Ashworth Alcove

I thought I would share the story of Violet's birth while it's still fresh in my mind (and while she's sleeping). My last blog post was made on my due date and I was still waiting for a sign that she would be coming soon. A few days later on Thursday, May 9 I started having real contractions. They didn't hurt (yet), but they sure did keep me up all night that night. So the next day was Friday and the contractions were still persisting. They had grown more frequent, but still weren't very painful - just a powerful tightening sensation. I started timing them and they were 4-5 minutes apart, so we decided to go into the hospital to let them monitor me and see what was going on. We left disappointed. The contractions were happening, but I wasn't progressing. I was still just 1 cm dilated. My mom, dad and sister decided to come down to Fort Rucker that night. After all, it was the weekend. Friday night was another sleepless night and by Saturday morning my cont...

The early bird... Comes before her due date. Violet's due date is today , which is really hard to believe. For whatever reason, I thought she would be here by now. But I've already learned one thing about this child... She is out to prove everybody wrong. Everyone thought she was a boy. Nope. Everyone thought she would come in April. Nope. Everyone thinks she's going to be smallish. I should probably be worried. So, more waiting and wondering. At my doctor's appointment on Tuesday nothing had changed since last week. Still 70% thinned. Still 1 cm dilated. However, Violet is still hanging out really really low. So low, in fact, that doing anything at all is really difficult these days. Tuesday, April 30 I was having terrible lower back pain last night. And the pressure in my pelvis made it nearly impossible for me to walk or sit/stand. After consulting the doula and a nurse at the birthing center, we decided to go in for some monitoring to make sure it was...

Waiting. Wondering. Walking. That's how the last week has been for me. I'm trying to be patient and savor the last few days I have before things get crazy, but I end up spending all of my time wondering what little Violet will be like. The aches and weird cramps I described in last week's post have prevailed. The good news is Violet has dropped significantly. After being monitored for a bit, it was confirmed that the menstrual feeling cramps are indeed contractions. They're just mini ones. And really irregular. Poop . At my doctor's appointment on Tuesday I was 70% thinned and 1 cm dilated. So even if they're mini, these contractions have been doing something over the last week. I'll take whatever I can get. Ben and I went to an air show last weekend. It was fun to see the old airplanes. However, I was a little bummed that I couldn't go on a helicopter ride. The full moon came and went last night. Along with the date of my crazed and pr...

With no time to go, the nursery is finally complete! The basics have been taken care of for a few weeks, but there were a few finishing touches I had to complete before I felt it was blog worthy. So here's a little tour of our nursery, with notes along the way... Tah dah! One accent wall painted light blue. Yes, we realize we're having a girl. We decided to forgo the traditional sea of pink so commonly found in little girl's nurseries. Instead, we went for a lovely mixture of delicate colors and patterns, focusing on light blue and eggplant purple. The glider was given to us by a friend of Ben's who no longer needed it. So thankful I am! The corner shelf was salvaged from my mom and dad's house. A fresh coat of white paint and it became the perfect piece to display Violet's trinkets. The crib was the only large item we purchased new. We decided to go with the traditional old-fashioned look. We also refrained from the traditional bedding sets. I li...

Only a couple more days and I'll be 38 weeks. THIRTY-EIGHT! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's how week 37 went... It's happened! I have a ponytail! I really took it easy this week after our beach adventure last weekend. I had another doctor's visit on Tuesday. It went fine, as usual, but I have to admit that it didn't really go how I had wanted it to. She checked at 36 weeks and I was about 50 percent effaced, so I was really hoping to be a little more this week. Unfortunately, after poking around on my belly and successfully giving Violet a full body massage, she determined that it wasn't necessary to do an exam this week. She said Violet was really high (my ribs could have told you that) and it didn't feel like she was engaged in my pelvis at all. That paired with the fact that I haven't been having any contractions or really felt any different at all made her confident that I'd see her for my normal appointment next week and not...

I recently found this "bucket list" (I hate that term). I wrote it a few years ago. Maybe 4? Some of the things on this list are big. Like climb Mt. Everest. Whaaaaaa. Then some are small. Like get a bonsai tree. As I was reading over it I was able to mentally mark off several things that I've already accomplished. And I'm not going to lie... It felt really good.  Ride in a hot air balloon Ride in a motorcycle side car Catch a fish Visit all 50 states Go to Europe Go up the Eiffel Tower Karaoke Visit a Renaissance Fair Witness a solar eclipse Complete a marathon Take music lessons Take a dance class Go scuba diving Go white water rafting Go skiing Go on a submarine Go surfing Zip line Go camping (real camping) Climb Mt. Everest Go paint balling Watch a rocket launch live Go on a safari Name a star Visit Rockefeller Center in NYC at Christmas Get my BS in a field of art (by far the best feeling I've ever had crossing something out) ...

I'm sitting in bed on my last night of my 36th week. Dog on one side, cat on the other. Tomorrow I'll be in week 37 and you know what that meeeeans. A FULL TERM VIOLET. This week has been pretty good to me. Still uncomfortable, but what's new these days. I had a doctor's appointment on Monday. She asked if I would like her to do an exam and I immediately said yes. I've been curious if my body has started preparing. No dilation (as expected) but I was happy to hear that my cervix has already thinned 50%. Violet has dropped some, but she still has a ways to go. I've carried her really high the whole pregnancy, which lost its charm weeks ago when she grew large enough to battle it out with my ribcage. I've got my hospital bag packed and ready to go. Now that I have less then a month until my due date I'm kind of twittling my thumbs a bit. I'm so ready to meet this little girl! Ben and I are only about an hour from the beach and I've r...