William Marlowe is here!!

Born 5/17 at 10:22 am weighing 10.34 lbs and 19.75 inches long! We had a rough go of labor and I'm still recovering from that. Little man is beautiful and keeps me on my toes. We're dealing with a gassy baby so he's pretty grouchy, but we're hoping we can fix it or he grows out of it soon. When he's happy he's a total love. We're very much enamored with our baby boy. Will post more when I have time :)

Almost Go Time!

Well, I'm just about 39 weeks pregnant and no sign of baby showing up anytime soon. Jimmy has been working some crazy hours lately, but we've managed to find some time to get things done and to enjoy our last few weeks as a duo. We went to Maine for a few days to spend some quality time together and to get out of Dodge. We had a wonderful time checking out the small cities of Portland and Portsmouth, and basically relaxing. We also managed to finish the baby's nursery and got some maternity pictures taken (see above- props to Des'ola Photography for the awesome pics). Everything is coming together and now we basically play the waiting game. I go to the midwives' office once a week now and they are great about letting things play out naturally and going along with my desires. I'm trying every natural way I know how to get things moving, but the little man is determined to stay put until he wants to come out.

Jimmy has been a great help and comfort during these past weeks. He's on board with my birth plan and listens to all of my worries. He helps around the house even after working 12-15 hours per day. He's even down with doing things that I think most men would cringe at (look up perineal massage-it's a good time for all *sarcasm*). Right now he's scheduled to stay behind while the boat goes out for the next underway. I'm hoping that stays put because I really need him there for the birth :)

Hopefully my next update will have some baby pictures in it! We are soooo ready to meet our son!

10 weeks to go!

I'm 30 weeks along and am very much ready to meet my son! We've been very busy the past couple of months getting everything prepared and ready for the baby's arrival. We spent the better part of an entire weekend turning the office into a nursery. We mudded cracks in walls, painted, put in new baseboards, put in new heating baseboards, made a windowsill, made bookshelves and bought a new curtain rod. Basically, this kid has the nicest looking room in the entire house! We are very fortunate that our family purchased the furniture that we plan on keeping until the kid moves out of the house.

I had a wonderful baby shower in upstate NY at my friend Victoria's house. Victoria, Meaghan and my mother worked very hard to give me the perfect low-key shower. There was lots of great food and company and the baby got some pretty cool stuff. We feel very blessed to know that there are so many people who love and care for him already.

Now that I have about 10-ish weeks left, I'm starting to develop some aches and pains. I have this one spot on my mid back that is killing me every time I sit. Since the baby is squashing my stomach, I'm experiencing some rather painful heartburn. It wakes me up sometimes at night and I have to sit up for a while to get the acid out of my throat. I've been chomping on papaya enzymes and started going to a chiropractor. I'm hoping to find some relief, but don't think I'll get much until he comes out.

Jimmy is gone for a while, but will hopefully be able to be here for the birth. As with everything related to the Navy, I won't hold my breath. I have a doula and my mother will be coming down for support. I've formulated my birth plan and am confident in my ability to have the birthing experience that I want. We toured the birthing center again and I feel better knowing that they are fully on board with natural childbirth and I have the right to refuse anything that I'm not comfortable with.

So now we just wait. In the meantime I've been trying to keep busy by substituting, job hunting for next school year and studying for my Master's exam in April. Here's to hoping the next couple of months fly by...I'm ready to be a Mommy already!

It's a Boy!

We found out a few weeks ago that we will be adding a little man to our family! I was so convinced that it was a girl throughout most of my pregnancy that I really didn't believe the ultrasound tech when she quickly told us "boy". I've now gotten used to the idea of having a little boy around and I'm starting to get very excited. He's extremely active and kicks me all the time. Every time we go in for an ultrasound he is either flopping around or trying to suck on his hand/umbilical cord. I'm hoping that might mean he'll be a good breast feeder.

