Adelynn - 38 weeks

I realized last weekend as I went to Jo Ann to buy more fabric I only had 15 more weekly pictures before my baby girl is one year old!  My baby is going to be one soon and that is just CRAZY!  I was remember posting for our 5th anniversary that time had gone by so fast and I was hoping it would slow down.  Well I was just telling the hubs that I feel like these past almost 9 months have gone by faster than any other times in my life.  Sniff, sniff *tear*  Ahh anyway...38 weeks!  Not much newness going on.  Still trying to get mobile.  As soon as you set her down and she seems something she wants she grunts, lunges, throws herself, rolls over or any other means she can to get it!  Doesnt matter if it is her paci, a toy, some dog hair, toilet paper, or lent...she is into EVERYTHING.  She also gets really upset if she cant reach something or if you take something away from her.  The weekly pictures have become interesting because she has discovered the numbers stuck onto her onesie.  This week I had to sacrifice a zero to get a couple good pictures!

Adding some light

I think mirrors are a great way to really bring light into a room.  They can make a space feel so much larger by reflecting more light.  We are pretty lucky with all the windows in this house (23 in all!) so we do have lots of natural light.  However, since our house is on the small side I love accessorizing with mirrors.  Just about every room in this house has at least one mirror...some have multiple!  So when the hubs spied this barnwoodish looking mirror at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago I had to have it!  I had no idea where it was going to go but for $49 it was definitely coming home with me.  After debating for a few weeks I decided he belonged in the hallway upstairs.  

Since the hall itself doesnt have any windows and one measly flush mount light, the mirror reflects the light from the bathroom and brightens the hallway.  I also love the rustic finish of the mirror.   Here is a close up.

Gotta do something about that green lamp shade.  SO does NOT go with that mirror!  I actually saw an AWESOME green-turquoise glass lamp base at Target the weekend before last.  I should have bought it then because I have now been back to that Target and three others looking for the lamp and no one has it!  They dont even sell it online...poo!  Lesson learned...dont let the hubs talk you out of something when you really love it and must have it.  I am dreaming about that lamp...and it living in my house...maybe not the hallway but somewhere.

PS...Did you spy my little helper ;)

Petunia Pickle Bottom Outlet Sale

What??  For Real?  Yeah when I saw this email in my inbox this morning I was super excited!  I LOVE PPB bags.  The hubs got me the Whistful Weekender Tote Bag for my birthday last year and I use it for Adelynn's diaper bag.  The best part is it totally doesnt look like a diaper bag so I will be able to use if for years to come.  I get compliments on it all the time!  Anyway I have no idea what this outlet sale will be like but I clicked on this link to pre-register.  Giddy-up!

Adelynn - 37 weeks

Well I think the little girl is finally starting to feel better.  The end of last week she was diagnosed with bronchitis...boo!!  Then over the weekend the hubs and I got sick.  I was at Urgent Care Tuesday morning getting meds for an ear infection but really I think I just have a bad head cold.  We both have been having major congestion, sore throat, congested cough, the whole nine yards.  With the exception of Sunday night (which was a baaaaaaaaad night) Adelynn is doing much better.  She has started eating a little bit more of her solids, sleeping in her crib again (she had been in the rock and play for a couple weeks) and is generally a happy little girl.  She has turned into quite the grabby mcgrabster.  Anything in her sight that she sees and wants she grabs for.  Of course she loves things she shouldnt have like plastic bags.  I let her have the bag as we were leaving Target the other day and you would have thought I had given her a big 'ol ice cream cone.  One made of breastmilk of course ;)  She is also a rolling machine and I think is at the very early stages of trying to crawl.  She climbs up my chest on all fours and rocks back and forth.  Every morning when we go in her room to get her up she is on her tummy and has usually shimmied to a corner of her crib.  When she hears the door open she looks back over her shoulder like "What? Can I help you?  I'm very busy here!"  She loves when we sing silly songs to her and she especially loves to dance with daddy.  He puts her on his shoulders and hops around and she laughs and laughs.  I could hear that sound every day for the rest of my life and be a happy, HAPPY woman. Ok enough...here is 37 weeks!!

Bath sign

Just in case you forget where you are...

