Hospital Food

The food here at the hospital isn't amazing, but it's better than the food at the Humana office building. Plus the tiny boxes of chocolate milk make me think of nap time!

Hoppity Easter!!

Happy Easter everyone!

I was pretty sure that the stork was the one who brought babies, but I'm thankful that the Easter Bunny brought us our little girl!

She's a pretty good sleeper. She's up every 3-4 hours, and loves to play. She's had the hiccups a few times, but never for very long.

Poppi and Mimi came by to play this morning! Natalie had lots to eat, and is getting put down for an afternoon nap.

Happy Little Girl!

She's eating about every 3 hours and is taking about one hour to eat each time. She gets about 25 minutes with each breast - but some of that time is spent trying to figure out how it all works :)

She's a pretty good eater, but when the nipple frustrates her, she let's us know with a couple seconds of crying.

It's really crazy to me that I know her cry and can distinguish it from all the other babies. A couple of days ago all newborn cries sounded the same, but not today!

Her skin is so soft! I love rubbing her back and burping her.

Her hands and feet are amazing! I can't believe how tiny her fingers and toes are. It's my favorite when he holds my finger!!

Yay! Natalie is 1 Day Old!!

She's celebrating by nursing with mom!

Sorry for a lack of updates. It's been a crazy awesome day!! Natalie and mom are healthy and happy! V is breast feeding, and Natalie is a good eater. Diapers aren't smelly (yet), and new born poop is silly looking. We'll share stories very soon - promise. Right now, mom and baby are getting some well deserved rest!

Natalie Hope

Natalie Hope

Natalie Hope

Natalie Hope is Born!

6 pounds 10 ounces and 20"

Both mom and baby are healthy!!

Pictures soon!

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Pushing!

Almost Fully Dilated

She's almost ready to go. Dr will be checking in again at 2:30. V's feeling lots of intense pressure.

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The contractions are non stop now! Taco reading are blowing up!

Nurse Michelle just checked on V, and she's still not ready yet. She's closer, but not there yet. 

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Keeping the hair in place!

Pitocin, pa-pa-Pitocin

Induction is about to begin! Well not for 30 mins or so, but they are prepping V!

Well we didn't have a Earth Day baby, but we will have her soon!!

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Nurse Michelle Checkup

Michelle just came in and checked on V, still 9 cm and 100% effaced. Head is really low, but still not go time. V and I are both trying to get rest. No posts coming for a half hour or so.

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Jeff, out like a light!

Mmmm! Ice Chips!

So who's still awake?

Hope, Dennis, Jeff, Mikey, Rich and Jamie are all still here :) V is doing a great job! She's so much more patient than me! Contractions are still increasing, but V has no clue. The epidural is god's gift to labor! V's feeling some pressure, but the pressure hasn't gotten any greater recently. The nurse, Michelle, is waiting for the pressure to increase before she calls in the doctor in.

Michelle is great - we've had her since the epidural. She's super nice and very attentive. Dr Hutchinson did the epidural. The doctor who broke V's water is not her Ob-GYN, but she's a pretty great substitute!

I'm getting sleepy, and I can't imagine how V's really feeling. She won't admit to being tired or hungry, but she just has to be! Since 1 this afternoon she's only had a small chocolate chip cookie. She is somehow surviving on a steady diet of IV and ice chips :)

Hopefully the time to push is soon, but it isn't imminent. I promise to keep you posted!

The No Update, Update

Nothing new. V's mentally beyond ready, but Natalie doesn't seem to be :) hopefully soon!!

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Good To Know

Baby's First Everything!

9 cm!!

V was feeling some pressure, so the nurse checked her out, and she's 9 cm!! The nurse also said that the head has really come down a long way! Hopefully soon our little girl will be here!

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Nap Time

V's been ordered to take a short nap. I'll report when she wakes up :) She's been at it since 4 this morning! It's been a looong day of contractions.

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All smiles! No baby yet, but hopefully soon :)

Water Has Been Broken!

The Dr just broke V's water! She's 7-8cm dilated. She wants everyone to know that all is going really well! Baby and mommy-to-be are both healthy and good!!

