Today is Hadley's one month birthday! Hadley is already a girl of many nicknames including Hadders, Mad Hadder, Fatty Haddy, Sadly Hadley, Crabby Hadley, and Haddy Fi. I can honestly say we've loved every single second with this little girl, even though we're seeing a lot more of this lately:
Even with her fussiness, I'm convinced there is not a nicer baby out there. She is so darn sweet! As of right now, she eats every two to three hours in the daytime, but is increasing the amount she eats. We may actually have a chubby baby in a few months! Hadley is very kind to us at night and eats every three hours and can usually fall right back asleep. I get even more sleep with the help of Levi, who gets her out of her cradle at 6:00am and feeds her before he goes to work. This means I can get a solid four hour stretch of sleep, which makes EVERYONE much, much happier. Levi loves this time with Hadley and I know those two are going to be very close. When she does stay awake in the night after a feeding, I can usually just wrap her up and watch a little bit of TV or surf the internet for a little while before she falls back asleep. Even at 2:00am, seeing her big round eyes look up at me is just about the most amazing thing in the world.
At one month old, here are Hadley's likes and dislikes:
Likes:
• Being in her car seat and riding in her stroller or in the car. She falls almost immediately asleep once we start rolling.
• Shopping with her mom, aunts, and grandma. I can already tell she's going to be a great customer of Target, just like the rest of us. I get stopped about every ten feet by people wanting to see her. I've had so many people ask about her cute car seat cover that my Aunt JaNae sent us. Utah definitely has the best baby products and I feel like I could make a fortune if I could open a boutique with all the cute baby stuff they sell there.
• Throwing up on a clean outfit. Soy milk sure does a number on her cute clothes!
• Being snoopy and listening to everyone in a room. When she's laying on my shoulder and someone starts talking, even if I think she's asleep, she'll suddenly lift her head and whip it around in the direction of the speaker. She's just liker her dad: always wants to be in on the best gossip.
• Listening to music. When I'm getting ready in the morning, I put Hadley in her swing and turn Pandora radio on the computer for her. So far, we've found that she has a few favorite songs: Float by Flogging Molly and Malaguena Salerosa, but her most favorite song is Peggy Gordon by the Blarney Lads. Levi used to play this song out loud on his iTouch, when she was still in my belly and she would always kick. The first time he played it for her after she was born I burst into tears. Such a pretty song for a pretty girl.
Here are some of Hadley's dislikes:
• Having her clothes changed. At first, we thought she just hated it when she was newborn because her skin was sensitive, but now I see she just plain hates it. You'd think we were torturing her when we put a onesie on her. Such drama!
• Cold baby wipes. I remember seeing a device that warms baby wipes and at the time I thought it was such a waste of money. Now I can see the appeal of it! She absolutely hates a cold wipe against her little bum.
• Her gas drops. We give her these a few times a day and I need to capture her face on film. She scrunches up her face and puckers her lips into a full-on grimmace. Poor girl. At least she likes her gripe water, which we also give her a few times a day for her colic. She smacks her lips and says, "Mmmmm" when we squirt it into her mouth.
• Being put down. This little girl spends way more time in the arms of someone than not, which I know is a bad idea, since we'll eventually have to start putting her down, but for the time being I can't help it!
Well, at one month old I'm just as smitten with Hadley Finola as the first time I saw her. She continually amazes Levi and me and we can't wait for all the memories we're going to create with her. Next Saturday will be our first Boise Farmer's Market with her, which is something I've been dreaming about since we started the fertility process.
Happy one month birthday, little Hadley!
Yesterday was Hadley's actual due date and I spent all day looking at her in amazement. I was so worried when she was born nearly a month early that she would be unhealthy or would have to spend time in the NICU. We have been so lucky and Hadley has thrived.
A couple of days ago it was Ben & Jerry's Free Ice Cream Day and we took advantage of this by taking Hadley to the Ben & Jerry's store downtown and meeting Aunt Sevy for a free yummy treat. Levi wore the baby sling and was proud as a peacock as he walked past the huge line and everyone was saying things like, "Look at that dad and his baby!" and, "Look at that tiny girl!" I'll bet he had a dozen people stop him and ask questions about Hadley. She is always such a hit when we take her out. She's got huge eyes that lock onto people's faces and it just delights anyone who meets her. For some reason, people go nuts about seeing her in the baby sling. Slings are the hot trend right now and seeing a little face poke out of one is very exciting.
Aunt Sevy and Levi getting free ice cream at Ben & Jerry's!
Proud dad at the Record Exchange.
