Annabelle's First Visitors and Heading Home!

While in the hospital it was nice to have several of the residents stop by to visit. Here are some photos of Bella's first visitors: 

Chris and Jenay

Their baby girl is due in January!

Adam and Jess

Joslyn and Justin

On Wednesday, October 26th we were able to head home. Rob got Bella dressed for the occasion! 

Dressing Annabelle

I'm so cute!

Family Photo

First ride in the carseat!

Real Labor (Yes, for real this time!)

The morning of October 24^th I found myself at Panera having breakfast and making plans for one last afternoon of Christmas movie watching. I headed home, threw some lunch in the microwave and popped in Elf (love that movie!). By the time I got to the raccoon hugging scene (really early in the movie) the whirlwind of Annabelle’s birth started. Honestly, it went so fast I hardly had time to process everything. Here is the approximate timeline:

12:30 p.m. I texted my friend Julie who is a nurse and told her I thought my water might have broken but I felt so silly calling my OB twice in the same day to ask if I should get checked out. Julie encouraged me to call them.

12:45 p.m. Despite feeling somewhat dumb, I called the office to ask if I should come in. The nurse said they had a 2:30 spot and I should definitely come in to get checked and make sure I was doing ok. At this point I called Robbie to let him know there was no rush but if he wanted to finish up his patients and come home to take me to my appointment. He said he would take off in the next few minutes (I was so nonchalant he even stopped at the coffee cart before heading home to get a cookie!!)

1:00 p.m. I decided to hop in the shower while I waited. Two minutes into my shower I realized what a huge mistake that was! My water definitely broke and contractions went from nothing to 1 ½ to 2 minutes apart immediately.

1:05 p.m. I hop out of the shower and attempt to blow dry my hair but have to stop every other minute because of the pain.

1:15 p.m. Rob arrives home to find me on the floor of the bathroom throwing up. His first words are, “I’ll go put our bags in the car…”.

1:25 p.m. We leave for the hospital. Rob thinks I am ridiculous because I am doing my make up in the car, stopping every other minute to whimper through a contraction…LOL J

1:45 p.m. We arrive at the clinic and get put in a patient room to see the doctor. I promptly throw up all over myself and Rob has to give me his shirt. When my doctor arrives she takes one look at me and says, “Girl, you are definitely in labor!” She finds I am 7 cm dilated and sends me to the ER to get checked in to the maternity ward.

2:00 p.m. Arrive at the ER where they ask a series of ridiculous questions (Do you have a living will? Advanced directives? What is your address? Etc. etc.). I was not amused since I had “pre-registered” and naively thought this meant I wouldn’t have to answer questions and sign things while in pain. The nurse looked at Robbie and said, “They lose their sense of humor about now.” I just glared at her and said “I just want my epidural”. I asked Rob, “What happens if I can’t get an epidural?!? Rob’s response was, “You’ll just have to do it without one.” This made for one unhappy wife…someone really needs to tell him there are times in life when honesty is NOT the best policy!

2:15 p.m. We are put into our labor and delivery room where I find out (much to my dismay) that I have to have a bag of fluids, a blood draw and lab work returned before I can get an epidural.

3:00 p.m. Blessed relief! My epidural is finally administered. I am 8 cm dilated. Our friend Chris stops by to join in the fun of delivery and hangs out with us as we wait for me to finish dilating.

5:30 p.m. Final check and I am fully dilated. They get the baby station ready and call my doctor before I get to push.

6:00 p.m. My doctor arrives and says, “I thought you said she just started to push??” She almost missed the delivery and had to rush to get into her gown and booties.

6:10 p.m. After less than 30 minutes of pushing, Annabelle Rose Tanzer was born!! 8 lbs. 14 oz. and 21 inches long J She is a beautiful, healthy baby girl with brown hair and blue eyes. 

Waiting for baby

Last pregnant photo!

Baby Annabelle

Proud Momma!!

Getting weighed and measured

8 lbs. 14 oz.

Robbie and Annabelle

Family of 3 :)

Robbie and Annabelle

Congratulations!