 I got a sign to remind you :)

Adelynn - 36 weeks

I was really worried I wasnt going to get any good pictures this week because the little girl has been sick!  She stayed home with me Monday so we could go see the doctor.  Her ears and lungs are clear so the doc said she just has a virus and to manage the fever.  We stayed home again Tuesday.  She has a bad cough, lots of congestion and is generally very uncomfortable.  She was running a fever all weekend and stuck to mommy like white on rice.  I could hardly put her down, let alone put her down and taunt her with a camera.  In fact this is how we took quite a few naps Mon and Tues...

 

But to my surprise she did ok long enough to get a few good pictures.  She even played for a bit after I finished our photo shoot.  I am hoping by this weekend she will be back on the mend.  She is still nursing well but pretty much stopped eating solids except for her pears in the morning.  She LOVES pears!  Other than the yucky cold not a whole lot of new things for 36 weeks so here she is!

Its a Stripe Showdown!

Woo-hoo the stripes are done!  Let me just say I picked the most challenging space in my entire house to paint stripes.  Not only is the stripe painting process extremely tedious but the space in this bathroom is tight!  Our only full bath is a little less than 45 square feet...see what I mean by tight?  Here is a very rough layout...note not everything is to size but it will help the pictures make more sense.  

I was going to start this project when I was still pregnant.  Good thing I didnt because there were so many  spaces I would not have fit.  Around the toilet, next to the tub and under the window.  Painting this room was a workout for sure!  Ok so here are some before shots...first up we have toilet nook

 Other side of toilet nook

Standing in the doorway

  Shower/door

 Above the shower

So what I did was first give everything a fresh coat of white paint.  All the walls and trim got the same semi-gloss white paint that is the same color as the trim throughout the house.  Then I got to making my stripes.  Since I have a thick white base molding and white ceiling I knew I wanted to start and end with gray stripes.  I ended up with nine stripes that were about 10 inches thick.  I used a level and tape measure to draw each line.  This part was extremely frustrating and took a long, LONG time.  It took me about 5 hours (off and on) to tape.  

The stripes that were remaining white got the tape inside their stripe so you can see in the picture above what will be the gray stripes are the thicker looking ones.  Once I got all my tape down I painted over the edges with white paint to make sure none of my gray would bleed through.  I found a couple tutorials online and some people used modge podge to seal the tape.  I already had the white paint out so that was easiest for me.  Either method would work but you have to use something to seal those edges!!  Once that was all dry I started painting the gray stripes.  

I used Martha's color Heavy Goose matched to Glidden paint since Martha's line has been discontinued.  I have to say I dont think I'll be using Glidden again...the paint is nice and think and went on smooth enough but it is really stinky :(  After two coats of gray I very carefully peeled off the tape while the paint was still wet.  I had my white and gray paint handy and touched up any boo-boos as I peeled off the tape.  I was amazed at how crisp and straight the lines were.  All that prep was so worth it!  Here are the afters!

Toilet Nook

Other side of toilet nook

 Standing in the doorway

 Shower/door

 Above the shower

 Behind the shower

Sorry for the crappy photos...light in there is horrible!  That's next on the list :)  New light fixture.  I also need new rugs, accessories, a sign above the mirror and something to hang above the towel hooks.  There are also a few more projects I have planned for this space but I dont want to get too much ahead of myself!  And the hubs ;)  One of my goals in painting these stripes was to help minimize the pink tile on the floor.  Yeah it is pretty bad.  I am sad to report that the gray just made the pink stand out even more...boo!  So now we have to figure out what to do about that floor!!

What's a blog post without a picture of my little helper!

 The little girl is running a fever and has a nasty cold so we had a sick day home today!

Adelynn - 35 weeks

This past Saturday Adelynn was 35 weeks and officially 8 months old!  Let me tell you this week has been an exciting one too.  There are so many new things going on.  She claps her hands, waves bye-bye and even says “uh-oh.”  She is also a rolling machine.  She has no problems now rolling front to back, back to front and front to back again.  She stopped sleeping through the night this week (boo!) but I think it is because of all the new and exciting things she is doing.  She has also been saying “da-da” a lot.  She points to everything and says “da, da, da, da.”  I say “ma-ma” and she smiles and says “da-da.”  Oh well, one of these days I’ll hear ma-ma :) Oh and also I read this week that by this age babies eye color is what it is going to be so I am happy to report those baby blues are sticking around!!!  So here is our little performer at 35 weeks!  

