Labor?

We aren't positive at this point...however it looks like we could be starting this process!

At 4 pm this afternoon when I went to the potty I noticed that I was bleeding...not much, but when you are pregnant any bleeding is enough. After paging the midwife and having me frantically trying to tell her about the blood and having the phone cutting out she told us to go ahead up to labor and delivery to be checked out...the big concern was that I hadn't felt Lily move since the bleeding started. In the car me and Shawn gently talked about what could be wrong and what could be going on, but quickly realized thinking about worst case thinking was not helping us, so we made jokes and talked about anything but.

Aunt Natalie meet us at the hospital to take Johnny home and let him play with Sammi and Ginger. Grams and Pops where in PA visiting Grandpap Steve and Grandma Joyce and hopped in the car at the first call that we where headed into labor and delivery.

Very quickly after getting checked in to triage the nurse was very unconcerned and found Lily's heart beat right away! She was fine and my bleeding was stopping!!! It really was never bleeding, but my "bloody show." Which is a brownish blood discharge meaning that my cervix is softening and it is completly normal. I started to cry. I was so happy that nothing was wrong, but at the same time bloody show does not mean you are in labor, just that "labor could start soon." We sat connected to the monitors for 40 mins or so and Lily was very active and we saw that I was having some contractions, small and not consistent, but still they where there. I was let go from the hospital and told to come back when I felt ready to be checked again...the nurse was very confident that I would be back and in labor tonight! I SURE HOPE SO!!! My mom said she had this with each one of us and with in 8 hours she had a baby in her arms!

Since I was let go Shawn and I went to Chilis for some spicy food and then walked around Target to get things going. Contractions are coming more often and getting intense. The timing is still inconsistent, but they are getting worse. Still not painful and I can easily talk through each one, or even ignore them completely. I feel 80% sure that I am in labor, but at any point it could just all stop and it could still be a week before we have her. But for now I am keeping moving, walking, and rocking trying to get the contractions to come on more! Johnny will be staying tonight with Grams and Pops and Shawn and I will be headed home to clean up and keep moving. We will hopefully be updating as this goes on, or when it stops.

38 Weeks Pregnant

Lily got this bow and a bunch of other really cute stuff from our friend in Georgia, Jennifer. I am so excited about this and I love it so so much!


The weeks seem like they are flying by, but I feel every second. Just two weeks until our due date, and she mine as well stay in there until then and give me more time to knit and clean. However, each day I am more uncomfortable (itchy belly, back pain, swollen ankles, random cramps, lack of sleep...), but that is pregnancy and you just have to live with it, because it is all worth it.

Our weekly appointment was yesterday and it was a little more intense then usual. I took Johnny alone, since Shawn had a big inspection at work, and the midwife was trying to figure out how big Lily is (she is big! and there is extra fluid with her) and felt what she thought was her head, up at the top of my belly and her heart beat about where my belly button is. So here we where again thinking that she was breach. The midwife discussed the fact that I am 38 weeks and we need to get her flipped ASAP! Our practice and hospital won't let a breached baby be born vaginally, let alone that mom go into labor naturally. So me and Johnny headed back down to Labor and Delivery for the second time in three weeks to have an ultrasound and figure out where this baby is. If she was breach again I was given the impression that we would be staying at the hospital and getting a doctor to do a manual flip (which is painful for me and can cause cord wrapping around baby's neck or even an emergency C if she went into distress,) right then and there and if they couldn't get her to flip we would be scheduling a c-section for next week! Thank god she is flipped, and they found her head immediately! nice and low! What this does mean is that she seems rather big. Her head is low, her heart beat is high, and her butt is so big everyone thinks it is her head! This week the panic over that took over most of the appointment, so next week I am going to talk more about her size and the extra fluid to see what that means, if anything.

This last week end we went outlet shopping at some outlets and I got squared away for labor! I got a new night gown to wear during labor, a new terrycloth wrap for after the tub, a new bath robe and new fuzzy flip flops....all in a very cool zebra print! I also got some comfy night gowns for after Lily is born and while we are still in the hospital. I will look great for the millions of pictures we will be taking and be comfy all the time! Our bags are packed and our plans are set, it is real and we are having a baby!

In the past few weeks we have been gathering everything Lily will need and getting some special items as well. This adorable tutu we got off of ebay and I love it. It is very poofy and professionally made, though it is hand made. She is going to wear this for her newborn pictures and Johnny is going to wear his tux!

This is just a winter coat that Grams got on clearance at Children's Place, but it really hit me as adorable. Everything is pink, EVERYWHERE!!!!

35 Weeks and all is Right on Track

Just a quick Lily update. Our due date is very rapidity approaching and we are getting more excited and more nervous every day! We had our big 35 week check up today, so we all went to the midwife appointment together. After an exam we now know that Mommy is not dilated, but beginning to soften, which means we will probably get to our due date, but we are right on track. We had to have an ultrasound to make sure Lily was head down and in the right position...which she is! No more breached baby fears! So in short everything is going great!

