Thank you to the sweet and very talented Sabreena for these beautiful photos of our little family.

Fiona Pearl Gallagher

After a surprise induction on Friday, Fiona was born Saturday May 9th at 3:04am. She was 7 pounds, 11 ounces and 19 1/2" long. I went for my routine doctor appointment for my 39 week visit and mentioned that I hadn't felt as much movement this past week so the doctor ran some tests. During the ultrasound, she didn't see much fluid, so she sent me over to triage. They ran some more tests and decided to induce. Pat rushed home from Lansing and met me at the hospital. 12 hours later, we were staring at this little face.

My favorite picture of all time. It's so hard to know how you're going to feel when you first meet, but of course it's love at first sight. We just kept saying how full we felt inside and how surprised we were by it. I always joke that I am not a baby person and have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm not as intimidated about figuring it out anymore. I must be in the euphoric baby high stage!

We stayed at the hospital until late in the afternoon on Sunday to make sure we got the hang of breastfeeding before we left. Nobody warned me about how painful and challenging it would be! We were excited to get home and introduce CeCe to her new sister. Pat went in first and took her out for a short walk while I brought Fiona inside. Then when CeCe came back to the house, she went right up to her and kissed her face. I can't wait for more moments like this.

I love this yawning face even though she looks like she's crying. She makes the cutest expressions and I could just stare at her and listen to her coo in her sleep forever. I feel like I have to kind of mock myself for saying these things because I never understood it when people would talk about their own babies the same way.

Fiona Pearl, we love your messy brown hair and blue eyes that are deep like the sea.

Welcome to our world!

xoxoxo

39 Weeks

Ahhhh! 39 weeks! So many mixed emotions flying around. I've had pretty much zero signs of labor so I'm looking forward to my appointment on Friday to see if I've progressed at all. Mostly I just feel like I'm carrying around a bowling ball and I'm the newest addition to the penguin exhibit with all this waddling. I'm fortunate that I am able to work from home until the baby arrives, but I'm hoping it doesn't make me go stir crazy being in the house. It's definitely a lot more comfortable than sitting in the office all day. Leggings and bare feet for the win! Plus, I get to look at this:

We're still in the middle of a long list of house wishes, including finishing the attic space off the bedroom. With warmer weather it's not hard not to get the project itch.We have lots of veggies planned for the garden this year...I guess Pat thinks he' going to have some time on his hands. Ha!  It's a good thing we have gotten a few baby carriers so we can wear baby girl all over the place :)

With one week until due date, here's hoping she's not too fashionably late. And a special thank you to my mom who sent me these beautiful "Mother To Be Day" flowers!

38 Weeks

A little late on 38 weeks, but we were out enjoying this beautiful weekend. We finally got our driveway recovered and Pat worked really hard in the yard all day and it made such a difference. The trees are starting to bud and the house finally feels ready for baby spring.

In baby news, my doctor's appointment showed the baby being really low. So low I'm afraid to really bend over! She's definitely in the right position.  I've had a few Braxton Hicks contractions wake me up in the middle of the night, but nothing with any pattern yet. We finally put the stroller and the play yard together, so I had to move my favorite chair upstairs to make more space in the living room. I swear this chair looks perfect wherever I put it.

Now, Sunday night, its time to relax! I'm trying to get better at just sitting down with my feet up, but it's hard when it feels like there is so much to do. With two weeks to go, we're trying to soak up our quiet time together. We found a delicious new BBQ restaurant on date night and came home to eat some home made raspberry ice cream. And of course to snuggle this girl :)