Mimi Comes to Visit

Keeping up with this blog thing is hard when you have a cute little baby to cuddle with. So now I'm posting for a like month ago! So Eva and I got to come home from the hospital on September 2 (when she was 2 days old). We got her all bundled into the car seat and headed home. When we arrived princess came over to check out what we brought home.

(Eva ready to go home)

She did very good though just came over sniffed and walked away. So us new parents had two nights and two days of taking care of a new born. It went very smoothly Eva learned to latch for breast feeding very well in the hospital and my milk came in the day after we arrived home. So every three hours I was waking up going in her room and waking her up to feed her (thankfully that is over with). We had to feed her that often to help get rid of her jaundice. On September 4th my mother flew into Kansas City to meet her first grand baby! Mimi took the shuttle from Missouri to here since I had to feed Eva regularly and she didn't want our one car to be away from the sweet little lady. Nick and I went and picked up mom up and almost didn't fit her suitcase with the stroller in our trunk. We got it all in and headed to the Px and Commissary to pick up a few items to have a BBQ. When we got home we got Eva out of her car seat and handed her over to her Mimi!

(Three Generations: Mimi, Eva, and I)

The first night Mimi was here we had a few of our neighbors over and Nick grilled some food on the grill. After the guests headed out mom just hung out holding baby girl in between my feedings, then after a long day of travel and caring for Eva we all headed to bed. It was great having my mom here to help out with Eva (especially when Nick went back to work). She would help me out by taking Eva and getting her to sleep and let me go take a nap. She helped me with cooking dinners, and cleaning the house it was great! While mom visited we made a couple trips

(Mimi pushing Eva)

the the hospital for Eva to check her jaundice, went for a couple of nice walks in good ole warm, sunny Kansas, and of course I brought her to Hobby Lobby. While at Hobby Lobby mom found a picture frame in which you can put a picture as well as comes with a mold for a hand print or foot print. Since Eva's prints were so tiny we could fit all four! That was an adventure trying to get her little prints in there and uncurling her little fist. Mom took lots of pictures as scrap booking is one of her hobbies (hence hobby lobby). She took pictures of my new family with the adorable addition.


(trying to get Eva's hand print)

It was so wonderful having my mother here to meet her granddaughter and I was very sad to see her go. I look forward to when Eva gets to see her Mimi again. Of course we web cam regularly with her and Eva has learned how to smile (not just when she's got gas) and Mimi has gotten to witness that, as well as seeing Eva creep across her play area :)


(Eva with her Mimi)

I am officially a Mommy!!!!

