Actual Conversation

As I was standing in the shower with my milky jugs engorged:

Me: (yelling) Is that Hadley crying?

DG: No.

Me: Oh, what is that?

DG: I was singing.

I proceeded to laugh so hard that I was afraid of popping a stitch.

Introducing...

Hadley August Gannon



Look at her would you? We're a little biased, but crap if she isn't the most precious little baby.

It's old news now because you all have probably checked DG's blog, but she came to us at 7:42am on 11.27.07 at 19 inches long and 6 lbs 1 oz. She came out with her eyes wide open and stayed awake with us for 4 hours before finally taking a nap. She is so tolerant of our lack of parenting skills that she barely even cries. Though I've heard that this may change as soon as we get home.



You can see all of her public photos here on DG's Flickr account. I'll post more about the gritty details of my labor later this week, in between being a food buffet. So far I am in love with motherhood and our new baby.

Thanks to everyone for all of your wonderful emails and warm wishes.

Baby Watch 2007

The miracle of technology brings you into our hospital birthing room.

After my weekly doctors appointment today, my bag of waters broke at 5:00pm. Wanting to make sure I hadn't just peed myself, DG and I waited for an hour before heading to the hospital. When there was a constant stream trickling down my leg for two hours I figured it wasn't just pee.

We got to the hospital and I was admitted at 7:00pm and proceeded to walk the halls for three hours trying to get the contractions started.

It is now 1:00am and the Pitocin drip has started. My pelvis feels like it is going to crack in half. Hopefully we will have news for you later today.

5cm and counting

I think I've turned the blog into baby watch 2007. I started walking again today, ate some spicy food at lunch, then went to the doctor. Another week, another centimeter. He did what is called stripping the membranes last week which loosens the membranes around the bag of waters to the cervix. I believe he may have done this again today.

Based on how far I have dilated, he thinks that my labor is going to go fast. He rushed to the hospital last night at 3am thinking he was going to meet us there. But it was another woman who was already 10cm dilated, pushed twice and there was a baby.

All of the birth classes and birthing from within talk about having a mantra to repeat to yourself to get through labor. I think my new mantra is "2 pushes and out like a greased pig". *nervous giggle*

False Alarm

Well, it was a ruse to get you all excited. We are not having a baby today. But to tide you over, here are some pictures of DGs surprise 40th Birthday Party last night.

How cute is he? That's my baby daddy.


Le Bakery Sensual did an amazing job with the cake that I ordered. I have to admit though, Lora came up with the cute idea. What you can't see is that he is wearing a snow flake sweater. You may remember this bakery from my bachelorette party cake.

Celebrating the DG

Even though it is a few weeks early, we are going to to DGs favorite restaurant tonight to celebrate his birthday. It's a big one you know. The biggest. Think mid-life, Geritol, and Depends. Just kidding lovey. *kisses*

But I wanted to make sure that in the whole birth of the baby, that he didn't miss his chance to get his drink on. And the good news is that the restaurant is only a few blocks from our hospital.

37.5 pounds and counting

Probably the hardest part of my pregnancy has been the weight gain. So when I stepped on the scale today to calculate my total gain, it was no wonder that I feel like a tank lately. I can barely stand to look at a picture of myself. I secretly go onto DGs computer when he isn't here and delete all the pictures of myself because all I see are jowls. I can't help it. I know, I know, I'm pregnant, but it doesn't make it any easier.

Things that are equal to my weight gain:
Gibson & Tica combined
7 1/2 bags of sugar
A 4-year old child
Almost 2 of our new Kenmore vacuum
4 of the turkeys I cooked yesterday

Just imagine strapping those to your thighs.

Happy Thanksgiving

DG has our holiday lights up, it's 20 degrees, the Macy's Day parade is on, the Xmas shopping is done, and I got all of my work done last night, so I'm lounging about in pjs, drinking decaffeinated coffee and reading ads. My most relaxing Thanksgiving ever.

