The birth story

Well, she decided she didn't want to come on her own even though I tried everything "natural" to get her to come... We even went to the mall the day after Christmas! My blood sugar got really low but little Cranberry did not want to come. So, we left Nate with Nonna and headed to the hospital at 7am on the 27th.

They put us in our room right away, so I was in bed and watching Today by about 7:10. They had to ask me a bunch of questions and fill out all of  the "paperwork" (which is now mostly electronic). The Dr came in and measured me (I was around 3-4cm) and broke my water around 9, then they started the pitocin. The contractions started kicking in around 9:30. Unfortunately since I was on pitocin I had to be monitored, so I couldn't get in the tub or walk around... I had to stay in or right next to my bed unless I needed the bathroom. I tried everything I could but when they came and checked me at about 12:30 and I had only progressed 1cm, I caved and got an epidural. I was really hoping to be strong enough not to need it, but I couldn't really bear the thought of another 10-12 hours of labor stuck in bed. I'm really glad that I did though. :) I was able to sleep a little bit and started progressing much quicker at that point. I don't know if it would have happened anyway, or if my being able to relax helped to speed things along, but in another 2 hours I had progressed and was ready to push! Unlike with Nate I didn't feel like I HAD to push NOW, so the hour or so I had to wait for the Dr (he wanted me to labor a little longer to make sure she was nice and low) was much better. And, I guess she was ready to come out at that point because it only took 3 pushes and we were done!

Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck twice and her body once, but it was so long (unusually so) that there was plenty of slack. So, it wasn't cutting off any of her needed supplies or nutrients and never registered any sort of stress during labor. Thank God for that! They did their initial quick tests and got her cleaned up just enough to give her to me for some Koala time. We were very happy to welcome our new little girl to our family!

Introducing...

Amelia Diane Morris

born Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 3:53 pm

8 lbs, 5 oz

20.5"

She's going to come out giving The Fisher Look!

Cranberry is a stubborn little girl. She does not want to get out of her comfy little womb. We had our 40 week (read, due date) appointment yesterday. Luckily everything is still looking good, so we don't need to worry about trying to get her out of there faster for any reason. My blood pressure was a little higher than it has been, but I think that's to be expected at this point in the pregnancy, and the Dr didn't say anything about it. Her heartrate was in the 150s. I had progressed a little from last week and am 2-3 cm dilated. He said my cervix is "favorable" and her head is in position. I guess he stripped my membranes to try to speed things along, which they did with Nate too and I went into labor that very night. Unfortunately she is not being as easy going as her big brother and has decided not to come yet.

They don't like to let us go over 42 weeks, so, right now we are scheduled for an induction on Tuesday if she doesn't come on her own sooner. At this point, unless she comes today, I'd almost she rather hang out until then. That way we aren't in the hospital for Christmas and she doesn't come on a day she will have to share. (Dec 22-Grandpa Jack, Dec 23-Cousin Kat, Dec 24-Christmas Eve, Dec 25-Christmas, Dec 26-Daddy)

So, right now we are playing the waiting game and I'm making plans by adding "if we're not in the hospital" when I say we're going somewhere. But my mom comes on the 24th, so at least I have that to look forward to - the first time I've been able to spend a holiday with anyone from my side of the family in six years! Peter thinks my body is subconsciously waiting for that to happen.

So, hopefully this is not a sign of things to come. Some ladies at work were asking if anyone in my family was really stubborn. I can definitely think of a few...

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

So, while we are waiting for Little Miss Cranberry to make her appearance, we are trying to let Nate enjoy this holiday season as much as he can if she wasn't on her way. That started with putting up all of the Christmas decorations and going to pick out a tree. He didn't care a lot about which tree we got (though he did give final approval) but he got a coloring book and a candy cane out of it, so he was happy! When we finally got around to decorating it he seemed to be more interested in playing with all the ornaments than putting them on. But he LOVES the lights!

Nate putting on his tractor ornament from last year 

I end up putting on most of the decorations while the boys...