Well after a very long and somewhat painful process my daughter Eva Marie Bourdon has officially arrived in this world. It all started on Monday August 30th I had a scheduled appointment for my 40 week check-up. So my husband went to work for PT and then came home to get me and we went to the appointment scheduled for 11a. Once there the nurse called my name and I was brought in to get weighed (234lbs) and taken into the exam room. The nurse then took my vitals, when she took my blood pressure she said that it was high so they were gonna take my blood pressure again when the doctor came. When Lieutenant Colonel Williams came in she decided that she would check my cervix first then they'd check the vitals. Well the cervix was 50% effaced and only 1 CM dialated. She then took my blood pressure again, and again it was high. So she then asked if I had, had any complications throughout the pregnancy. I explained to her about the concern of Eva's belly size and birth weight from Germany and that I was never told the results from the Ultra Sounds I had received 4 weeks prior. So she sent me down to the lab to get some blood taken to check, and a urine sample to be sure there was no protein in my urine. After I was done in the lab she said to come back up for a non stress test as Eva was past her due date. So my husband and I went downstairs got the labs done and came back up to see the doctor again. When we arrived upstairs again she informed us that she had looked at the ultrasounds from 4 weeks ago and said that the baby was again still small so she wanted me to go down to Ultrasound and get another ultrasound and see the status of Eva at that point and time. So Nick and I made the trec back downstairs to ultrasound, waited in the waiting area for about half hour and got called in. The lady took the pictures she needed then told us to wait in the waiting room til she said she had the results. About 15-20 minutes later she told us we could go upstairs and see the doctor to discuss the results. We had to wait for about half an hour for Lt. Cnl. Williams, as it was lunch time. When she came to get us in the waiting room she walked us into the Labor and Delivery section of the Women's Health Facility, where she "handed us" off to another doctor. Since there were no rooms available and people in the waiting area she explained the situation to us in the hallway. Our new doctor (no name was given) informed us that the ultrasound showed that Eva was in the 7th percentile for weight, and my amniotic fluid was low. Since the Fort Riley hospital had no rooms available they decided they were going to send me by ambulance to Topeka, the closest hospital that had a NICU. Once this decision was made they brought me to a small room to be monitored while waiting for the ambulance. Nick went downstairs to call family and his platoon sgt. to inform him of what was goin on and that he would not be going back to work. I was put on a baby heart beat monitor, had a heart rate monitor for myself, and a blood pressure was takin every 15 minutes or something. When Nick came back upstairs I told him I was hungry because at this point it was about 2 in the after noon and I ate last at 10 before headin to the appointment. So he asked the nurses if I could eat something and they told him where the cafeteria was. He brought me up a ham and cheese sandwich and had a salad for himself. We probably waiting at LEAST an hour for the ambulance to show up. The nurses gave Nick directions to the hospital and he headed to the house to grab last minute items and was going to meet me at the hospital. The drive to Topeka was about an hour, when I arrived the paramedics brought me up to the 4th floor at Stormont Vail in the birth and babies triage section. Here I had to give a urine sample, put on a pretty gown and was placed in another small room. They hooked me up to the baby heart beat monitors and took my blood pressure as well. There was a small tv in the room so I started watching that until Nick arrived. Once Nick got there the nurse came in to give me an IV, she attempted to put in an IV on my left arm and blew the vein so they called the anesthesiologist to do it on the right. He came up and got the IV in no problem and they started putting fluids in my system through IV. They checked my cervix, nothing had changed, at this point it was about 8p. The doctor came in finally a little after 8 and explained to me what the plan was. They were going to induce me with the pill first dose at 9p second at 1a. He figured that she would be born "tomorrow if not definately the next day". Nick and I asked our questions and he left informing the nurses what was going to happen. The nurses came in at about 8:30 to take my monitors off and escort me to the Labor and Delivery Room. This room was nice and big and had a sort of bench for Nick to sleep on (not very comfy unfortunatly), personal bathroom, and a tv. The nurse set up all the monitors again and went to get the stuff ready for induction. At 9p on the nose she inserted the pill in my cervix to start the induction. Slowly but surely I started to get contractions but they weren't strong or painful, just crampy. I fell asleep until 1a when the nurse came in to check my cervix and place the second pill, at this point I was 2-3 cm dialated. She placed the pill and checked the monitors. I was then placed on Oxygen because I wasn't getting enough apparently according to the monitors for the baby. I then went to sleep again until the morning. At 6a the nurse