My crazy life

Well, I've been away for a while! There has been so much going on!

First of all, me and the fam went up to Guttenburg (above Dubuque) to take my maternity pictures. We stayed at the Hotel Julien in Dubuque the night before and then drove up the next morning to see Stephanie. She's a photographer friend that I hadn't had the opportunity to meet yet and I was as excited to finally meet her as I was to have the session. And she was sweet enough to fit us in on the day that she was having her son's birthday party. She's such a sweetie!

The girls went crazy as soon as we got to the hotel. They love staying at hotels!

Unfortunately, I only have crappy cell phone pictures. I wish I could show you all the details at this place. It was beautiful!

We took a few pictures around Stephanie's property and then drove down to the creek for the rest. It was pretty hot that day and the cool creek was a welcome relief! The girls didn't complain AT ALL (they're water babies for sure). The only problem were the minnows (thankfully, Iowa doesn't have Cotton Mouths like they do back home in NC) - they loved my toes and thought my dress was a cool cave...

This is where the fish attacked...

Stephanie is so talented!

These images belong to Stephanie Strader of Funny Gal Photography in Guttenburg, Iowa. Please do not copy or distribute them without her consent. She's super awesome and should you be in the area, you should SO TOTALLY look her up!

So then, we came home and the very next day packed up the car to go to Des Moines. The hubs had to be up there for a couple nights for some Marine stuff and I was scared to stay by myself with everything that's been going on with this pregnancy. I have to say, it was actually pretty fun (aside from the random "Active Shooter on Base" drill that they forgot to tell us was a drill...). We got to spend some time with Josh when we normally wouldn't, I got to finish reading "The Help" (which I highly recommend) and I got to try Bandit Burrito, which apparently my husband is crazy about. He makes a point to go there every time he's in Des Moines. It was pretty tasty - like Pancheros - and Gestational Diabetes friendly :). We even found a little park at a beach on a lake that we plan to take the girls back to once the water warms up some more. After I have this baby...

We got back Friday night and I had planned to get everything finished for the baby on Saturday. I was a mad woman. Can we say "Nesting"??? Yeah... I got it bad. Of course, Josh was more concerned about the yard being three feet high since we'd been gone for so long, so the yard took priority. Then he wanted to cook out (the girls kind of pushed that issue too...), but he vowed to finish everything on Sunday. Sunday we got up and went out for breakfast, then to Target to get a few more storage thingies for the baby. The whole time I was having contractions and by the time we left Target, I couldn't ignore them. I called the doc and they said to come in to L&D.

Did I forget to mention my oldest was having her preschool graduation at 2? Yeah. Missed that :(.

So I'm hanging out in L&D while the hubs takes the girls to the graduation. I was beyond upset. However, I was also 4 cm dilated at 35 weeks and 5 days and having contractions 4-5 minutes apart... No Bueno. This turned into a very bumpy ambulance ride to Iowa City in case I delivered and my baby needed to hang out in the NICU. Long story short - the contractions stopped, but they had me chill out with them until I was safe to deliver here. The girls didn't care... they thought they were at another hotel. One where Mommy didn't get out of her nightgown or leave the room or look like a member of the living world for two days... 

My hubby was so concerned - he rented a PS2 from the patient library and played video games. In his defense, he waited for the girls to go to sleep and was super awesome at taking care of them and letting me rest.

They gave us a very nice room so that everyone could stay with me. The bed was big enough for me and my husband and, as you can see, the girls shared the couch. They actually loved it. (And used their quilts a LOT :) )

I'm happy to be home now, but it was really comforting to know that, should anything happen, there were 30 doctors and nurses available to come help me. The little one pulled the cord in the bathroom one time the first morning and it got crowded real fast! That door stayed closed the rest of the time!

I've been home for a solid day and it's been nerve-wracking. I'm constantly afraid of going into labor, but I have to take care of the girls and do housework. I was able to get everything finished for the baby, for the most part, and am now just finishing up laundry. I'm safe to deliver at this point, but I want to make sure Josh is around to take me to the hospital and I would prefer having my family and bestie here. I just don't think that's going to be possible though. Also, my other photographer friend here in town is supposed to be doing my birth photography, but she's got a wedding in the Dominican Republic (I know right? How cool is that???) next week, so our dear little one has to come either before or after that trip... Grr.

Waiting for baby #3

 So that has been my life for the past couple of weeks. It's been a little fun, a little scary and a whole lot crazy! I can't imagine what the next couple of weeks will have in store...