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She's Finally Here!

So Firday started out like any other day. My mom came down and she highlighted my hair and went to my OB visit. We ran a few errands, and quick rished lunch in before my visit at 3:45 with the doctor's. Thank God we did. At the doctor they determined that again my blood pressure was too high and that I had to go to the hospital for tests again. So my mom and went to Bryn Mawr, and by the time we got there, my blood pressure was fine, but my tests came back not so great. So the doctors decided to induce labor. Jon was at work, and he ran home and got his stuffand my stuff together and let the dogs out. Well, my mom waited with me until around 8 and went home to get her stuff together to come down the following morning. Jon finally got the hospital around 10 and he seemed like her had alot of stuff but he didnt have my bag or sophie's diaper bag. So he ran home and got them (he was so excited I think he was calling everyone). So he finally got the hospital for good about 12 and he went to sleep. I started having contractions around 2 and boy, the pain medicine didnt come soon enough. I couldnt sleep and finally around 5 they gave me something to make me sleep. Jon slept through everything and kept telling me to go to sleep. I kept asking him if he ever pooped out a watermelon. Then I called him the Taliban because he put a blanket around his head so he didnt hear me. I got up and showered and my family came about 8. They started giving the inducing drug right around the time my family got there. By 10:30 or so I was having full on contractions and boy was I mean. I dont remember much, but I remember not wanting any noise at all. Jon kept talking and finally he went out to sit with my dad. My mom and sister were the most amazing things I could ahve asked for, the held my hands and coached me and kept me focused. Finally I got my epidural and it was WONDERFUL. I wouldn't have been able to do it without it. After 17 hours of contractions, laughing with my mom and sister and pushing for only 25 minutes or so, Sophie made her grand entrance. It was the most surreal moment of my life. She weighed 6lbs 7 ozsand was 19 and a half inches long. She was the most perfect little thing I had ever seen. She didn't cry that much and her eyes were opened so wide. My family stayed for a little while and then left so they could come back on Sunday. They took Sophie upstairs and cleaned her up and moved me to another room and Jon went to Wawa and got me dinner. It was SO good to eat. Sunday We had many visitors, and I was still on bed rest so I was exhausted by the end of the day. Last night Jon came and picked us up after work and brought us home. It was nice to be home. The house didnt seem to be nearly as clean as when I left, but Jon was a huge help with Sophie last night. I heard him singing her to sleep in the baby monitor. It was too cute.

We have the best family and friends. My parents were wonderful and it was so amazing having them there with us. They are coming on Thursday to take Sophie and I to the doctor. Sophie can't wait to see them.

My sister should go into business being a doula or something. Quite honestly, next to the epidural, she was the best thing. She was so helpful and she got the cut Sophie's cord (jon hates hospitals and is extremely squeamish)and I'm so glad she did.

Thank you to everyone who called and emailed and was praying. She is the most delightful little girl, we could not be anymore blessed.

Love you,

Ashley

The Blob

So it's Monday and I am exhausted from the weekend. I spent all day Saturday at my mom's and then yesterday I spent all day with my mom and my aunts Rose and Sharon in Reading at gift show. I am so pooped. I think I may have hit the snooze button 7 or 8 times this morning (but who's counting?)

Where do I start...I went to the doctor last week, and she said that I have already started dialating and that if I am any further along with no contractions next week for my doctos appointment that they are just going to induce me on Thursday (my next doctor's appointment). I honestly feel like I could go at anytime, but we will see where we are at on Thursday.

