said yes, she had held him and he was perfect. I still had not really seen the baby but they said he would be brought in shortly. My mom let me make the 2 phone calls I had really wanted to make myself--to my dad and sister. I was too drugged to do much besides that, and all I remember was how parched my throat and voice felt from not being allowed to drink and from wearing the oxygen mask. I could barely talk but I was able to tell dad he was a Papa again and Megan that she was finally an auntie. Finally Charles came back wheeling the bassinet. The nurse and my mom helped me sit up and hold him for the first time. He was so little! It was pretty fantastic holding him, and we tried feeding but I don't really remember that. I think he sucked a few times and that was about it. I was exhausted and kind of groggy, so after a bit I handed him back to his daddy. They transferred me to my postpartum room and by now it was probably almost 1 AM. All I wanted was sleep. I sent my mom and Charles home (first major mistake made by me, I thought I'd be fine just sleeping there alone...I should have asked someone to stay the night with me) and we had them keep Aidan in the nursery for the night. I was completely incapable of even picking him up or getting out of bed to care for him, so they kept him in the nursery and fed him there. I was at the point where that was completely fine with me--even though I know it went against all the rules of establishing a good breast feeding habit with a newborn.

The rest of that night was a long blur of feeling drugged, incredibly nauseated (yes, I even threw up ice chips, I didn't even know that was possible), sore as the meds started wearing off, and bleeding way more than anyone was expecting. I think I was making the nurses nervous, but I was so out of it I didn't know that at the time. I slept fitfully, unable to really move on my own to roll over or reposition myself. First thing in the morning I called home and told my mom and Charles I needed them to come back, they wanted to bring the baby into the room and I couldn't mentally or physically handle being alone with him. For the first couple days I felt like the world's worst mom. I had so much physical healing to do, I couldn't get out of bed to pick him up, I didn't know how to feed him, I couldn't get up to change his diapers or swaddle him--everyone else had to do those things for me. These are all things you're supposed to do as a mom, and I couldn't. It really hit home when I called my grandparents first thing Sunday morning to make sure they knew Aidan had arrived and grandma asked what he looked like. I just started crying and had to say that I had no idea, I'd still only held him the one time late Saturday night, and I was so out of it all I could remember is that he had dark hair. What kind of mom can't even picture what her own baby looks like?? It was a horrible, horrible feeling. I remember crying a lot those first few days--feeling disappointed that things had gone so differently than we planned, dealing with a lot of physical pain, feeling like a failure because everything they tell you to do in the first "essential few hours with your baby" I couldn't do, and feeling completely and utterly exhausted.

My dad arrived about 1 on Sunday, having caught the first flight he could on Sunday morning to come meet his grandson, and we had a lot of other visitors throughout the day on Sunday of people excited to meet our baby. As much as I wanted to see close friends, and introduce them to Aidan, looking back that's one thing I think I would have done differently. I think I would have asked visitors to wait until Monday, and would have protected that first day to be just family--which would have helped me get some rest, and I still hadn't really spent much time holding and looking at my own son. As it was I wasn't able to nap at all that day because of so many people (both medical staff and visitors and even people via Skype that "met" Aidan from long distance) in and out of the room. By Sunday night I was an emotional wreck partly from hormones and partly from sheer exhaustion--I really thought I was the world's worst new mom, and all I could do was cry. I think one thing I'd say to new moms is that it's okay to say you need rest, your close friends will love you enough to understand and be happy to come see you on day 2 or 3 when you're feeling a little more human! I sent Charles and my dad home that night to get some good sleep and had my mom stay with me mostly because I needed a nurse--I was so physically miserable I needed someone to take care of me while Aidan spent another night in the nursery (although I was able to nurse by now so they brought him to me for feedings and then took him back so I could sleep more).

Thankfully by Monday morning I'd turned a bit of a corner--they finally unhooked my IV, took my catheter out, took the compression boot things off my legs and let me get out of bed for the first time and take a real shower and put on my own clothes. Oh my gosh I felt like a new person. I moved slow, but I was able to get out of bed and sit in a chair and nurse from there, and was able to eat real food again--since I'd successfully been keeping my liquid diet down :) Charles stayed with me that night and we did our best to deal with the infamous "night number 2" of having a newborn. Apparently it's super common for babies to be up all night on the second night, wanting to nurse constantly. Our little guy was no exception and we spent a long night together trying different soothing techniques. I was finally discharged Tuesday afternoon which was awesome--they were going to keep me until Wednesday but my doctor correctly predicted I'd be in great hands going home with two nurses, and would get way more rest at home than in the hospital. So we packed up, headed home, and began the journey of adjusting to life with a newborn! I will write more about our first couple weeks at home later, but this post is getting long enough, if anyone is still reading I am impressed! As much as we had hopes of our birth experience going differently, we are so grateful for a healthy baby boy and that my recovery has gone really well (after those first horrible 24 hours!). God has blessed us beyond belief, and we look forward to sharing more of our adventures and stories of adjusting to parenthood with you all!

Week 38--Summer in January?

When I found out I was pregnant and started "doing the math" figuring out our due date, my initial reaction when I found out we were having a January baby was "oh thank goodness! I won't be super pregnant when it's hot!" I hate the heat, I always have, so imagining being 9 months pregnant in the summer sounded like torture. Apparently the weather people did not get the memo that it is NOT supposed to be 85 degrees in January! It is like summer here, I've been in shorts and sandals all week, which just feels wrong! And yes, I think it feels hotter since I'm hauling around a bunch of extra weight. Hello swollen fingers and toes! Other than that though, week 38 has been pretty uneventful. The doctor doesn't seem to think baby is coming anytime in the next 7 days, which is probably best for a lot of reasons, but last night I was awoken with some strange twinges and aching in my lower abdomen which had me convinced labor was starting (it wasn't), so of course I laid awake for the next two hours unable to sleep. Luckily I am in the midst of reading John Steinbeck's East of Eden which is SUCH a good book--so much better than I expected, and long--several hundred pages--so it's keeping me entertained quite well for quite awhile as we wait for baby! So Steinbeck and I were bonding at 2 AM last night while I ate honey nut cheerios. It was quite the party!

I've spent a lot of time this week getting random things checked off my to do list, which has felt quite wonderful. The big baby-related ones are that we got our stroller assembled (and I am in LOVE with it--I cannot even begin to tell you how much I adore this stroller and how easy it is to use, assemble, fold, and carry), and we got our car seat installed. We had a professionally certified car seat specialist install it for us and show us how to work it to make sure that we weren't one of the 90% of people who apparently use their car seats wrong. That really is the statistic from the highway patrol. It was totally worth it to have our new friend Rick over at Baby Town walk us through the exact details of our specific car seat and how it will work in our specific car. If you're having a baby in the Northridge area, I'd highly recommend him--saved us a TON of time spent with manuals and guessing as to whether or not we'd gotten the base tight enough (he says people rarely do). So we're now driving around with a car seat which is making this baby thing seem VERY real! I've also been shopping for my Christmas gift from my parents--a glider/rocker for the baby's room, and I know what I want, it's just a matter of finding out who sells the brand I'm looking for around here. Hopefully I'll be ordering it today though and it should be arriving next week which will be fantastic. Other little things I'm working on getting done this week are things I just won't take time for in the next month or so. Like a hair cut, and maybe a pedicure (I didn't think I'd need one in January but apparently January is the new June here and I'll be barefoot a lot!)

