It's a Girl!

Bailey Elisabeth Carroll was born on June 22nd and weighed in at 8 lbs 14 oz, 21 3/4 inches long. Long story short we went into labor at home around 3:00 am and stuck it out there until around 9:30. I was six centimeters dilated when we got to the hospital but stalled out some after that and was only at 8 cm by 4:30 that afternoon. At that point my water hadn't broken yet so we decided to have the doctor break it for me to hopefully speed things along. It turned out to be super effective, I was pushing by 5:30 and our (not so) little girl was born at 6:05. The only major drama of the day (aside from the slow progress at the hospital) was that I discovered I am one of a very few women (my OB said she'd seen it once before in her whole career) who responds to labor with continuous vomiting - every 15 minutes from the start of labor until we got to the hospital and they gave me an anti-nausea medication. The Lord's grace was apparent throughout the whole experience. We had hoped to have a natural childbirth and it turned out that every person involved in our labor and delivery had had a natural childbirth themselves (which is practically unheard of) so we couldn't have had more support and encouragement. In addition Bailey was born on a Sunday and there were only three other women having babies on the floor that day. Our nurse told us during the week they usually schedule 14 c-sections and inductions in addition to the people who just come in in labor on their own and had we been in on a weekday they would not have been able to give us the attention and support that they were able to on the weekend. As it was we had the same nurse for our entire labor and she spent almost the entire day helping Andrew coach me through the whole thing. It was a blessing I wouldn't have even known to ask for. After almost three weeks home things are sort of settling down a bit, we are definitely still getting used to life with an infant who has a mind and schedule of her own but the process of getting to know each other has been priceless...it doesn't hurt that she is SUPER cute! :)

The little 360 girls are all growing up...

A couple of pictures from my shower on Sunday. From left to right Elizabeth Tyree (Domalski), Chelse Sanborn, ME! and Joy Grefenstette. Would you believe Liz is only due five days before me!

Toasting a Bun in the Oven

Actually in this picture I had burned the bun in the oven the previous day (wearing 50 no less! My pale NoVa skin clearly was not ready for the Caribbean winter!) so I am plopped beneath a palapa in Cozumel - still better than 45 and cloudy at home! Our little babymoon was fabulous - being somewhere warm and tropical with no responsibilities, all the food you could ever want (an somewhat of an excuse to eat it!) and hanging out with your favorite person for a week - can't beat it! Baby loved the cruise too, it a two piece I just laid by the pool/beach every day and watched my belly bounce around as he/she kicked my ribs and other vital organs contentedly. I would totally recommend Royal Caribbean to anyone thinking of going on a cruise. I would definitely book with them again. Tips for first time cruisers (things we wish we'd known): #1 - Make sure you have a clock and a watch: there were no clocks anywhere near our room, no channel on the TV with the time, the time changed every night and sometimes the boat time was different than the time on land. All we had were our cell phones which were right according to the actual time but didn't always match the boat time. We were an hour late to dinner on the last night! #2 - On days at sea forgo sleeping in (though the beds were VERY comfortable and with no window in the room and no clock I'm pretty sure I could have slept for days!), get a deck chair ASAP (we're talking by 8:00-8:30 am) and just finish your night's sleep there: We got out to the pool at 10:00 ish on our first day at sea and ended up having to sit by the indoor pool for most of the day because every chair was occupied practically by sunrise. That probably ended up being a good thing because we didn't fry the first day but still kind of frustrating. #3 - Room service is FREE: Live it up. I'm pretty sure we ordered it every day just because we could. #4 - There is pretty much always ice cream available somewhere on the ship, you just have to know where to look: I ate soft serve and coco crispies pretty much every chance I had - totally took me back to O-Hill, if only they'd had golden grahams!

John Owen Cullaty

Owen arrived one week ago at 4:42 am, weighing 6 lbs 12 oz and 20 in long. He was just about 2 wks early but wasted no time in labor. I woke up at 11:30 pm and knew that my contractions were different, arrived at the hospital at 3 cm at 1am, was 8 cm at 3 am and ready to push at 3:30. Brief interlude for a spinal and then he arrived about 45 min later! He is a perfect little guy but I am looking forward to sleep in the future. I am open to any advice about how to make it in these 1st weeks.

