Then to Now..

I don't know who really reads this anymore but I thought since I have a sleeping baby at the moment I figured I would document all that has been going on and try to remember it in order!

So, we went in that Monday and found that she still had not turned so the doctor wanted me to come back on Thursday for one more check to see if it may be a last minute thing before our scheduled C-section on Friday June 19th. We spent another few days worrying about what was to be and pretty much preparing for it anyway! I think I was more nervous about my water breaking or something upredictable happening than the actual surgery itself. J was just worried in general, because that is just him! Wednesday I spent the whole day doing nothing. I figured it was my last chance before my life turned upside down! (Thank goodness I did, it was worth it.)
Thursday came and I had to go to the appointment alone because J had to work. It was pretty quick. The doctor did another sonogram to just verify and she was still in the same spot, and of course she was! So we went over everything - we had to get there at 530 am so they could do all the tests and get the epidural in for the surgery at 730. So I spent the day cleaning, went to the store to pick up some groceries for my family to have while we were in the hospital, and just preparing what I could. Mom, Dad and Robby all came up that night and we went out for a nice steak dinner at a really good resturant over by us. We stayed up late trying to get things in order as best we could so we were pretty exhausted when we woke up, but excited too! We actually showered and packed and made it out of the house on time!

We got to the hospital at 530, got registered and made our way up to the labor and delivery floor. I honestly wasn't nervous at all. I had this overwhelming calm mixed with excitement that I can't explain. Plus, the nurses were so awesome! They were the best and made me feel so at ease! They got us all hooked up to the monitor and IV and started to get us prepared for surgery. The anesthesiologist came in and she was so awesome. She reminded me alot of my friend Cindy so I felt really comfortable. The epidural itself is weird and was a little painful at fist but once it was in they were some drugs worth having! Not that I had a choice in this case because I would not have wanted to feel anything!! The best way I can describe it is like someone running an icecube down your back every time they put in a dose. So strange! There was a moment where my heartrate started going up and I just felt like I couldn't catch my breath. But they gave me some oxygen and it slowed. That was the only thing I can remember that really scared me. After all that was under control they started checking the numbness in my body. She would run an ice cube up my body starting at the feet asking if I felt anything. About 15 minutes later I was all numbed up. They got J in his scrubs and we were off to have a baby.

At that moment I started freaking out a bit. I was lying down so all I could see were the lights on the ceiling. It was like something out of a movie! I remember feeling really scared and my teeth chattering a little bit. But I managed to keep my cool. They got me to the OR and it was like something out of a movie too! But J was by my side and I was keeping calm. My doctor came in and talked to me and made sure I was ok and the anesthesiologist was there too. She hooked me up to oxygen and talked to me and reassured me that I was fine and to let her know if I needed more meds. They put a sheet up so I couldn't see what was happening but J could look over it and watch. They started the surgery and he would look over a bit and then come and sit down and make sure I was ok. At one point he's looking over and he says, "what does that feel like?" and I said " alot of pulling and tugging." He says, "that's not what they are doing, I'll tell you later.." and smiled. He was so good through the whole thing, he is probably what kept me calm.

Then Finally at 8:06 a.m, what seemed like only a few minutes later, they pulled her out and Catherine Georgia Montague was in the world! J said the first thing he saw was her little white butt and she immediately cried. We both burst into tears! It was one of the sweetest moments of my life. They wrapped her up and showed her to us. Then took her over and started getting her all cleaned up. I was in a daze but I remember I asked if she had my toes! He said he couldn't tell though. They were asking me also what i thought she weighed- i guessed 6 or 7lbs but she surprised all of us and weight 8.4! She was 19 inches long. So after that they took her off to have the doctor check her out while I was being closed up, J went with her. I was given something to sleep a little and the next thing I remember I'm done and being wheeled off back to the room we started in. They had an overflow of patients using the maternity ward so we had to wait for a room. We were there for about an hour or two and then were given a room. Soon after they brought Cate in and washed her hair then gave her to us to cuddle. J brought Mom, Dad and Robby in to see us then we sent them off to get some lunch. I was so exhausted I was just in a daze!

