Baby Moon

Doug and I took a little vacation to Oahu when I was 27 weeks pregnant.  Being the savvy vacationers that we are, we found a timeshare deal to pay for our hotel.  We stayed in such a luxurious hotel, and we paid less than $100 a night!  Have you seen the commercials for the new Disney Aulani resort in Hawaii?  We were right next door.



Unlike our normal vacations, I wasn't really up for staying out super late clubbing or going for hikes, so we spent entire days just laying by the pool, napping, and eating.  Oh, we also got multiple snow cones and hula pies.

One sad thing about our trip?  I couldn't get a spray tan since I was pregnant.  Holy whiteness.

The views from our room.  NBD.

Our hotel had big gas barbecues available for guests to use.  Say "big gas" out loud.

No trip is complete for Doug without lots of surfing.

And we'll just end this post with my favorite picture of the trip.  Belly picture fail.

Lizzie's List: Pregnancy Essentials

When I was pregnant, I loved reading lists of products that other moms used or found particularly helpful.  Now, I'm not one to buy things unless I REALLY need them.  Nope.  I am not a Spendy McSpenderstein.  Some may call it cheap, but if buying your underwear from Goodwill and taking home your leftover soup in an individual salad dressing container is cheap then I don't want to be a spendy.

So.  From a thrifty girl's perspective- what did I really need during pregnancy?

• Pregnancy pillow- I totally scoffed at women who said that they "needed" a pregnancy pillow.  I am a champion sleeper.  A champion, people.  I never thought in a million years that I would be so uncomfortable during pregnancy that I literally couldn't sleep.  But.  You get big.  You have to pee constantly.  Your mind is swirling with fears, doubts, excitement, and squishy babies.  Doug surprised me after a weekend away with this pillow, and man, did I love it.

• BeBand- BeBand, BellaBand, whatever.  I went cheap on this one and bought the one from Target.  Since I didn't buy a single article of maternity clothes while I was pregnant, I relied on this pretty heavily.  And no, I didn't make some holy pact as soon as I got pregnant not to buy any maternity clothes; I just discovered that I didn't really need any.  I used my BeBand to wear non-maternity jeans and wore a lot of dresses and leggings. *Confession- in the last few weeks of my pregnancy, the BeBand didn't cut it.  I had to use a rubber band on my pants AND a BeBand.*

• And speaking of leggings- my mom bought me these while I was pregnant.  I guess you can't call this an essential because I totally could have just worn my normal leggings, but I loved the huge panel that goes up over your belly.  That same panel is great postpartum to hold in the post baby tummy.  Thanks mom!
• What to Expect When You're Expecting- Whatever you do, do NOT buy this book new.  Every time I've gone to Goodwill or Salvation Army (to buy underwear of course), I have seen at least one copy of this book in the used books section.  Or borrow it from a friend.  If she's not pregnant, I'm certain that she's not using it.  I really loved reading about my baby's development, my symptoms, and all the other fun stuff about pregnancy.

• Camera- even if you feel giant and kind of frumpy during pregnancy, please document it.  I love seeing pictures of my mom pregnant, and I'm sure Kennedy is going to love it too.

Auntie Mimi and I trying to get Kennedy to chase the flashlight.

P.S. I don't really buy my underwear from the Goodwill...unless it's 2 for 1 day.

LA Baby Shower

Corey, Rachel, and Mary Beth threw me an amazing baby shower in LA!  They hosted it at their house in Long Beach, and it was so fun.  It was the perfect day because it was raining outside, and they had a fire in their big fireplace.  The decorations were so adorable; it was seriously the cutest baby shower ever!  We had lots of my favorite treats including cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, mini fruit tarts, cheese and crackers, and hot chocolate.

Kennedy got so many great gifts including a lot of homemade things!  The girls also decorated onsies using fabric pieces.  They came out so cute!

Ruffle butt onesie made by Rachel.

Quilt made by Grandma Hulse.  Isn't it amazing?  It's the same fabric as Kennedy's changing pad cover.

Kennedy and me with some of my high school girls.  I love them so much!

I didn't get a team photo of everyone, but this one is pretty close!

Santa Cruz Baby Shower

Months and months ago, my mom and sister threw me a beautiful baby shower in Santa Cruz.  My grandma, aunts and cousins were all there along with all of my high school besties.  There were even a few special visitors!  Jen drove down from Petaluma, and Sarah flew up from San Diego.  Such a good day.

Two highlights of the day?  My sister and dad compiled some home videos (or family flims as we call them) onto a dvd for me, and my mom digitized a ton of pictures for me.

Check this one out.  I'm pretty sure it's my favorite.  Shaving our legs on a cousins camping trip.  I'm the man-child on the left.

We had amazing food, decorated burp clothes and onsies, and Kennedy got a ton of presents.  It was such a good day!

