All
I have a new blog address - things are changing slightly
to continue to read updates - go to www.louisadominique.com/blog
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
39 weeks
Well after the roller coaster ride since week 33, we have made it to 39 weeks! Much to our and every ones amazement! When this all initially happened I stopped doing the bump updates - its was too much for us and I was on bed rest, so pictures became less of a priority. This week though I have had so many requests to see the bump! So here it is, in all its glory - skip back a few weeks, its quite a bit bigger! Jesse took the pics - I love them.............. funny that I am not really looking at the camera in these, I took the time to put make up on too!
I have a couple of backdated posts coming this week - looks like I will still be blogging on this a few more times, till my new blog is up and running!
I have a couple of backdated posts coming this week - looks like I will still be blogging on this a few more times, till my new blog is up and running!
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| 39 week belly bump - In our finished nursery - overlooking the crib waiting for baby g | irl |
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| Just for fun - sitting in the glider, reading up on what to expect ;) |
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| Same picture as the zoomed in one above, but more of the crib |
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Nursery Reveal
Our Nursery is complete (well minus baby girl).
I put a lot of thought into the plan for this nursery and started to formulate how I wanted it to look after I reached week 20. We didn't really start on it until week 29 though (after we took our trip down to Indiana for our baby shower). Its been so much fun, and I find myself just going into the room several times a day and standing there, or sitting in the chair.
We hope you like it, we have both decided we are completely in love with this room and it is by far the best room in our whole house :)
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| This is as wide I could get it angle of the Nursery, the following pictures give you the full nursery tour. |
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| Our Crib Isn't it just lovely. It took me a long time to decide on a crib, we had originally registered for one from Babies R Us and I am so glad that I looked around more, this is more me, clean lines, clean look and I love the fact that is has a drawer for extra storage (which we happen to need - because we literally were gifted 12 blankets so far ;). |
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| We bought the frames from IKEA - I wish we had bought more, I LOVE these frames and I wish I had them all over our home. The Flower and butterfly mobile is actually a light chandelier, but it works for what I want it to do. I couldn't decide on this for the longest time and finally I just went for it - I am so glad I did. The polka dot theme happened by accident, my Aunt made the blanket that you see hanging on the side of the crib and I found the sheet in a store. I love the way it looks. The crib is probably one of my favorite pieces in the room, we bought it online from Walmart, gifted from my mum. The shh baby sleeping sign was from the baby shower that Natasha did for me when I was in England over Christmas. |
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| Some details around the room Picture of Jesse and I when we did our pictures for the gender reveal. I can't believe I was ever that small! The three pictures in a row are from our engagement photos that my friend Chelsea took, the one in the middle is probably my favorite photo of me EVER. Jesse took this picture when I was 29 weeks pregnant. I LOVE it and I am so happy that I have this picture to give her in years to come. I have always wanted a maternity photo to pass down to my child after watching the movie 'The Family Stone' |
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| More room details, the Expedit book shelf and white boxes are from IKEA. The dresser was gifted to us from a work colleague who was taking it to Goodwill. I am also completely in love with this. It was a maple type look and Jesse primed and painted it for me, then we bought wood drawer pulls and stained them to match the drawer on the crib. The best thing is that this gives us so much space AND it doubles up as a changing table. LOVE LOVE LOVE. The changing table mat has a polka dot cover, and it matches PERFECTLY with the polka dot crib sheet and blanket. The lady bug outfit is for a newborn - I am guessing that baby girl will not fit into this, given how much they told us she weighed 5 weeks ago now, but its cute anyway and I liked it for the photos. |
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| Our bookshelf is from IKEA, I love this little reading/nursing nook |
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| The Wardrobe (Closet) Jesse put this together, we took out the standard shelf and hanging pole that builders put in homes and we custom built this. Again, it gives us so much more space - which is perfect because our house is truly tiny, and this nursery room is super small. I love opening the doors to this wardrobe, it overwhelms me with cuteness. I can't wait for her to wear some of these clothes. |
So now we wait for baby girl to come home and enjoy the Nursery that her parents lovingly put together over many weeks :)
We are super excited to meet her!!
