i n • p u r s u i t

Today is Joseph's due date. A perfect time to share his birth story. :) First, a little catching up... For the past few weeks, I've been downing the evening primrose oil, raspberry leaf tea, and dates in preparation for labor. I've also been sitting on the yoga ball, tailor sitting, pelvic rocking and sleeping solely on my left side trying to get the baby in a good position. He was Right Occiput Anterior and I wanted to get him into the Left Occiput Anterior position. See, when a baby is ROA, they have a tendency to twist into the posterior position (face up) for birth which leads to the dreaded back labor. I bet you can guess where I'm going with this, but I'll come back to it. :) For a good part of my pregnancy, I've had Braxton hicks contractions. Once I started drinking raspberry leaf tea, I had them more frequently. I was having contractions all the time, but they were rarely regular and only once or twice did they come with back pain or cramp...

Joseph was born on New Year's Eve at 9:51am weighing 8lbs 7oz and measuring 20 inches. He is named Joseph after my grandfather & uncle and Bruce after Mike's father. He goes by Joseph, JoJo or any number of in-the-moment nicknames (bubby, buggaboo, pumpkin, farty mcfarterson, etc).  I'll be using our nighttime feedings to type up the birth story. To those of you who keep asking, I promise it's coming!  In the meantime, feel free to stalk me on Instagram (instagram.com/fraukuech). You'll see all his latest photos there. :) Mike and I are just absolutely in love with this little guy!

38 weeks pregnant today! (Please ignore the fact that only one of my fingernails is painted. Oops!) Despite some common 3rd trimester aches and pains, I'm still feeling mostly great. My pubic bone hurts. It hurts when I try to roll over in bed. It sometimes hurts when I walk. It hurts when I get up from certain sitting positions. Annoying, but I know it's a sign that my pelvis is getting ready for baby. I'm getting up sometimes two or three times a night to pee. Mostly, I can fall back asleep. It stinks when I can't though! Despite baby dropping, heartburn is still an issue. I feel like I had a few days respite, but it is still bothering me. I think I get more stretch marks everyday! I was feeling like crap for a few days. Sore throat, coughing, runny nose, even a low fever! That was not fun. I was paranoid about going into labor when I was so tired and not feeling well. Happily, that's passed and I'm on the up and up. Still coughing a bit, but not ...

So, suddenly we are here. Full term. Somewhere between any day now and five weeks from now, our little guy will be making his appearance. Oh. Em. Gee. Had my Group B Strep test last Thursday. Got the results back today and....NEGATIVE!!! YAY! I had the option of letting the doctor check my cervix at my last exam. I new that whatever info I got wouldn't tell me a whole lot, but I decided to go head and get checked. So many women talk about how painful it is and, call it morbid curiosity, but I wanted to know just how painful. The answer was, at least for me, not painful at all. It was little uncomfortable, but nothing I'd describe as pain. Oh, and for those of you who are curious, I was almost 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. I got out the yoga ball and I spend a lot of time bouncing and rocking on that. I don't know if that helped the baby drop or not, but it can't hurt. And I know it's better than sitting on the couch! Speaking of baby dropping, I get up,...

I had been eagerly anticipating turning 28 for a long time. I always knew that it would be a good year. After all, how can a year that starts on 12/12/12 be anything but great? I wasn't wrong. It started of fabulously and was the first time I celebrated a whole birthday week. My relationship with my husband has never been better. We got pregnant this year. Blessings have been abundant and I am so grateful. :) My 29th birthday celebration was much more low key than my 28th. But it was perfect. Last year, I really wanted a party. This year, all I wanted was a date night with my husband. And so we did. :) We went to Rick Erwin's for dinner and Coffee Underground for dessert. We split the chocolate ganache cake at Coffee Underground making this the third year in a row that I had chocolate ganache for my birthday. I guess its officially a tradition! :)

My mom and my sweet friend Amanda threw a fabulous baby shower for me this past weekend! I was actually kind of bummed leading up to it, because so many of my friends couldn't make it. But I couldn't be that surprised because it was a Saturday in December and we all know how busy that gets! There ended up being a pretty nice turnout and I got to hang out with some really sweet ladies. (Credit to almost every photo goes to my sister. Thanks for lugging around my camera, Mary!) Amanda wasn't kidding when she told me she makes fantastic diaper cakes! I just love this one. :) It sitting on the baby's dresser right now. I don't want to take it apart! But I want to use that sheet, so I'll eventually have to, haha.  So, see all those clothes pins on Mary's vest? We played that game where everyone gets a pin and someone hears you say "baby," they get to take your pin. Mary pretty much never says "baby." She might be allerg...

{insert obligatory "i can't believe we've come this far" sentiment here} I had a prenatal visit on Thursday. Everything looks great! The doctor I met with is definitely my favorite at the practice. I really really hope he's the one on call when Charlemagne makes his appearance.  Oh, and, like a good baby, Charlemagne is head down. He was facing my spine at the appointment. I hope he stays that way! I'm doing lots of pelvic rocks to make sure he does. :) Our doula, Roxanne, came over on Tuesday just to chat and get to know us better. We really like her and I'm glad she's going to be there for us at the birth. My most exciting happenings this week were my two baby showers! I had my church shower and then my mom threw me a shower. I'll be posting about those later, but I just have to say that feel so loved! Lots of people are excited to meet Charlemagne (and to find out his real name)! The baby's room is officially a big ol' MESS! It...

Thirty-five weeks! Strangers were nice this week. Instead of saying, "You're huge!" (which I feel), they say, "Congrats!" or "You look great!" (which is much appreciated). I found a few stretch marks. I say I found them, because they are on the underside of my belly. I'm actually not sure how long they have been there! And you know what? They bother me a lot less they I thought the would. As it gets colder, my clothing options become more and more limited. I basically live in this sweater. Its warm and cozy. Though, I can't wait until I can wrap it all the way around. :) (It's from  from Target , in case anyone is curious. I know Stargirl wanted to steal it from me.) I really need to work on my portion control. Sometimes, I get hungry and I eat way too much. Then, my tiny squished up little stomach is like, "NOPE!" and acid acid acid. No fun.  Looking in the mirror, when I'm not wearing any clothes is pretty weird....

My life is overflowing with blessing. God has been so abundant in his gifts to us this year. Here are just a few things that I'm grateful for: Mike, my wonderful husband. These past few days, we've been sleeping in together. We haven't done it in a while because of early morning Crossfit and his new job (not complaining, I'm grateful for both!). But it has been such sweet together time, just snuggling in bed and chatting as we slowly wake up.  This child that God has so graciously blessed us with. Mike and I are excited to be parents and cannot wait to meet our son. We prayed so long for this and he's almost here! And oh my gosh, I just love to feel him move. I am always touching my belly, and that's because I love to feel him from the inside and out. :) God's impecable timing. I'm grateful for the time that Mike and I have had together before baby. We've been married for a little over four years and this past year has really been the best....