We were scheduled to induce at St. David’s North Austin on Wednesday, September 11. I spent most most of the week before in anxiety about the upcoming, unfamiliar experience…but on induction day, I was calm and ready. Aaron, on the other hand, came home early from work to knock out the rest of his “nesting chores” and still didn’t have the car seat installed when we went to the hospital. 

For dinner, we decided: to heck with it, and shared a ribeye at Texas Roadhouse on the way to the hospital. We checked in a bit before 8:00 PM and were settled in our spacious labor and delivery room shortly after. While I had my blood drawn and was hooked-up to the monitors, Aaron worked on hooking up our Firestick so I could comfortably labor to the familiar tale of The Lord of the Rings. 

The first phase of induction was to soften my cervix, which was expected to take about 12 hours. We put on LOTR, but I started drifting to sleep pretty quickly while watching the clock to see how my contractions were timing out. At some point, I fell asleep because I awoke to the nurse checking my monitors and realized the contractions were pretty uncomfortable. Shortly after, I started shaking uncontrollably and had to go to the bathroom. At this point, it was about 1:00 AM, so I had only been on the cervix softener for 3ish hours. The nurses started more fluids and checked my cervix and the doctor decided to go ahead and stop the cervix softening and let my contractions level out. 

During this time, baby’s heart rate got really low and then became really steady…which is apparently a bad thing.  The nurses kept coming in to check, but it lasted about an hour—during which time Aaron became an expert in monitoring the EKG machine. The doctor came in and started talking about a c-section. We asked to wait another hour to keep an eye on things and, fortunately, his heart rate returned to normal. 

We started pitocin at about 5:00 AM and I proceeded to snooze for an hour while the contractions ramped up. But boy-oh, it was a steep ramp, because when they came, they came on fast and painful. Initially, I thought I might just wait on the epidural to see what contractions felt like—ha! At just 3.5 cm dilated I was hitting the edge of the hospital bed, snarling at Aaron “I CAN’T. I CAN’T.” through clenched teeth and begging for the epidural. 

They got me that epidural pretty quickly though! And since the contraction were so intense, we stopped pitocin so labor could progress naturally at about 9:00 AM. Which it did! So from there the rest of labor was just XX hours of sleeping with intermittent cervix checks and fiddling with my contraction monitor.

At about 3:00 PM my cervix was fully dilated and my nurses said they would let my doctor know. In the meantime, we did a practice push that went so well we had to bring it to a halt after half a push.

Then the doctor came in…we waited for a contraction…I pushed…we waited for another contraction…I pushed…and he was here! Silas Doran Kunnemann joined our family at 3:47 PM on September 12 with a wolf-like cry that lasted as long as it took to get him up on my chest, cleaned up a bit and nursing. He weighed 6 lbs 5 oz and was 20” long—perfect. 

Postpartum was a whirlwind. Our room was small and poorly laid out so that we were always bumping into the bassinet. We ordered sushi for our first dinner, but were impressed with the hospital food we ordered the rest of the time. The first night was a blur of trying to stay awake while feeding and being checked on by nurses every few hours. We quickly learned the merit of swaddling, shushing and sucking—letting Si suck on my pinky since the pacifier was burning calories. 

The pediatrician came by and looked over our little Si Guy. His weight had dropped to 5 lbs 15 oz and apparently his head was measuring small. They wanted to do a couple tests/scans for some conditions that could be related to a small head size. We wouldn’t have the results for that until a week later (which were negative) and the anxiety cast a bit of a shadow on those early days.

We left after about 36 hours. Aaron installed the car seat about an hour before (although I had been telling him to do it for weeks) and we strapped out fussy little guy in. To no one’s surprise—he hated the car seat. But he settled after a bit and we loaded up and headed home to see if we could do this thing by ourselves…

WEEK 29

June 27 – July 3

• We return from St. Louis after the shower for some serious R&R.
• Baby hiccups for the first time…but it won’t be the last. Within a few weeks he’s having them multiple times per day.