Recipe Rundown: Pesto (DF)

I know you are thinking what is so special about a Pesto recipe?  Well this pesto is dairy free and quite possibly the best pesto I have ever had.  It turned out really good...I surprised myself.  I quickly learned that Adelynn had sensitivities to certain foods and dairy is one of them.  So I have been completely dairy free since she was about 7 weeks old.  Trader Joe's sells an amazing pesto sauce.  Pre-Adelynn we used to eat it all the time, but it has cheese in it.  It made for such a quick, easy and delicious dinner.  I have been really missing it lately.  I got the idea from one of my magazines to use avocado instead of the cheese.  When I say it turned out really good, I'm not lying.  It was so smooth, creamy, tasty, fresh and without the cheese - healthy!  Fresh basil is a little hard to find this year.  My local grocery store didnt have any but Trader Joes did.  Give it a try, you wont be disappointed!

Dairy-free Pesto

Roughly 2 cups Fresh Basil Leaves

1 medium sized Avocado

1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

1 clove garlic (typical pesto has lots of garlic but this is another one of Adelynn's sensitivities!)

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

1.  Add all ingredients to food processor.  With the food processor on, slowly stream in enough olive oil to emulsify the mixture and finely chop the ingredients.  You are looking for a texture that is still a bit chunky.  You dont want to puree the ingredients.   

2.  Use immediately or refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Most people use pesto with pasta dishes.  One of our favorites is to mix it with pasta and chicken for a quick healthy meal.  However you can also use pesto on a pizza in place of tomato sauce.  Or you can use is on sandwiches as an alternative to mayo or mustard.  It would also make a great dipping sauce for grilled or baked pork/chicken/steak.  The possibilities are endless!!!

Soft Cozy Baby Contest

We need your help!  A few weeks ago we took Adelynn down to Soft, Cozy Baby in Baltimore to have her pictures taken.  The store has moved to a new location and they are looking for pictures of babies in cloth diapers to display in their new store.  We had to wait over and hour and half to get her pictures but she was a trooper and did really good.  Here is the picture that made it to the voting scene:

The top six pictures will be displayed in their store and the winners are chosen via Facebook.  So if you wouldnt mind taking a moment to click here vote for my little girl!  She is #32.

Bathroom Beginnings

So I know I havent given yall a proper introduction to my bathroom, but it's gonna have to wait.  This weekend I got busy with the bathroom while the hubs was on Adelynn duty.  Remember a few weeks ago when I shared the potential paint colors?  Well we chose #7 which is Martha Stewart's Heavy Goose.  I really love the color.  It is the perfect shade and has just a slight hint of blue.  It's not too light and not too dark.  However, I didnt realize until we got to the paint counter at Depot that Martha's paint line has been discontinued so we color matched to Glidden.  I picked a semi-gloss finish.  I also used some white paint I already had on hand as my base coat.  Why base coat you ask???  This is why...

 

 

Yes I am doing stripes!! Exciting...I KNOW!!! Wanna see more??  Well it is still a mess and the guest bedroom looks like this...

Sorry for the tease but Gam-maw is coming to visit this weekend and that's where she sleeps.  So I gotta get to cleaning up that room and putting my bathroom back together!  I"ll be back with a before tour of the bathroom and hopefully some after pictures of those stripes :)

Adelynn - 34 weeks

Happy Valentines Day!  Over the weekend, the little girl and I made daddy some devil's food cupcakes for Valentines Day.  He loved them!  Adelynn has another cold but this time it is a little bit worse than a few weeks ago.  I stayed home with her Monday because Sunday we were pretty sure she had pink eye.  She also has a nasty congested wet sounding cough so I wanted to call the doctor just to make sure I didnt need to bring her in. The doc said something is going around and to keep an eye on it.  We are treating her pink eye with some drops and she should be better in no time!  Eventhough it was a "sick day" we had a good time being home together :)  We played, ate and took some naps.  She seems pretty happy and content despite her little cold!  So here is 34 weeks and Adelynn sends lot of hugs and kisses  XOXOXO

Our Birth Story Part 2

Click here for Part 1 in case you are just tuning in :)