This past week end Shawn and I went to our birthing class together. It was a wonderful experience. I felt like it brought Shawn and I closer and laid out what Shawn's roll will be during labor and helped us make plans for the event. Everything is starting to get real and it is hitting me that labor is getting closer and closer and I am really going to have to do this again, oh crap! I started freaking out again. We are planning on going more natural then we did with Johnny, avoiding induction or pitocin or any pain medication at all. Actually the hospital now has a labor tub suite that I have requested, so we plan on using hydrotherapy to help with the pain. But up until today it was all just a distant plan, today it became real and next week when I hit 37 weeks I will be considered full term! and ready for her to come out at any time. As a good labor partner and daddy to be Shawn helped me out a lot today reminding me that I handled labor and delivery just fine last time, when I had little idea of what to expect. With a second baby everything in my body knows and is prepared to do it all again. Labor is suppose to go quicker and be easier, we can do this! It is only a day or two out of a life time we will have. And after we will have our Lily girl and our family will be whole. I can't wait for Johnny to meet his little sister!

31 Weeks!

May 28th is very rapidly approaching! So we are getting everything ready!!! Lily's beautiful bassinet, we made a little extra sweet with a big pink bow and some sweet cloth lilies. I am not sure how long those lilies will stay there, since they are just tucked under the mattress right now.

Grams made these curtains that match the curtains on the bassinet, ceiling to floor! With a pink layered sheer underneath. And the pictures in the wall came from Mommy's room when she was a little girl! One still has the receipt on the back!!! $7.99 for one and $3.99 for the other (it had broken glass.)

Her room is very sweet!

And here is her Mommy knit keepsake sweater that she will wear home from the hospital! Mommy got it done in two days, because I wanted to see it so badly. It is the perfect size and so sweet! I can't wait to see her in it.

We had another midwife apt this week...now that Mommy is in her third trimester she gets to go every two weeks. And still everything is growing great, no weight gain and Lily's heart rate is still perfect. Mommy has been having rather painful "braxton hicks"contractions, but that is normal with a second pregnancy, as well as the charlie horses in my legs and cramps and pulls all around. Lily has not turned yet, she is breached...but that is not a big concern with 9 weeks left to go. I should start the home remedies to turn her myself and if she is still breached next visit I will need to see a chiropractor to get some help. If by 37 weeks she hasn't turned the midwife will have to try and that I have heard is painful...further then that and a C section will be needed. But with all that said the midwife wasn't concerned with 9 full weeks left.

Preparing with 3 Months to Go!!

The nursery is officially painted!!! I am not sure how well you can see the paint color with the pictures but trust me it is beautiful and I am very happy with it! The paint color we choose was actually called "sweet baby girl." It is all a little more clique then I normally like, but I can't picture anything being more perfect for our Lily. The rocking chair is the one my mom rocked me in as a baby! My mom also plans on making some white tie back curtains to go over this one.

Her room from the door way.

Some signs I forgot I bought from Micheals a while back. I was trying to stick with stark white and pink in the nursery, so we might save these for her, but we will see once the bed and everything else gets in the room.

Now Mommy gets to use her nesting energy and organize all of the stuff we have been buying and the stuff from Samantha and Ella and Johnny. I am really excited!!! Shawn won't let me stay in her room since he says it still smells too strongly of the paint.

so I guess I will have to finish organizing all of Johnny's cloths from the last two years.

Johnny is spending tonight and probably tomorrow night with Grams and Pops, of course he is having a great time, it is always so exciting for him to go over there. He spent today over there so Mommy and Daddy could get Lily's room painted and his room really clean and tomorrow Daddy is having his orthoscopic knee surgery, so Johnny will continue to get some extra time with Grams and Pops, but I am getting some great reports that he is behaving himself and being curious and sweet.

Here is the sleeper Mommy came home from the hospital in, in Germany in November of 1984! We are going to take it the hospital with us for Lily to wear there, since she has her own extra special come home outfit. This is just one of the many outfits I found in my keepsake boxes this afternoon!! It is so exciting to have these items that where once mine and can now be hers and maybe one day her daughter's!

We have so many ideas for Lily's room and now they can all start to come to life, since everyday I am reminded that we are getting closer and closer to May 28th!

24 Weeks and 4 days Pregnant

Lily's come home dress...isn't it darling? Grams found it on Ebay!! It is perfect because it is nice and small on the top but flares beautifully! Mommy is going to make a sweater, cupcake hat, booties and a blanket! all in pure white and soft pink!!!