WEEK 30

July 4 – 10

• We’re back on the road and in Missouri again this week. And I do mean “on the road” because we (Aaron) make the 12-hour drive back to Columbia for a FINAL work week on the AirBNB.
• I am feeling more heartburn and bloatiness than ever. But, I still find a way to eat all our Columbia favorites…Bangkok Gardens, Sub Shop (the veg with bacon, so no deli meat), B&B Bagels, Shakespeare’s Pizza…

WEEK 31

July 11 – 17

• Following the work week, we drive to Bolivar for another big weekend. First, the Roweton Roundup (family reunion) at the park on Saturday.
• Then, another amazingly adventurous baby shower! It was so wonderful to be surrounded by so much love from friends and family. Thank you to all the wonderful women who hosted and attended and are already loving Baby boy so much!

WEEK 32

July 18 – 24

• Is it just me, or is my hair looking awesome? I didn’t mention it before, but my fingernails are also amazinggg (for me). As a lifelong nail biter, my nails have always been weak. But now they’re so much stronger and longer!
• I can actually see my Baby’s movements in my belly.

WEEK 33

July 25 – July 31

• The 33rd was a veryyyy long week. Aaron and I came down with COVID, so we spent a few days in bed watching movies and sleeping…telling ourselves it was good practice for the early newborn days.
• Baby was still running small at our last ultrasound and I’d been advised to bulk up on the protein…ME…a cattle farmer’s daughter. How dare they. Though in truth, I haven’t had much of an appetite since my belly started growing, so started eating like a Hobbit. My daily “meal plan” was something like this…
  • Breakfast: Oatmeal with protein powder and peanut butter, then coffee with half a FairLife protein drink as creamer
  • Second Breakfast: 3 eggs (in whatever form I could stand to eat them: burrito, tacos, frittata, on toast, scrambled, hard-boiled)
  • Elevenses: Tuna or chicken or salmon salad sandwich
  • Luncheon: 2 beef jerky sticks and 2 cheese chunks
  • Afternoon Tea: Protein muffin and apple with peanut butter OR peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of milk
  • Dinner: Whatever our usual dinner for the day was
  • Dessert (though Hobbits also have a “Supper”): FairLife protein drink

WEEK 34

August 1 – 7

• Things are starting to get more uncomfortable, so I’m doing whatever work I can from bed. Ooooh how terrible 🙂
• I’ve also cut back on my long morning walk and we’re just doing a short walk after dinner. It certainly helps with the indigestion of eating and eating and eating.
• We start “The Impending Baby To-Do List”…
  • Finish/put away on-going projects (erhm, Aaron)
  • Finish the nursery
  • Send thank you cards
  • Sneak in a date night
  • Make pre-registration appointment
  • Make birth plan
  • Meal prep
  • Sterilize everything
  • Register for Texas license plates (that’s on everyone’s before baby to-do list, right?)
  • Install car seat
  • Pack hospital bag

WEEK 35

August 8 – 14

• Baby’s weight percentile is up, so a full menu is…back on the menu!
• Oh hello, leg cramps. A late-night scroll on Reddit informs me magnesium will do the trick and it certainly does. It’s also a helps with sleep on the occasions I’m feeling restless or my mind is spinning in the middle of the night.

WEEK 36

August 15 – 21

• My belly isn’t BIG, but it’s big enough to get in the way these days. My belly button hasn’t quite popped out though…just kind of weirdly folded over.
• Baby moves like a wild man. He seems to have found the position he’ll maintain for the rest of the pregnancy: head down (so far down), back along my right side, butt up and little feetsies kicking at my left side.

WEEK 37

August 22 – 28

• Baby’s weight is holding, but as he’s still on the smaller side, so we’re scheduled for an induction at 39 weeks. It’s strange to have a countdown, but Aaron’s project procrastination is usually eased with a firm deadline.
• The 37th week is probably the most uncomfortable so far. Even 38 and 39 don’t seem as rough as all the discomfort of 37 weeks: hot flashes, pressure, a sharp pain in my sternum one night, Braxton-Hicks, heart burn, sleepless nights.

WEEK 38

August 29 – September 4

• Like I said, the symptoms have decreased significantly this week, which is fortunate!
• I’m sleeping much better, but my dreams are strange and vivid. That’s actually my whole strategy for getting to sleep after middle-of-the-night bathroom wakings: When I wake up, I keep the dream on my mind to keep it from wandering. Then when I lay back down, I dive back into the dream before I can start worrying about the many, many things I am worried about, lol.

