Olivia is here!!!

Our babygirl who looks just like daddy!

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to share that our princess has arrived! [Well she's a week old today but still ;)] She is amazing and I can't believe she's really here. It's surreal that I'm a mommy and I have a family of my own!
Olivia was born on January 30, 2013 at 12:06 p.m., 8lbs and 22in and after 36 hours of labor (I went into labor January 29th at 12:40 a.m. had 3 shift changes of nurses)! I was dilating slowly so they broke my water, which made me feel like I was constantly peeing myself, and it helped a little.I tried my best to go it natural but at hour 20 I gave in to the juice and it helped my pain but I was also given pitocin so it felt like they were at war with each other by the time I had to push. Olivia wasn't going to let anything or anyone rush her arrival! (I think when she heard the doctor say the work c-section she put some pep in her step! LOL!) I had a great support system of my husband, my best friend and my mom who kept me focused through the pain and I'm so grateful for them! The staff kept saying how good of a team we were and how I was a trooper for going to long without an epidural.

The Moore Family <3

When it came to the actual pushing, for 2hrs btw, I was exhausted but I was determined to get her here! They had a mirror so I could see her head coming down and I even got to finish delivering her, pulling her right onto my chest and bonding with my baby girl instantly. It was an amazing feeling!

Hello World!

I have to also praise the hospital, St. Mary's in Grand Rapids, MI. They were AWESOME! They were so encouraging, caring and helpful throughout our entire stay. I couldn't have asked for a better place to deliver  They were in tune with what I needed and they answered any questions we had promptly and were genuine.
We brought Miss Olivia home Friday, February 1st, with jaundice and a bili blanket. After 3 more heel pricks and 5 days on the bili blanket her jaundice is gone! (Yay!) She's been such a big girl dealing with that nonsense but I knew God would pull her through it. She went to the doctor for her first appointment on Monday and is in the 98 percentile for height, 66 percentile for weight and doing great!
Were still working on the breastfeeding. The jaundice put us off track since we had to supplement with formula but I've been pumping as much as possible to make sure she's getting the extra stuff formula doesn't have.
Right now we're just enjoying our peanut and learning her as she adjust to life outside of mommy. I can't believe it's already been a week! I'll try to continue to update as much as I can so everyone who can't see us everyday can at least be updated!

37 Weeks, We're FULL TERM!

So this week marks 37 weeks for me! That means I'm considered full term and Miss Olivia can make her debut anytime! I'm staring to get very anxious to see her and hold her and just have her here with us. She's moving like crazy and trying to stretch me to the ends of the earth so I'm sure she's ready to be here too! Last week at my doctor's appointment I was already dilated to 1cm! I know, I know I can't get too excited because that's normal. I'm still being the perfect preggy and everything is looking good. They didn't check my cervix yesterday but said maybe next week. I have my hospital bag packed and it's sitting by the door waiting to go to St. Mary's when the time comes.
We also go her car seat and stroller (thanks again granny Jan!) and have installed them in our tiny 2 door car...we will be getting a bigger car this year! But we are soo ready! (Well as ready as we can be!) Just to complete our family and very excited for whats to come!

35 week check up!

35 weeks and counting!

Merry Christmas (Or belated anyway)! I had a doctor's appointment today and as usual I've been doing well. I've only gained a pound this time which makes me feel better since last time I gained 5 last time. My blood pressure was great and surprisingly enough I'm measuring at 37 weeks! I think Miss Olivia is trying to make an early escape! Dimitris thinks that she'll make her debut on January 11th while my mom thinks she'll be early also but more around the 14th. At this rate if she's getting too big I'm going to have to agree! I did have to get my DTAP again so I can protect the baby against whooping cough and they did a HIV test also (protocol). I'm now at the point where we'll be having appointments every week, so I'll only post of needed so I don't go crazy!

32 weeks and Baby Shower #2!

So I'm currently 33.5 weeks but I wanted to wait until after my doctor's appointment to give an update. I'm doing great! I've gained 5lbs since my last appointment... :-O! But overall I've gained a total of 18lbs so I'm still doing pretty good. Olivia's heartbeat is good at 148 and she is head down, but as far as I can tell she's not feeling her increasingly tight living quarters. At this point I'm just trying to get ready and in high excitement as the days get closer and closer until we can meet her.

Last Saturday we had out shower in Detroit and Miss Olivia was again VERY blessed by my family and friends! I cannot say enough how grateful we are for all of the support and love we receive and I know we will be continually blessed! Not to mention I got my CROCKPOT! :D

I'm working on my hospital bag as well, I have just about everything packed up and ready to go just in case she tries to plan an early escape! LOL! But hopefully she stays in long enough to finish cooking :) We also got to do our child-birthing class a couple weeks ago which was interesting and it gave me a lot more confidence about delivering naturally and it was nice to see where I'll be delivering my baby girl. I'm so happy with my choice of hospital because they support everything I'm working towards. I know everything doesn't go as plan but I can only pray and stay strong and confident when the time comes.
 Oh! Almost forgot, we got our maternity photos back and I'm more than happy with them! They turned out great for a guy who has never taken maternity photos and the best part...they were FREE! Yes he said it was a gift to us! How great is that? I again cannot begin to explain how blessed we are and how God makes things work for us. Here's one of my faves but checkout my facebook for the rest!

