Where North Met South

Rub 'n Buff Floor Mirror Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 18:05:00 +0000

Way back in September of 2014 I was on the lookout for a large floor mirror for our living room. I stumbled upon a great buy on Joss & Main and Matt and I decided to pull the trigger and order. We have ebony color hard wood floors and the gold/brass finish of the mirror was exactly what I was looking for.

We scheduled delivery for a day Matt was teleworking since I was still working at Discovery at the time. After the scheduled delivery time I get a text from Matt: "Is this the right color?"

Womp womp.

It was the exact same color as our floors and had ugly white paint/caulk marks all over the mirror (hard to see in the picture). And it was not a intentional "distressed" look.

I was so bummed and I called Joss & Main, sent them a picture and they apologized that it didn't match the listing. They returned our money and asked if we would like them to pick it up or if we had a way to dispose of it ourselves. Immediately I told them we had a way to dispose of it since we lived in an active construction zone with plenty of dumpsters around (and I really didn't want to have to schedule yet another day for delivery men). It wasn't until I hung up and told Matt that they just returned our money and said we could dispose of it ourselves that it hit me - I just scored a free $550 mirror to refinish!

I was very overwhelmed with how I would refinish it since I couldn't think of anything worse than taping off each pane prior to painting, etc. Plus I really wanted a gold finish and paint wouldn't quite give me the look I desired. The mirror sat pitifully in the office for 6 months.

Here you can see just two of many of the undesirable white marks.

Approximately 6 months later the answer to my mirror woes hit me - Rub 'n Buff! I tested a small spot and loved the finish so I pushed forward. I simply slipped a piece of paper under the pane as I rubbed ('n buffed) using a paper towel and when it did get in the mirror I wiped it off easily with a clean paper towel. In full disclosure I did this over a period of 3 months for about an 30 minutes to an hour at a time when I had that time to spare. It probably took a total of 6 hours.

I am beyond thrilled with the final result! So worth all the work and wait and it only cost the price of one tube of Rub 'n Buff!

P.S. I love Joss & Main, their customer service is exceptional. We had an issue with a clock arriving broken and they shipped me another one immediately and told me to dispose of the broken one. So you know what I did right? Googled how to fix clocks and now I have 2 for the price of one!

Mila's 3rd Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 15:54:00 +0000

The fact that I am posting about Mila's 3rd birthday only six months after said birthday is a huge step forward considering it took me a full year to post about her 2nd birthday (and two years to post her 1st birthday).

This year the theme was Sofia the First. And as is now a tradition for us, on Halloween Mila dresses up as a character from her birthday party theme (1st Monkey, 2nd Totoro and 3rd Sofia). I have a feeling Mila will be much more vocal about her wishes for both the birthday and Halloween costumes in the coming years so I'm sure this tradition will soon come to a screeching halt.

We got her a set of golf clubs for her birthday so she was excited to pose with Gram and Joe!

The life sized Sofia balloon may have been Mila's favorite part of the party.

Happy 3rd Birthday Mila!

Easy Kids Gallery Wall

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 16:10:00 +0000

I have been trying to figure out the best use of space for an odd wall in our hallway that leads from the butler's pantry into the kitchen. One day when I was trying to figure out how to display Mila's artwork somewhere we could see it daily yet wouldn't be a focal point of a room (obviously she's the most talented 3 year old artist I've ever seen but she's not yet Etsy ready). Anyway, you see where I'm going here right?

Empty boring odd wall before...

I found these cute mini clothes pins at Marshall's for about $2 and dug out some twine and brushed nickel push pins out of my craft supplies to create my gallery.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

I simply pushed the push pins into the wall and tied the twine to the top. Easy to remove and makes super small holes if I decide to move it later.

After a few months I finally got around to dusting off my Silhouette and created a vinyl quote to go above the artwork.

The best part about the location of the wall is that we walk by it to come in the house from the mud room so the art can go directly from Mila's school bag to the wall, and it makes me smile when I'm cooking dinner in the kitchen.

My Birthday Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 02:51:00 +0000

As I am planning for my sweet girl's third birthday next weekend it dawned on me that I never posted anything about Mila's first and second birthdays. I guess it is one of the many reminders of how busy you become when you have a baby. In order to right this wrong I decided I would post them now.

Mila's First Birthday

2013

Mila's first birthday party was monkey themed (which is very appropriate for Miss Mila to this day). Sorry for the bad quality pictures - those windows made it difficult to get the correct balance for this DSLR novice.

