One month, two month

wow i am terrible at posting on here! Our little girl is 2 months old!!! amazing how fast time moves and how much she is growing and changing! Wren is getting so strong these days! far from holdigng up her head all the time but just more solid and less smooshy! She's getting big big big! she weighed 7  14 at birth, lost 1lb 1oz and at her 1 month check up she still managed to weigh in at 10 9!!!  Her 2 month check up is this coming friday so we get to see just how much more she's grown!

One Week

One Month

Two Months

Wren's photo shoot!

Wren is finally here!

on the way to the hospital to meet Itbert!!!!!!!

After a vital check, two attempts at an IV, a spinal block marked by funny comments by the dry humored surgeon and anesthetist, a sweet nurse, our midwife holding my hand until Dan came in, Dan coming in, and them starting to call out times of opening uterus, we heard the screams of our perfect little baby! Dan looked over the curtain to see the doctor pulling Itbert out. He bent down to me and asked "Do you want to know what we have? We have a Florence!" (this wasn't presumptuous of him -naming our baby whatever he wanted... we'd agreed on the name long long before!) I was so overjoyed at the idea of this little girl that when the brought her to me I just cried and laughed and cooed! She had so much hair and looked so person-like, Dan and I looked at each other and said, "Who was that?" and "She didn't look like an Itbert!" :)

Dan went over and talked to our little Florence and she, knowing his voice, held tight to his finger until he brought her to me! The were buddies when she was in my belly, they are buddies now!

Our Family!
(note: they pumped me so full of fluids that I looked 50 lbs heavier the day of the surgery.  The difference between the morning leaving the house picture and the post surgery picture just a few hours afterwards is huge! (I was huge!) For the first time in my pregnancy I had swelling in my ankles! I am losing the rest of the fluid still!)

Welcome to the world miss Florence Louise Peterson! You are a beauty with your auburn hair and your fiery eyes. We are so proud to be your parents!

After nursing snuggles are the best part of parenting so far! It's amazing how a 6 hour old baby can show affection!

after about 48 hours we were ready to get home to start our life together as a family of 3!!!

40 weeks!!!

We made it! Tomorrow is Itbert's birthday! And what a wonderful day it will be! We have our C-section scheduled for 9 am and we are so excited to finally meet this little one who has already brought us so much joy!

Since it's 40 weeks I thought I'd wear the same thing I did for my first picture! Itbert sure has grown! :)

39 Weeks!

We're hitting the home stretch here! Tomorrow marks ONE WEEK until our C-section! How exciting to be getting this close to meeting our little one! We are waiting eagerly for March 2nd to come. 

Today we had our last trip to the hospital before the big day! I had to do my pre-admission testing and a non-stress test. Dan took off work early to drive me to my 2 o'clock apt. With our windows down, holding hands we drove the short trip to the hospital. What a perfect way to spend an afternoon? We were honestly dreading having to go back to the perinatal ward where the version was, to get the non stress test... but our trip to the hospital was almost as perfect as the 60 degree weather in February! The pre admission testing was easy as pie (after peace corps needles don't phase me in the least!) and the PA we had was great! Her first baby was breech and she had a C- section and offered great advice and input on recovery and how doable it was! 

After the pre-admission testing we made it to our non stress test with 30 minutes to spare! Our favorite nurse was there and was so sweet! (she's the one that always comments on what a happy baby Itbert is!) She hooked me up to the monitors and then got the woman in the next bed situated. When she was done, about 5 minutes later, she peeked her head in and smiled, "Baby looks great already! We'll keep you on for a few more minutes but baby looks perfect! What a happy baby!"  Dan and I beamed! :)

After the non-stress test we asked if we could take a tour of the maternity ward... see a postpartum room, see the nursery. Our favorite nurse took us through and gave us a tour of the ward, (giving up her precious time! so sweet!!!) The rooms are small but private, which is GREAT! and they will pull in a cot for dan to sleep on at night! The tour ended with a walk past the nursery where there were 2 burrito bundled babies and one that was so new, they still had him under the french fry light! They were so small, so amazingly small! I leaned over to Dan and said something eloquent like, "We're gonna have one of those little burritos soon!" For the first time for both of us, I think, it's starting to feel real. Finally it's sinking in that we are going to have a BABY!

