Today vs. Four Years Ago

4 years ago

Four years ago, Matt and I got engaged on Skyline Drive! It was quite an adventure! We told Quinn the story today, and it only seemed fitting to point out both members of my family have tried to kill me. Just kidding (sort of!).

Today we decided to venture out to celebrate our four year anniversary, and the new member of our family. We had been wanting to try the new farm to table restaurant, Birch Kitchen and Bar, up the street, so we went for lunch. I had such high hopes for this place, but was so, so disappointed. Both Matt and I were. Quinn slept the whole time, so she was pleased. I mean maybe it will improve, but as of now I definitely would not go back. It was still nice to get out and about, and to be able to spend the day as a whole family :)

Today

In the Past Three Weeks

In the past three weeks:

• I've had a 40 hour labor followed by 5 hours of pushing
• I've had a C-Section
• I HAD A BABY GIRL!
• I hemorrhaged a few hours later
• I've had a blood transfusion
• I have some unexplained high blood pressure
• I had a 6 day hospital stay (I've never been happier to leave a place, and I'm pretty sure this made coming home with a newborn seem like the easiest thing in the world comparatively). 
• Between Quinn and I, we have had more doctor appointments than I've had in years
• Our toilet broke
• Our microwave broke (I don't even love microwaves, or use mine that much, but really you never know how convenient one is until you are living without one)

It's been a crazy whirlwind for sure. To say that motherhood started off a little rocky (mainly with the birth, medical emergency, and lengthy hospital stay) is putting it lightly. Matt and I are getting use to our new normal. What a huge learning curve! We have already learned lots of lessons, and continue to learn new ones each day. All of the crazy events have been worth it though. Quinn is doing great and I am recovering slowly but surely. Matt is doing a great job as a new dad, Quinn loves listening to him talk to her. 

Today is our first day by ourselves. Matt was home with us for the whole hospital experience and the first days we were home from the hospital, and my mom stayed with us last week. My mom took care of some serious business while she was here...the laundry (since she's the queen of laundry), groceries, making all the meals, cleaning, taking care of our appliance issues, and just helping us take care of baby business so we could have a little break. 

On our first day alone, Quinn and I successfully made it to one of my doctor appointments and Quinn was such a good baby! Really, Quinn is a very good baby in general. I feel like I might jinx myself, but she's usually very pleasant, easy to soothe, and obviously we just think she's the cutest :) 

We have also had some fun in the past two weeks we have been home. Quinn exercised her right to vote on election day, she's strolled around the neighborhood, and had quite a few visitors. We are very thankful for our friends and family to have sent us/brought us dinners, sent us cards and gifts for Miss Q, and for everyone who has thought of us and sent messages offering love and congratulations! We are very lucky to have so many wonderful people around us!

On The Day You Were Born

Matt and I are so excited to share that Quinn Flaherty Keough has arrived and made us a family of three. Believe me when I tell you that her entrance into the world is quite a harrowing tale. I think Matt and I have probably just made it through the most stressful, dramatic, scary and exciting days of our lives. I am going to share an abridged version (as abridged as 48 hours gets) of the hours leading up to her birth and of course a few of our favorite photos from over the last week.

I had my last doctor prenatal doctor appointment on October 14th. Quinn's due date. At that appointment we decided I would be induced the following week if nothing happened on it's own before then. I called and scheduled the induction for October 20th at 7 a.m. Matt and I very anxiously checked in that morning, hopeful that we would find out if Baby K. was a boy or girl (BABY HUNCH RESULTS {HERE} - Aunt Caitlin is our winner!) by the day's end. By 9 a.m. I was hooked up to Pitocin to start labor and Penicillin because I had tested positive for Group B Strep. I should also mention that upon checking in my blood pressure was totally out of control high. It remains that way until right now. I still don't have an explanation for it. Later that afternoon I hadn't made much progress and the baby's head was still very high up. The doctor couldn't even be sure it was a head so she did an ultrasound to be sure. She shared that she was concerned the baby was facing up and had their hand on their head and might not be able to be delivered. My water also broke around this time, so everyone was hopeful things would pick up. The doctor's changed shifts at about 9 p.m. and I was still not making much progress and my contractions never really got strong so they gave me a intrauterine catheter to better measure them. They still were not strong. The next doctor really broke my water around 11 p.m. that night. Overnight not much happened. I couldn't sleep, but tried. The next day (October 21st) around lunch time the Pitocin was cranked up and I started to get stronger contractions. The doctor came to check me, but I still wasn't making progress. He too made it seem as though a C-section was in my future. He and the nurse also suggested an epidural to help with the pain and to help relax my body to possibly move things along. About an hour later I decided to try it, seeing as how at this point I thought for sure I would be having a C-section and would need something anyway. Over the next few hours I got a few hours of sleep and made progress dilation wise. A little after nine, and third doctor later, I was allowed to begin pushing.

