9 days old...

Well, today is Jack's due date, but he decided to come a little early so instead of a 40 week belly shot, you get a 9 day old picture of Mr. Jack himself:

He's Here! The Birth Story:

Birth Story:

I woke up around 8am on Sunday morning and figured that my water had broke or I had peed my pants! It turns out, my water had broken. I called the Dr.'s office and since I wasn't having contractions they said to either call back when I'm having contractions or come to the hospital around 4 or 5pm either way. Well, a half hour or so later, contractions started and were only 3 minutes apart for a whole hour. I called the Dr. back and she said to come to the hospital.

We got to the hospital by about 9:30 or 10am and triage determined that yes my water had broken and I was already 5cm dilated and 100% effaced. They admitted me to a room by 10:30am and had the anesthesiologists already on their way. At first, I felt my contractions were that bad at the time, so I almost told them to come back later for the epidural, but better judgement took over me and I told them to just get it over with and got the epidural. I'm so glad I did!

From here, it was pretty much just me lying in the bed, and Jack's heartbeat would drop down to 80 (supposed to be around 140) here and there, so they would rush in and have me lay on a different side and give me oxygen. Then he'd go right back up to normal. I got checked again and was 6cm, again a little later and I was 9cm...then the last check was 10cm and they asked if I was ready to start pushing (this was around 3:15pm or so?) I told them I didn't feel the urge necessarily and my mom was on here way up from Boston, so I said I could hold out a little longer. Well, then my back started hurting a lot and the nurse just said, can we just start pushing? So I agreed, and we did some "practice pushing" which, as it turns out, I was productive with it and somehow was doing it right on the first try. The Dr. came and said we were ready and within a half hour, Jack was here!

15 minutes later....my mom arrives! She missed the birth by only 15 minutes!

Introducing Jack:

Born on Sunday 11/29/09 at exactly 4:00pm. Weighing 8 lbs, 1 oz and 20 inches long.

More pictures on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/laauuren/sets/72157622915407762/

38 Weeks - The last belly shot!

Here's the last belly shot before Jack was born. This was taken on Thanksgiving day (Thursday) and he was born on Sunday!

37 Weeks

As of today, Jack is considered to be full term! This means that if he were to arrive now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though his due date is still three weeks away.

He now weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Here's a picture courtesy of Baby Center:

Here's the belly pic - I'm huge, there's a 6lb baby in there!

Car seat installed!

Well, we were finally able to get scheduled to have a NYS Trooper install and inspect our car seat for us. We did that at lunch today, so we're all set. It's somewhat of a tight fit in the Mazda...today we realized why people own SUVs, wagons, and vans. Oh well, it will work.

Here's a picture of the seat in the car:

36 Weeks

36 weeks - I am officially 9 months pregnant!

Jack is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered his body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath.

I'm wasn't so sure what a crenshaw melon was or what looked like, but I guess this is it, according to Baby Center:

Here's a new belly picture with a comparison to my 14 week picture (yeah I look a little more tired in the second picture....):

35 Weeks

Jack is now over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

A pic of me yesterday after work:

Baby Pool

Since I don't have my 35 week picture yet (will try to get on that tonight)...I figured I'd at least contribute something cool today. I thought it would be fun to have a baby pool for guessing Jack's actual birthday/time/weight/length. It's easy and fun to participate, so join in! I haven't decided on a prize yet because I am tired and can't think straight - but either way, take a guess!

Some helpful information before you take a guess:
- It's a boy! (duh)
- This is my first baby
- His "official" due date is Tuesday, December 8, 2009
- The most my doctor would let me go overdue would be 1-2 weeks.

Guessing Website: http://www.bebepool.com/jackparish

Good luck!

34 Weeks

Okay, this post is definitely late, since I will be at 35 weeks tomorrow! But, I figured I'd get this one in here today for the 34 week post at least since Steve had snapped a picture already.  

Jack now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. His fat layers — which will help regulate his body temperature once he's born — are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well.  

Here's a picture from when I was visiting Jay & Denise's new baby, John Patrick Sullivan III (or as he's been known thus far - JPS3). He's very good and the most adorable baby ever. Let's hope Jack looks as good as this little guy!

Putting together the baby stuff

So we've started (and mostly finished) getting the baby stuff together. The swing, bouncer and travel yard (bassinet for now) are all complete. Steve did the hard work but I helped him with some of the directions because they honestly took 2 educated adults to figure out. Now we just need to buy a million batteries for all these things.

Here's a pic of Steve and Walter trying to put the swing together:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the finished bassinet in our room:

33 Weeks

This week Jack weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. (Thanks BabyCenter - now I know my baby isn't an alien anymore?)...
Anyway - here's the 33 week shot - it's crappy and dark, I should probably start taking these pictures in the daylight, but that seems impossible lately. So you get what you get!

