Finn's Birth Announcement Video

When we found out that we were going to have a baby, Tommy immediately ordered a new camera to "take pictures of the baby". I wasn't crazy about it, since I'm so frugal and thought we could just use one of the other 2 cameras we already have. He kept following me around taking pictures of my pregnant belly and filming me. Seeing this amazing birth announcement that was the outcome of all of this, made me realize even more how lucky I am to have such an amazing husband.

http://vimeo.com/49032420

First Month

Wow! I can't believe how fast time has gone by and Finn is already 1 month old! Being a mommy is such a wonderful feeling. I'm just so in love with this tiny little being. He's so adorable and looking at his sweet little face melts my heart every time and really makes everything worth it…all the sleepless nights, the anxiety and intensity of taking care of a newborn. I wouldn't miss any of this for anything in this world. Although it has definitely been the most challenging time in my life, it's simultaneously the most wonderful time of my life. It has brought Tommy and I even closer. I was worried about how the stress would affect our relationship. Surprisingly we've been getting along even better, we really work as a team and find ways to make it work and easier on each other. While Tommy sleeps on the couch to get a decent amount of sleep (he has to work after all), I take care of Finn all night. Then Tommy usually takes him in the morning for a few hours, so I can take a nap and get some rest. Things finally seem to settle a little bit and we're getting more of a routine. It's definitely not easy to take care of a newborn but we still love every minute of it!

Our Birth Story

William Finnegan O'Connor  

July 9th 2012 :: 2:42pm :: 6lbs 5oz. :: 19.7in 

July 8th – the Due date! Of course Tommy and I had been taking guesses and been looking forward to the big day. It's pretty exciting not knowing when it's actually gonna happen. I had a feeling that Finn wouldn't come on his due date, but we had been joking about it, saying that if he inherited the german part of me, he would certainly come on time since Germans are so punctual :) Well, he wasn't born on his due date but pretty darn close to it. That Sunday I had been feeling a little bit off. I felt a lot more tired than the days before. Tommy and I went for a walk in the morning and half way through I started getting a really persistent back pain, that just wouldn't go away. I was wondering if that could be a sign of early contractions, but since nothing else happened the rest of day, I assumed it wasn't time yet. Since I felt pretty tired though, I went to bed earlier that night. At least I tried, I tossed and turned for a while and finally fell asleep around 11pm, just to be woken up by a sharp pain half an hour later. 

There was no doubt, this was my first real contraction! I laid in bed for a minute wondering if it was really time, when Tommy popped in his head to see why I was still up. Him and his cousin Cheyenne had been staying up playing board games in the living room. Tommy saw my shocked face and knew right away what was going on. Shortly after, I got another contraction and another. I got up to pack up the rest of my stuff for my hospital bag. And about half an hour later the contractions were already coming within 5-6 minute intervals lasting for 30-45 seconds. I called my doctor and she told me to go to the hospital within the next two hours. So I waited a little longer and at about 3am we headed down to Flagstaff Medical Center. By that time the contraction were already coming every few minutes and were really painful. I had the illusion that I was gonna try to do it all without any drugs and an epidural. I was really freaked out by all the stories I had heard about medications like Pitocin and emergency C-sections. I really just wanted to have a natural birth. But by the time we got to the Hospital, I was already in so much pain that I asked for an epidural right away. Well unfortunately I wasn't dilated very much, only 1.5 cm but fully effaced already. They told me they couldn't give me an epidural until I was at least 4cm dilated, because it could cause the contractions to slow down or stop, which could lead to unwanted interventions. So they monitored me for a while and then sent me walking around the hall way for an hour to see if that would help me dilate faster. It was the most awful hour of my life. The contractions were so strong that I could barely walk or talk, I felt really nauseous, I threw up, I felt really hot. It was just awful and the minutes were just crawling by so slow. Tommy was such a trooper through. He was by my side the entire time, although I couldn't except any of his help and told him to just leave me alone. I was just in my own little world, dealing with the pain. I didn't wanna talk, I didn't wanna be touched. I didn't get angry or yell at anybody, I just needed to be in this quiet space by myself. After looking at the clock every 30 seconds, the longest hour of my life was finally over. We went back to Triage and the nurse checked me again, only to tell me I had only dilated another 0.5cm within the last 2h. I couldn't believe it. Going at this pace I knew this was going to be a very long labor. 