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Nat Tat's Soon to be Bed!

Everything is looking great

No baby yet - actually the water isn't even broken yet, but all in good time :)

Contractions aren't felt anymore (thank you epadurl!!), but they're very, very strong!

Hope is being a great nurse for V. V's labor shakes are no match for Hope's calming abilities!!

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First Curse Word

Move your kids away from the screen :)

V just had a rough contraction and said, "That's some bullshit!"

Epidural is on it's way!

Breaking Water!

Dr is coming in to break the water soon! Woohoo!!

6cm!!!

V's nurse, her name is Peggy, just gave a quick check up, and commented that she's "made for labor." She's now a little over 6cm dilated! Hopefully this is a sign that everything is progressing for an Earth Day baby!

Daddy-to-Be Predictions

A few parent-to-be predictions for Natalie: I think she's going to be 7 lbs 6 ounces, 21 inches, and bald - just like me!

What do you think?

Quick Thoughts

V HATES her IV!!!

She misses being able to do the Labor Sway dance :(

Still Waiting :)

Contractions are happening every 6-7 minutes. Water hasn't broken yet. The big fun comes with the TOCO reading, which has been renamed the Taco reading. The Taco reading gauges the power of the contractions. If it reads over 40 - V's going to be in pain. Her readings during contractions are now getting into the upper 70s. Her contractions are lasting for about 2 minutes.

Hope, Dennis and Mikey are all here. Rich is on his way. We've had grandma Peggy and great-grandma McCormick on FaceTime. Nat Tat will have quite the audience to welcome her to the world :)

Stay tuned.

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Baby Hiccups

Nat Tat has the hiccups and V's on the heart beat machine - so we can hear her hiccups! It's awesome!

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Looking Good!

At The Hospital!!

@ the hospital. Getting checked now. She's about 5 cm! The doctor has been called!

58 Contractions Later

58 contractions later and still not much closer. They're about 8 mins apart on average. Hopefully our little girl gets motivated soon!! I want a Earth Day baby!

Firehouse sub = best hubby ever!

Still Every 10-15 Minutes

Contractions are getting stronger, just not any closer... V's getting a little frustrated. She's doing all of her jumping jacks, yoga squats, walking around every block, eating curry, everything she can to help the process along - but nothing will help speed the contractions up.

Any suggestions :)

Earth Day baby??? YES PLEASE!!

Well it's been an active morning. Since about 4-4:30 I've been having some pretty good contractions. They were running about 5-7 minutes apart for a while, nothing too intense but definitely more than last week. Nick and I got up, started our day around 4:30.... sheesh! We showered, I shaved his head and my legs lol. Started to wash the sheets, had some breakfast, walked winston.

Once 7-7:30 rolled around they slowed down a bit to 6-8 minutes apart. We both got tired again laid on the couch and feel asleep from 8-9ish. I was woken up about every 11-14 minutes with some relatively intense contractions. I think laying down through them made them worse. I made us protein shakes cause I was hungry, and then ralphed it up about 10 minutes after consumption....nice.

Since 9:00 now they are sticking around 9-11 minutes apart lasting a minute and a half and they are somewhat painful (yes I know it's going to get much worse). Can't talk through them, have to stand up breathe. I wish the ball would just get rolling or this is going to be a long ass day. Im going to go sit outside in the sun on my exercise ball lol, why not right???  Let's go little girl, give me some progress here!!!

Bags are packed!

A couple of contractions :)

Nothing serious, but V has had a couple contractions overnight! Maybe something will happen later today!!

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Specialist Exam Results

Well that was fun!

Got to see V hooked up to a couple of machines - one was to check the baby's heart rate and the other to monitor contractions. As it turns out V's contractions - which she refers to as "tightenings" - are happening very regularly and are measuring in at around 35-40% (whatever that means.) The heart rate is about 135 bpm - so she's either a dance song with a banging bass beat or a completely perfect baby-to-be!

Next V had an ultrasound done. We got to see her profile, her heart beating, and I'm happy to report that her leg bone is connected to the knee bone, and the knee bone connected to the thigh bone, and the thigh bone is connected to the hip bone. Most importantly is that everything with baby, placenta and fluid are all "PERFECT!"

