Lila Meets Olive

I was a little nervous about Lila coming to the hospital to meet Olive because I wasn't sure what her reaction would be.  I thought she might be scared seeing all the hospital stuff or be mad at the baby or say she had to return a movie and leave or something.

But she was so excited to see "New Baby Ahh-yive."

She kept petting her and telling me who she was and that her eyes were closed.

Now she did refuse to take off her coat, but I think we can work with that one.

Olive Claire Hutson

After a week of being sick, Johnny and I went to the hospital bright and early on Tuesday morning for me to be induced.  I was worried about delivering because I had had a horrible cold, and I thought that I wouldn't be able to breathe deeply enough...but then I thought about being pregnant for a few more days, and I decided to take my chances.

They started me on Pitocin around 8:30 and said they weren't really sure how long it would take for me to start contractions.  About twenty minutes later, Johnny was giving me a quiz he found online to determine whether I'm conservative or liberal ("Cats are better than dogs. Do you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with this statement?"), but I was unfortunately unable to figure out what I am because contractions started, and we were raring to go.  A little while later a nice lady came in and gave me an epidural, and then all we had to do was wait. 

Around 11 the nurse came in to check how far dilated I was, said something like, "Oh there's the head...we better call the doctor over," and prepped everything for delivery.  Once my doctor got there, they had me push something like three times, and out popped this teeny tiny little baby girl! Thanks for paving the way, Ogre Lila!

Olive Claire Hutson, 7 lbs 4oz, 19.5 in

No broken collar bone, no terrible jaundice, no psycho pterodactyl scream

Even though she's a full two pounds smaller than Lila, she's still a little chunky monkey.

She unfortunately did not have time to grow a full head of hair.  We're working on it.

We've gotten a lot of positive feedback about Olive's name, which I managed to keep secret our entire pregnancy.  Olive is my maternal grandfather's aunt's name, and Claire is my paternal great grandfather's middle name...though I never actually checked how it's spelled, so it's probably not spelled the girly way that we chose.  We like to call her Ollie for short, or if you're a two year old member of our family, you may call her "Baby Ahh-yive," and point out whether her eyes are opened or closed every time you look at her.

37 Week Baby Bump

Tada! We've made it 37 weeks.



I kept making Johnny retake the picture because I thought I looked exhausted.  I finally decided that there's just something wrong with our camera, and we'll have to get a new one.  Now, even though my due date is February 4, my doctor is having me go in early to be induced since Lila had the whole "I'm a giant baby and I'm going to stay in an extra week and break my collar bone on the way out" thing going on, and they don't want that to happen to this baby.  So we're looking at two weeks from tomorrow for delivery.  I'm just looking forward to only having to take care of one child for the two days I'm in the hospital.  Piece of cake.

What To Do Before Having A Baby

Here is a list of things you absolutely need to do in the weeks before having a baby.

1. Start painting your family room.  Don't finish it; just start enough that it's in total disarray.

 

2. Organize your linen closet.  This will be very helpful when you are not showering for days at a time.

3. Organize the right side only of your children's medicine cabinet.

4. Buy snacks for the hospital four weeks in advance.

Optional things might include packing a bag for the hospital with important things like documents and clothing, actually having a plan for if you go into labor before you are induced, cooking a few freezer meals, reminding your husband how to get to the hospital, but these things are just optional.  I've chosen to just do the first four important ones.

Announcement Aftermath

Apparently not everyone in our family is pleased about the new addition.

 

Baby Hutson 2.0 Gender Reveal

 

Baby Hutson Two Point Oh Update

If you're anything like me, you might have forgotten that I am pregnant.  But I indeed am, and as pregnant people are wont to do, I went to the doctor's office yesterday.  I read Entertainment Weekly from May, peed in a cup, and got weighed.  Usually I hate getting weighed as a pregnant woman because every month you just get bigger and bigger, but this time around I actually lost weight from my last appointment.  Oops.  I don't know how it happened; I mean my meals typically consist of Lila's leftover macaroni and a Luna bar and the Veggie Straws that I find on the floor.  Ok maybe it's not that bad, but you get the picture.

So for the last 48 hours I've been eating whatever I want, telling myself that I'm not allowed to lose anymore weight.  I mean when can you ever say that to yourself? (I did, however, get a spam text message today asking me if I was tired of being fat.  I did NOT go to their website thank you very much.) Johnny has been out of town for the last week and a half for National Guard, so I decided to order Chinese food for dinner.  I got some crab rangoon, sesame chicken, and BROWN rice.  We wouldn't want to go too overboard now would we?



Some more fun news from the doctor has to do with my due date.  I don't know if you remember Lila's crazy entrance into the world, but long story short, they broke her collar bone in order to get all nine pounds of her out.  My doctor said that this time around, it's likely that the baby will be even bigger and will have the exact same problem.  Wonderful.  Another ogre child.  Anyway, the good news is that the doctor wants to induce me and will do it as early as 39 weeks if it's a big ol' ogre baby.  No waiting around for 41 weeks this time, Baby Hutson 2.0.  That also means that I pretty much have to get an epidural, so no going back and forth about whether or not I'm a good mom or a strong woman if I get one.  Bring on the pain meds.

So here's my plan for the next 29 weeks: eat, find my box of maternity clothes that I literally just put away, figure out how to wear a Baby Bjorn while pregnant, continue to allow Lila to wave to the new baby and kiss my belly, and don't eat cold lunch meat or unpasteurized cheese.

