Jackson Kingsley LaRochelle

8 Pounds 2 Ounces

20.5 Inches Long
Born 3:38 EST

Happy Birthday Jackson!

One way or another we are having our baby boy today! I checked into the hospital last night at 9 and they began all the necessary procedures for the induction. I took the sleeping pill and ended up not sleeping at all because the Foley bulb was so uncomfortable and made the contractions feel worse. Finally at 4 a.m. the bulb came out and I got a little nap. At 5 a.m. they came in and started the pitocin. So far contractions are sporadic and fairly mild. Soon the doctor will come in and break my water. Hopefully things will pick up after that and we'll have a baby this afternoon! (or sooner....) So far Jackson is doing well with all this. He's still moving and rolling so much so that the nurse keeps having to come in and readjust the fetal monitor. I'm sure he's excited to come out and meet his parents! I know we can't wait. Look for our next post to include pictures of his little squishy face! YAY! I still can't believe we are going to meet our baby today. It is all very exciting and surreal.

38+ WEEKS!

38 weeks and fingers crossed this is my last bumpage picture! I'm ready to meet Jackson!

Last week I went to the Dr and was nearly 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Now, I've heard and read that some mommies can walk around like that for weeks but it is exciting that the process has begun! Tomorrow I go again so we'll see if there is any progress. We have gone on walks the past two nights and both times I've felt my first set of contractions. It's all so exciting!

We caved and assembled the crib. We wanted to be sure it came with all the parts...plus it's just nice to have it up! I have washed all the little clothes and sheets and while his room is not all decorated up it feels good to have a nursery. I'll see if I can get some sort of picture up next week, but in the meantime...here is Chris hard at work.

36 weeks!

Only four more weeks to go! It seems like an eternity but I know it will fly by! Chris is heading down to Texas next Saturday and will be gone through Tuesday so I will be taking it easy so Jackson stays put! The Dr. does not expect me to go into labor soon. At my appointment on Friday I wasn't even a centimeter yet.

In other news we did receive an offer on our house but it was so low there was no way we could accept it and still have money left to get out of dodge...so we're still waiting patiently for the right buyer to come along.

Remember the quilt I was talking about last post? Well guess what!? It's finished! Diane is the Speedy Gonzalez of quilting! I love it! It's perfect! I am dying to put Jackon's room together...in our new house....in Texas ;) Now everyone ooh and ahh~!

Even though this is older....here is a 34 week bump pictue. I don't think it's changed that much (that's what I'm telling myself anyway)...

33 weeks and 5 days...but who's counting?

I feel like so much has happened lately, yet time is creeping by. I'll try and keep things short and simple here.

1. We still own our house. Yay and nay. I am attached to the stupid thing. I really want to set up the crib and get Jackson's room all ready while at the same time I want to start packing up as much as I possibly can before he arrives. We've had some increased interest lately, but no offers...yet! One thing that is ready to go is the glider Grammie & Grampie gave us! It is so comfy! The cats are making sure it's safe before Jack arrives.

2. Chris hasn't had any major job leads yet but had a little flicker of possible interest recently. Lots of prayers needed! I know this whole scenario is just going to fall together when the timing is right.

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3. Baby and mom are progressing fine and dandy! I've started having some mean ligament pain recently but that's normal and part of the package deal. Everyday tasks like putting on pants and socks are becoming more and more difficult. Today we went for our final sonogram and the little stinker wouldn't show us his face! We got to see the hair on the back of his head though! (HAIR!) I thought for sure we'd have a bald baby since both of us were bald! My mom and Heather both had hair...we'll see soon enough! Jackson did put on an acrobatic show. He played with his feet, held on to his toes and kicked himself in the head!

This bumpage is 32 weeks and after today I can say that a solid 5+ lbs are all baby! Just a couple more pounds and he'll be ready to join the world!

4. Bowl Me Over proudly took home the 1st place plaque in the Delco Church League! That bowling ball I got Christopher for Christmas really payed off. His best series this year was a 244, 209, 223!

5. Becky's friend's mom is going to make Jackson a baby quilt! I'm so excited! I spent many hours in Joanns on Saturday critically sorting through the fabric and an equal amount of time on Etsy to find the right combo. Her poor mom could probably make 3 blankets out of all this fabric but I couldn't narrow it down because I'm not a quilter and I wasn't sure what would work best. Diane is going to make something beautiful though! Here are the colors (and that is a piece of his bedding in the background). Thank you Deana! Thank you Diane!