Monday, April 8, 2013
Busy busy
Its been busy since Easter weekend................ I will give a quick update and then I have some more detailed posts for later in the week.
On Good Friday I went for my weekly check up and the doctor took me off bed rest. one of the side effects that goes with bed rest is swelling, my hands and feet were fine - but my face had puffed up like crazy. Unfortunately that and a couple of other things were signs of some mild pre-eclampsia. Seeing as I was almost to 37 weeks at that point, she said ok lets get you up and moving but nothing crazy. YAY!!! up and moving!
I have to say though - it didn't feel great - 3.5 weeks of bed rest at that point had me feeling weak and sluggish, but i mustered up the energy to start doing something, short walks around the street near my house and then doing things around the house. I am still on a creating space in our tiny 1000 sq ft home, so I had Jesse get some large totes from the store and I started putting things in them that we don't use. Then we went into our FREEZING garage and I basically sat and directed Jesse (poor guy). We took A LOT of things to recycling and Goodwill and we still have more things to go. We also decided to sell some things that we just don't have a need for! For example, when we moved here, there was a weird portable dishwasher in the kitchen. The kind that needs to be hooked up. I found it kind of creepy and so i put it in the garage and never used it. So for 3.5 years we have just done the dishes by hand! I personally don't mind this - Jesse on the other hand, despises it. Anyway - today we sold that weird dishwasher (YAY). We also decided on Friday that we were going to update the only room in our house that we have not really touched! We bought subway tile to do a kitchen back splash, we primed the cabinets (ready for painting) and we took out a cabinet beside the sink - so a built in dishwasher can go in its place! We also bought a new range under the cabinet hood! so although this isn't a dream kitchen renovation, its going to look refreshed, with ALL new appliances, a beautiful back splash. I am excited for it to be finished, its just a few days away now!
What about baby girl I hear you ask - well, shes still snuggled up in the right side of my body. She moves occasionally - but for what the doctors like, quite quiet! We think this is because she too is fed up of being squeezed every 5 minutes for the past 4 weeks with contractions.................. They don't feel the need to get her out of there, because for the best part she passes the non stress tests that they have me doing on a weekly sometimes several times a week basis - I see the Doctor once a week and the ultrasound tech once a week! I guess I just have a uterus that will do this for a long time! Now I am past 37 weeks, they are not trying to stop the contractions or anything, but they are still monitoring me and baby closely for anything unusual that may develop. The mild preeclampsia doesn't appear to be posing much of a threat, and the swelling seemed to subside some once I got up and moving!
Look out for out Kitchen and Nursery updates :)
On Good Friday I went for my weekly check up and the doctor took me off bed rest. one of the side effects that goes with bed rest is swelling, my hands and feet were fine - but my face had puffed up like crazy. Unfortunately that and a couple of other things were signs of some mild pre-eclampsia. Seeing as I was almost to 37 weeks at that point, she said ok lets get you up and moving but nothing crazy. YAY!!! up and moving!
I have to say though - it didn't feel great - 3.5 weeks of bed rest at that point had me feeling weak and sluggish, but i mustered up the energy to start doing something, short walks around the street near my house and then doing things around the house. I am still on a creating space in our tiny 1000 sq ft home, so I had Jesse get some large totes from the store and I started putting things in them that we don't use. Then we went into our FREEZING garage and I basically sat and directed Jesse (poor guy). We took A LOT of things to recycling and Goodwill and we still have more things to go. We also decided to sell some things that we just don't have a need for! For example, when we moved here, there was a weird portable dishwasher in the kitchen. The kind that needs to be hooked up. I found it kind of creepy and so i put it in the garage and never used it. So for 3.5 years we have just done the dishes by hand! I personally don't mind this - Jesse on the other hand, despises it. Anyway - today we sold that weird dishwasher (YAY). We also decided on Friday that we were going to update the only room in our house that we have not really touched! We bought subway tile to do a kitchen back splash, we primed the cabinets (ready for painting) and we took out a cabinet beside the sink - so a built in dishwasher can go in its place! We also bought a new range under the cabinet hood! so although this isn't a dream kitchen renovation, its going to look refreshed, with ALL new appliances, a beautiful back splash. I am excited for it to be finished, its just a few days away now!