came in and informed me they were going to start the petocin to move the labor along. Once she placed this in to my IV I was starting to feel the contractions more but they weren't too bad I breathed through them and thought about what was coming in the end. Nick was hungry so he went down to get something to eat and said he'd be right back. Well while he was gone another doctor came in to check my cervix, I was still the same dialation but fully effaced. She then broke my water, after doing so she informed me she broke my water and that my contractions were going to start coming stronger and closer together. No sooner had she warned me that I had a very strong contraction, in which the doctor said "I'm assuming you want an epidural?" to which I replied...... um YES!. So they started the paperwork and called the anesthesiologist to place the epidural. After signing the papers necessary they had me sit up and told me to relax my back. As they were getting ready to put in the epidural Nick came back from breakfast (he didn't want to eat in front of me knowing i couldn't eat). He was concerned and asked what was going on, so they explained how they broke the water and were placing an epidural so he held my hands and helped me through the contraction until the epidural was placed. It didn't take long until I started feeling the really warm sensation in my legs. The nurse was looking at the monitor and said can you feel that contraction, which I couldn't thank the lord. After the epidural was placed the doctor inserted two internal monitors fetal heart beat, and a fluid replacer as my amniotic fluid was low, they also insterted a catheter as my legs were heavy and I was not capable of walking. Once the epidural took its full affect I could finally get some sleep. I slept for about 2 hours until the Nurse called in some help and they had me flip from right side, to left side, then back again. Eva's heart rate was starting to drop when I had a contraction. Her heart rate went back to normal after switching sides a couple time, this occured about 4 or 5 times until the doctor came in to see what was going on. They then decided to give me a shot in my arm to stop my contractions as this was really stressing the baby out and her heart rate kept dropping. So they cut off the petocin and gave my the shot in my left arm. It was about 11a at this point and they decided they'd monitor the baby for a while and see how she was doing. She went back to normal heart rate and was doing just fine when I had no contractions. Around 12:30 they decided they would try again with the petocin and see how the baby reacted. So they started the petocin dripping again. Not more than 15-20 minutes later the nurses were in again to help me flip around right side, left side, on your hands and knees. The doctor came in and cut off the petocin and informed Nick and I that the baby wasn't reacting well to contractions so the safest route for mommy and baby was c-section. Of course we agreed to whatever was best and they started prepping for the Operation Room. At around 2p the doctor came in to remove the fluid monitor and check my dialation I was at 4 cm at this point. They had to give me another shot to my shoulder as I was starting to have contractions on my own and the baby wasn't liking it. They told us that we would be heading into the Operation Room in about an half hour. Nick went downstairs to inform family of what was happening and came back up. The nurse came in about 2:30p to tell us that another woman was in need of a c-section and that since Eva wasn't in stress at that point they were goin to bring that woman in first. Finally at about 3:00 the nurses came in, as well as the new anethesiologist and lifted me onto a new bed, and gave Nick some clothes to put on for the OR. They then pushed my bed to the OR, Nick had to wait outside the room while they prepped then they brought him in and he sat in a chair next to my head. My arms were braced down and they began pushing the meds into my epidural to numb the area for incision. They kept poking me and asking me if I could feel it, if this hurt, etc. The anathesiologist informed me that I may be able to feel touch but not pain. They made the incision the anethesiologist was giving us the play by play, her "lil girl parts" came out first, then the head...... then there was that first gurgly cry. Then my tears started flowing, they brought her over to my right side and held her up so I could see, she was just beautiful. They then brought her over to a table to check her vitals. Nick went over to take pictures while they stitched me back up. He came back and showed me the pictures of our baby girl, she was so precious I couldn't hold back the tears. Then daddy got to go over and pick her up and bring her to me. I got to give her a kiss on her forhead and they left me have my hands to hold her. It was the greatest feeling in the world having that lil lady in my arms. Nick then took her back and they were ready to transport me to the recovery room. So nick had to place Eva into the bassinet for the hallway. Once in the recovery room Nick stayed with Eva and they put braces on my legs since I couldn't feel them to prevent blood clots. Nick brought Eva over for me to hold but my arms felt really weak from the meds so I only held her a little while. We were in the hospital until September 2. We got to bring our baby girl home on Thursday September 2, and everyone was healthy and happy. And even princess enjoyed meeting her lil sister :)

