I never went through a nesting period while I was pregnant. I never flipped out about the nursery or cleaning the house. My husband, however, did go through a nesting period.
Towards the end of the pregnancy Luke decided to take on a few home improvement projects. First he built an attic into our garage, then he painted and added chair rail to the nursery. He organized every closet and storage space in the house. Finally, one month before the due date, he decided it was time to refinish our concrete floors. I was a little apprehensive about clearing out our house, moving everything into the garage, and staying with our neighbors that close to the due date but I never thought I would go into labor.
Go into labor I did... while our house was torn apart and we were staying with our neighbors.
Luke had a night test the day before Grace was born and didn't get home (to our neighbor's house) until 2 in the morning. Around the time he came home I noticed I was having false labor contractions. The contractions never got worse or consistent, they were just annoying. They lasted all morning. Finally around noon they went away. I still did not think I would go into labor for a few weeks.
It was the first day of the Olympics and we were looking forward to watching the opening ceremonies with our neighbors. Just as the opening ceremonies started my contractions picked back up. I figured they were false labor again, but told Luke to time them just for fun. It didn't stay fun for long. The contractions quickly got worse, spread to my back and were 7 minutes apart. An hour and a half later the contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and we left for the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital I was dilated to a 6. I got an epidural really quickly. The epidural slowed things down.
Grace was born at 2:12 am.
She was 5 lbs 11 oz. 18 inches long and the sweetest thing I've ever seen.
Just like that... we were a family of three.
My favorite moment with her came a few hours after she was born. Grace was taken to the nursery to be checked out and cleaned up. The nurse said she would be back in about an hour. Luke and I stayed up waiting for her to come back. When they finally brought her back, around 4:30 in the morning, they left her in her bassinet at the foot of my bed. Luke and I decided we should probably get some sleep. But that little bundle of blankets at the foot of my bed was making little squeaking noises. I knew I would never sleep with her so far away. We had been sleeping together for 8 months... you can't break a habit like that overnight. I crawled down to the foot of my bed and picked up that little squeaking bundle. I ditched my pillow (I didn't want it anywhere near her face) and left the blankets around my waist. I pulled the tiny baby close to me. She snuggled up to me and stopped squeaking. Her breathing became slow and even. She went right to sleep. I fought sleep as long as my exhausted self could fight it. I wanted to stay awake and feel her breathing forever.
It was magical.
We are so happy and grateful that Grace has joined our family. We love her so much and can't wait to watch her grow. I cannot believe she will be 2 months old in a week and a half! I have so much blogging to catch up on!