Only  4cm??  Is this some kinda joke?  At this point it was 1am and I had been in labor for almost 24 hours.  Sure the first part wasn’t too bad but the past couple hours were pretty intense.  Ha, I would later learn what pretty intense really felt like.  My doula tried to talk me into going back home but I just couldn’t do the car ride again.  So they went ahead and admitted me and took me into a nice, big suite in the labor and delivery wing of the hospital.  It was quiet, the lights were dim and I had plenty of space to wonder.  They brought me a labor ball (aka an abs ball) which was too deflated to be of much use but still helped a bit.  Over the next couple of hours I labored on the ball, in the bed, on the toilet, in the bathroom.  Stretching, lunging, squatting and moaning with each contraction.  Hospital policy required me to be monitored for 20 minutes every hour but I was allowed to be in or around the bed.  Just as long as they could monitor the baby’s heart rate.  I started out wearing two gowns.  One in the front and one in the back but after a while I got hot.  Labor was becoming quite the workout.  Dr. Weinreb showed up around 4am.  It was quite the scene when he walked into the room.  Since I was getting hot I was down to one gown which at the point he walked in the room was hanging around my neck as I was squatting through a contraction.  He walked in the room and the first thing he saw was my butt.  He said “Well Good Morning!”  We all laughed at that point.  He did an internal exam and told us I was 5cm dilated and almost 100% effaced.  

Over the next couple of hours things progressed slowly.  The doctor would come check me every hour or so and by 11, I was 8cm and 100% effaced.  Baby’s heartbeat was fine and she was in the Left Occiput anterior position.  LOA is the optimum position for a baby to be in, helping the baby be in the smallest diameter to fit through the pelvis.  Unbeknownst to me my water had also broken.  It was just leaking out not the “gush” you hear about and not to get to graphic here but there is so much going on down there during labor you really don’t notice a little bit of fluid now and again.  There was another mom-to-be in the room next door also going natural.  Less than 3% of births in the country are natural so I was shocked that my neighbor was doing the same thing!  Yay, but we were in a race to have our babies.  The doctor kept bouncing from room to room checking our progress.  A little before noon I heard that precious yet frustrating sound of a newborn baby crying.   The contractions were so painful and I was so tired and exhausted.  I was falling asleep between each contraction.  Little did I know the disappointment wouldn’t end there. 

A little before 1pm the doctor came back in to check me.  Not only was I still at 8cm but the baby had rotated and she was now transverse and facing my right hip.  I was devastated.  In this position you cannot deliver a baby vaginally because the largest diameter of the head is presented to the pelvis and it will not fit.   This is an automatic c-section.  Not only was I not progressing, but now the baby wasn’t cooperating either.  Thank god I had a fabulous doctor who never even mentioned the word “cesarian” but this is when he started talking about the contractions not being strong enough, blah blah blah, pitocin, blah blah blah, internal monitor, blah blah blah.  He wanted to insert an internal catheter that would be positioned inside my uterus to directly monitor the contractions.  He also told me that once they inserted the catheter the baby would have to be monitored constantly which meant I would be confined to in and around the bed.  If the contractions were indeed not strong enough we would talk about pitocin.  At this point I just didn’t think I could handle any more pain so I asked him about pain management options.  He told me at this point my ONLY option was an epidural.  I felt defeated.  I asked him to leave the room so we could discuss our options.  As soon as he left the room I started to breakdown. 

 

I was holding Jeremy and sobbing telling him that I was so tired, I couldn’t do it anymore and I think I want an epidural.  He just held me and told me it was going to be ok.  He kept telling me how strong I was and how good I was doing. Jessica told him it’s totally normal for me to be feeling this way at this point in labor.  I was in the thick of active labor, close to transitioning and starting to doubt myself.  This is when Jessica recommended walking the halls.  She said to me “lets try to get this baby moving.”  No one ever told me “you don’t need an epidural” which I think really helped.  I think if they had said “no, you don’t need that” the rebellious side of me would have insisted.  I cannot say enough wonderful things about Jessica and my husband.  Throughout the entire process they both knew what to say and do but it was at this critical time that they really shined.  We told the doc I wanted to walk first and see what happened.   He really was supportive of our decision and told me that as long as the baby’s heartbeat was ok we could do this as long as I needed.    So I spend the next 30 minutes slowly walking the halls.  Every 2-3 minutes I would stop to work through a contraction.  I also got on the floor and did some stretches.  I did hands and knees and the child's pose.  The nurses and doctors were really good and left me alone to do my thing.  I returned to my room and had the doctor check me again.  I was still 8cm but the baby had rotated back to LOA.  Yes!  That little bit of information was enough to keep me going and helped me get my second wind.  I knew I had helped move her back and knew I could do this.