I pushed for about an hour, but nothing much was happening. The nurse and doctor made a new plan with my Pitocin to try to make things more productive. At this point I was getting extremely frustrated with the lack of progress, the amount of medication, and just not having a baby after almost two days. Also, I wanted some food. I was given an hour break from pushing to wait for stronger contractions. Once they got a little better, I pushed four more hours, until about 4 a.m. on October 22nd. At this point the doctor came back. He stated my options. The baby wasn't low enough to have any help with a vacuum, I could continue pushing, but I wasn't making progress after five hours, and then lastly he C-section that had been on the table for a few days. I asked him what he thought was best and he I could tell he thought I should have the C-section. I agreed. Matt and I were both quickly prepared to go into the operating room.

Once we were in the operating room they prepped me for the procedure and the anesthesiologist asked if we were having a boy or girl. I said I didn't know. So they gave us a special drape that we would be able to see the baby when it came out (but not see all my guts) and I would be able to announce if it was a boy or girl. Matt came in and things went very quickly. They held the baby up and asked me what it was. I saw, but I couldn't believe what I saw. I said I needed to see again and SHE WAS DEFINITELY A GIRL!!!!! SO CRAZY! I was so convinced she was a boy. I kept saying I can't believe I had a girl. Matt went to be with the baby when they cleaned her off and weighed her and checked her out. I started seriously feeling the effects of anesthesia. Matt brought her over to me all wrapped up and I kept telling him about how she was a girl and asking about what her hair looked like. I also couldn't believe she only weighed seven pounds. They thought of of the reasons she wouldn't come out was because she was a big baby. Turns out the first doctor was right, she was facing the wrong way and she had her hands on her head so she was impossible to push out.

In the recovery room, I couldn't wait to hold her, but I was feeling really bad from the anesthesia and didn't trust myself to be able to hold her. Matt called our parents and told them the great news. I could hear my mom yell in disbelief about it being a girl as well. After a little while I was finally able to hold her. I couldn't believe how soft she was and she was also very alert. She was loving playing with her tongue. Soon we were moved to the postpartum wing of the hospital and that's where things get very dramatic and take a turn for the worst for me. But all of that is a story for another day. We are so happy our Quinn is here. The past week - good and bad - is something that Matt nor I will ever forget. We are so thankful for our families help during all of our craziness and for all of our friends who sent messages of concern and congratulations. We can't wait for everyone to meet her :)

Life Lately

It's been awhile since I posted anything but a recipe or some weekly statistics about Baby K. I suppose baby prep has been keeping us busy, and sometimes I just don't feel like mustering up a blog post. So before life changes forever here are some random thoughts and things that we have been up to...

Fall: I love fall! October is one of my favorite months of the year! We are finally cooling off in Virginia (it's actually very cool the past three days) which is makes it feel like we should be doing fall things. We also get to open the windows! We visited a farm up the road last weekend to pick some pumpkins and we've been enjoying some more fall-like recipes at our house. I'm even liking some butternut squash this year. Stay tuned for a recipe.

Football Season: Probably the best part of fall is football weekends! Sadly, though, none of my teams are very stellar this year. Saturday mornings we start off with College Gameday and then we are usually lucky enough to get the Penn State game each weekend. Steeler games are a little harder to come by on Sundays with the DMV having two home teams, but the Steelers are usually 3rd in line so that's good. We shouldn't even get into how bad my fantasy team is this year. Embarrassing.

On Being Overdue: I'm five days overdue. It's weird. It's like we are living on the edge. I'm OK with it. I'm enjoying the simple life, but I have to tell you I was pretty much checked out of work toward the end of last week, especially when the doctor told me there would be a good chance to have the baby last weekend. I'm not really sure what the baby is doing in there, or when it thinks it should come out. I have walked and walked some more, I've had my membranes swept (TWICE), I've had some spicy food, and all those other things people think you should do...I've done some of them, but Baby K just hangs out like nothing happened.

TV: I'm glad fall TV is back. We have been enjoying Wednesday night TV at our house, and of course Shark Tank, one of the few agreed upon shows at our house. And have you been watching Jeopardy? There was a contestant that was on a roll and highly entertaining, but his run ended last week. We were a little devastated. Lastly, we are currently using a trial of Amazon Prime...in which I discovered they carry The Sopranos. I have been wanting to watch that show for a long time. Critics rank it up there with Breaking Bad and Mad Men.

On the Last Days of Being a Party of 2: Matt and I have very much been enjoying, and taking advantage of, our last days as just the two of us. This pretty much means we sleep in on the weekends, leave our house on a whim, go out to dinner, and basically just enjoy our life of leisure. It's weird to think that I'm going to leave my house one morning and come back with a different life.

