Week 2 and 3...

Well, we survived week 2 - again mainly due to grandma help! You really do need a 3-adult-to-1 baby ratio, it makes quite a difference. During week 2, Grandma Fran went home and Grandma Nancy arrived! We had a lot of fun with the camera with Grandma Nancy - there were tons of photo shoots of our little girl Kate, here's a few of the good ones...

We also had visitors! Kelli stopped by to say hi and got in some good awake time. Then, Kim and Diana stopped over and cooked me dinner! It was amazing (especially since Grandma Nancy had left that day, so we were all alone!); we had salmon, a salad, and tasty rice krispie treats! Thanks girls, you're the best! On Friday Katie & Joey stopped by too for our first play date with our friend Kristin. Joey looks like a beast compared to little Kate, but I'm hoping she catches up to him soon!

We also survived our weekend alone no problem. It was pretty uneventful and we even managed to get a little sleep : )

Grandma Fran arrived again on Tuesday - the additional back up was definitely welcome! She even got to do some one-on-one babysitting while Jason was out of town and I went to a book club cookie exchange. Trying to make cakepops for the exchange was maybe a little too aggressive for having a 3 week old, but somehow we managed to get them all made just in time! Even Kate is an early fan of them...

All in all Kate is a little more awake these days but she still doesn't cry much (fingers crossed it stays that way)! She started smiling more during week 3 too - but it could just be gas  :) And her weight is slowly starting to climb back up, she was back up to her birth weight as of Monday of week 3! way to go nugget! And that's about all we do, feed her, watch her squirm around, and change her diaper and then feed her again. Hopefully we'll have some more exciting adventures soon! Till then, enjoy a few more pictures (I especially like the ones of Jason celebrating his 31st birthday along with Kate celebrating her 3rd week!)...

Week 1

Well, we survived! Special thanks to Grandma Fran, who was with us through our first week. The extra help was definitely appreciated! Kate is a great baby - she doesn’t really even cry… she sleeps, eats, and poops (a lot) and occasionally gives us a smile or two. We got a little nervous about her jaundice levels after our first night at home, so we made a few extra trips to the doctors office to have it monitored. Good news is her jaundice levels are way down and we are just working on getting her weight up now, since she is so little. But nothing to worry about. Here are some pictures from her first week at home…

Welcome Kate Marie Roudabush!

So, I'm a little behind on the blogging, but I thought I was going to have more time! As most of you know by now though, our little nugget arrived almost four weeks early!

We welcomed Kate Marie Roudabush into our lives on Thursday, November 25th a exactly 12:00pm. She weighed 6lbs 2oz and was 18.5 inches long. Isn't she cute...

So now for the story...

I went to my 36 week doctor’s appointment on Wednesday and just for fun the doctor decided to check to see if I was at all dilated. And wouldn't you know it, I was already at 3cm, even the doctor looked surprised! She told us that while I could very well walk around for a few weeks at 3cm, we should probably go ahead and install the car seat this weekend just to be safe.

As you can imagine, Jason and I were a little surprised, especially since we had NOTHING ready for our little nugget. The nursery was non-existent, the furniture we ordered still hadn't arrived and we had not put together one swing, stroller, car seat, etc that we'd received so far. Jason's parents, John & Nancy, arrived shortly after our doctor’s appointment and they were all for helping us get our place baby ready. We figured we'd at least have Thanksgiving weekend to get everything organized, so we weren't too worried.

All that changed at 4am on Thanksgiving Day when I woke up to go to the bathroom and realized that my water had broke (or at least I hoped that was what was happening!). We called the hospital and they said to come on in and they would check everything out, since I wasn't even having contractions at this point. We quickly packed our bags (we hadn't even thought about doing this before hand), woke up John & Nancy to let them know we were heading out, called my parents to put them on alert, and made it to the hospital around 5am...

At around 6am they confirmed that my water had broken and moved me from Triage up to Labor & Delivery. I started having contractions around this time, but nothing too painful until about 8:30 or 9am, which is when I naturally asked for the epidural. After that I rested/slept from 9:30 till just before 11am when the doctor came in to check to see how dialated I was (for the first time since my dr. appt on Wednesday). Once again we were quit surprised (and so was the doctor) when she said I was fully dilated and ready to push!  After 45 minutes of pushing, out popped Kate Marie Roudabush! One good looking baby all things considered...

John & Nancy and Julie & Billy were able to come and visit Kate just after she arrived. It really was a blessing to have them all in Chicago for Thanksgiving! After delivery, we were moved upstairs to Postpartum... we got a sweet corner room with a beautiful view of the lake (If you're having a baby in Chicago you have to be crazy not to come to Prentice Hospital, this place is amazing). My parents and my brother arrived shortly after 4pm after catching a flight from San Antonio, and were able to spend some time with us while the Roudabush's went back to my place to make a turkey - it's still Thanksgiving after all (and I was dying for some sweet potatoes). My parents and Jason then headed home for a real Thanksgiving meal around 8pm and I waited patiently for Jason to bring me a to-go plate...

After two nights in the hospital we finally made our way home with our beautiful baby girl. It was quite a weekend and we were so thankful to be able to share it with our families!

More Baby Shower Celebrations!

Lucky me and lucky little nugget! We had two more baby showers this month; first a Chicago baby shower and then a work baby shower...

Marie and Gina and Donna and Michelle threw a wonderful baby shower in Chicago! Both my Aunt's and my counsin's were able to fly in for the weekend and we had a great time catching up. The baby shower was a huge success and we have even more baby "necessities" then I thought possible! I love it all though and I know little nugget will love it too. Thanks to EVERYONE for coming and for the amazing gifts. It was a great day and I loved being able to spend time with all of you! Here are a few pictures (more to come)...

Also, my wonderful PCA engagement team threw a surprise work baby shower for me! They decorated the audit room (pink streamers, balloons, and confetti) and made taco dip (amazing!) and cupcakes and bought all our bedding for the crib (a crib, which I hope will arrive before nugget!). Then we all headed out for a group lunch! It was awesome! Thanks to PCA and our audit team!!!

Also, here's a picture of me at 35 weeks