BIG NEWS!!

When they do the ultrasound they take bone measurements, check to see heart chambers, belly, head and all of that fun stuff. What they are also doing is checking to see if the baby is practicing breathing. Obviously there isn't any oxygen in V's belly, so they aren't actually breathing, but babies will practice breathing for 30-45 seconds at a time. Our little girl wasn't practicing her breathing, and that's a GREAT thing! That means that V will likely go into labor in the next 48 hours! Woohoo! We really hope Dr Cohen is right! I can't wait to hold my little girl!

Soon I'll be able to change my Mii character from "Tatge" to "Dad"!!!!!

If you're an ultrasound tech - you can make these out...

V's been on machines that tracked contractions and baby's heart beat, and everything was "perfect!"

Now ultrasound!!

Pics coming soon

All hooked up!

On our way to the specialist. Get excited!

Today is my DUE DATE!!

When is this little girl coming out.
This is my "hurry up" face!!

Going to the Doctor now for my moderate biophysical profile. We will update after :)

BOREDEM!

I'm really not feeling this whole not working thing. I've never really not worked, and I honestly miss being there lol. I could care less if my water breaks at work!! But every seems to think it's a better idea to just stay close to home. I get it....I'm just not good at doing nothing. Today I re-organized my entire kitchen, pantry, cabinets, and good willed a bunch of stuff. I also got to play outside with Winston. I'm sure he is happy that I'm home. I walked 3 miles today, three 1 mile winston walks. My feet definitely hurt, but I had a productive day. Hopefully I'll sleep a little better tonight too. I even cooked Nick and I a nice dinner :)

I made a list of a few other things I can do to keep busy this week around the house. If anything this will make me tackle things I wouldn't have thought to organize. Nick suggested I study for my training license. I didn't even think of that, but it's another good idea to keep me distracted. Dr. Isdith was pretty adamant that I keep busy. It's going to be a long week waiting for Thursday's appt, and then a long weekend waiting for Monday's appt. We have an easter outfit for Natalie, but it's still in the bag with tags on and a receipt handy just in case she doesn't arrive in time. Trying to be as patient as possible, don't want to get myself all worked up!!

On a good note, I'm really lucky that I am still able to stay active. I'm 40 weeks prego this week and I'm glad I haven't been put on bed rest or anything. So I'm definitely thankful for that :)

Day Number 278

My beautiful wife has been pregnant for 278 days! Only a short time now before Natalie gets come out and play!

V's all done with the doctor. No big changes. The nurse, Melissa, took V to get her weight and commented that she looks very ready! Lol! But what's crazy? V lost a pound since last week!!

V was rooting for the dr to say that she was 5cm dilated and 100% ready to go! She also wanted to hear Dr. Isdith say, "lets get that baby out tonight!" Instead she's scheduled to have a Modified Biophysical Profile Thursday with the specialist to make sure the placenta and baby are healthy. But the doctor did say that if V makes it to her scheduled appointment with her next Monday then we can talk about induction. They prefer to let nature take its course, but also don't like to go past 41 weeks.

Side note: Melissa, the nurse, still thinks my name is Eric.

@ the dr's office - waiting - usually V'a apts are in the morning so I get to watch the start of Ellen. I'm kind of disappointed that I don't get to see 'the dance' today.

Any questions for the doctor?

Anxiously awaiting V's doctor appointment this afternoon. We'll keep you posted on what we hear!

...crickets...

It's Sunday...so I'm going to walk winston, do some gardening, some grocery shopping, and start my week like regular. I have a dr. appointment tomorrow but I'll probably go into work to do the ordering and my usual Monday chore list. Once we know what she says I'll take it from there. But If we are going to just wait this out I'm gonna work this week. No sense in sitting at home :)

I slept great last night. Up 2 or 3 times to pee, a few contractions, but not bad at all.  No contractions since I woke up this morning. I'm chalking this weekend up to a practice round I guess. Some false labor goodness!!