The pain just seemed unbearable and I knew this was just the beginning. At that point the doctor suggested to move me into the birthing room and give me some medication for the nausea and also offered me some pain medication. I really wanted to do it without medication, but I just couldn't stand the pain and felt like everything was progressing even slower since I couldn't relax or work with the pain. So I agreed to take some. They told me it was harmless for the baby and would just take the edge off a little bit to make the pain more tolerable. It also would only last an hour or so and then wear off, but hopefully help me relax and help me dilate faster. After getting the pain medication I started feeling a lot better. I still felt the contractions pretty strongly, but the nausea went away and I was able to relax a little bit. I'm glad I went this route, since it took another 4,5 hours from that time until they were able to get the anesthesiologist in to set up the epidural. It was 11:00am by that time and the medication had worn off a long time ago, leaving me with even stronger contractions. I was shaking uncontrollably, but once the epidural started working, all the pain went away and all I could feel was a slight tension at each contractions. By that time I was dilated 5cm and my water broke when they examined me. They told me it would probably take until mid afternoon until I would be dilated fully to 10cm. So I just closed my eyes and dozed off. After a little while I felt completely numb from the waste down and was wondering if they had given me too much medicine. Also it appeared that my contractions were slowing down and the nurse said something about giving me Pitocin to get the contractions back. That's exactly what I didn't want to happen! I started getting worried and asked them to lower the dosage of the epidural medication. After a while I started feeling the contraction a bit stronger again and was able to feel my legs again as well. Fortunately everything went well after that and I didn't need to be given any Pitocin. At 1:00pm the doctor came back to check me again and saw that I was already fully dilated. So they got the nurse crew in half an hour later to start the pushing. It took about 1h15min, but due to the epidural it was all tolerable and didn't even hurt much at all. Everything went well, although Finn's heartbeat went down while pushing, so they put me on an oxygen mask during the breaks in between contractions. I felt pretty relaxed and thought things were going just as they were supposed to. My doctor was a bit impatient, suggested to use a suction cup at some point and also wanted to do an episiotomy to advance a bit faster. I turned her down on both of it, and it really wasn't needed. Finn was born shortly after. When he came out, he had the cord wrapped twice around his head! Fortunately he was fine and nothing happened. They cut the cord and put him on my chest. He looked right into my eyes with a very alert expression in his eyes. Then he stretched out his little arm and touched my face. It was the most amazing and touching moment in my life….to see his beautiful little face for the first time…..to finally meet our son and wrap my arms around him. I can't even put it into words how special that moment was for us. 

After that precious first moment, they took him away from me to examine him. At that point he started breathing really heavy. His little rip cage was lifting up and down really fast and the nurses realized he had problems breathing. Apparently that's a very common problem in Flagstaff, since the air is a lot thinner at 7000ft elevation. They were debating if they should bring him to the NICU (Neonatal intensive care unit) when one of the nurse suggested to put him back on my chest for a little bit. As soon as he was back with me, he started to breath normal again. Apparently he just needed to be with me :) So I was able to keep him with me and he didn't have to go to NICU! I'm just so thankful everything went well and we were even able to document this precious moment. Looking at the pictures and remembering that moment, brings tears to Tommy's and my eyes every time. We're just so happy to have our little mountain family. It really means the world to us and the whole experience brought us even closer.

Week 40! Only 1 more week!!!

How far along? Beginning of Week 40. One more week until my due date. Can't believe it's almost time. I kinda have the feeling he might be a few days late though. I'm thinking the 11th. July 11th sounds like a good date! But I guess he's just gonna come whenever he's ready.

Total weight gain/loss: 30 lbs. +  hasn't really changed much in the last 2 weeks.

Maternity clothes? Even some of the maternity clothes is starting to feel tight

Sleep: I sleep surprisingly good. Probably because I have a bunch of pillows propped up around me that I lie on. Tommy and I decided to sleep in different beds until the delivery, so we both get better sleep.  It got a little crammed in our bed with all the pillow. It's also harder for me to breathe with all the extra weight, which kept Tommy up at night and vice versa his snoring gave me a hard time to fall asleep. So he's sleeping on the couch for now. Sad to be apart but we always make sure we cuddle before we go to sleep and when we wake up too.

Miss Anything? Not really

Movement:  Movements are getting a little bit more uncomfortable for me, since there's not much room left in there.

Food cravings: Still sweet stuff. My mom-in-law was so nice to give me a big bag full of little Sour Patch Kid bags. I've been eating a ton of those ;)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Symptoms: Same old, it's just getting harder to get around. I keep bumping into things with my belly, forgetting that it's pretty big now :)

Mood: Pretty happy. 