We finally visited the DMV this morning and took our written tests to get our California drivers licenses back and get our car registered, so it feels fantastic having that checked off the list as well. I also realized I was 2 years behind on my family photo albums, and before I get inundated with baby pictures in 2012 I figured I should get caught up. So the other day I finished our 2010 family album and I'm getting started on our 2011 album. I create them on line using Shutterfly.com which has been great, so easy to use, and I love the way they turn out. My goal is to finish the 2011 album and order that before our munchkin comes since once we have him we'll have more photos than we know what to do with! Oh yeah, and I'm also camera shopping this week...we always said we wanted to invest in a nice camera when we had kids. Well we're having a kid soon, so I figured I should actually work on this! So it's been a full week, lots of running errands and on line research, but it's been fun to cross things off the list that I always said I wanted to do.

This Sunday the youth department is throwing us a baby shower at the church which we are very excited about and honored by, so I've been given strict instructions not to have this baby before then! Otherwise we're sharing meals with two different couples which we are very much looking forward to, and I'm hoping my husband gets some good beach time in on Saturday morning--he's been working so hard trying to get things squared away for the month of youth programs so when he does need to take some days off he's not stressed about who is running youth group that night etc. He also moved offices last week and has a great space set up that is much larger than his previous space, so that's been a lot of work too--getting that set up and arranged how he wants it.

Anyways, I'm off to go get dinner started, but I hope you're enjoying your week wherever you are! And that it feels a little like winter for some of you!

Week 37--the week of strange interactions!

Almost there! This little guy is going to be here before we know it, and I'm not so sure how I feel about that! Super excited to meet him and cuddle him, and a little terrified of the whole process of getting him out of me and into my arms if I'm honest! I am such a control freak, this whole not knowing when labor will start, or how it will go, or how long it will last is very stressful to a type A person like myself. But I know it's getting closer, I'm having little signs that this guy is going to be here soon--hopefully still not for another week and a half or so though! We've decided that the 13th would be the perfect date for him to show up based on a lot of factors...but we'll see how cooperative he decides to be!

Physically I'm still feeling pretty good for the most part--although I will say bones that I've never really felt before are super achey all of a sudden. Apparently as a hormone is released the bones in my hips/pelvis are relaxing and preparing for birth--which is an amazing concept, but I will say climbing out of bed, walking around, and sitting in various positions are becoming more challenging and uncomfortable. Combine that fact with the fact that my feet are also achey a lot more in the past week than they have been, and you get someone who feels like she's waddling and hobbling around more than walking! My feet thankfully aren't swollen, just really sore and most shoes aren't comfortable. I think it's probably due to my bones and muscles not being used to supporting and carrying around 30 extra pounds on a daily basis! My weekly email that I get telling me what I can expect to be happening with my body and baby that week has a list of signs that labor is relatively near ("relatively near" means anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks) and I have almost all of the "symptoms" slowly beginning to emerge. I get hit with spurts of "nesting" energy and decide that I need to vacuum and do 6 loads of laundry and clean both bathrooms and pack my hospital bag RIGHT NOW (that was yesterday) followed by waves of total exhaustion (usually in the same day). I have literally started putting "nap time" in my calendar each day because I realized about 2 weeks ago that I was completely incapable of making it through a full day without laying down for awhile. It's almost like the first trimester again, where not napping is not an option. My parents and sister no longer call me between about 1 and 3 in the afternoon because they know that I will be asleep for part of that window of time. My problem though is that once I nap, I often can't fall asleep at night as well, or stay asleep. Part of this is due to how many times I now have to get up to find the bathroom each night, and part of this is because to stay in one position for too long puts too much weight and pressure on hips/knees and other joints in my body--but rolling over and changing positions requires repositioning several pillows. It's really almost a comical thing, to watch me try and sleep!

So I titled this post the week of strange interactions because it was a week of just random and sort of bizarre things happening. Last Monday I was at the grocery store and had just unloaded my groceries onto the conveyor belt when a man carrying only a loaf of bread walks up behind me. I was going to let him go ahead of me, but before I could make eye contact with him or say anything he walks past me and says "I only have 1 item, therefore I go in front of you" and hands his bread to the clerk before I could say anything. I was so flabbergasted I just kind of stood there thinking "um okay...." I almost started laughing, I've never had anyone so blatantly cut in front of me like that! Random interaction number 2 was on Thursday when I was at my OB's office. I had been chatting with a woman in the waiting room who had a 3 week old baby boy also named Aidan, and spelled "-an" like we chose to do. (Side note: the "American" spelling is "Aiden" which means our poor kid is going to have his name misspelled forever, but the Gaelic way of spelling Aidan--which is where the name comes from--is with an -an--so just remember, our little guy has 2 "a's" in his name and no "e" :)....but I digress. Anyway, we were chatting for just a few minutes before my name was called. She was still sitting there when I came out 15 minutes later and calls across the waiting room "so how many centimeters are you dilated??" Really? Thanks total stranger! In front of other total strangers! I just said "I'm not yet" and she gets this shocked look on her face and said "you're NOT? When I was at 37 weeks I was already at 2 centimeters!" My doctor was standing in the door way and just winked at me and mouthed "it's not a competition!" and I just looked at the lady and smiled and said "I'm really really okay with being at a 0 right now. I'd like him to stay put until the week of his due date so my parents can be here and I can have our baby shower that is planned for that week." Again, I just kind of shook my head...I don't think it would ever occur to me to call out to a total stranger to ask them how many centimeters they are dilating!

Other fun happenings of week 37 was that we went to go see Wicked on Tuesday night!! It was our Christmas gift to each other, and it was SO amazing. I'd seen it probably about 5 years ago with friends and loved it, but Charles had never seen it and had always wanted to. He loved the entire thing, and then after the show we had the opportunity to go back stage and on a tour of the "behind the scenes" at the Pantages theater. A gentleman from our church is a trumpet player in the orchestra there and he and Charles are in a weekly bible study together. He offered to take us around when he found out we would be there, and it was SO cool to see a little bit of how they put a show like this together. We got to walk out on the stage, see the inside of the orchestra pit, see the make up/wig/costume rooms and several other spaces. It was a fantastic evening, and we are so grateful to him for making that possible! (This isn't the best picture, but the one backstage picture we got to take was of the Wizard of Oz that is used in the show).

