Olivia's Arrival!

Olivia is now over a month old! I can't believe how fast time has gone by! Just to quickly catch up, I thought I would share some details about what has been going on over the last month, starting with Olivia's arrival.

We headed to the hospital at 2pm on December 20th. The surgery was scheduled for 4pm. We started out in the pre-operation area where I was dressed down to a gown and they monitored the baby's heartbeat after doublechecking that she was still breech. Adam was given some scrubs to wear (XL- only one size option!) and we waited. A few nurses came by to check vitals and prep the IV. The anesthesiologist and the OB that would be delivering me (Dr. Shah) also came by to share what the plan was and answer questions. There were some delays so we didn't end up going into the operating room until after 4:45pm or so. Apparently that day was very crazy- they had a full house!

Driving to the hospital

Waiting to go to the operating room

Walking to the operating room (I have a nice white sheet to cover the open back of the hospital gown

Once we were in the operating room, they prepped my spinal epidural to make sure that I couldn't feel anything from my chest down other than pressure. Sometimes people have side effects like nausea, headaches, or the shakes but I was lucky and didn't experience any of that. Once they gave me the anesthesia, I laid down on the operating table and they brought Adam into the room.

They pulled a curtain right at my chest so I couldn't see anything that was going on (and Adam chose to stay behind the curtain as well). Once the surgery started, everything happened pretty quickly. I talked with Adam while they did the surgery to distract me from what I knew was going on down there (thank you Adam for commenting on the sounds he could hear and the smells from cutting into the skin...so much for distraction!).

Not too long after, this little girl came out! Adam was able to hold her right away and bring her to me after they did a quick wipedown. Then they took some vital measurements. Her APGAR score after 1 minute and 5 minutes was 8 & 9, and she weight 7 lbs 14 oz, and was 20.75 inches.

Hello, world!

Because she was breech and her legs were up by her face in the womb, her legs kept rising up like this- so cute! And look at all that hair!!

Meeting my little companion of 9 months!

Our first family photo! I pulled a neck muscle trying to turn and see her- ouch!

Not too long after, we were brought over to the same area that we were in during pre-operation where we got to spend some time together as a family and also breastfed and did skin to skin. They also put compression devices around my legs to prevent blood clots- they were kept on from post-operation until the next morning. It took a long time before we were brought into our room that we would be staying in for the next few days, again I think because it was a full house due to the holidays. I want to say it was nearly 8pm by the time we were brought in.

Our first nurse who cared for us-she was great! 

Olivia was in a bassinet and roomed in with us for the 3 nights we were in the hospital. On the second night, the nurse did take Olivia over to the nursery for a few hours between 4 and 6am to let us get some sleep (Olivia definitely had the "Second Night Syndrome" so I spent a lot of time that night doing skin-to-skin, soothing her, etc.). 

Being in the hospital was very hectic- every few hours the nurses came in to check my vitals or Olivia's vitals. We also had daily visits from the pediatrician and the OB, and people stopping in to test Olivia's hearing, to get the birth record paperwork started, to bring meals (or calling to get my meal order request), to clean the room, to provide lactation consulting, etc. It really was nonstop around the clock! There were also schedules to follow (feeding Olivia every 2 hours, taking Motrin every six hours, and documenting every diaper change and feeding). Not to mention we also got hospital visitors eager to meet our little one and Facetime/phone calls with family members. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we arrived home and was very much looking forward to the calm. 

Adam giving Olivia kisses

Adam doing a diaper change- yes, he is using gloves to wipe her first poop (the meconium, which is sticky and tarlike)

Second night when she didn't want to be put in the bassinet- it's a scary thing to suddenly be taken out of your warm and snug home!

My two precious family members, both swaddled in their blankets

Having her hearing tested- she was fast asleep with little headphones on

Our first set of visitors- the Gamble family!

Stacia and Jason also came to visit! 

More nurse visits

Testing out her lungs

Our hospital room- we were the room on the end, which was nice because there was not a lot of traffic passing by and we were told it was their biggest room so we had lots of extra space. We peeked into a few of the other rooms, and they were definitely smaller and some didn't have a bed for the partner to sleep in.

