Lesson 1 | if you rent, it never hurts to ask your landlords if you can paint.
this is my surprised look.
this is my trying to sleep and smile at the same time look.
Kate and I put quite a bit of work into this room and couldn’t be more proud! I had planned to take before pictures to show how much different the room looked. But completely forgot about it until the moment my friend and I finished repainting the room. Oh well, hope you enjoyed!
Hanging decorations | from our baby shower.
Tiny Framed Hearts | made by our best friend Elan who also threw our baby shower.
Owl Painting | from a friend who had her mom’s friend paint it.
thanks for looking,
daniel. kate. addison.
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Kate was very nervous about writing her story for everyone to see. She is quite shy. So leave her some love! More pictures after story time.
Kate’s Story:
It all began with a bright and shiny Saturday morning. Dan was about to head out for wedding and I had gotten myself all dolled up for Apple Harvest Day in Dover. I was so excited because we’ve always had weddings to shoot on apple harvest day and this was the first year that I was going to be able to walk downtown and look around. And boy did I want some apple pie/crisp!!
After putting on the finishing touches, I walked into the living room to tell Dan that I put tons of extra makeup on. I wanted to ask him if I looked good.
“Yeah, you look great!” he said.
“Good, because I wanted to look pretty in case I go into labor while you’re gone and the nurses have to take pictures of me.”
We both laughed as he told me I would be fine. I mostly believed him because I still felt great. I hadn’t had that uncomfortable I’m about to give birth feeling yet. We hugged and kissed and I scooted him out the door. I got ready and as soon as my friends Trish and Lindsay showed up we walked downtown. Apple harvest day was awesome. We walked around for a couple hours. I ate like a pig, and then went home to relax.
After watching a bunch of desperate housewives, at 4:30pm I decided to get my butt off the couch and clean the bathroom. I bent over to wipe the floor, and immediately stood back up. I really hope that isn’t my water breaking, I thought to myself. I changed and decided that I just needed to relax. But before relaxing I decided to pack all of the last minute hospital bag items, just in case. If this really was nothing Dan was really going to make fun of me when he got home for packing everything on a whim. But deep down I knew something was definitely happening. It happened again twice while getting off the couch. I was slowly beginning to realize that this was most likely happening. I was going into labor. I hadn’t heard from Dan yet about how the wedding was going, so I casually texted him to ask how things were going. I didn’t want to unnecessarily startle him! It was 5:42pm.
I called Lish, my sister, at 6:00pm in a minor panic, but knowing everything would be ok.
Through tears, I said, “I’m fine, but I think my water broke. I’m not in any pain though. Is that normal?”
She said, “I’ll be right over” and hung up the phone.
Luckily she was only 2 minutes down the street at my grams house. So she left her almost 2 year old daughter with my gram and her 2 ½ week old son with her husband and sent him home to feed him with a bottle that she thankfully had pumped and saved by chance. When she showed up she asked how many times I had changed.
“Three,” I answered.
She said you need to call the hospital. I started crying again and said that our worst nightmare was coming true. I just kept telling myself…It’s really ok. We knew this might happen. Everything would be fine and we were all going to make it through this. We reassured ourselves that we didn’t really know what was going on yet and there might be plenty of time for Dan to make it home. He was 2 hours away and wasn’t going to be home until midnight at the earliest. It was 6:17pm and he still didn’t know.
I held on to the little hope I had left though and gathered enough courage to call the hospital.
I was called back by a nurse at 6:25 and told to come to the hospital to be checked. I texted Dan again (after still not hearing from him) and told him to call if he had a sec. He called and I updated him through tears while unconvincingly reassuring him that I was totally fine and just surprised. I handed the phone to Lish so that she could reassure him that everything was ok including me and that we would call him with anything new. We got to the hospital at 6:35 and I was immediately hooked up to monitors to watch my contractions and the baby’s heart rate. I was still not having any painful contractions and they had to check to see if it was indeed my water that had broken. The nurse couldn’t be sure because the line on the test was so faint, and thought I might be pissing myself. She left us in the room and my sister and I just laughed. I had soaked through three pairs of clothes and was now laying in bed soaking through layers of towels. If I was just peeing my pants, the rest of the night was sure to be interesting. At 7:23 another nurse came in and was going on about how we would have to do the c section, and was asking me how long until my husband could be there.
