Sleep. I miss that.

Our life is probably as you imagine it. We live in one to three hour intervals. I have lost track of days. Light or darkness, it doesn't matter, Harper eats every one to three hours and sleeps...intermittently. While she sleeps I try to choose one task to complete before she wakes up again. A task might be a nap, a shower, eating something or calling my mom to ensure we are surviving. I'm not sure how many different sittings it will take me to complete this blog.

Sam has been working hard to complete his law school application by next week's deadline. He also returned to his responsibilities of class and being a T.A. An administrator at PENN gave him a really hard time for not taking paternity leave. It's not like a job though. When he returned, his work would be waiting for him so we both think it's best to not fall behind to begin with.

Week 1 I had my parents here. Week 2 I was on my own while Sam was at school. It went pretty well actually. Sam, Harper and I got into a routine and made it work. Week 3 my sister came! Which was even more helpful than imagined as we think Harper fell into the common practice of going through a growth spurt at 3 weeks. This meant she ate even more often. Dana made it possible for me to shower and eat when I really don't know if I would have otherwise.

My attempt at a 2 week photo shoot. 

She LOVES bath time. Thanks Amy and Daryl for the bath seat! She could soak forever if we let her :)

Lots of daddy cuddle time

She sleeps best, and for the longest time, on daddy's chest

We love our sweet baby. She is so cute. So many adorable faces and sounds. She doesn't cry too often for reasons we can't quickly ameliorate. She has our whole hearts!

A Birth Day Story

In case anyone has not got the details yet,

Harper Jane Lacy was born on October 26th at 4:36pm, 8 pounds 4 ounces, 20.5 inches long. Perfect.

A bit of a surprise to us as EVERYONE, including our mid-wife, guessed that we should be expecting a boy. I should give credit to the Lacy women of Dallas who did, in fact, think we would have a girl.

Another surprise was how incredibly fast Harper entered the world once she decided it was time.
We checked into the hospital at 3:30pm, I immediately measured 8 cm. At 4:00pm I started pushing and at 4:36pm Sam told me "We got a girl!" and laid my daughter on my chest.

Let's back up though, for the full   birth story.

It actually begins the night before:

Thursday night and I cannot even stay awake for Grey's Anatomy (Blast EST). My body is exhausted. Only one more day of work before the scheduled due date, I can do this. In fact, I'm on the schedule for next week, too. I'm prepared to go late.

I just cannot get comfortable, I'm kinda hungry but nothing sounds good, I'm a little crabby and don't know why. Then, I knock over the glass of water on the table next to me. The water pours into my open purse and the glass shatters. That's it - 7:30 and I'm going to bed! 

Sam tucks me in and I sleep 11 hours (minus waking up to go to the bathroom 6 times).

I wake up early, in time to go for a walk before work. A beautiful sunny Fall day. I'm feeling great.

I truly believe God gave me the sweet gift of a long, restful night's sleep to prepare for the most wonderfully challenging day of my life.

During my walk contractions begin. They are far apart but definitely more than Braxton Hicks (false labor). By the time I get home and shower they are a little closer together but don't last very long. Sam and I wonder if today could be the day. However we are prepared for a long and painful period of time before it is really "time". I do not feel like it is that time yet. So, I get ready and go to work. The last belly picture just hours before Harper joins the outside world:

While working, contractions continue to progress steadily to last longer and come closer together. I make it until noon before I call my manager to tell her I am going home to ride out the contractions but don't worry I will get my monthly reports and data emailed before I leave for the hospital. I did. In between contractions. 

At home, now 4 hours before birth, Sam and I decide it might be time to get all the last minute things together for our hospital bag. Still undecided if we will go to the hospital or just my regular scheduled appointment at the clinic. Either way, we have to stop by my office to drop off my work phone, definitely a priority (?).

As I keep telling Sam, I am still able to walk and talk through the contractions. They are now about 6 minutes apart lasting 45ish seconds.  Does Sam have time for a quick 4 mile run? Of course he does! So I  eat a light lunch, I know they won't let me eat at the hospital and I don't want to get hungry during my hours and hours of laboring I surely have ahead of me.

It is now 2:30 and we finally decide to leave the house. Sometime between swinging by the office and reaching the clinic, my contractions get real. I actually have to "breathe through" a few of them before I submit to labor and tell Sam we should go to the hospital.

It is 3:30 by the time we are checked in and I am put on a monitor. They tell me I have to be monitored for 20 minutes before they even check to see if I'm dilated. IF. At this point contractions are coming hard and fast and 20 minutes sounds much too long. They start handing me paperwork to sign and asking me general health questions and I want to ask them if they are serious. I cannot though because I have started sweating and moaning; suddenly I actually feel like I am about to give birth. After 5 minutes of monitoring the midwife decided it would be okay to check the dilation. "How does 8 centimeters sound?" she asks. I managed to force the hospital to break their 20 minute rule as they rush me on a stretcher up to delivery. 

It is 4:00, I'm in the delivery room and they tell me to start pushing. 

10 minutes later she is crowning. 25 minutes more and she is cuddled in my arms.

I won't go into detail but Sam took her for the first hour of her life because her mother was being repaired...

Next blog, the first week at home. Which is probably unlike most parents' first week at home considering my amazing incredible gift of a mother! We're happy Grandpa Tom is here too but he just doesn't have the magic touch that Grandma does when it comes to baby sponge baths, night time soothing, swaddling, cooking, cleaning and I could go on and on and on. Sam and I are unbelievably happy that my parents could join us for Harper's first week.