The banners I made by the light of college football on TV after Mila would go to sleep.

Food

Cupcakes!

Foyer

Banana Chips favors... get it?

My weekly belly picture chalkboard put to good use.

Monkey favors for the kiddos.

Mila's birthday sign from daycare.

Hard to see, but Mila's monthly pictures.

Brocks!

Mila's Second Birthday

2014

We had a My Neighbor Totoro themed party. Unfortunately Mila was so busy Matt and I didn't get a picture together with the birthday girl. :(

My goal this year is to get a family picture!

1 Year Down

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 01:04:00 +0000

Wow, where did this past year go? Here's to 1 year in the new house which most definitely feels like home.

Homemade Deodorant

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This is actually a post I started years ago. Over time I forgot about how much I love this little secret because I use it everyday, it just became a normal ritual. But after a friend reminded me about this topic (thanks Sana!) I figured it was time to post it, especially since we are in the dog days of summer and I was just about to make a new batch.

My whole life I was an excessive sweater. I was even known to wear button down shirts and sweatshirts over t-shirts in the summer just to cover my sweat marks. When I was 27 I finally went to the dermatologist and was diagnosed with hyperhidrosis. In the past I had always used prescription strength deodorant but when I found out my insurance covered Botox for hyperhidrosis (if they would only cover it for wrinkles... I kid, I kid) I was all for it. I had the Botox applied twice, it felt like being stung by bees over and over again and each application lasted about 6 months. I won't lie, it did work wonders. But I soon found out my hyperhidrosis problem was caused by an underlying thyroid issue that I'm now managing so I wanted to avoid the Botox if possible.

I started looking for a natural deodorant when we decided to start a family, I wanted as few chemicals in my system as possible. Tom's of Maine makes a natural deodorant but it never really seemed to work well. Then I stumbled upon making my own deodorant. This couldn't be easier and it works, even my CrossFit addicted husband swears by it. ;)

You'll need:

6 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

4 Tablespoons Baking Soda

4 Tablespoons Arrowroot Powder (or Cornstarch)

In the microwave melt 6 tablespoons of coconut oil in a measuring cup, or any bowl, but the measuring cup is good for pouring the deodorant into your storage jar.

Add 4 tablespoons of baking soda and mix.

Add 4 tablespoons of Arrowroot Powder (or Cornstarch) and mix.

If your mixture is too runny add more baking soda and arrowroot starch or if it is too dry, add more coconut oil. It is that easy.

Pour into your storage containers, for us I find this recipe makes 2 half pint mason jars that my husband and I keep in our medicine cabinets. Depending on the temperature, it can take until the next morning for them to firm up, you may want to give them a stir every so often until they firm so the oil doesn't rise to the top.

To use, scoop a pea to marble size of deodorant out using your fingers and rub into your underarm. Some people can be a little sensitive to the baking soda so if you find this stings make sure you don't apply right after shaving or use less baking soda. You can even add some essential oils of your choice for a pleasant scent. If not, this is completely odorless and will keep your pits that way too!

Mila's Nursery Reveal

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Thu, 22 May 2014 01:00:00 +0000

But Natalie, you just posted about moving day, how could you just now be posting Mila's nursery reveal? Because a) I just realized this draft was sitting in my posts, b) things get crazy busy after you have the baby who resides in the nursery; but most likely c) it felt really private until now since we no longer are living in this space. I know I want the documentation of it so I'm happy to post it now. It wasn't anything fancy but it holds many of my most favorite memories and makes me well up just thinking about how I'll never (physically) be in this space again. My only child's very first bedroom.

When Matt and I found out I was pregnant we decided to wait to find out the gender of the baby. It goes against the crazy type-A organizer/planner in me but we both agreed it is one of life's last happy surprises. I totally understand why people find out in advance, but for us this was the way to go. We also decided early on we didn't want to do a traditional green or yellow gender neutral nursery. One of my favorite colors is a deep navy blue and I loved navy, pink and white as well as navy, green and white combinations so navy and white is what we chose to paint the nursery. When the baby arrived we would then add pink or green touches (we both knew instinctively we'd be adding pink).

I did all the painting (no-VOC with a mask and windows open) and cut and installed the chair rail. That nesting phase of pregnancy is amazing, I wish I could get just a hit of it every now and again when I need to get something done.