When she noticed my sister and I’s confused faces, she said “It was your water that broke. Did anyone tell you?”
…No, no one told me. “The last thing that I was informed of was that it’s common for women, this late in pregnancy, to pee their pants and not know…” I answered trying to hold back the sarcasm.
She asked again about my husband, and I told her what I told everyone else to this point, “Even if he could leave right now he won’t be here for 2 hours. It’s really ok. We kind of planned for this, we just never really expected it to happen.”
Contractions began and they were starting to feel slightly crampier than they had during the pregnancy so far.
I texted Dan, “So we are having a baby today maybe tomorrow if they let me wait for you. I said this in the morning, if you remember.”
“Yup. I brushed you off. You weren’t supposed to actually do it!” Dan replied.
The surgeon came in and informed me that we really needed to do this now for a multitude of reasons which I understood. She, along with every other nurse, continued to ask when Dan could be here by. I continued to tell them that it was ok, and that we had planned for this possibility for nine months. Although, every time I answered this question, I would begin to cry. So of course no one believed that I thought it was ok. But it really was. Everything really was going to be fine. I was completely confident in the fact that Dan was so in love with me and that I could do this. He would get there shortly after Babyjedi was born and we would have our moment then.
After texting updates back and forth and trying to get skype to work I told him that it was almost time to go.
Me – “Just stay. They have to move it along so this is it. Call me if you have a sec.”
Dan – “Wait… right now now?!”
Me- “Really soon.”
It was 8:45pm.
At 9:23pm it was time.
Me – “About to head in. Can’t take the phone. Call you after. I miss you I love you take good pics and then drive safe.”
Getting excited about meeting babyjedi I excitedly texted, “see you in a few hours!!” I got a simple “Love you!” back which was exactly what I needed.
At 9:38pm they began to wheel me down to the OR.
Anyone who has had a C-section knows that they make your partner wait outside while they prep you. This of course made me even more nervous than I already was. I don’t like needles and I was about to get one shoved in my spine and I had to go it alone. Deep breaths and off to the OR we went. At 9:45 the spinal went in. They laid me down and started to prep me and check to see if I was numbing. I began to get high spinal effects really quickly and the surgeon said we need to begin now. High Spinal effects basically feels like you cannot breath even though you can breath fine. It has to do with being completely numb. They said that they could give me anti-anxiety and anti-nausea medication, but I was adamant about having the least amount of medicine possible, because I wanted to breastfeed right away. I once again told them I was fine, all the while trying to reassure myself that it was true. They put an oxygen mask over my mouth as I asked “is my sister coming?” Just then she walked in. It was 10:01. She grabbed my hand because I was shaking so much and I just kept saying that I was fine and told her to just take pictures. All I wanted was for Dan to see as much of this as he could.
By now they were already inside and soon I heard the surgeon say, “I’ve got a butt… it’s a girl butt!” It was 10:02pm and Addison Marie Sprague aka Babyjedi was born. I started crying again. The anesthesiologist lifted my head and pulled down the curtain so that I could get a good look at my baby girl. They took Addison to check her out and clean her up, so I sent my sister over to photograph everything. Then the nurse brought Addison over to me and held her to my face. I remember talking about how long her nails were and about the dimple in her chin. I kept saying “we miss daddy don’t we?” My sister just kept snapping photos. We called Dan quickly to tell him he was a dad and had a daughter and once the surgeon finished they brought me back to the room around 10:45.
At 11:15pm Dan walked in! He came directly to me to make sure I was alright. “Yes,” I told him. “But we really missed you.”
I was crying again but this time they were tears of joy. I happily watched as my husband held his daughter for the first time looking more proud then I had ever seen.
And now for some pictures. All of the black and white images were taken by Lish using her own Nikon camera. Thank you so much sis, these pictures mean so much to us!
this is how addison was sitting in kates belly.
Week 39 was Addison’s first week of life. Here is a list of a few things she did for the first time ever.
Breath.
Eat.
Watch the patriots with dad.
First trip out of the hospital.
First trip out of the house… doctors visit… being awesome parents, we forgot the diaper bag. Star Wars a New Hope with dad.
Desperate Housewives with Mom.
Target.