While Hadley is still a mostly happy baby, we are starting to see signs of colic. We switched her over to Soy about a week ago, due to her having stomach pains every time she ate. We also give her drops to help with gas, and have bought the most advanced anti-colic bottles, but she's still fussy whenever she eats. The nurse has said we're doing all the right things, so if she's still fussy it's probably just colic. Last night was the first night she actually wailed for a long period of time, rather than just fuss. I felt so helpless as she cried and so relieved when she finally would fall asleep. Poor little girl!
We were so lucky this past weekend to have my sister Laurie come up for a visit. She flew in on Thursday and left Monday morning and we had a great time hanging out while she got to know Hadley. Laurie is hoping to visit in a month or two with her kids, who are all dying to meet the baby.
Laurie & Heather working on my mom's awesome container garden.
We are also hoping to drive down to Utah in July and have Hadley blessed there. It would be our first road trip with her and I'm excited to see how she'll do! We are so lucky to see our out-of-state family so frequently and we're also lucky to have all the Gates nearby. This little girl will always be surrounded by love!
Nick 13 is the lead singer for one my favorite bands, Tiger Army, but is now doing a solo album. His voice is very Roy Orbison-ish (but smoother) and has that great old-country sound. So, so soothing. Enjoy :)
Hadley's Red Sox hat from Aunt Bonnie. Hopefully it's a good luck charm. Go Sox!
I cannot BELIEVE how fast time flies now. I'd always heard that once you have a child the time goes by much quicker than before and, boy-oh-boy, is that true! Hadley has been with us three weeks now, and while those three weeks have definitely flown by, it's hard to remember time before she was here. Laurie is up here for the weekend and I'm going to be so sad to see her go tomorrow. She flew up on Thursday and has spent her time hanging out and holding Hadley. She has (somewhat jokingly, somewhat seriously) said that she's going to pack Hadley up her her carry-on bag and fly her back to Utah. I'll have to keep a close eye on her :) My friend Jill has also said she wants to steal Hadley and keep her for her very own. When Hadley is older, I'll make sure she knows about these multiple threats of kidnapping. Ha ha! Now that it's officially spring, (spring should be in quotation marks, as it has been colder these last couple of weeks than in all of January) we're starting to get our yard ready for summer. My mom has started some awesome container gardening in our backyard and I'll post some pictures as soon as possible. We're also going to lay grass seed where the dogs tore up the yard. It will be nice to be able to walk on our grass again, without fear of dog poop and I'm also excited that Hadley will have a nice, clean yard to play in when she's walking next summer. I'd also like to push our back fence up to be flush with our house, which would double our backyard size, but that may not happen until next year. We have a large front yard, but I think having a large backyard is much more fun. Anyway, I need to get dressed now. Hadley will be waking up soon and she does NOT like to have to ask twice to eat :)
Hadley has been an AMAZING baby. From the first night we brought her home, she has made life very easy and very enjoyable. I've never seen a baby more relaxed than Miss Hadley. When we left the hospital on Sunday, March 20th, we noticed that she was looking a little yellow. Earlier, the pediatrician in the nursery said that she had passed her Jaundice test, but I think they just tested her too early, as she did end up with a nice case of Jaundice.
On Tuesday March 22nd, we took her in for her first pediatrician appointment. It was insane to take a baby who was only three days old to the doctor. I think it took us two hours to get her dressed, fed, changed, and safely and securely in her car seat. Now I know why people laugh at new parents and their over-preparedness. Anyway, at her appointment they doctor said he definitely thought she had Jaundice and asked us to take her back to St. Luke's to be tested. We did and found out that her bilirubin levels were quite high, so the doctor ordered us a bili-blanket. A bili-blanket is a pad that emits bright U.V. light that you place directly on a baby's back and then swaddle them tightly. It's connected to a tube that connects to the machine itself. We were glad that we didn't have to admit Hadley into the hospital, but having her tethered to that machine for five days was not as much fun as being able to take her all over the house. Because we couldn't move her around a lot, we set up everything in our living room and Levi and I spent all our time with her down there, except when we went to bed.
During this time, my mom had to go to Utah for a doctor's appointment, so it was just Levi and me with the baby. I know my mom missed Hadley a lot and had a hard time even going to Utah in the first place! We were glad when she came home on Wednesday evening and could make up for those first few days being away from the baby.
Now that Hadley is totally healthy I can start taking her places. Last week I took her to Barnes & Noble so the other managers could get a look at her. They were all smitten! My co-manager Heather made Hadley a giant cupcake cake and bought her a beautiful Easter dress. Another manager Tami bought her three super cute punk-style dresses. They're adorable and I can't wait to see Hadley in them. One sweet bookseller named Cindy ordered us a bunch of custom Hershey's chocolate that has all of Hadley's birth information on the wrapper. I can't believe how spoiled we've been! Everyone has been so excited for this little girl and we're so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives.