There was a lot of furniture in this room so it feels cramped when you look at the pictures but it didn't feel that way in reality. I'm actually thankful for every piece we had in there because they were all useful, I spent more then a handful of nights on that futon and we needed two dressers since the closets held Matt's clothing (see, we really did need a bigger home).

This room is very hard to photograph so I apologize for the weird angles, lighting, etc.

View from the door. The lighting fixture was actual the initial source of my inspiration for the room.

Reverse view

View from the attached guest bathroom.

The crib with her name and custom monkey mobile.

(Can you tell it took me a while to photograph the room? The crib already has rail covers to keep Mila from unleashing her teething habits onto the crib and the mattress is on the lowest level!)

We included one of my favorite phrases along with photos of me and Matt as babies, word art, maternity photos and hospital and baptism shadow boxes.

Random items along with my baby shower invite and the cutest little card that came with an Etsy order that shows a bird with a rainbow with the saying "follow your heart".

Our first and 20 week sonogram picture and bow holder from my Aunt.

Changing table with giraffe figurine from Nonna's trip to Africa.

Lots of time spent in the Ikea Poang chair alongside the monkey frame from my Aunt and Mila's first bible from her Auntie. A basket full of wonderful books from my baby shower with special messages to Mila inside.

This framed picture of Mila cracks me up every time, it was from her newborn shoot and she looks like shes pointing and winking at the camera as if to say "ya got me!"

More storage.

It hurts a little to know this room only exists in my memory now but it makes me smile since Mila has a new room now with new memories being made every day.

Moving Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Thu, 22 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Sorry I've been MIA! This move has really overwhelmed me more than I could have imagined. We are all in and settled now but let's go back, way back to the first weekend in March...

Our house closing was very dramatic. Closing company fighting with the lender, the person who is usually in charge called out, it was the last day of the month, and a Friday, etc. It was an all day fire drill that I never want to go through again but in the end we got our keys, stopped by the house for 10 minutes and drove back to Montgomery County to pick up Mila at daycare 5 minutes before they closed. Phew.

I guess two feet (!) of snow on moving day would overwhelm most people. Our move went relatively well considering we were dealing with the worst winter storm this year had to offer. It took two days instead of one but at least we were doing a "local" move even if it was to a different state. Matt was really the MVP of the move, directing the movers and going back and forth between Loudoun and Montgomery county countless times all while running out of wiper fluid and having to throw water on his windshield during the trek.

The only good thing about snow on moving day... beautiful pictures of your new house.

First night in the new house (with all the furniture at the condo).

Nothing keeps Mila from eating her guacamole, not even a lack of furniture.

Not happy (either one of them).

Waiting for the movers...

The only damage done was a quarter sized nick in the basement stairwell wall from a sofa so I would call it a very successful move overall (snow aside). Now the fun part, making our new house a home!

Granite Countertops and Hard Wood Floors

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 01:37:00 +0000

We took a ride out to the house on Sunday. The granite was all installed as were the hard wood floors! The floors were all covered to keep them protected so we couldn't really get a feel for them but what we could see was awesome.

Front

Kitchen, now with countertops!

Matt & Mila celebrating the granite installation.

Kitchen / Family Room Panoramic

View from Family Room to Foyer

Butlers Pantry from Dining Room

Butler's Pantry from Kitchen

Dining Room

Foyer

Living Room

Office Bathroom

Foyer Stair Entrance

Family Room Stair Entrance

Mila's Bathroom

Mila's Bedroom

Laundry Room

Guest Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Rec Room Stair Entrance

Rec Room Bathroom

Garage

Only 3 weeks to go!

Siding and Cabinets and Railings, Oh My!

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 21:06:00 +0000

After our 3rd Annual Brock Family Charlottesville Wine Tour we stopped by the new house to check in on the progress. This time we were met by our a fully sided house, new cabinetry and our railings! As a family who loves to cook, coming from a 4'x 5' kitchen with 3 upper and 1 lower cabinets to our new kitchen is like Annie moving into Daddy Warbucks' mansion.

Sorry again for the blown out panoramic iPhone shots, it is too hard to chase the baby and use the DSLR camera in the house.

Front

Rear

Foyer

Dining Room

Living Room

Kitchen

Butler's Pantry

Office

Upstairs Hallway

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Mila's Bedroom

Mila's Bathroom

Mila was thrilled with all the empty cabinets and drawers to open and close.

Retreat

Guest Bathroom

Laundry Room

Rec Room

Basement Bathroom

Next up are floors and kitchen counters!