Energy: Still pretty good. I definitely haven't rested as much as I should have. I just feel like there's so much to do and so I've been trying to wrap up my projects at work, getting the house in order and organizing stuff for the wedding. Next week should be a bit more quiet though. I definitely wanna take some time to rest and mentally prepare for the birth and Finn's arrival.

Looking forward to: Next week is gonna be a big week with lots of things to look forward to. Cheyenne, Tommy's cousin is coming out from LA to stay with us a few weeks and help us out. Then Kristen, Tommy's sister is moving to Sedona. She got an awesome job there and decided to move to be closer to us. So exciting to have some family here. And then of course, counting down to the due date. I'm so so excited to meet our little baby boy. Seeing his sweet little face for the first time and finally holding him in our arms. I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it.

This is probably my last blog entry while I'm pregnant. The next entry will hopefully be a happy delivery story and pictures of our little mountain baby. 

How far along? 38 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 30 lbs. +  

Maternity clothes? yup

Sleep: still pretty good, just have to get up to go the bathroom more often now

Miss Anything? Not really

Movement:  Still lots of movements. Must be getting tight in there, because I see little bumps stick out when he moves around.

Food cravings: sweet stuff

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Symptoms: Just the usual discomfort like back pain if I sit for too long, and it's getting harder to breath. I feel like I'm out of breath just talking sometimes. 

Mood: Happy

Energy: Pretty good, but I'm getting more tired faster overall. So I'm trying to rest and take naps if I get too exhausted.

Looking forward to: D-Day or Finn-Day as Tommy and I started calling it. So exciting!!!! Can't believe how fast time has gone by and that it's almost time.

Favorite Moment: We finally finished setting up the Baby's room. Got all the furniture set up, closet organized and artwork up on the wall. 

Only thing missing now, is our little Mountain Baby to make this room alive.

WEEK 36

How far along? 36 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 28 lbs. +  

Maternity clothes? yup

Sleep: It's getting a little harder to sleep, because it's more difficult to turn around with my belly getting so big. 

Miss Anything? Not really

Movement:  Still lots of movements. Must be getting tight in there, because I see little bumps stick out when he moves around.

Food cravings: Still same stuff…sweets, cheese etc.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Symptoms: Still the common aches…back pain if I sit too long, heartburn, ribs hurt when he's pushing against them. 

Mood: Happy

Energy: Pretty good, but I'm getting tired faster overall. I started taking naps again on days where I feel too exhausted.

Looking forward to: Holding our little mountain baby in my arms. Only 5 more weeks! Or maybe even less if he comes early :) So exiting!

Favorite Moment: I got my first prenatal massage last week and damn it felt good! So relaxing I almost fell asleep. It really helped with my back pain, neck pain and tight hips. So I'm getting another one this week.

WEEK 34

How far along? 34 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 26 lbs. +  

Maternity clothes? yup

Sleep: It's getting a little harder to sleep, because it's more difficult to turn around with my big belly. 

Miss Anything? not really

Movement: Lots of movements. I can feel the little hick-ups now, which is really funny. He has one at least once or twice a day.

Food cravings: …sweets, cheese etc.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Symptoms: Back pain if I sit too long, heartburn and my ribs hurt sometimes too (I think he must be pushing against them)

Mood: Happy

Energy: Pretty good, my belly has gotten pretty big, so it's a bit harder to move around.

Looking forward to: Finishing up the baby's room. I already washed all his clothes and put his closet together. He has tons and tons of hand me down clothes from both my sister and my sister-in-law. I don't think I have to do laundry for a long time :) 

Favorite Moment: We had our baby shower in LA, which was awesome! My friend Kenita did an amazing job putting everything together. She got us a nice spot in Griffith Park for our BBQ, decorated the tables in a really nice outdoor theme and put really cute water bottles/gifts  together for the guest to take home. It was great seeing a lot of our friends that we hadn't seen in a long time, we played some fun baby games and ate cake as dessert. Overall it was a really nice day and exactly what Tommy and I had hoped for :)

32 WEEKS

How far along? 32 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 24 lbs. +  

Maternity clothes? yup

Sleep: I felt kinda tired the last few days and slept like a rock. I even slept in on Sunday until 8:30, which is long for me considering that I usually wake up at 6:30am without setting my alarm.

Miss Anything? not really

Movement: Must be getting tight in there, as I can see a lot of his movements now. There's little bumps coming out of belly, when he turns around. It's so much fun to watch.