On Friday night we had the opportunity to serve our pastor and his wife at their 25th anniversary party. They needed someone to be there early to be the point person for last minute food set up/drink servers/water refillers etc while they and their guests were in the sanctuary for their vow renewal. We were honored to be asked and spent the evening arranging food, serving wine, lighting candles, getting music playing in the background, setting out desserts etc. It was a really intimate party, mostly their family and a few good friends, only a couple people from the church (their small group members I think) so it was fun to meet their daughters and other relatives and be there in the background observing their community celebrating them. We had them over for dinner tonight and had fun hearing their reflections on their party and continuing to get to know this incredible couple.

I know New Year's Eve was this weekend, but I have to say this year might go down in history as one of the more boring new year's we've had! We didn't do anything. Well, that's not true. I was craving cheese. That was ALL I wanted to eat. So I made cheese fondue for dinner (healthy, I know) and then we watched the 6th Harry Potter movie and were in bed by 11:30. Yup, we have an exciting social life!

That about covers it for week 37! Yesterday began week 38, so we'll see what this week brings! Next Sunday the church is throwing us a baby shower, so I'm hoping Aidan stays put until after that--I've been instructed by the ladies planning it to keep him in there until at least after 3:00 PM next Sunday. So I'll do my best! If you need to smile between now and then, my sister started posting on her blog again but instead of long posts she's doing "things heard from her 2 year old's mouth" and is keeping track of things Lily says. You will crack up, I promise, this kid has LOT of personality and talks a LOT! So check that out and let yourself have a good chuckle when you need one--it's kind of fun looking at the world through the eyes of a 2 year old--she sees things so differently than adults to that it's kind of awesome. Have a great first week of 2012 my friends!

Week 36--A Very Merry Christmas Week!

Technically we're in week 37 now, but I didn't get a chance to write last week, so here is our week 36 in a nutshell! We got to have a late-term ultra sound at the end of week 35, and we were so thrilled to learn that our little guy looks awesome, and they estimated him to be right about 6 pounds, so now he should be close to 6 1/2 pounds if he's following the typical pattern of gaining a 1/2 pound a week for the last month. It feels like he's gaining more weight at least, mommy's back is getting more and more sore as the days go by! I've made it to the point in the pregnancy where I get to see my OB every week, which I think has been good since she is new to me, it's been giving me a chance to get to know her a bit before we call on her in the midst of labor. We "graduated" from our childbirth class this past week, with a diploma and everything :) (Now we just have to pass that very real life final exam...you know, the part where you actually have to put into practice what you learned!) I'm feeling pretty good, with the exception of my back, which is just sore all the time. I splurged on a real massage last week, which was incredible, and I've decided I'll go back next week for another one (hey it was doctor's orders, she said that was all that was really going to help my pinched nerve!)

We also had the privilege in week 36 to have Charles' sister and her 4 kids here for a few days! It was so fun to see them, to show them around LA a little--they'd never been out here. We took them to wander around Hollywood and then Charles took them to Disneyland for a full day which they loved. They came to our high school youth group's family Christmas party which was very fun, and got to see where Uncle Chuck spends a lot of his time!

My new pregnancy craving? That would be clementine cutie tangerines. I've literally eaten 3 boxes by myself in the past 3 weeks. I think I've definitely been getting enough vitamin C these days! Someone in the grocery store stopped and asked me if I had been craving them (she saw me buying a box) and I said yes, and she said that I must be having a boy because people who have boys crave citrus apparently. I don't know about that, but I do know they are delicious, and I normally don't love citrus!

And I realize this might be the most boring blog post in the history of blog posts. But I'm going to go ahead and post it and see if I have a bit more energy/inspiration tomorrow for some better writing :)

Weeks 34 & 35--Made it to the Melon Stage!

Our munchkin has hit the size of the cantaloupe and honeydew melons (no, he's not a watermelon yet, even if I feel like my belly is!). He is definitely getting bigger, it's quite impressive to me how my belly still finds ways to grow. Rumor has it though he's about reached his length, so now he's just packing on the pounds of baby fat (gaining about a 1/2 pound a week for the next 4 weeks before delivery!). His lungs are still maturing, and so is that little brain of his (so I'm definitely taking my Omega 3 supplements these days to help his brain development out!) Otherwise he's pretty much ready to come join us! He's been practicing his sucking and swallowing reflexes in there, and his grasping reflex as he hangs onto the umbilical cord and sucks on his little fingers. His movements are much more stretching movements as opposed to the fluttering, kicking movements of a few weeks ago (he's no longer turning somersaults, he's running out of room in there!) And I think his favorite past time is to see how far he can stretch his feet in to his mommy's ribs and lungs. Yup, it's a really fun game we like to play now :) Just in this past week I've had the overwhelming urge to meet this little one. I understand why people say the last month is the longest. I'm perfectly content for him to stay put for a bit since his room isn't set up and it really is best for babies to make it to 38-39 weeks, so as anxious as I am to see him and hold him I can wait for his sake. But I understand now how people say that as scary as the thought of labor is, you're just ready to get this baby out by the time labor comes around. In the past week I've gone from "being pregnant is no big deal, this has been a piece of cake" to "ok, I'm officially sore, all over, all the time. I'm tired of not being able to breathe, and sleeping is getting to be almost impossible (turning over is a major cardio work out, especially when tangled in a night gown, sheets and five pillows!)" Being on my feet for long periods of time (ok, more then 20-30 minutes) is painful, and walking has become more of a waddle as the hormones have been softening up my hip joints in preparation for delivery. Oh yeah, and knots in my back muscles are a daily occurrence. I still LOVE feeling him move around and am so grateful for the relatively easy pregnancy, so I try not to complain much, but I definitely can see how, come January, I'll be VERY ready to get this baby out! I played hookey from youth group last night out of pure exhaustion. I just mentally couldn't engage with people, even though I wanted to be there. But thankfully I slept MUCH better last night and feel somewhat more awake today!

We've been doing a LOT of getting ready for our little man in terms of learning. We're taking our child birth class, and have been to 2 of the 5 sessions so far. I'm learning how to focus and breathe (and am getting lots of time to practice as braxton hicks contractions are now a part of my day every day!), and Charles is learning how to time contractions, when it's time to head to the hospital, how to put pressure on various parts of my back to alleviate pain, and what to expect at the various stages of labor. I am SO grateful to be going through this with him, and even if the instructor isn't the best I think it's been helpful for both of us to at least be exposed to some of the events and vocabulary surrounding labor and delivery. Saturday morning we had a 3 hour class teaching us the basics of infant care. We learned all about swaddling, diapering, dressing, bathing, car seat safety, feeding, and sleeping safety. It was a good basic overview, a lot of the info I already knew from my years as a nanny of infants and from caring for nieces, but it was still helpful to be refreshed on some things, and to let Charles and I practice together. Tonight is our infant CPR and Safety class which is the one our doctor says is the most important to her that we take. She said she doesn't care if we ignore all the other classes, but she hates sending newborns home with parents who she knows aren't CPR certified. So that's what we're doing tonight! Our last class, a breastfeeding class, isn't until January 9th, so if this little one is early by a week then we'll be missing that one!

