Darcy Elle

She is here! We think she is the sweetest thing in the whole world! We decided Wednesday to make a switcheroo and go with Elle instead of Ann for her middle name. Tricked ya! She was 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. Lots of dark hair. We loved our doctors and nurses. I pushed for about 45 minutes. There was a moment when I was saying I couldn't do it, but the pushing wasn't the hard part. I will say more later because I am in pain at the moment and want to try to fix it. We are so happy and grateful things went so well and that we have this perfect little baby with us now. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Here We Go!

Thank you everyone for your comments on that last post. Honestly all of your thoughts and ideas made me feel a lot better....until today came around that is!! I just got back from the doctor and he told me he is going to induce me this Thursday! When he said that the nerves came crashing back down on me. I called Drew after I left and when I hung up I cried while I drove for a while. I said a little prayer for comfort, and then I sang to the radio (taking my dad's advice) and by the time I got home I was feeling much better. I am going to read back through all of your comments because I know that will help even more. I know I can do it, and there's no stopping it now! Ready or not, here she comes.

All Nerves

So I have ten more days until this baby is supposed to be here and it is quite possible that I am more nervous than I have ever been in my life (which if you know me is a pretty big deal...I'm always nervous). Drew and I didn't get a chance to take a childbirth class, which I think would have been really good for me just because it would have helped me know a little better what to expect and would have given me some ideas about what I need to do to calm down. I know there are lots of baby-having experts out there, so if you have any ideas or advice for me let me know (let me know even if you're not an expert). Does anyone have any great delivery tricks? I just want to cry. :)

I mentioned to my doctor that my mom had six babies all between 8 1/2 - 12 lbs. and that I was a little nervous about how big my baby would be. So he sent me in for an ultrasound on Thursday. I was so excited because I thought I was basically going to get to see just what she was going to look like in a couple weeks, but I was so wrong. She is too big at this point so you can only see little parts of her at a time. They tried to show us her face, but it was really squished and we really couldn't see much at all. We couldn't even tell if she has hair or not.

At first the ultrasound tech said very matter-of-factly that she weighed 7 lb. 9 oz. and would gain about 1/2 lb. a week. She then added a minute later that that could be give or take a pound. A pound!? That's a huge difference in a new baby! So, just like I assumed before this baby will probably come out weighing somewhere between 7 and 9 lbs. Big surprise!! I just really hope she will fit in her newborn clothes.

We are so excited to meet this sweet baby and see what she looks like and dress her up in all these tiny clothes (don't forget that tutu) and hold her and change her diapers (Drew is actually still trying to get out of that one) and take care of her and everything. What a huge but exciting change! Wish us luck (or maybe prayers will work better)!

Successful Tutu!!

My first attempt at making a tutu was a success!! I think it is quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. I tried to make it so it would fit her when she is a new baby so it is really tiny and I love it. The pictures don't really show it, but it is a light pink and a light peach color with a brown and white polka dot ribbon. I took one picture with my hand in it so you can kind of see the scale. Although it took longer than the 30 minutes the lady said it would take, it really was an easy project. Everyone should give it a try!!

Tutu Instructions

I just can't help feeling like I need to dress my baby girl in a tutu at all times!! They're just too cute. This post is mostly for myself because I needed to save this link somewhere, but I thought it might be nice for someone else too, just in case you were feeling the urge to make a tutu. I don't have my sewing machine here in Philadelphia with me so this no-sew tutu is perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7aSPMEn7S0

Gettysburg

Our last stop (and Drew's favorite) was Gettysburg. The first day we were there we took a three hour CD/car tour through the park. The tour covered all the details of the battles and explained exactly what had happened right where we were sitting. To be perfectly honest I was not feeling so great at this point and I spent most of the tour trying to sleep, but according to Drew it was very informative and he loved it. The next day we went to a reenactment of one of the battles. I was surprised how slow the whole thing was. I guess the guns at that time weren't the most accurate so it wasn't until they were about 10 feet from each other standing in a line that people started going down. It was definitely interesting to see how it might really have been. After the reenactment they had a contest shooting off the cannons. I wish I could remember what they really called it.

