our chloe girl.

i was planning on taking a 40 week picture last friday, but then i ended up having a baby instead. chloe jane was born friday, august 20 at 3:29am. she knew is was perfect timing cause the rug for her room had come in that day. she weighed 6.6oz and 19.5 inches long. she's a peanut. labor is a bit of a blur cause it happened pretty quick.

7:30pm-my water broke, thankfully at home. i wasn't sure if it was for real especially since i wasn't contracting at all, so i called my mom and she said it sounded like the real thing. i called the dr. and she told me to come in cause i tested positive for strep b. so, we finished packing some stuff up, maybe loaded the dishwasher, and headed out.

8:30pm-made a quick stop at joe and heidi's house to give back their car antenna that matt had stolen the week before. joe wanted to show matt the progress on their basement work...thankfully he was only in there for 3 minutes...i timed it.

8:45pm-we arrived at the hospital and got put into a room to get checked. that is where we met jen, our favorite nurse. she thought matt was a nut. she checked to see if my water broke and indeed it did. i was a little suprised. i still hadn't had any contractions yet and i was still only 1cm. they set us up to stay in a room.

10:30-dr. gilbert came in to check on me. she said things seemed to be moving slowly and decided to start me on pitocin. i had maybe a few small contractions at this point.

11:00-the pitocin started and the contractions came. ow. they started out mild and then quickly came faster and more intense. matt ran out to wawa at one point to get some food, since we thought it was going to be a long night, and i got some of the worst ones while he was gone. it was not fun.

12:55-the nurse said she was going to come check me at 1:00, but matt buzzed her in a few minutes earlier to see if we could get the epidural. the nurse was a little snippy with us, but she checked me and i was 2cm and said that was enough progress where i could get the epidural. thank the Lord. i felt like a wimp that i'd only made it to 2cm, but i was ok with that.

1:30-epidural done without a hitch. about 4 contractions later, i was happy again. why would anyone NOT get the epidural?!

2:00-the nurse checked me to see where i was and i had gone from 2cm to 6cm like that. so, matt and i went down to try and sleep a little.

2:30-nurse comes in to check me again and i had was almost at 10cm! matt and i were shocked. things started happening pretty fast as they started to get things ready for delivery.

2:55-i started pushing. i felt nothing. for about 4 pushes, it was just the nurse and matt in the room. i was confused...wasn't there supposed to be a dr. here?! dr. finally came in. i pushed about 4 more times and chloe jane was born at 3:29am. what a crazy moment when they put her, just born, on my chest. so surreal.

a little while later, we had some visitors come in. we were so blessed that papa and grammy hayes, grandma and grandpa prater and aunt traci came in the middle of the night to meet chloe.

the next few days we tried to take it easy in the hospital. i had lost a lot of blood, so there came some challenges with that. but, we were released on sunday morning and very happy to be going home. on saturday, chloe had only lost a few ounces. but, when we were released, she was 5.15, so we had to go to the dr. the next day for a check up. oh, and she was slightly jaundice. at that appointment, she was back up to 6.2. she's been nursing like a champ. we went to the dr. again yesterday and was at 6.10. what a porker. the dr. was very pleased and i think slightly surprised. she showed her displeasure by peeing all over his exam table.

overall, she's been doing great. she's slept through two nights, with us only waking up to feed her. there has been a few rougher nights too, but we know that is expected. matt has been my hero taking care of us. we've loved being parents so far. as ange said about her and jer, we are totally first time parents...talking about her and laughing at each facial expression. matt seriously cracks up at them. i swear she's smiled at me, but i know that's probably not possible. i sadly have not taken too many pictures cause i've been couch bound, but a photo shoot is on the books. the hospital ones will have to do for now. she has reminded us of a gnome and the french peas from veggie tales. we have a photo of matt when he was born and it is scary similar. but, we think she has more of my lips and chin. i think she's even changed a little since these photos.





we love her so much!

