Into the Night...

I labored for a long time in the living room. Around me, my sisters put Shepherd to bed, the midwives set up the birthing tub. It's all fuzzy now. After the living room, I labored a long, long time in the bathroom on the toilet, while Bryan timed them. 

Once the tub was ready, I got in. I was looking for relief. We had moved into the later hours of the night, possibly even early morning and I hadn't had a moments rest. We were all hoping that the water would help things continue to move along, but would allow me to relax and possibly even snooze. While I labored, Bryan played his guitar, supported me, my sisters and niece slept, my midwives waited, and they all tried to get me to hydrate.

Finally, it was time to come out. I had been in the tub for a really, really long time and it seemed that it was stalling my labor more than anything. I was ready for this to be done. In the moment, I thought that I was getting close, I couldn't fathom it going on much longer. Ha! I was used to my sisters quick and intense labors. I had no idea that I was still days away from having our girl. While I wasn't anywhere close, things had definitely become more intense. All of a sudden, I was really feeling it. We thought for a moment it was transition, but I don't know if I got scared and stopped it or I was just really mistaken. I was throwing up every sip of water and light piece of food they were giving me. I was running out of energy and it was starting to take its toll. 

After the birthing tub, I put on a robe, but the wet sports bra was making me shiver, so it didn't last long. I stayed on the birthing stool for a long time, while they continually tried to feed me crackers, cucumber and water. Everything came back up. I remember wondering if I needed to push, but the feeling passed. Things quieted down and Bryan and I went to bed, praying we could both get some sleep. 

As we laid down, we would both fall asleep but thing I would be violently pulled from sleep by a contraction. Over an over again, when my body would finally come to rest and slip into sleep, I would be ripped out of it. It was like torture. Bryan tried to keep me calm, because I was freaking out. I couldn't labor because I was so tired, but I couldn't sleep because I was in labor. 

Somewhere in there, we got up and took a long shower together. We laid back down but again, I couldn't rest. My midwife did not check me often, but I was dilating slowly but surely. At 7:30am on Saturday, when she checked me to see how far along we were, my water broke. The clock was ticking. 

It Began Naturally...

On December 30, I took this selfie. I was taking regular pictures of my body now, since I was overdue and I figured the baby would come at any time. I took back the onesie I had purchased in hopes that she would make her appearance before Christmas. No such luck. 

On December 31st, We took Mr. Shepherd to the park near our house to run around, chase ducks, be chased by ducks and to play in the sand in the volleyball court. He had a great time and it was good for me to walk. I was getting so anxious. 

I also made Hot Cocoa Sugar Cookies for New Years Eve, which turned out pretty good! It was my first time making a ganache and I nailed it. Also, its much easier than I thought! Shepherd went to bed late and I ended up being getting to be around 1:30am and Bryan was up even later. He had spent most of the evening of New Years Eve switching out toilets, taking down our hideous microwave, and generally making a huge mess in our otherwise clean house. I was not stoked at all. I could not even understand what would motivate him to switch the front and back toilets on this night of ALL nights, but it ended up being a really, really good decision.

However, the urgency on his part must have been a God thing, because at 5:30 the next morning, I was woken up with contractions. I was officially in early stage labor after only four hours of sleep. I got up, cleaned and straightened the house. I was restless and I wanted to keep moving so that the contractions didn't stop. 

They tapered out a bit in the mid morning, so we went for a walk. This, beautiful picture of me layered up with a night gown, pajama pants, slippers, sweatshirt, scarf AND jacket is the very last picture of me pregnant and not in labor, and you can't even see the belly. DANG IT PAST MEGAN.

My sisters came over in the afternoon to hang out with me and distract me from the pain at about 2:30pm. We ate some panera and just talked. They took off and came back later in the night. I was in active labor from about 6:30pm on. The soup and sandwich I had eaten was the last real food I would eat during my labor and the four hours of sleep that I had gotten the night before would be the only sleep I would have the luxury of having for the next 72 hours.

My sisters and I took this picture at Kari's birth in December...

So I said we should take one at my birth too. I look much more tense than Kari did, haha!

Then we all just kind of hung out while Bryan was supporting me in labor and Shepherd was watching TV. I was getting really nauseous at this point, so I clutched onto a trash bag for dear life. Things were revving up a bit and on of our midwifes came to check on me while the other went to check on another lady, then she came to me and brought me the birthing stool.

We really didn't have any idea how long this would go. Shepherd went to bed and we continued on into the night. 

Her Birth Story

It's coming! I'm hoping to do a video along with it, but it's a lot to put together because it's things are foggy for me so I have to ask my sisters and Bryan for help remembering timelines and such. For now, look at this cute picture of my little giraffe girl. Man, I could just eat her UP.

xo, 

Meg

Bass Lake, I love you.

A few years ago, my mother and father-in-law started a new tradition at Christmas. They do a family gift at Christmas. One year we went to see Carrie Underwood. The next we went to Bass Lake. Well we had so much fun at Bass Lake that they decided a repeat trip was needed! 

Bass Lake is one of the places on earth that makes my soul breathe a sigh of relief. I love it there. It was a quick trip and I was still healing from having Lauriana, but I'm so glad we went. We laughed so much. We stayed at the Pines Resort and drove up to take Shepherd to the snow. He loved it! He even went sledding. One of the things I've observed about Shepherd is that he is generally down to give things a go, even if he is wary about it. Typically the first round of whatever he is attempting he has a pretty straight face. He's soaking it all in. Then, if he decides he likes it, the boy goes ALL IN. It says a lot about his character. 

