It's Go Time

I'm doing my best to soak up every minute I have left at home before heading back to work Monday. It's going to be quite the adjustment, but we'll do our best.

For this reason, there have been days the laptop stays shut. It's amazing how quickly priorities and routines can change! Sorry blog, you've been bumped down on the list. But, it's really important to me that I document L's birth story before we're in 2015 and she's suddenly crawling, walking, etc. So much happened and I want to remember every detail.

Honestly, I'm still in shock at her arrival before her due date. I seriously did not see it coming! So here goes:

Friday, July 18: I head off to my last day of work before maternity leave! Even though L's due date wasn't until the following Wednesday (which is when my company's maternity leave kicks in), I decided to take paid time off/vacation days Mon/Tues.

On the way to work I stop at my OB's office for our weekly visit/check-in. Not surprised at all to hear we've got no activity at all - 0% dilated, 0% effaced. We make plans for our visit the following week where we'd most likely discuss my options for getting induced. In my head I'm thinking, perfect. I'll have a few days at home to tidy up the mess our kitchen reno has created, get a mani/pedi, float in the pool, etc. Can't wait!

I stay later than planned at work to do my best to close out as many open items as possible before I'm out. I cancel J & my dinner plans in the city, we can go next week!, and finally head home. As a last ditch effort to get a good nights sleep, I take Benadryl before bed.

Which keeps me up alllll night long. Ugh.

Saturday, July 19:

7:00 AM. Exhausted. Freakin A, why did Benadryl have a reverse effect on me.  J's up early to help his parents move before heading out on the boat with my dad. Tucker's been staying with my parents while our kitchen reno occurs so I head down to their house to relax with my mom while the guys are out on the water.

1:00 PM. We head out to grab lunch and my mom asks me if I'd like to split a sandwich at our favorite local place - Cravings. I decide it's probably best if I get my own, I'm pretty hungry (thank god I did this).  So we eat lunch and watch some TV before deciding on naps.

2:30 PM. Hmm, that's odd. I think I just had a Braxton Hicks contraction. And another. And another. What the....?! My mom heads upstairs to take a nap in her room and I do my best to nap on the couch but these cramps keep coming back. I haven't told her yet or messaged J. I decide to time them on one of the pregnancy apps I have first and see what happens. I grab some more water, take a walk around the house/driveway, and continue on in my state of denial.

4:00 PM. Contractions are at most 5 mins apart, but down to 2-3 mins apart at times. And are lasting up to 60 seconds. Omg.

J texts me to let me know he has his phone if I need anything (talk about timing!). I reply ok, have fun. I know I'm just going to get sent home and told it's false labor, right? So I'll just wait it out here instead.

This little voice in the back of my head reminds me of the many times I've read about when to go to the hospital: the 511 rule = 5 mins apart, lasting 1 min, for 1 full hour.

Ok, they're averaging 3-4 mins apart, lasting 1 min, and it's been over an hour. Eff. I call the Dr's office, just in case. And they tell me to head to the hospital. WHAT?!

4:30 PM. Moms sleeping, J and Dad are OUT ON A BOAT! I wake up my mom, tears start flowing and I ask her to take me to the hospital. I'm feeling like such a fool right now because I KNOW they're going to send me home.

We grab iced coffees on the way, priorities, and I finally call J to tell him what's happening. HE DOESN'T ANSWER! Seriously. Not that surprised, he never hears/answers his phone....so I let my mom call my dad. But to tell them we're going to just go see, not to worry yet (they start making their way back to the marina anyways, my dad was great and calmly told J what was happening. J said it was the longest return to dock ever of course).

And I tell her not to make another call. Unless and until they tell me it's go time, let's not get anyone too excited.

5:30 PM. Check-in at the hospital and get hooked up to monitors. My phone dies (of course).

The Dr comes in and checks what's going on. I'm starting to feel embarrased, as I know she's about to tell me we've got no activity yet. Same as yesterday. But she begins to talk and I hear the words 4 cm and you're not going anywhere. If it was physically possible, my jaw would have hit the floor.

6:00 PM. Mom calls J. It's go time!

