Almost 10 weeks already!

Courtney is a little drool factory lately. Much to our chagrin, she also likes putting her hands in her mouth which means her hands usually stink : /. She is getting bigger and stronger every day. We love her smiles and she's even starting to laugh a little bit. She also likes sucking on her lips. She is starting to get interested in her toys too.

Updating pictures

Wow, I had planned to be so good about updating this blog but then life (mainly Courtney) got in the way ;). I am going to try and be better about updating this more regularly. Here are pictures of the last month.

She's getting a lot more active. This was around 6 weeks:

This was Courtney's Halloween costume. She was a ladybug.

She is also much more expressive now. Around 7 weeks:

 

 

And this was her at her 2 month checkup:

Some pictures from the last few weeks

 

The birth story

So I went in to labor on Thursday night (Sept 9th). It was about 10pm and I noticed some occasional cramping. I didn't sleep well at all that night as the cramping kept waking me up. I waited until 6am to wake Christopher up...I think that was pretty generous of me ;) Christopher stayed home with me on Friday and I had contractions at fairly regular intervals for most of the day. We kept calling our Bradley instructor and telling her the timing and asking when we needed to go to the hospital. We wanted to spend as much time in the comfort of home as we could, however, I also didn't want there to be any chance I'd have to deliver the baby in the car on the way to hospital either.

At 6pm Friday we decided it was time to go to the hospital. My contractions had gotten stronger by then so we figured we should go ahead and head over to the hospital and get settled. We were admitted pretty quickly and the first nurse that checked me said I was 7cm but that she wanted a second opinion so another nurse checked and said I was 9cm. I stayed that way for the next few hours as the contractions got worse. Finally around maybe 11pm my water broke and I was up to 10cm. At midnight the nurse told me that they were concerned about the baby's heart rate as it was apparently dropping during my contractions. Although I wasn't yet feeling the need to push (despite being 10cm, her head still hadn't descended enough yet) I was instructed that I HAD to start pushing. So for the next two hours I pushed with everything I had until she was born at 2:06am on Sept 11th. The nurse who was with me for the labor and delivery said it was the best delivery she had seen in years. A few other nurses also commented on how amazing it was that I didn't have any drugs...apparently very few people go med free at this hospital. I was just relieved to have it all over with and to be holding my sweet little girl :)

A few pictures from the first days...

 

Courtney and Nana:

Courtney and Papa:

Courtney and 'aunt' Jenn and 'uncle' Josh:

Courtney's Hospital Hairdo:

 Proud Papa:

She is here!

Courtney Jane Poplin (nickname Cora) was born at 2:06 am yesterday morning. She was 7 pounds 5 ounces and 19 and a half inches long. More details and pictures to come :)

Her Room

This baby will have to learn from a very young age to share as her room is also our office. Here are a few pictures of her side of the room, which we have just about finished decorating.

A glider chair and ottoman will be on the far right once we move them upstairs:

Drawers full of clothes and her diapering supplies:

This is what Christopher affectionately calls baby cam. He took these pictures to show the crib and changing table from her perspective: