The End of a Chapter

     Tonight marked for me in many ways the closing of a chapter.  I dropped my dear friend, Kristi, off at the airport tonight for their next big Navy adventure, Spain!  I am so excited for them and what this new chapter holds, but my heart hurts tonight as well.  Norfolk has been many things for us.  It has been our city of firsts, with David and my first apartment together, our first duty station together, first pregnancy, first baby, and first time navigating our relationship as a married couple with a crazy military schedule.  We have made amazing memories here.  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  We have had fun at the beach, tried more restaurants than is probably healthy, explored the city together, gone on a few road trips to nearby locations such as Annapolis, Charlottesville, Philadelphia, Asheville, and our longest, New York.  We went through the challenges of finding a church and were blessed with finding one that we love.  Perfected recipes together (we challenge anyone to make a better margarita pizza than us!!) We have also deepened our relationship and I have grown to love David more deeply every day.  However, our time here was also full of a lot of hard stretches of not seeing each other, many nights apart (over 250, actually), David's sleep deprivation from long shipyard days, disappointment when plans have fallen through due to Navy obligations, missed holidays, and David and I working on opposite schedules much of the time.

    However, God has provided a gift in my life unlike any I could have ever imagined.  That gift is girlfriends.  I never could have dreamed that God would place friends in my life like the friends I have known here in Norfolk.  These are the kind of friends that are always there for you no matter what.  From girls nights when all the husbands are gone and Christmas Eve movie marathons when husbands are on duty (thanks, Val!), to a shoulder to cry on when you just don't want to do Navy life anymore, these girls have been there for me in every way.  We have celebrated pregnancies, and births, brought meals to each other, babysat each others kids, hosted showers together, planned parties, chocked up lots of running miles around the city, and enjoyed lots of much needed Starbucks, chocolate, and playdates.  Above all, however, these women have encouraged me in my faith.  I can always count on them to point me to Christ, and speak truth into my life.  When David was getting ready to come home from deployment and I was growing anxious about all the changes that were about to happen to my life after we got married, chiefly, moving away from family to a city I knew very little about, and making friends, I remember the Lord bringing to mind Jeremiah 29:11 and Matthew 7:11.  He promises that He has plans for us that are good, and He promises to give good gifts to those who ask Him.  I have been blown away by God's provision in my life and His fulfillment of this promise.  As I sit here with my girly wine and bag of chocolate (yes, bag, not single piece), Nathan sleeping in the other room, and David gone on duty, I am really sad, but I am so grateful.  Thank you, friends.  Thank you to all the special women that we have met and that have been so special in my life.  Tonight was the first time I started to feel and admit to myself the closing of our time here in Norfolk.  So, friends that are still here, I am excited to make a few more memories with you, but I am beginning to realize it's about time for our new adventure to start.  Praying for courage, grace, and hope as it begins.

Hello, San Diego. 

Here are a few reminiscing pictures of my amazing friends...

Sofi's 1st birthday

Girl's night!

When the boys made Lieutenant 

FaceTiming with Val in the hospital after Nathan was born 

Me and Jessica, the mom of the little girl I nannied 

After our half marathon!

Precious little Eli

Sweet Sofi

Adelyn and Sofi having a playdate

Goodbye party for Val

Legwarmers concert with special friends from Norfolk Collegiate

Submarine Ball 

Change of Command

Baby Sofi and Eli and sweet girls from OCF Bible study

Sofi's birth

Pregnancy buddies!!

Welcome Back (to me!)

Happy New Year!!  I knew it had been forever since I have updated my blog, but logging on today and seeing a 34 week huge version of myself reminded just HOW long it's been!  I'd say it's time to get back to this whole blogging thing.  So what's new in our lives?  THIS KID!!

Look how big he is already!!!??  Crazy.  People always told me time would fly when you have a baby.  Not so sure about that for the first two weeks, but then after that, they were right.  I can't believe he is over 2 months old now.  I know that it's way late for a birth story, so I won't bore you all with the details, but in a nutshell, here is what's been happening in our lives for the past few months.  If you've already heard the birth story, just skip down!! 

Abbreviated Birth Story

I had to be induced with Nathan because he was 2 weeks late (1 week and 6 days to be exact).  

I was started on pitocin and then cervadil around 8 am.  Contractions started right away and were about 2 min apart.  They stayed at 2 min apart for my whole labor.  That was rough, but thankfully they didn't get too intense until around 4 or 5 pm.  My water broke around 7 which made the contractions incredibly painful.  I had made it to 5 cm 70% effaced but wasn't progressing past that.  They decided he was malpositioned so I proceeded to do lunges and squats during each contraction to try and get him to descend.  I was pretty sure I was dying at that point!  Either that, or my body was going to explode.  I don't think I will ever complain about doing a normal not-in-labor squat ever again!   After several more hours of no progress, I had to get an epidural to try and relax my pelvis because my contractions were so close together.  I definitely didn't expect to be so emotional about something that would make the pain go away!  It felt discouraging to have to deviate in another way from our birth plan.  They kicked up the pitocin at that point also.  However, Nathan's heart rate began to drop and finally, after about 20 hours of labor, his heart rate dropped crazy low, and they decided I needed to have an immediate c-section.  I was so exhausted at that point, but I didn't see the c-section coming at all, so that was incredibly emotional!  I had planned and worked so hard for a natural birth that to end in a c-section was devastating to me.  However, David was amazing and kept reminding me that our baby was way more important than a birth plan so off to the O.R. we went!  My midwife and doula was amazing too.  I don't know what I would have done without them!!  They talked me through the procedure and my midwife stayed with me the whole time.  Eventually, they got me prepped, David came in, and 5 minutes later, we had a baby!!

It was the most incredible moment of my life.  I was looking into my husband's eyes as he encouraged and distracted me through the procedure, talking to keep our mind's off what was happening behind the blue curtain, and then we heard it, our baby's first cries.  It was the most incredible, and emotional moment of my entire life.  It was one that neither David and I will ever forget.  Nathan was 8 lb 10 oz!  Not exactly the 6 lbs they estimated the day before on the c-section!  We are so thrilled he is here and are loving being parents!  Here are a few pictures of newborn Nathan and some of our hospital visitors!

and coming home!

First Few Weeks

The first first weeks of postpartum were incredibly hard.  I was so glad to be done with pregnancy and have my sweet baby in my arms but c-section recovery was really painful, breastfeeding was hard, and my emotions were insane (as my poor husband will agree)!  However, after about 3 or 4 weeks I started to regain some of my sanity.  My mom came and stayed for a little bit,

 David's parents came,

and David thankfully got about a week and a half off of work which was so helpful.  I don't know what I would have done without him, our families, and all the amazing friends that brought us meals and helped us out!  Y'all are amazing.  

I know I am super behind, so more posts to come including all the holidays!!  Until then...