Another Bathroom Reno

While we have poured many hours, blood, sweat, and tears into our upstairs bathroom renovations (master, guest) over the last year, we have one half bath on our first floor that wasn't feeling any love.

listing photo

It was always on my long mental list to get this room cleaned up a bit. But seeing as it's a completely functional room, it was certainly not a priority. I planned to spruce this room up while out on maternity leave - fresh paint, fixtures, maybe some shelves. 

Lucky for me, we got to hand this one off to the professionals. The water damage in the kitchen meant that the half bath got a new floor and ceiling as well since its located right off of the kitchen. Wait, so someone else will be painting this room on our behalf? Wahoo!

What the contractor took care of:

• Installed a new ceiling and freshly painted it
• Installed our faux wood tile flooring
• Installed new baseboards (after losing a piece of the original)
• Shaved down the door due to the new tile flooring, which incidentally fixed the jamming problem we were having with it.
• Painted the room using a paint color we already had on hand (master bath reno) - Benjamin Moore Baltic Gray

I had picked up a couple shelves at Target a few months back after watching them get so deeply discounted they were practically free - $2.98/shelf. Yes, please! And the shelf styling is thanks to Homegoods, oh and Charmin ultra-soft.

It never ceases to amaze me how a few simple updates can really change a room. Not that I'm calling the tile install simple, but I think the biggest game changer here is the fresh paint. 

So, what's left to do in here?

• Update the light fixture. I think something like this will look great. 
• Updated fixtures - the sink is not going anywhere anytime soon but the faucet, towel holder, and TP holder are all dingy.
• New door knob - battle of the brass doorknobs over here...
• New window shade
• Hang these prints back up (across from the shelves)

I think it's safe to say we are DONE with bathroom renovation projects for a very long time. Phew!

Fun Fact Friday 09.12.14

Two posts in two days, mama must be doing something right! ;)

I'm dedicating this fact Friday post to things in which my only regret is not knowing/purchasing them sooner.

1. Swiffer Sweeper Vac. I'm pretty sure this has been on my mental list of "need" items for over a year now. A friend had told me how great it was for her hardwood floors and dog hair and I tucked that info away. Well, being home everyday and having Tucker as a shadow has led to dog hair literally everywhere! He's spending much more time upstairs than he ever has before and I just couldn't stand all the hair and sweeping anymore. This little vaccuum is seriously amazing. I really wish I had bought this sooner. With only have one room of wall-to-wall carpet in this house, using the swiffer vaccuum for quick clean-ups has been a life-saver.

2. Lazy Girl Hairstyling Hacks. The name of this buzzfeed article says it all. I tried #22 immediately after reading the article and it worked so well! My hair doesn't always stay up in a bun easily but this was so easy and successful. I've also tried #5 and was just as impressed with the results. You know I'm on board with #3 and #2 is next on my list. :)

3. The best way to toast bread - Thank you Courtney for introducing me to this toaster life hack. If you have a toaster, place both slices of bread in the same toaster slot so that the outsides toast but the insides stay soft. We have a toaster oven so while I loved this idea, I never tried it. Until yesterday when a lightbulb went off and I stacked the 2 slices of bread on top of each other. Genius! My sandwich was sooo good with the semi-toasted bread.

4. Pushpins App. After a little bit of googling to find a good list app, I downloaded Pushpin and have zero regrets. It not only allows me to create several grocery lists - regular grocery store, Target, etc. But it looks up all the sales at the grocery stores in my area and lets me add those specific items to my list. AND it lets you link up with other phones! So I keep my grocery store list linked up with J's phone so that he can stop at the store on his way home if needed and he has the list ready to go.

5. Microwave Life Hack. Thank you J for finding this one.We have eaten many re-heated meals since Baby Girl joined the family and using a coffee mug to elevate one dish above the other works so well! Kudos to the kid's mom who thought of this one!

I love that 3 of the 5 are life hacks - I wish I could say I thought of any of these but nope, this brain is fried. I am forever grateful to the geniuses above though!

Have any other good life hacks I should know about??

What are you up to this weekend?
Fact: I haven't done a Fact Friday since the beginning of May. Yikes! I'm going to try to at least get these out each week - it's a nice way to quickly go through a few things on my mind.

J&A are in town this weekend to visit L! She is soo excited to see her Auntie J and meet her Uncle A. Auntie doesn't plan to ever put her down. ;)

Have a fantastic weekend!