I'm doing well and have finished student teaching so I officially can teach! Unfortunately, there isn't much for jobs mid-year so I've decided to take it easy and just substitute until the baby gets here and I'll try to find something permanent for the fall. My tummy gets bigger every day and we're starting to tear the office apart in order to turn it into a nursery. I'm meeting with my doula this week and will be starting a hypnobabies home study course to help with labor (not hypnotizing the baby...more like putting myself in a relaxed state of mind in order to cope with labor). I also start pre-natal yoga this week! It's hard to believe that in roughly 4 months I'm going to be a mommy...agh!

Warning: Rant

Whenever people have asked me how many siblings I have, I have always said two brothers even though I wasn't really raised with my older half-brother and I very much am the quintessential eldest child. I no longer feel the need to include my older brother in my family. I understand that you have emotional problems that require doctors and medication, I get that. What bothers me is that nothing is ever going right in your life...EVER. You are Eeoyre times 1000. This is why no one can stand being around you. You have absolutely nothing nice to say and the conversation always has to revolve around you and how miserable your life is. You don't like your life go and change it. My little brother and I weren't handed a silver spoon (contrary to what you believe). We worked hard for the success and happiness that we enjoy today.

How dare you speak to our father, the man who has given you chance after chance, like he has never cared for you. You are 37 fucking years old...when are you going to grow up? My father is beside himself because he probably feels bad for hanging up on you. I don't. He should have hanged up on you a long time ago. You have made so many poor decisions in your life and yet you still got money, a car, moved back in with them, etc. When you were too self-absorbed to give anyone a call back, your father, step-mother and sister drove to RI to make sure you weren't dead, yet no one cares or has done anything for you.

Perhaps the crowning achievement in your incredible immaturity was deciding to post for pity on facebook.

"with "family" like that, who needs a family...what a waste of time "family" is"

Wow. Then to tell our father that you don't want to ruin his picture perfect family (meaning my father, mother, younger brother and I) and that he's never been there for you is insane. Apparently you need to go back on your meds and get your head out of your ass.

If you don't need "family" like us, then we sure as hell don't need an immature, miserable, druggie waste-of-space like you. Some people might think it's sad that my child will only have one biological uncle, but my child will have plenty of non-blood related people in its life who will love him/her. I wouldn't want my kid to be around someone as toxic as you.

We're Pregnant :)

So after a year and 1/2 of trying to get pregnant, it finally happened!! I like to joke that my vagina likes to kill any and all sperm...hence why the IUI worked. We are so excited that baby West will be joining us sometime around May 2nd. I'm about 9 1/2 weeks along and that ultrasound pic was from our appointment today. Our little gummy bear is measuring right on target and has a strong heartbeat of 173. It was surreal seeing it up on the screen. It's taken us so long that I didn't really believe it until today. We're very excited as we embark on this incredible experience together. I have more pics but my internet connection sucks and blogger wouldn't let me upload anymore. Hopefully I'll have more next time!

Irene Is a Hooker

My power came on around midnight...after 6, yes you read that correctly, days of no power. The funny thing is that Irene downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit us and we didn't even get the brunt of it (VT is under water). The wonderful power company that supplies power to the majority of people in CT apparently didn't think that there would be widespread outages so they didn't have enough crew members to fix things. I'm one of the lucky ones who still had running/hot water. We use natural gas to heat our home and am so glad that I was at least able to take a hot shower. I was lucky enough that some of my friends managed to get their power back before I did so I was able to do laundry and charge electronics (thanks Kim and Samantha). I think the worst part for me was receiving an email from my husband informing me that the higher ups on the boat told them that things were fine back home and Irene wasn't all that bad. Right....jerks.

I whined a lot, but am grateful that my house is perfectly fine and that the fur babies and I are healthy. My mom's cousin is stranded at his house in VT because a bridge washed away and he has no way of leaving. Whole towns are cut off, houses are condemned and life will never be the same for a lot of people. We should all pray to whatever we believe in that these people get the help that they need.