It's A Girl!

Introducing Katelin Alyssa Hicks!



Born April 27th, 8:02am
7 lbs, 3oz
20 inches


Katelin is starting out on the right foot with great timing! On Thursday, Chris and I completed our childbirth classes and then Friday night my parents got into town. Early Saturday evening, I started having irregular contractions and couldn't tell if it was the real deal or more Braxton Hicks. By the time I was ready for bed (around 11pm), they were getting more consistent and I started keeping track of how far apart they were. Chris came to bed around midnight and they still seemed pretty far apart, but getting stronger. Around 1 or 1:30, I woke him up and made him start timing them and by 2:30am, we were on our way to the hospital. At this point, I still hadn't slept any since Friday night. We got checked into the hospital and I was already at 7cm. As the contractions got stronger and closer, I had to make a decision if I wanted an epidural or not. I didn't know how much longer I'd be in labor or how much more the contractions would hurt. Around 4:30, I gave in and got the epidural. Once it kicked in, I don't know why I didn't ask for it sooner! For a while, I couldn't even tell when I was having a contraction. I took the opportunity to get a little rest. Chris was able to fall asleep but I don't think I ever did. The little bit of rest, even if I wasn't asleep, was nice (considering I had been up for about 22 hours at this point). I lost track of time but the next thing I know, they were having me push and Katelin was born at 8:02am. I have no clue how long I pushed but I'd guess it was only around 30-45 minutes. Seemed like a long time to me and I was wiped out (hence the really great second picture in the link below!). Since then, everything has been going great. I was in the hospital until Monday, late afternoon. My room had a chair that made into a bed so Chris was able to stay at the hospital with me as much as he wanted. Since the hospital is about 10 minutes away, he was able to come home and get cleaned up but Sunday night he was there with us.

As far as who she looks like, I can't really tell yet. She has a full head of dark hair and long legs like her mommy. Her face is pretty round like her daddy and it looks like she'll have his blue eyes.

Well, my brain is starting to go now so I guess that is about it!
I'll try to post another update in a few days with more pictures.

Pictures of our little sweetheart!

Nursery is Done... for now

We did some more work in the nursery this weekend. We finally cleaned out the 3rd bedroom upstairs (for the most part anyways!) and moved the guest room furniture out of the nursery and into that room. We now have 2 guest rooms and the nursery upstairs. :) The "new" guest room is a little smaller than the other one so it seems a little cramped but it works.
We have a lot of open space in the nursery now which will come in handy when the baby starts playing around on the floor and we accumulate a ton of toys! If we ever need all 3 rooms upstairs for guests, there is room to throw an air mattress on the floor.
We ended up getting a new white dresser from IKEA on Sunday. I love IKEA. We actually made it up there for breakfast which was pretty tasty (and super cheap!). We spent less than $8 total and we were stuffed. I don't know why, but it still amazes me how much time we can spend in IKEA when I have a list of what to get. We didn't stray from the list too much and we were still there from about 9:45-11:45 (including breakfast).
With the nursery "done" (for now at least), I was able to put away more baby stuff. The dresser drawers are loaded with blankets, hooded towels, wash rags, booties, mittens, caps, burp clothes, and bibs! The diapers & wipes that have been living in the game room for the past few weeks have finally been stacked & stored. The stroller and high chair have been assembled.
We still need to install the car seat bases and I need to pack up my bag for the hospital.
I had my weekly check-up today. I've hit 33.5 pounds gained. After I passed 25 pounds, my new goal was to stay under 35. I think I'll make that. I'm making progress (3cm.. not that everyone cared to know that!). Still no indication of when Baby Hicks will make his/her appearance. My doctor said I could go into labor tonight (scary thought!) or it could be another few weeks. We're just in a holding pattern now.
Chris just got home from bowling so I'm going to go spend some time with him before I crash into bed for the night.
Enjoy the new pictures of the nursery...

We have the best family & friends!

