Eric and I absolutely love singing to Clara (and Abby, too). We’ll sing songs in their original form, but often we change the lyrics to be about them. It’s a silly thing that we do, but it’s special. When Clara is having trouble falling asleep, I like to sing to her. I’m not sure it actually helps, but I enjoy doing it anyway. I started singing “Rockabye Baby” to her last night and realized the lyrics are kind of morbid sounding. So I decided to sing her a song from an album I just downloaded from Scars on 45. The song is called “Heart on Fire.” As I was swaying and walking around the room singing this song to her, one part in particular stuck out at me. It goes like this –

When you’re standing on your own
And you feel you’ve got nobody around you
Yeah you know I’ll be the one who helps you from your knees

When I first heard those lyrics, I thought they were our anthem for Clara. Then, as I sang them to her last night, it hit me that she’s never going to feel like she’s on her own. We won’t let her. The lyrics apply more to Eric and I than they do to Clara. Though sometimes we forget, Eric and I can conquer almost any problem when we’re together. We’ve been through a lot in our seven years, and I have no doubt that we can handle just about anything life throws our way. So take that, world. We’re stronger than you think.

Due to my high blood pressure, I knew since early January that I’d be induced at 39 weeks. Thankfully, I had already made some progress on my own, making the induction more favorable (and therefore making a C-section less likely). This made me more happy than I can say since I spent most of my pregnancy thinking I’d end up having a C-section due to my placenta being too close to my cervix. It moved just in time, though, which was a huge relief. I never had a birth plan, but one thing I knew for certain was that I didn’t want a C-section if I could help it.

After staying up way too late the night before trying to do things around the house and double check all our preparations, Eric and I arrived at the hospital at 6am. My doctor came in to break my water around 7:45, and Pitocin was started about half an hour later. It was around this time that it started to snow. Eric and I totally called that, way back in January when we had an unseasonably warm day. Sure enough, Clara had snow on her birthday.

I was managing the pain pretty well for a few hours but ended up getting Nubain sometime before lunch. I absolutely hated the way it made me feel, which was insanely drowsy. I couldn’t even hold my head up, but the pain was still strong enough that I couldn’t go to sleep. I was checked close to 1:00 and was at 6cm. Shortly after that, the pain became unmanageable and I asked for the epidural. It was a long half hour or so waiting for it, but I felt immediate relief once it was in place. I was so drugged feeling that I could barely comprehend what the anesthesiologist was telling me before and during the procedure, and the intense pain from the contractions certainly didn’t help. I fell asleep off and on for about an hour after that, during which time Eric was bored out of his mind. I was just so happy to have the sleep because I felt so low on energy beforehand. When I woke up and got checked by my nurse, it was time to start pushing. I was feeling much more energetic than I had been before my nap, and obviously the excitement of meeting Clara helped too. I could still feel the pressure of the contractions, but the pain wasn’t unbearable like it had been pre-epidural. The nurse told me that first time moms could spend anywhere from 1-3 hours pushing, so I was trying not to get my hopes up of meeting her quickly. After 70 minutes of pushing and a few scares from her heart rate dropping, Clara Jane was born at 3:49pm. She weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 21 inches long. They placed her on me immediately, and it was the most surreal moment of my life. A couple hours later, we were finally moved to our postpartum room and got to spend the evening with Clara. At this point we still hadn’t decided on a name, so we spent some time looking at her and finally decided to go with Clara (the other option was Carly). We didn’t get nearly as many pictures I expected we would, but that’s what happens when there’s only one person there to call/text/email/answer the phone. Between having her there, being frequently checked by the nurses and trying to contact everyone, the first night was a whirlwind.

The next day, my friend Maria (whose due date was the day after mine) ended up in labor and delivery. Eric and I got to take Clara over to see her and her husband Gordon, which was kind of hilarious. We joked about ending up in the hospital at the same time but didn’t actually expect it to happen. On our last day there, Eric kept checking the nursery to see if their son had been born, but he didn’t arrive until a few hours after we’d checked out.