Side Note: I've been watching too much TV, specifically HGTV...I have a crush on the DIY guy. There, I said it. I don't know what it is...maybe the bald head. hehe :)

It's V...still nothing new to report. I think today I've come to terms with the fact that this might take a few more days. Today was my third day with contractions. A few an hour, a couple that stopped me in my tracks, but last night was definitely the most intense and consistent they have been. Still I'm sure nothing close to how they will be when I'm in active labor.

If I make it to my appointment on Monday I'm curious what she is going to say once I tell her about the last few days. I really rather not be induced, especially since my due date isn't until Thursday, but whatever she thinks is necessary. I'm not currently miserable, but this hasn't been the most fun I've ever had lol. I have yet to let the fact that my water may break at any moment stop me from being out in public. People usually have mops in their establishments right? It's fine.

It's awesome how many of you have texted/fb messaged me saying you've got no sleep the past few nights because you keep checking the blog. By awesome I mean I feel bad!! You all get some rest tonight. I'm sure when you check in the AM you wouldn't have missed much :)

You know that list that comes up when you google "how to induce labor"... I think I've tried all of it, minus the castor oil. That just seems extreme. And gross. And really the words "drink" and "oil" shouldn't go in the same sentence. Needless to say this little girl is going to come whenever she is ready whether we like it or not. So I'm just going to stay calm and carry on...like big daddy Churchill once said.

V out.

A sleepy dad-to-be!

Update: nothing new. No consistent contractions (about 3 per hour.) When contractions do happen they are powerful.

City takes the lead and on cue V gets her biggest contraction yet!!

I have the best wife ever!! She's 9 months pregnant, having contractions, and she's with me at Slainte's to watch the Manchester City game!

No big contraction news to report. Sporadic.

On a side note: we found a combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell!!

Another side note: we bought a Kings of Leon LP and a Ryan Adams LP at a random and crazy record store. They had a no cell phone policy, the owner was wearing an American flag + bling + sequin vest, and they made us all wait in line outside and only served us one at a time. Freaking weird!!

Vegas changed the Over/Under on Natalie making her entrance, and its now set at: 36 hours

10 am - no contractions in like 2 hours. WTH?

Happy Record Store Day everyone! Today would be a great day for Natalie to make her grand entrance!

Still Not Yet :(

Its V again, Nick's really slacking! Sheesh! Well, as soon as I laid down to go to sleep at 1:00am everything slowed down :( had some contractions still but in total maybe 6 in 7 hours of on/off sleep. I guess it's good I got some rest but I thought I was progressing so well last night. There was consist action from 6:30 till 12:30 and I was hoping to be hospital bound in the middle of the night! Sheesh liitle girl!! I guess we will see what today brings. For something good to report, Nick finally got a decent night of sleep :)

It's V! Just got into bed, contractions are every 10-13 minutes again. Anyone still reading should go to sleep! I'm going to try and rest too! I'm thinking she wants to hold off till morning :) good night!

Just to prove that our house also has a sense of humor - V, Winston and I all had our eyes closed catching some rest when all of the fire detectors in the house went off!!! So after a quick run to the 24 hour Walgreens to grab a bunch of shiny new 9 volt batteries - the batteries are all replaced, and the detectors are nice and quiet!
If you know about the recent bouts with ADT - you'll also find it funny that they called us to report a fire on our second story :) So even though I sued them just a few months ago - they're still "protecting" our house. It's good to know that they don't hold grudges :)

Text messages have really died down over the last hour. Maybe everyone is out partying on a Friday night!! Cheers! Have one for us!

V just had her first 2 minute contraction! To celebrate (is that the right word?) she had a chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk. Now she's trying to get some rest :)

Oh, the fun is really beginning! We just went for a long walk with Winston. V had 3 contractions - all almost exactly 8 mins apart and all lasting for about a minute. I can tell that the pain is getting a little stronger with each one.
We thought of a few more things to add to the labor bags. Nothing too fun - just gum, V's wallet, and some other little things.
It's kind of funny, we're trying to plan on when and how to get ready for bed - or if we should even try to go to bed.
We were also talking about how we're so excited to meet her, to go for our first bike ride as a family, how she's going to be a crazy bad driver at 16 :) I can't believe we're going to be parents soon!!