The Moulding Has Begun

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 01:00:00 +0000

Last weekend's trip out to the house proved more fruitful in that all the walls had their first coat of primer, the interior doors were hung and the moulding had begun! Sorry for the strange warping on the panographic photos but it is the best way I can get the whole room in a picture.

From the front the house looks the same (although you can see the back of our neighbor's house, "Hi Neighbor!"). The metal porch roof and siding won't be installed until the interior is complete so there are no chances of it being damaged during construction.

Living Room / Front Door / Dining Room

Living Room

Dining Room / Foyer / Living Room

Kitchen / Family Room

Family Room / Kitchen

Office

Master Bedroom

Retreat

Upstairs Hallway (Master Bedroom Door / Foyer / Guest Bedrooms

Seeing the moulding was so exciting to me for some reason, I began to tear up. I know, I know, super corny, but something about it helped me to visualize living in the house. Another emotional moment for me was seeing Mila run around the basement rec room. This was her first time in the house since it wasn't safe enough until now. We only put her down for a few minutes and there were 4 adults nearby to keep her wrangled in the room but I loved seeing her have more than 8 square feet of play space. Now we'll just have to remind Mila that the shadow box moulding is not a canvas for her art. ;)

Getting Stoned

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Mon, 20 Jan 2014 03:00:00 +0000

This is not a big update post, the house looks pretty much the same from the front as our last visit. I think the drywall process took a longer than anticipated period of time due to our record cold temperatures so not as much progress was made inside as we had hoped.

There has been some progress, our stone fireplace is almost complete! Way back when we had our design studio appointment we had to select the style and color of the fireplace stone. We decided to upgrade to a "stacked stone" as opposed to the standard stone look.

The stone below the brick are a couple examples of their standard stone.

The brick on the design studio fireplace below is stacked stone. We had to choose from the three different color palates to the left. They are all so incredibly similar. The name of our stone is "Dominion Drystack" (the stones at the top left) and I really think we chose it because it had "Dominion" in the title which was a shout out to Virginia in our minds.

Here is our fireplace now. As you can see, the Dominion Drystack we chose has more eggplant color tones which we thought was unique. I've attached two pictures because the colors look so different in each one (all I had on me was my iPhone). An accurate representation is somewhere between the two photos.

This was our first experience seeing our design elements inside the actual house. It is very exciting but very daunting at the same time. I keep wondering "Did we choose the right style stone? The right color? Is there too much light brown? Is there too much eggplant?" Once we have furniture and paint on the walls I know it can look completely different from how it looks today but I love it because it is our fireplace in our first house and we designed it together.

New Year, New House Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 02:06:00 +0000

Mila has been fighting naps at home so on New Year's Day we decided to put her in the car to get her to sleep and figured since we'd be burning gas anyway we should drive over to the house to take a look. We were very excited to see the progress!

Front Exterior

Rear Exterior

View from Foyer

Kitchen

Family Room

Kitchen and Family Room

Family Room and Kitchen (reverse view)

Master Bedroom

Nursery

Garage

Dining Room and Living Room

Guest Room, Retreat and Master Bedroom

We walked in to find all the drywall completed! I would have posted pictures of the basement but there was very little light down there. This was the first time I really pictured us living there and even practiced my walk from the master bedroom to Mila's room (since I'll be doing it in the dark of night). Now I am just itching to move in!

Pre-Drywall Walk-Through and Inspection

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 01:25:00 +0000

The Friday before Christmas we had our pre-drywall walk-through on the new house. It was a bit of a tense week as we learned, via a very quick email from the sales department, that our construction supervisor, who had the closest relationship to the construction of the house and us personally, was no longer working with the company. Just 3 days before our tentative walk-through. Luckily another construction manager from a different property took over and made us feel much better.

Having your own house inspector at this walk-through was optional. If you are building a home I would highly recommend you spend the money for your own inspector. Luckily our inspector only found very few minor corrections to make but he was so knowledgeable and walked us though the whole house pointing out everything we should know prior to our actual walk-through.

The fixes consisted of a few split boards and beams that were "not plumb". See, I'm learning the construction lingo. ;)

Here are some pictures from the walk-through.

Front Exterior (and Matt and our construction supervisor)

Garage

Master Bedroom

Upstairs view from the laundry room, guest room to the left and the nursery to the right.

Kitchen, Family Room and Office

Snapping a picture of the foyer from the family room with the office behind me.

