crib bedding: Olli & Lime | soother: WubbaNub Lamb 
Can you believe it has taken me 4 years and 3 babies to finally decorate our nursery?
In all honesty, I put decorating on the back burner because we live in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in downtown Edmonton. It’s hilarious that I started nesting/decorating because this is the last year and last baby we’ll have in this apartment.
Come September it will be Matt’s last year in Law School and we will hopefully be moving into our first home in 1 years time. Which is super exciting!
The first question I usually get when people see that we have 3 little girls and hear that we live in an apartment is: soooo, how does that work with sleeping arrangements for the girls?
The older girl’s share a single/twin bunk bed with stairs (opposed to a ladder to reach the second bunk), with Annaliese on the top bunk and Abigail on the bottom bunk. Then Adeline will sleep in her crib when she can sleep longer through the night, right now she sleeps in a bassinet outside our room.
It’s the perfect sibling sleeping system, and who knows if we’ll have them all continue to share a room when we buy our first house! More space for me!
One of my favourite things about their neutral nursery decor is Adeline’s matching Olli & Lime black cross bedding set (crib sheet, crib skirt, pillow, and blanket)! I’m a sucker for everything matching – trust me I basically buy all the girl’s clothes in 2’s so they can match outfits.
And the best part is I have partnered with Olli & Lime to giveaway and for those who just can’t wait to get their hands on a set here’s an amazing deal with the promo code: BABY33
The giveaway is open to US and Canada residents, the giveaway will end September 8th, 2017 and the winner will be announced on Instagram on September 12th, 2017. Now the fun part! To enter:
- Follow @honeyandbetts and @olliandlime
- Tag 3 friends in 1 comment on the original giveaway post
- For an extra entry, tag another 3 friends!
That’s it! Good luck, darlings!
I’m obsessed with bathing suits this summer… considering all the bathing suits I bought were not maternity. It was strange, but now I have a range of fun, supportive bathing suits if we choose to go to the pool or go on vacation. Wink wink, nudge nudge Matt. Maybe these end of summer essentials will transition into my winter holiday essentials!
Do you ever go on binges of certain items? Sometimes it’s shoes and sometimes it’s bags for me, but this time it was swim suits!
P.S I am now completely obsessed with this peppermint lip conditioner – who can stay away from the perfect product for hydrating your lips for your favourite lipstick? Not me!
Going into this week I had so many questions surrounding what to expect being medically induced at the hospital with cervidil and pitocin (better known as the drip)… More questions I had were: What is the labour process when induced in the hospital? What is the effectiveness of cervidil? What are the labor risks of being induced with cervidil? How to prepare to be induced by cervidil? What if cervidil doesn’t work? How long will it take to give birth after being induced?
I had so many questions about being induced in the hospital!
Even though I did my research into other’s cervidil induction stories, I did not expect to be induced for 3 days at the hospital (going in and out daily to get 3 doses of cervidil) but finally on the third day I reached the 3cm and was admitted to give birth!
If you too have these questions around being induced with cervidil, I didn’t get them all answered before I went into the hospital but I surrendered my situation to God and felt an overwhelming peace about being induced at the hospital.
If you have been following my Instastories this past week you are up to date on the events leading up to Adeline’s birth, but for those who do not, this is what my experience being induced in labour was:
Wednesday: I had my appointment with my temporary doctor (while mine was away on holiday for the week) and they were concerned that I was measuring for 41 weeks pregnant while I was only 39 weeks pregnant. They suspected that my baby was quite large already – that combined with I have a tendency to give birth past my due date lead us to book an ultrasound for fetal growth for the next day. But I wasn’t overly concerned considering my first baby was 9 lbs 1 oz and my second was 8 lbs 6 oz – I tend to create big babies!
Thursday: The ultrasound went smoothly and it was confirmed my baby was definitely a girl (the first ultrasound technician at 20 weeks was only 80% positive my baby was a girl). The results would be given to my temp doctor and they would call me later.
Friday: I received the call from my temp doctor saying nothing on the ultrasound was bad but I needed to come into their office to discuss options. When I arrived the estimated weight of my baby was 9 lbs 4 oz. Woah, that’s a big baby!