Have to have a little fun too!

Casey wants in on it!

We have also been having fun putting stuff in the advent calendar for him. Mostly its been coins, but he's also gotten a pair of Mater Christmas socks that he never wants to take off, and a couple of puzzles. He really seems to like doing them and he's impressing both me and Peter at how well he does all on his own. (These are the real deal interlocking piece puzzles-Rudolph and Charlie Brown, not the Melissa and Doug wooden peg puzzles he seemed to master awhile ago.)

Last week we went and walked around a little town a couple minutes from us that is known as "Christmastown USA". All of the houses along the main street decorate for and they light up the lake, have bells ringing Christmas music... People wait in line for hours to go through it. Both this year and last year we decided to do it on a weeknight right when it got dark so the line wouldn't be too bad. That seems to be a good way to do it as we haven't had to wait at all either year. We park our car and walk through the town instead of just driving it to make it more fun for all of us. To be honest I've seen better decorated neighborhoods and if I had to wait in line I probably wouldn't, but its a local tradition and something to do. I think the best part is that people who are driving by us with their windows rolled down or van doors open will yell out Merry Christmas or wave. That's something that seems to be unique to the south!

Nate seems to be very into Christmas lights this year because he kept asking to go again. We gave in last night but only drove through this time. (Although maybe we should have walked because last week I think I was having some contractions as we went through.) Then we went to see Santa (we wanted to make sure he got to)! We have an awesome Santa here, he really looks like the real deal, and his wife dresses up as Mrs. Claus. But I think the best thing is the photographer. He really works with the kids to make sure gets a good picture. Last year Nate wouldn't sit on Santa's lap so we had to take the picture with him on a stool. This year we had no problem! He was laughing at everything the photographer did to get the other kids to smile and even tried his own techniques. So, by the the time it was his turn he was ready to go!

Merry Christmas! All I want for Christmas is that school bus behind you and a sucker... since all the other kids have gotten one!

Now we are kind of in a waiting game and just hoping we don't end up spending Christmas in the hospital. Also trying to figure out what Nativity fixture he can dress up as on the off chance we go to a  Christmas Eve children's mass. His cow costume is probably a little small this year and I'm pretty sure there weren't red engines around back then.

Nursery

So, now that we have Nate's room all set up, we were able to get to work on Cranberry's room. We (or Peter) were able to get the crib taken apart in no time of course, but then had to wait a little bit longer to get it put back together. This was another thing that has been a long process of things. First, in May, we took out one of the desks when we had a neighborhood yard sale. Unfortunately it didn't sell until a couple weeks ago after posting it on craigslist - but at least it's out of the garage. Then we got rid of the bed, moved out the other desk... So we were fairy empty for the painting, etc. Oh, that was a really fun experience - the painting! We had no problem picking out the colors we wanted... that trip to Lowe's went surprisingly well. But then we had to actually do it! And let me tell you that trying to put up straight lines of tape with a laser level is not as easy as it seems like it should be. But, we (again, mostly Peter) got it done and it looks awesome!

So, that room has sat pretty much empty minus a cubby (see Nate's room), lots of clothes and painted walls for a few months. You'd think this would be a great time to start going through all those boxes in the closet that were going to have to be moved eventually right... Well, I guess not because that didn't get done until about last week... and in fact we still have remnants of them around the house. But, since some of it is Christmas stuff I can't get too upset about it. Anyway, we got the cubby moved into Nate's room, the changing table/dresser moved into Cranberry's room and the crib put back together. Peter hung the butterfly mobile I made and the fan and we are now good to go! People keep asking me if I'm ready now that the room is and the answer is a resounding no! She really could come anytime, but I still feel like I'd like at least another week. We have everything we need (food - built in, diapers - couple packs of newborns to get us through until we know that we need diapers, car seat - up in the attic waiting for Peter to bring them down), so when she comes we are set.