Surprise!

 

40 Weeks and Still Pregnant

Here we are.  The end of week 40.  I'm feeling really great minus the swollen feet and trips to the bathroom every thirty minutes.  Our bags are packed, we've got our birth plan, and the doctor says we should be ready to go any day now.  Today is the actual due date, but we have an induction date set for a week from Tuesday.  So if Baby Hutson decides to stay in a little longer, we'll be ready.  Just FYI, we're delivering at St. Luke's on the Plaza, and we'd love to have visitors!  So feel free to come and visit once we're there.

And Another Pinterest Craft

After spending some time this morning snooping around Pinterest, I found this tutorial for how to make fancy burp cloths.  I have a ton of scrap fabric, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.



It turns out that these were extremely easy and only took about 20 minutes a piece to make.  They were also extremely free because Johnny's mom had already given me these burp cloths that she found at a garage sale, and I already had all of the fabric.  Best kind of craft there is.

Now we're ready for all kinds of spit up.

Last Ultrasound

Baby Hutson got to have his/her final close ups yesterday.  This is a picture of the face lying on its side.  You can see the little arm pulled up under the chin also.  I personally think Baby Hutson looks kind of creepy, so don't feel bad if you think that too.



Obviously, Baby Hutson is running out of room.  He/she is currently measuring 6lbs and 13oz.  Assuming he/she comes on the due date, add 1/2lb each for the next 3-4 weeks, and we're looking at an 8.5-9 pound baby.  This puts Baby Hutson more in the 38 week range rather than 36.  More good news is that I'm already dilated 2cm (too weird to share?).  The doctor said not to read too much into this as far as an early due date, but she did say it's less work that I have to do later down the road.  We're still looking at March 11 which is 24 days away.  My doctor also said that they wouldn't let me go beyond 41 weeks, so we will definitely have a baby in 30 days!  Gulp!

Tonight is our breastfeeding class (definitely weird), and I've got a list of things to bring to the hospital taped to our door.  Anything I've forgotten?

Boy or Girl?

Well, Baby Hutson's bags are packed...



The rocking chair has been purchased...



And I made two little hats.  One for a boy and one for a girl.  Any thoughts on which one we'll get to use?



Here's the pattern I used, by the way.  These are some of the first ones I made, so don't look too closely.

Our Plan is Working

Back in the good ol' days on Wheaton Crew, our teammates used to joke that Johnny and I would eventually have nine kids to fill an entire boat, and we would call that boat "The Putsin' Hutson."



So far our plan seems to be working.  I went to the doctor today for one of my check ups, and after measuring the baby, the doctor informed me that we have one big baby on our hands.  It seems that Baby Hutson is measuring a little larger than an average 35 week old baby, but we'll be able to guess the weight better in two weeks when I go in for my last ultrasound.  This doesn't change the due date, so it's possible that Baby Hutson could be Mitchell-sized, 10 pounds. Sigh, I knew our baby would be advanced.

Baby Mail

Just got the cutest package in the mail for Baby Hutson.

Thanks Cousin Shana and Cousin Tommy.  Murphy too!

Don't Believe the Lies

Johnny and I met with Baby Hutson's pediatrician yesterday.  She's did a great job of answering all of our questions.  One question I asked was whether expensive baby laundry detergent was necessary.  She said, "Absolutely not."  Apparently there's nothing super different about baby detergent.  So as long as you already use detergent without scents or dyes, you're good to keep using it.  A penny saved!

The Hutsons Go Old School

It's true.  We are attempting to use cloth diapers with Baby Hutson.  I mean how could we resist something so cute?  Johnny did the research, and we will have 12 different cloth diapers at about $15 a piece. 12 x $15 = $180.  It seems like a lot up front, but when a pack of 50 diapers costs about $15, and you're using ten a day...it will only be 60 days until we break even.  And look at all the cute colors they come in.




I am also going to make my own baby book for Baby Hutson.  It's been awhile since I've scrap booked...basically since Johnny and I got married because all of our pictures only have us in them, and that gets boring.  But Hobby Lobby was having a 40% off sale on all their scrap booking stuff, so I decided to go for it.

And finally, stay tuned for this DIY.  You know those Moby Wraps that moms wear to carry their babies in?  You know how they're also $45 for what is pretty much a long piece of fabric?  I'm planning to turn the fabric below into a few of these.  Mama Williams, you want one?

Baby Hutson's First Quilt and Our First Class

I finished Baby Hutson's first quilt yesterday.  I had to use the iPad for the pictures, so forgive the quality.



It's flannel, and the light green color matches the color of his/her room.



In real life, the light green is a lot more green and less ugly tan.



We're ready for you, Baby Hutson!

Speaking of being ready, Johnny and I went to our first birthing class on Tuesday night.  We were supposed to bring two pillows and a blanket...which we didn't really use, so I'm not totally sure what that was about.  But we found our way to the hospital and figured out where to park when the baby comes.  The class itself was good and informative, but we couldn't make it out without seeing a closeup video of a birth...yikes.  And I'm not sure what the women were thinking who allowed photos of themselves during labor to be used in our PowerPoint.  There will be absolutely no photos of me during labor in existence.

Now we have breathing exercises to practice, and we know what signs to look for to know when it's time to go to the hospital.  I'm also starting to think about what to put into our overnight bag as well as the baby's.  Any suggestions?