Beautiful baby girl

Baby feet

"False" Labor

Saturday night in our now predictable style we went out to grab some Chinese for our "last" weekend of just the two of us (this time for real!). For the past month we have been enjoying each weekend as though it is our last which, if you know me and Robbie at all, always involves eating somewhere. We are still in search of good Chinese and Thai food restaurants so we decided to give one in Westlake a try.
While waiting for our food I started to have my first real contractions and by the time we got home they were pretty steady at 10 minutes apart. This scared Rob enough to pack his overnight bag (finally!) and we went to sleep early thinking we may have to run to the hospital sometime Sunday. Sunday morning we woke up to 8 minutes apart, went to church and came home to 6 minutes apart. This is good, right? We went on a walk and had some 4-5 minutes and then got tired of sitting on the couch timing them so we went for yet another walk to enjoy the last really nice weather day for awhile. During the walk contractions sped up to 3-4 minutes and even a few 2 minute ones thrown in. We were getting pretty excited at this point! We went back inside to time them again and they slowed WAY down...back to 6 minutes again. Yet again, we wisely decided to get some sleep in case we had to get up in the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep through the contractions so I went downstairs to lay on the couch and watch TV. Around 2 I decided I would try again to sleep through them since they were still at 6 minutes. When my alarm went off at 6 I jumped out of bed and oriented myself quickly remembering when I went to sleep I was in labor. Apparently not anymore! I made sure the baby was moving, went back to sleep for a few hours and called my OB's office when they opened. The nurse sympathetically told me "it can happen" and assured me it would just help with the induction tomorrow.
Robbie left for work a little bit sad. He said, "I'm just ready to hold her." Aww...how can a wife feel bad about her lack of sleep when you hear him say that? He's just so anxious! He has put together every toy he can find and laid down carpet in her basement play area this weekend (even though she won't use that area for quite some time!!). Soon enough he will hold her and make sure she is ok!
So, tomorrow is the BIG day. 7:30 a.m. we start the induction and hopefully find that my 30 hours of labor was not completely in vain! Can't wait to post a picture of baby Bella being held by her daddy after months, weeks, and hours of waiting!

Nesting, Nesting, Nesting!

With officially less than 2 weeks to go until our due date and the guarantee from our OB that the baby will be here in less than 3 weeks, we are frantically finishing our nesting (and, I’ll admit, a series of other unrelated baby projects that I have been putting off!). On the day of week 38 I got my first stretch mark but my OB said I’m not allowed to complain because she couldn’t find it without a magnifying glass and I have “no idea” what other women go through...my mom’s words of wisdom were more blunt: It doesn’t matter because the second baby will give me more stretch marks than I can count…sigh…thanks mom! I guess there is no sense in deluding myself anyway…

Anyway, on to the nesting part! We have Annabelle’s “nook” completely put together and it is absolutely adorable! I attached some photos below to show the finished product. Those finishing touches made both of us excited for baby’s arrival and Robbie was so great putting it together. We found some remnant carpet for her nursery and had some extra for the living room so she will have a place to lay on her tummy that’s not hardwood or tile. So many people gave us cute little touches for the baby’s nursery and it’s such a happy little place.

We picked a pediatrician and I got to have a meet and greet session with him last week. I really got a good feeling from him and his nurse. He was very thorough spending 30 minutes getting to know me and asking about any concerns I might have. Funny enough, since picking him we have repeatedly found people who take their kids to him and think he is great! I went to a new mother’s support group yesterday and both of the moms there used this pediatrician and (before I knew it was the same one) brought up how great their pediatrician is. That definitely makes us feel pretty good – not bad for a Russian roulette style of picking a name off a sheet of paper! Yikes!

For an update on me: Still feeling great although we do have a nighttime party animal. It’s definitely getting difficult to sleep through her rolling and kicking. Also found out what nerve pain in your back and legs feels like at the end of pregnancy and am not a fan. I am still walking several miles each day though so I’m glad I can push through that pain. My measurements are right on for where I am at in the pregnancy and the baby is still very active during her weekly NST. Our doctor thinks we will go full term and possibly up to a week over but I think she tells everyone that so they don’t get their hopes up. As for me, I’m still ok with her staying put for a few more weeks since I am enjoying the baby free time cramming in projects and socializing. I have met a lot of new moms lately and spent time with the girlfriends I have made here.  Robbie is getting more anxious than I am and gave Bella “permission” to come at any time. He would really love to get the call that I’m in labor. He’s excited to be a daddy and would love for her to come soon since this is an easy month for him at work!

