The week before Scarlett came

The last few weeks I had been having a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions. I did have some with Olivia but as a first pregnancy I wasn't really sure what it was. This time I was having so many that I just knew thats what it was and I remembered having a few with Olivia. This time, I would have one every time I stood up or walked at work, then also in the evening they just kept coming. When I had my first internal Dr appt I was curious to see if I had started progressing, but my parents are in Europe and don't come home until the 23rd, so I was kind of hoping to not go until they got back. Brady and I were pretty sure that this baby would be early though, and I had already talked with a few different people who I could call to have them watch Olivia if I did go into labor early.

My mom had told me not to plan on going early this time just because I went early with Olivia. My mom had delivered her first baby 2 weeks early and her 2nd baby was 2 weeks late so I know it can be different every time. When we had our first dr appt where he checked me, I fully expected to show no progression, but since I was having so many Braxton Hicks I also thought maybe I would. Basically I was just really curious.  My parents left to Europe on the 2nd of May and since Brady's finals were the following week we were going to have his mom come into town to visit and help with Liv while I worked and he  studied and took his finals. Between his tests and me working, things didn't quite work out and we told her not to come.

On May 7th, I had my first internal appt and Dr. Yang was surprised that I was already displaying 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced. He said I may not make it to the next appt and we went over signs of labor, and he said to call his office if I was feeling contractions between 7am and 7pm so he could get ready to come over to the hospital (which is right next to his office building).

That kicked me into high gear and all the sudden I felt that it was possible for me to go into labor at any moment! I know know, a lot of people walk around at 3cm and 50% for several weeks, but with Olivia I had displayed at 3cm and exactly one week later she was here. Brady's finals week was the 7th-10th and I hadn't finished moving Olivia out of what would be the baby's room into her new room, nor had I sorted and washed all the baby clothes. I went home that Monday and got busy! I had B move all of Liv's old clothes out of the shed into the house and while he was gone studying and taking his tests I was sorting, packing away the clothes we wouldn't need for awhile, and washing all the new and old clothes that we would be using. I moved all of Olivia's clothes into the new room. When B got home I had him move some furniture around. We both knew that it was possible to still be a few weeks away from having the baby, so he left it up to me if we wanted to call his mom back and tell her "nevermind, we do need you to come". I decided that it would be nice to have her here even if I didn't end up going into labor so he called her back and she had a flight booked to be here Thursday! Thank goodness!

The next day I had to work. I was planning on working up until I had the baby, but since I was all the sudden feeling way too unprepared, I told them that this would be my last day. On Wednesday Liv and I went shopping for baby hangers, cute storage boxes, and plastic drawers. I got all her clothes hung in the closest and all her socks, underwear, hats, and bloomers in the little storage boxes. Her pants and jammies went in the plastic drawers and some of her favorite toys on the low shelf in the closet to make her feel like it was a fun place to be. Brady had already painted her room a while ago, and now it was coming together! Now I just needed to get the baby's room ready. There seemed to be never ending supply of clothes to be sorted. Every time I thought I was done, I would find another box that had been hiding and needed to go through and wash and put away those clothes. Brady helped me that night fold all the baby laundry and I sorted it into the drawers just the way I wanted. Going through all of the baby clothes was getting me so excited! I think the smell of baby clothes washed with Dreft is one of my favorite smells ever! It reminded me of when Liv was a baby, and it was so weird to realize how big she is now.

Debi came into town on Thurs and Brady was done with his tests (he got a 4.0 this semester we would learn later!) and I was done with work! Now it was time to do some deep cleaning, and getting the last little things back into storage. Brady and I ran errands while Debi watched Liv. By Saturday I was feeling pretty good. Was the nursery painted, no. Was the crib in, no. Was everything just the way I had imagined, no. But it was leaps and bounds better than it was about 6 days ago. Since she is amazing, my sweet Mother in law sent B and I on a date while she watched Liv, and cleaned the rest of the house. When we got home that night the baby's room was all set up and cleaned and looked so sweet. Little did we know it was perfect timing!

This was taken with my iphone the night before Scarlett was born.
We were watching shows in bed while we ate our free chocolate cake from Olive Garden :)