Food cravings: nothing in particular this week. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: nope

Symptoms: Little bit of back pain when I sit on the computer for too long, but I feel great otherwise.

Mood: Happy

Energy: Still feeling great. There were a couple of weeks at the beginning of the third trimester, where I started to feel really slow, heavy and achy. I was worried that the last 3 months of pregnancy would be really difficult, but surprisingly I started feel better again after a few days. I think I got used to the extra weight and the exercise really helps as well. 

Looking forward to: Our Baby shower this weekend and setting up the baby's room when we come back

Sad Moment: Tommy's Grandma Betty Lou passed away on Tuesday. She had leg surgery right after our wedding. After a long battle and weeks in the ICU, she unfortunately wasn't able to recover from it. It's very sad to see her go, because she really was an exceptional woman. Tommy and her were very close and it was amazing to watch them together and to see how much they cared about each other. I loved hearing Tommy say: "How are you Beautiful?" whenever he called her, as well as her response: "How is my handsome Grandson doing"? She was such a strong and good hearted woman and accomplished some really amazing things in her life. Coming from nothing and being able to raise 3 kids, building a business with her husband and making a really good living for her family. She was a great inspiration to Tommy and he said he really learned what it mean to live and love from her. It really breaks my heart to see him so sad. And although I didn't know her for very long, she touched my heart too. She always made me feel very welcome to the family and told me how happy she was that Tommy found me and how happy I make him. She told me stories about the girls Tommy met, but how he didn't really like any of them until he brought me back. She was always very interested to hear about Germany, because she was actually 3/4 German herself and still carried some very important German traits. She loved to drink beer, she was frugal and hard working :) And she was very proud of that, always telling Tommy: "Make sure Danielle knows that I'm part German too".

We're just really thankful that we were able to celebrate the wedding with her. Seeing her so happy that day and having some great pictures of her, is really invaluable. That was the last day I saw her and one of the last things she said to me was, how happy she was that I was part of the family now. I will always remember that and the only thing that makes me sad is that Finn didn't get to meet his Great Grandma. We will miss her dearly, but we will always remember her and will always have great stories we can tell Finn about her.

"The only important thing in life are the traces of love, 

that we leave behind when we depart." 

                                                      Albert Schweitzer 

30 Weeks - Only 10 more to go!

How far along? 30 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 22 lbs. +  

Maternity clothes? yup

Sleep: Still pretty good, although I keep waking up super early every day

Miss Anything? Not really. After I tried to drink the non-alcoholic wine which was really bad, I've had no cravings for Alcohol. lol. And I'm making up for the things I can't eat by eating a lot of everything else I can eat. haha. Well, I guess it's really the only time in life I have a good excuse for eating as much as I want. 

Movement: Still amazed when I feel the little one move around in there. I could just watch my belly for hours.

Food cravings: Twix Bar, Tiramisu, Ice cream with Strawberries ;) I think I've had too much Tiramisu though the last few weeks. Tommy has been doing a great job at trying to satisfy my cravings for sweets. He's constantly hunting for Twix bars and Tiramisu. He keeps surprising me with stuff, he even brought an entire Tiramisu cake home from the Grocery store the other day! Although he complains that I eat his sweets now, I think he secretly loves it, because he has an excuse to buy and eat more sweets now.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope

Symptoms: Some back pain, which got worse yesterday because I slipped and fell down the stairs :( Luckily it was just the last 3 steps, but I hit my back and my butt and sprained my wrist. 

Mood: Happy

Energy: Pretty good! My belly feels a bit heavy at times, but I still work out as much as I can, doing my prenatal yoga and preggo fitness class. 

Looking forward to: Our Baby shower in LA….two more weeks.

Favorite Moment: Tommy and I went to Vegas last weekend to visit his mom and sister. We realized that we hadn't been out there since last summer although it's only a 4 hour drive. So we decided to get a quick trip in before the baby arrives, since traveling will be a lot harder then. We had a really amazing weekend. We ate out at some really yummy restaurants, got pampered with a pedicure, went shopping, went to see a show (Le Reve) at the Wynn Hotel. Overall a really relaxing and fun weekend. And then we had a little surprise planned for my mom- and sister-in-law. Since we haven't had another Ultrasound since week 20, we went to get one of these 3D ultrasounds done that you can do on your own. It's $100 and they take a video of the ultrasound and colored 3D pictures. The place was really nice, the room where they did the ultrasound had a really comfy big bed for me to lay on, big couches for family members to sit on and a big screen on the wall so everybody could watch the procedure. Everybody was excited….but we didn't have much luck. Our little mountain baby was sounds asleep and had no intentions of waking up. He was curled into a ball with his hands and knees covering up his face. So unfortunately we didn't get to see much. We tried to wake him up for 45 min, the nurse gently pushing my belly, I tried some yoga poses, jumped up and down, drank some cold water, but nothing helped. There was one quick moment where he moved his hands and yawned and then covered it right back up. haha. Oh well, we didn't get any good pictures but at least we know he's doing fine. His heart beat was strong and he seemed to be really comfy in there. So we were still happy that we went. 