Mary has a sister and Judah has bettered his chances of marrying a Roper

I'm pleased to announce that Colleenie is a mom again to a sweet little 6 lbs 10 oz girl named Sarah. Colleen went to the hospital around 8:00 last night and by the time the doctor really checked on her she was 8 cm and pushing. So my sweet lady had to go no epidural & endure the ol' natural way. I talked to Colleen this morning around 7 and she sounded calm, rested, and excited for Mary to see her new sister. Now let's all admit what we are thinking....we are all a little pissed that Colleen is again reproducing & dreading seeing Sarah's picture. Because seriously, Hart & Colleen are very good looking and they produced such a precious Mary the first time that although our kids are "cute" hers will always be BEAUTIFUL!!! I'll make sure she posts some pics after she gets home & settled from the hospital.

Crusin'

Andrew and I are taking a Royal Caribbean cruise for spring break out of Fort Lauderdale, to Cozumel, Belize City and Key West. Has anyone been on a cruise/to any of those places that might have suggestion on things to bring or do or any other words of wisdom? I want to make the most of our last big hurrah!

Any word from Martha?

Went to a baby shower today which prompted me to pray through the list of my friends who are preggers... which is in fact longer than I realized... and I get to 360 ladies who are preggers and I wonder... Is Martha preggers or has little Cullaty arrived? Regardless, praying for y'all!

Mother & Father's Day pictures

If you or someone you may know is looking to take family photos this spring I'm putting in a plug. My sister is doing a special for family/kids photos for Mother & Father's Day. She's booking sessions in the Raleigh/ Durham area & in Charlottesville. The special includes a regular portrait session at the location of your choice, a set of 4x6 prints, an 8x10 of one image from the session, an online gallery, AND a 20 page, 8.5x11, leather bound, custom designed, coffee-table book of the session all for $150! Gift certificates are available upon request.

Her website is chappellphoto.com which shows her previous work and her blog is lashellechappellphotography.blogspot.com if you want to see an example of the photobook and read more about the special.

Can I get a LITTLE credit?!

Okay, so the only thing going on around here is a lot of doting on this sweet face, (sorry the pics are turned the wrong way-can't fix it!) and not just by me, but by the big sisters and Daddy as well. She looks exactly like the other two, just like Dad, except that she has dark hair, and tons of it. I am doing all the work on these kids and you would never know they are mine! She is the sweetest thing, seeming to understand completely that she is the third and has to take what she can get;) I never did get around to posting when Ryah Layne (first name means rejoice in Indonesian, second name family, same pattern as the first two girls) was born, but I had her totally out within 2 and a half hours of my first contraction. "Precipitous labor" I believe they call it. This is, mind you, after my first two labors were almost 20 hours long! So I think I can be forgiven for thinking, when I was in the car and I felt like I had to push, that I probably just needed to go to the bathroom. (Um, yeah, you moron, that is what it feels like!) We are lucky we didn't putz around anymore than we did before going to the hospital or we would have been selling the Honda Pilot for parts (for those of you who have had a baby you know it would have been ruined. Permanently.) I was screaming like a banshee, swinging (literally) at anyone who came near me with equipment-the few seconds that I could get a breath in teh hospital I was apologizing to everyone that I was "that girl". I was not at all like that with my first two, but then, I had drugs with them. It is really kind of funny because I never even got my clothes off; in all the pictures afterwards, I am still wearing my coat and stuff. Love to all!

PLEASE COME OUT SOON.

Just about 4 weeks to go. I am assuming this is a normal emotion to have.

Someone's done a lot of growing in 2 1/2 months

So I know I risk overwhelming the blog with baby stuff I had to share! After much debating we decided not to find out the sex but let me tell you sitting in the ultrasound, watching him/her wiggle around on the screen and look like a real (very tiny) person, I nearly caved. And I was the one who convinced Andrew we didn't want to know!