All of her clothes wouldn't fit in the dresser, so the left side is all pjs. All the boxes on the right (plus more you can't see) are the clothes we have sorted and waiting for her to grow out of the newborn and 0-3 month sizes. The tub underneath is all the stuff we have leftover from Nate, but probably don't need quite yet.

Cranberry got an early Christmas present from Nonna too! This awesome fan. Funny story about that - I had seen it in Lowe's a few months ago when we went to look, then when we went to CA in October, what fan do we find in the guest room/grandkids room? The exact fan we want for Cranberry' room. She sent it early and said it was OK to go ahead and set it up so we didn't have to wait until Christmas (and she's likely already here). Thanks Nonna!

Our bedding did not come with a mobile like Nate's did, so I was trying to come up with cute/cheap ideas for  one that would match the theme. I found something very similar to this on etsy, but decided I could make it myself for about half the price. I think it turned out pretty well! This will be Cranberry's view.

37.5 week belly photos

Don't I just look awesome?!

Big boy bed

So, we FINALLY have Nate's bed all set up. It has been a slow process of a little bit getting done very couple of days. We got it two weeks ago and Peter got the bed set up, but not the trundle. He finished the trundle a couple days later, but one of the drawers was broken. Also, we had gotten a rail assuming it would work with our bed, but because we don't have a box spring we had to get a piece of ply wood to put under the mattress so that it would be stable. And actually, the rail is still not ideal for our type of bed. It does it's job, we just can't fold it down or tuck it under for daytime use of the bed. So, that didn't get put up for about a week. In the meantime, Nate fell off the bed the first night (although he had rocked his first nap time!) so we moved the mattress to the floor so if he fell (and he did, at least once) it wouldn't be quite so far. We were also using an old quilt to cover him for awhile, until we got the new bedding Nonna sent for Christmas (but said he could open early). When he opened it he said it was "magical"! Then once we got that all set up we had to rearrange his new dresser and cubby fixture so the room doesn't feel quite so crowded. We haven't gotten all of the room's accessories quite figured out yet, and he has some more coming for Christmas in addition to the magical bedspread, but those will wait until the 25th. Take a look at the process...

Nate helping Peter put his bed together. We wanted to make sure he had some involvement in this process hoping it would help with the transition. I don't know if it made a difference, but it definitely didn't hurt! 

Looking up to dad!

Nate sleeping in his bed for the first time (see the missing trundle and non-magical quilt)

All set up and ready to go - "magical" bedspread and all!

Saved by the rail!

This cubby used to be downstairs, but because of a lot of changes that had to be made due to Cranberry's upcoming arrival we had to move it. We don't really love it in Nate's room, but love the piece and really don't want to get rid of it. He doesn't play in his room right now, but once he starts it will be a good place to store his toys. And it's a great little holder for all the stuffed animals he doesn't have to sleep with and some additional room decor. 

His dresser - definitely holds a lot more clothes than the changing table dresser does. 

The final product. Don't judge me for it not being made! That rail makes it kind of difficult.  It might be hard to tell, but under the regular bed is a trundle. It looks like there are six drawers in the trundle, but the top three are just for show - that's where the trundle mattress is. The bottom three, though, do actually have storage space. Love it!

So, he's been doing very well sleeping in the bed. The first couple nights, and at least one nap time, he tried to come down before he went to sleep, but we just showed him his way back upstairs. We've gotten a gate at the top of the stairs since then so he can't come down anymore (also hopefully he won't fall down them if he wakes up in the middle of the night still a little groggy). The only downfall to this is that he hasn't been sleeping in quite as late as he used to. He does play in his room for awhile some mornings, and before we put the gate up he actually came downstairs once. That kind of freaked me out, but as far as I know all he did was pull out all of his dinosaur flash cards and spread them out on the table. Luckily he didn't try to go outside or anything. But now he just makes his way to our room and says that it's not dark outside, so it's time to wake up! Can't wait for him to learn to tell time so I can tell him he has to stay in his room until at least a certain hour. Of course, by then I'll have another one to deal with... I hope she's as good of a sleeper as her brother!