WEEK 29

How far along? 29 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 21 lbs. +  about one pound a week. Glad it's not more since I've been eating tons of sweets ;) It's very apparent that it's Tommy's baby since he's the one with the big sweet tooth not me!

Maternity clothes? Yes, just had to buy a few more shirts since it's getting harder and harder to fit into any of my regular shirts and sweaters now.

Sleep: Still pretty good, although I started getting some leg cramps during the night

Miss Anything? Eating and drinking certain things. I ended up buying some non-alcoholic red wine, which unfortunately tasted awful :(

Movement: So amazing to feel and see him move around in my belly. I can tell that it's getting tighter in there, because I can see it now when he turns around. Pretty crazy to watch!

Food cravings: Tiramisu and lots of other sweet stuff

Anything making you queasy or sick: No

Symptoms: Some back pain, leg cramps at night sometimes

Mood: Happy

Energy: Pretty good overall. Little bit more tired than before, since everything is a little harder to do with all the extra weight…walking, climbing stairs and such.

Looking forward to: Feeling our little mountain baby's hiccups in my belly….haven't felt it yet.

Favorite Moment: Watching my belly when he moves around in it :) 

How far along? 27 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 19 lbs. +  Crazy how quick I'm gaining weight. I feel like every time I look in the mirror my belly has grown again.

Maternity clothes? yup

Sleep: Still pretty good, although I started getting some leg cramps during the night

Miss Anything? Leberwurst, Red Wine, Sushi

Movement: feeling him kick all the time :)

Food cravings: Tiramisu

Anything making you queasy or sick: nope

Symptoms: started to have a little bit of back pain due to the growing belly

Mood: Happy

Energy: still feeling great overall, but I am slowing down a lot. Hiking has gotten a lot harder. I hiked 4 miles on Saturday and the trail was pretty much flat and I was having a hard time with it :( Half way through the hike my feet started hurting and I had to walk a lot slower and even take breaks in between. Crazy how much more difficult things have become. I guess I just have to accept that I have to slow down and can't do everything I was able to do before. But I'm still doing my pregnancy yoga class, fit for baby class and Zumba class. So I'm trying to stay active and do as much as I can. 

Looking forward to: Holding our little one for the first time.

Favorite Moment: Showing off my belly when I go places. People are finally noticing that I'm pregnant and are asking about it ;)

Week 25

How far along? 25 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 17 lbs. + 

Maternity clothes? yes and it's getting harder to fit into my regular sweaters and top

Sleep: Still pretty good

Miss Anything? Leberwurst, Red Wine, Sushi

Movement: movements are continuously getting stronger. Tommy was even able to see my belly move now when the baby kicks :)

Food cravings: cheese, cookies, chocolate

Anything making you queasy or sick: nope

Symptoms: not really other than my growing belly

Mood: Happy, little more emotional than usually

Energy: feeling great, although I can feel I get tired a lot faster and it's getting harder to move around with my growing belly. We went on a snowshoe hike the other day, since we got hit with a last big snow storm of the season and 2 ft of fresh snow. The 45 min loop we usually take, turned into an almost 2 hour trek due to the high amount of snow. Half way through I could really feel my energy level drop and got really tired. I even started feeling some mild cramps :( I laid down right away when we got home and the cramps immediately went away, but I felt really exhausted for the rest of the day. I guess it was just too much and I over exerted myself. Have to make sure I don't do too much. It's just hard to gauge, since I feel really good and then all of the sudden hit a wall and get super exhausted without warning. 

Looking forward to: Setting up the Baby's room. We started thinking about art work and pictures we want to put up on the walls. So incredible that we will have a new family member moving into our house soon ;) I wonder how Haley and Liam will feel about that. 

Favorite Moment: Romantic Night! Tommy decided we needed some time to ourselves, so he put a playlist with love songs together, lit some candles and opened up a bottle of non-alcoholic sparkling cider while we cuddled up in bed. We have to take advantage of our alone time while we still can :)