The next couple of hours went by really fast.  They got me all set up with the catheter.  It was so tiny I couldn’t even feel it.  The catheter helped confirm that my contractions were indeed not strong enough to keep progressing my labor.  The doctor recommended we start Pitocin and this time I quickly agreed.  I thought to myself, “Let’s get this show on the road!”  I knew it was going to be painful but I also knew it would hopefully be over soon.  I started the pitocin drip around 2pm.  Oh My GOSH…I didn’t know what contractions were until that stuff started flowing through my veins.  I had fooled myself into thinking it couldn’t get any worse but boy was I wrong.  Now I know why most women get an epidural if they have to be induced.  Each contraction was almost twice as intense (I know this for a fact because I could see them on the monitor thanks to that catheter).  They were also closer together and longer.  Every 15-20 minutes the nurse would come in and increase the dosage.  The only thing that got me through those next couple hours was being able to see when each contraction was coming and when I was peaking so I knew it would be ending soon.  It was brutal.  Those hours were a blur and before I knew it I was dilated to 9.5cm.  The doctor manually dilated me to 10cm.  Yes you are reading that correctly.  Betcha never heard that one before…yeah me either. 

By 5pm I was ready to push.  The labor and delivery nurse started to get everything ready for me to start pushing.  She lowered the end of the bed and attached the squatting bar I had requested.   The doctor checked me again and broke my second bag of waters.  Evidently you can have more than one bag of water.  I had learned about it in childbirth class.  Looking back I think I started pushing a little bit too early but I knew I was fully dilated and getting impatient.  I also quickly learned that being able to push through each contraction made them so much more bearable.  I was still having intense back labor so as I pushed with each contraction Jeremy or Jessica would apply counter pressure on my lower back to help.  It felt like someone was sticking a knife in my lower back each time I got a contraction.  I know that sounds like a cliche but that is really what it felt like.  A sharp, piercing pain shot through my back with each and every single contraction.  For days after the birth my back was bruised and sore from the counter pressure but that was the only thing that got me through each contraction.   That first hour of pushing felt like it lasted forever.  With every push I kept asking, “Can you see anything?  Is anything happening?”  I started out pushing on my back, then got into a squatting position on the bed, then flipped over and got on my hands and knees.  Then when I got tired of that I flipped back over and used the squatting bar as leverage to push against.  Jeremy held one end of a towel and I pulled on the other end.  Then I got out of the bed and did a standing squat through a couple contractions.  Unfortunately my heart rate got way too high in that position so they made me get back in the bed.  The doctor would pop in and out every 15 minutes or so and check my progress.  After about 2 hours of pushing he decided that something was blocking her from coming out so they decided to see how full my bladder was.  As part of my birth plan I had requested to have at minimum clear liquids during labor and luckily the doctor  was good with that.  Plus with the pitocin they were giving me fluids so I was peeing a lot.   The nurse asked me when the last time I had emptied my bladder.  I honestly had no idea so they decided to empty it for me.  During a contraction they inserted a catheter and emptied my bladder.  I think they emptied something like 500cc’s of urine.  By the way, remember when I said once you can start pushing it makes the contractions so much more bearable?  Well I wasn’t allowed to push through that contraction while they emptied my bladder and that was no fun, at all.  But once that was over her head started moving down.