What about baby girl I hear you ask - well, shes still snuggled up in the right side of my body. She moves occasionally - but for what the doctors like, quite quiet! We think this is because she too is fed up of being squeezed every 5 minutes for the past 4 weeks with contractions.................. They don't feel the need to get her out of there, because for the best part she passes the non stress tests that they have me doing on a weekly sometimes several times a week basis - I see the Doctor once a week and the ultrasound tech once a week! I guess I just have a uterus that will do this for a long time! Now I am past 37 weeks, they are not trying to stop the contractions or anything, but they are still monitoring me and baby closely for anything unusual that may develop. The mild preeclampsia doesn't appear to be posing much of a threat, and the swelling seemed to subside some once I got up and moving!
Look out for out Kitchen and Nursery updates :)
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Happy Easter
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Baby girl has stayed put! I will give an update later in the week.
We spent the day finishing the Nursery (pictures to come), eating good food with good friends, visiting other good friends and eating lovely desserts.
All is well in the snowy U.P.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Our Nanna
Today is my Nanna's funeral. Its a sad day for many reasons, one of which I was unable to attend. Yesterday I wrote a Speech for my Nanna that I would have delivered myself had I been there in person. I asked my mum to have someone read it for me. Nick, my cousin Leanne's fiance read it for me and I am told he was really great. I am very grateful that he was able to do that for me.
Here is the speech I put together for my Nanna:
Here is the speech I put together for my Nanna:
Our
Nanna
I am going to refer to Nanna as
‘Our Nanna’ – she has so many grandchildren that loved her dearly and will
continue to think of her often. I am deeply saddened that I cannot be there in
person to stand up and deliver this, but please know that I am thinking of you
all often, especially today.
Our Nanna was a beautiful lady; she
was our Queen, the structure behind the beautiful family that sits here today.
Take a look around, our grandparents created this, but most of all she
orchestrated it into a family that she could not be more proud of; and she was
always so willing to take a step back and watch us grow.
Our Nanna was one of the most
amazing women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I did not always
understand her, but I knew she came with a heart of gold. More importantly she
was supportive. She supported all of our decisions, and she always wanted the
best for us. I hope that we have all learned that from her, to love our
families unconditionally, to look for the best in situations and circumstances
that are not always ideal and to laugh and dance in the days of sadness.
When I think about our Nanna, I
remember laughter, she laughed and laughed and joined in whatever we would be
doing at our family gatherings. I believe those were her favorite times, Sunday
lunches, Holiday gatherings, Christenings and Weddings. She loved to celebrate,
and more importantly loved her family all together. So although this is a sad day for each of us
as we say our goodbyes, know that her family being together was a happy
occasion for her.
I consider our Nanna to be a humble
lady, she didn’t require the attention to be on her in life; and now in death
she would not want the focus to be on sadness; but on the happiness that we all
have in our lives. So take another look around and see what she had to smile
about. The most beautiful family that could exist, imperfections and all. She
would want us to appreciate each other and what our future has yet to bring.
Our Nanna will be remembered by
each and every one of us who knew her and loved her. Although we will miss her, her smile
and her unconditional love; we should all take consolation in the memories that
we have.