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The Big Finish: Tuesday was an eventful doctor's visit. Before I left I made sure to drink a bottle of water so I could leave my 'sample'. Arriving 5 minutes late, I signed in and rushed straight to the bathroom. After scribbling my name on a clear cup I began the 8-month-pregnant-lady-pee balancing act. While grasping the cup daintily (as to not acquire any sort of 'sample' on the hand) and holding a squat position (as to not acquire anyone else's 'sample' on the hiney) I proceeded to peer around my bump and aim for the cup. The cup falls into the toilet with the first rush of 'sample'. Crud. Ok. Now what? Do I fish the cup out? No, I must try and hold the rest and get a new cup. The 2nd attempt was a success. As I stood and turned to grab a wad of paper towels to begin my fishing, the automatic flush began to cycle. In a complete panic I thrust my hand toward the cup. Those hospital toilets have a mean pull though and the stupid toilet sucked my cup right down. Then it kept flushing because I was standing in front of the sensor trying to feel if the cup was lodged just out of sight. As the water level began to fill I had flashes of overflowing toilets and other people's 'samples' spilling onto the bathroom floor so I aborted the cup rescue mission. After thoroughly scrubbing and singing row, row, row your boat TWICE I made my walk of shame to the front desk to report that somewhere in the plumbing would be a plastic cup with my name on it. The receptionist was very sweet and called the maintenance men after assuring me I wasn't the first patient to go through this.

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Until next time, lots of love!

Washington D.C.

Chris & I spent Easter weekend (Fri - Tues) in the D.C. area. This was our last big East coast city left to see and what better time than during the Cherry Blossom Festival? For those who haven't been...ANY other time would be better! There were a TON of people in D.C. which made the already impossible task of seeing it all, even more impossible but we did our best and are glad we finally took advantage of living only 2 hours away from the Capitol. We stayed at the very fun and funky Hotel Topaz near Dupont Circle. We were only 2 blocks from the Metro which is SO nice compared to America's other sub systems. Very clean, fast, simple...loved it!

There is a lot to see in D.C. and it is not physically possible to see it all in one trip! Your feet would not survive! I thought 5 days would be enough but we still missed things! We feel fortunate to have seen all we did though.

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Here's a breakdown of our schedule:

Friday (beautiful sunny weather): Tidal Basin, WWII Memorial, FDR Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Holocaust Museum. I really wanted to see the cherry trees in bloom. Due to wind and rain the week before most of the blossoms had already turned but there were still several trees with great color and we saw them just in time. After Saturday's rain, almost all the blossoms were off!

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Saturday (rainy and gloomy): American History & Natural History Museums. Everyone else took shelter in the museums during the rain as well so we really didn't get to see very much this day. Example: Can you find me in this picture? I'm trying to see the Hope Diamond. However, in the same museum they had a new exhibit, Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake, very cool!

Sunday (just plain COLD): Trolley tour, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Georgetown. Oy my feet were shot. Chris wouldn't carry me around the cemetery yet somehow my feet still managed to make it to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Monday (a little less cold): Air & Space Museum, Botanic Gardens, National Archives, Capitol & White House (from the outside) then back to the American History Museum because it was too crowded on Saturday to see it all. We got to see the flag the Star Spangled Banner was written after, Seinfeld's puffy shirt, and Lincoln's top hat!

Tuesday (chilly and drizzling rain): Washington National Cathedral, Iwo Jima, Mt. Vernon (Washington's home & burial site). The Cathedral is enormous and really an amazingly constructed church. Mt. Vernon was great because apparently any other day (one with sun) we would have been standing in line for everything. The home has really been kept up beautifully.

For more pictures check out our slideshow!

New Sonogram Pictures!

Today we went in for our 30 week sonogram. Everything is good! Jackson weighs about 3lbs 2oz and is right on schedule! Little man had his head jammed down low so for most of the sonogram we saw this.

1st picture: back of his head with his hand by his ear. (uh oh..his head is looking pretty big to me)

After the technician took all the measurements she needed, she was very nice and gave me a chance to get up and walk around to try and get him to roll over. He sorta turned on his side and she got this profile.

Then she turned on the 4D and I have to say it got a little creepy! I kinda think he looks like Chris in this one.

Right at the very end he turned his little face for a second and she took this last picture. He's so squishy I don't know who he looks like!

Just to be extra safe they are going to have me come back in 4 more weeks to check his kidneys and bladder again. (even though they do not see anything abnormal at this point) I'm not complaining because I'll get more pictures!

I'll do a life update and post a new bump pic soon!