Riding on Highway.
Moving through space and time over the speed limit.
We still cannot get over how unbelievably lucky we are. She is so perfect/wonderful/awesome/gorgeous/amazing. I am over the moon… no over the milky way galaxy with excitement! I cannot wait to see what the future holds.
You will soon be sick of how much you see this child. Deal.
thanks for looking,
daniel. kate. ADDISON!
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“You must unlearn what you have learned.” -Master Yoda’s wisest words.
Addison Marie Sprague a.k.a. Babyjedi
judge me by my size do you?
Cousin Bella
getting ready to leave
ready.
to be continued.
My Story:
It begins Saturday morning when Kate walks out from the bedroom
and asks, “does my makeup look good”. As I’m getting ready to leave
for my wedding, I look up and notice that she has put on much more
make up than normal.
“You look great,” I said, slightly confused.
“I wanted to look good in case I go into labor while you are gone, and
the nurses have to take pictures of me,” she told me half jokingly.
So off I go on my merry way to shoot my wedding. It went great up
until about 6:30 when I went down stairs to call Kate and tell her
that I had made it to the wedding and everything was going great!
I had forgotten to call her when I got there at 2:00. So when she
answered the phone crying, I immediately thought that she had assumed
that I was in some fiery wreck on the side of the road. It wouldn’t be
the first time she had assumed the worst.
“Hun, I’m fine, everyth…”
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I think my water broke.”
White. My whole thought process was demolished by a bright white
explosion. Stunned, I stammered and went to my go to phrase “Its ok
hun.”
She proceeded to tell me, through tears, that she had soaked through
three pairs of pants very quickly. Her sister had luckily been close
by with a car and was there with her, about to take her to the
hospital. She had to get off the phone. Her sister took the phone and
told me she would call me back.
“text me” I told her.
There I stood… 4 hours left to shoot and Kate was in labor. I was
in shock. We didn’t even have a plan for if she went into labor today, since
she was scheduled for a version/C section if failed on Tuesday. Thank
god her sister was around by chance.
I went back upstairs and wandered around in a dream world, keeping it together
and capturing their special day.
Who was I going to tell? I told my brother who was assisting me. His jaw slacked.
I went to my go to phrase again, “it’s ok, I’m good” with a smile on
my face that I didn’t quite believe.
The wedding kept going smoothly as I tried to figure out a plan. I
was scheduled to leave at 10:30 which would put me home around 12:00
if I made good time. At 9:30 I got word from Kate that she was headed
to the OR to get a spinal so I decided to let the bride and groom
know.
“Yay!!!! Congrats,” they yelled with enthusiasm. “Wait she is in labor?” as it
started to set in.
“Yes, babyjedi will be born any moment,” truly excited about the words I spoke.
“Your anniversary and babyjedi’s birthday will be the same date!” I beamed.
I nervously waited for their reaction…
“GO! GO!” they demanded. “Go be a dad!”
So thankful I packed up and got on the road, nervous, excited, anxious, shocked.
More news came that Kate was ready to go, and the doctors got to work
prepping her for surgery. She started to get a high spinal affect that made
her feel like she couldn’t breath. Her oxygen levels were fine but
she was scared. The doctors then said ok we’ve got to do this now and
within 10,15 minutes babyjedi was born at 10:02, screaming. Kate’s
sister all along taking pictures for me. Kate looking great with her
makeup.
Meanwhile I am traveling down the highway. Glistening from a fresh rain.
You would think that I would have been driving like a crazy person. But I tried
to keep it to 15 over. My child would need a father after all.
Then it happens. The cellphone rings.
“Hello?”
“Do you want me to tell you?” Kate sobs.
“What?” was all I could say even though I had heard her and understood
completely what she meant.
“Do you want me to tell you if it is a boy or a girl?”
“…”
“…”
The thought had not yet crossed my mind. In a panic I asked, “do you
want to tell me?”
“Yes.”
“……………………………………………..” there was a infinitely long/short
moment in time that I spent wondering for the last time what babyjedi was.
I enjoyed it. Lived in it. Then let it go and stepped of the edge.
“Ok, tell me.”
“It is a girl!”
The second atomic explosion of white went off and my brain momentarily shut
down all processing. Consumed by white once again.
A girl.