37.4

this past saturday marked 37 weeks which equals full term. although i am "full term" i still believe i have a few weeks to go. i know a lot can change quick, but chloe seems to be comfortable for now. i had a dr appt today and i am about 1cm. my favorite dr russino said she looks to be around 6-6 1/2 lbs. and she is head down, but has been for quite awhile.

current food obsessions: donuts (especially fair donuts), growers market tomatoes, and ice.
top 4 places that have the best ice:
1.sonic.
2.the church chick-fil-a.
3.the new wegmans.
4.my refrigerator.

we are getting more excited (and nervous) as each day passes. i can't wait to see her little face. and i'm sure she can't wait to meet her new friends julia and colby.

baby poll-
when do you think chloe jane will arrive?

chloe's room.

it was a very hard decision on what colors to use for little lady's room. i would have one idea and then go on to another. i finally saw the cover of 'fresh home' magazine in the spring and i knew that's what i wanted to go with. bittersweet orange (it's now more of a tomato/red/orange color cause that color was a little hard to find), mint green/blue, and pea green. i got a crib from my aunt that was already the mint color, which was perfect. the room is not done yet, but everything is falling into place. here is my inspiration board for it.

row 1
fresh home magazine
expedit bookcase from ikea. we flipped this and using it as our changing table. it's a little lower than standard changing table height, but i like it a little better.
chrome baskets from amazon. to put a few in the bookcase.

row 2
eames style rocker from amazon. we are actually getting ours through an interior designer in utah.
coqo floral rug from anthropologie. it is backordered so hopefully it will be delivered before she comes.
mint print by lolasroom.

row 3
spring fling crib sheet from babies r us. reenie is actually making me crib sheets :)
bird mobile. traci is supposedly making me this :)
edland chest from ikea. we actually got our chest at goodwill that matt cleaned up good.

row 4
owl lamp from target. i got this and spray painted it the green color. of course i had to put an owl in there somewhere.
britten nummer fabric from ikea. reenie is making curtains for me out of this fabric.
happy happy print from farouche. we are doing a small photo wall inspired by this room.

matt has been very excited about helping with the room, which is very cute. it's starting to look more like a nursery except for some few random pieces of furniture that need to moved out of the room. i like to go in there and just look around. my anticipation grows every time i pass it. 26 days (till due date). can't wait to meet our chloe girl!

i think...

chloe would look adorable in this come fall.
33 weeks.


and keeping cool during this heatwave.
current food obsessions: corn on the cob and chocolate ice cream.

the babycation.

in all it's gory details. it was such a lovely, relaxing week spending time together. i didn't think the week would officially start till sunday, but matt came home that friday and decided it should start then. so...

friday-dinner at iron hill and a walk in the borough.

saturday-we went to next for the day with rick and traci. traci and i had lunch with a bunch of boys. but, then the our boys took us out for a nice dinner.

sunday-we picked up matt's new irons at the club and then had a nice country drive to lancaster. we tried to do some serious shopping, but there just wasn't much we saw, which was very sad for me. so, we went to walmart and got steaks for our bbq at the russells for memory day. lots of laughs.

monday-was actual memory day and it was very hot, so we went to see iron man 2 after having lunch at the wegmans. we then went to modells to get some new phillies gear. my parents had a little family (minus k&c&m) bbq dinner for memory day.

tuesday-we were kinda boring today. i had a dr. appt that matt actually got to come to. it ended up being a very long and tedious appt, but everything's ok. we had lunch at meredith's on the main line. we contemplated going to see another movie, but ended up going to kop instead. matt spent a lot of time at the golf store there and then i lost him. once i found him, i was craving a target trip. we got some goodies there including the new jack johnson album which is a hit. then, as always, matt wanted to stop at marshall's...he loves those places. and we hit up chipotle on the way home for dinner.

wednesday-matt played golf in the morning and i just took it easy at home. we went to chick-fil-a for lunch for our free spicy chicken sandwiches! back at home, we packed up and headed into the city for the night. we stayed at the embassy suites (thanks to mom&dad hayes) right near the art museum and had a room with a great view. we walked around the city for a little bit before heading to dinner at the melting pot. now, we contemplated going somewhere more exciting, but it's one of our favorites and we didn't know what other day we would eat there. but, we got the whole meal and i left with my belly about three times the size as when went in. it was very good.