Stay tuned...next time you hear from me I will actually be With a Little Flare :)

Happy Due Date!

It's Baby K's due date!!! How exciting! We have waited for this day for a very long time. Last week at my appointment the doctor said I had a 50% chance of going into labor within 72 hours (after trying to help things along), but obviously that didn't happen. Today at my appointment I was pretty much the same status as last week, which was kind of disappointing. I am supposed to get a phone call tomorrow to set up an induction for sometime next week if Baby K doesn't decide to make things happen on his/her own. I am hoping for a spontaneous labor, but I will be happy to have a Plan B in place tomorrow. And here is what I think might be my last weekly update (I probably just jinxed myself)....

How far along? 40 weeks!

How big is the baby? One website says a pumpkin, the other says a jackfruit. I hope it's a little tiny pumpkin. If you scroll to the bottom we are debating whether the baby will be bigger or smaller than the pumpkin I'm holding. It's 8.5 pounds. I'm hoping for smaller.

Maternity clothes? I'm ready for real clothes to be back in my rotation, but I'm still making due in my dresses and skirts, and a pair or two of pants thrown in there.

Sleep? Having a little more trouble sleeping and still waking up frequently during the night to use the bathroom.

Symptoms? Same things. Terrible swelling below the knees and a tired and sore back.

Best moment this week? Enjoying last Thursday off with Matt, having a nice relaxing weekend, and picking out some pumpkins. Matt also brought me lunch on Monday since he was off and hung out at BES for a little.

Food cravings? Buffalo chicken dip, salt and vinegar chips...both of these were satisfied by one of my thoughtful coworkers this week.

Food aversions? Nothing really. I still have to be careful not to eat too much as not to feel sick.

Gender? It's a surprise! I shared our Baby Hunch pool and we have LOVED seeing your guesses! The pool is locked now, but I can't wait to see who wins!

What I miss? Sleeping on my stomach, easier movement, having more than one pair of shoes, energy.

What I'm looking forward to? Having a baby, hopefully soon! Finding out if that baby is a boy or a girl!

39 Weeks

Not much has changed in the answers to my questions from last week. Up until now I have been fine with waiting on this baby to make it's grand entrance in it's own time, but I'm starting to feel like I would be OK with that being in the sooner rather than later time frame. I say that, but I'm also very much looking forward to another relaxing weekend as it could be our last one. 

At my appointment last week the doctor estimated that the baby could be about 7.5 pounds already (I was surprised by this), but it's really only an estimate and I'm hoping she was a little off. She also said I was about 1cm dilated and 60% effaced. I am curious to see what tomorrow's estimates will be, and am hoping they are a little different than last week. Cross your fingers for some progress for me!

How far along? 39 weeks!

How big is the baby? One website says a watermelon, the other says a MINI watermelon. I will take the mini please. 

Maternity clothes? I prefer pajamas, sweats, and running clothes, but I still have to go to work and it's mostly in maternity wear. 

Sleep? Waking up frequently during the night to use the bathroom, but sleeping pretty well in between. I have been waking up early in the mornings, though.

Symptoms? Same things. Terrible swelling below the knees and a tired and sore back. 

Best moment this week? Getting a pedicure! And just trying to enjoy the last days/weeks of being pregnant. 

Food cravings? Nothing major. I just wish I could eat more. 

Food aversions? Nothing really. I still have to be careful not to eat too much as not to feel sick.

Gender? It's a surprise! I shared our Baby Hunch pool and we LOVE seeing your guesses! Submit one if you would like, just follow this link: http://www.babyhunch.com/poolpage.php?poolid=afff7a33bcd4c7d922db1523e31ba3e3

What I miss? Sleeping on my stomach, easier movement, having more than one pair of shoes.

What I'm looking forward to? Matt and I both took the whole day off tomorrow. I have a doctor appointment in the morning and then we are just going to hang out and have a relaxing day off to include walking a few miles. I've had a mileage goal for this pregnancy and I am 1.5 miles from it. I was doing very well with walking this summer, but with all my swelling I can't get tennis shoes on anymore unless it's first thing in the morning. So I am looking forward to finally reaching my goal tomorrow (as long as things go as planned). And to clear up any confusion from last week...I am looking forward to finally finding out if the baby is a boy or girl when it is born. No way would I find out if it's a boy or girl before it's born, especially this late in the game. 

Recipe of the Week!

Spicy Roasted Chickpeas

I had been wanting to make these forever and I'm so glad I did. They are delicious and so very easy. They make a great snack too. My only complaint is that they are far better fresh from the oven than at any other time. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but they definitely lose their crunch quickly when I make them. They still have good flavor, but I prefer the warm crunchiness of this snack when they are fresh!

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

Heat the oven to 400°. Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients until evenly coated. Spread the chickpeas in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 30 to 40 minutes.