It's a BOY!

Baby Pipal is finally here - only 3 days late - pretty punctual for a newborn!! About 12" of snow fell while we were holed up in the hospital, so his timing was pretty impeccable!

Lucas William Pipal was born on Tuesday, 1-25-11, at 11:25am (fun with numbers!). He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20.5" long. He looks a lot like Eric when he was a newborn, but has some of my features, as well. So, for now, he is a cute little mix of both of us :) We think he will probably be tall like his Daddy - you should see the size of this kid's feet!!

We (barely!) avoided an induction that was scheduled for Tuesday morning when my water broke at home at 1am, just a few hours before we were to leave for the hospital. Labor progressed very quickly once we got to the hospital, checked in, and settled in our room. I got an epidural at 4am. The epidural really helped take the edge off of my contractions and allowed both Eric and I to get some rest while my body dilated from 3cm to 9cm. Before we knew it, our beautiful son was here!! His grand entrance into the world was pretty comical - first, along with his head, came a huge gush of amniotic fluid that flew across the room and soaked our labor nurse, Liz. Then, as soon as he came out, he was placed to my chest and christened me immediately with his first pee! Barely a second old and already making us and others laugh! This is going to be a fun ride!

Welcome to the world, Lucas! We love you :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

39 weeks and just waiting!

We're in the homestretch! 39 weeks and 3 days! Everything is ready - now, we're just waiting for Baby P to make his or her big debut!

Dropping off the latest belly shot for safe keeping. We will keep everyone posted if there is any action over here!

Full Term - 37 weeks!

This past Saturday, New Year's Day 2011, there was much more excitement than just the date being 1-1-11! Baby Pipal turned 37 weeks and we became full term! Huge milestone as now baby's lungs should be mature enough to live outside of the womb, should he or she decide to arrive early!!

Since I had an entire 11 days off from work due to the Christmas and New Year's holidays (and Eric had 8 days off too!), we were able to get lots of baby things done and spend time with family and friends. At the beginning of the week, we spent a memorable Christmas in NJ with the Filosas. Lots of food and family time, but our visit got cut short by one day due to the Nor'Easter that blew through the east coast. Our usual 2 hour drive turned into 4 snowy hours of travel, but we were just happy to get home and manage the ride without being in labor! Can you imagine?! Ben, Beth, and Kerrigan came to visit in the middle of the week on their way back from Long Island to Northern VA. And then Mark and Connie visited over New Year's.

On the baby-front...Baby Pipal's furniture was delivered on Tuesday, so much of the week was spent organizing the nursery. We also packed our bags for the hospital, installed the carseat (and had it inspected by the state police to ensure we did it correctly), and did loads and loads of baby laundry! So, as of now, we are as prepared as we can possibly be! Now, all we do is wait....

We still haven't hung anything on the walls, as we are going to wait to find out if Baby Pipal is a boy or girl, and then personalize. But, 2 adorable boards were handmade by our friend, Courtney, and will be hung to the left of the bookcase. Love them!