I think one of the reasons I've had such a tough time sleeping lately is because I think my mind has been a little stressed with a lot of things I need to remember to do. Except then when it's day time I'm too tired or unmotivated to do them. Which doesn't help the next night's sleep. We are super excited to have Charles' sister and kids coming this weekend to celebrate early Christmas with us, but that means Christmas is a week early (and we need to mail gifts to the east coast for other family--so time to get those purchased, wrapped and mailed!). (although now I'm down to presents for 2 people, so really Christmas shopping is all but done). I realized we haven't done some essential moving things like DMV stuff, renter's insurance etc and those things were mentally piling up. Then of course there's the baby room which isn't close to being ready. And silly things that were stressing me out, like cleaning out the car that is full of sand (or taking it to get cleaned!) and learning how to work our car seat and getting that installed and checked by the highway patrol office before baby comes. So last night I sat down and made a list of everything that needs to get done this week. I decided all baby related stuff can happen next week after company leaves :) I scheduled out my week, including times to rest/nap, prep meals, Christmas shop, and take care of paperwork around the house. I'm happy to report that it's 1 on Monday and I've had a crazy productive morning, getting everything done I wanted to by lunch time. It's amazing how much less stress I feel having things written down and planned out. So here's to a productive week!

People ask me if I'm getting worried about giving birth or getting nervous about baby arriving, and I think I was until I started taking these childbirth classes and reading more. I think I'll be okay, gaining information feels empowering, both my doctor and my husband are 100% on board with my plans to have some help with pain management, and I know Chuck will do a great job encouraging me and supporting me through it. What I do feel stressed about is the fact that we have no idea when he'll show up, when I'll go into labor, how long it will last, if my parents will be in town yet or if we'll be alone etc. So I was feeling stressed about all these things I can't control. Then I realized there are a lot of things i CAN do to prepare, and I'll just do my best with those things. We'll make sure the car seat is installed and double checked by the police department, we'll work on getting a crib next week, we'll pack the hospital bag around New Year's and make my playlist for my ipod of music that is super peaceful to me. For some reason I dreamed the other night that I was SUPER anxious about not finding the right going home outfit for Aidan in the pile of baby clothes I have, so I can choose that and put that aside and in some strange way that makes me feel less stressed. (Thank you Aunt Carolyn for the huge box of ridiculously adorable baby boy clothes...pretty sure his going home outfit is coming from you!! It is going to be impossible to pick which one though because they are all amazing!!) I think doing these little things are making me feel more prepared and helping me be more at ease.

I've rambled at you all enough! You're probably sick of pregnancy related posts, someday I'll have something theological and meaningful to reflect on again, but for right now, this is kind of the brain power I have at the moment! Have a great week everyone!

Things No One Tells You About Pregnancy

When my sister was at the exact same spot in her first pregnancy, she wrote a blog post called Things I Wish I'd Known Prior to Pregnancy. It cracked me up, because I had literally never thought about some of the things she mentioned. I vaguely remembered her writing this, so today I went back through her blog and found it and re-read it, and resonated with just about everything she said. I think she left a few things off though :) So here's my list, some taken from her, and some I have come up with on my own. For your reading enjoyment, here are things I never anticipated/expected when I saw that plus sign on a stick 30-some weeks ago.

1. I had no idea how many pillows it takes at night to get comfortable enough to sleep. Who knew that if you don't keep a pillow between your legs, one under your growing belly, one under your arms, and one under your head you will wake up with a major back ache?? When I was registering at Babies R Us I saw these fancy pillows called Snoogles, which looked a little ridiculous and cost over $60, which is way more than I have ever paid for any type of pillow. There was NO way I was going to buy a snoogle, how useful could a Snoogle be? Yeah, I went and bought a Snoogle this weekend. And I haven't slept this well in weeks. It's amazing. It supports everything that needs to be supported perfectly. I think my husband kind of wants one now....and yes, when I crawl into my snoogle nest every night I look as happy and silly as this lady here in the photo, because it really is that amazing.

2. I'm pretty aware of the pregnancy dos and don'ts, and I've followed them really well these past 8 months. I've taken prenatal vitamins every day, drank a gallon of milk a week, eaten more protein than I normally enjoy, learned to eat cottage cheese for calcium and protein because I hate yogurt, only eaten lunch meat that's been thoroughly heated to kill any bacteria, avoided anything unpasteurized (no raw cookie dough, caesar salad dressing in case of any raw eggs etc), and of course alcohol and caffeine have gone away. What I didn't know is that every time I talked to a different friend I learned of something else I was supposed to be avoiding because they read somewhere on line that it could potentially be harmful. I've decided that just because the internet says it, it might not be true.

3. You will undoubtedly pee in your pants a little at some point in your pregnancy when you sneeze, laugh, or cough too hard. It will happen, I promise. Probably more than once.

4. As soon as people find out you are pregnant, they will start offering advice. Some are super gentle and tactful, others (especially strangers) are fairly blunt in offering their opinion of what you should be experiencing, or how you should do such-and-such with your child. It's one thing if I specifically ask someone for advice (which I have several times, there are people whose opinions I really want--mostly because I admire their kids and family so much I want to know what they did to achieve that. So occasionally I'll ask them "so what advice do you have for a first time mom/birth/pregnancy etc?") but in general advice is often unsolicited, and usually from strangers (in my case, usually on airplanes). My favorite is when someone offers advice that is useless to me now (ie: telling me how to bathe my newborn to make sure he likes the water when I'm a grand total of 4 months pregnant, or when a MAN tells me that labor really isn't that bad). I'm still working on a good response for when unsolicited advice is offered :)

5. Insomnia. I really thought when people talked about having trouble sleeping in pregnancy it was because of discomfort. I had no idea there would be multiple nights a week when I'd wake up and my mind would be going a million miles a minute as if I'd just drank espresso. It's quite unfortunate how much sleep you loose before even having the baby. The CRAZY dreams are NOT helpful either, it's really amazing how much my dreams changed almost immediately (looking back before I even knew I was pregnant I was having really intense dreams, so that was one of my first "symptoms").

6. I have gone through gallons of lotion. I drink a TON of water and my skin is still beyond dry (could be the weather here too, but I've NEVER had this crazy dry skin). So pick a favorite brand, go to Costco, and buy a giant bottle for every room in the house. At least I had to!

7. Tying my shoes feels like a major work out these days. Really, you try it. Go get a basketball, tie it to your stomach and then try and reach your feet :)

8. I have never ever gotten tired of feeling this baby move inside me. His kicks are getting more painful, and I'll be ready to get him out of here soon, but I had NO idea what an incredible feeling it would be to feel a little person stretch and squirm inside me. And when it's late at night and he's moving and I can't sleep, if I put my tummy up against my husband's back, he can feel the kicks too. Just sharing the late night fun.