Eva Marie's Nursery

Well once Nick and I officially moved into our apartment I started getting anxious and ready to beginning the adventures of setting up the Nursery. First step for me was ordering a Whinnie the Pooh border from aafes. They had a really cute one with a sort of watermelon pink color to it. So after ordering the border I had to wait for it to arrive in the mail. It took about a week and a half to arrive here. Once it arrived my neighbor from downstairs Jackee (who has a 5 month old girl), and neighbor from the next street down Ashley gave me a ride to the hardware store to pick up some paint. The girls and I matched the colors to the border and got the color pink we needed. I also purchased painting supplies, as well as a border kit to help when we needed to put that up.

So once I got home that evening I was so ready and excited to start painting her room. So I went around the border and put painting tape around so as to not paint the wood pink. Then laid down my plastic as to not get paint on the carpet. I started rolling :). I rolled about half the wall while my husband went around with a trim brush to take care of the borders and around the outlits. Then we were invited to dinner at Nick and Ashley's so we left it to dry. When we got home that night I was tired so I went to bed. The next day Nick's friend Jimmy arrived from Iowa to visit. While the guys were playing xbox I decided to continue my project. So I finished painting the pink for the second half of the room. Once I had finished that I went and hung out with the guys for the rest of the evening while it dried. The next day my husbands friend left to go back to Iowa and the two of us went around and put a second coat on the wall to get rid of the white lines and spots that I could see from the first coat. I was very excited to see how the color went with the border, we did a very good job matching our paints. The next day my husband had to go back to work so we took a break from working on her room. When we went back to working on the room we purchased a level and went around the room marking where we would be putting the border. With my border kit I had purchased at the hardware store it was a very easy process getting the border up. Had no problems just using water and the glue on the back of the border. After the border was up I was very happy and placed the crib in the corner that I wanted, as well as set up the mobile, and bed spread for her crib. We also put together the changing table and placed that in one of the corners of her room, a feeding chair in another corner which no has baby eva's hospital stuff ready to go. As well as the stroller and car seat are ready to go as well. This past weekend my friend Ashley and I made a trip to Manhattan (kansas) and checked out a store called Hobby Lobby. Where I found some wooden letters that were on sale 50% off. Of course I had some paint left over so I went ahead and purchased the letters of her name. When I got home the evening I painted them the color from the wall. Let them settle to dry overnight and today my husband and I measured and leveled them onto the wall. I'm happy to say that I am fully satisfied with how her room looks and very anxious to meet my lil angel Eva Marie..... who is due to arrive in exactly 10 days.

Settling Down in Kansas........

Well it's been a little while since i've updated my blog. Got a lil time on my hands so I thought I'd accomplish some now. So my husband and I have officially moved to Fort Riley, Kansas. We were staying with a Sgt. my husband met the first day he arrived. We were very fortunate to Anthony for letting us stay with him for 3 weeks. While staying with him we found a nice apartment to move into that was only a 5 minute drive to base. We moved in a few days before August 1st. The day

(a shot of the kitchen)

after moving in my husband met one of our neighbors (who was in the same platoon) named Nick who had a wife named Ashley as well. Nick and Ashley have been very great helping us out, from getting to Doctor Appointments for me, to work for Nick. We have been sleeping on an air mattress and taking advantage of ACS' loan closet for dishes to cook meals. We fortunately retrieved our car on Monday this week and will be getting our household goods next Monday. Looking forward to being completely settled and ready for the arrival of our baby girl due 10 days from today. :) I have met a lot of really nice people and made friends rather quickly which is always a plus being in the army.

(my husband and the boys (L-R: Jimmy, Nick, Brandon, Tony, Nick))