They did not need to twist my arm to consent to coming into the hospital Monday to be induced. The hospital would call me on Monday to let me know when to come in. All very exciting!
Sunday: After feeling very nervous and excited all weekend, the hospital called! I was to come in first thing in the morning and they would check if I had dilated and progress from there.
Monday: Today’s the day! Except I was only 1cm dilated… which meant I needed Cervidil to “ripen” my cervix (SORRY FOR TMI). Cervidil is like a very tiny tampon placed on your cervix with medicine on the end to cause your cervix to thin and stretch.
They needed to watch my baby and I at the hospital for 2 hours after I was given the Cervidil and if nothing happened in those 2 hours then I would be sent home to try to get labour going. I needed to call into the assessment wing every 4 hours to check with my nurse on my progress. If nothing happened all day I needed to come back to the hospital the next morning for another dose of Cervidil. I could have up to 3 doses of Cervidil.
All day nothing happened.
Tuesday: We arrived bright and early to the hospital, wondering if today was the day, but when they checked I was 2cm dilated. Ugh! In order to progress to the next step of inducing labour I needed to be 3cm. I was so close!
So, they gave me my second dose of Cervidil, and during my 2 hours where they monitored us I got a tiny taste of labour. The contractions were intense and slightly painful, and made me feel nauseous. Right away, I asked for something for the nausea and pain – the nurse ordered me a shot of morphine and that helped right away. I was able to take a nap and endure the hard hospital bed for the remaining 2 hours.
Then we were sent home. And nothing happened (contraction and labour wise) for the rest of the day.
Wednesday (her due date): Today HAD to be the day. I could only have 3 doses of Cervidil and today would be the third one if I wasn’t already 3cm dilated. But guess what?! I was 3cm! YAY!
They whisked me away to the labour and delivery wing where I was given an IV (the nurses trying to find a vein may have been the worse part of it all, I have tiny veins) and started me on the drip to get the contractions going! After a couple hours I decided to use the anesthesiologist before she was called into a c-section surgery because my contractions were becoming intense and painful (did you know c-sections take 45 minutes to 1 hour to perform? I thought that was interesting!)
I delivered my first baby without an epidural (it was a hard, stressful 24 hour labour), and I laboured for 12 hours before I got an epidural with my second baby – so by now, I knew my body dilates VERY slowly and opted for the epidural as soon as possible into labour. And I’m glad I did! When it was 3 hours into labouring with the epidural I was only 5cm. 5cm dilated! I know my body labours slower with the epidural but DANG!
And to be honest, getting my IV in my arm hurt more than having the epidural inserted. Matt watched this time when they put it in (he held my hands last time so he couldn’t see) and he was surprised how far the needle goes into your back.Â
After my epidural Matt and I watched movies on our tablet, my mom and sister visited for a bit and brought Matt food, I checked emails – it was a very relaxing labour experience in the hospital.
I started to feel pressure but didn’t need to push, so we let her be pushed by the contractions and gravity until her head was showing (again modern medicine is a beautiful thing because it was truly painless, also sorry for TMI), then within 7 minutes and 5 pushes she was born!
I had small 2nd degree tears, though I had the same with both my first and secod babies so I’m used to it. The doctor gives you a couple shots to numb the area and then sews you up right after you’ve delivered your placenta.
Adeline weighed 9 lbs exactly and was 21 1/2 inches long, and apparently my placenta was pristine looking according to the cord blood people. I’ll take that as a compliment!
Although the whole experience was long and drawn out over a few days, labour was my quickest (total 10 hours from when I was given my IV) and most relaxing. I relied on God for strength, courage, and peace – we always pick a bible verse to dedicate each of our girls to and this is the one I kept reading while preparing for labour:
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” – Deuteronomy 31:8Â
I am so blessed to finally have my little Adeline join our family!
Are you expecting to have your labor induced at the hospital? Have you been induced with Cervidil? Let me know below!
If you like this post, check out my Experience Giving Birth To My Fourth Baby rant/post before you go!
Make sure you pin this post on Pinterest so you can come back to it later!
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Are you wanting to take and share beautiful photos of your baby?