30 weeks!

So I'm a little late but this is a milestone event! I'm 30 weeks today! Yay! Only 10 more weeks until we can't meet our baby girl!
A couple weeks ago we had our 28 week check-up and my glucose test....everything looked great EXCEPT my blood sugar. I failed my test :( I was at 170 when I should have been between 135-140. So I had to do the 3hr Glucose Tolerance Test which wasn't as bad as I thought (12hr fast, more of the glucola :P) and I PASSED! So no one can deny me cake for Thanksgiving lol!

Crib and 3dr dress

We also got the nursery set up. My mother-in-law is such a blessing to us and she bought all of Olivia's furniture! We got a 3 drawer dresser combo, crib, 4 drawer dresser and a glider! daddy spent 3 days putting everything together and I put away all of her clothes and decorating. I'm not quite done but I'm trying not to put up too much, just in case we choose to move. I also made her a ribbon wreath for her door which turned out great! Thanks pintrest for the idea!

Ribbon Wreath

Glider and 4dr dresser

In other news this past Friday was my last day working for Motherhood Maternity. It was definitely bittersweet but I have to slow it down especially because I'm getting tired more often, more quickly. I'll have to find ways to fill my extra time! Maybe with more crafts and cooking. :) We also took some maternity photos, part 1 of 2 sessions, yesterday and had a blast. The photographer was so nice and great to work with and he even had sneak peeks for us later that day! Scott Novitsky is great and reasonable, he said he does it just for fun but he's talented!

Sneak Peek!

 Well that's what's going on in the Moore household! We have another appointment next week after the holiday plus childbirth class on December 1st and our 2nd Baby Shower in Detroit on the 8th! So there will be plenty of updates coming soon!

Baby Shower #1!

Happy Mama

So this past Saturday I got to enjoy my first baby shower for Miss Olivia unfortunately I have VERY few pics! Lol! No one took pictures the entire time and it went by super fast but I had a blast!

Her loot!

It was jungle themed and we had a lot of food since it was a co-ed shower and I didn't know how many men I would have to feed! We have chicken wings (baked & fried), spaghetti, mac n' cheese, deviled eggs, fruit salad, carrot & celery cups, queso dip, chips, pizza rolls, monkey cupcakes and monkey cake! It was all so good and we played great games some traditional (Baby word scramble, BINGO) and some non-traditional (Baby food tasting contest, How well do you know the parents). The baby food tasting was hilarious! The faces on my guest was crazy funny! We also did a diaper raffle which earned us 8 packs of diapers (NB-1). I got a lot of great gifts but one of my favorites was a handmade blanket that our friend Laurence got for Olivia. It was so thoughtful and something she will cherish (I'll make sure she does!) Overall it was a great day!

Monkey cake

Princess Olivia

We also got another ultrasound last Thursday and we confirmed we're having a little miss :) My placenta moved which is great news! Thank God for that blessing! So we are all happy and healthy her and upon further inspection I think Olivia will look like daddy...not that there's anything wrong with that but I hope I get something in there too! Lol! Either way she'll be perfect and we are getting so excited to meet her! October has flown by and January is getting closer by the minute!
 I also changed the color scheme for my next baby shower in Detroit  I was going to do neutral colors (orange, yellow, purple, green) but decided to do more girl colors (purple, hot pink, gray) and I'm excited about it! My "Ready to POP!" theme is still the same. My mom, grandmother and best friend are helping to throw this one and we'll see how they blend...I'm just going to stay positive. I can't wait to see more family and have fun! I'll make sure I take more pictures at that one!

Sidenote: I'm super proud of myself for using my mad Photoshop skills to re-color my invitation to fit my new scheme!

24 Weeks!

So we are edging closer to the third trimester! I'm 24 weeks (as of Monday) and I'm so excited! I only have 16 more weeks to go before we can meet our little girl! I'm still feeling great, tired after working but that's normal. I had a doctor's appointment this morning and everything was great! Blood pressure is good, measuring good, baby's heart rate is good (143 bpm) and I gained 2lbs. I have an ultrasound next week to see if the placenta has moved ( I vote yes!) so we'll get another chance to see our peanut.
My bump is more prominent so more people are noticing my tummy at work and are asking a lot of questions, which I don't mind. We've also had a lot of chances to feel all of her tiny kicks and punches lately which has been very exciting for Dimitris, who has been anxiously waiting to feel her move. She even responds to his voice! Daddy's girl in the making, oh goodness!

At work on Tuesday

Next week will be my first baby shower and I'm SO excited! It's my only jungle-themed shower, to match the nursery theme, and my friend Ilena is having it for me at her house. It's going to be co-ed which is going to be different but fun, I don't see why they aren't anyway! I am just expecting to have a good time with some good friends. This is just the first shower, I have one in Detroit in December and one after Olivia arrives in Flint. I just am blessed to have so much support and love around our family!

Until next time be blessed!