Next step is the drywall installation!

House Framing is Complete!

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Unfortunately due to an incoming ice storm our weekend plans to go to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens were cancelled so we took the opportunity to ride out to see the house progress. We were shocked at what we saw - all the framing complete and the windows and roof being installed!

Front

Garage Side

Back

Panoramic

I can't believe it actually looks like our house now! Depending on the temperatures our pre-drywall inspection will be forthcoming in the next couple weeks, if not sooner. What a fantastic Christmas gift!

Thanksgiving & House Framing

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 01:00:00 +0000

The past couple years we've decided to stay home instead of fighting traffic on I-95 over Thanksgiving. This year we used the family time together to bring Mila to the aquarium and to go check out the progress of the house.

Checking out the sharks

Watching the Dolphins

We knew the wood had arrived early in the week but that the construction was delayed by a couple days due to rain. When we pulled up to see the main level of our house all framed out we were pretty excited.

Front View

Garage

Rear View

Looking into the future Dining Room

Mud Room Entrance

Now it is starting to look like a house!

House Foundation Update

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 01:00:00 +0000

My mom, aka "Nonna", came down to Maryland for a visit in mid-November so we took the opportunity to visit the house. She was with us when we took our initial visit to the model home in the summer so it was great to have her see it in progress now. The foundation and all the grading was complete and was awaiting the wood delivery for framing.

For purposes of perspective, I am standing in the future driveway looking into the garage.

Nonna & Mila (is that a smile??)

Family picture!

Admiring our future home...

Basement (obviously)

Gravel is tough for new walkers. ;)

I hope she likes it!

Up next, framing! I can't wait to see the actual structure start to form.

Our Pre-Construction Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 01:08:00 +0000

Last week we had our pre-construction meeting with the construction supervisor. It was a great opportunity to sit down with the actual person who will be on the job with our house day after day and ask any lingering questions we had. The meeting went really well and although C (that's what I'll call our construction supervisor, you know, to protect the innocent) can't give us any hard dates he did give us some ball park numbers. I won't state any here, but I will say the date of closing was a big surprise, almost 2 months sooner than we had anticipated! Of course there can be delays but C doesn't miss deadlines since his bonus is tied to delivery of the house. Gulp! Needless to say I've been starting to purge and pack! A nice surprise was when C told us our foundation would be in hopefully by the weekend but no later than Monday, depending on rain. Well, it didn't rain and when we brought my in-laws to see the lot on Saturday we were happy to see the beginnings of our new home!

Matt & his Dad checking out the progress.

First family picture in front of our house. True to form, Mila was not impressed.

(I swear I had her wear socks but she yanked them off in the car,

and it was warmer than it looks, just windy.)

Seeing the foundation in place has really hit home for me and now I can really start to envision our life in our new house! I can't wait!

The Design Studio

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Last past week Matt and I had the most intense decision making exercise we've ever faced... The Design Studio. We had to finalize every finish in our house on Tuesday. Every cabinet, floor, piece of molding, plumbing, lighting, tile, etc. had to be selected prior to ground breaking and let me tell you, it was the most overwhelming process I've ever faced when it comes to home design. I found it incredibly hard to choose how a bathroom, kitchen, etc. will look before you even get a shell of the room up and can only see a small sample of the products. Matt and I have always been the type to lean towards more neutral and timeless finishes so we did the same with the house. We prefer to dress a space with accents of color instead of being wed to color in permanent fixtures.

Here is a small sample of their design studio (all pictures from Van Metre's website).

After we left I had a much better image in my head of what the house will look like once complete which is exciting. I think the hardest decision was the exterior brick, roof, door and shutter color selection. I know that if for some reason I absolutely hate the way a certain tile or lighting fixture looks I can have it replaced, but the exterior seems very very permenent. That said, I think it is something I am the most excited about because now when I close my eyes I can imagine what the house will look like from the street.

For anyone building I think my best piece of advice is to Google image search and look on Houzz for all the fixtures, tiles, flooring, etc. so you can see them in a whole room instead of just a sample.

Our Biggest Project to Date

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 11:00:00 +0000

As if Mila's first birthday was not special enough, on September 13th Matt and I signed a contract to build our dream home!

When we began our house hunt our hardest decision was whether or not to stay in Montgomery County, MD or to move just south of the Potomac River to Loudoun County, VA.

And the winner was.... Virginia!

