Update on our Angel!

Hi everyone,

It's been a few days so I thought I'd share an update with everyone. Parenthood has been terrific so far. Sleep is no longer a word in our vocabulary but I don't mind really. It's probably all of the endorphins that I still have from giving birth to such an angel. Speaking of angels, Elise is doing so great...she definitely likes to eat, which is keeping me busy. ;) We think she is just beautiful...I can't stop taking pictures of her! We have our first pediatrician appointment tomorrow morning so I hope it goes well.

Here are a few pictures of Elise. She's growing and changing everyday so I promise to continue to share more pictues with you soon!







Love,
Kim

Introducing...

Hi everyone,

Greg and I are home with our beautiful baby girl, ELISE DIOR PATTEE! She graced us with her presence on November 3rd, at 12:20PM and weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and was 20 inches long. Labor and delivery went really well, I was already 4cm dilated before they started the Pitocin so I was only on it for an hour and a half. The Pitocin strengthened my contractions obviously so I had an epidural soon after. I did experience several contractions so I could really appreciate the pain relief that came with the epidural. :) Here's a picture of me, right after getting the epidural. Notice the smile...




Soon after the epidural, I made a lot of good progress quickly and I only had to push on-and-off for about 30 minutes. After the last push I heard the sweetest cry from our baby girl. Here's our first family portrait, please pardon the puffiness in my face.



Unfortunately that's pretty much where our luck ended. I had a significant "repair" done after the birth, which was fine at the time since I still felt the relief from the epidural, but is now extremely painful. Also, after I was in our post-partum room the nurses could tell that my uterus was not contracting. Because of this I had a very significant blood loss and almost had to get a blood transfusion. I will spare you the details but it was the scariest and most painful 24 hours of my life. All I wanted to do was to hold and enjoy our new little bundle which made things even worse because I obviously wasn't able to.

We are home now with Elise and she is doing really well. We can't get enough of her and love her SO much. I am on several pain medications along with a large does of iron due to the extreme blood loss and thankfully I am feeling better. My mom and dad were here for the birth which made the after-birth situation a little easier to handle. Unfortunately my dad is back in Atlanta but my mom will be here until a few days before Thanksgiving, which will be a great help, and my sister will be here in a couple of weeks!

Enough about me, here are a few pictures of our sweet little angel, Elise.






Elise has been doing really well. I know that we are partial, but she really is a great baby. :) We've both gotten the hang of nursing and I think we are all in the clear now and things will only continue to get better and better. I love being a mommy and Greg loves being a daddy. We are so blessed to have such a healthy, beautiful baby!

Thank you all for sharing my pregnancy with me, Greg and Elise. We promise to continue to keep the blog updated with pictures, etc. so please check back often.

Love,
The Pattees!

Progress Report!

Hi everyone,

Well I had my weekly appointment this morning and I am progressing quite nicely! I am already 3cm dilated!!!! My doctor seems to think that I will go into labor within the next day or two, which is so exciting!! If I don't though, he scheduled an induction for Monday, November 3rd!!!!!! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself. Just knowing that the end is near and pretty soon I will be able to hold our baby girl is the best feeling in the world!! I have a few things I need to get done around the house before Monday so I will be busy this weekend. I will try and keep the blog as up to date as possible! That's all for now!

Love,
Kim

Pumpkin-Palooza!

Hi everyone,

Since it's now Fall, Greg and I decided to pick up pumpkins last weekend and try to get in the holiday cheer. Initially, we were planning on going to a pumpkin patch but finding one was a bit more difficult that we had imagined. The few that we saw consisted of a few pumpkins sitting near the side of the road. Now, being from Chicago originally, both Greg and I were expecting a bigger event with tons of pumpkins of all different shapes and sizes, haunted houses, hot apple cider and cocoa, little kids dressed up in their costumes, etc. To say I was a little disappointed is an understatement but I didn't let it get the best of me! Instead, Greg and I stopped at Publix (a grocery store in the southeast for those of you that aren't familiar) and picked out our pumpkin. The funniest part was when we were paying for the pumpkin, the cashier asked us if we were going to carve it. We were nice and answered her question by saying yes, but once we were in the car we were both laughing because we weren't sure what else we would do with the pumpkin if we weren't going to carve it! Sometimes it feels like living in Florida is like living on another planet! :)

Anyway, here are Greg and I in action, having fun carving our pumpkin:





We used a stencil this year and I think it turned out pretty well. Here's the final product:




On Sunday, I was still in the holiday mood, so I decided to do a little cooking...it must be the whole "nesting" thing! I swear, I've nested throughout this entire pregnancy. Anyway, here are the popcorn balls I made and the apple bread/cake that I baked.





We hope you are all enjoying this fall season and getting ready for Halloween! Maybe I will get to "dress up" as a mom this year!

Love,
Kim

37 Weeks!

Hi everyone,

Well I am finally 37 weeks! This is a big deal because at 37 weeks the baby is considered full-term. YAY! ;) At this point, I could go into labor at any time, which is exciting but nerve-racking! Unfortunately, not all babies are on time and I could be late and not have the baby until 42 weeks. That would mean 4-5 more weeks of being pregnant and I just don't think I could handle that! I'd probably have to go buy new maternity clothes because I don't think my current clothes will be able to stretch much more! Speaking of stretching...my belly is doing a great job of it. Here's an updated belly pic for you:



Even though I don't enjoy seeing myself in pictures at this point I will continue to post them for all of you. In return, please think happy thoughts of a good labor and delivery and that we have a healthy baby before I hit the 40 week mark!

Love,
Kim

Exactly 1 month!

Hi everyone,

As I was looking at the calendar earlier, I realized that exactly 1 month from today is my due date! It's amazing to think that in a month (or less, hopefully!) Greg and I will be proud parents to our baby girl! We are both so excited! We could stand to have the time pass a little faster but I have decided to not wish away my pregnancy because it's really only 9 months (per child) out of an entire lifetime and so many people tell me that once I deliver our baby I will miss being pregnant! I know for a fact I will miss feeling our baby move, it really is so amazing. I will also miss the leniency I have with my diet...for instance, if I feel like eating a piece of cheesecake or Eggo waffles every single morning, I do, without feeling guilty! :)

These next few weeks Greg and I decided that we are going to try and pack as many "couple-y" things in as we can, like going to dinner and a movie...and also simple luxuries like sleeping in, not having a schedule, and eating as much cheesecake and Eggo waffles that we want! We know how much our lives will change, for the better of course, but we figure we should capitalize on this time as best we can! ;)

Love,
Kim and Greg

35 Weeks!

Hi everyone,

We hope you all had a nice, relaxing weekend. I've been jam-packing activities into our weekends so we keep busy, otherwise I will literally sit around and wait for our baby girl to arrive and time will go by way too slow! :) I have been feeling really good though and haven't really had any problems sleeping or getting comfortable...which is what I heard from a lot of people about the few weeks prior to delivery. We have been preparing for our baby a little bit each weekend...I already have everything washed, the baby announcements designed, and the baby room complete so we are in good shape! Our pre-natal classes begin tonight and both Greg and I are looking forward to getting another perspective on babies and parenthood! Hopefully we are able to attend each class...the last one takes place during the last week of October!

Since so many of you requested more belly pics, here's one for you. This was taken at 35 weeks and 1 day:



And here's the proud daddy-to-be at 35 weeks and 1 day. ;)


I promise to take a new belly pic each week from this point forward so you can see how big my belly is getting!
Love,
Kim and Greg