9. One of life's most basic skills (breathing) becomes incredibly difficult. I'll be doing nothing but sitting on the couch and depending on what position the baby is in I cannot for the life of me catch a full breath. It's kind of a crazy feeling, one I'm not a huge fan of.

10. Today I discovered two more tasks that are really difficult with a belly in the way. Shaving and peeing in a cup. Both should be done with a clear line of vision, which I no longer have.

11. I have never tried Tums. Until September. Now Tums and I are good friends.

12. People talked about "pregnancy brain" and I kind of thought they were a little crazy. They must just not be very organized or detail-oriented people to begin with. I on the other hand was NEVER going to have a problem with forgetfulness. I was never going to lock my keys in my apartment. I would never go to a grocery store and forget why I was there. I love words, I'd never forget words in the middle of a sentence. Yeah....I am a full sufferer of pregnancy brain. It's the strangest, most frustrating thing for me. I've now done all the above. And more. I will say packing boxes and then trying to remember where certain things were packed when we moved was a lot easier last year when we moved and I wasn't pregnant. I take back all the times I thought people who talked about pregnancy brain were making it up!

Week 33--a 7 Quick Takes Edition

It's nearing the end of another week around here (and it's December! Yikes!) and I thought I'd take a few minutes in the quiet of this Friday morning to post a 7 Quick Takes-style update for ya.

**1**
Our munchkin is now about the size of a honeydew melon and is weighing in at about 4 pounds (the weight of a pineapple apparently). I'll be interested to see what he actually weighs when he's born and how accurate these baby sites are at predicting average weight! We definitely have a mover on our hands, he passes his kick count tests in a grand total of 5 minutes (you are supposed to give them an hour to see if they move 10 times within the hour. Aidan moves 10 times in 5 minutes. Usually more). I'm already making plans to enlist his cousin Lily to go be his running buddy to work off energy! Man they'll be a handful when they are together! I had a lady in Trader Joes yesterday stop me and ask when I was due, and when I said "next month, in mid January" she went a little nuts exclaiming that I was too tiny, I looked too good, and this must be my first because I am "the most adorable pregnant person ever!" in her mind. I don't know her name, but she might be my new favorite person on the planet. God bless the Trader Joes' shopper for making me feel like something other than a giant waddling mess!

**2**
My husband and I went to our first chidbirth class last night at the hospital (not the one we'll be delivering at, since I didn't know where we'd be delivering when I had to register for classes, but it's at least within the same "family" of hospitals). It'll be interesting to see what we learn in this class. I will say the instructor didn't present things in the most logical order last night, which I think led to some confused looks on people's faces. She did however load up a back pack with about 25 pounds of aquarium rocks to represent the different areas of weight gain women experience in pregnancy and made each of the dads try it on over their bellys. Then try to sit down, stand up and pick up a pen from the floor. That might have been worth the whole class :) By the end of the class one of the dudes said "wow, class was like working overtime, something I never want to do but am always glad I did!" We'll see how next week goes.

**3**
I debated a lot on even saying this publicly, because I know I am in a minority on this opinion, and I'm probably going to make some people mad, but I'm just going to come out and say it. I really didn't like Ina Mae Gaskin's book Guide to Childbirth. There. I said it. Wow that feels good to get off my chest. I realize it is the "go-to" book people recommend to pregnant women, and I realize it's been life changing, transformational, and has completely changed people's birth plans and expectations. And that's great for those of you who have loved this book and had such a positive experience with it. But it didn't do those things for me. It kind of had the opposite effect. I'm not saying I didn't come away from it with a few good nuggets of information, she has some wise things to say. But I will say that I found myself highly irritated throughout most of the book and here's why. The first half of the book are various women's stories of childbirth. They were interesting and engaging and this is where I gleaned some good helpful tips about childbirth being a very holistic process, about relaxation, about empowerment. The second half is more "didactic" where she covers different topics (pain management, relaxation, and I can't even remember what else). I realize she is a HUGE advocate for home births, no pain medication, little medical intervention etc. That's fine, those are fair perspectives to hold and thousands of women hold the same perspectives as she does. I'm not saying that's wrong, or if that's your choice then it's a bad one. But what I hated was that I felt like she was demonizing the medical community, hospital births, and any woman who does choose to enlist the help of pain killers, epidurals, or the like. The subliminal message I came away from this book with was "if you choose these things, you WILL have a horrible birth experience, your doctor will be an egotistical jerk who will never do anything in the best interest of you or your child, and you are a terrible mother putting yourself and your baby at risk if you ask for an epidural. You are somehow less of a woman because your body was made to do this naturally and if you can't, you're weak." No, she never comes right out and says those things, but that's the underlying message I heard throughout this entire book. My sister read this book after her first was born, but before her second. I asked her what she thought of it and she said "well, she is pretty full of herself isn't she? It's like the only appropriate place on the planet to give birth is the birthing center on her farm and if you choose a hospital you're an idiot who is guaranteed to end up with a c-section and a baby in the NICU." That's exactly how I felt. I realize some have had negative experiences with doctors or hospitals, and that's fair. I've had some myself. But to paint the entire medical community with broad brush strokes of being uncaring, institutionalized, egotistical individuals who just want to get you in and out of delivery as fast as possible is unfair, untrue, and really really offensive to me. My time of working in a hospital as a chaplain, working closely alongside doctors and nurses showed me just how deeply they do care, and work tirelessly to bring healing, relief, and comfort to patients. I have countless friends and family members who are doctors and nurses (including several labor and delivery nurses, a NICU specialist, and pediatric intensive care resident) who love their patients deeply and care immensely for their well being and the well being of their children. I found Ina Mae's tone and approach to speaking about doctors to be very disrespectful. She's absolutely right to voice her opinion, but it's not an opinion I can even come close to jumping on board with. I hesitated even saying anything on here about this book, because I know how beloved it is by many many people, but I just feel like the "other voice" in this dialogue, the voice that supports the medical community, isn't heard as much these days. So there you have it, my book review for the week--good tips, some helpful nuggets, but overall won't be drastically changing my life. And who knows, after this baby is born I may have a different perspective, and if so, I'll admit that on here.

**4**
On to something more fun :) I LOVE our new apartment and our new location. Love it. It's cozy, homey, in a fantastic location (I can walk to just about anything in 5-10 minutes), and is so close to the church my husband and great friend Jenn even walked over and came for lunch the other day. It'll be fantastic when Aidan is born, I can walk over and have lunch at the church with him to get out of the house, or Charles can come home a day or two a week to have lunch with us, or on a Sunday morning if he has to be at church for multiple hours and the baby needs to come home, I can easily walk him home to put him down for a nap without waiting around (since we only have the 1 car). My goal for today is to start figuring out where pictures are to be hung so we can finally get the last of the boxes unpacked from the nursery, that way next week I can start putting his room together, and figuring out what we need for him (like a crib...and putting together our changing table area etc).