thursday-we slept in so late we missed the free breakfast at the hotel...bammer. but, we had lunch in jersey at the jug handle inn which was rumored to have the best wings in the usa. we saw something about them on the food network awhile back and have been wanting to try it for awhile. let me tell you...they were pretty good! i would definitely go back for some more. after lunch we made the long trek to french creek state park. our plan was to rent a motorboat and sail the lake waves for a few hours. well, the motor boat we rented went about 2mph and matt got bored very quickly (i smartly brought a book with me) plus it was hot so we only stayed out for an hour. we were pretty tired by the end of the day so we got some take out and stayed home.

friday-i told matt this day that i wanted to do some shopping. he wanted to go to the batting cages (cause of the big game later) and the driving range (to try out his new irons). so, matt sweetly gave me a wad of cash to go out and we split ways for a bit. i hit up the mall and an anthro...or two. it was a good time. we met back up to get some chick for dinner on the way to the covfel vs. covfel round 2 softball game. we had to get there super early to prepare. the outcome was favorable as matt's covfel team beat nick's covfel team. we then had to be responsible and go to a community group leaders meeting.

saturday-in the morning, matt bore with me and watched 'leap year.' not bad. he then played his new ps3 game for awhile while i cleaned up around the house. after that he was still playing and i decided i was going to go out and do something! so i went and bought some clothes for chloe :) got a frappuchino and maybe reloaded my starbucks card, but matt doesn't know that... we went to the phillies game that night and our plan was to get there early to enjoy some ballpark food, but we got stuck in traffic and that didn't happen. well, we still enjoyed ballpark food...chickie and pete fries being the important one. the game was a good one and we actually won. phillies game are one of my favorite things to do with matt, so it was a perfect ending to a good week.

sunday-cause this day didn't really count. we went to harrisburg for a graduation party.

so, that was our week. fascinating, i know. there are days we didn't know what to do, so we just went shopping, which is always fine with me :) plus it was just too hot outside to do certain things. but, like i said, it was a relaxing week spending time together which is just what we wanted/needed.

in other news:
-we are starting to work more on chloe's room. matt painted it last week. we need to set up the crib, make the dresser that i got at goodwill look nice, order a rug, and pretty much everything else.
-softball playoffs are almost here! matt's team is #2 in the league and looking solid.
-i am getting bigger and feeling pretty good. here is me at 29 weeks...i'll be 31 tomorrow.


i'm getting excited for my shower next weekend. you never know what my mom and sisters have up their sleeve.
-i am watching as much of the world cup as i can. matt doesn't like it as much...those horns really start to bother him after awhile. ha.

other than that, i'm just taking it easy, trying to do fun things and enjoy the summer.

babycation.

next week, matt and i are taking a staycation for our 'babymoon.' we decided not to travel anywhere, but stay at home and do fun things every day. we set a budget for the amount we spend each day and the best part is i don't have to cook at all. we have a few things planned out, but not every day. some ideas thus far are chickie's and pete's and then a phillies game, outlet shopping (and hopefully other shopping as well), marsh creek, maybe get some of chloe's room done, go see movies, eat out a lot (and gain a lot of weight apparently), etc. we are going to do an overnight somewhere, possibly in the city. but, i need more ideas! especially for things to do in the city, other day trips, or just fun things to do. so, please let me know if you have any! today at 3pm starts nine days of matt...should be fun. tomorrow we are headed to NEXT for the day with rick & traci! i'm excited to get that fish sandwich at the inner harbor i've been craving for two weeks. if you are there on sunday, you should go to my dad's church planting seminar and say hi.

deal of the day.

i am very excited about my deal of the day today. i went into bed, bath and beyond today looking for hangers, of which they discontinued, but that is another story...and found this...


a hunter fan originally $49.95 and i found it in the "scratch and dent" department, because it had no box, marked down to $9.95! matt even admitted that it was a very good deal. it is blowing on me right now and i am quite enjoying it especially since the pregnancy hot flashes have settled in.

and here is a photo of me at 24 weeks.


belly is getting bigger. i had a dr. appointment today and she said she is actually where she should be. the nurse had a hard time getting her heartbeat cause she kept moving around...i think it may have something to do with the amount of caffeine i drank today. and we did decide on a name!! chloe jane. it was the name i really liked and matt made a deal that we could name her that if he gets priority pick of name with the next girl (if there is another girl). hopefully that was a wise decision...