38 hours later...

We met the love our our lives:)

Introducing Nelia Jane Lynch. Born on Thursday, June 25th at 7:03am weighing 6lbs 6 oz, 20 inches.

She is absolutely amazing and we love her sooooo much already!

We are at the hospital! Due to low fluid levels, my doctor felt like it would be best to induce. I had my first dose of Cervidal (to start the labor process) at 5pm and after 12 hours I didn't make any progress:( So, I received my second dose at 5am this morning. So, we will wait for another 12 hours, unless something happens before then at which point they will start the Pitocin, which will also help with beginning labor. I have been having contractions and within the last few hours they have become stronger and more frequent. Baby is doing great - so no worries there! We just can't wait to meet her! We will keep you posted!

37 weeks!

Officially full-term! Yippppeee!

For those of you who didn't hear, we spent quite a bit of time at the doctor's office and Labor and Delivery on Thursday and Friday. Long story short, my fluid levels are a bit low (although they did increase a bit between Thursday and Friday). Baby is still doing great - moving around a ton and seems quite happy in my belly:) However, my doctor did put me on bed rest until she arrives. We will go back on Tuesday for another ultrasound and non-stress test. If my fluid levels are still low then I might have to be induced. So, we will keep you posted! In the meantime, I am going to enjoy this time at home. I rented some chick flicks, bought a few books, and already have some visitors lined up (thanks Sarah, Martha, and Brent for keeping me company!).

Our hospital bags are packed, our car seat is installed (although still needs to be inspected), our freezer is stocked with dinners. I think we are ready to go! Whether she comes on Tuesday or two weeks from now, we are so excited and can't wait to meet her!

36 weeks

On Friday I will be 37 weeks, which is officially full-term! Wooo-hooooo! Within the last few days I have really started to notice the contractions. My doctor confirmed last week that she is head-down, which is great news!

I finally gave in and took a few 1/2 days at school this week. It is incredibly hard, especially since we are down to our last 4 days of school, but I am so extremely exhausted and uncomfortable by 12:00. So ultimately I know it is for the best. Next week I will begin moving out of my classroom. For those of you who haven't heard, I have decided to take a year leave from teaching in order to be home with our little girl. It is really bittersweet - on one hand I am soooo grateful to have the opportunity to be home with her, but it is also sad to leave the classroom. However, I truly feel like this is the best decision for our family and I am really, truly excited for this new adventure!

Patrick and I spent much of last weekend assembling lots of baby stuff, washing baby clothes, and organizing around the house. I am packing our hospital bags today and tomorrow Martha's mom is going to help install our carseat. We are almost ready!!! Yippeeee!

Patrick took this picture of our fur-babies with our new camera (or rather Patrick's new toy, lol). He takes such great pictures - and it helps that we have an awesome camera to document all of these wonderful things with!

Friend Baby Shower!

Two of my best friends, Martha and Sarah, hosted an amazing baby shower for me on June 13th. I was completely blown away by how much time and love they put into it! It was such a wonderful feeling being surrounded by 20 of my friends, from all walks of life!

The food was delicious, especially the homemade pina colada cupcakes and turkey and havarti sandwiches. The chocolate fondue fountain was super fun and yummy too!

The diaper cake was adorable, made by Sarah and Emmalee. The "flowers" were made with baby socks. How cute is that?!

Decorating onesies was so much fun! It will be so neat for Baby L to have homemade onesies from all her "aunties!" I will have to post more pictures of the onesies when I pick them up from Martha's house.

We were blessed with many wonderful gifts that will be put to good use!

Guests were given the opportunity to guess when they think Baby L will arrive - the soonest guess was June 23rd (Martha), the latest guess being July 14th (thanks a lot Trudy, lol!). Kim thinks she will be born on my birthday (July 1st) and no one predicted her being born on her actual due date (July 8th). I have predicted June 30th. I guess we will see.

Shower favors were these adorable little tin pots filled with green, pink, and brown Jelly Bellys and sweet pea seeds to plant and grow. Soooo adorable!

A huge thank you to everyone who was there celebrating with me and baby:) We are so lucky to have all of you in our lives. xoxo

Oh, and a huge shout-out to my friend and photographer Kili who took the majority of these pictures for me!

Updates!

Our nursery is done and we absolutely LOVE it! We hope baby Lynch will love it just as much as we do:)

Yesterday, June 6th, was our family baby shower hosted by Patrick's aunt Donna. She did such a fabulous job and we had a wonderful time! It is so nice being able to share in this new adventure with all of our close family and friends. Thank you to all of you!!! We can't wait for you to meet our baby girl!

Maternity Pictures - 34 weeks

Aly, my friend and talented photographer, of La Luz Photography came to our house last Saturday for our maternity photo shoot! We had such a great time with her! She was amazing and had our pictures done within days. We LOVE all of them! I will come back with more, but for now I just wanted to share a few of our favorites.