And here I will end, with
‘Rest in Peace to the most beautiful lady, may you be smiling
and laughing with the Angels’
"Sorrow
comes in great waves...but it rolls over us, and though it may almost smother
us, it passes and we remain." - Henry James
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Monday, March 18, 2013
Its one thing after another
This past week was different for me (and probably Jesse too). Our daily routines changed drastically............ go back to the '34 weeks and too early post'. It all started that day, we thought it was going to be a normal week and bam in a matter of hours it changed. After Tuesday and Thursday we were hoping I would be able to get by on limited activity but mainly staying in the house. The doctors had said I could go and teach on the days I was supposed to teach, but that's really all I could do............. oh and still make dinner! ;). I even considered going out for dinner with our friends (I feel like I haven't spent much time with them this year and it makes me sad)
By Friday evening I started having pretty regular contractions that progressed into Saturday and by Saturday evening they were 2 minutes and 45 seconds apart lasting for about 80 seconds. So we called labor and delivery and they told us to go in. So off we went in the middle of another snow storm at 8.45pm on Saturday evening. Once there I was hooked up to the monitor's for fetal heart rate and contractions. After a while the nurse told us the baby was doing well, but my contractions were a concern. The nurse said they looked pretty impressive to say I wasn't really feeling them (although I was starting to notice the period like cramping in my lower back, so I knew they were progressing), So she called the Doctor on call and started discussing options, because I am still considered on the early side of things, they did some routine things, I was hooked up to an IV and given fluids, which seemed to slow the contractions, but once the fluid was done, they came back with a vengeance :(. I was checked to see if I had dilated - which I had from Tuesday, but only to 1cm and then was given another shot of Brethine................. its not super pleasant - it makes you hot and shaky, but it finally started to work around 2am. They kept me there till 3 and then said we could go home - but now I am really on bed rest or sofa rest! I felt really bad for Jesse because he was on call, and we got home around 3 then he was called in at 6am, and literally worked till 6pm.
We have great friends though and Christine and Stephen came and took our dogs out and Shannon and Rob brought dinner, and earlier in the week Andi and Jim sent us food too.
So over the past few days I have had to organize my class for someone to take over and just sit and work on my computer and try to keep this baby in. The brethine only seems to work for about 48 hours, so last night they started back up and have not really let up all day. I have been told that this is my baseline and if it gets worse then I have to go back in. So every 2-5 minutes I have contractions that last a while...........
We are all doing ok though, only now Jesse really has to do EVERYTHING, feed the dogs, lets them out, make dinner, laundry etc etc etc. All while trying to finish his nursing degree - could this have happened at a worse time?
Anyway - I think the photo updates might be done until we update with a baby :) - but I will continue to keep everyone in the loop with what is going on.
By Friday evening I started having pretty regular contractions that progressed into Saturday and by Saturday evening they were 2 minutes and 45 seconds apart lasting for about 80 seconds. So we called labor and delivery and they told us to go in. So off we went in the middle of another snow storm at 8.45pm on Saturday evening. Once there I was hooked up to the monitor's for fetal heart rate and contractions. After a while the nurse told us the baby was doing well, but my contractions were a concern. The nurse said they looked pretty impressive to say I wasn't really feeling them (although I was starting to notice the period like cramping in my lower back, so I knew they were progressing), So she called the Doctor on call and started discussing options, because I am still considered on the early side of things, they did some routine things, I was hooked up to an IV and given fluids, which seemed to slow the contractions, but once the fluid was done, they came back with a vengeance :(. I was checked to see if I had dilated - which I had from Tuesday, but only to 1cm and then was given another shot of Brethine................. its not super pleasant - it makes you hot and shaky, but it finally started to work around 2am. They kept me there till 3 and then said we could go home - but now I am really on bed rest or sofa rest! I felt really bad for Jesse because he was on call, and we got home around 3 then he was called in at 6am, and literally worked till 6pm.
We have great friends though and Christine and Stephen came and took our dogs out and Shannon and Rob brought dinner, and earlier in the week Andi and Jim sent us food too.
So over the past few days I have had to organize my class for someone to take over and just sit and work on my computer and try to keep this baby in. The brethine only seems to work for about 48 hours, so last night they started back up and have not really let up all day. I have been told that this is my baseline and if it gets worse then I have to go back in. So every 2-5 minutes I have contractions that last a while...........
We are all doing ok though, only now Jesse really has to do EVERYTHING, feed the dogs, lets them out, make dinner, laundry etc etc etc. All while trying to finish his nursing degree - could this have happened at a worse time?
Anyway - I think the photo updates might be done until we update with a baby :) - but I will continue to keep everyone in the loop with what is going on.
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