Finally they had our room ready so they took us up to the next floor. I was still numb and exhausted. Lucky for us, it was nap time and we got a few hours of rest in before Mom, Dad and Robby came back. The next few hours were me still exhausted, getting feeling slowly back in my legs, Nurses coming and going checking in about every hour. The next few days were just me getting strength back and slowly starting to function again while trying to breast feed and get to know our sweet little girl. It was a hard few days but we made it through! We got the go ahead to go on Monday and I was so happy to be home!

So now it's a little over a month later and we're doing great! We struggled a while with feeding but we are into our groove now, I think. It's still hard some nights to get up but we are working on that. I've gotten some good advice so hopefully we can get this little one to sleep through the night before I go back to work Aug 31st.

Well, I think my brain has reached it's limit but I hope all of you now know the excitement of Cate's birthday!!

Love to you all!

I can't believe it...

So here we are, in the final stretch. Wow! Less than 2 weeks left (possibly less depending on what happens at the doctor Monday!) I'm still feeling really good, just getting tired faster and this hot weather is not helping! I just need a day off of work where I'm doing nothing so I can just sleep and get ready for what's to come. I'm sure it'll be a long time before I get a chance to do that again!

I did manage to get all the baby gifts(thank you all!) sorted out and our dining room cleared out of all that stuff. It was baby stuff explosion all over the place in there. We got our travel system for the car and everything I can think of we'll be needing. I'm sure I'll be making more trips to Target for more stuff when she's here. Even with all the diapers we got!

Cate's room is done, other than organizing and putting away all those clothes we've been given and figuring out where to put what! We just got the dresser done last night so hopefully I'll get all that stuff done within the next few days. I tried my hand at painting some flowers on the wall but they just didn't work out. So J just painted over them and you can't even tell they were ever there! I found some wall stickers of butterflies and flowers and those have worked out well. So It all worked out!

So now is just the waiting game at this point. Tomorrow is our next appointment and we'll see what she has to say about everything. I'm getting both nervous and excited about all of it. It'll be a whole new adventure! Especially since we've been married so long and it's only been the two of us. Three will be a whole new thing!

Love to you all!
C

One month left!

Wow..a month left! I can't believe it. I've got so much to do!! I'm so excited, nervous and scared at the same time. I'm sure that is pretty normal. I'm feeling fine and happy. She is getting stronger and bigger so just her moving around can hurt. But it's a small price to pay! One of my friends just had her baby and she is just so happy. I hope things work out that well for us.

I had a great baby shower on the 17th! Brittney did such an awesome job and we had a really good turn out. Thanks for everyone who showed up. I felt so loved and special!

We are getting maternity pics done this weekend so I'll be sure to send them out when they are ready.

love you all!
C and baby C

Adventure!

I had an adventure today! I went to downtown Dallas to get a 4-D sonogram done at El Centro college. One of J's friends at work told us about it and that they only charged $30 for a scan because it's for teaching. Well, I bugged him for months to get the info about it and when he did I kept forgetting about it - flash forward to Monday. I emailed the director and she said that the students were in finals this week so they wouldn't be doing any scans BUT she would do one for me. Of course I was thrilled!

Let me tell you, this week has been a busy one. I've been going to product trainings for work, running around like a crazy person these last few days. Plus I had to go to a 7 am meeting this morning! After the meeting I start heading over there and it is just pouring rain until I get halfway there. I drive around downtown lost for a while then end up finding the college, only to discover I'm in the wrong frikin building. I'm already almost 30 minutes late when I get there but she is forgiving and goes ahead and does the scan for me. She squirted a ton of jelly on me and it was everywhere! She got a few good shots but Cate seems to have her head buried inside me, totally face down. We got a fairly good profile shot but after that she just buried in more. So she wasn't the most active but I did walk away with some good shots and confirmation that she is indeed, a girl!



After all that I took the pictures to J's work where he immediately started showing everyone. I'm sure everyone in that office was tired of him by the end of the day! But it's good to know that he is very excited!