Since my last post, I've had two more showers. Two of my co-workers threw me a shower at work on the 26th and then two friends threw me a shower for some friends and family down here. We got tons of great stuff! When Chris and I sorted through all the shower gifts we got from our Chicago shower and these two additional showers, we were amazed! We have the most generous family and friends. We added up all the gift cards we've gotten and I was amazed! A great big THANK YOU to everyone! And we're still getting gifts in the mail from people who couldn't make it to the showers!

I've started seeing the doctor every week now on Mondays. Everything is still going well. I'm probably still gaining too much weight but my doctor stopped questioning it and I've stopped caring (for the most part). I'm not going to pig out and go crazy these last few weeks but I'm not going to stress if those darn numbers on the scale keep going up.

Everyone keeps saying that I'm still tiny (okay... I've never been tiny in my life!). I'm starting to feel huge but considering I have less than 4 weeks until my due date, I guess I'm doing okay. My back still hurts all the time. Maybe if I had stuck to the 25 pound gain that my doctor recommended, my back wouldn't hurt so much. Maybe I'll try that next time!

Thanks again to all those who have helped spoil this baby before he/she even arrives! Also, thanks again to my mom, Jen, Robyn, Sabina, Suzanna, and Alison for 3 great showers!

Enjoy the new belly pictures! Chris took these at the end of the day.. it was late, I was tired, and my hair was all over the place so sorry.. no glamor shots this time!

Trish

36 weeks, 2 days

Yikes!

So Behind!

I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since I posted last! I've been pretty busy lately.

In February, I took two trips.
The first was to Chicago for my baby shower up there (and also to celebrate my sister's birthday). The shower was great. My mom and sister hosted it for me. It was mostly family with a couple of friends thrown in the mix. I got tons of great stuff and somehow managed to get most of it back to Dallas on the plane! There are still a few things at my parent's house but I was able to pack a lot more than I thought I would. Of course, getting out to the shuttle with a rolling suitcase, a huge rolling duffle, my backpack (stuffed to the max) and tote bag was a little interesting, but I made it. Luckily, I didn't have to go very far.

The second trip was to Albuquerque, New Mexico for our yearly national bowling tournament. It started out as a group of about 7 of us that bowled in college with a few others mixed in. This year, we had 20 people from all over the county bowling in our group. It is a great way to see each other at least once a year. About a week before we left, I started having horrible, stabing pains in my back. They are normal according to my Dr (I was expecting soreness, not pain like this!). My back hurt on and off the entire weekend and I didn't bowl very well. I think I only got/beat my average 1 game out of 9 (of course, it was a 245!).

This month brought 2 snow storms, another bowling tournament, more (or continued) back pain, and a new niece!
Okay, a Texas snow storm is a little different than what I'm used to, but it was still impressive for down here. We usually don't get too much snow here, more freezing rain and ice. On the 4th we had about 2 inches of accumulation but by the next afternoon, it was all melted. Then, on the 6th we ended up getting about 6 inches! This caused MAJOR havoc. Driving home from work, it took me about 40 minutes to get within 10 minutes of the house (normally the entire trip takes about 30 minutes so it wasn't bad at all). Then, it took me another hour and a half or so to get the rest of the way home. All the roads I tried to take to get home were closed due to cars stuck in the middle of the road or accidents! Chris spent about 2 and a half hours trying to get home and that was once he got to Denton! The roads were better by the next afternoon (patches of ice did stick around until Sunday though). That weekend, I bowled in the Denton County Women's Tournament and did fairly well. I ended up averaging about 195 for the 9 games and it looks like I'll get a little prize money for singles.
On March 14th, my sister-in-law gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She weighed 9lbs, 5oz! I'd feel sorry for my sister-in-law but since she was only in labor for about an hour and a half, it couldn't have been too bad! Not sure that the proud parents want her information out in cyberspace so I'm keeping the name and pictures to myself. We were really hoping to make it down to New Orleans to see them but it doens't look like it will happen. This is the last weekend that I can fly and with Easter/Spring Break, the flights are all really full. If we flew standby, we could probably get out there, but we may not make it back before Tuesday. Buying tickets this late isn't an option either (prices are way too high!).
As far as this back pain goes, it has to be the most annoying part of this pregnancy. I've had it fairly easy until this started. I did have a lot of nausea in the begining, but I could handle that. This pain (without good pain meds) is really getting to me. If I sit for more than 20-30 minutes, I have a stabbing pain mid-back on my left side. Walking around or laying on my side for a little bit makes it go away, but while I'm at work or in the car, it is hard to move around that often. Well, hopefully only about 6 more weeks of it!