WEEK 39

September 5 – 11

• As is to be expected, my anxiety was off the charts this week. I would have thought that knowing when I was going in to be induced would have helped eliminate some of the uncertainty of the whole experience…but it really did not. I think it just made me more scared and worried about all the other things that would be out of my control…for the rest of my life.
• We FINALLY decided on a name. After months of discussion, the impending induction was the ~forcing function~ we needed to final decide.
• At 8:00 p.m. on September 11, we made our way into the hospital to be induced…about 20 hours later, our baby boy was screaming on my chest.

Week 14

March 13 – 19

• We travel to St. Louis so I can “social media” (is that a verb, yet?) the Dogtown Irish Festival.
• We surprise Nana and Bob with our baby news. They are so excited and give us lots of hugs and Nana cries, of course.
  • A few days later, Nana texts me a photo of some coffee mugs a friend has given them that say: Great Grandmother/father EST. 2024.
• We receive the results from the genetic test, which I wait for Aaron to get home to read together.
  • Aaron yells with excitement when I read the gender results are “MALE.”
  • We immediately start arguing about boy names.

Week 15

March 20 – 26

• My nausea is getting better, but I still have to stay on top of snacking. My regular foods include:
  • Cereal with blueberries
  • Coffee latte
  • Grapefruit
  • Breakfast burrito
  • Popcorn
  • Carrots
  • PICKLES
• I can tolerate the smell of food much better now, so making dinner isn’t a total nightmare.
• I have resumed walking again, although the shortness of breath is REAL.

Week 16

March 27 – April 2

• Derrick, Maria and Nico come to visit us and within minutes of their arriving, we tell them the news! Sitting in Baby’s future nursery, we tell them all the details and then spend the weekend asking for parenting advice.

Week 17

April 3 – 9

• I was sick this week with a sore throat and runny nose, but I bounced back quickly.
• Due to being sick, I was not sleeping well. My sniffling, coughing and water gulping was keeping Aaron up as well. We agreed that it sucked…but was probably good practice for life with a newborn.

Week 18

April 10 – 16

• I am feeling so much more motivated! I make the ultimate Baby To Do List and feel excited (not overwhelmed) about it.
• I start a prenatal yoga class on Wednesday and Saturday. At the beginning of each class, we all go around and introduce ourselves, how many weeks we’re at, and how we’re feeling. It’s great to pickup little pregnancy “life hacks” and to hear from the ladies who are further along than me.
• We took our blue bonnet “announcement” photos and shared to Instagram.

Week 19

April 17 – 23

• Baby moves for the first time…I think? Whether it’s Baby or gas, I’m excited!
• I start touring some daycares and, ironically, finally finish the textbook “Becoming Attached,” which I started back in January.

Week 20

April 24 – 30

• We traveled to Missouri again to work on getting the Columbia AirBNB in shape so that **hopefully** we won’t have too much to worry about while we’re also worrying about a newborn.
• Nausea is officially OVER, but I seem to have less of an appetite…which works with the smaller portion sizes I’m adapting to.

Week 21

May 1 – 7

• I feel Baby moving all the time now and it’s my favorite thing about being pregnant! (Compared to nausea, though, it’s not much of a competition.)
• We had our anatomy scan this week. It’s exciting to see Baby so much bigger than our last scan…but all the codes and measurements are a bit overwhelming. Our stubborn little guy has head hidden for the entire appointment, so we are scheduled for a rescan in a few weeks.
• Bex is in town and let’s me tag along as her plus one to a wedding where the bride and I have the SAME DUE DATE. Wild.

Week 22

May 8 – 14

• A few weeks ago, I stopped some moms on the trail to ask about their strollers/wraps (such a creep). After exchanging numbers, we meet up to walk this week and I soak in all the wisdom from these moms of 6-month-old, 3-month-old and 3-week-old babies.
• I listen to the audiobook “The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read,” and finish “The Happiest Baby on the Block.”
• We spend Mother’s Day buying Baby’s crib at IKEA and scoping out nursery decor.

Week 23

May 15 – 21

• Prenatal yoga classes continue and I start working in nightly pelvic floor stretches. I seem to have regained my stamina, so walks are getting longer…just in time for Austin’s first “heat dome” in MAY.
• We have our anatomy rescan this week and are delighted to see more of his sweet little face this time. Also delighted to have gotten all those missing measurements from the first scan.