**5**
Charles and I were talking last night about how incredibly different life feels here than it did for us in Seattle. Words cannot even begin to express how much lower our stress levels are, how much more peaceful our home feels, how enjoyable our evenings are (because we're not angry and stressed and processing how to deal with a very unhealthy leadership structure at a church all the time). Our schedule has filled up a little faster than I might have liked (mostly because it's December and there are all kinds of extra events) but even in the midst of that I don't feel angry and stressed about it, things feel enjoyable again. He walks out the door to walk to work in the morning with a smile on his face. I realized I am not an anxious and stressed basket case all day worrying about him and for him. I can be home making dinner and setting up our home without feeling so guilty and stressed that I'm not at the church helping him. Which makes me so much more relaxed and ready to engage with him when he comes home. We have energy to talk about other things besides the church. What a huge difference the right leadership structure and senior pastor can make for the lives of their employees! We are abundantly grateful to be here, and hope we get to be here long term.

**6**
For those who have been hearing the weather reports, we haven't completely blown away here, but it has definitely been windy! Nowhere near what poor Pasadena has encountered though! These are some photos of Fuller's campus posted yesterday on Facebook:

**7**
It's been so blustery around here that all I want to do is hide out and bake warm yummy things to counteract the wind outside. Yesterday I put a batch of chili in the Crock Pot (President Obama's family recipe actually, and it was SO good) and smelled the yumminess of garlic, onion, and spices all day, and then I baked up a batch of cheesy corn muffins from my Cooking Light cookbook which were incredible. They had garlic and chopped green onion in them, and apparently can be frozen. I think before this baby comes I'm going to make a big batch for the freezer because they will be an incredible side dish to any pot of winter stew, soup, chili, or pasta that my mom or I make while they're here. (And I'm all for freezer meals, things I can pull out and have ready to go!) This next week I'm breaking out our favorite comfort foods we haven't made in a couple months as we've been living with other people and traveling. On the list, pasta with pesto and shrimp, thai lettuce wraps, and a crock pot beef stew that will be warm and cozy if this wind continues!

Happy weekend everyone!

Weeks 29, 30, 31 & 32...Baby Showers and Uhauls and Boxes Oh My!

Phew! We are done with travel until after this munchkin is born, thankfully! These past couple weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind, full of seeing people I love so so much, but when I got off the plane yesterday here in Burbank my first thought was "no more. I'm done. I just want to stay in one place for at least a full month!" Here's a bit of what myself and our little guy have been up to these past few weeks that I've been ignoring the blog :)

In week 29 our little dude was weighing in at about 2 1/2 pounds (the weight of a butternut squash...perfect for fall...hmm, that sounds good even now...) His little skeleton is growing stronger as his bones are hardening even more and his lungs and muscles are continuing to mature getting ready for life in the real world. Week 29 kicked off with a Halloween party/welcome party that the youth group threw for us, which was a very fun way to start meeting high school students and leaders. Our little guy's first Halloween costume? A jack o lantern (hey I had to take advantage of the belly somehow!)

Also in week 29 I headed east to meet our newest little niece, Brooke, who of course managed to capture my heart in the first few minutes I held her! I had a great long weekend playing with Lily, hanging out with my sister and brother in law, and snuggling baby Brooke as much as I could! I'm not sure when I'm going to get to see them again, baby Brooke might not be as tiny of a baby by then!

Week 30 found our little one the weight of a head of cabbage--about 3 pounds and counting! (I'll be curious to find out how big he actually ends up being!) We mostly hung around Northridge this week, I was able to get our apartment paperwork finalized and we secured a move in date for the week of Thanksgiving. I spent the week arguing with the insurance company on the phone about my eligibility for coverage (they finally got everything straightened out but it took several days and more than one episode of hanging up the phone in tears to do so).

Sunday night of week 31 (the 13th) we flew up to Seattle to get things ready for the rest of our move (taking full advantage of Southwest's preboarding policy for pregnant people!) On Monday Charles and two guys we hired through Uhaul loaded everything we owned into a truck and then he and a friend of ours from Fuller drove the truck all the way down to LA pretty much in one long day (arriving about 3 AM). I stayed up in Seattle for the week with a good friend, and even got to take the train down to Portland to visit one of my best friends there for 2 nights. Saturday of that week my friends in Seattle threw me a baby shower which was fantastic, I am so so grateful to them! It made this whole baby thing feel even more real and immanent--knowing he's going to be using these fun things in not too long! Here are some fun photos from the party :)

The beautiful spread Missy & Heather created for us! Missy made the diaper cake (and then gave me all the newborn diapers--score!) and the delicious (pasteurized!) cheeses (the world's best is Trader Joe's Gouda/Goat Cheese combo. Seriously you have to try this someday), cupcakes and fruit made for a wonderful afternoon snack!Jen, Anu and Karen try to guess whose baby photo they are holding (they were all asked to bring one to the party--it was a lot harder than we expected!)Lynn & Darbee playing the baby photo game

Missy doesn't look like she minds holding Levi for awhile (Karen's super sweet little one!)

Aidan got some super cute outfits as well as several very generous gifts from our registry (that were mostly shipped here to LA which was very thoughtful of them!) This one was picked out just for Charles, it's a baby rash guard that says "I'd Rather Be Surfing" on it :)His first tuxedo :)

Everyone got to put in their prediction as to when he'd be born (date, time and weight), so if you'd like to join in the guessing feel free! I think the official Kennedy household guess is January 18th. (Our due date is the 15th, but the 18th was the first day of work at West Side for Charles, and I just feel like in God's great sense of humor our little man will arrive to book end the year for us--the biggest gift in the midst of the hardest year).

I flew back on Sunday morning, the beginning of week 32 for our little guy and finally on Monday I got to see my new OB. I didn't get a choice, I was just assigned someone through our insurance company, so I was a bit nervous about how I was going to like her, but I was extremely relieved that I did like her and her office staff. I think she's going to be really good, and is going to stay right on top of the rest of my prenatal care. I at least know what hospital I'll be delivering at, who to call in an emergency, and what doctor to expect to see! Knowing those things lowered my stress level immensely! It's been amusing to me how "textbook" my pregnancy has been. Every day I get an email from What to Expect When You're Expecting about what might occur that week, or what you might be experiencing. Almost all of it has been dead on. Heartburn? Check. Dry itchy skin? Check. Achy back? Yup (although moving could have something to do with that!). A little insomnia here and there? Unfortunately, but thankfully not much! Short of breath now that baby is pushing on my lungs? Definitely. None of this stuff is anything to really complain about, I am still super grateful for how easily things have gone, I just find it funny how I'll experience something and think "is this normal?" and literally have an email about it the next day. The only thing I've had to really say goodbye to this trimester has been caffeine. My heart couldn't handle even the small amount I was drinking each morning, so I cut that out based on "Nurse Dad's" recommendation and have noticed a huge improvement. Apparently caffeine, plus a history of heart issues, plus extra blood flowing through my body was a bit too much! I am not sure I even really miss it, and it's definitely worth it to feel a normal pulse again!

