Olivia Rees Nutley

She's here!! She arrived December 20 at 5:53am weighing in at 7lbs 1oz.

Sunday morning we went to the hospital at 10am to get a second dose of induction. Sam was monitored for 2 hours and then they let us go home. She started having contractions and they asked us to come back that night to check up the progress.So we headed home and walked down the hospital hallway towards the elevator. We pressed the down button when Sam said "Oh! Either I just peed my pants or my water broke." We headed back to the maternity ward and told the nurses. We were put back into the room and hooked up to some machines.

Our family arrived in the delivery room and waited throughout the whole process. Even the nurses said that no one stays as long as they all did. After being in labour for 13 hours the doctors said she was ready to push. Then after pushing for an additional 2 hours it was 5am. The movement of the baby wasn't progressing so it was decided that she needed to head to the OR for a C-Section.

We both went down there and the procedure was done. At 5:53am she came out to the doctors singing Happy Birthday. 10 fingers, 10 toes and no weird moles. She's very healthy and so is Mommy.

Recovering in the hospital ward for the next few days was a little frustrating but on Wednesday night we finally arrived home with out little bundle.

The pics are trapped on the camera until we get our main computer back but I'll add them once we can.

Due Date + 4

We've officially been "induced"!

Yesterday, we headed back to the hospital for the second Non-Stress Test as scheduled, to make sure that everything was still fine. Baby was looking great, but my BP was still a little bit on the high side. They took some more blood but then said we could go home and that they would call us if anything looked out of the ordinary so we could come back.

So, a little frustrated and disappointed, we headed home to make lunch. About 20 minutes after we walked in the door my phone started ringing like crazy. 3 of those calls were from Auntie Daryl checking to see what had happened at the hospital but the 4th call was from the hospital telling me that I should definitely come back so that they could "get me delivered"! YAY!

Long story short, we got back to the hospital at 3:30pm and I was examined, given a drug to start the process and then monitored for 2 hours. After the 2 hours, because baby and I were doing fine, we were allowed to go home and get some sleep with instructions to return to the hospital this morning at 10am for another round of the induction drug and to see how things are progressing.

They had warned us that this could be a long process (sometimes 2 days or more) especially since its our first baby and we were essentially starting from scratch. However, we're just happy to have SOMETHING happening so we're taking it all in stride and loving the process.

Right now, we're about to leave for the hospital again and we're feeling pretty good. I've been having some minor pain in my lower abdomen which I'm taking as a good sign! We're not sure if today will be like yesterday again (where we would be sent home after 2 hours) or if depending on the progress we've made, we might end up staying...so as soon as we have a better idea, we'll let everyone know!

Fingers crossed though...Little Miss Nutley could be here sometime today or tomorrow!!

Due Date + 2

Well...here we are! Due Date plus TWO and still no Little Miss Nutley!

I, Mommy, (accompanied by Nana Nutley, because Daddy was at work) went to the Dr. yesterday for my weekly appointment hoping to hear that I had made some more progress towards labour...but unfortunately, it looks like we're still in the same boat as last week. :-(

I won't go into all of the graphic details for everyone but basically the Dr. couldn't quite tell if I had made any more progress. Further to that, my blood pressure was a little high so I got to go upstairs to the Maternity Ward for a Non-Stress Test to make sure that baby and I were doing okay.

After monitoring the baby for 20 minutes (she was excellent!) and taking my BP a few times (first it was high, then higher, then a bit lower, etc.) and reporting back to the Dr. the nurse came back in with a hospital bracelet and I nearly fell off the bed! Were they admitting me? Was I going to be induced today? No...unfortunately they had just decided to take some blood to further ensure that I was okay since they had already determined that Baby Girl was doing just fine.

Long story short (and when I say long, I mean that we were at the hospital for almost 4 hours - most of which was waiting for results!): All of the tests came back fine and I was able to go home around 4:30 yesterday afternoon. However, I was given strict instructions to "take it easy" for 48 hours and come back on Saturday for another Non-Stress Test to make sure that nothing has changed in a bad way.

So...I'm now trying to figure out how to further "take it easy" as my entire week has already consisted of hanging out at home, reading, tidying the house (lightly of course) and watching TV. LOL! Guess I'll just do the same but perhaps I'll lay in bed instead of on the couch? Oh well...better get started! ;-)

We'll see how things go at the hospital tomorrow...and of course update everyone here ASAP.

Due Date +1

Well as I'm sure the more intelligent readers can guess, nothing happened yesterday. No baby yet and we're still waiting. I look at it in the way that my wife is such a good Mommy that she is providing such a wonderful little hotel room that she doesn't want to end her vacation in Uterus City. We can get her a I <3 UC shirt as a memento of her trip.