Our little turkey is still cooking today. We feel so blessed by the love and support of all of our friends that call to check on us. We hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

Thanksgiving 2007

In all the excitement, I haven't mentioned that we are hosting Thanksgiving this year for 14, including us. Luckily I am only making the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and pecan pie. Easy.

Though everyone is convinced that I could go any day (including the doctor), I would like to hold off another week on giving birth so no more walking and swimming for me until next Monday. And wouldn't you know that we have tickets to White Christmas next week. Something I've been looking forward to ALL year. Keeping my legs crossed that we can go. Now what is this cramping that I'm feeling in my belly? Oh well, I guess if I have to go and have a baby I will.

Gratuitous Belly Shots

After yesterday's appointment, I am 80% effaced and 4cm dilated. *holy crap* It felt like the doctor went elbow deep to touch Baby G's head. After a quick ultrasound, she is in perfect position with her head low and nuzzled in my pelvis.


Yes, it's bigger than life. Don't mind the stretch marks. I've had those since I was 18.

I Wanna ROCK!

Having a baby is expensive. Like planning a wedding, it seems like the cost of everything goes up. Take rockers for instance. Most gliders that I looked at were between $500-$1,000. Upon shopping for them, I think my exact words were "Fudge That". Another fine example of me trying to tone down my expletives on my road to fine parenting.

Then a week ago, we were at our local Sears store and what do I find on sale for $90 but this comfortable glider with pink cushions. I go up to Baby G's room and rock in it once a day. For practice of course.

Pushing Daisies

Since the fall tv season started, we picked up a few shows to replace *sniff* the cancelled ones. I would have to say that my favorite of all the new shows is Pushing Daisies. The premise may sound a bit wacky, but the fast paced dialog is witty and clever while the costume and set decoration is quirky and european, like watching the movie Amelie. Every week, I enjoy it more and more.

Rocking the Last Trimester

Lest you think I've gone and had a baby without telling you, I've decided that I better post a little something every day! So today's installment is answers to the most commonly asked questions I've been getting.

1) How are you feeling? I feel great. I'm sleeping better than I did in the 2nd trimester. I have so much energy, I literally feel like I could be pregnant forever. Though ask me this again if I go a week after my due date and I could be singing a different song.

2) How has the time passed for you? The first 10 weeks went by really slowly. We wanted to tell the whole world we were having a baby, but could not. That and the 24-7 nausea made that time go slow. But since then it has flown!

3) Are you exercising? If you recall, I was training for a triathlon when I got pregnant. I was swimming 1/2 mile, biking, and running 4 miles each 2-3 times a week. This crazy behavior stopped immediately. I continued through the summer to swim twice a week and walk once a week. Since September however, I am only swimming my standard 15 laps (30 minutes) once a week. Just this week, with my mom's daily encouragement, I've gone out for a 1-2 mile walk as well. I think her exact words were "Get your butt out walking and get this baby here".

Also, in case you were wondering, the Christmas shopping is 90% finished and packages have been mailed. DG started putting up Christmas lights last week-end when the weather was nice, though we had to tell the neighbors that we would not turn them on until AFTER Thanksgiving.

And in final news, every week-end when I can sleep until 9am, I revel in the luxury knowing that this will soon be over. And every time I cuddle up with Gibson in bed, and he looks at me as if he is finally in his rightful spot, I treasure our time together and try to tell him that he should also enjoy it now, because soon, laying in bed with mom and dad will be a thing of the past. They have no idea.

Naked in the Locker Room

NOT ME: So when are you due?

ME: 26 days!

NOT ME: Well, you LOOK like you could go at ANY time.

*sigh*

No matter how it comes out, it just never makes you feel quite right.

We Have Effacement

Today, I officially have 28 days to go. Or so it seemed until I went to the doctors office and found out that I am 1 centimeter dilated, 50% effaced and Baby G's head is super low. The Doctor doesn't think I'll make it to my due date and he gave me a couple more weeks. Weeeee, we're having a baby.