As someone who said I would never live farther south than Maryland I guess I now have to eat my words, my native Virginian husband is thrilled. ;) I definitely plan to use the blog as a place to document our home building journey as well as a platform to share our progress with our friends and family near and far so stay tuned!

We are completely ecstatic to build the house Mila will grow up in and regard as her home. So yes, it is definitely our biggest project to date. :)

Mila's Birth Story Part V (The Final Chapter)

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Wed, 14 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

*Since I am currently planning Mila's first birthday party I figured I should at least finish her birth story!*

"Hi Natalie, this is Karen. I think you should come into the hospital immediately."

Matt and I decide to take our time getting to the hospital. By "take our time" I mean we didn't jump up with our legs spinning underneath us before bolting for the door, we calmly made sure the dog was fed (don't worry, we had people lined up to feed her), the lights were out and everything was in its place since we knew we'd be walking back through those doors as parents. We arrived to to hospital about an hour later.

Last Belly picture on our way out the door.

39 Weeks!

In the waiting room!

Once they took us back I was hooked up to a fetal monitor until Karen arrived. At this point my contractions were regular and intensifying. Karen performed a cervical check, I was 99% effaced and 4 centimeters dilated and she confirmed my amniotic sac was still intact. Of course none of these numbers really mattered since I knew I would need a C-Section but I wanted to make sure I was truly in labor so I didn't rush the baby out. I then learned Dr. S. was the OB on duty that day and would perform my procedure. I wasn't thrilled but I also knew he was great a doctor and I would have minimal interaction with him anyway. My only request was that Karen be the one to tell us if the baby was a boy or a girl and not the doctor since we didn't have a relationship with him. The anesthesiologist came in to introduce himself and answer any questions and then we waited until Dr. S. had an opening at 3:00PM. My contractions stayed steady and intense, luckily our Bradley coping techniques really came in handy since I didn't have any medication (they offered me an epidural but that seemed like overkill since I was going to get a spinal in a couple hours for the C-Section), this was my only opportunity to feel my labor and I wanted to experience as much as I could. I'm so happy I was able to actually experience my body go into labor.

Before I knew it Karen was back fully dressed in her scrubs telling us it was time. Matt could escort us to the OR door but then had to wait in a nearby room until my spinal was over. It was then I realized how lucky I was to have my midwife by my side helping me through each contraction. We had to wait for what seemed like forever but was about 30 minutes in the OR for the anesthesiologist. Once he arrived he started on my spinal and I will admit, it was the absolute most painful part of the whole experience. I would take a week's worth of contractions over a 1 minute spinal any day. In his defense, I did get a very powerful contraction during the spinal so that made it all the more painful since you have to be bent over with your head down and completely still. Again, if it wasn't for Karen reminding me to breathe and calming my mind I would have never made it through.

After the spinal was complete they laid me down and placed the curtain on my chest as well as an airbag-like device that blows warm air up at your chest, neck and head. It was a bit unsettling at first but I appreciated it as it took my mind off of what was happening below the curtain. The physician's assistant came over to say he went and told Matt they were running a bit behind but I was fine and he would be joining me shortly. Finally after what seemed like days, Matt was escorted back into the OR and I've never been happier to see his face. Well, happy to see his eyes at least since he was covered in scrubs.

Me: Hi! When do you think they are going to start?

Matt: Ummm, I'm pretty sure they already did. They were working on you when I walked in.

Karen comes around from the lower part of the curtain.

Karen: They are almost to the uterus.

Yes, it all happens fast. I'm pretty sure as soon as my head hit the table the scalpel hit my belly. Moments later Karen was back again, and I'll never forget these words:

Karen: It's a girl you guys!

Me: We knew it was Mila!

After they had Mila over to the table Matt was able to go and see her while I was being stitched up. I couldn't hear anything going on but Matt told me they had to rub Mila a few times before she would cry for them. After she was cleaned up and swaddled Matt brought her over to my chest to meet my daughter for the very first time.

Mila's First Picture

You may recall that our journey to this OR started with a tear filled visit with Karen in her office. I was heartbroken that the baby was breech, I would need a C-Section and that I wouldn't be able to deliver my baby and immediately have her placed on my chest. Karen told me that day that the hospital doesn't allow any skin to skin or to have the baby placed on the mother in the OR.

Well, seconds after Matt brought Mila over to my head, Karen came around the curtain and lifted Mila from Matt's arms and placed her under the blanket on my chest. It meant the world to me to hold my daughter moments after her birth.