Besides B&N, my mom and I have taken Hadley to the mall, where she was a huge hit with all the customers who wanted to get a closer look at her in her sling. The same thing happened when Levi and I took her to Target yesterday. Both children and adults would say things like, "Look at that tiny baby!" and then rush up to us asking us questions about her. She is definitely the toast of the town!
For now, Hadley loves her swing and loves spending the mornings with Levi before he goes to work. He takes her downstairs around 6:00am and they hang out and watch TV and he chats with her. She definitely has him wrapped around her tiny finger.
Daddy & Hadley before getting dressed in her pajamas.
I've started a new blog for little Hadley. It's mainly so I can document everything with her and then have it printed. There may be some entries that are duplicates from this blog, but hopefully I'll be able to keep up and write about all the cute/funny/amazing things about our little girl. Here's the address:
***Disclaimer: This is a long post, and it's mostly for me. I won't be offended if you don't end up reading all of it :)***
I've been wanting to write my account of Hadley's birth this whole week, but, as is to be expected, I haven't had the time! It all started on St. Patrick's Day, one of my most favorite holidays, with general discomfort. A few days before that, I found out that I was already dilated to a four, so I knew that she'd be coming early and I thought it'd be funny if I went into labor while we were listening to the bagpipers. Luckily that didn't happen, but I think the bagpipers got little Hadley excited and started the labor process. Friday the 18th rolled around and I was so uncomfortable all day. My lower back ached all day and I also had cramping. I didn't exactly know this was early labor, I just thought it was part of the third trimester. I called my OB and asked if they would recommend I take anything to stop labor, if that's what was happening, and she said because I had barely made it to the 36th week she wouldn't do anything to stop the process. This scared me because I had a huge fear of delivering a tiny preemie who would have to spend her first few weeks in the NICU. I spent so much of Friday praying that she could hold on and not come for a few weeks. How little I knew of her plans! Throughout the day I had been calling Levi at work and letting him know what I was feeling. He was so calm and reassuring and he kept reminding me that, "You're a Gates, everything always works out for you." This is the Gates' family motto and it's always comforting to me when Levi says it. My mom and I had been working on a puzzle all day and it was a nice distraction for the back pain I was feeling. By the time Levi got off work I knew that I was having back labor and I was miserable. That puzzle, combined with movie watching (I watched the Disney version of The Jungle Book and Troop Beverly Hills, I must have been feeling sentimental!) were the only thing that made me feel better. Around 7:00pm that night, Levi left with his dad and Julie to go buy our video camera at Costco. We had been joking that if he didn't get it that night we might not have the camera at her birth. Around this time, Levi and my mom recommended I start timing my back pain to see if there was any pattern. Low and behold I found that I was having severe back pain every seven to ten minutes, for thirty to sixty seconds. Duh! I was in labor. I held out until about 11:30pm when Levi finally said, "That's it. Pack up, we're going to the hospital." At this point the back pain was happening every three minutes and lasting sixty seconds each time. I was so terrified. I was scared of the pain, scared of the baby coming early, scared of the possiblity of being sent home from the hospital with all that pain. I packed a simple bag and said goodbye to my mom. The worst part of everything was that around 8:00pm that night I had taken two Tylenol PMs to help me sleep that night. I didn't think I'd be going to the hospital that night and, even though I've never taken more than one Tylenol PM, I was confident I could handle two. Whoops! Going through back labor while falling asleep between contractions was awful. I couldn't be completely alert and I was just so tired. Other than that, I have no complaints about early labor. Levi was so amazing and helped me moan and groan my way through contractions. He drove so calmly to the hospital, even cracking sweet jokes along the way. It was a warm, breezy night that felt like a Chinook wind. We arrived at St. Luke's at 11:45 and and checked into triage just before midnight. I had to fill out my paperwork while going through horrendous back contractions and I'm surprised my pen didn't pierce through the paper. We were taken back to triage where I was checked and told that I was having contractions every two to three minutes but was still dilated between a four and a five and that they wanted me to walk around for an hour to try to dilate a little more. Because it was the middle of the night, the whole floor was empty and quiet so we were able to talk and laugh while we walked around without ever running into anyone. Levi was great during this time. Whenever I felt a strong contraction (still in my back at this point) I'd stop and lean against a wall and he would stand behind me, pushing my hips in. It was such a relief and his positive attitude and calm demeanor actually made this part of labor enjoyable. After an hour, it was 1:00am and they found that I was at a six and ready to be admitted to labor and delivery. This also meant I could have my epidural and I was very excited about that! Levi called my mom and told her where we were in the process and told her we'd call back around 4:00am. He should have known better as my mom and Heather showed up within thirty minutes! I was happy to see them, even though I felt bad they wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. Levi called his parents and siblings and they were also all at the