We will take and post another belly photo this week so you all can see how big I am getting. We seem always forget to take them and it’s getting close to the end so we should get on that! Love to you all from the three of us :)

Annabelle's Nursery Nook

Joslyn helped make the pictures to match the bedding and the baby hoot owl is from Auntie Jolie!
Look at the adorable comforter too from Grandma/Mom Tanzer, Shelly, Aunt Marie, and Aunt Alene

Picture frame from my Aunt Bonnie

Calendar is from Nicole and we plan to put some books in the corner there

Here is the crib! The wall art was made by Joslyn :)

Old dresser converted to changing table - fits perfectly!

35 week update

Today week marks 35 weeks and since so many people have asked, I felt I should put a quick update out here. I am posting in a new picture in the belly growth series in case you are curious to see the big belly! I am still feeling absolutely great! Robbie and I are still able to go for hour long walks or so most days of the week. Bella is still an incredibly active baby...I am fairly certain she only sleeps about an hour a day. Now that she is bigger we are able to identify her little feet and hands when they push out my stomach. It seems there is constantly one body part or another sticking out of my stomach now…

My doctor is requiring me to do non-stress tests (NSTs) weekly which is somewhat of an inconvenience but at the same time it is nice to hear her little heartbeat each week and see how much she moves. For those not familiar (no worries…I wasn’t either!) an NST monitors both the baby’s heartbeat and the number of movements in an hour. To have a successful test the baby has to have at least 6 movements in an hour and they have to a few different types of movements. So far, the doctor has stopped the test early each time because Bella has moved so much there is no need to continue. The last appointment Robbie came along for and the doctor stopped it after about 15 minutes. She had to have moved at least 30 times in that 15 minutes – it is crazy! Rob was laughing at her repeatedly kicking the movement monitor strapped around my belly (it makes a loud noise when she does, kind of like tapping a microphone). I guess she still hasn’t gotten over her space issues. We hope she lets us hold her without freaking out!

I am not to the point yet where I want her out…in fact, I hope she stays in all the way through her due date. I worry more about her coming early! Our crib came in this weekend and Robbie was anxious to pick it up and put it together (wheww!). We finally got our stroller lined up and a glider/rocker put together but I still feel like there are 100 projects around home I’d like to get done before this little girl takes over our lives. My plan is to pack my overnight bag with a month to go and put it by the door – I figure if I didn’t have it packed she would probably surprise us but it seems like if you are prepared you end up waiting! Robbie lectures Bella on occasion telling her she is not allowed to get here more than a week early. We will see if she listens! It is possible we will get more anxious towards the end but for now I think we are both extremely content having her stay put for awhile.

Each appointment the doctor comments on my little belly but I am measuring right where I should and right in the middle of the recommended weight gain so she is happy with that. The baby books say Annabelle should be around 5 pounds now and 20”. She is just now able to touch my ribs on occasion but tends to hang out in other parts of my belly instead. With only 5 weeks to go she doesn’t have too much more to grow so I feel like we are on the downhill slide now!

Robbie putting together Annabelle's crib

He made me double check every bolt to make sure it was safe :)

Innie or Outie?!? Neither! My belly button is gone!!

Showered!

In the past year it seems we have crammed in every life change possible: engagement, wedding, graduation, moving, and now our first baby! With that has come many showers and parties and each one has left me feeling completely overwhelmed (in a great way!). So many of our family and friends have generously given gifts, sent meaningful cards and messages, and faithfully showed up for wedding showers, our actual wedding, graduation, Robbie’s graduation party, and now our baby showers. I feel like it is about time for us to give everyone a break! I have never in my life been so aware of the reality that Robbie and are are very unusually blessed with amazing family and friends. I don’t know many people who have such genuine supportive and loving people in their lives – people who give without a second thought motivated only by love and excitement, people who think of us and encourage us daily, and most importantly people who support us with their thoughts and prayers. I am beyond words.

One memory that I will share, knowing I will absolutely never forget this moment in our lives. The day after our wedding Robbie and I stayed at our apartment since we had decided to wait a day to fly out for our honeymoon. Our bridal party had graciously cleaned up after the reception and brought the gifts and cards to our apartment. I will never forget being alone with Robbie, sitting on the couch opening gift after gift, card after card and reading each and every message of support people had written for us. It literally took us hours to complete the process. About halfway through we both looked at each other realizing we hadn’t said a word for quite awhile. I knew he was thinking exactly what I was at that moment and I asked, “Are you as overwhelmed as I am?”. Robbie just shook his head and said, “I don’t even know what to say. I just can’t believe all this.” It’s rare that I ever see him look unsure or overwhelmed but at that moment the look on his face was of someone who is completely stunned and humbled. I know we don’t get the chance to say it often enough but I truly hope everyone in our lives knows exactly how much we appreciate your generousity and support. Not just the gifts but everything – the phone calls, cards, emails, facebook messages, visits, and your genuine excitement for us during our first year. I know without a doubt we will never forget the day-in and day-out support we have received from each and every one of you as we are starting out. We regularly pray that we will try to live up to the examples you all have set for us – generously, selflessly, loving and supporting the people in our lives.