Thanks Neil and Becky for a fantastic vacation!!


The cannons firing



Statue of General Lee


The Union and Confederate armies in the heat of battle


Drew and I in front of the Union monument

Hershey

Our next stop was Hershey, PA. We went on a few different tours at the Hershey Factory that taught us all about chocolate and a bus tour that taught us all about Mr. Hershey and his life. Did you know not a single person in the town of Hershey lost their job during the depression thanks to Mr. Hershey?! He was quite the guy! Here are a few pictures from our chocolate stop.


On the "tasting" tour.


Drew really excited about the candy.


Me really excited about the candy.


The street lined with Hershey's Kiss lamp posts.

Lacaster/Amish Country

I went with Lancaster for the title of this post because I didn't want the headline to be "Intercourse" which is where we actually were. Who was the genius that came up with that for the name of their town?!

This was the second place Neil and Becky took us in our travels and by far my favorite part of the whole trip. It was amazing!! As you get closer to these little towns you start seeing people driving down the sides of the roads with their horse and buggy and then buggies parked at the little stores in the towns. I loved it. We ended up taking a tour in a buggy with an Amish man who was really willing to answer any kind of question we had for him. As we talked to him and later watched a video I realized that for the most part the Amish don't have general rules really. They kind of just decide whether or not they can do something when it comes up. They can use tractors, but they have to have steel wheels so they can't drive them on the road. They can have phones and cell phones, but they can't be in the house (they usually have them in a shed outside). They can't have electricity from power lines but they can generate their own electricity with solar panels. It is not against their religion to smoke or drink, but they try not to get carried away. The main rule for them I guess would be that they aren't supposed to be connected to the outside world.

Although that lifestyle seems pretty extreme, and I don't totally understand all the elements of the Amish faith I would have to say that there is definitely something to living such a simple life. Family members stay close to each other, the people take care of each other, and they don't seem to get caught up in the hustle and bustle and worldliness that the rest of us deal with. If you are even somewhere close to an Amish community I would HIGHLY recommend checking it out. It is fascinating.


Drew and I in the buggy with our Amish friend Aaron.


An Amish home.


Another view of an Amish home and farm.

P.S. In case you have heard the rule that you're not supposed to take pictures of the Amish people and you think I am a horrible person, Aaron told us without us asking that he was fine with people taking pictures of him and that he was happy to strike a pose. :)

36 Weeks

Only four weeks to go!! Drew keeps telling me to go run or jump around to make her come out, and I keep having to remind him that it wouldn't really be a good thing for her to come out quite yet. I talked to my doctor at my last appointment and he said they will probably induce me at least by my due date.

Last week we had a couples softball game. I decided it would be no big deal for me to play because I have been exercising through my whole pregnancy. Not the case! I have been exercising, but that had not really included running or really sudden movement, especially lately. I'm pretty sure it was running the bases that did me in. By that night I could hardly walk. I have recovered for the most part, but ever since the bones in my hip area have been hurting me when I do any real walking.

Today I got a swift kick to the ribs which was pretty painful and really startling to me. I'm curious to see what other fun things are going to come up in these next few weeks.

Segway Tour

Drew's parents flew in this Wednesday and for the past four days Drew and I have toured our way around Pennsylvania with them. We got to see and do so many fun things. I'm going to have a post for each of the four major places we went. This one is the Segway post.

Thursday morning we got up and headed into downtown Philadelphia for a tour on Segways. I was a little bit nervous to try one of these things out for the first time when I'm almost 8 months pregnant, but I'm so happy I did. They were much easier to control than I thought they would be. Drew decided he wants one...surprise, surprise. They are totally balanced and you basically just stand and lean with your hips to control them. We didn't end up seeing some of the major attractions in downtown Philly that we thought we were going to, but I guess there are only so many places you can take a Segway. It ended up being mostly a tour of all the big buildings. We did get to see the Rocky statue and stairs though.


Drew riding around on his Segway.


In front of the Rocky statue.


Drew and I on our Segways!