Overall, I’d say the experience was pretty easy, at least compared to what I’d prepared myself for. I won’t go so far as to say that it was pleasant or anything, but it definitely wasn’t the scary, awful thing I’d made it out to be in my mind. The food, on the other hand, was way worse than I expected. We were thankful to have friends bring us dinner (and yes, even fast food was better than hospital food). And luckily the hospital coffee shop was awesome so we at least had delicious coffee drinks while we were there. We were discharged after two nights and got to bring our sweet girl home (and enjoy some of the meals I had frozen for us ahead of time). It’s hard to believe she’s already been here for two weeks!

I realize this is kind of late since Clara is nearly two weeks old. And even though it’s not completely finished, I wanted to go ahead and share some shots of her nursery. We worked incredibly hard to make everything perfect for our little girl, and we spent a lot of time DIY-ing various aspects of the room. It was a little crazy considering we just moved into our house the week before Christmas, but I’m so proud of the progress we made. We wanted a room that wasn’t too themed and that would be something she could grow into, and I think we accomplished that. I still need to make curtains, but this isn’t a huge priority just yet since Clara is still sleeping in her bassinet in our room. I’m thinking about making some type of roman shades, but I’m not completely committed to that idea.

First up, the lighting. Her room didn’t have an overhead light and wasn’t even wired for one. After a long day of repeatedly going up in the attic and outside to the breaker box, Eric wired her room for one (yes, he’s that handy). I found a candle holder at Home Goods for $20 and spray painted it white. With that and a few dollars for a lighting kit, we had a totally customized and one of a kind light for her room. I love the modern look and think it goes really well with the rest of the room. It’s hard to tell in the photos, but the ceiling panel is painted the same color as the walls.

The dresser was definitely a larger task than we initially anticipated. After hours of removing the peeling veneer, we were finally able to start sanding and prepping. It took a few weekends since we had to let the wood filler dry, then the paint dry, then the next coat of paint, then the poly, etc., but it was totally worth it. The dresser was a $40 Craigslist find, and we spent $8 on the paint (thanks to Martha Stewart paint being half off at Home Depot). I had the hardest time finding drawer pulls but lucked out one day at Anthropologie when I found these for $2.95 a piece. If you know Anthropologie, you know that price was a steal. I love the dresser color and am so happy we chose it instead of white because it adds so much character to the room.

The details: The mobile, though not difficult, was incredibly monotonous and time consuming. I had to trace 75 circles for each pom, then cut all of those out and then hot glue them onto the styrofoam balls. Like everything else, this project was totally worth the time because I love the end result so much. The wall frame is from Ikea, and all I did was remove the glass and spray paint the frame pink. I made the owl vinyl wall decal using my Silhouette, and I think I’m going to add Clara’s name inside the frame soon. I sewed the changing pad cover myself, and I’m so glad I found a multi-colored chevron print fabric. It really brings together all the colors in the room. I made the owl above the changing table by cutting out the shape from scrapbook paper and then using some Martha Stewart flower scrapbook stickers for the eyes. I wasn’t sure I’d like it, but I’m really happy with how it came out. Plus, it matches the dresser almost perfectly. The owl vase is from Anthropologie, and I made the flowers using felted wool balls and floral wire. The framed owls on the bookshelf were made using a Martha Stewart owl punch and Martha Stewart paint swatches. The bookshelf is the glossy white Expedit from Ikea, and the inserts are from Target.