Week 24

May 22 – 28

• I have some leg cramps, in the form of a dull ache across the entirety of my calves. After some extensive late-night Reddit research, I take a magnesium that has me to snoozing in 30 minutes.
• I have my first run-in with pregnancy hormones, which are just a joy for the whole household. Oof, it is rough, but I’m grateful they aren’t more prevalent…so far…
• We discover that when Aaron rests his ear on my stomach, Baby promptly kicks/pushes/fist-bumps him back. Repeatedly. Like, every time we test this, Baby reacts. We are obsessed.

Week 25

May 29 – June 4

• There are a few bouts of acid reflux, but nothing too serious yet.
• My 1-hour glucose test goes pretty smoothly. If you’re not a pro at having your blood drawn before TTC/pregnancy…you sure will be afterwards.

Week 26

June 5 – 11

• Lindsey and I meet up in San Antonio for a weekend of remembering childhood…high school…college…the Alamo, I guess.
• We finish the childbirth class at our hospital and tour the delivery and prenatal rooms. The class (six total hours) is quite detailed and, although some things are hard to hear/think about/imagine, I’m glad to have all the information.

WEEK 27

June 12 – 18

• Baby is within the normal weight range, but we’re keeping an eye on him with monthly ultrasounds. Look how much his face has developed in just a couple weeks!

WEEK 28

June 19 – 26

• What a week! Aaron and I flew back to St. Louis for my first baby shower. It was a whirlwind watching everyone get ready for the event at our house (Aaron replaced the dishwasher the day before, lol) but I am so appreciative of everything that my sister, aunts, cousin, nana, sister-in-law and mother-in-law did to make the day absolutely perfect. We are so fortunate to have so many family and friends who wanted to celebrate Baby.

Hilarious how I thought I would start up a blog and immediately fell prey to the nausea and unmotivational fog of pregnancy’s first trimester. Although I may not have been blogging, I was keeping a weekly journal of my experience. Now that I’m safely in the second trimester and feeling GREAT (comparatively), it seems like a good a time as any to glance back at the last–dear god, has it really been–five months.

Week 1-4

December 13 – January 9

• We celebrate Christmas my birthday and New Years Eve. From Austin to St. Louis, Waynesville, Bolivar, Columbia…Chicago and Las Vegas…we took our little embryo on all kinds of adventures before we knew anything about.

Week 5

January 10 – 16

• I take a pregnancy test and it’s positive!
• I decided to stop running, but start walking daily.

Week 6

January 17 – 23

• My weight is down about 5 pounds.
• I start trying to focus on more nutrient-rich meals…

Week 7

January 24 – 30

• …aaaand then the nausea begins and all those nutritious meals are not appetizing.
• However, constant snacking is essential. Thank you @emiliesmith for all the nausea advice.

Week 8

January 31 – February 6

• We have our first ultrasound (just a little peek with the doctor) and hear Baby’s heartbeat. It feels so unreal and exciting, we’re just gushing.

Week 9

February 7 – 13

• As the nausea continues, I discover some new favorite (tolerable) foods:
  • “Coffee latte” (equal parts coffee and milk)
  • Apples + peanut butter
  • Cheese sticks
  • PICKLES
  • Soup
  • Chick-fil-A
  • Panera blueberry muffin

Week 10

February 14 – 20

• My weight is back up to normal.
• I’ve stopped yoga and pilates…walks are few and far between.
• I picked up some neck pain that lasts for a month.

Week 11

February 21 – 27

• We moved to a new rental house this week and it was tough to manage the nausea between packing and moving.
• The #1 rule of nausea becomes clear to me: EAT BEFORE YOU ARE NAUSEOUS OR NOTHING SOUNDS APPETIZING.

Week 12

February 28 – March 5

• We went on a ski trip with my Dad and uncle Wes. I took it very easy–calling it quits for the day shortly after lunch.
• I also told my Dad about being pregnant. Although he isn’t a man of many words, after an initial excited congratulations, he proceeded to give me a quick hug every so often for the next hour.