The next half an hour flew by.  The labor and delivery nurses worked 7 to 7 shifts.  The nurse who had been there with me all night was back so she came in and the nurse who had been there all day knew I was so close that she decided to stay to see my baby being born.  The doctor was staying put at this point and checking me constantly.  He was working on stretching and helping to thin my perineum.  He was really annoying me and making me more uncomfortable.  So I yelled “get your hand out of there”.  I didn’t know it at the time, but he had torn my perineum while he was stretching it.  I don’t know if it was intentional or not since I had specifically told him I did not want an episiotomy.  Episiotomies can cause you to tear even more, no bueno!  My doula later told me that sometimes doctors will do that on purpose.  If they think you might tear they just help it along.  So I had a second degree tear not from her head coming out, but from the doctor.  When I had yelled at him to get out of there he was evidently cleaning off the blood from the tear.  However, I didn’t feel a thing, it was just making me uncomfortable.  I had so much adrenaline flowing through my veins.  With every push they kept yelling that the head was coming.  The nurse asked me if I wanted a mirror so I could see the head.  I responded with “NO!  I just want to get her out and then I can see her head.”   The baby nurse had arrived and was also there cheering me on.  Jessica was at the foot of the bed next to the doctor taking pictures.  Jeremy was up next to me holding my right leg and the night time LandD nurse was holding my left leg.  I still had that internal monitor but I could feel when a contraction was coming so I would get ready.   With each contraction I would push to the count of 10 three times.  Then I would rest in between and catch my breath.  I would get about 60 to 90 seconds before preparing to push again.  Another contraction would come and I would take a deep breath, bear down and push with all my might. 

After a couple good, strong pushes the doctor said to me “ok her heartrate is starting to drop so if you don’t push her out here within the next couple of contractions I am going to use the vacuum to pull her out.  In my head I thought, “like hell you are.”  I was born via forceps and received a black eye from it but luckily sustained no permanent damage.  I know lots of babies are born this way but I had heard some cases where things went bad and I wanted to avoid any interventions at all cost.  I didn’t say a word but exchanged knowing glances with my doula and looked at Jeremy.  The next contraction was coming so I got ready.  I held my breath and pushed hard.  “Keep pushing, her head is coming out” they yelled to me.  After the count of 10 I gulped a new breath and bared down again.  “Keep going” they all yelled to cheer me on.  Big breath again and P-U-S-H.  “Her head is almost out” they yelled.  This is when I dug deep within myself for the strength, took another big breath and pushed with all my might.  That’s when her head came out.  I took one more big breath and bared down one last time and pushed that little body out.  That was the best feeling in the world.  After the head came out, pushing out the body feels like nothing.  Ahhh, sweet relief. 

“IT’S A GIRL!”  I had been waiting for almost 39 weeks to hear those words.  They immediately put her on my chest.  I had pushed so hard that last contraction I had double vision for a few minutes after she was born.  I could feel her but not see her that well.  She was really blue but started crying within a few seconds and pinked right up.  I looked up at Jeremy and he had tears in his eyes.  She had a little cone head, was covered in blood and mucus but she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.  Her cries were strong and she was big and healthy.   

Once the doctor determined that she was ok he left the cord intact so she could get all that good blood.  Then he went to work sewing me up.  I was so happy and pumped up from all the adrenaline I didn’t feel a thing.  Once the cord had stopped pulsing and was completely white, Jeremy got to cut it.  Then I delivered the placenta.  Thanks to the pitocin it came out quickly and in one piece.   After that Adelynn nursed for the first time.  It wasn’t very long and neither one of us knew what to do but Jessica helped get her latched.  Those first few moments were incredible.  She was wide awake and staring up at me with those big blue eyes.  

Reluctantly after about 20 minutes I handed her over to the baby nurse to get weighed and measured.  She was 8 pound, 9 inches and 21 inches long.  The only thing we allowed them to give her during those first few moments of life was the Vitamin K shot.  We had discussed everything with our OBGYN and pediatrician and had decided everything else could wait.  After that Jeremy held her for a bit and helped the labor and delivery nurse give Adelynn her first bath.  I got up and very slowly walked to the bathroom.  They wouldn’t let me leave labor and delivery until I completed those two tasks.  While they finished paperwork I quickly woofed down two deli turkey sandwiches.  I remember asking Jeremy, “Am I just really hungry or is this the best sandwich you have ever had?”  His response, “Ummm it is turkey and bread, I think you are just really hungry.”  Me, “It’s delicious!”   I later requested another one of those sandwiches again around 2 am! 

We finally moved to a nice big suite in the postpartum wing just down the hall around 11pm.  I cant even begin to describe how those first few moments as a family of three felt.  They were amazing.  Despite being in labor for almost 40 hours I had this surge of energy that is indescribable.  Jeremy was exhausted and fell asleep before the nurse could even come give us the run down.  But I was wide awake.  I hadn’t slept in almost two days but I couldn’t stop holding and staring at my little baby girl.  Our lives had forever changed and I couldn’t have been happier.