Here’s a final shot, taken from the doorway, so you can get an idea of how the room looks as a whole (the bookshelf is against the right wall but didn’t make it into the picture):

With less than two weeks to go, we’ve finally made some progress on the nursery. There are still so many things we have left to do, but at least it’s coming along (however slowly that might be). This week, I ordered the glider and ottoman. Sadly, the glider won’t be here until I’m in the hospital, but I guess it’s not that big of a deal since I won’t be needing it before then anyway. Here’s a picture of the ottoman, a knitted green pouf from CB2:

I think it’s going to look great in the room and really add a pop of color. For the glider, we just went with something simple, neutral and non-glider looking:

We haven’t seen either of these in person, so here’s to hoping they both turn out to be what we’re looking for. If you want to imagine what they’ll look like in the room, here’s a peak at the paint color we used (Playful Porpoise from Benjamin Moore):

Things certainly have changed over the past several weeks. I’m at the point now that getting up is becoming increasingly difficult. Some nights I feel like my stomach is protruding so much that I need to support it with a pillow, and I’ve long forgotten what sleeping comfortably feels like. Still, I know I’m lucky in that my pregnancy has been a fairly easy one. And with less than two weeks to go, I know it won’t be long before sleeping uncomfortably turns into not sleeping at all. Here are a few pictures from the past month or so. Our baby girl is definitely growing!

32 weeks

34 weeks

35 weeks

37 weeks

In 34 days, Eric and I will officially be parents. I say officially because I kind of feel like we already are, even though our little cupcake has yet to arrive. After all, we spend most of our free time preparing for her. We’ve put off other things (some important, some not) to make sure her nursery is perfect. On Saturday, we started refurbishing her dresser. What we thought would be a simple project turned into us scraping wood veneer off one side of the dresser for two hours. Using box cutters. This was only after we tried steaming the veneer off using an iron and a wet towel. Thankfully, we were able to laugh about it while it was happening. What else could we do? I joked with Eric that if this had been an episode of Renovation Realities, the black screen would’ve popped up with some comment like, “Eric and Courtney would’ve known how to remove wood veneer if they watched DIY Network.” The thing is, we DO watch it. And I Googled to try to find the best way to remove it. That method just didn’t work. Even though it put us behind, it was worth it. I know the dresser is going to be perfect in our little girl’s room. After filling the holes and gashes with wood putty, I got to take a break and attend a friend’s baby shower while Eric sanded and primed the dresser. He put the first coat of paint on yesterday. Here’s a sneak peek at the color:

I’ll post before and after pictures of the dresser once it’s completed, which probably won’t be until this weekend. I can’t wait for it to be done so that I can start organizing her clothes and diapers. In the meantime, I have plenty of cloth diaper prep to be done so that they’ll be ready to go when we bring her home.

My induction date has been set for March 4 (thanks, high blood pressure). It feels weird knowing exactly when we’re going to meet her (assuming nothing changes before then), but I kind of like having a definite timeline to work within. If nothing else, I know when I need to start baking the snacks we’re taking with us to the hospital. I’ve got a few meal ideas in mind that I need to prep/cook, as well, and I’m hoping everything will come together in time.

My stomach didn’t pop for what felt like a really long time. There was this funky in between stage where I mostly felt flabby. Now that it has popped, it just keeps getting bigger. 🙂 I can’t believe I still have 10 weeks left to grow! Of course, I can’t blame all of it on Baby. The combination of cookware still being in boxes from the move and not having a refrigerator has meant that we’ve been eating out for nearly every meal. Thankfully, that will no longer be the case come Wednesday when our refrigerator arrives. I seriously cannot wait, and I’ve already asked Eric what we should cook for dinner that night. I think it will be quite some time before either of us wants to eat out again.

There are some gaps between photos, mostly because there wasn’t much of a change from week to week until recently. Now the change is very obvious. I can’t believe I’m already in my third trimester and that Eric and I will be meeting our girl soon.

19 weeks

25 weeks

28 weeks

29 weeks

30 weeks

2012 is going to be an exciting year for us. With our ever-growing list of house projects and our little cupcake’s arrival in March, we’ve got plenty to keep us busy. We’ll (hopefully) have some before and after photos to share in the coming months before Baby C makes her appearance. A few things that will be in the works soon: painting Baby C’s nursery, sewing a crib skirt and possibly curtains for the nursery, finding and refurbishing a dresser for the nursery, updating the fireplace, installing bamboo floors in the entryway. The house list is way longer than that, but those are the things we’re hoping to get done in the very near future.