We "finished" the nursery a couple weekends ago. We finally got all the wainscotting, trim, and baseboards up, caulked, and painted. We put the crib & changing table together. We still have the other furniture (full size bed, dresser, & chest of drawers) in there but we're hoping to clear out the 3rd upstairs bedroom (currently our junk room) and move the non-baby furniture into that room. That way we'll have 2 dedicated guest rooms and the nursery. The glider still hasn't made it into the nursery yet (still stitting in the game room) and I haven't washed the crib sheets to make up the bed. All the gifts we've received so far are still sitting in either the other guest room or the game room so those all need to find a home. I have 2 more showers in the next 2 weeks so there will be even more stuff to put away. (Not that I'm complaining!). I am also going to attempt to make a roman shade for the nursery. We'll see how that goes.

Enjoy the pictures!

LOST Returns

In honor of LOST returning tonight (yes, I'm a huge LOST junkie!), someone sent me some pictures of cute baby apparel...



This is the site... they have all sorts of cute items for the nerd at heart!
http://www.squirtshirts.com/

Have a great day!

Random Thoughts on the Past Few Weeks...

What a busy few weeks!

We had a boat show in Arlington from the 10th to the 13th. Getting ready for boat shows is always a busy time. Chris has to decide which boats to take, make sure the are rigged, clean, and ready to go. I have lots of signage to create based on the boats he's taking and then I put together a notebook that shows all of our new and pre-owned inventory (including boats, bikes, and ATVs). Then, Chris has to figure out how to get all the boats to the show and home from the show. Luckily, I got out of hauling to the show but I did have to haul one boat back to the office on Sunday. The show was fairly small but we did get a few leads and we've since closed a few deals. I was at the show Thursday night, Saturday evening, and Sunday. Sunday was dead. Between people sleeping in or going to church in the morning and then football starting at noon, no one wanted to walk around the Arlington Convention Center looking at boats, tackle, and other outdoor related products & services. We typically take a TV to the show to play our Bad Boy Buggy DVD but Sunday afternoon, we switched it over to football. We only got to see the first half of the Cowboys game since the show ended at 5 and we had to pack everything up and take the boats back to the office. Once again, the Cowboys didn't play very well and lost. Would have been nice to see them get a little farther in the playoffs after such a great season.

On the 17th, we had another doctor's visit. I gained another five and a half pounds and even though I've read that you're supposed to gain about 1 pound a week and it had been almost 5 weeks between appointments, I got the weight gain lecture again. My doctor said she would have ideally liked to have seen me only gain about 25 total. I was up to 17.5 so with 15 weeks left, there was no way 25 total is going to happen. I'm shooting for 35 or less... we'll see how it goes. Chris made a comment to me later along the lines of, just because she's a skinny little b*&$@# doesn't mean everyone is :) I seem to be hungry all the time now but I'm *trying* to eat a little healthier. I've been munching on carrots, green peppers, and celery with fat free dip. I think that is a smarter choice than the Krispie Kremes and Honeybuns! I took the 1 hour glucose test for Gestational Diabetes at this appointment and I just found out that I passed. (Thank goodness!). GD is the most common complication with pregnancy. If I failed the 1 hour test, I would have had to go back and take a 3 hour test. I've had friends with GD and while they say it isn't *that* bad, it is still a pain. You really have to watch what you eat and test your blood sugar.

