Wow- what a week!

(...and a lot of "w's" in that title!)

This has been an exiciting and exhausting week. I have so many details to each story, but I will try to stay on track and give you a good overview.

Wednesday night Jesse had four tickets to the Astros' game, so we invited Chase and Rebecca to go with us. About half way through the game, Chase tells us that Rebecca has been having contractions throughout the entire game. By the end of the game, they are steadily about 5 minutes apart. Naturally, as first-time parents, they were alarmed by this, since she is still not officially due for another two and half weeks. When we got in the car to head home, she called her doctor, who wanted her to go to the hospital and have everything checked out. Better safe than sorry, right?

So we went to Memorial City Hospital and they hooked her up to machines and started running tests. The baby's (Natalee's) heart rate was pretty high, so Rebecca drank some water which calmed it down a bit. Her contractions remained fairly consistent, but she was not dialating and her water had not broken. Rebecca and I walked around the maternity area for about an hour trying to get her water to break, and no such luck. Around 3:00am they decided to send her home; she was definately having contractions, but labor was not progressing at a rate for them to admit her. So we all headed across town to go home.

Thursday mornng, I talked to Rebecca and she said she was doing okay. Her contractions were still consistent, but still her amniotic sac remained in place. Throughout the day, she and Chase went on many walks...around Walmart, the neighborhood, etc. I spoke to Chase around 6:45pm and he said her contractions were feeling stronger, but still nothing to get back to the hospital about. I went to sleep.

At 9:45pm my phone rings, and it is Chase telling me Rebecca's water broke and they are headed to the hospital. I know that even at that point it can take awhile, but Jesse helped convince me that this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I would be mad at myself if I missed it. So, I put on my clothes, sent some emails to work taking a personal day on Friday, and headed to the hospital.

When I got there, I was the only one there- I just knew his family and her sister would have already been there! I went to their room and it turned out that her "water breaking" was inconclusive, according to their tests (so the families were waiting to hear more- Chase never called me back and told me to wait!). And on top of that, her contractions had pretty much stopped since she "felt the leakage." The baby's heart rate was normal, and the nurses/doctor were pretty perplexed. We waited a few hours and Rebecca started having contractions again, which were slightly stronger than they had been the past 24 hours. Around midnight they ordered an ultrasound to see if the amniotic sac was still in place around the baby.

I have never seen an ultrasound before, and it was simply amazing. As they rolled over her head, you could literally see her little face- it looked as if baby Natalee was looking right at us! She just looked beautiful. I think seeing her like this made Chase and Rebecca feel better, as they were starting to feel pretty frustrated and concerned by this point.

After the results from the ultrasound came back, the hospital would not let her leave. They gave Rebecca something to help her sleep through the night, and said the doctor would be in first thing in the morning to decide what to do. So, I hugged them both and came home (got home around 2:00am).

I have since talked to Chase, and they have gone ahead and induced Rebecca. It looks as if her amniotic sac has a leak (so it did "break," it just did not "pop" and gush out like some mothers experience). With a leak, it would be more dangerous to sit and wait for it to all leak out and could potentially add stress to the baby, so the doctor wanted to induce. They went in and popped the sac for her, and now labor has begun! Unfortunately, the doctor said it would still more than likely be a long process and she probably would not deliver until this evening at the earliest.

Jesse and I are going down there again this afternoon, and I hope to get some good pictures of mom, dad, and baby Natalee to share with everyone! I will keep you posted...

More pictures from the party

Here are some more pictures from our beach vacation lunch:

Tammey won first place from the drawing, and I dont think I have ever seen anyone get so excited!

Some of the girls...Ana was sure getting into something!
We all entered the "most festive dresser" contest- I actually won 1st place!! (I think they felt sorry for me wearing the stupid green headband thingy.)
George and Woody, deep in discussion about technical documentation. Woody even dressed up!
Me and Joanne (my new HP team mate). We went together to get our shirts this week- they were even on sale!
Lisa and Rebecca were our hula dancers- they were hysterical, as usual.
Pres and Vice-Pres
Collin, Chris, and Shauna- I think Chris was the only one in the entire office who did not dress up for the party, and he is even a TIGER officer!
A great time was had by all!!

Vacation from work...at work

My company has a specific recreation and event team who periodically throw parties and family events for the employees; I have recently been selected to be Vice-President (since Amy left us!!) and Shauna stepped up to take her place as President. This month we planned a beach vacation...at the office. Here are some pictures!

Happy July Birthdays!

George and EJ blowing out the candles...
A good time is had by all...especially the birthday boys!
Here are some of the decorations:

The hallway leading up to the "party area."
Fun!
Aren't those plates cute? (I picked those up, hehe.)
One of the festive tables
The drink corner: I made two different punches, one shower-type juice punch and one slushy punch. Both turned out okay, but I sure wish someone could have spiked the punch bowl!
More pictures to come in the next post...