PS.      I know you're not supposed to wear white after... or before... uh... but let's face it folks, I'm a rule breaker! The weather was too beautiful today to ignore my one elastic waisted skirt! Rules-Shmules!

Itbert's nest! :)

So, Itbert's room is done! It looks a little busy, and it is... It's such a small space (almost 8 feet by 8 feet... a glorified closet!) and we had so many things to put in... It's not too busy, just busy enough that Itbert can choose whether he/she wants to dream about flying in a hot air balloon, cozy nests, or roller skating birds!

The yellow ties on the stick above the window are something we brought back from China. In sacred spaces people tied red ribbons, yarn, fabric, or even trash onto branches when they prayed. These ties were traces of prayers, proof, or simply a tangible form of the words they'd meditated. I was captivated by this idea when we were in China and wanted to incorporate it into Itbert's nursery. I found this branch tangled in the brush outside our kitchen window. I scrubbed it and brought it in and Dan sawed it to size for me. Then he and I prayed for Itbert and tied a yellow piece of fabric scrap, yarn, ribbon, and yes, even yellow plastic grocery bag pieces on with every prayer. (I love the idea that no prayer is too silly or small) This branch is an visual representation of the prayers we have said, and will say for Itbert. Below are some images of the tangible evidence of prayer we found in China.

38 weeks and Valenturd's day!

The little blue post-its are my valentine's gift from sweet Dan! Just little notes to let me know how much he loves me! I'm so lucky! :) I made him strawberry cupcakes, but he wins the prize for time and thought! 

 So, Dan and I don't really celebrate valentine's day... or any other hallmark holidays. (we're not big card people...) SO, we celebrated our valenturd's day in our own special way... we went to a birth center appointment, came home, popped some Ellio's in the oven and ate it and snuggled on the couch. And as romantic as that sounds... that's a typical night for us. (After China Ellios is one of our favorites! We ate them before we left due to a tight Pre peace corps budget and missed them like crazy while overseas. Go figure we are on a similar post-peace corps pre-baby budget now, so that is how we excuse our non-foodie and non-healthy guilty pleasure frozen pizza-like rectangles! Mmmmm! my mouth waters just thinking about it!)

38 weeks and surprise surprise baby is still head up! (And very happy to be this way, it seems) I'll wake in the morning with baby spun sideways but no matter what I do, Itbert always wiggles back to head right up under my left ribs. I hope this means Itbert is a snuggler! We had our appointment with the surgeon this week and got our due date. We are going to get to hold this little (very wiggly) baby on March 2nd, Lord willing, unless Itbert decides to come sooner, in which case we rush in to get a C-Section then... not many people are willing to deliver a breech baby vaginally these days. We understand. 

The surgeon initially wanted us to wait until 41 weeks (march 1st is my technical due date but since February 29th wasn't on people's radar last june it was called at march 2nd... so 40+1...) His thinking was if we wait the extra week the baby has more time to turn. I like this idea, I really do, but let's be honest, baby doesn't have much room to move around in NOW! A good example of this is how last week Itbert wiggled one of his/her feet up straight... toes to eyes style... and because he/she is so big that foot is now stuck up. Poor little guy has one leg waving in the wind... err... amniotic fluid! :)   The other leg is neatly bent... meaning I get kicks down by my right hip and all the way up under my right ribs! Apparently babies who have their legs up in the womb come out with legs that boing back up to their faces when they are born... Itbert will have that but just with one leg! :) Such a little goof ball! Can't wait to meet him/her! Less than 2 weeks now!

Look at this big belly!!!!