Our First Family Picture

(I'm in there somewhere!)

When I was all stitched up and ready to go Karen placed Mila on my lap for our ride over to recovery. We were approaching moment I had looked forward to and then dreaded once the C-Section came into play. Breastfeeding. I had read about how important it was to breastfeed as soon as possible after birth and that sometimes babies are groggy and unable to latch after C-sections. Luckily we didn't have any issue and Mila has been breastfeeding like a champ since day one. Recovery was also where we called our parents with the news and Mila had her first check up (complete with her little breech legs up in the air!).

Mila's First Check Up

(check out that leg!)

A quick electronic announcement I threw together using an app while in the hospital.

We stayed in the hospital 3 nights as required for a C-Section and brought Mila home on Sunday, September 16. It was the scariest (and most painful) 3 mile ride of my life. It was totally surreal to have our baby with us finally so every other driver on the road was a potential hazard in my eyes. There was also a good amount of road construction on the way home so every bump hurt my incision.

Our first family picture at home.

After this picture I had to climb our 3 flights of stairs to our condo. Phew, it felt like it took an hour. Stairs and abdominal surgery don't mix.

So there it is, Mila's birth story. It didn't happen the way we planned, you know what they say about the best laid plans, but in the end we have a healthy baby girl who will be turning 1 in a month and we couldn't be any more blessed!

Mila's Birth Story Part I
Mila's Birth Story Part II
Mila's Birth Story Part III
Mila's Birth Story Part IV

The Team Meeting Show - Imaginary Geek Bucket

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:24:00 +0000

Matt and Ara were gracious enough to invite me back on their podcast to defend my "geek" comment. You can listen here. Enjoy!

Mila's Birth Story Part IV

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Thursday, September 13, 2012

39 Weeks Pregnant (exactly 1 week before my due date)

I feel something. My eyes open in our dark bedroom. I'm sure it is Braxton Hicks since I've had them on and off beginning at 20 weeks. I glance at the clock, 4:20am. I have to pee. I gather my thoughts and untangle myself from my Snoogle (every pregnant lady needs one) and stumble to the bathroom. Two minutes later I'm back in bed re-tangled into my Snoogle.

I feel something. My eyes open in our (still) dark bedroom. This time I don't have to pee. I glance at the clock, 5:00am. Interesting. I close my eyes.

I feel something. My eyes open in our (getting lighter but still) dark bedroom. I still don't have to pee. I glance at the clock, 5:30am. Okay okay, I'm up.

I roll over, wake up Matt and give him the update. He decides to stay home from Crossfit this morning just to see what may happen with my contractions... if they are real contractions.

More contractions arrive at 6:15am, 6:30am and 7am. At this point I'm starting to believe something big is going to happen today but I hold it in, I don't want to get too excited.

I call my Mom, she is a Labor and Birth nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital, and give her the scoop. Since we know Baby B (who we now know as Mila) was still breech as of Tuesday we are 99% sure a C-section is in my immediate future, there is always the slight chance she would flip during labor. My Mom tells me to eat something, I'll need some sort of fuel since I haven't eaten since the night before. We decide on scrambled eggs since it is light on the stomach and full of nutrients. I know the doctors will be mad I ate, but I don't care. I know that my body and the baby are going to need whatever fuel I can provide and I know these eggs will be digested before a scalpel comes anywhere near my belly. I also continue to drink water and wait to see what happens as the morning progresses.

We decide Matt should go into the office for a couple hours since these contractions are slightly irregular and I can handle them using my techniques I learned at our Bradley classes. Plus, if Baby B is on the way he needs to tie up a few loose ends at work. We're very aware these contractions could just stop at anytime so we decide not to call the midwives yet. Our hospital is only 2 miles from our home so we don't need to worry about getting there "in time".

Because Baby B was breech I knew as soon as I stepped foot into Shady Grove Hospital we wouldn't be leaving without the baby in our arms. There would be no turning back since they know they'll have to perform a C-section and I'm now at 39 weeks which they feel is safe. I wanted to give the baby every opportunity to enjoy as natural of a birth environment as I could provide before modern medicine jumped in the way*.

Two hours later I decided it was time to cancel my afternoon chiropractor and acupuncture appointments. The contractions were getting closer together overall but still a bit erratic, but they were definitely intensifying. At 10am we called the midwives with the details of our morning.

"Karen is on call at the hospital. I'll let her know what is going on and have her call you."