Tuesday of this week was finally moving day!! We had hired another couple guys through Uhaul (BEST money ever spent by the way!) to unload our truck into our apartment and then I've spent the rest of the week unpacking and organizing. My dad kept telling me "don't over do it, don't over do it!" and well, I think on Tuesday I overdid it a bit. I was so sore and exhausted by the end of the day I literally couldn't move, even to roll over in bed. So Wednesday I was a bit more careful and have been fine the rest of this week. We spent a lovely Thanksgiving meal with the family we've been with the past 3 years now--a family from the church we used to be at, and we are so grateful for their hospitality!

We got all signed up for our childbirth classes (every Thursday for the next 5 weeks), a basic infant care class, a breastfeeding class, and our doctor wants us to make sure to take an infant CPR class before he's born, so we'll be busy learning in the month of December! Charles had breakfast with a good friend of ours who just had their first baby a couple months ago, and he recommended a book to us that sounds great. Charles was excited to order it and tell me all about it, so we're looking forward to scanning that together too. Lots to learn, but we realize that most of our training will be on the job come January! (Still it's good to know a few things ahead of time!)

That's about it for now! Sunday begins week 33, which seems very crazy to me! We are looking forward to our first week in our new place, finishing the unpacking and getting settled into what will be our "normal" life here in Northridge. We are so grateful to be here and be settling in, and we look forward to what this last month of childlessness holds for us!

28 Weeks--Hello Third Trimester! And Hello New Home!

Wow! What a whirlwind! One month ago we didn't have any job offers on the table, didn't know where we were moving to (although we knew we'd be leaving Seattle, there weren't jobs available up there), didn't know how all the health insurance would work out/transfer so I could deliver our baby boy in a hospital here in LA, not in the northwest, and had no idea what we were going to do with our house. It's kind of amazing how God works sometimes. A job as a youth director literally fell into my husband's lap (thanks to some great friends who already work at this church and were looking out for us), we flew down, interviewed, were offered the job two hours later, and three days later had accepted. In the past couple weeks we have packed our entire house (except for the furniture being used to "stage" the house for potential buyers), moved all our belongings into our garage and out of cupboards, closets, and drawers, put our house on the market, loaded up what would fit into our car, drove down I-5 and made it from Seattle to LA in less than 2 days, and Charles has now started work at our new church. Phew! No wonder I feel a bit exhausted and disoriented! An older couple from the church has graciously allowed us to stay with them for a few weeks while I apartment hunt for us, and we have already been invited to dinner with a couple our own age in the congregation (we're excited to have friends!).

Our little man is now the length of a Chinese cabbage apparently--about 14.5 inches long I think? He's getting bigger!

Everything about our beginning here has felt different. Everything. Those overseeing the youth program have re-scheduled big events til spring to give Charles a chance to acclimate to the culture and people here before being asked to plan a talent show for the youth (which was on the calendar for Nov.) Which is pretty much the opposite of what happened at our last congregation. They've dialed their program calendar way back to give him time to get his feet wet here, I think our first big event is winter camp in January maybe? (And it's over the weekend of my due date, so I for sure won't be going, and we'll see if he gets to go for a day or something!) We haven't been met by any "threats" of "this is what we always do and you need to do it the exact same way" which has been SO refreshing. Last night was the first junior high youth group we experienced and from the beginning it kind of looked like it was going to be a bit of a disaster. He found out at the last minute that several of his normal volunteers who were going to lead the night couldn't make it, (and he'd never met any of these kids), and that the normal space they do youth group in was being taken over by the children's ministry program folks setting up for a giant Halloween haunted house. Our senior pastor wandered by, immediately acknowledged the chaos, apologized profusely for this being our first experience and said it was fine if the whole evening was a disaster, he wasn't worried, we'd get back into a rhythm next week. That kind of grace practically brought tears to our eyes--the lack of pressure we felt was amazing. And the night ended up going really well--the volunteers who were there said it was fantastic, the kids seemed to have fun, and we'll re-group for next week!

I've spent the week filling out health insurance applications, researching doctors, and apartment hunting. Which has been a bit of a long process, but I actually think I found a place for us last night! I'm taking Charles to see it this afternoon, and if he likes it we'll be filling out an application today. It's 1 block from the church, which is going to be SO helpful with only one car and a baby on the way (especially on those Sundays he needs to be at church for both services--I can walk the munchkin home for naptime and not have to worry about waking him up to go pick my husband up when he's ready to come home--same for bedtime on youth group nights that run late). So I'm keeping my fingers crossed this works out.

Anyways, I think that's about it for now--we have a full weekend of various Halloween related events (have I mentioned that I hate Halloween with a passion? I do. I seriously hate it). and our first high school youth group Sunday evening. We're SO thrilled to be here even though we miss Seattle friends (and I miss the Seattle weather!) already. We'll be back up there in about 2 weeks though to pack up our house and for my baby shower which I am super excited for! It's been so fun looking at little baby things and registering for some of them for this little man :)

And I'll leave you with some way cute photos that make me smile a lot :)

A pumpkin just Lily's size!

My mom finally headed home on Tuesday after 5 weeks in Providence being Gramma--I know she was tired, but I also know she loved the time she got with Lily, and then with Brooke! I love this photo!And my very favorite photo--I LOVE that they are holding hands :)

Have a great holiday weekend everyone! Hope you enjoy Halloween more than I do!

Weeks 25, 26, & 27! Lots of Life Updates!

The 3rd trimester starts on Sunday--that's crazy to me! The second trimester does feel like it was really long--a LOT happened in the past 13 weeks in our lives, so I know we still have a ways to go until we meet our little guy, but we also still have a lot of things in life left to get settled before he arrives, so I'm okay that we have another 13 weeks to go! I realize I haven't written each week in the past few weeks, but here's the scoop on our lives and baby in the past 3 weeks!

Week 25--our little dude hit the weight of a rutabaga. No, I don't know what a rutabaga is or how to cook/eat it, but I do know that a rutabaga is about a pound and a half, and apparently that's what Baby K weighed two weeks ago. This week was discerning week for us, as we headed home from our trip to Los Angeles with a job offer on the table. We loved the church, our new senior pastor, their vision for youth ministry (it actually looks like FUN at this place instead of so much work!), and the idea of being back with friends who know both of us really well. We weren't so sure about the financial piece of living in Los Angeles. We sat with it for a few days, we spent time together in the SPU chapel sitting in silence, separately journaling our thoughts and questions. We researched health insurance rates and rent rates. We received a super supportive email from my dad that week as well, reminding us that the first and most important thing to discern is the call itself. Is this a church and community we can see ourselves part of? Is this is a senior pastor we can work well with who actually will support Charles? Would we be happy living there? He reminded us that if the answers to those questions were "yes" then part of trusting God is trusting that the finances will work themselves out somehow, but probably shouldn't be the #1 reason to turn down an otherwise great job offer. He reminded us that once our little guy is a couple months old I can always look for part time work to help with the bills, something I'd love to do anyway (even if it's taking in someone else's baby while I'm watching ours too, or working part time for a church in the area or for Fuller again). There are ways to make finances work. We learned here that while our financial situation was stable, the church was not and that wreaked havoc on our marriage, our physical health, our emotional health, and even our spiritual health. Choosing a job based on financial stability doesn't seem to be the right answer all the time! We were definitely grateful for his counsel and words of wisdom & support, and after a couple days we accepted the job offer! After 4 months of not being able to answer the "what's next?" question, we were thrilled to share with people that we'll be heading back to a place that was so rich for both of us in our time there.