We are going along nice and smooth. Almost in the third trimester, but sometimes Mommy feels like we are already there. Mommy is pretty tired and sore, but Lily is having a grand time in my belly, flipping and kicking A LOT! It is very comforting to feel her, but it also makes the times she isn't moving more stressful. We had our monthly OB apt yesterday and again everything is beautiful!!! Mommy's uterious and weight gain are perfect and Lily's heartbeat is "beautiful" (exact word used by the midwife.) Another blessedly uneventful month! Asides from heartburn, cramps, strange gas pain in my shoulder, some crazy emotions, and a general lack of energy everything is going wonderfully!

We have been nearly stuck in the house for 4 days with the big snow storm that hit this past week end and the other one that is going to hit today and tomorrow. Luckily Mommy is having a nesting and energy surge so a lot has been getting cleaned up and moved around. Though I am still have panic attacks that she is going to be here any minute and we are not nearly ready! I wonder if we ever really will be ready? At least at some point in the next 3 months we can clean out and paint her room!!

Lily's Loot

It is a tradition in our little family that we go out and get something special for a fetus right after the big ultrasound and sex determined. So after Shawn and I left our ultrasound last week we went to target and got this adorable animal sleeper for our Lily. I am a big one for keepsakes and keeping memories as long as possible. Johnny still has his Pooh Bear gown and cap that we bought when we knew he was safe and healthy and a boy.

Our favorite part was the fuzzy sheep feet :)


And this is the loot! Thank goodness for Samantha, who will be about 11 months older then Lily, therefore all of her season cloths will be perfect for Lily and her parents and grandparents keep everything so nice! She already has a ton of cloth, and the infant bath tub. Grams and Pops went out and bought her new bottles and binkies (Soothie this time, since I do plan on nursing most of the time, at least during the day) and this adorable binkie holder tether that makes the binkie look like it is a big flower around her mouth!

Speaking of binkies and big boys, Johnny has been learning to give his binkie up. He is down to using it just at naps and bed time and next week we planning on going less on that as well. He is such a good boy and has been loving helping out around the house, and cleaning up after himself. After each meal he puts his plate in the sink without being asked! He listens real well and does as he is told, most of the time. Every day he amazes me more and more with how smart and create he is. He has a new toy from Santa, Little People. The are these plastic people without legs that fit into various houses and cars and other stuff. Johnny got a bus, an animal train, a school house and a yard with blocks and a bunch of people. He really gets that they are people and loads them into the bus or train then "vrooms" it around, even "choo choos" with the train. In this cold winter though we have learned that he has minorly sensitive skin. He started getting itchy rashes under his hair and down his back, belly, and face. The Dr says it is just a reaction to the cold dry winter. He has been getting washed less, lotioned more and benydrl some nights. It seems to be controlled well enough, though the red bumbs and spots on his face keep coming back, he is a real trooper!

On a brother sister note, I have been having trouble adjusting to having two children. What is said is true, there is always enough love and when we found out we where having a second baby I loved her immediately, with no question and there was enough love for both, attention is another thing. I have been planning a lot of knitting projects for Lily, aside from her come home set, there are tons of patterns for dresses and dolls, and bonnets and ruffle butt diapers that I have been dieing to try, but the items I have made for Johnny have always been limited. A monkey doll is best I have made for him. I started a cable cartiagn hoody for him for his birthday, but I always want them to feel equal and know that I love them the same. The knitting projects is just the start. I have always wanted a daughter, but one daughter would have never been enough and I never want Johnny to feel like he isn't as special to me because he is a boy, I want us to keep having the connection we have now! He will always be my first born and son, more special to me then I ever thought something could be and in our own way as, mother and son I have found out who I really am and I see more of myself in his eyes. I wish I was better with words. There is more in my love for Johnny that I hope he can always feel. and I hope this makes sense to both of them one day. I feel so blessed to have two healthy happy children who will always be with me!

I think that is a full update for now. I promise a Christmas post this week :)

IT IS A HEALTHY GIRL!

Say hello to Lily Jean Branson, Johnny's little sister and our Little Cupcake!!! 19 week ultrasound today went beautifully and she is 10 ounces and everything is working and developing very smoothly!

It was another one of those wonderful days where you realize and feel what is really going on. She started moving nearly three weeks ago and the kicks and movements have become stronger every day, but today watching her on the screen and seeing each part of her, from her legs to her finger, her heart, her spine, everything...it was over whelming. It is all real, we are really having another baby, we are really having a daughter. Daddy spent the day thinking about how real she finally is and said it more then once. Mommy spent the day on the phone with Grams planning out her nursery (antique white and pink...lots of ruffles, and Lilys!) and what Mommy will knit for her to come home from the hospital in (a cupcake bean hat, ruffle blankly, and antique white gown.) We even started a small registry on Amazon.com, more of a list of what we still need. She is real, and now we really start planning and organizing to welcome her into our lives.

The beanie hat Momma is going to make Lily to come home from the hospital in!