I will leave you with some more pictures of our precious baby girl. 

Getting to know each other

Mommy/daughter nap time

So glad I came in time to wear my cool onesie :)

 Yay, grandma and grandpa are here!

Daddy is really good at calming me down, we love cuddle time

I hated my car seat at first but once we got moving, I slept like a baby... ;)

Grandma gave me my first "bath"

My outfit is cute but that was traumatic

First family photo. Leaving home for the first time for a doctor appointment. All is well!!!

Golden Calves and Fresh Paint

We took the plunge and bought ourselves a nice camera. No more point and shoot for the Lacy's. We decided on the Nikon D3100 SLR and love it. We have been practicing a lot. 

Here are just a few photos of Sam's flag football team. He plays for the Princeton Alumni team - the Golden Calves. The reigning champions of the the 2011 season. Sam is QB. We absolutely love making the drive to Princeton, just 45 minutes, on Saturday mornings. I love to get out, the team is fun to watch and we usually spend some time in the beautiful, peaceful, historic and safe little city :)

We decided that last weekend, two weeks out, was a perfect time to do some painting and other prep for the baby. Sam worked so hard and did an amazing job painting the nursery and our living room. We thought the stripes would be gender neutral. Turns out they are slightly more boyish. If we have a girl we will just add some purple and pink accessories :)

Well folks, we are 1 week away from D Day!! 

Sam seems pretty sure that I will be going at least a couple of days late. I'm not giving up my prayers to go early. As of Friday, Baby Lacy was estimated to be a solid 8 pounds (give or take). For most of the pregnancy EVERYONE who saw me guessed I was having a boy. Recently, however, people have been guessing it's a girl? We shall soon see!

Sam and I decided that we are definitely finding out the gender of our next child as soon as we can. I love the idea of being surprised, I really do think it will encourage me through the labor but... it would be really nice to be able to buy some more things!! We went to a really great consignment sale at a local church today but everything was divided into girls and boys. There's no such thing as gender neutral pants, apparently. Every pair I saw at Target and Babys R Us had to have a flower or a ruffle, otherwise a football or a "Just like Daddy" logo. Yes, life would be a bit easier if we knew what we were having.

Sam took me out for a lovely dinner in Old City tonight. So yummy! It was our last little splurge on a date night before the baby comes. Really special. 

Thank you Sam!

SEVEN POUNDS! Three more weeks???

Last post was two months ago! Oops. That's life for ya. Time was going so fast for awhile and I was checking off the weeks like they were days. Then at about 35 weeks I feel like time slowed down only to exaggerate the final weeks of carrying a child and everything that comes with it.

I would like to start, however, with an announcement that might bring me more pleasure than the anticipation of announcing the birth of our child - sad how true this statement is...

SAM HAS TAKEN THE LSAT!!!!!!!

It's over. At least for a few weeks until we get the scores back and he decides if he will take it again. But for now? For now, we have three weeks without the LSAT filling up every corner of our lives and without a baby (on the outside). We are thinking of ways to take advantage of this sweet time with just the two of us. Sam delivered his baby and mine is still cooking so let's live it up! Not sure what that will look like at 8 1/2 months pregnant but we will do our best.

Here are a couple of recent belly pictures to set the stage

You may or may not not be too surprised to learn that our midwife estimates Baby Lacy to already weigh SEVEN POUNDS!!! That was with 3 weeks and 3 days until due date; I got scared. So I have been asking myself, if I continue to eat healthily and provide this child with vitamins and nutrients, it will only cause him/her to grow even more right? So maybe I stick to rice cakes and nonfat frozen yogurt?

I'm mostly just kidding. I will continue to eat healthy, I promise Mom, but I am concerned for how big this baby will be on D-Day!

We completed our mindful birth class and feel much better about this childbirth thing. Especially Sam. We both learned a lot and I feel very ready for "go-time". Bag is packed and all baby necessities have been purchased. We will definitely be buying lots of clothes once we find out the gender but we have enough white/yellow/green/ducky outfits to get us through the first couple weeks.

We're ready. Let's do this, Baby Lacy!

I will leave you with some pictures from the then upcoming trip to MN for a wedding I mentioned in the last post. One of my dearest friends (since kindergarten!!!!) tied the knot at one of the most unique and beautiful venues I've seen in Minneapolis. It was a blessing to go back to MN for a second time in one summer. It was 5 days of, per usual, jam-packed time with as many friends and family as we could possibly see. Loved every minute.

Some high school ladies at the rehearsal dinner

The wedding party was invited to a pre-weekend event at Target Field. So fun!

The beautiful bride. That belly hold is just a pregnancy reflex.

Got to hang out with mom and dad at the wedding reception, too!

What a good-looking soon-to-be daddy :)

So good to catch up with old high school friends!

Sweet venue right? The ceremony was on the stage which turned into a dance floor!

Squeezed in some quality family time. Shucking some MN sweet corn on the deck.

Did some sight seeing in my own home state. That's the St. Paul Cathedral in the back. We're standing on the steps of the capital building.

Grandma and Grandpa. xoxo

Oh how I miss spending time in these MN parks and walking the Minneapolis trails through the city!

On the Stone Arch Bridge

A little flash back to us our first week of dating in front of the stone arch bridge. We had no idea what the next 4 years would hold!

Alright folks, today I am exactly 37 weeks. That means full term! That means it could reasonably happen any day :) WE CANNOT WAIT TO MEET OUR SWEET BABY!!!