Lots of love
C and baby C

A little disappointed

Well, we were supposed to go to Midland for my baby shower last weekend but we ended up staying home. It turns out that my best friend and hostess of the shower Amy's daughter (and our God Daughter) Chloe caught her the flu bug and had to go to the hospital. So the shower in Midland had to be canceled. Amy was very sad and so was I. But all that mattered was that Chloe was fine and she is! She is getting better every day but has been in quarenteen until Friday. They will also find out if it was regular flu or swine flu on that day as well. Seeing as I didn't want to get sick, we decided to stay home. I was very bummed! I was really looking forward to seeing all my friends and family but I guess that will have to wait until Cate is here and able to travel. But my mom, knowing I was sad, and my brother Robby came up on Saturday and we spent the day hanging out. It was nice of them to come and I felt alot better! Plus an extended weekend never hurt anyone either :)

As far as everything else, I'm feeling fine. Baby Cate has been kicking away! We have our next 2 week appointment on Monday. It'll probably just be the routine but I'm hoping she'll do a sonogram again. We'll see - but I doubt it. I guess you never know! We have our birthing class on the 16th too. That'll be interesting! I just hope they don't show a video. I would just rather not see it right now! Ugh!

I'm gearing up for my shower here on the 17th! I'm hoping there will be a good turnout. I'd love to see everyone!

Well, that's all I have for now. Love to you all!

C and baby C

Time is flying by!

Well, we are in the home stretch now it seems...less than 2 months! Yikes! I'm definatley feeling more pregnant lately. Which is what I was waiting for! Baby is moving around like crazy so there is no doubt about it anymore! I'm feeling more excited too, which is good! It took me a while. While I do still feel a little overwhelemed and weird, it's going away..slowly.

This weekend we finally got the room painted but it's not quite done yet. It's a very pretty purpley pink color. It looks great! And we had some really sweet friends come and help us paint, which made it go by so much faster! I think we got 2 coats done in less than 4 hrs. Pretty amazing. My next task is to do some stamping but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. My friend Jaime is going to come over and help me on Friday so hopefully I'll have that figured out by then! We've yet to put the bed together but that is probably a good thing since we're not completely done with the painting! I'm sure I'll have it all done by the time June rolls around. At least that is my goal! I'm on the lookout for a dresser too so I can get all those clothes organized! Whew! Alot to do!

Everything at the doctor is good. We got to meet Dr Woolridge for a whole 10 minutes (maybe) in case my doctor is not available when Cate decides to make her arrival. Next time, we'll see my regular doctor and I'm hoping she'll do a sonogram again! She said she'd do one around 35 weeks to see what position the baby is in. I hope she does! If not I'll probably have to wait another month. Boo! Hopefully that won't be the case.

This weekend we're going to Midland for one of my showers. My best friend Amy is throwing one for me! I'm super excited, I'm sure it'll be awesome! I'll post pics later! The next one will be May 17th at my friend Brittney's house in McKinney. I'm hoping for a good turnout on that one too, since most of my relatives live closer to here than Midland.

Talk to you guys later!
C and baby C

30 weeks!

So here we are at 30 weeks! I can't believe time is flying by like this. Pretty soon we'll have a baby and no sleep!! But it'll be worth it.

I'm happy to report that my 3 hour gestational diabetes test was normal! We were so happy! My doctor said that I had barely failed the 1 hour, she just wanted to make sure that everything was OK. She is so awesome. We had our routine appointment yesterday and everything is good. I love hearing that heartbeat. I have to fight back tears every time I hear it! I asked about another sonogram and she said they usually only do 2 but probably around 35 weeks they will do another one just to make sure baby is where she's supposed to be. I hope so! I want to see what she looks like now. Someone at J's work told him about a school that will do the 3D ultrasounds for cheap so I keep trying to find out where it is. I'll keep you posted.

Our next appointment will be with one of the other doctors in the practice so we can meet them and get to know them "in case" my doctor is not able to deliver our baby. There are 2 other doctors, both women. I've never met them so it'll be a good opportunity. Better than having a surprise if my doc isn't available!

I've been cleaning like crazy and on the 26th we are going to paint the baby's room! I can't wait. We decided to go with a lilac color and do a white stripe around the room. It'll be really sweet when it's done! We got a new bed for our room so our old bed is now in that room for those nights when we have a fussy baby and one of us needs sleep! It's getting exciting now! I'll post pictures once we get it all done.

Love to you all!
C and baby C