hospital time

10:41

Epidural in. No problem, she's tough. Gramma Dalene made it safe and sound, so the baby can come now.

10:56

Water broken. Doc says everything's looking good. Contractions between 4 and 5 minutes apart

11:10


11:27
at a 6

12:15
sorry dad, no baby yet.
contractions at 2 min rate

12:26
doctor's on his way up. baby's really really close


12:38
5 ib 14 oz 18.5 in
mom rocked!!!

videos taking forever to load, but will be here soon.

T minus 12 hours...

Dani went to the doctor today and was told that even if she wasn't being induced tomorrow, this baby would probably be here in the next day or two whether we like it or not (we like it). We're counting down the hours until Liam becomes a big brother and we have a daughter. Unless Baby decides to get all tricky tonight, we'll be showing up at the hospital tomorrow at 7am with an agenda.

So far Liam is leveraging all of his persuasive powers to convince us that her name should be Rainey. Although we're still undecided on a name, the current front runner is Elsie Maren. Others on the short list (not in order) are Alaina, Cailyn, and Elise.

Liam just told us that the thing he's most excited to teach her is how to jump on Nana's trampoline...naked. Hmmmm. Dani says she's most excited about meeting her for the first time and finding out what she looks like, and that she's least excited about having stitches in her ____. I'm looking forward to late night rocking sessions where it's just me and her, and to watch Liam teach her whatever tricks he has in store (certainly to include using cardboard-tube telescopes, riding scooters, scaring birds, and bug-finding).

Dani's mom will arrive in time for the party, and my parents will come on Friday to keep the party rockin'.


Here's to life and the Firth family. Tomorrow they'll both get bigger and a lot more exciting.

When I asked Liam what he was doing he said he was warming himself with a marshmallow fire. When I tried to clean it up he told me "Don't touch it, it's too hot for moms and dads!" Hmmm

Baby will be here on Tuesday

I'm getting induced on Tuesday! We're very happy about it and very glad that my mom will be able to be here. Brady's parents are coming later next week and are so excited for them to meet their newest grand baby.

I went running with our neighbors dog yesterday and got a million double takes and strange looks. I wanted to say "What? You've never seen a pregnant lady before?" Then I got home and Brady took a picture and I realized I did look a little "out there." Holy Belly!

I also get a lot of strangers telling me "You're baby is not ready. She is still carried too high and has not dropped yet!" Like they want to warn me.

Blasted "baby fortune tellers." I think that's just the way my babies ride.

planting to thrive: a life philosophy

I love digging in the dirt with gloveless hands. Liam loves squirting with the hose and searching for bugs. We make an incredible gardening team.

Seeing as I've kinda become a plant nerd, I went to a perennial flower jamboree a few weeks back with my friend Peg from my running group. There was a dynamic lecture by this really cool, bra-less, hippie lady.

The basis of her information was "only plant in places where your plants will totally THRIVE." If a plant isn't doing wonderfully in its spot, shake things up and give it different soil, sun, or alter its environment. If a plant isn't being its best it's generally not because it's a bad plant, it's just cause something needs to be switched.

The first year of my flower garden I didn't read a single direction and just planted where ever I felt like it- lots of plants died. Since then, I've read up on all my plants, talked to other plant lovers and done some trial and error to see where they work best. My plants have never been more pleased with me.

I came home from my perennial lecture and Brady and I thought about "Don't settle for anything but thriving" as a life philosophy.

If life isn't going your way, don't be hard on yourself, just try something different. Be deliberate about how you're spending your time, money and energy. It's so easy to waste time on things that don't really make us happy.

I see this point in my life as a "spring time" of sorts- a great time for transplanting, seeding, and planning. Gearing up for having a new baby, and a move across the country to D.C., and pondering the approaching death of my grandmother with Leukemia has made me do some soul searching these days. It has made me wonder what type of person I need to be. It has made me search for changes in myself, stresses that I can let go of, and ways to better use my time. Life needs to be simple and satisfying. In short it has made me ask myself "What do I really need to do to not just get by but to THRIVE?"

Embracing Pregnancy

Okay so I havent posted a single "pregnant picture" of me the entire 9 months. Now I'm a week shy of 9 months pregnant and have no choice but to post uber pregnant photos. Dang it.
My pregnancy with Liam I felt pregnancy was empowering, and beautiful. I felt energetic and confident. This pregnancy I haven't really embraced pregnancy in its entirety and my experience has been the opposite. I am still extremely excited to have a new baby but the journey has been a bit more onerous. I have gained basically the same amount of weight (last pregnancy I gained a little over 25 lbs and am on track to do the same) but rather than embracing my femininity and fertility I've felt frumpy, barfy, and resentful towards my changing body.

Some women when they're pregnant just exude this graceful "pregnant and proud" presence. That's the way it should be. It really is a miraculous time in a woman's life where a woman's body is fulfilling its incredible, physical potential.

I went to a yoga class the other day (w/ pregnant lady modifications as needed) and was reminded of a few lessons that I seemed to have forgotten these past 9 months that we all can apply.
1)Honor yourself. Accept yourself physically and emotionally for what you are right now. Be kind to yourself and give yourself the credit you deserve.

2)Celebrate what your body can do. Rather than worrying about what your body is NOT (appearance, performance, injury, etc.) focus on being grateful for the movement and abilities you do posess.


We have a wheelchair accessible park a few blocks away that is an awesome place for for kids to ride their bikes. Liam and I spent the afternoon there yesterday. It holds sentimental value for me because as a member of the DeWitt City Parks and Rec Commission I helped in the planning. The park is a product of lots of community donations, volunteer support and long meetings.

Liam is impressive riding his scooter(which he refers to as his "motorcycyle")like a mad man and is always trying to push his limits trying things 1 legged, going down ramps, hops, and going up to older kids saying "you can't catch me" and then trying to dash away. If you've ever seen Brady on his bike you'd know exactly where he gets it.

Clearing Out the clutter

We looove our house here in Michigan and are really sad to leave it behind when we move to Washington D.C. It's old but it has character, a huge kitchen, lots of light and room for everything. We just listed it 2 weeks ago and we've been busy trying to deep clean and get things ready before the baby comes.

It has been liberating to do all this spring cleaning and has helped simplify our life. When clearing out the clutter we decided that we would try to just keep stuff that a)we would purchase again if we saw it in a store or b) would be excited about receiving it as a gift. Also if I haven't used or worn the item in the past year, with a few exceptions, I tossed it.

It's easy to hold onto things that you don't really need just because they hold value. Most of the time though you give something to Goodwill and never think about it again. Here's a peak at our home

The more pregnant I get the less I blog

Sorry about the delay in blogging, I'll improve. These past few weeks have been very busy being a few weeks away from having a baby, getting our house ready to sell and move to Washington D.C. and keeping up with Liam.
As far as the pregnancy goes, I feel really pretty good. I have a few more weeks until my due date but the doctor said yesterday that she could come "any day now" and am "progressing very well". I'm able to run (well, pregnant lady running) about 30 minutes a day and am counting down the days 'til I get to meet this little girl.

We visited Meijer Gardens last week and loved the spring flowers and gigantic butterfly house. Liam in this movie is trying to make the butterfly laugh.