Last day at the hospital (around 1pm on December 23rd)- very excited to be heading home! It's not a great photo but we were tired and eager to get to our peaceful and quiet apartment! It was raining but not too cold (I didn't need a jacket over what I was wearing). I was relieved because I had been worried about having a winter baby and not having her be bundled up enough.

Our month in review will be coming up shortly.... :)

Wow, where has the time gone- I promise I'll be better at blogging once we have more to share!!

So today is the big day!! Baby DuBois is going to be arriving today! We found out that she was breech a few weeks back and I did everything I could to try and get her to flip (daily trips to the chiropractor, Spinning Baby exercises, playing music by my feet, etc.) but since she is still breech, we have a c-section scheduled for today (just 3 short hours from now!!).

Women to Women, the doctor's office I've been going to in Arlington

Spent a few weeks in a row going to the chiropractors (trying out the Webster method to get little breech baby to turn- but she decided to stay put)

Haha...trying to get baby to turn. It didn't work. ;)

Didn't take too many pregnancy photos, but this was at Week 36

We did take a Hypnobirthing class because our plan originally was to do an unmedicated, natural birth. We'll still be able to use the techniques (both during the c-section and parenting!!)

In addition to prepping for baby, we've been learning a lot about the Foreign Service. Adam goes to the Foreign Service Institute daily, taking training classes for his job. I've also gone to some classes at FSI as well- several on employment options for spouses (both within the mission and outside), security, finances, transition, etc. It's been good and has kept us busy!

Lunch break during one of my classes at FSI- I was listening to my hypnobirthing affirmations! :)

One of the classes that Adam and I took together on protocol (essentially an etiquette class to prep us for some of the events we might attend or host)

Many of Adam's classmates have already gone on to their posts in the past month- Adam will likely be the last from his training class to go to post, but there are 3 others that will also be leaving in January. Here are some random photos from the past few months:

Adam's graduation from training with the rest of his 130th IM Specialist Class

We were supposed to go to Jennifer Gamble's house for Thanksgiving in Knoxville, but Adam had to stay in town so we ended up having a last minute Thanksgiving dinner at our place with Greg, one of Adam's colleagues

We paid a visit to the storage facility- yes, all those containers are filled with stuff! We decided to ship all our stuff to Kingston and not leave anything in storage to collect dust.

We said goodbye to our Matrix a few weeks ago and traded it in for this 2010 Rav4 with 3rd row seats. That should be good for Kingston!

Ok, well we are off to the hospital! Wish us luck on the c-section, recover, and the exciting new addition to our family!! Baby Girl DuBois!!

Packing for the Foreign Service- "It's Our Move..."

Today was my last day of work- very sad. It doesn't feel like a last day, and I even forgot to turn in my work keys, so I'll be back. Haha. We had a happy hour for Elliott (a colleague of mine who is also heading out this week) and I...of course I forgot to take photos at the happy hour with other people, but here are a few from my last day.

Taking down my name placard

My sad looking, empty office- ready for Otha, the new advisor (I couldn't find a "before"photo, but if I do, I'll post it). 

Aside from preparing for my last days at work, the past few weeks, I have also been preparing for the move from Boulder to DC (and Jamaica).

Luckily, we do get quite a bit of support from the State Department. They will pack, move, and store all of our stuff (for the most part), so most of my work thus far has been sorting and purging. They gave us a booklet called "It's Your Move" that outlined the policies, recommendations, and how the whole packout process works. Hopefully I did everything correctly!!

