Coming Home

On Saturday, July 2nd, we were discharged from the hospital. We were so excited to escape the confines of our small hospital recovery room and eager to get home to get to know our daughter. A big highlight of coming home was Grayson meeting her "brother" Herbie. Herbie was very excited to see us and took a bit of an interest in this new "little person."

Clean bill of health and ready to go home!

All set and ready to go

Brother and sister meeting for the first time...

Meet Grayson Marie Polanski

Yesterday, on June 30th, at 11:38 AM, Grayson Marie came bursting into our world. Like our twisting and turning journey to parenthood, her arrival didn't go exactly as planned either. We were scheduled to begin the induction process on Tuesday, June 29th at 5pm. Throughout the day on Tuesday, I had been having mild contractions, but I still wasn't expecting what they told me at the hospital - we can't induce you because you are too far progressed - it was quite a surprise to find out that I was already close to 3 cm dialated and about 60% effaced. But of course it wasn't quite as easy as just turning around and going back home, because i was having contractions, they wanted me to stick around for monitoring. So we spent about 4 hours at the hospital, my contractions were getting more painful, I was thinking, OK, this is it! They checked me again at about 9:30pm (after about 4 hours) and I hadn't made any progress at all - I was shocked! They said, since I hadn't progressed, I was likely in the very early stages of labor and it would be fine if I wanted to go back home so i would "be more comfortable." I was a little hesitant because some of the contractions were getting pretty intense, but I figured, if I wasn't progressing, they must not really be that bad. Also, there wasn't a pull-out couch or anywhere for Steve to comfortably rest. I figured if labor was going to move this slow, I owed him his rest while he could still get it. So...home we went! Boy was that a mistake! When I got home, the contractions that had been a little painful in the hospital now seemed to be getting worse and worse. They had sent me home with two Ambien, which I took, but that didn't do much beyond force me into a half comotose sleep in between the contractions which were growing progressively stronger. While in early labor, i was able to change positions and easily breathe through the pain, these contractions seemed to be paralyzing, and I couldn't find any relief. I woke up steve several times throughout the night, but he just assumed that i was overreacting and I just needed to try to relax and get some rest. (he feels really bad about that now ;-)) Finally at 3:30, I woke him up and said, i can't do this anymore, we HAVE to go to the hospital now - I needed drugs! He protested slightly, but then gave in. Luckily, when we got back they had a room waiting for me since we were planning on coming back in the AM regardless to have my water broken. They checked me and the nurse said, wow, you have really made alot of progress in the last few hours, you are at 6 cm and and 80% effaced. She then asked if I'd like the epidural - i have to say, i think the fact that I was already at a 6cm made me think twice about not getting it...just four more centimeters I thought. But that thought was quickly thrust out of my mind with the onset of the next contraction. I'm glad I didn't try to tough it out any longer because it still took about an hour to get the epidural since they needed to do the necessary bloodwork, get the doc, etc. The epidural wasn't bad at all, the worst part was needing to hold perfectly still. Luckily, he timed it well between my contractions. Almost instantly, i felt relief and after that, labor and delivery was a breeze. I will say that I do believe the epidural slowed down my labor, but honestly, i welcomed the chance to catch my breath after the 6 hour stretch I had been through. About 7 hours after recieving the epidural, i easily pushed Grayson out into the world. She did great throughout all of labor and delivery, her heart rate never fluctuating much at all. She cried immediately after entering the world - it was the sweetest sound two parents had ever heard. Here is our first family picture taken by my OBGYN who was awesome throughout this whole process for us. We are such happy and proud parents!

40 weeks and one day!

Well, baby girl's due date came and went without too much fanfare. I am happy to report that I am officially on maternity leave. I powered down my blackberry and laptop yesterday around noon. This morning, Steve is working from home, and I feel just a little bit odd not having some sort of work to be messing with. I am really looking forward to 12 weeks away from my job...after working somewhere for 8 years with no more than a one week break, this is kind of nice...I can understand why people take sabbaticals. We are headed to the hospital tonight and I will have my water broken first thing tomorrow morning. Please send us lots of prayers and good wishes that everything goes smoothly. My 40 week belly shot is below plus some updates of the nursery.
40 weeks -- I made it!!

Finally got a window treatment!




A closet full of clothes!! I found this cute tree clothes hanger at Hobby Lobby - i told steve to hang it at adult level, but he thought it would be nice for her to be able to hang her own stuff there in a couple years....he's going to be such a good daddy!

39 weeks

We had a visit to the doctor on Thursday to check on Baby Girl Polanski. All was great - she seems as happy as a clam in there, plenty of amniotic fluid for her to float around in. They are estimating her to be at about 7lbs 2 ozs. We are eagerly awaiting her arrival and scheduled for an induction on Thursday, June 30th, if she doesn't decide she's ready to join us before then. So excited that in less than one week, we'll be a family of four (counting Herbie of course)!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Maternity Pictures

We got an offer we couldn't refuse for a maternity photo session, so a couple weeks ago we headed to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens for the shoot. Luckily, you can't tell in the pictures, but it was approaching 100 degrees that evening! The photographer, Dwight Vasel of Vasel's Unique Photography did a fantastic job and was so easy to work with. The full set of photos can be seen at the below link.

http://www.vaselsuniquephotography.com/michele--steve.html

I am attaching a few of my favorites here.

36 weeks....almost

Today is May 29th which means that our baby girl is due to make her arrival into this world in LESS than one month! The weeks all seem to be running together now. It's been a flurry of preparation in addition to our usual crazy, busy schedule. We went to a child birth class a couple weeks ago and have a Baby Care and Breastfeeding class coming up in the next two weeks. It's funny, I think the more we "learn," the less prepared we feel! The nursery is pretty much put together now - with the exception of waiting on a new window covering and hanging the curtains. I have included some pics below of some of my finishing details.

Last night we went out to dinner with another couple who is expecting their baby boy within days of us. It's fun to compare notes and bellies!
Here's just about 36 weeks.

I got this handpainted light cover and these drawer pulls off of etsy.com


Owl canvas for over the changing table - etsy.com

Cross that says "for this child I have prayed" - a gift from my friend Mary Kyle - I think it's perfect over the closet door.

33 weeks

It's hard to believe that in just about 6 weeks, Baby Girl Polanski will be making her scheduled arrival into the world. Since Steve and I are both so type A and punctual, I have decided that she is likely to be born right on her due date in true Polanski fashion. We attended childbirth class this weekend - I thought the class did a good job of touching on everything but not going into TOO much detail on any one area. It was the perfect amount of information for both of us. Steve's Sunday morning golfing buddies were so thoughtful and threw us a shower last night. Not only was it fun to celebrate the pending arrival of Baby P, but it was so nice to meet everyone and their wives. The shower was hosted at the beautiful home of Pat and Elizabeth...oh, I could have moved right in! Here are some pictures. First an overdue belly shot, then a few pictures from the shower, including one of my favorite gift, the cutest tutu onesie that I have ever seen!

33 weeks

Cute invite!