Saturday my mom had one of her jewelry and purse shows, so I went to help her. I am beginning to think that her jewelry and purse shows are just an excuse to go to new York shopping and to have her friends over and family over becuase everytime we have a show its like a big family reunion. (I can honestly say it's one of my favorite things in the world.) Anyway, the valances are finished (hopefully you saw the pictures above) and they are the most fabulous things EVER! I can't even believe how they turned out. I am so happy. My mom did a perfect job on them. While I was at my mom's on Saturday, her cousin and aunt came over (Mae and Brenda) and Brenda gave Sophie her bassinet from when she was a little girl. It is the dearest thing in the world. (Hopefully Sophie wont be as destrcutive as her mother and father were when they were growing up.) I cant wait for her to come and see all the lovely gifts everyone has showered her with. I left my mom's around 5 or so and drove home. Jon was working all day and I when I got home I started having a really upset stomach and I felt like I was having contractions and I started freaking out because there were a few things I still needed to get and a few things I ordered online that didnt come yet. So I called my mom and she told me to pack and get ready and get a shower and be ready when Jon got home. I called Jon and he was like ok, clean out the car, pack, and be ready and we'll go to Target on the way to the hospital. So of course I hurried and packed as much as I could, got all of Sophie's stuff in her bag, got my stuff together and got her baby seat to take out to the car, cleaned out the car, and was trying my hardest to figure out how to hook the seat in the car when Jon finally came home. He was covered in mud and sun burnt so bad, I just laughed and laughed laughed at him, I wish I would have gotten a picture of him readgin this baby seat manual in his Herman Survivors and work shorts with all this mud all over him. So we are working so hard to figure this baby seat out, and you know it was like in a different language how to disengadge and reengadge and all this other stuffm but finally we got it figured out. Jon got a shower and we went to Target. Got everything we needed and came home and went right to bed (we were both so exhausted.)

Sunday Jon got up and went to work at like 5:30, and I woke up to say good bye and went right back to bed. I slept in until 9:15 I think and my mom had called several times to see if I was in labor or if I was coming to meet her and my aunts at the gift show in Reading. Well I wasn't in active labor so I figured, lets go to the gift show. I threw my hospital bag and sophies diaper bag in the car and figured if I got into labor I am only two turnpike exits from Bryn Mawr, I'll be fine. So I went and am I ever glad I did. I had the best day. We had so much fun and it was nice to get out and not have to be anywhere at any certain time and rish around. I love being with my mom and her friends, we always have so much fun.

So this week is just keeping the house clean and jamming to get all my work done before Thursday. Jon wakes up every morning and says is today the day? I have no clue, but I can't wait.

Love you all,

ash.

P.S and I forgot to mention the reason for the title of my post. On Saturday, My aunt Rose was telling someone about Sophie's website and she was like, " oh yes, its this new things that young people have it's called a blob." It was too cute for words so this is now Sophie's Blob.

So more getting ready for Sophie...Jon put her stroller together the other night while he watched hellboy 1. I decided I would do some paperwork instead of watching (can you really blame me?) Last night we did the pack and play together while we watched Hanity and Colmes. I think other than her curtains, we are pretty much done with her room and her stuff being put together. I need to pack our bags for the hospital and I rented a Childbirthing video from the library just so Jon could watch it before the big day. Last Friday, I met my mom and our family friend Susie at the Franklin Mills mall and we had the nicest time. I have been looking high and low for pictures that would go with Sophie's decor in her room only to come up empty handed everywhere I looked. Well here I forgot that Susie had given Sophie the gift of cash at her shower and while we were shopping at the Mega Marshalls at Franklin Mills I found the most amazing pictures for Sophie's room, so it was kinda neat that Susie was along with us and she got to help pick them out. I have one more wall that needs a picture and while we were reading in bed the other night, I was browsing through the pottery barn catalog and they have this new freehanded sketch of Eifel Tower on canvas (just black and white) and it made me think of the books Eloise in Paris and Eloise at the Plaza (they are kids books if you never heard of them and they are to die for, everyone should have them if they have girls) so I decided to find one of my old books and free hand a picture of Eloise and her Turtle skiperdee (check out the books they truly are great). Work has been crazy, quarterly earnings announcements are being made at the end of this week and I am trying to get all the loans I have locked and approved before the rates go up, so I have been working like mad. But, I am hoping that if I get all this in and closed by end of month, I wont have to jam after Sophie is here. Jon was selected as project manager of these jobs that PPL is doing in central Pennsylvania over the fall and winter which is awesome for his company and awesome for him, but it means that lots of times, he wont be home except for on the weekends :( There are 10 sites that they are doing back to back and the ones that are over 2 hours away, they are just staying. We found out, he wont be able to take time off over the fall which means that he wont be able to go with our family to the Outer Banks. We were really looking forward to having a week with my family and Sophie and just relaxing. I know Jon really wanted to golf with my dad and sister and I was looking forward to shopping with Sophie and my mom. But, anyway, we decided that I would go with my parents and take Sophie, so I'm still excited just wish he could go along. We are on final countdown, I go to the doctor on Thursday and we tour the hospital on Sunday. I still cant believe that she is almost here. I attached some pictures of her nursery. My mom is making little valances for Sophie's room. They of course are pink, and have the cutest black pom pom trim. I will put pictured up when my mom is done. (I so can't wait to see them) Hope everyone is well. Love you all