hospital within a couple of hours. What a great family the two of us have! The anesthesiologist was not the friendliest guy in the world and he was a little rougher than I would have liked. The epidural itself didn't hurt, but having contractions right in the middle of it sure did! The epidural kicked in, but unfortunately, because I had it while laying on my side, my entire right side went numb and I couldn't move my fingers at all. This was really frustrating, and I should have known that I was sensitive to the medicine. After a while, the epidural started to wear off slightly and they sent in the same anesthesiologist , who shot me up with a boatload of lidocaine, instead of just topping me off. Needless to say, this didn't end well. My entire lower half went numb, and not just tingly numb, but dead numb. I know some people think this is the point of an epidural, but up until this point I had some sensation in my legs and feet and losing that sensation terrified me and ended up sending me into a panic attack. I've never had a panic attack and I wouldn't wish one on my worst enemy. They ended up having to send in someone in the room to give me a breathing treatment of Albuterol, while the other nurse turned off my epidural. She at first told me that I would have some sensation back in about ten minutes, but it ended up taking more than ninety minutes. During that time, Zane came in and gave me a blessing and Levi and the nurse worked doubletime rubbing my legs and feet, getting the blood flowing. It's embarrassing to think of panicking like I did, but I had no control over it. I'm just glad I had wonderful people there to help me out. Also, at some point during this time they broke my water. After I "got my legs back", a new nurse took over and what a SWEETHEART she was. Her name was Hope and she was a grandmother who was retiring from nursing soon. I was so lucky to get her. She immediately knew what kind of pain medicine would work for me and called up a different anesthesiologist who made me a wonderful pain medicine cocktail. I never lost any sensation in any part of my body, other than the pain of contractions, and even those I felt a little bit, which I was totally fine with. At that time, I was dilated to an eight and we were all able to "relax" for a little bit. Because of the panic attack, Levi wasn't able to get any sleep so both of us had been up for over 24 hours. We were both so full of adrenaline that it didn't matter, we were just so excited to get our little girl out into the world. Hope was so awesome throughout everything and made me feel like I was the world's strongest mother-to-be. Around 8:00am we found that I was fully dilated and Hope called the doctor in. Dr. Brea Shrum was the on-call doctor and I ended up loving her. Hope and the doctor thought I could start pushing around 8:30am and told me that a new mother can push anywhere between 1-3 hours. I remember thinking that I would kill myself if it took 3 hours...little did I know that that is exactly how long I'd be pushing :) Sometimes it's better not to know what you're in store for! Dr. Shrum arrived and we did a few practice pushes. Hope helped me realize that I was pushing wrong and helped me center my pushes to be most productive. The birthing classes we took earlier in the month ended up being a great help and I used a lot of the pain management and breathing techniques we learned in class. Pushing was fine until the final hour when the contractions were right on top of each other and the baby was deep down in the birth canal. She was crowning for that entire time and no pain medicine can take away the pain and pressure associated with crowning. Now that I look back on it, I'm glad I got to feel it. It made pushing her out so much more of a priority and the relief I felt once she came out was immense. Another great thing about her crowning for so long was that I got to see her beautiful hair in the mirror that Heather held for me. Seeing her head was such motivation and I couldn't wait to see her little face when she came out. I started to get really exhausted around 11:00am and I said more than once that I couldn't do it. The doctor, Hope, Mom, Heather and Levi wouldn't let me give up and kept telling me I could do it and that I was so strong. Throughout the entire labor, my mom held one leg and helped me through pushing, while Levi had the other leg. Having those two at my side with Heather cheerleading me on made all the difference. At around 11:15 the NICU people arrived and I knew that meant that she was almost here. The doctor had told me that when the baby came out she would rush her over to the NICU nurses and they would check her over, since she was so early. Seeing them in the room made me so excited because I knew they wouldn't waste their time if I wasn't super close to delivering. I think I pushed about three more times after their arrival and then at 11:21 she arrived. I had just done four pushes and the doctor said, "Push just one more time and she'll be here." I pushed the hardest I've ever pushed in my life and watched as our little angel came out and took her first breath. I knew immediately that she was perfect and healthy and as she let out her first cry Levi and I burst into tears and clutched each other. The tears that flowed from us were tears of joy, relief and unbelievable love. I remember just saying, "She's perfect!" over and over. Levi was shaking as Dr. Shrum gave him the scissors to cut her cord and then she was whisked away to the NICU nurses. We watched as they did her tests, Levi filming on the new camera, and I couldn't believe how beautiful and cute she was. We knew when we saw her that she was Hadley Finola, a name that we had been talking about but weren't entirely sure of. There was no doubt when we saw her what her name was. Funny how that works! After this all the family started to trickle in. Eliza, Wilson and Zane came in, along with Levi's parents, his sisters, and his best friend Pat. After Levi and I got to hold