Baby Shower in Germany

Well with the school year ending and summer beginning a number of the ladies here are heading on block leave to the states. As well as my upcoming departure from Deutchland the ladies threw me a nice little Baby Shower. We had a potluck dinner at the Yellow Ribbon Room, where my good friend Brittney works. The ladies who joined in the festivities are in the picture to the right: Back row L-R Mallory, Satui, Charletta and Maria, and in the front with my Brittney. I met these ladies through the lovely sport of Volleyball, in which i could not play this past season so I took up coaching instead. The night started out at 1900 where we broke into the yummy food everyone brought from Maria's famous Turkey dip, to brittney's fabulous sandwiches. While eating we were entertained by Mallory beautiful daughter Morgan (who will be a big sister come December). After we had filled up our belly's it was on to some fun games Brittney organized for the event. The first game actually began at the beginning of the shower, in which everyone was given a clothes pin. If you at some point said the word "baby" your clothes pin was taken by whoever caught you. At the end of the evening I had mine, and Maria had everyone else's. The next game that we did was how big is my belly. The girls passed around ribbon in which they unwrapped to the length they believed would measure the circumference. The closest without going under won a prize. Everyone except for Maria were a lil long. Next we moved onto 5 minutes to write down as many baby items as you could think of. Mallory succeeded in this list by coming up with 36 items. After this Brittney went in the back closet told us we had 1 minute to look at the items she brought out, then she hid it from view and we had to write down what we could remember. Everyone came up with 12 items, and Charletta came up with 17 winning herself a lovely prize. Following this game I opened wonderful gifts from all the ladies for my lil lady. I had a wonderful night with my good friends I have made over here in Germany and was very happy to get to see them all before heading out. As I will be returning to the states by the end of this week. I wish them all good luck in their future endeavors and especially to Mallory and Maria, Mallory expecting her second angel in Dec. and Maria expecting her first in Jan. I'm going to miss playing volleyball with some very talented ladies, and look forward to my new adventure in Kansas.

Picking Out A Name.......

So I'm in my 28th week of pregnancy and know that my lil belly monster is a girl but am still having the hardest time trying to come up with a name. I've bounced around all sorts of names but eventually aren't happy with them or my husband doesn't agree. I literally sat down and went through ALL the girls names in my book 100,001 baby names. Who would of thought I'd have such a hard time coming up with the perfect name for her.

(my belly @ 28 weeks)

I had come up with the name Addyson a while ago before I was pregnant but have heard a lot of lil ones being named that lately so I don't wanna go with the flow. My husband came up with a cute one Bella, Bella Marie Bourdon would be her full name. But my only concern with that name is the whole Twilight obsession and too many Bella's coming around. My favorite name that I came up with is Kassidy Marie Bourdon. I think its a cute name, not to girly, and you can come up with nicknames if in her teen years she doesn't like it. But unfortunately the husband isn't fond of the name Kassidy for some reason.

(my lil angel)

HOPEFULLY we'll have more success coming up with her name between now in August, I don't want her coming out and us not know what to name her still!! These next couple months ought to be interesting though as we are in the process of changing duty stations and are preparing to move from Schweinfurt, Germany to Fort Riley, Kansas.

(the cute lil dress I bought her when I found out she's a girl)

About Myself

This'll be my first time bloggin, my sister does it and since I live miles and miles away from home I figured maybe I should as well. My name is Ashlea and I grew up in Hampden Maine. After high school I went on to college, and wanted to get away for a bit so I headed to Vermont. I completed my freshmen year, then moved to Vermont took a year off and got residency and graduated from Lyndon State College in May of 2008. I received a Bachelors of Science in Exercise Sciences and Sports Management. When I went to freshmen orientation in June of 2003 @ LSC I met a young man named Nicholas Bourdon. In the fall of my last year at Lyndon I tied the knot with that lovely man :). We got married on November 3, 2007. Ten days later he flew across the pond to Schweinfurt Germany where he was stationed with the 1st Battalion 2nd Infantry in the U.S. Army. Following my graduation in May if 08 Nick came home for block leave and we flew back together in June 0f 08. In November of 2008 Nick was sent to Iraq. He did a month long tour. I went back to Maine to stay with my mother, and attend my sisters wedding festivities, returning to Germany in July of 09. Nicholas came home in November and we took a 45 day vacation to come back to the states and visit with family and friends for the holidays. During that time we discovered we were pregnant. We are currently back in Germany awaiting orders to head back to the U S of A and expecting to have a baby girl the end of August.