Last Minute Things

I can't believe that in almost two weeks Jon and I will be mommy and daddy. I remember the exact night I found out I was pregnant. It was the Monday before Thanksgiving. I was getting ready for work and took a pregnancy test and nothing showed up, no lines nothing. I figured it was a malfunction and so I left it in my bathroom drawer and went about my day. I had a long, horrible day at work that day and got home really late. It was at least nine or ten when I got home. I went to get a shower and remembered that I had left the pregnancy test in the bathroom drawer, so I thought I would quick open the drawer and see if it had fixed itself or if it was still a malfunctioned test. So I turned it over and there it was staring at me, two pink lines. Right there in my face. Jon got home from work right after me and did all of his business downstairs and finally came up and I told him. He was so excited and I think we were both scared and elated all at the same time. The next few weeks were so scary because we almost lost our little baby so many times, and every doctor we went to told us there was no way we would carry this baby to full term. I remember so many nights just crying because I felt like I was loosing baby. Finally we had made it to thirteen weeks and the perinatologist (the ultrasound specialist) told us the baby was fine and everything would work out well for us. We were so excited that finally we had made it through the first trimester and that we had finally had a good report from someone. With all the good news we were just so excited to finally share our good news with everyone. Then like a freight train had hit us, one night I woke up bleeding so badly that Jon rushed me to the emergency room and as soon as the ER doctor walked in he told us that we had lost the baby. We just sat there and held each other and cried. I will never forget that night for all my life. The doctor told us that he wanted an ultrasound to make sure that my body had passed everything and that I had fully miscarried. After waiting almost 2 hours for the ultrasound, they finally took me back. The ultrasound tech was grouchy and ramy and she was visibly upset. I asked her what the problem was and she said, " Well I don't know what their problem is because there is a heartbeat and it looks like a normal baby to me" I had to pee so badly, but I was so excited again. It was so hard to be excited for us, because every time they told us that everything was great and ok, something else would show up or happen. After that night, we have been problem free and all of our reports were great. At the end of March, my mom and Jon and I went to the perinatologist to find out what we were having. I knew it was a girl. (I think my mom did too) And sure enough, the tech confirmed it was indeed a girl. All along we knew we would name a daughter Sophie or Sophia. We just couldn't decide on a middle name. Please dont ever ask my husband for suggestions on baby names, you will be sorely disappointed if you do ! There are many things he is good at, but naming babies is not one of them. After a little while and about a thousand different names, we finally decided on Sophie Caroline. A nod to our wedding (North Carolina) and my sister Carrie. The past few weeks have included jamming as much as we can in beforeSophie gets here. My mom and sister had a baby shower for us a few weekends ago which was the most amazing day I could have ever imagined. It was just too perfect. The last few weeks Jon and I have been fixing up our house, we redid our hardwood floors and ripped up all the carpeting, so we have finally been able to start putting Sophie's room together and put all her wonderful gifts in their spot for when she finally arrives. I am so excited for her to finally get here and touch her and hold her and smell her. I can't wait to put all her little outfits on her and take pictures. Mostly I can't wait to be her mom and teach her things and take her places and grow together. I remember how much fun I used to have going away with my mom and her friends and I can't wait to do that with Sophie. Tomorrow my mom and I are doing some last minute shopping for Sophie, just picking up odds and ends and getting some material for her crib blankets and bumper. I have a doctor appointment tomorrow morning and its my last one before I have to start going every week. It's all finally coming together, I really can't wait.