Re-purposing...

It's  

Earth Day  

and here at our house that's a big deal.  

Our post is a little late tonight as we had a HUGE day preparing for Miss Cate's impending birth tomorrow.  So before we tell you about our "re-purposing" I will tell you that Cate's Amnio went VERY well today. 

I was up ALL night, and Fionn must have known how worried I was, because HE was up and down all night as well.  I woke up shaky, still cramping and contracting, and just S-I-C-K about our Amnio this morning.  We had one two years ago with Fionn, and it was extremely painful and even though we had it, he STILL ended up in the NIC-U for eight LONG days. 

Today's Amnio was very easy, and I felt silly being so worked up about it.  The difference was (it would seem) is that  I was oligo with Fionn (VERY low fluid) and they had a hard time hitting that teeny tiny little pocket of fluid.  The sweet tech had to dig that nasty needle around to hit it and it hurt like crazy.  When they pulled the fluid out last time there was so much pressure it was unreal and when they pulled the needle itself out, it actually made a little popping noise because of all the pressure.  Because I was oligo, my placenta was starting to "poop out" and Fionn had to be born that day, so when we got the news that his lungs may not be quite mature, it scared us like nothing ever has.  And then he was born, and didn't cry right away...scariest thing IN. THE. WORLD.

But the good news is he DID cry, even if it took eight more days to bring him home, at least we did!!!

So you can see why I was so worked up about today's amnio.  Scared silly.  Blood Pressure through the roof.  From the start it went much better this time.  LOTS of fluid to chose from, and no problems getting some of it extracted.  The worst possible thing that could have happened after today's (besides my water breaking) would have been that we would have had to wait a few more days to meet her...as uncomfortable as I have been, that still would have been much easier than seeing her head off to the NIC-U.  That has been the main goal all along, just a NORMAL hospital stay, and I am more happy than I can tell you that as of right now, it looks like THAT is what we're going to get!!  

Thank you ALL for all the prayers, they were felt today!  There is not enough words to express our gratitude for all the well wishes we got today.  

Not sure if you believe in the power of prayer?  Today while FREAKING out, waiting in my Drs office waiting room, even though I had NO SERVICE I kept getting text messages from people telling us they were praying.  Seriously, there is ZERO amount of service at my Ob.  It's in the basement of a large hospital and it is the deadest dead zone I've ever seen.  Yet, somehow...the messages kept coming.  Thank you Father, thank you!

BUT back to why I started writing this post, EARTH DAY (and how it applies to Cate)

You've all seen my hats, if not, just click on the Etsy tab above.  We wanted though to make something special for Cate.  We looked around the web and found a pattern for a lovie.  It couldn't be just ANY lovie though, according to Maggie.  So we found it.  And made it.  

 This is not it.  LOL.  THIS, however is a stuffed animal that was tagged for the "donation" pile by Maggie.  We just went through ALL her toys (and the whole third floor was a playroom) and played, "trash, donate, keep"  This sweet puppy just didn't make her cut.  I guess that's what happens when you're the only child for FOUR whole years.  Her build a bear stash is big enough to make me blush.  (BUT, since I didn't buy most of them, I'll pretend it's not that bad.)

This sweet puppy though, instead of being donated, was "re-purposed"  Cate's lovie needed some special touches, and we looked around for things we no longer were using to give it those touches.  It makes it more special that way.  So we un-stuffed this guy, making sure to take out ALL his stuffing and saving the extra we were not using for another purpose later.  It seemed much more economical than just going out and buying a bag of stuffing.  And the best part about it, Maggie was THRILLED to think of her things having a new use.  SO not only did we use this puppy to stuff our NEW lovie's head, but we also re-purposed an old Barbie play dress that no longer fits and has seen better days for it's pink satin underskirt.  

Maggie INSISTED that Cate's lovie have a satin backing(she has a thing for tags)and who am I to say no? 

Here is a sneak peek at Cate's lovie, we can't WAIT to show you the whole thing, for it has some GREAT additions on the front as well...

BUT...

you will have to see the lovie WITH Cate to see the front!!  I promised her sister!