Maternity Photoshoot

Remember when I said that I only had one picture of me hugely pregnant?  I forgot.  Two days before I delivered our dear friend of Figlewicz Photography took maternity photos of us!

I can't believe how big my belly was.  And that Kennedy was in there only 6 weeks ago!

My Birth Story

(You may want to read my pre-birth story first.)  We arrived at the hospital at 6 am.  One of my girlfriends who is a labor and delivery nurse checked me in before her shift ended and set me up with an amazing nurse for my labor.  My dilation was checked, and I was at 4 cm!  That meant I only had 6 cm to go!!!  At around 8 am I was given an IV, and they started me on pitocin.  I was very fortunate that I was already dilated to 4 cm.  This meant that I could get an epidural at any time.  I was not in any pain at this point, so I decided to wait and see how things went.

I had heard that pitocin was the devil and created terribly painful contractions, but this was not at all the case for me.  I spent the morning happily napping and hanging out with my parents, my sister, Doug's parents, and Doug's brothers.  I'm not going to lie, the delivery room was a bit of a zoo.  There were multiple conversations going on, fetal monitors beeping, and Doug's dad had brought his harp.

By noon, I was 6 cm and still not in any pain.  My doctor decided to come in and break my water.  I had read that contractions can become more painful after your water breaks, so I knew that I wanted an epidural  right away.  The anesthesiologist came in minutes after my water was broken and gave me my epidural.  I let him know that my dad was an anesthesiologist in hopes that he would try to show off for me and give me the best epidural ever.  He's my new boyfriend.  That thing was awesome. First off, it was painless.  Getting the IV seriously hurt more.  Secondly, I had this wonderful, euphoric feeling for the rest of my delivery.  Basically, I was high.  

I took another nap, and woke up feeling a lot of pressure "down there."  I told the nurse, and she said that she would check my progress in an hour.  I tried to ignore the feeling, but it was pretty intense.  Fifteen minutes later I told her that I needed to be checked now.  This was around 4:30 pm.  She went to check me and immediately told me to close my legs and lay on my side.  The head was right there!  She needed to page the doctor so that we could get this party started!  Doug and I had decided that we wanted just the two of us in the delivery room when I pushed.  That way we could have a few special moments together once we met our girl, so we kicked everyone out.  

I waited for ten minutes when the baby's heart rate began to drop.  She was ready to come out now.  The nurse told me to start pushing.  I gave one big push and the heart rate came back up.  The on-call doctor came in.  I pushed again.  My doctor arrived.

I pushed maybe three more times after that and Kennedy came out!  What sweet bliss it was.  She was placed on my chest, and Doug and I greeted our sweet baby at 5:20 pm.

I have to say, the worst part of my labor was delivering the placenta (it was stuck, gross), and the worst part of my overall pregnancy was recovering.  It was brutal.  All that being said, I'd do it again.  And plan on doing it again.  I mean, just look at that face.

My (pre) Birth Story

I feel a little bit guilty writing my birth story because I feel like I'm bragging a little bit.  Remember how said I had magical contractions?  Well, they remained magical.

My doctor took me off of bed rest when I hit 36 weeks.  What a relief!  I had been on my back for 5 weeks, and I was done!  I wanted an opportunity to clean the house before I went in to labor (Doug had done a great job of keeping the house clean while I was on bed rest, but I was a nesting, anal, crazy person.)  I set to work scrubbing the house, but I was so weak after spending so long doing nothing that it took me over a week to get everything done.  There were lots of breaks and naps in between.

I continued to go to my doctor twice a week for non stress tests.  Each time I went in, my doctor would be SURE that this was the last time she would see me.  I was continually having contractions and was dilated 2 cm by the end of my 36th week.

By the beginning of my 37th week, I had regained my strength.  My house was spotless, and I was running errands and hanging out with friends while Doug was at work.  I began going for longs walks.  I wanted this baby out of me.  While my contractions weren't painful, I could identify them.  There were times when they got so close together that we began timing them and packed our bags, but they slowed down again. I was frustrated.

Rachel, Corey, and Mary Beth threw me a beautiful baby shower in Long Beach.  It was absolutely lovely.

I was very eager to meet my little girl, and due to the issues I had during my pregnancy, my doctor decided that she would induce me at 39 weeks.

We waited.  Waited.  Waited.  No baby.  My sister came down to hang out with me.  We waited.  My mom   and Cliff came down.  It was the night before my induction.

The only picture I can find that shows my full pregnant glory.

What a surreal night knowing with certainty that I would meet my baby girl the next day.  That night, I had the weirdest dream of all time.  I got attacked by a great white while paddle boarding to the hospital.  My baby was born Filipino.  Whoops.  Wrong baby.  These are your twin boys.  You can choose one.

We woke up at 4:30 am on the November 22 and head to the hospital to meet our sweet girl.