Week 13

March 6 – 12

• We have our first official ultrasound and are amazed that he already looks like a human (alien?) baby.
• Abbie comes to visit and tell her the news. She shows her excitement by making me the most delicious, nutritious soup and tacos. What an angel!

By the way…want to know how all those optimistic resolutions are going through all this?? NOT WELL. First of all, since one of my daily habits was no alcohol (which I couldn’t do now anyway), I switched it up to “resting.”

	January	February	March
Achieve 80% of daily habits	85%	69%	64%
Spend 500 hours outside (42 hours per month)	14	8	31
Generate $50,000 income ($4,167 per month)	$5,396	$4,828	$8,497
Read 10 of 100 greatest books	1	2	1
Read 4 parenting books	–	–	1
Visit 4 new places	–	–	Breckenridge, CO
Meet 12 new people	–	–	1

A year after graduating college, my friend group (the “Peaches”) planned a reunion trip to Las Vegas. We crammed ourselves into two hotel rooms at the Excalibur and got the strongest/cheapest drinks we could find to maximize our limited budgets. We carried on late into the night and slept in most of the day. As I recall, hangovers are much less debilitating when you are 24.

Ten years later, I returned to the strip as a tag-a-long with Aaron on a company trip. I ended up registering for the CES conference as well, and spent most of the days away from the group while I checked out the marketing and content creation segments.

So, what’s changed in the last ten years?

what i wore

Then: First and foremost, in 2014 we had matching branded tank tops. No one ever wants to get matching shirts for conferences for some reason?

We really didn’t do much besides sleep in and “go out,” so what I wore was primarily “going out” outfits. Notable trends in my wardrobe were short skirts and dresses, multi-color prints and costume jewelry and heels (on night one, resulting in sandals for nights two and three). Not to mention, my eye makeup was almost 4x what I wear these days.

Now: Packing in 2024 may have actually been more difficult, because unlike my post-college years, most of my closet consists of leggings and casual crop tops. Additionally, Aaron only ever wears jeans and t-shirts, so I can’t dress over him too much.

My conference outfits may have been a little on the casual side, but as I was not representing any company besides myself – I think it worked out just fine. I definitely don’t regret opting for sneakers, since the walk from The Palazzo to ARIA was a cool 45 minutes.

In the evenings, I joined Aaron’s co-workers for dinner, so I wanted to bring a little Vegas flavor to my outfits. The vision for these outfits were shiny/silky or fitted. My color choices were much more muted than in 2014, and black leather shoes/purse will always be my default. But the one outfit I just kept coming back to was the robe. It’s quite the fit.

how I Spent the Days

Then: While it’s true that we slept in a lot in 2014, we did have a pool day and we went skydiving! It is the only time I’ve ever been skydiving, and I to say, it’s a great area with amazing views to do it! Another thing I did during the day in 2014 that I somehow managed to avoid in 2024 was gambling. On my first trip, I sat down to play the slots on the first day we arrived. I won $73.41 and then I never played again.

Now: On this trip, I’ve spent the days listening to conference speakers and exploring the tech exhibits. On the last morning of trip, I enjoyed a massage at the Wynn Spa (thanks for the rec, Emilie!). To be fair, if it weren’t January, I would probably have spent a day by the pool as well.

how i spent the nights

Then: According to my blog in 2014, “We gambled, we ate overpriced meals, we took plenty of pictures, we waited in hour-long lines for clubs, we paid $20 for drinks, we accidentally stayed out till 5:30 a.m….”

Now: I have discovered the perfect afternoon/evening (notice I didn’t even bother calling it a “night”) routine…

• 3:00 pm (or earlier) Leave conference
• 3:30 pm Return to room (put on robe/slippers)
• 4:00 pm Relax (start this blog post, journal, stretch, gaze out at the mountains, watch TV, nap)
• 6:00 pm Dinner with Aaron’s co-workers
• 8:00 pm Split off and return to room
• 8:30 pm Soak in jacuzzi (read)
• 10:00 pm Get ready for bed
• 10:30 pm Sleep

One thing that certainly hasn’t change though…coming back from Vegas is exhausting. We traveled around for two weeks for the holidays, came home to repack and flew on to Las Vegas within 24 hours. Now that I’m finally back home and (somewhat) settled, I am looking forward to a lot of laying low and doing boring life things.