Mom and Jen are throwing me a shower up there in Feburary so Chris and I had to go register before the invites went out. There are soooo many products out there. Trying to determine what we really need, what will actually be helpful, and what is just a waste of money is tiring! We ended up registering at Babies R Us and Wal-Mart. I wanted to do Target instead of Wal-Mart but their return policy isn't very good if you don't have a receipt. The Wal-Mart by us takes anything and everything back. Chris wanted to register for the 50" plasma TV at Wal-Mart as a way to get people to laugh when they saw our registry but I didn't find it near as funny as he did. I made him stick to the baby gear. Speaking of baby gear... do you know how hard it is to pick out stuff when you don't know if it is a boy or girl??? Even if we knew what we were having, I'd want all the big items gender neutral so they could be re-used when we have our 2nd child. It would be nice to know for the small stuff though... receiving blankets, caps, sleepers, onsies, even pacifiers come in blue, pink or yellow/green.... we are going to have sooo many yellow and green items around the house!

Okay, I think I've rambled on enough here. Enjoy the new belly picture. I'm starting to get bigger. A lot of the clothes I wear, you still really can't tell, but then other outfits makes it very noticable!

26 weeks - January 26th

The Holidays Are Over!

Well, we made it through another hectic holiday season. We enjoyed our time off and got to spend time with a lot of family. A couple weeks before Christmas, Chris' brother Lee and his family came up to Denton for a visit. While it was a short trip, it was good to see everyone. The twins and Avelinn keep getting bigger and bigger!
My parents came down just before Christmas and stayed until New Years Eve morning. They brought lots of gifts including a glider and several other baby items. My sister sent down some cute Illini booties! They are soooo small (and cute!) If our child takes after my big feet, he/she will be out-growing them in no time!
Christmas day was spent at Chris' mom's house. She had a small gathering over for dinner. We had a great meal and I think we all ate too much (as usual).
After Christmas, Chris' brother Ben came into town with his wife Brande and their 3 yr old son Jacob. We got to enjoy their time here.
The weather cooperated with us and we were able to take a trip to the lake between Christmas and New Years (I LOVE Texas weather). We went out with my parents, Ben, Brande, Jacob, Chris' cousin Chad and his wife Stacy. I think Jacob had the most fun. He got to drive the boat for awhile and then play in the cabin. He was climbing all over the bed and loved turning on and off all the little lights around the cabin.
We didn't do anything for New Years Eve. Just enjoyed a quite evening at home. I made it to about 12:30am and then I gave up and went to bed! The next day, we went to a bar in Dallas to watch Illinois in the Rose Bowl. The Dallas Illini club usually has a crowd of 20 or so people there watching the game. Unfortunately, a lot of the regulars were at the game and a lot of recent grads had gone "home" for the holidays. There were only a few tables of Illini fans. After a depressing first half, we left to spend a little more time with Ben and Brande since they were headed back to NOLA the next day.
We headed back to work on the 2nd and made it out to see ICE that night. ICE is an exhibit at the Gaylord Texan Hotel that features amazing ice sculptures. The rooms are kept at 9 degrees and there is over 2 million pounds of ice used. There wasn't as much to see as I was expecting, but at 9 degrees, we were ready to be done when we had seen it all. I'm not used to temperatures that low anymore! I've become a Texas cold-weather wimp.
Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks:

No big baby news this post. I'm feeling a lot of movement now. Chris can feel it at times as well and we can see movement. Last night, Chris felt a good one and I saw his hand move pretty good!
Since I haven't posted a picture in awhile, I figured it was time. I was really showing last night so I snapped a picture. Not the most flattering, but you get the idea. While my belly looks pretty big in this picture, I'm still not showing that much in my normal everyday clothes. A lot of people say I still don't look pregnant. Oh well, one of these days, there will be no denying it!


23 weeks, 4 days