Welcome Sloane - birth recap

John and I headed into the doctor's office on Monday afternoon where they promptly sent us over to labor and delivery since my water had broken. We giggled like a couple of school girls going from one parking garage to the next as the whole thing seemed quite surreal after so many months of anticipation. When we arrived at L&D, they told us they didn't have a room open yet (apparently a busy day for babies) so we went for a nice walk to Starbucks and both called into work to wrap some things up knowing we'd be taking some time off. Once we got into our birthing room around 5:30 and went through all the necessary paperwork with our nurse, they gave me some drugs to help speed up contractions and we were off and running. Unfortunately, the stereo in our room didn't have the right connections to plug in an ipod so the playlist I'd spent quite a bit of time creating didn't even get played. We settled for some Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy and Cash Cab to pass the time. My parents showed up around 8:30 to entertain us. At about quarter after 10 I decided it was epidural time. A word to the wise...don't try to see how long you can make it without the pain meds, just go ahead and get it. The last 1/2 hour waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive and then for the epidural to kick in was not pleasant. Things were looking up once that glorious, wonderful, amazing epidural kicked in and we waited some more for my contractions to speed up and Sloane to drop enough for the pushing to begin. As we waited, John took guesses from our family members of what time she would arrive, how much she'd weigh, and how long she would be. We joked that my dad had an unfair advantage in his guess of the time (3:45 am) and to be honest, I was a lot happier with everyone else who had guesses of around 1 am. Dr. Pat turned out to be right and after an hour and a half of pushing, Sloane joined the world at 3:43 a.m. Words cannot begin to describe the feeling of when the put that slimy, bloody, wailing little girl on my chest...truly the most amazing moment of my life.
Strapped in and ready to go!


We had the most amazing nurse, Suzanne. She was fun, incredibly supportive, and made sure we understood everything that was happening each step of the way.












Pat & Deb (aka Mimi and Bobba) spent a good chunk of time in the waiting room and only got to meet Sloane briefly before my dad had to head into work. Total rock stars!

Sloane Nicole Poort

Tuesday, June 15th
3:43 a.m.
8 lbs, 8 ozs
19 1/4 inches
Absolutely perfect!







We are thrilled to announce the arrival of baby Sloane! Many more photos to come as we continue to get settled in at home. Baby, mom, and dad are all doing wonderfully. We are so very in love.

Happy Birthday Anderson Cooper!

Happy 2nd (or 14th) birthday! Oh Cooper...how we love you. While you aren't the world's best behaved dog, walking through the door to your howling and butt wiggle can make anyone's day. And at least you've got that excited piddling under control.





I'm not yet sure if you realize just how much your world is about to be rocked. At least, once the baby comes, you won't be subjected to this sort of stuff...

When you came into our lives we became a family. We love you. Happy Birthday Cooper!

Best friends already

Cooper can't wait to meet her sister

The nursery

I've been decorating the nursery in my head since the day we found out I was pregnant. Actually, if I'm being honest...long before that. As soon as we moved into our house, we started working on it. John was his incredible self and made everything I asked for a reality. Now it's done and it's everything I'd hoped it would be. It's funky and fun. It's girly without being too girly. It certainly isn't your typical baby's room...not a pastel or barnyard animal in sight (okay - John pointed out the sheep on the crib...but that's the only one).
Before:


After:

The baskets in the changing table are actually hot pink. Not sure why they are showing up red here.

Before:


After:


Before:


After:


Before:


Dresser drawer


After:


Now all we need is a baby!

Belly shots

Everyone knows that belly photos are a big deal during pregnancy, but the whole thing seemed a bit cheesy so I resisted. Now I'm certainly wishing I'd done more. At least every two weeks to mark the progress. Luckily I have a few that tell the story of the growing belly that is baby Poort.

29 weeks:


34 weeks:


38 weeks - and ready for baby to come out an meet us already:

Welcome to Cankletown. Population....Kelly.

For the most part, I have really enjoyed pregnancy and I've had a pretty easy one. It is a truly incredible experience for women to be able to have. I love feeling her move. I'm in awe by the fact that there is another human being growing inside of me. Even when she was just the size of a little bean, I loved that the (sometimes strange) things your body does are preparing you to grow a new life inside of you. I love strangers stopping you on the street to find out when you are due and what you are having. People smile at you more. I love watching how John reacts to my growing belly and his excitement about becoming a dad. I love buying baby clothes and all the other fun baby gear. Seriously, there is so much cool stuff out there. I love decorating the nursery, creating a space where your child will find comfort and grow. Folding all of the little onesis, hanging all of the decorations. The list goes on and on. Sure, there are some things that are a bit annoying about pregnancy...the exhaustion, the back aches, juice instead of cocktails at a holiday party, the horror pregnancy/delivery stories that strangers love to tell you, birth videos. But those are all incredibly insignificant compared to the amazing stuff happening. That is, until you look down one day and realize you have cankles. After a particularly crazy day at work three weeks ago, I came home and took off my shoes to find this:


Those lines on the top of my foot - indents from where the strap had dug into my puffy feet. The dark coloring near my heel - pooled blood. Notice that you can't tell where my ankle ends and calf begins. This was the day I temporarily retired any shoes with even an inkling of a heel. John's been a saint and given me nightly food rubs, but I know it's mostly because he enjoys seeing what funny shapes he can press into my swollen flesh. I'm now a flat shoe wearing, cankle sporting, pregnant chick. Baby...if you are listening...it's time to come out.