Hadley for the first time, which was so magical there aren't even words to describe it, we started passing her around. My mom and Heather were just about dead on their feet from being up so long, so they got to hold her first and then left after that to try to catch some much-needed sleep. Levi's family had lots of fun passing her around and taking lots of pictures. Hadley was calm and sweet through it all and Levi even got to feed her her very first bottle. Also, about an hour after Hadley was born, Hope brought me a plate of cheese and crackers and a cup of assorted fruit and a chocolate chip cookie. I didn't know food could taste that good! I think the endorphines were still pumping because I devoured that food and even started eating Levi's portion. After a couple of hours, everyone left and Levi and I had a few hours to hang out with Hadley before we were moved up to the 8th floor where the nursery is. I tried to sleep, but was too excited and kept waking up wondering if I really, truly had just given birth to this perfect girl. Levi was crashing hard at this point and he had no problem sleeping for a couple of hours. We moved up to our room on the 8th floor and were excited to have a gorgeous view overlooking Warm Springs Avenue. There was even a padded bench for Levi to sleep on. We ordered some delicious room service (open faced turkey sandwich for me, roast beef au jus for Levi) and then watched TV and surfed the internet on the laptop. Nurses came and went and did lots of tests on Hadley and me. They kept asking if I wanted them to take Hadley to the nursery so I could get some rest, but I couldn't give her up, not even for a second. When they took her for a couple of hours to do her PKU and other tests, I almost cried. We had a steady stream of visitors from the time we got to our room until the time we checked out the next day. I don't think we went more than a couple of hours without someone visiting and it was so fun to see how excited everyone was. On Sunday morning, Pat came to visit and brought a dozen donuts. They were amazing! We did our best that day to get checked out early. I didn't want to spend any extra time at the hospital and I was just excited to get her home. I had the nurses show me a few things, like how to give a sponge bath, and then we filled out our paperwork and packed up our stuff. We finally checked out around 3:30 Sunday afternoon. Heather, Zane and the kids, as well as Levi's mom Maria, were there and helped us dress Hadley in her "going home" outfit. Of course it was huge, but adorable. We carefully strapped her into her car seat for the very first time (probably doing it too tight out of nervousness) and then they wheeled me down, with Levi carrying the car seat. It felt so weird to just walk out of there with a new baby. I can't describe it, it was just crazy! My emotions at this point were so wacky from the lack of sleep and the hormones. I would sometimes look at Hadley and almost burst into tears from the amount of love I had for her. The only time I've felt a love that intense was the day I married Levi. This was different though. It was a raw, primal love and I had no idea I was capable of feeling something so fiercly. The drive home was funny because neither Levi or I have ever been so hyper-conscious of how other people were driving. I wished I had a sign that said, "Brand new baby on board!" so people would be more careful around us. Needless to say, we made it home in one piece and were able to spend the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying Hadley in our home. Well, that sums up our birth experience. It was the most magical day of my life and I wanted to record as many details as I could remember. Little Hadley has been an absolute joy since the minute she joined our family. We are completely obsessed with her and can't wait to watch her grow. All the tears and heartache we went through to get her here was so worth it. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Thank you to everyone who loved and supported us through the fertility process. Our love for our Hadley Finola is stronger than anything in the world and we couldn't have done it without all of you cheerleading for us. Thank you all so much!
Hadley's Bili-Blanket makes her look like a Glow Worm!
Our little Hadley has a lovely case of Jaundice and we've been treating it all week at home with the Bili-blanket, which isn't a blanket at all, but a U.V. pad we place on her back before swaddling her tightly. It's nice that she doesn't have to be admitted to the hospital to be treated, but it's been hard having her tethered all day. I can't wait to walk outside with her, get her in the stroller and get some fresh air. Tomorrow we're getting her levels tested again, followed by another pediatrician appointment, so we're hoping she's improved enough to do away with the bili-blanket. She has been such an angel. She sleeps great and has a wonderful appetite. We are spoiled by how sweet she is. Last night she slept in great stretches and even let me take a little nap this morning. It was much needed and much appreciated! Levi had to return to work early. To say I was sad about this is the understatement of the year. He was supposed to get five full days off, but his boss started calling almost immediately to see if he could come back early and Levi was finally pressured enough to return on Thursday, a full two days early. I knew that it was inevitable for him to return to work, but emotionally I wasn't ready (dang hormones!) and I had a pretty rough day missing him yesterday. I actually cried when he came home, I missed him so much. My mom and Heather have been absolutely amazing help. My mom is so calming to the baby and I know Hadley and Mom will always have a special relationship. Heather has brought me lunch, watched the baby while I slept and so much more. I love these women so much. Thanks guys! Well, I'm going to see if I can get Miss Hadley to poop. She hasn't pooped in 28 hours, but who's counting, right?