So we just had a tasty dinner with Hope and Jeff @ Mama Mia's. V wasn't too hungry, but she did have some soup and salad. Her contractions have been getting stronger and stronger and are happening a lot more regularly now. They're happening about every 8-13 minutes, and lasting for about 60 seconds each. This has been pretty consistent for the last two hours!! Hopefully this is the REAL beginning!!

First contraction that stopped her in her tracks!!

I feel bad - I'm actually rooting for painful contractions. I don't want to see my wife in pain, but I'm excited for what this all means.

Alright, we're meeting Jeff and Hope for dinner at Mama Mia's in a few minutes. We just went to the mall to walk around in an effort to hurry Natalie up :) At the mall we made a couple of returns at Macy's, and V picked out a cute Easter onesie for our little girl. The walking around might be helping!!! The last 4 contractions were timed at 15 minutes, 15 minutes, 19 minutes and 15 minute intervals. And each of the last 4 contractions have been beginning to pick up in intensity. They still aren't so strong that V can't talk through them, but they are "registering" on her pain meter.

So, last night it was lots of early labor excitement. Her contractions were happening every 30 mins, then they sped up to every 20, and then went to every 15 minutes. We thought were getting closer, but as we started to get ready for what we thought would be a couple hours of sleep - the contractions really calmed down. So far this morning they are happening about every 30 to 45 minutes. V thinks tomorrow (Saturday, April16) will be the day that Nat Tat introduces herself. I'm okay with a tax day baby though :) I can't wait to hold her!!!

This is Nick checking in for the first time. We're still at home. The contractions are happening regularly every 15 minutes now and seem to be getting a little stronger. She can still talk through them, but the intensity is for sure rising. I'm buzzing with excitement, and she's getting more and more anxious :)

39 weeks!

We went to the doctor today for our weekly check up and got some exciting news. Dr. Isdith doesn't think we will be making it to our next appointment, which is scheduled for Monday. So it may be this weekend!!! I didn't sleep well at all last night chalking it up to just being uncomfortable. Now that I have had early labor contractions all day, I realized that's what was preventing me from sleeping. Nothing seems to be consistent yet. Maybe 2 or 3 an hour, and not intense yet, just uncomfortable tightening. Hoping Nick and I get some sleep tonight just in case we have a busy day tomorrow :)

I left work a little early, I can't handle all that attention. I shut down lol. For 9 months I've been handling a million questions a day. Today however, with everything becoming quickly so real, I didn't handle it at all. I'm pretty sure I won't be going in tomorrow whether I can or not. 

I'm getting so excited. I can't believe she might be here in the next 3 days!! Sitting on the couch watching TV really isn't working for me. I feel like I need to clean something, do more laundry, or put something together lol. Nick just put the car seat in the car and I wiped down the bassinet. I'm thinking tomorrow AM I'll wash my sheets so we come home to fresh ones. Maybe I'll vacuum once more :)

We have a few friends, my dad and my brother on Winston patrol if needed for the next few days. I'm pretty sure everything is covered. Now it's just waiting I guess!! Nick is going to be updating the blog from here on out, since I'll be busy hopefully delivering our baby girl :) 

Side note, I will most definitely be having a huge bowl of ice cream this evening, just in case it's my last preggo late night snack!!!

11 Days...BOOM!

Quick update tonight and I'll write a better one tomorrow or tuesday!

Thursday at my doctors appointment I was just under 3cm dilated and 90% effaced. For those of you who know the lingo Natalie's head is at a -1. Basically what that means is any day now!! I've gained 21 pounds too! I was very happy to see that. I'm so excited, definitely nervous, and rather uncomfortable...all the time lol. My feet finally are a little swollen....success!! Good thing I don't ever bother wearing anything other than flip flops. Today I also noticed that line on my stomach has gotten significantly darker, and there is a "cute" stretch mark around my belly button. BLASPHEMY!

Bags are packed, Nick and I blew up target today for some last minute things, & he built the pak-n-play! We even goodwill-ed the heck out of our closets and attempted to set up the baby monitor...we'll revisit that later. Very complicated. I'm pretty sure I just need to hear her cry right?? SHEESH!!