Week 26! This was a HUGE week for us! Baby has grown as long as an English cucumber (the long skinny ones!) He's busy working on his lung development and the maturing of his reproductive organs, and the little dude has reached about 14 inches long from head to heel.

Baby and I started the week off by spending Sunday afternoon enjoying a day with my girl friends up here celebrating Lynn's upcoming wedding! Seven of us headed over to Bainbridge Island on a ferry for a gorgeous afternoon of wine tasting (well some of us tasted!), wandering the cute town, and enjoying an incredible meal at the restaurant Hitchcock. Everything we ordered was to die for. Their menu is based on what's in season, so everything is ridiculously fresh and gourmet--my kind of place! I enjoyed the ricotta gnocchi (gnocchi are like dumplings made out of flour, and in this case, ricotta) mixed with pine nuts, yellow summer squash, blue cheese and parsley. It was amazing. (This photo is the 7 of us from Darbee's wedding earlier in the summer. I will miss these amazing women like crazy when we do move and have been so grateful for another season of life spent with them here in Seattle).

The other super cool thing we did during week 26 was attend a live taping of a radio show/podcast called The Kindling's Muse. Every month at Hales Pub and Brewery in the upstairs banquet room, a group of people come together to discuss a given topic in the theological world. This past Monday they were discussing Rob Bell's book Love Wins. Dick Staub, local guru of theology and pop culture hosts the show and has usually 3 guests on to talk about the topic of the night. This past week two were Seattle Pacific professors and one was our good friend Bryan Burton, associate pastor at the church we just left and professor at Fuller Northwest. Bryan invited us to come and we jumped at the chance. It was awesome! The audience of about 70 sits at tables and can order food and drinks as they listen (and submit questions to the panel) and the theologians discuss the night's topic. Food, wine, beer, theology, community being formed as guests interact at their tables...we LOVED it! If you're ever bored, check out some of their podcasts, you can listen right on line, and the conversations are fantastic and thought provoking.

Also up in week 26....the infamous prenatal glucose screening. Da da dum. I'd been hearing about this test for years now as friends of mine have experienced it, and I knew the day would come when I too would get to drink the kool aid. For those of you who either had kids way before they did this, or who haven't yet had the pleasure, allow me to enlighten you :) Everyone I've talked to did theirs a bit differently, but mine was a 2 hour process. I headed in to the doctor's office first thing Tuesday morning having not eaten anything since the night before. They drew my blood to see what my numbers were while fasting, and then handed me a 10 oz fruit punch flavored drink with 50 grams of sugar in it (a teaspoon you add to your coffee has about 4 grams of sugar). You have to get the drink down in about 4 minutes and then sit there for an hour when they'll draw your blood again, and then sit for another hour and get a third blood test. It's basically to see how your body is processing sugar while pregnant and to screen for any gestational diabetes. I was doing okay until I visited with the doctor half way through the test and she had me lay down to take the fetal heart rate. When I sat back up the room started spinning and needless to say I lost all the fruit punch in my stomach. Which means, I had to start all over again the next day with the fasting, blood tests, and drinking the kool aid again. Not fun. But day 2 went much better & I do not have signs of diabetes, so for that I am super grateful. I am also grateful to not have to drink that stuff again til baby #2 comes along some day!

On Thursday of week 26 we became Aunt & Uncle again!! Sweet Brooke Elizabeth was born to my little sister! She weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces and is healthy and doing fantastic--praise God! Apparently her birth was a super great experience, exactly the kind of birth experience Megan wanted, and my mom was over the moon that they'd asked her to be in the room this time when Brooke arrived (she and dad were in the waiting room when Lily was born). Dad was on Lily-duty for the day at home and brought her up to the hospital to meet her "baby Brooke" when Megs was out of delivery. So grateful everything went well, and now I'm working on figuring out when I can get back there in the midst of our moving to meet my newest niece!

Lily meets her baby sister and gives her sweet kisses!

This picture pretty much makes me tear up every time I see it. We have an almost identical one of me "holding" Megan when she was born.

A baby sister can never have too many kisses!

Pretty much the happiest Papa in the world! We told him he needs to grow that 3rd arm between now and January for our little one!

Saturday was a day of celebration! We celebrated Lynn & Adam's wedding at probably the coolest venue ever! The top of the Columbia Tower (the tallest building in Seattle) is where their ceremony & reception were held--it was incredible! Such a fun time with friends that continued late into the evening after the wedding at a local bowling alley. This was later that night bowling--I learned that pregnancy can really throw off your ability to bowl. Not that I was great to begin with, but I am usually better than I was!

Also on Saturday was Lily's 2nd birthday! We video chatted and she told us it was "happy birthday Lily's turn!" She told me that she got to eat cake, and open presents and I asked what she got. Her response was "baby Brooke!" Not a bad birthday gift! She also laid down on the bed next to Brooke to show me who was the bigger sister :) Happy birthday sweet Lily, you've made all our lives more joyful and richer than we could ever imagine!

She got a bike for her birthday! And her special "bike hat" that she showed me how she puts on whenever she wants to ride. Such a big girl!

Papa helping her figure it out

Yum! Chocolate cake!

We spent the rest of week 26 packing stuff up and getting our house spotless and staged perfectly for it to go on the market this past weekend. We even have our own website our realtor made us. Wanna buy a sweet townhouse? Click here!

Week 27! Well, technically week 27 just started yesterday so not too much excitement has happened yet! Baby boy is now weighing in at about 2 pounds! (About the weight of a head of cauliflower) and is developing his little brain more and more each day. He's opening and closing his eyes, moving around a TON, listening to our voices, and practicing his sucking reflex by sucking on his cute little fingers. I am eating everything in sight--amazing my husband with my constant requests for seconds. It's our last full week in Seattle together, Saturday we leave to begin our trip south and once we get there Charles will begin work and I'll begin looking for a place for us to live. The church is graciously hosting us with a family for a few weeks until we have a place to call home. Also on the list of things to do immediately? Find a new doctor since we'll be delivering this little one down in LA now. So we're trying to clean out our fridge this week--eating random things for meals because that's what we have on hand, we're seeing some friends, continuing with our packing, and praying someone wants to buy our house soon. That's pretty much it for this week, we're getting more and more excited about our new church and community waiting for us in LA!

Phew! If you're still reading, congratulations! It's been a busy few weeks, but we are so grateful our little man is healthy, kicking around in there, and growing just like he should!