It was then I knew for sure the baby was coming. It was meant to be, out of all the midwives, Karen, the midwife who discovered Mila was breech, was on call. Five minutes later my phone rang.

"Hi Natalie, this is Karen. I think you should come into the hospital immediately."

Mila's Birth Story Part I
Mila's Birth Story Part II
Mila's Birth Story Part III

* Doctors are no longer allowed by most, if not all, insurance companies to deliver breech babies in the United States. If a woman wants to have a natural delivery with a breech baby her only choice is to have an at-home birth with a doctor familiar and willing to deliver breech (or go to another country). From what I'm told many of the OBs today are not even taught the technique. I had the ideal situation for a breech birth, a healthy baby, on the small side of average, in a frank breech position. Unfortunately I'll never know if we could have done it naturally. I truly believe Mila was breech for a reason, a reason we will never know, but whatever it was, it was important and I'm not upset she choose the position she did. I'm upset that in 2012 we don't have a lot of choices when it comes to our childbirth in this country.

The Team Meeting Show

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:50:00 +0000

If you are interested in listening to a podcast about nothing, check out this week's episode of The Team Meeting Show (a podcast by my husband and his business partner). I think you'll recognize the very special guest. Or maybe not, being a blog and all you never hear my voice. Well, if you want to hear my voice, check it out here!

Mila's Birth Story Part III

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie {Where North Met South}) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

*** Let me say upfront that I think Dr. S. is a fantastic OB/GYN and is very well known and well respected in the DC Metro area. He just didn't have the bedside manner I, as a very high maintenance first time mother, needed.***

We anxiously awaited Dr. S's arrival in our exam room to perform our version consultation, I was now 36 weeks along. I thought it would go something like this:

Dr. S.: Yes, the baby is still breech. The manual versions are about 50% effective and we'll perform it when you are 39 weeks at the hospital. If it works we'll induce, unless your body spontaneously begins to labor from the version, if it doesn't work we'll do a C-section.

Me: Okay.

Dr. S.: Do you have any questions? No? Have a good day.

It actually went like this:

Dr. S.: Yes, the baby is still breech. Hmmm. Are you drinking plenty of water?

Me: Yes. Most definitely yes. I'm never dehydrated. I always have water with me. I've always drank plenty of water, even before I was pregnant. Why?

Dr. S.: Well, you must not. You have a low amount of amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. We won't be able to do a version and this baby will not flip on his/her own.

Me: Wait, what? But I drink plenty of water.

Dr. S.: How much? In ounces.

Me: Ummm, ahh, my cup is a reusable venti iced cup from Starbucks.

Dr. S.: How many ounces is that?

Me: Ummm, ahh, Matt? How many is in a venti? Umm, [now trying to do the math of how many ounces are in my cup multiplied by the number of trips I make to the kitchen to refill it all under the pressure of a doctor basically saying I didn't take care of my unborn child's temporary residence], my pee is always clear!

Yeah, I can really think on my feet.

He proceeded to tell me the normal range for amniotic fluid index, or AFI, is between 8-22 and I was at 9.5. In my mind that means I am in the normal range, I mean it is a range for a reason. After I realized this number wasn't low enough to worry about the baby's well being I was dejected. He was telling me all my efforts were for nothing. He wanted me to have the midwives measure my AFI every Monday until I delivered (9.5 is the lowest it ever was, it went up every week following).

The only positive news that came from this appointment was that he was comfortable allowing me to go into labor naturally instead of scheduling my C-section so the baby could decide when it was time to make an appearance. Of course I would still need to schedule one in case I didn't go into labor prior to 42 weeks.

I left the appointment heartbroken. This was my final chance of hoping for a natural birth. That chance was now gone. I've wondered a million times over if I would have rather gone in for a natural birth only to end up having a C-section due to failure to progress, etc. I think it would have been easier to accept because when you're told in the hospital, "This isn't working, we're going to have to do a C-section" there is no iPhone, iPad or computer in your hand with Google at the ready, there are not 21 more sleepless nights to worry through, there's no time to think, you just have the procedure.

For the next two weeks I stayed the course and kept my acupuncture/moxibustion and chiropractor appointments on the off chance they could help. Leaving Frederick one day during my 38th week I received a call asking to schedule my C-section. I picked a date in my 42nd week and I hated it. I didn't want to pick my baby's birthday, but it was scheduled. A little over 24 hours later it would have to be cancelled...