I spent most of the time in the car with my hungry little newborn, but I made sure to snap a picture to capture our first visit to the snow (and first trip!) as a family of four.

I seriously can't wait to go back. 

xo, 

Meg

Notification Overload

Bryan likes to do things that normal people don't usually do. For example, if I'm on my phone not paying attention to him, he might contact me via every social media platform he has access to in order to annoy the heck out of me so that I yell at him, thus letting him win by gaining my attention. 

Don't be like Bryan.

Planner Stamp Haul: Mommy Lhey

At first, I was definitely wary about stamping in my planner. It seems extremely time consuming (from the little I've already done). I like "decorating" and planning in my planner to be relaxing... Not stressful. Stamps stress me out. There is all the different inks, not to mention the shadowing and bleeding that can occur! However, Mommy Lhey had a sale a while back and I picked up a few of her sets. I knew for sure that I wanted the Walk By Faith set (shown in the middle). The others were just too cute to pass up.

The quality of the stamps is great. I've used a few of the stamps in some layouts. I used the Jesus and Cross from Walk by Faith and the Rabbit stamp (shown on the left, see the ears?) for my Easter layout. You can see them in a line under the Sweet Stamp Shop Weekend banner stamp on the right.

I haven't quite got the hang of stamping but it's been kind of fun to try out. Apparently lots of people stamp and then just use color pencils or fancy markers to color it in... like a coloring book! How fun would it be to stamp it all up and then let Shepherd color in the spreads? It would be a disaster in the end but an amazing memory to look back on. 

Do you stamp in your planner? If so, what is your go-to set? Enlighten me! 

xo, 

Meg

Being Preggo in Vegas

Remember that time I went to Vegas and went to see Britney Spears? No? Ohhhh, riiiiight. I'm a bad blogger and never wrote about it. 

Bryan bought me tickets to the show for my birthday, so we hauled my giant pregnant butt to Vegas. DID YOU KNOW that this is my second trip to Vegas, and coincidentally, the second trip in which I was not able to go dance at a club, enjoy a beverage or even stay out late? 

Why you ask? Because the last time I visited Vegas I was under 21. I went to a wedding. I spent most of the time in the hotel room because everyone else spent most of their time gambling. It suuuucked. This time wasn't as bad. Luckily, pregnant people can gamble. We lost $7. We only gambled $7. It was all we cared to throw down the drain. 

The night we arrived we stayed with some friends at their house. We all went to dinner, talked a lot and then went to sleep so we could head out the next day and site see a bit! I wanted to check out some hotels that I didn't get to see the last time I was there, so we went to the Bellagio and New York, New York. Everything is amazingly grand in Las Vegas!

I could not get over how amazing the Bellagio Conservatory was. All the detail and the flowers! Gorgeous. Not to mention that the entire thing feels so put together but at any moment they can remove it all and re-design everything from the floors up. It was breath-taking. Some of the trees were even animated!

Of course we went to the Hershey's store, but I didn't get anything. Just inhaled and tried to control my preggo self. 

After wandering around for a long time, I was exhausted and wanted to rest before getting ready for the show. The second night in Vegas, we got a hotel room at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations: Las Vegas at Desert Club Resort. We stayed off the strip (like one block over, I think) and the room was AMAZING. It was like a little apartment and there was definitely enough room to bring the kids and a babysitter if we wanted to the next time around. I made sure to take some pictures for you!

After we rested for a while and I took a LOOOOONG bath in the amazing tub, I got ready! This is the only photo I took of myself and it was just to send to my sisters and my friend Denise, but I love it and it makes me wish I was pregnant again. (Which is seriously not okay.)

But look! Look at my pregnant belly. Lauriana is in there! Man. I felt really, really pretty that night. I got that dress from Pink Blush Maternity. So comfy and so cute!

Once we were ready we went to Maggiano's Little Italy for dinner. It was really good. We actually used Uber a lot that evening and had great experiences all the way around! We tried to be off our phones during dinner so I didn't get many pictures there either, but I did snap this one of Bryan. Even with that long hair he is smokin' hot. Whew!

Then it was off to the show! We got there a little early and I had to go around security and be wanded because I was pregnant, which actually sped up the process a bit. There was lots of Britney gear but I didn't partake in it. I just wanted the show. We got there early and they had pushed back the start time a bit, but we just took some selfies and waited patiently.

The visuals were amazing, the music was loud and it was a standard Britney experience. Her dancing was better than it has been in years but I'm sad to say that she didn't even sing one song live this time. The last time I saw her, when I was in high school, she sang one live and I was so stoked! I had hoped to hear her again live, but no dice. Anyways, the show was great, we sang loud and the seats in front of us were empty so we had a really good view the entire time! 

After it was over, we took a long walk, watched the fountains at the Bellagio and then grabbed some dessert and coffee. I had the best bread pudding and I can't for the life of me remember where it was. I know that it wasn't even 11pm and everything was closed! I couldn't believe it. The places we called to see if they were open for dessert and coffee were all closing. What kind of late night world IS THIS?! Jeez. 

The next day, we really wanted to hit up a buffet for brunch. Bryan looked online and we went to the insanely expensive Caesars Palace brunch. It was the BIGGEST buffet EVER. Like, walls and walls of every kind of food and a huge dessert area. I let the pregnancy do the walking and indulged my little heart out. It was amazing and I'd definitely go back! 

We walked all around the hotel, checking everything out. It was beautiful. Seriously gorgeous. I have a new appreciation for Las Vegas as a whole! I can't wait to go back.... as a non-minor and un-pregnant person. Haha!

xo,

Meg