The Tryptich Masterpiece

I thought that a craft project would be fun when Mom and Aunt Betty were out visiting. I got the idea for this tryptich when I was looking at Baby Art on Ebay. I saw some some lovely wall hangings that were hand painted with a child's initials and hung from the wall with ribbons. I went out and got some canvas and acrylic paint and proceeded to sketch out the 3 panels that I wanted. I decided that I didn't want to paint the baby's room and instead chose to give it color with accessories, including a green lamp shade, green curtains, pink and green bedding and pink and green wall art.

As shown here, sometimes you need to open your mouth to really concentrate on creating a masterpiece.
Templates are also a good use of making the process faster.

And voila, the final pieces. Ok, maybe it will never see the walls of the Louvre, but I am tickled pink with how it turned out.

New Furniture

In all of the baby shower buzz, the delivery of our new furniture has been sadly overlooked. The best thing about new furniture? It does not echo as much upstairs. We are trying our best to keep the dogs off of it, though turn your back for one second and Gibson uses it as a perch to bark at the leaves falling outside.


The color is Caper, though in the light it's more of a tan. The fabric is very similar to the couch that my parents got as a wedding gift in 1971 that I moved out here with. Let's only hope that this couch will last 25+ years. Baby G can move it into her first apartment. My mother recalled stories of moving their couch for the first time, and seeing all the baby spit-up down the back side of it from burping us on it. EW.

The Baby Shower

The Baby Shower could not have been more perfect. Cynthia, Lora, and Holly did an amazing job of organizing a brunch at a local French Restaurant, Le Central. It was like going to breakfast with all of your favorite girlfriends.

We had our own private room where mimosas, coffee and juice were served as people arrived. After sitting down, they brought large plates of fruit to the table along with plates of warm brie, baked garlic, and toasted bread. The special brunch menu consisted of four entrees. Let me induce the mouth watering by listing them here:

Pain Perdu - French toast made with cinnamon-battered brioche served with pure maple syrup and fresh fruit

Crepes de Poulet - Shredded chicken with carrots, sauteed spinach, and onions, finished with a light curry cream sauce, wrapped in house-made crepes, gratineed with swiss cheese

Omelette aux Champignons - Three-egg omelette filled with portobello and button mushrooms, garlic and swiss cheese

Oeufs Sardou - Two poached eggs served on a mound of sauteed artichoke hearts, spinach, topped with Bearnaise sauce and served over toasted brioche


And if that is not enough to tempt your taste buds, for dessert the Gateau au Chocolat was a rich decadent chocolate cake topped with dark chocolate ganache served over raspberry coulis. As seen above, it was decorated with green and pink and topped with gold dust.

During brunch, there were several games that we played. Each person wore a diaper pin, and no one was allowed to say the word Baby. If you said the word Baby, the person that caught you got to take your pin. In the end, the game tied at 5 to 5 as my mother lost her stash of pins to Erin. In another game, the ladies had to cut out a ribbon that they thought would fit perfectly around my middle. I modeled the middle for all to see, including my belly button which looks like a cat butt, but as always, objects may appear bigger than what is seen. All of the ribbons could have been tied around my waist 2 or 3 times. Erin was the closest with a mere 3 inches extra.



After the gourmandizing, I opened gifts. I have to say that I have the most generous girlfriends and family a girl could dream of. The little outfits made me a bit verclempt and I'm going to be the hottest mama on the block with my new fancy diaper bag. But that alone deserves it's own post.

Mumsie in Town

Last Friday, my mom and Aunt came to town to go to my baby shower this week-end. We had a great time all week-end crafting, painting, knitting, cross stitching, having many great conversations, and enjoying each other's company.

I designed a tryptich for Baby Gs room and put everyone to work on painting one of the panels. We also found the perfect green material for curtains that I need to sew up this week as well. Perhaps I've watched to many DIY design shows on TLC. Pictures coming soon.

Next time mom comes to town, she will be a Nana.