She's here...

Nayeli Jane Petersen was born on Wednesday, March 28 at 6:02 am after only 5 hours of labor and 30 minutes pushing. She's beautiful and we love her. Birth story with more details to come soon.

Happy Due Date!

Today is my due date. I saw the doctor this morning and had my membranes stripped.

Current stats: 2.5 cm dilated. 70% effaced. Scheduled in one week for induction on Tuesday, April 3rd (obviously if she hasn't come yet).

I love my doctor. Do you know why? During my appointment he said, "You're going to have a baby this week" with such confidence I believed it. Even if it's not true, he's still my favorite.

P.S. The walk from our apartment around the mall was successful. I contracted the whole time. The only problem: when I sit down the contractions stop. Now to figure out how to trick my body into thinking I'm walking when I'm sitting. If you come up with any ideas, feel free to share. Maybe something like this would work:

This is it... or at least it better be

I am seriously hoping that this is the last post I write before the baby comes. It's nearly 2 am on a Monday morning and here I sit on our couch eating strawberries and pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies. Do I feel guilty? Not at all. I tried to fall asleep with Ben hours ago but can't because I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions the past two hours. Needless to say, they never become consistent and they never get stronger. Sorry to vent, but after 6 weeks of these suckers I think I'm ready to face the real deal and push this baby out.

The good news is baby is growing. Here's the current belly bump:

My mom pointed out today that although I may be small compared to other women, I'm getting large for my body size. It was the nicest thing she could have said to me. I think it made me feel some validation for feeling uncomfortable.

On Tuesday (my due date) the doctor is going to strip my membranes. And then I'm seriously considering walking laps around the mall. Who knows, maybe I'll be the first to deliver a baby in the mall parking lot. In that case, we promise not to name her Penney (JC), Victoria (Secret) or Charlotte (Russe). Although Aeropostale has a nice ring to it...

4 days away...

If you've been watching the pregnancy ticker on the sidebar as closely as I have (which is unlikely), you'd realize that I am due in 4 days. Can you believe it? There may be an end to this pregnancy thing after all.

However this little girl might come later than expected. Fashionably late you could say. Last Saturday night I was having an immense amount of Braxton Hicks. I laid on the couch all night hoping they would turn into real labor. Finally, as we were about to get ready for bed, they stopped. And I haven't had any consistent ones since.

I thought maybe the contractions had been worth it if I was dilated further than a 1. Unfortunately at my appointment on Tuesday I was barely a 2 and 60% effaced. The doctor said he'd likely see me again on Tuesday for my 40 week appointment.

But the good news is since I'm not having Braxton Hicks all the time, I feel great! My energy level has gone up and I'm nesting like crazy. I've sorted through all our food storage this week to find expired items. I've emptied my kitchen and wiped down the shelves. I've even delved into the craft world and have been making the cutest "hair pretties" (as Ben calls them) for the baby. If you know anything about DeBry children, we have no hair as babies and a bow is usually a good idea to help the general public discern that the baby is female.

I bought a bunch of tulle and organza fabric scraps at Hobby Lobby last week and have just been looking up tutorials on the internet. Their beads were also 50% off so for less than $20 I've been having the time of my life making hair accessories.

Some of her summer dresses with the corresponding hair flower on top.
When I do things like this (match clothes with accessories) I have to realize
that I'm my mother's daughter. Matching things is her favorite thing to do.

Ben's Job

Ben doesn't know I'm doing this, but many of you have wondered what he does at his job so I thought I'd show you. He works for an online outdoor knife company called Blade HQ and does all their videos for their website. He also does YouTube videos and giveaways since they have a large You Tube audience. Here's just two samples of the videos he's made. Enjoy!

Grandchild #34

I don't think I've yet mentioned that this baby we're expecting will be grandchild number 34 for my parents. That's right 3-4. You'd think by this time my mom would be tired of baby showers and such. However, if you know my mom I don't think she could ever get tired of throwing a party. Especially when my sisters get involved.

So last week my mom and sisters threw me an amazing baby shower and I have to blog about it (I promise this to be the last of the baby shower posts by the way. Ben says they're taking over the blog :) ).

Everything turned out beautifully and we had a great turn-out. It was so great to see some people that I hadn't seen in years.

My mom and sisters did all the food. The table was beautifully decorated.

A little touch of Rita in the centerpiece

Opening gifts

My Bushman cousins gave me the most amazing diaper cake.
Really, it was a work of art.

Rachel explaining how she put it together

And the guest list included:

My sweet nieces Adaline, Ashlyn and Stephanie

Nana Ruby, my DeBry grandma. She's 95 and amazing.

Debbie and Paola

My cousin Amy

Cousins and cousins-in-law from the Leckie side
(L to R: my sister Christina, Rachel, me, Briahna, Cindy and Anna)

First and second generation Leckie girls
(L to R: Aunt Margaret, me, my mom, Aunt Rilla, Aunt Alice, Aunt Carrol)

With some Jackson cousins, Verla and Stephanie

My sister Julia, me and our good friend Amy Clayton

The DeBry girls
(L to R back: Aunt Mary, Circe and her beautiful new baby Tziporah, Nana, me,
Aunt Marla, my sister Laura. Front: Tiffany, my mom, Allison)

Practicing with my friend Nicole Ernst's new baby girl

Thanks to my mom and all my sisters for a beautiful shower and to everyone else for coming. What fun to be together!

Showered with Love

Petersen Baby Shower

A few weeks ago Ben's grandmother Nyla threw me a baby shower. It was up in Ogden on a Saturday so Ben went skiing with his dad at Snowbasin while I spent the afternoon with Ben's family. It was such a fun shower and so good to see everyone. The Petersens make me feel very loved.

The shower was at the Ogden Country Club. Lunch was delicious!
(L to R: Leslie [Ben's aunt], Alice & Dixie [Nyla's sisters],
Jane [my mother-in-law], Me, and Nyla)

The other table of guests
(L to R: Kelly [Ben's aunt], her daughter Lacey, Chelsea [Ben's sister], Karissa [Ben's cousin] and Lydia and Sayla [his cousin's daughter and wife]

I got so many nice gifts. Everyone was so thoughtful and generous. Thanks Nyla!

Friend Baby Shower

Last week my high school friend Brooke threw me the most beautifully put together shower. Everything was so well planned, decorated, and executed that I couldn't have asked for anything better. I took our nice camera (I'm still working on the whole photography thing) and tried to capture some of the beauty in her decor.


We played some really fun games- one was called "My Water Broke" in which there were little plastic babies frozen into ice cubes. Brooke then put them into water glasses, gave everyone a glass and when she said "go", whoever could get the baby out of the ice first won. I thought it was super clever and it made me laugh.

Also, my friends have great taste in little girl's clothes. I got some really cute things. Ben also stopped in at the end so he could meet some of my friends he hadn't met before.

Of course I had to show him all the cute things we'd received


All the girls. Thanks to everyone for coming and Brooke for a great shower!
(Back L to R: Jessica, Cassidy, Natalie, me, Shea, Brooke, Annie.
Front L to R: Krista, Katie)