March Madness of a Different Sort...

Elise Genevieve was born 9:09 pm March 20th. What a great way to welcome the first day of Spring! There is a lot going on (getting her Bilirubin numbers down, getting her to want to eat, etc) so I won't spend to much time on this. She had some respiratory trouble and a few other issues, but all seems to be getting better. Suffice it to say, I love my wife and my little girl! What an experience, what a tender time. I'm sure Yvonne will update this with more detail, but until then, here is a few pictures of our last few days. Thanks everyone for your love and support, advice, good will, and prayers! We need em, well, not Yvonne, but I know I do!

This is a few hours before baby arrival time. I just ate a JCW's bacon cheeseburger to bring good luck.


Just after she was born:

Just after my sister (who is a PCT) got to wash and check her out. Just a shout out to my awesome sister who helped more than she knows!


This is my sister Ellen holding her up for the family to see:

My little girl, yea, I love her! Click on the picture to check out her sweet hair. Daddy is proud.


Our family of three:


Welcome Elise!

Tomorrow is the Big Day!
We got the go ahead and tomorrow I am being induced. We are really excited, but nervous as well. I pray that all will go well and Elise's lungs are well developed. This morning we went to the hospital to have the amnio done and the Dr. couldn't find a good spot to stick the needle that wasn't through the placenta. So he and my Dr. decided it wasn't worth the risk of both me and the baby so they opted to not do it and go ahead and induce tomorrow. I can't believe that this is all coming to an end and I am going to be bringing a baby home. We will update and post pictures as soon as we can. Love to you all!!

No Baby This Week
We had the amniocentesis done this morning and the lungs are not developed enough to have her this week. It is a bit of a let down but I want to do what's best for this little one so I will wait. I go back in next Wed. and they will test her lungs again. If the lungs are mature enough they will induce on Thurs. 3/20 If they still aren't mature they will wait another week (39 weeks) and induce then regardless. So we still have 1 maybe 2 weeks left. At least the house is ready and I can relax a bit. I am going to keep working until I have her so that is good and will keep me busy. I just have to remember that the longer she is in there the better. If she isn't ready I don't want to force it. It's not that I am tired of being pregnant it's because of my blood clot and being on blood thinners that the Doctors want to induce early. I just want to do what is best. So, we wait!!!

Our Chubby Baby
This past Saturday Jim and I went to get our re-takes at the 3D photo studio. We had originally gone in December but the baby was sleeping the whole time with her hands in front of her face. I am so glad we got to go back at 36 weeks because she looks so different and looks like a baby. The Dr. doing the ultrasound kept saying "very chubby baby, with big lips" I am so excited to see what she looks like when she arrives. Here are a few pictures of our chubby baby!





Tomorrow morning I go have the amniocentesis at the hospital and if the lungs are mature, which I don't doubt they will be, I will be induced Friday morning! We are so excited for Elise to arrive.

Baby's Room
I promised I would post pictures, so here they are. We live in a 2 bedroom apt. and even though we have moved our office to the living room--this room is still housing all my scrapbooking stuff. I figure the baby needs a place to sleep, be changed, and a place to put her clothes. So, that is what I have. I think it has turned out pretty cute.

Baby's bed:
The crib bedding is couple of different styles from Pottery Barn. Definitely some great deals and I loved the colors. Notice the pink flamingos and dragonflies, so cute.

Changing table/storage
I got the idea to use an IKEA bookshelf and turn it on its side from my friend Molly, thanks Molly. I think it has turned out pretty well. And someday when we no longer need it as a changing table I will use it as a book shelf. I love IKEA!

Lastly, my cute car seat. I wanted something that could be used for both a girl and boy. I really like the colors and it will be easy to clean.

I think we are ready for this sweet bundle to enter our lives. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has been so generous in your advice, gift giving and friendship. I know that our lives are about to change for the better and we couldn't be more excited!

Purse Tag

I know I am slow but here is my purse tag from Michelle. It was good to go through my purse and throw out some stuff. I know my purse is huge but I love it. I also know that soon enough I will be trading it in for a diaper bag!

Here is what's in the bag:

Wallet, check book, i-pod, phone, gum, extra packet of Emergen-C, lip gloss (2), Burt's Bees chapstick, pens (2), business card holder, lip stick case, spare key, zipper pouch with all my necessities ie. tums, Tylenol, more gloss, super glue you get the idea.