No time for blogging

I'm spending my days and some of my nights at my daughter's house helping out with the new baby.

I'm one blessed Mama T!

Announcing Nola's arrival

Finally......after many hours of labor Andrea has given birth to Nola Fay.

She weighed 7 lb.,6 oz. and was 21 inches long.  Born Sunday, August 18 at 10:31 p.m.

I won't go into all the details because there are so many. But here are a few. Andrea had her heart set on natural child birth with a midwife in a birthing center.  I watched this incredible daughter of mine breathe through hours and hours of pain until she just ran out of steam.  After three nights of no sleep and a transfer to the hospital, an epidural that lost its effect after as many pushes as a girl can endure, Andrea ended up with a C Section under general anesthesia and didn't even get to see her baby make her entrance into the world.  Patrick could not be in surgery either and we soon found out that Nola was in trouble with breathing problems and was whisked away to the NICU unit for treatment.  We had a major prayer meeting in the waiting room!  We assumed Andrea was in recovery but soon found out that she was still in the surgery unit because she had lost so much blood.  Another major prayer meeting!

Yesterday afternoon was better. Nola is doing better. Andrea finally got to hold her and by last night I even got to hold her.  We are praising God for a good outcome for what could have been really bad.

I might add that everything went exactly as it should have.  At no time, through labor were Nola or Andrea ever in danger because of Andrea's choices for natural childbirth.  The wonderful doctor sent by God was in agreement with the midwife and Andrea had the best support team ever.  I'm so thankful I was able to witness the entire thing up to the point of her being whisked off to surgery.  I have proclaimed that my daughter is not only the strongest WOMAN on earth but the strongest PERSON on earth!  

Here is Nola seeing her daddy for the first time:

And here's the first touch from her mommy, 12 hours after her birth.

And last, but certainly not least.....Nola meets Mama T.

Nola is still in the NICU.  Her lungs are clear but she is having some sucking problems so she's got a feeding tube.

NEWS FLASH:  Nola is now in the room with Andrea.  More prayers answered!  Guess where I'm headed!

New quilt in the making

I've started a new quilt for some sewing fun. This one will be for one of my guild's project, "Quilts for Kids".  Last year the quilts made for this project were entered in the Tulsa State Fair and then were given to sick children in one of our local hospitals.

Here's the fabric:

Here's what I've gotten done so far:

I have to keep myself busy while waiting for Nola's arrival.  2 days past due date and counting......

More nursery pictures

Well, the nursery is almost done.  I've been helping Andrea hang things on the wall and working on last minute details.  Her due date is tomorrow but we're thinking it will probably be another week.  So knows?!

I ended up ruffling some more to cover this footstool,  Here is the "before" picture.

And here it is after I worked it over.  I quilted the top covering.  The ruffles are stapled on.  The secret to that, friends, is an electric staple gun.  I couldn't have done it without it.  Then I covered the staples on the top ruffles with a ribbon and hot glue.  It didn't look so good, so I made the sash.  It's glued in two places, front and back.  I hope it stays on!

This afternoon, I hung the dresses on the wall.  Andrea had painted the hooks to match the woodwork, so I stood on a chair and screwed them into the wall.  The yellow and pink dresses were my baby dresses and the green one was my husband's.  haha. Back in the 50's no one knew what gender baby was coming, so I'm sure someone in the family really wanted him to be a girl.  He claims he never wore it!

The chevron blanket was knitted by my other daughter, Calista.  Isn't it beautiful!?  I want one!

The empty picture frames will be filled with portraits of Nola.  Andrea is a professional photographer so a lot of the artwork in her house is photographs.

The only thing missing is:

Ruffles have Ridges!

Remember that potato chip commercial about Ruffles?  Well, I've been ruffling.  Miles and miles of ruffles.

But at last, I've finished.  At least for now.  The dust ruffle for the new baby's bed is done and on the bed.  Unfortunately, because of my bad planning (and not remembering what the bottom of the bed actually looked like) the bottom ruffle doesn't show up too well.  But I still like it and Andrea (baby's Mama) is thrilled with it.  The due date is the 10th and we're all anxiously waiting for Nola to make her appearance any day now.

Finished!

On bed!

Side view!

Pregnant girl!  And husband!

July Goals

I recently posted pictures of these two things I've finished this month, but here they are again for Carrie's challenge at 

www.apashionforapplique.blogspot.com

Bumper pads

Nola's quilt

Getting ready

I've spent parts of every day this week at Andrea's house helping her get her "act together".  Baby Nola is due in jut 2 weeks and there were many things to be done.

So this week the inside of her house was painted, cleaned, carpets steam cleaned, carseat ordered, swing bought.  All of this while her husband was out of town on business.  And tonight she shot her last wedding before her maternity leave starts (she's a professional photographer).  Thankfully, I didn't have to do all that work, but I did do a lot so I'm tired.  I haven't had much time to sew but I did a couple little things.  Like this pillow for the nursery:

Today is my husband's birthday.  This little shirt was his and probably made by his great grandmother over 59 years ago.  The blue edging was already on the shirt and yesterday I added the silk ribbon roses so it would look a bit more "girly".  I thought it would be sweet for Nola to wear something made by her Great, Great, Great Grandma.