The next hour or so was the longest hour of my life. I arrived at the hospital
about an hour after Addison was born. My first priority was to kiss Kate on the
forehead and make sure she was ok. She was very ok. Crying, but ok. My next
priority was to hold my newborn child. So I did. At that moment nothing that
lead up to that moment mattered. All was right in the world. By the world I mean
the hospital room I stood in. The contents of this room were all that mattered to me
in that second.
Beautiful. That is what she was. She was incredibly beautiful. Even now I cannot
get over how gorgeous she is. I mean look at those pictures again. I am so in
love. I also feel like I have known her forever.
It took us a day to decide on her name. And I am positive we made the right
choice. Addison Marie Sprague. We love it. We love her. We are home and it is time
to feed her, so I have to run and help Kate!
So much love, and all the best,
daniel. kate. babyjedi (Addison not Addy/Addie).
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This is how you cornily star wars joke. “There….. is… another…. sprague…. walk…. ehhhhhh…..” The reason Babyjedi is so strong in the force? Mommyjedi!
Mommyjedi!
The caption for the last image was too long so I’ll just put it here : ” Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim. Swim. SWIM. OH HA HA HO How I love to swim! When you WAAAAAANNTTT to swim you want To…” ahem… ok… had to get that out. I love that movie.
First of all, I need to thank my awesome friend Ben for the Princess Leia beanie. It is by far the coolest beanie ever made. Not to mention the other two, equally cool, star wars beanies that he got for me and babyjedi… those will be coming in future posts :)
So… it comes down to it. Kate and I have to decide this week whether or not to try the ECV (External Cephalic Version) or just schedule the c-section and hope Babyjedi pulls a fast one on us and flips before that day. Not to sound like a broken record, but we still have no idea what we should do. Both options seem like the right choice for different reasons. But yeah I don’t really want to think about that right now. So lets talk about the bright side of things.
We are probably going to be meeting this kid in a week or so!!!!!!! I can’t believe it. The time is now. We stand at the edge of an 8 year run. 8 years of being together alone. And what an epic 8 years it has been. Its hard to believe… In so many ways it seems like yesterday, it was senior year, when we first started to hang out. Having food fights. Flirting. Swimming in random rivers wearing our school clothes. And in just as many ways it feels like an eternity has passed since then. Time, it’s a funny thing. It is so hard get a grasp on. The only thing I can say for sure is how fast it goes by.
Well Katherine, my dear, it has been amazing. I wouldn’t trade a single second of it for anything. None of the road trips. None of the time apart. None of the fights. None of the parties. None of the movie nights. None of the superiduclouslycheesy notes that we used to pass each other. None of it. I wrap my arms around all of it and keep it tight to my chest. And I look forward to every second after this one. All of the happy seconds and all of the not so happy seconds. This is my life and I am so excited about where it will take me.
Ok enough of this sap. We still have the week 39 blog to do, so I don’t want to use it all up :)
Kate is very uncomfortable in general. She has a hard time breathing and moving around in general. I think we are both ready for this pregnancy to end and hopefully also ready for our new family of 3 to begin!
That’s All Folks.
thanks for looking,
Dannyjedi. Katiejedi. Babyjedi.
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Before you ask, Babyjedi is still breech. Fingers are still crossed but we are preparing for both a natural birth and the good ol’ c-section. I have been working non-stop trying to get as much done as possible before Darth baby gets here. Still a lot to do, and a lot of exciting weddings to finish! I am really excited about posting some more blogs!
The baby room is almost finished, but now I am starting to wish it was Star Wars themed… not sure Kate would have gone for that though. The beginning of this week was strange… feelings of self doubt were occupying my brain most of the time. Which is not normal for me. I think the pressure of “making it as a business owner” and getting ready for Darth Infant were overwhelming me. Today I feel much better though, for no apparent reason. Like usual, when I can step back and look at things as a whole, I realize that everything is going to be fine and will work out the way it is going to work out. I guess I just get impatient. But who doesn’t right?
I can’t believe wedding season is almost over! It has been a wild ride this year and I am so thankful for all of the awesome people I have met and still will meet. You are all some high quality peeps and I would be nothing without you.
Anyways, I really need to get back to work.
thanks for looking,
daniel. kate. babyjedi.