She's here!! Hadley Finola Gates, our little angel, arrived on Saturday, March 19th at 11:21 a.m. 6 lbs. 6 oz. of pure perfection 19.5 inches long Gorgeous brown hair, long fingers and toes and a great appetite!
Hadley wasn't supposed to be here for another 26 days, but that Supermoon was calling her name and she couldn't wait to make her arrival into our world! When I have a little more time I'll write about my labor and update what these first few days have been like. We are having the time of our lives with this little cutie and I'm so excited to finally be on this leg of life's journey. Tomorrow I'll also be starting a blog dedicated to Hadley and our life with her. Some of the things I post on there might be repeats from this blog, but my main goal is to build a nice journal to give her someday (thank you blog world, for making blogs printable into book format!) So I'll post the link to that blog and you can feel free to check it out anytime!
Also, Hadley was diagnosed with Jaundice today, so we have her using a Bili-blanket today to help her fight it. We'll be taking her back to St. Luke's tomorrow to have her level's checked and we're hoping that by Thursday she'll be fine. You'd never know anything was wrong, she's just so dang happy....she's just super orange while she's happy :)
We love you, Hadley!!
P.S. Some people have asked about Hadley's name. Hadley means "field of Heather", which I thought my dad would have liked, and Finola is a traditional Irish name that we just loved, meaning "white shoulders." (Actually, we chose the English spelling of Finola, the Gaelic spelling is, as usual, a little difficult to comprehend.)
Our little angel, Hadley Finola Gates, was born just three days ago, on Saturday March 19, 2011 at 11:21 A.M. I decided to start this blog to detail the joy that is being her mother, and what a joy she's already been! I am completely besotted with her.
Let's start at the beginning: Hadley has been a long time coming. Levi and I decided years ago that we wanted a little one to add to our family. We thought this would be an easy enough thing, but it turns out that starting our family was going to take some time. After many tears and prayers we were finally blessed with a successful pregnancy. Levi's sister Avery's wedding was on August 9, 2010 and I had suspected then that I might be pregnant. Not wanting to get excited over nothing, I waited for two more days before taking a test that confirmed what we'd been waiting to hear for so long: We were going to have a baby join us in the spring!
I had a fabulous pregnancy, enjoying every second of it. At the end of December I was placed on bedrest, as working at such a physical job was taking it's toll on my body and I was very concerned I'd have the baby prematurely. I spent those three months of bedrest taking it easy and spending lots of time getting ready for the baby. It was wonderful.
I went into labor the night of Friday, March 18th (26 days before her due date) and twelve hours after checking into the hospital our little Hadley Finola was born. I can't believe how gorgeous she is! Her gorgeous dark brown hair, perfect little lips, and long fingers and toes were the first things we noticed when she was born. She has become more and more beautiful as each day passes.
I'm hoping to update this blog frequently, and some of the posts might be duplicates of posts made on our family blog, but this is really for Hadley. I want her to know how loved she is and how excited Levi and I are to start this journey as a family of three. We love you, Hadley Finola!
I love St. Paddy's Day! What a fun day and (usually) the weather in Boise is nice. Yesterday we had some sunshine and rain, but NO SNOW so it was a great success. My adorable niece Eliza is part of an Irish Dance group and they've been dancing at schools and rest homes across the city for the last two days. My mom and I got to see them perform at the state capitol, which was very, very awesome! Unfortunately my camera (I blame the camera) doesn't know how to take pictures that involve movement, so these snaps will have to do. Last night we did our annual dinner at Bittercreek Alehouse. There's a bagpipe group in Boise that goes around to downtown restaurants and plays for about twenty minutes. I think every restaurant should have an in-house piper band, but I might be the only one :) Levi and I have been able to go out every St. Patrick's Day since we met; originally we'd go to Bardenay to hear the pipers, but the last three years we've gone to Bittercreek and I think the pipers sound amazing there. Check it out:
This year was fun because we got to take my mom with us. She enjoyed it, and especially enjoyed the handsome lead piper and his nice legs in his kilt! Go mom!!
