Hospital Stay

Pat and I chose the Palisades Medical Center for Charlie's birth.  While there are great hospitals closer to where we live, my doctors that I've gone to in Hoboken for the past 5+ years only deliver at Hoboken or at the Palisades.  Since I was due early March, I definitely was concerned about the possibility of a snow storm keeping me from the hospital, or just terrible traffic.  To get to the hospital you drive like you are going into Manhattan via the George Washington Bridge, which can really back up.  I'll tell the full story later, but it all worked out, of course.  My private labor and delivery room looked right across the Hudson River to the Upper West Side.  My private recovery room, where I stayed a couple nights, looked down towards midtown and downtown. 

To entertain ourselves Friday evening, we got out the Scrabble board.  Dad decided to team up with Charlie.

 I'm sure he was a big help!  Ha!

We enjoyed the lovely smelling and beautiful flowers that my office sent.  The bouquet was so big that we left it for the maternity ward to enjoy, but we did bring home the two orchid stems which are still absolutely gorgeous.

Charles Quick

We arrived home from the hospital this afternoon! 
Apologies for not having posted a picture sooner, but I had thought one of my iPhone pictures was going with the last post announcing his birth.  I'll tell the full story later, but this little guy arrived sooner than we expected, so it was funny when Pat told me my Thoughts on my First Pregnancy post came out just a few hours after his birth.  (I had written it in advance and decided to post it a week before I figured he might make his debut)

 My parents drove through Wednesday night from Tennessee and arrived Thursday morning.

 Happy grandparents!!  He'll meet his other set tomorrow.  :o)

 Proud Papa Pat!

 One happy momma Suz.

 Touchdown Charlie!

I promise more pictures later.  Aunt E insists on many more, so I will try to come through.  Thank you so much for all the well wishes.

Thoughts on my 1st Pregnancy

I once read that 10% of women love to be pregnant, 10% loathe it, and everyone else is somewhere in between.  I guess I am somewhere in between, but I am pretty close to loving it. 

For this pregnancy (I've heard things may change with subsequent pregnancies/babies), I have been incredibly lucky:

• No nausea and no getting sick (except for 1 day, a little bug in December, not related to pregnancy)
• Minimal swelling (had to take off my engagement ring a few weeks ago and had a couple days of cankles a couple months ago but that's it)
• No complications - fingers crossed for the same at delivery!
• No obvious stretch marks

But just so I remember, I did have my fair share of:

• Heartburn
• Backache
• Calf Cramps
• Trouble sleeping and getting comfortable (I can't wait to sleep on my back or stomach again!)
• Difficulty tying my shoes (yes, I even bought a pair of winter Crocs!)

I must say...I've loved every bit of how Pat has played a role: going to doctor appointments - even setting some up when I couldn't call from work, rubbing my belly and talking to it, always letting me have the best spot on the couch for propping my feet up, plugging in a heating pad for me without my having to ask, etc.