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I couldn’t pic favorites this week… so you get twice as many as normal! YAY! ITS LIKE CHRISTMAS! ok… done with the caps thing. my bad.
version 1.
version 2. i think this is my favorite…
version 3.
version 43262.
moon.
Ok so it is official. I have ADD or something like it. I know this because the doctor told me. JK, I already knew. Tomorrow I start medication so we will see how that goes. Let me know if you notice a difference… good or bad.
Kate’s prenatal today was about our options as far as the breeched babyjedi. Option 1: don’t do anything. Option 2: scary aversion thing (joking, its actually called a “version”) Anyways, basically if the baby doesn’t flip… naturally or unnaturally… Kate will be having a C-section. Which is obviously the cool way to be born. I know this because I was born via the cesarean section. And that is how all of the celebs do it right?
In all seriousness. It is a really strange feeling knowing that after all of these classes and 9 months of preparing for the most intense day of our lives, we might be just picking a day to have this baby in under an hour. Almost as if it were a casual thing. Oh… the 4th? sure that sounds like a good day to get this kid out of there. Neither of us are very fond of the idea. But in the end, if we have babyjedi in our arms then it wont matter.
A strange thought just occurred to me. Some day babyjedi, you are going to grow up, and in growing up someday you will probably read all of these. I know I would if I was you. So first of all, I love you. And second, it’s not your fault you haven’t flipped yet at this point. I am sure you have your reasons. And we love you regardless! This is really weird talking to you in the future. I hope that life is going good for you, and that I am still an awesome parent. Either way, know that your mother and I love the crap out of you! Always.
Ok… wow enough of that, I am about to choke up. So yeah, we have some decisions to make here, but I am sure we will make the right ones!
And check out those pictures again, because I love them a lot. They might be my favorite so far. Such a beautiful girl and a beautifully simple sunset.
thanks for looking, twice :)
daniel. kate. babjedi. <— haha also find it funny that I am signing it in your nick name… im sure you will laugh at this with me when you are older kid.
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sorry interwebs, this is really late. I hope you will still accept it.
monster.
Hello everyone! It has been too long. Forgive me. Everything is pretty good on the 5pr46u3 home front. We have been super busy this week, with many awesome things.
BabyJedi is being stubborn and is still breech, so we are still working on trying to get them to flip over to avoid a schedule-C. There are a million ways that the internet says works… and I am skeptical at best. I am pretty sure that babyjedi will flip when/if they please. And if not, then it probably wasn’t meant to be. Haha, the little one doesn’t have much room in there, that is for sure! We both knew there would be a bump in the pregnancy road at some point and we have definitely found it. We can only count ourselves lucky that the road has been smooth until this point.
Kate’s back is also starting to bother her more and more each day, but we expected this and I have prepared my hands for some serious back rub time! Other than that, its all quite here. This week should be quite a bit quieter, and hopefully I will be able to blog a bunch of awesomeness this week. Including the week 36 pictures!
Off to make some waffles with the fam!
Also, a big thanks to my brother John! He helped me with a wedding yesterday since Kate was busy resting. Needless to say he killed it. Thanks bro!
thanks for looking,
daniel. kate. babyjedi.
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This is by far my favorite week so far. I love adventures with Kate.
So Babyjedi… you have been causing your mother a lot of pain recently. Go easy on her ok?
This week we may have run into our first bump in the road. We knew our luck would run out at some point :) It seems as though the baby is still breech. This is not a huge deal though, some babies wait until the last moment to flip. Although if it is a “footling breech” than we might be in deeper water than we hoped for, i.e. C-section. Next week we are going for an ultra-sound, which is sort of an awesome thing since we will be able to see Babyjedi again! We are just hoping they will have flipped by then. And any of you thinking about this, because I know some of you are, we still are not going to find out the sex!
Your mom and I really hope you are okay in there Babyjedi. We love you an incomprehensible amount, and would love it if you would go all gymnastics on us and flip! If that is not your thing that is ok too. Whatever is best for you is good with us!
Other than that, everything has been awesome. We almost have the nursery finished, and cannot wait to post pictures of that work of art!
I have been super busy with the business… which is awesome. Anyways, see you all next time!
I love you, my unborn child.
thanks for looking,
daniel. kate. babyjedi.
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