The State Department divides our stuff into a few different categories that I had to sort things:

1. UAB (Unaccompanied Baggage)- these are things that we want more quickly upon arrival to our destination (at this time, to DC, but we'll do this again for Jamaica). Adam was allowed 250 lbs. to send to DC, which arrived about 3 weeks after he had moved there. Those items were things he wanted in DC, such as the Kitchenaid, blender, rice cooker, and Fall/Winter clothes. I get 200 lbs. of UAB, of which I hope to ship our pots/pans, knives, some shoes and clothing, hangers, some short-term scrapbooking items, a shredder, and a few other miscellaneous things. I'm worried I've gone over the 200 lbs, even though it doesn't look like much.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. HHE (Household Effects)- these are the things that we want either stored in DC or shipped to Jamaica. This includes things like furniture, linens & towels, kitchen goods, and in my case...way too much scrapbooking and crafting supplies. The challenge for me was that I needed to sort based on what we want for Jamaica but temporarily stored while we are in DC, and stuff that we want to store in the US while we are overseas. I've tried to group them as best as possible, but I am sure we'll end up having to do some minor sorting once more before we leave. I don't know where all this junk came from!
   
   
   
   
   Stuff going to storage (not Jamaica). Mostly scrapbook albums and camping/winter gear
   
   
   
   The majority of our junk that will be heading to Jamaica- too much stuff. We really need to cut it down some more.
   
   
   The State Department permits us to pack, ship, and store up to 18,000 lbs of HHE, but we are definitely not anywhere near that since we don't have furniture and are coming from a 2 bedroom apartment (versus others who might be moving from a 4 bedroom household). Of that 18,000 lbs maximum, we are permitted to ship 7,200 lbs of the HHE to Jamaica (I am anticipating we are well below that, even though I think we have a ton of junk- any guesses what our number will be?)- this does not include our car, which they will also ship.
3. Checked baggage (or in my case, baggage for my trunk since I'm driving)- I have a small amount of stuff that I am taking with me in the car on my drive to DC. That's right- I'm driving to DC so that we can have our car out there. I'm bringing clothes to last me about a few weeks, our important files, a laptop/laptop bag, my camera bag, and a box of food- because I simply can't throw food away. 

The movers arrive on Thursday morning, I hope to have the apartment cleaned up by Friday morning/afternoon, Mom and Dad fly in on Saturday, and we hit the road on Sunday! Another nice thing about the State Department- since they will have shipped off all my stuff including my bed,  I'll be staying in a hotel in Boulder from Thursday-Sunday. Less worries on my end!

Can't believe it is already time to head out! Not sure I'm ready to bid CU Boulder and Colorado farewell!

We are having a....

....baby girl!! I am not sure what the second photo is of, but apparently it was how they could tell. Right now the heartbeat is 154, and the baby weighs an estimated 10 oz!

The baby was all curled up in a ball so her feet were up by her face and they had a hard time getting the measurements needed for radiology and the doctors. Everything is looking normal other than my placenta is currently low-lying, so they said they'll have to check it later on in the pregnancy to make sure it isn't blocking the cervix. Hopefully as my uterus expands, the placenta will move up along with it.

I finally got my first set up maternity pants this past week- I was wearing dresses and a belly-band to wrap around my non-maternity unbuttoned pants, but finally decided that it would be more comfortable to at least have one set of jeans, shorts, and work slacks.

In terms of how I have been feeling- the first trimester I was tired a lot and had a week where I felt a little queasy and a week where I had bad heartburn. Otherwise, everything has been going well. I do have a hard time sleeping through the night- mostly because I wake up needing to use the restroom or feeling incredibly dehydrated.

A busy week with lots of big news! I fly out to DC tomorrow to see Adam!!

Flag Day!!

And we are headed to...

Kingston, Jamaica!!

Today was the Flag Ceremony Day where all the specialists in training found out their posts! Adam was guessing over the past week that we would end up with Jamaica and he was right! He shared that it seems everyone was very happy with their post assignment!

I was at work awaiting Adam's text since I couldn't be there in person (I hope he got some photos), and as soon as I got it, I was sharing with everyone else, including family, friends, and co-workers who were also waiting in anticipation for the news today!

As I look into more information about Kingston, Jamaica, it looks like it will be the perfect first post for us. Close and affordable enough for family and friends to come visit (and get to know little baby D in his/her first few years of life), a new cultural experience (we've never been to Jamaica), plenty of beautiful outdoor things to do in the area, and a smaller embassy where Adam might have more responsibilities. 

Get excited! And start planning for your visit!