As for the showers, as I mentioned earlier, this has been a whirlwind of a first year (in fact we are still 5 weeks from finishing our first year of marriage but it sure seems like we’ve been through a few already!). Our Iowa baby shower was held on August 13^th one year exactly after our Iowa wedding shower – I couldn’t help but notice the coincidence. If you had told me a year ago I would be back in Iowa (from Cleveland of all places…) for a baby shower the very same weekend I would have thought you were crazy. Yet, that’s exactly where I found myself and I loved every minute of it! My brother, Seth, was back from Afghanistan so it was not just a shower but a family reunion of sorts. My sister, Jolie, and brother-in-law, Mark, were able to make it up from Nashville which was really exciting for me. I love that my sister got to see my pregnant tummy before Annabelle gets here! My brother, Neal, and his girlfriend, Ashley, couldn’t make it but I am really excited we are now close enough to D.C. that they will be able to come visit us in Cleveland in a few weeks before the baby gets here! The Iowa shower was decorated with little owls and had one of my favorite desserts – flower cookies!! In college I worked at a local Danish bakery one summer and flower cookies one of their signature items. My mom ordered them in pink with little brown sprinkles…so absolutely adorable! A lot of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were able to make it for the shower and it was so nice to see them since I had originally been unsure if I would be able to make it back to Iowa before the baby. I was touched that so many of them drove out to come celebrate with my family. I was able to work in some visits with my friend Beth in Davenport, Krystal in Des Moines, Andrea in Altoona, and the Mosher family in Bondurant as well during the week I was home. My friend Tara who I studied abroad with also drove down for lunch the day before the shower since she would be at a wedding on the day of the shower. She is such and encouraging, positive person and I am really glad it worked out to meet up. I am so thankful I got to see so many people while I was back! Here are some photos of the shower – there are a few missing that are on Seth’s camera so sorry if you took a photo with me that is not here!!

Banner over doorway

Banner

Advice cards

Flower cookies that I love in bottom left

Diaper cake!

Owl and bouquet of baby clothes

Me and my sister Jolie

Anne, Mom, and me

I'm just a little bit bigger than dad now!

Me and my dad!

My aunt Bonnie with her granddaughter, Sophie

Aunt Cheri - her first granddaughter is scheduled to arrive just a few days after ours!

Aunt Marva and Uncle John

Uncle Johnnie and Aunt Kathy

After the Iowa shower, I drove to Chicago for a shower the next day, August 14^th. Rob’s mom and Shelly did a great job putting the shower together and, fittingly, had some adorable cupcakes and cookies in pink and purple! Check out the photo of them below! Again, the house was full of well-wishing friends and family members. In the beginning of our relationship I had a hard time keeping everyone straight in Rob’s life because everyone is an “aunt”, “grandma” or something even if they aren’t related. There is nothing quite like a Tanzer holiday or party since everyone makes a point to stop by or send a message over to let you know they are there in spirit. Everyone had a great time guessing how big my belly was – some tried to flatter me with a teeny-tiny measurement and others WAY over-estimated…good thing I am not easily offended – ha! It was a great shower and I had a smile on my face heading back to Cleveland that night. Below are some photos of the Chicago shower.

Yummy cute cupcakes!

Kara, Libby, and Annie :)

Dawn - look how great she looks!!! A fellow runner now :)

The Smit family women

Karen and Audrey

Aunt Marie, Hannah, and Kelly

Libby got the grand prize!

The fabulous hostesses - Mrs. Tanzer and Shelly :)

So, in summary, an amazing weekend of “pink” baby showers (I purposely left pink out of all wedding décor so I LOVED that the baby showers were filled covered in it!). Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came out and to those who couldn’t make it – you were very, very missed!! We are finally ready now to start putting that nursery together!!