I guess I've mainly loved being pregnant because I can't wait to hold my little boy.  I know we are both just picturing that first moment when we meet him. 

~~~1 WEEK til due date~~~

Bump Update - The Final One!

Here I am at 9 months! 

I've got quite the linea negra going...

The comparison shot:

8 months vs. 9 months

Just 1.5 weeks until my due date!

And HOORAY for President's Day...I'm loving this 3 day weekend.

Sonogram

Just a quick little update since we had a sonogram tonight.  This was our first sonogram since we found out we are having a boy (at around 17 weeks) and we're 37 weeks tomorrow.  All is looking good and Charlie is head down.  He's got some cute chubby cheeks from the looks of it!
The sonogram appointment was at our delivery hospital, but we're back to our normal doctor tomorrow morning.  Lot of appointments....I sure wonder when we'll be back to the hospital - any guesses???
Anyone want to guess weight and/or length?  Leave a comment.

YAY for being full term!

Bump Update

WOWSERS!  Here is the belly at 8 months.  I'm 34 weeks tomorrow, so just 6 more to go.

And to compare last month....

7 months vs. 8 months

32 weeks

We go back to the Doctor on Wednesday morning and from here on out it's appointments every 2 weeks and then every week at the end I believe.  We have an appointment on Friday morning with a potential pediatrician, so we'll see if we like the office and doctor.  Our due date that used to sound so far off is getting closer and closer...

People at work used to say things along the lines of "are you sure you're 5 months along?" but now it's more like "are you sure you still have 2 months to go?"

Happy Saturday!

PS Lawyer Sister, will you please help us set up a simple will?

Nursery

Pat and his Dad (and Mom too) did a lot of work on the nursery over the holidays.  A couple coats of ceiling paint, some taping,

a couple coats of some nice light green Benjamin Moore wall paint called West Coast,

 and ripping out the old pink carpet and...Voila

I really like the color we selected.  The room only has one window so we wanted to keep it from being too dark.  And I also think it's very neutral so it could work for a girl's room down the road if you throw in some pink.

And painting the trim white, new white outlet covers too.  Next up is to get these hard wood floors refinished (they are working on it right now, woohoo!) and pick out an area rug (going shopping today).

We're getting there! :o)

Bump Update

Baby belly is still growing!


Here I am at 7 months:

And to compare to last month (wowsers!):

6 months vs. 7 months

28 Weeks

It feels good to be entering the third trimester!  We're in the home stretch and both Pat and I are getting more and more excited to meet our little guy.  As for our nursery, we have our paint (a light green) and we have someone coming to refinish the hardwood floors soon (we're ripping out the carpet).  Hopefully by the end of the year we'll have made some major progress.  We are taking a tour of the Palisades Hospital Maternity Ward later today.  And we're signed up for a few classes over the next couple months as well - Prepared Childbirth, Infant Care and Safety, and Breastfeeding.  We need to find a pediatrician still, but I do feel like we're tackling things which is good.  And I am feeling good too which is a huge relief! :)

Baby Shower

Let me start out by saying how lots of people have asked us if we've decided on a baby name...and if we are sharing it.


Well, we are!  See if you can figure it out from this picture...

It's Charles.


And little Charlie already has lots of people who love him.  :o)

My super sister, along with cousins Sarah and Rachel, and BFFs Lanier and Kate threw us a wonderful baby shower the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was at my Aunt Carole and Uncle Robert's house. Their house always looks so nice, but it looked especially great decorated with cherished books from when my cousins were little.

And of course the yummy food didn't hurt, including mini cupcakes from Gigi's (thanks to cousins Julie and Jan!) and my favorite, pecan shortbread squares made by my baker friend Claire (check out her sweet shop, Dozen).

Lanier, Me, Kate:

Me, Lanier, E:

Aunt Annie right as she arrived (you remember her from the tea, right?):

Cousins Jennifer and Brandi:



Mom with Aunt Joann

Cousins Paula, Jenny, and Rachel:

 

My HS friend Nathalie:

Rachel and Jan:

Aunt Carole, Mom, Me, Aunt Jo:

Cousins Monica Ann (my birthday buddy, we share June 27th) and Kristin.  They were at the name tag/book signing station.  There were 3 books on display for people to write notes in the front cover to us and/or Charlie.  Make Way for Ducklings, Goodnight Moon, and Where the Wild Things Are.  I loved reading through those later that night!

And my NYC friend Molly who's currently in her first year at Vanderbilt Law:

Everyone gathering round to watch the adorable gifts being opened:

"I was born Cute" and "Life of the Party"

Cousin Kendall, Aunt Ebby, Cousin Mary Byrne, Aunt Joann

Kate, Gail, Rachel:

Let us not forget that this is a Hoosier baby! 

Cuddly stuffed animals.  Aunt Monica looking so sweet:

Lanier and Kate and all our precious mommies:

USN Crew!  Lanier, Kate, Me, Freya, Nathalie, Claire (sorry Lacie, you missed this shot):

And always a favorite of mine, the "bathing beauties" pose (by the way, if you ever wondered why we call it that, it's because we have a picture of us in our swim suits from when we were little girls in this same pose). 

The shower invitation that my sister sent out had an adorable rhyming poem on it that she wrote...and my Mom surprised me by writing a continuation of that poem.  I LOVED it and everyone really enjoyed hearing it.  :o)

I am incredibly grateful for so many family and friends coming together (even those that couldn't make it in person) to celebrate and shower us with useful and adorable gifts.  I am so looking forward to using them!  I had a wonderful time and THANK YOU to all!  And especially you, E!  It was a good thing we drove because we needed our car to get all the goodies back to NJ.  I thought about trying to take more pictures of everything, but figured it would be even better with a baby in the photo later on, right?

PS Today I am getting the maternity dress from all these pictures hemmed up to a better length. I have found that I love maternity clothes! I've pretty much stuck to Old Navy and Target.  Let me know if you know of other great spots.

Have a stellar weekend.