Baby Shower #2 Recap

So, Baby Shower #2 was 2 weekends ago and I still haven't updated about it? I'm a slacker, sorry! It was at the Belhurst Castle in Geneva, NY - where we got married 3 years ago! My parents, Katie, Lauren, Chris, and Tiffanie all travelled to Rochester to celebrate with me. It was amazing to have everyone together at once. The only problem is that it was such a short visit for everyone, I wanted to keep them longer! But we had a great visit and got some good pictures. Can't wait until the next visit.

The actual shower was really great. We had a very delicious brunch, did some cute games, and I opened a whole heap of presents. As I've mentioned before, Jack's gonna be a really lucky baby to have all the things he does. After 2 weeks of the nursery looking like a bomb went off (after 2 showers in a row), I think Steve and I have restored some order. I'll get some updated nursery photos up soon. I'll make the 33 week post either tonight or tomorrow, I forgot my camera card at home.

The rest of the pictures from the shower:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laauuren/sets/72157622468465159/

32 Weeks

By now, Jack weighs 3.75 pounds (size of a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long...he's taking up a lot of space! He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz).

Here's the 32 week photo:

Baby Shower #1 Recap

I had an amazing baby shower on Saturday thrown by the lovely Denise. She really outdid herself! The food was amazing, the decorations were cute and the company was even better. I got so many beautiful gifts from everyone, it was so wonderful. Jack is one lucky baby already and he's not even here yet!

Denise did some really cool things. First, she had everyone bring a book instead of a card, so Jack's got a little library collection started already. She also created a website: http://www.tinyurl.com/jackparish for people to sign up for making dinner for us in the first few weeks that Jack's here. Aren't those fabulous ideas? I thought so. Very creative! I was able to fill in the nursery with a lot of goodies, I will have to take some new photos of it. I guess I will wait until after next weekend's shower because I'm sure it will be even more full after that.

The rest of the pictures from the shower:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laauuren/sets/72157622517137606/

30 Weeks

Jack is about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs almost 3 pounds (the size of a cabbage). I had Steve snap a picture of me last night, but the image quality isn't great and it's pretty dark. But, it's a 30 week picture.

Tomorrow is my baby shower that Denise is throwing me, I can't wait! I'm sure I'll have an update on that after it's over.

Stroller & Car Seat!

I don't have my 30 week picture yet, I'll try to get on that tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a pic of the stroller & car seat set that Aunt Cathy & Grandma got for Jack! I'm pretty excited and so thankful to have them. It's dark brown, lime green and blue - perfect!!

28/29 Weeks

I got a little behind on my 28 week post and I'll be 29 weeks in a day. So we'll just do a combined post! Last week I began my third trimester, can you believe it?! 11 more weeks to go...

I am (almost) 29 weeks pregnant

He now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. 

Here is a picture of me on Saturday while apple picking:

Here is a picture of me walking Walter, closer to the 29 week mark (I look like crap and I think the horizontal stripes don't do me any justice!....just saying):

DIY Nursery Letters - Finished!

I finally finished the nursery letters project and Steve and I hung them this afternoon. Here's the finished product:

Here's how I made them:

Materials:

• Wooden letters (purchased at JoAnn)
• Mod Podge Glue (I bought the original matte)
• Scrapbook Paper (12 x 12 size paper fit 2 letters per sheet)
• Scissors
• Foam brush for mod podge
• Ribbon
• Hot glue gun
• Sticky wall tack

Process:

1. Trace the letters on the scrapbook paper. 
2. Cut out the letters along the pencil tracing, but cut them a little smaller if you want the white border like I have.
3. Use the foam brush to coat the letters in mod podge and apply the scrapbook paper cutouts. 
4. Let dry for about 15-20 minutes.
5. Once the letters are dry, go back over the the letters with a coat of mod podge to give it the finished look. Let dry for another 20 minutes and do another coat over the top.
6. Let letters completely dry.
7. Cut ribbon in strips of 18 inches. I used two pieces of ribbon per letter. 
8. Use the hot glue gun to glue the ribbon to the backs of the letters.
9. Let dry completely. 
10. Put small nails in the wall, tie ribbons into bows and use the sticky tack behind the letters to affix to the wall. That way, the ribbon won't be bearing all the weight. That's it!

Letters hanging over the crib:

27 Weeks

I am 27 weeks (and 3 days) pregnant:
This week, he weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with his legs extended. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers. He's been getting the hiccups at least once a day lately!

Picture of me this week - there's definitely a baby in there!

Welcome - first post!

Welcome to Jack's first blog. This will be a place for me to keep everyone up to date on pregnancy progress and then photos of Jack once he's born.

Enjoy!