At the lake

We were up on Lake Travis for Hayden & Lauren's baby shower this weekend, hanging out at her parents awesome lakehouse.

I caught the sunset up on the storm tower on Saturday night...tell me this is not a cool picture!
Jesse and I on the boat dock, about to head out to the lake Saturday afternoon. You can already see a little pink in my sholders and face from that morning, and yet we went out again, just so I could get good and fried. :) Always.
On the jet ski- Jesse and took one of the jet skies out with Kyle and Lindsey, and we followed the boat of the rest of everyone out to this waterfall area. Unfortunately there were only a few drips from the waterfall because the lake is so low. You can tell from this bottom picture...the water is supposed to cover all of those rocks behind us. I believe they said the lake was about 25 feet low! People's boat docks are stuck up on the rocks, unable to get to water, and others have had accidents as they have unintentionally hit the bottom, as it is so low! Pray for rain for the Austin area so Lake Travis begins to fill up again!
We had a lot of fun, and now I'm trying to convinve Jesse to buy a jet ski...keep your fingers crossed, 'cause I doubt it is going to happen any time soon. Hehe.

Hayden and Lauren's baby shower

This weekend we all celebrated Hayden and Lauren's soon-to-be daughter up at her parent's lakehouse in Austin. We had friends come in from Dallas, RoundRock, Houston, and even New York City! It was a great time to hang out and catch up with friends, as well as enjoy Hayden and Lauren's "last get-together" without a little one.

Here are some pictures from the actual baby shower:

Hayden practicing his reading skills...
The baby cake made of diapers, pacifiers, rattles, etc. (I took this vertical picture so you could see Lauren's cute, pregnant tummy!)
This was the most special gift of all. Brittany, our friend who lives in NY, came up with an idea about three months ago for each of us girlfriends (and Lauren's female family members) to embroider a square for a special baby quilt made of the colors of her nursery. Brittany sent each of us a pattern, supplies, and very detailed, helpful instructions, and we each completed our square and then mailed them back to her. She put together this beautiful quilt, and surprised all of us by hand delivering it to the shower. The neat part is that she added the initials of whoever completed the square to each one, so Hayden and Lauren know exactly who all participated. (Mine is the very bottom, right corner...the umbrella.)
This was the gift Jesse and I put together for them. This basket had about 10 pair of baby girl shoes, from infant size, all the way up to 18 month. There are tennis shoes, light-up sandals, black and white patent dress shoes, and many more. And of course the socks to go with them!
Another picture of Brittany giving them the quilt and explaining all the different parts of who did what to put it together. (Hayden and Lauren were still in shock at this point.)
It was a really great weekend. I cannot believe nine months have flown by so quickly! Baby Haley Grace is due in three weeks, and I know all of our lives are about to change. I am so excited for them and ready to have her here! I know the rest of us will all shower this little girl with love forever!

Fun with the family

I hung out with my parents and youngest sister, Julie, Saturday night. I went over to their house thinking we might go out to dinner or to a movie, but then my dad pulled out four gift cards to Dave and Busters. It may be hard to believe (since you all know what a fun, party girl I am), but I have never been there before. It was a blast!

We did not get there until late, and by the time we arrived we were all starving. So we ordered drinks and dinner...and even dessert. Talk about splurge night! I was so brave, I even tried two new drinks: Haiwaiin Mai Tai and Long Island Peach Ice Tea. Both were very good, though I preffered my mom's Strawberry Margarita the best. :) Julie and I split a triple chocolate cake, and to be honest, I dont think there was any cake in that slice of cake- only fudge, brownie bites, and mini chocolate chips. Needless to say, I'm sure my caloric intake was off the charts!

After dinner, we went into the Midway Gameroom, and I honestly do not think I have ever seen that many people and games in my life. I have never been gambling or to any place like Las Vegas before, but it was exactly how I imagined one of those type places would be. Lots of lights, excitement, people blowing money playing games, and smiles on everyone's faces. (I guess people dont always smile in Vegas, as I'm sure people lose lots of money... but you get what I mean!) We all four got to race each other on the speedway- my dad barely beat me. Julie and I played air hockey, and we were tied 6-6 until I put a fast one by her and won 7-6! Mom spent most of the night at the Roulette table, but it sure payed off! We came back to find her with an entire bucket full of tickets! Of course, I spent the greatest amount of time (and effort) at the Skeeball lanes. I think I could play that game all night. What a great time!

Between the four of us, we won over 2,300 tickets and each got a fun D&B souvenier to take home. This was definitely something new and fun for me, and I really enjoyed the night with my family. I can't wait to go back again!