Make sure you sign up for my email list! You will even receive my FREEBIE for the 3 phone apps I use to edit all my blog and Instagram photos, hurry up and go get it! It’s so easy and you will be taking gorgeous snaps of your little ones in no time!
If you’re like me you can usually tell by the first or second use of a product if you like it or not – even if I really want to love a product my gut will know that it is not for me. Thankfully, my buyers intuition has saved me A LOT of money.
I could not wait to try the Clarisonic Mia Fit Makeup Brush, the brush head actually will fit on all the Clarisonic devices but I especially like it on the Mia Fit because it’s the most compact.
But the big question, how do you contour and highlight your face?
First, I apply highlight: under my eyes in an upside down triangle, down my nose, on my chin and forehead also in a triangle shape. Then I blend!
Second, I contour my face by: applying a thin line in the shallows of my cheeks (under your cheekbone), and then along the edges of my forehead to my temple. Again, then I blend!
I like to add blush to my whole HAC (Highlight And Contour) routine because it perks up my complexion. I apply a tiny amount of my cream blush to the apples of my cheeks, then I use a flat foundation brush to blend my cream blush.
And finally, I use illuminator on my cheekbones and on my brow bone to create that glowing effect.
Then I tried the Bite Beauty Lip Primer and Liquid Lipstick – as always I loved it. The colour is very rich and pigmented. It doesn’t stay on as long as I would like it to, especially when you drink and eat, but the colour is still very beautiful.
Do you prefer darker makeup during the fall?
Edmonton Blogger Brunch With Central Social Hall
Our beautiful medium bouquets, from Them Blooms, photographed by Clara Cecilia Photography.
Dazzling confetti balloons and cursive “party” balloon from Sugar Girlee Co.
Kastles Blog | Northern Style Exposure | Honey & Betts | The Momoirs | 204 Park | Clara Cecilia
I cannot stop raving about the explosion of Edmonton’s patio scene this year – I feel like last year there was only the common spots like O2’s rooftop patio and Craft’s rooftop patio that were available for outdoor summer dining.
But there are only so many times you can switch back and forth between those two locations…
Through a friend I had excitedly heard that Central Social Hall was renovating their entire Jasper Avenue place (which looks fantastic by the way – the bathrooms are phenomenal with the giant flower walls and floor-to-ceiling mirrors) and opening a brand new patio.
It’s like they knew what a blogger‘s dream patio looked like! Those pink umbrellas stole my heart away the second I saw them.
The staggered landings help the layout feel open and not overcrowded with the tables. Even though you’re on Jasper Avenue your conversation is not drowned out by the street noise because you’re elevated off ground level.
I was so happy my Edmonton blogger gals could join me for my last hurrah before this baby arrives next month! We were treated to a tasting of their brunch and cocktail/mocktail menus – they recently revamped their entire Central Social Hall menu, and now are using the freshest and local ingredints in all their dishes.
The menu no longer offers frozen, ready to go pub food but now serves innovative, contemporary meals that are delicious! We tried:
Mimosas
A huge thanks to:
Central Social Hall on Jasper Avenue
Dresses That Will Grow With Your Pregnant Belly
I lived in dresses this pregnancy, and the key to finding dresses that will grow with your pregnant belly through the 40 weeks is: silhouette and length.
The silhouette depends on your personal style and lifestyle. I like wearing flowy dresses, because they give me the range of motion I need to wrangle my other two girls. During my first pregnancy I had many, many more fitted dresses because I felt gorgeous in them (and didn’t have two wild monkeys to chase), so there’s no wrong and no right way to choose dresses.
Length – I’m 5′ 9″ so any short dresses become tunics (I need to wear bottoms under) when I hit the 3rd trimester. To save money I invested in 4-5 maxi and midi dresses this pregnancy, and I’m so glad I did because they were well worn! So depending on your height you will need to gauge how long you’ll be able to wear the dresses you purchase.
I also have a secret…
I barely wore any “maternity” dresses (the PinkBlush, Gray Monroe, Poppy & Dot dresses I wore are also for non-pregnant ladies, so it’s a win-win). I bought a couple plus size dresses from Forever21 and sized up for my Old Navy dresses but the rest were regular dresses that I will be able to wear postpartum. Woo!