Today I had my (now) weekly checkup with my OB and found out that I'm already dilated to a 3.75. Wait, what??! Hardly any of my mom's grandkids came on time and I assumed I'd be drinking castor oil a week after my April 13th due date, now I'm worried I might not make it to April at all! I had even gone into my appointment with the intention of finding out how liberal my doc is with inducing labor, but I guess I won't have to worry about that! Actually, I hear that lots of women dilate this early and then still deliver on time. I'd really like to deliver perfectly on time because then I'll have all of May off before I go back to work. May in Boise can be gorgeous. (It can also be awful weather too, just one of the perks of living in the west, I suppose!) So we shall see what this little girl has in store! (On a side note, does everyone else say the word "dilate" like there was a second "A" in it, like, "dye-a-late"? I wonder if it bothers doctors and nurses to hear all of us say it wrong, like how realtors must hate being called "Real-a-tors.") Anyway, this week my oldest (eldest?) niece Athena turned 16 years old. Until now, with her turning 16 and my nephew Ryan turning 15, I had never felt old. I feel old now. These kids are old enough to date and drive and will be graduating in a couple of years! It makes my heart ache thinking of them when they were first born, watching them as they learned to walk, seeing them become the fine teenagers they are, etc. Now they're both taller than me and probably don't appreciate when I get teary eyed just thinking of babysitting them when they were wild toddlers. Happy birthday, Athena. You are such a sweet, sweet girl and I know you have an amazing life ahead of you! We've been spending lots of time around the house "getting ready." Getting ready for the baby, getting ready for spring, etc. I absolutely LOVE this time of year. Buds are starting to come out on trees, tulips are thinking about coming up, days are longer and a little bit sunnier. Aaaahhh, summer can't get here soon enough! My mom is getting her future garden ready and Levi is building her some planter boxes. It's going to be awesome and the garden will smell amazing with all the herbs she's growing.
Well, I'm going to get some cuddling in with Levi. Hopefully I'll be able to do at least a few more blog posts before our little girl graces us with her presence. Wish me luck!
I just found out that yesterday was Jon Hamm's 40th birthday. Jon Hamm is the star of Mad Men, where he plays the deeply flawed, but devastatingly handsome Don Draper. Anywho, my friend from work sent this picture to me on my phone to celebrate his birthday. Meee-Yow! I don't even try to hide my crush from Levi, which is fine because he's busy drooling over Joan and Betty on Mad Men so I guess we'll call it even.
But not only is Jon Hamm amazing on Mad Men (as demonstrated below)
Holy crap! My mom and Heather threw an amazing baby shower for me last Saturday. It was such a blast! Most of the Gates' clan and several friends were able to make it. Heather arranged to have it at the clubhouse at Harris Ranch and it was perfect! My mom made a great spinach and strawberry salad and Heather and her friend made delicious cupcakes. Julie brought awesome decorations and the whole thing just came together perfectly. People were invited to bring a package of diapers to be entered in a drawing for a $50 gift card to Asiago's and my friend Jill Millward, who made a beautiful quilt for my baby, won! I ended up with a large amount of diapers and I'm so happy to save that money that would have normally gone towards diapers. We played a couple of fun games and then I got to open all my awesome presents. There were so many and I was sweating trying to keep up! Thankfully my sister-in-law Sevy was there to help me keep track of who gave what gift so I can get thank-you notes out and Avery helped take some pics for me (I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of everyone who attended. I forgot to take any pics of Heather and my mom too!) Eliza and her friend Audrey helped keep everything organized and it was wonderful to take everything home and have it all nice and neat :) Thank you to everyone who had a hand in the shower. I'm so grateful to be surrounded by people who are cheering me and the baby on. If you had told me a year ago that I'd be having a baby shower for my little girl, I wouldn't have believed it. It was almost exactly a year ago that we were told all the numerous things that were working against us having children and we honestly had started to give up hope. All those tears and all the pain we went through to create a baby has made me love this little girl more than I ever thought possible. I'm absolutely giddy at the thought of meeting her in a few weeks! Thank you everyone.....I love you all so much!
In thirty minutes, my amazing, sexy, sweet husband will be 31 years old. There are not enough words, phrases, adjectives, etc. to describe all the things I love about Levi. Anyone who has met him knows exactly what I'm talking about. He's basically incredible.
And just think, he went from this awkward 13 year old:
This is still the most recent ultrasound picture we have. I'd love to see what she looks like now.
I'm halfway through my 32nd week of this pregnancy and I was browsing the What to Expect When You're Expecting website and I found a list of symptoms that I could be feeling this week. I have to say, I'm pretty lucky. The symptoms I have are manageable and non-icky. According to the website, the 32nd week could bring the following:
Flatulence. Awesome. Icky, but so far not too much of a problem....I think. Bloating. Oh yes. My ring is leaving a nice deep impression on my finger and my sock lines are out of control. (Remember when Carlie Paige was little and was obsessed with sock lines? She would have loved mine!) Constipation. Again, icky, but not too much of a problem. You wanted to know that, right? Occasional faintness or dizziness. Not too much, unless I'm trying to put on shoes, then I'm ready to pass out right then and there. Hemorrhoids. Gross. And luckily not a problem for me. Leg Cramps. Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner. This is the number one symptom for me. The crappy thing is, they only kick in right when I get into bed, so I spend half the night trying to meditate my legs into submission by thinking things like, "Don't think about your legs. They're not cramping. You're on a beach and your legs are covered in sand...." etc. It doesn't work, but I'll keep trying. Itchy abdomen. Eh, a little, but nothing I can't handle. My legs get super itchy though. Oh and my feet and my arms. So I guess everything EXCEPT my abdomen itches. Enlarged breasts. Levi wishes! Luckily my heaping bosoms have stayed the same huge size they always are, but I suspect that's going to change in the next few weeks. Blegh. Boobs are the worst.