Due Date

Well today is the day. That being the day that she is medically predicted to be here. I sit here at work trying not to do too much. Trying not to get involved in projects that I will need to drop in an instant. I stare at my phone waiting for my Indiana Jones ringtone to tell me that my wife is calling and it's time.

It's just the waiting game now. We gave the baby a long talk last night after dinner and told her all about the world outside and all of the people that care about her. The word "crazy" was uttered a lot. I'm a very patient person but I can't help being anxious. I feel like a huge weight is going to be let off my shoulders as soon as she gets her safely. I also know that an even bigger one is going to be thrown on my back as soon as that happens though.

Hopefully the next blog will be the announcement. Maybe I'm jinxing myself by saying that. KOW

39 Weeks + 5 Days

Getting closer...here's a belly shot at 39 weeks + 5 days. That would be yesterday (the 12th) just in case anyone is wondering. :-)

Social Networking...what a headache!

Well, we're officially under the one week mark! There are only 5 days left until Little Miss Nutley is due to be here (meaning she could be her ANY day before then as well)! Can you believe it?! We are getting so excited and are just loving the excitement that our friends and family are showing on a daily basis. That being said, its becoming quite difficult to keep the name we have selected for our little one under wraps with the conveniences of Social Networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter! Don't get us wrong...we LOVE the comments and support/concern/excitement that are being sent our way! We would just REALLY like to be the ones to "officially announce" who our little girl is going to be once she's born. Anyway, in order to express our feelings on this subject a little bit better, we have written a letter to those of you who are fortunate enough to be privy to the names we have selected for our daughter. :-)

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope you’re all doing well and getting excited for the holidays! As you’re all probably aware, baby girl is due in less than a week and we know you’re all just as excited as we are! We appreciate all of the love, support and well wishes that you’ve all offered so far and today we just have one small request for the remainder of time until our daughter makes her appearance.

We would really, greatly appreciate it if everyone could please refrain from mentioning the names that we have shared with you on facebook or in any other public setting. We have shared these names with you because we trust you and want you to be a part of our excitement, however we would VERY much like to be the ones to “officially” announce our baby girl to the world and these posts are taking away the impact of that announcement that we are so looking forward to making.

We are sure that these innocent slips are increasing in frequency because a) you’re excited and b) probably seeing everything posted by others; but please understand that as they go up we are frantically rushing to delete them in order to save the little bit of surprise for the family and friends that have yet to find out.

Again, we are so SO thankful that each of you cares about us and our baby girl as much as you do! We cannot thank you enough for all of the gifts and offers of support that you have already given as well. We are SO looking forward to introducing our daughter to you in the near future...we just ask that you kindly remember that the amount of excitement you are feeling is multiplied by about a million for us and we can’t WAIT to share that excitement with everyone once she's officially here.

Thanks so much for your understanding.

Love you all!

Sam & Seán

All of that being said, if you have a question or just can't WAIT to express your excitement about her or her name, please please don't hesitate to send us an email or private message on the above websites. As we mentioned, we LOVE hearing from all of you and by no means want you to stop...we would just like it to remain as private as possible until the glorious day that she makes her debut. In return, we PROMISE to let you all know as soon as we possibly can once she has arrived!

Here's hoping she doesn't make us all wait TOO much longer! ;-)

Car Seat

As part of our reorganizing and cleaning day yesterday, we decided to clean out my car and put in the car seat. One more notch down on the cool young guy scale but one notch up on the good Dad scale. Can't fit a guitar amp in the back seat any more.

Seemed to go in relatively easily. We followed all of the instructions to make sure the base was completely secure and didn't move.

There's a toy attached that has a ringing bell. My whole drive to work this morning it sounded like I had kidnapped an elf and had him tied up in the back seat. Guess it goes well with Christmas.

38 Weeks and Counting...

Nothing much new to report today except that we're under 2 weeks until the little lady's due date and getting more anxious and excited every minute! We had another doctor's appointment yesterday and everything is still going very well, Dr. told us not to get our hopes up about an early arrival though so that was a bit of a bummer. :-)

I also wanted to post a photo of our Christmas Tree since Seán mentioned it in his last post. Can you spot the Christmas pickle?! We're going to be doing a bit more Christmas shopping this weekend, but mostly just hoping to stay around the house and get a few projects finished up before the big day so we're all ready to go once our little princess makes her debut.

We will of course update everyone on any progress that may occur over the next few days and will try to post another Belly pic when Seán gets home tonight (Update: See Below) I swear the belly is smaller today which makes me wonder if she's dropped down into my pelvis? ...Maybe?! Fingers crossed!

Mommy @ 38 Weeks + 2 days