Hopefully I can get a bunch done at work tomorrow and roll out a productive week, just in case it's my last.  I'm going to bed. That doesn't mean I'll actually sleep at all, but having the time to attempt to right now is all I can hope for :)

Would you like a side of "feet in the ribs" with that?

Last weeks appointment also went well. I’m now 2cm and still 80% effaced. Our doctor had us fill in a birth plan so she could help answer any questions we had. I printed one off of thebump.com. It was extensive. I think out of the 6 pages I might have filled in 1 and a half of them. Some the questions I didn’t even understand lol. It was a good call though, she just went over everything with us. I feel a lot more comfortable about the whole labor thing lol. I’m definitely getting nervous now. I have 17 days to go! I Can’t believe I’m officially counting days already! 

I had a talk with miss Natalie today on my way to work asking her if she’d like to come early to maybe skip the next few days. Nick is in Miami for work Tuesday and Wednesday night. Not that it’s super far away, but I don’t want to interrupt his presentations and then have him drive 110mph on the highway coming back up north. I’m sure she is going to come whenever she is ready regardless of my request lol. It’s ok though, I’m just so excited we get to meet her soooooooo soon :)

This weekend was fun. We got to meet Nick’s buddy Ryan’s wife and kids. They were visiting from CHI-town. Such good kids, so cute, so smart. Their daughter Reese is so sweet. She made me so excited to have a little girl. They are so different then boys, it’s unreal. Their son chase talks up a storm, I was so impressed! And their little guy Blake was just a good boy. Totally easy going, I’m sure that’s a 3rd child thing. I got to play with him for a while as well, so fun! We also met their friends who live around the corner from us. They are also a really great couple with an adorable little boy who is 2. We don’t really have any friends with little ones so it was fun to get in some good practice. Getting to talk with a few mommys my age was the best part! They were really fantastic people (being from the mid-west I wouldn’t expect anything less), it was a good time. Nick was great with the kids, getting them all rilled up before bed time with piggy backs and bed jumping. It was cute to see him playing with them, and holding their littlest guy Blake. He is going to be a good dad :)

We went to my mom’s Saturday night for my brothers birthday. Food was awesome as usual. I got to have 2 delicious (NOT) Nonalcoholic beers. I can’t wait to have a real one soon. SHEESH! Lots of family, belly rubs, and another baby pool lol. Everyone has next week and the week after filled in. We’ll see! Kris from next door brought over her bassinet that her two kids used for us to borrow. So awesome! I used to change both her kids diapers, now they are all grown up. One in college and one in HS. Man I feel old. Very cool though, we are grateful to have such amazing people in our lives :)

I think I’ve done the last bit of baby laundry until she gets here. We got a few more gifts last week so I washed everything yesterday...shortly after that our washer machine broke. Oh the joys of home owning!! After an hour at Lowe’s and plenty of anxiety on my part we made a decision. Of course we picked the one that is on back order until next week. Perfect. Another reason maybe Natalie would like to wait it out a bit. I’m sure it’s comfy in my belly. Maybe a little tight. It’s fine. She’s tough. We took some belly shots, and some pics of Nat Tat listening to some tunes :)

The to-do list is getting slimmer. We still have to pack bags...Hopefully tonight after work we can get that done. The list Nick has made is massive. I’m sure some of it is unnecessary but non the less we will have everything covered just in case :) 

I still feel relatively well. I’m uncomfortable but I’m becoming used to it. I occasionally get some pressure and tightness, maybe Braxton hicks?? Not quite sure, but I'm sure its all normal. All the stories I have heard the last nine months really make me feel lucky. I’ve had a reasonably  smooth sailing pregnancy. A few bumps and symptoms, but I generally really enjoyed being preggo. It’s the coolest thing ever that a little person is growing in my belly. Women are so blessed to get to go through this. I might be screaming something different in the delivery room but as of today, I loved every minute, even the tough ones. Sleeping is like a joke at this point. Between peeing and trying to get comfortable I’ve just about given up. It’s fine, I laugh about it, I’m getting more sleep now then I will once Nat Tat gets here thats for sure :) I have another appointment thursday AM this week. We will see if there is anymore progress!