Some symptoms that the website fails to mention, but I'm convinced apply to me are the following: Extreme need of all things fattening/salty/sugary. Needs no explanation, just get out of my way if you see me screeching into the local convenience store parking lot. A.D.D. When I first started bedrest, I read a bunch of books back to back, now I find that I can't read anything longer than a short story or a news article without getting bored. I also give up quickly on medium sudoku puzzles and I even *gasp* fast forward through House Hunters to see which house they pick. I'm hoping my patience returns soon, but I'm doubtful. Obsessive list making. I have both mental and physical lists for a variety of things: Things we need next time we're at Ikea, ideas for the backyard, middle name ideas, remaining items needed for the nursery, things we need to study before the baby is born (Happiest Baby on the Block, etc.) and many more. Continual dread when remembering I'll have to go back to work full time. Ugh. I try not to think about it, but that day is coming soon. I'm sure I'll be a tearful mess that day, and probably several days after that. You should all just stay away from BN for entire first month that I'm back to work, unless seeing an employee bawling her eyes out in the Family/Childcare section sounds like fun to you.
Anyway, as I've said before, this pregnancy has been so much fun and such a joy. I can see why people want to go through it over and over. It makes me feel so special and unique, like I have a secret that only I know. According to my countdown thingy, I have 52 days to go before I pop. I'm going to eat another doughnut and enjoy them!
Valentine's Day came and went this year without too much fanfare. Levi and I are doing our best to save every dollar possible, so we agreed to just give each other cards this year (well, I gave him his favorite "Top Gear" magazine with his card and he gave me two giant Symphony chocolate bars with mine...the blue Symphony, of course, not the red.) Levi has this natural ability to write the sweetest notes and cards of anyone I know. It's like he bottles up everything he's really feeling and pours it out on paper, which is just the opposite of me. I'll blab all day about nothing but then clam up when I need to write something important down. This year was no exception and Levi wrote a beautiful note inside my card about how we spent our first Valentine's day apart in 2005 and how he vows to not spend one day apart from me or our little girl for the rest of his life. Pretty darn sweet, if you ask me! The other great thing about this was the card itself. Check out how funny this thing is: For dinner that night, Levi, Mom and I went to the local Mongolian BBQ place by our house and got take out. It was DEE-LICIOUS! I think the chefs thought I was lame because my meal was literally just noodles, meat and sauce, but that's the way I like it. It was fun watching people trying to fit as much food as possible in their bowl. Some people are creative with their packing, and my mom told me that my brother Scott is the king of packing a Mongolian BBQ bowl. We'll have to test him next time he comes up to Boise!
I got an awesome surprise this week when Heather dropped off my gorgeous new diaper bag. She has a friend who hand makes diaper bags and it is honestly my new favorite thing. I got to pick out my two fabrics and then she whipped up this beauty: It has a bunch of pockets and is the perfect size for me (none of this wussy, small bag crap for me!)
I haven't been sleeping very well lately, which I know comes with the territory of the third trimester, but I'm usually such a deep sleeper and it's been hard. If it's not the massive amounts of heartburn keeping me up, it's the jimmy legs (restless/cramping legs, for all you non-Seinfeld people.) Also, rolling over isn't fun any more and requires me to grunt a lot and usually swear once or twice. All complaining aside, I wouldn't change any of this. I'm so glad to be able to feel any of these discomforts, I wouldn't give them up for anything. I'm going to miss being pregnant so much. I feel like I have this special little connection to our girl and I'm not sure I'm ready to share it with anyone else yet :) I'm sure by the time I'm completely swollen and dilated to 10 centimeters I'll be ready to share it with everyone, but not yet.
Also, this week I'm trying to find the best deal on a couple of DVDs. I want the Chip and Dale and the Donald Duck Classic Cartoon Favorites. I think Amazon probably has them cheapest. My little girl has to watch these classics like I did. Seriously, who doesn't remember Donald singing, "Mama's gonna make a little short'nin' bread."
I got this idea from the Today Show. You buy a giant size candy bar (literally, they're called "Giant Size" because the king size candy bars are no longer wrapped in tin foil) and you remove the wrapper and use fun paper to create your own wrapper. I did these for my co-managers at work. It's fun to be able to take the time to do these kinds of projects. I'll miss this stuff when I have to return to work this spring :(
