Labor and Toile

This is me after my water broke and right before heading to the hospital for labor!

Also known as Mikayla's birth story

Wednesday night, October 21, we went to dinner with our friends and neighbors Matt & Monica. Before going, Mark joked that after having the chicken fried steak and a slice of pie for dessert that I would definitely go into labor around 3AM that night. Well, as you know, I didn't have the chicken fried steak (I had that the last time I was at this restaurant *_*). Regardless, we were pooped that night and by 10PM, were crashed out dead to the world.

I was rudely awaken at 11:30PM to gushing warm water. My water had broken! For about 2 weeks before this event, I had wondered, repeatedly, how I would know when my water broke. I mean, what if I was going to the bathroom and my water broke then? How would I differentiate pee from amniotic fluid? Luckily for me, there was NO doubt about it. I was surrounded by about a liter of warm water and it just kept coming after I woke up.

I reached over to wake Mark up. "Honey! My water broke!" To which, Mark immediately jumped out of bed. He ran over the light switch as I waited to get some light. When nothing happened, I asked, "What are you doing over there?" His answer? "I don't know."

After we finally illuminated the room, I asked him to please bring me towels to get this mess cleaned up. His reaction was to run to the bathroom, grab the towels and hand them to me. Now mind you, I'm over 38 weeks pregnant, rolled over on my back like a turtle on its shell. And he hands me towels like I can clean up this mess in my current position. "Get me out of this mess!!!" hahaha... he was so out of it.

Once we got me out of bed, I was much better. I was still gushing liquid, so I told him that since I was going to get admitted tonight, I wanted to go ahead and get a shower in case the labor process was going to go long. That warm shower felt SOOOO good. My back, my breasts, my everything felt wonderfully relaxed under that warm water. In the meantime, I asked Mark to call the doctor's night line and let them know that my water had broken. We had calmed down now and they told us to go ahead down to the hospital. They would call ahead to get our paperwork processed.

While I got cleaned up, dressed and finished packing, Mark woke Stoli up, called our neighbors Jim & Natalie and took Stoli over to their place. We then called Tommy & Stephanie and our parents. Tommy & Steph said they would meet us at the hospital. Both our parents told us that they would be at the hospital in the morning. I guess everyone realized that it would be mid morning, early afternoon before I would have this baby.

We checked into the hospital around 12:30AM and were quickly admitted. I hated that they were putting the IV's into me, but was happy that they didn't bother me too much. I was also feeling pretty good that even though my water had broken, my contractions were really no worse than they had been in the past few weeks. Tommy & Steph showed up and the atmosphere was light and excitable. None of us knew what to expect and what type of timeline we were on. Tommy set up the laptop so that I could talk to Cathy in Mississippi. Around 1:30, we decided that we all needed to get some sleep. Tommy & Steph headed out to the lobby sofas. Mark set up on the sleeper sofa for the night. Around 3AM, my contractions started kicking in. Which meant that I could no longer sleep and bathroom breaks were very much necessary. Thank goodness for that nurse button because there was no waking up Mark from his slumber!

About 6AM, Mark finally woke up. My contractions were getting more intense. I was having to breathe through them. By 7:30AM, I had been at this for 8 hours. And only about 3 1/2 cm dilated. Boy, I had 3x more to go and if the first 8 hours were telling, it was going to be a LONG day. I was annoyed with everything. At one point, I yelled at Mark because the beeping from his text messaging was annoying me to no end.

Concerned that I would be too exhausted getting to 10 cm and have nothing left in the tank when it finally came time to push... I gave in and ordered the epidural. The basis of my decision? I would rather have the epidural and push through a vaginal birth than to stay natural, not be able to endure the pain and proceed to a c-section.

So by about 8:30AM, I was happy as a clam and was finally able to rest and nap. My parents arrived around 11:30AM and I was still knocked out. I believe there was some discussions about lunch and then they left, which was just fine with me. I couldn't keep my lids open (not from the epidural, but from the pain killers).

The family waiting for Mia's arrival

Around 2pm, they ordered the petosin to help along the contractions and dilation I was having. They were respectful of my wishes and kept it to the lowest dosage possible. But they were concerned about risks of infection since it had been so long since my water broke. By 5pm, there was only a little bit of my cervix left and the nurse thought that I could start pushing. I was so excited. Really? Is it time to start???

False alarm. That little bit of cervix left was not going to allow me to push through. A call from my OB told the nurse to just let me rest and allow my body to do what it needed to do. I was happy to hear that and crashed back out.

6:20pm. We are finally ready to start. Push, push push! hahaha... jokes on them. I had no idea what I was doing. I was totally numb from the ribs down to my toes. I was telling my brain to push, but I had no idea if it was being executed or not. About 10 minutes into it, I started noticing that Mark was being awfully quiet. One look at his face told me that he might not make it through to the end... or even through the hour. I told him it might be a good idea to go get some back up. In the form of either mothers. He agreed that was probably a good idea in the event he needed to rest. He came back a few minutes later with my mom.

From 6:20pm to 8:30pm, things progressed steadily. 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Every 30 minutes, we kept thinking that we would be done in the next hour or so. But it just wasn't the case. I had wonderful coaches. My mom had my left leg and was my cheer leader. Nurse Emily had my right leg and kept up with the stats and progress. Mark had my back (literally) and rubbed my upper back when it started spasms.

Around 8:30pm, the nurse said that it would be soon. They could visibly see the very top of the baby's head and if it wasn't coming very soon, they might need to consider foreceps to help with the delivery. I told her I really didn't want it to come to that. By 9pm, I was pretty sure that if this baby didn't come by 10pm, I was going to have to throw in the towel. I had been pushing for over 2 1/2 hours and my back (and the rest) of me was ready to collapse. Minutes later, the nurse told me that I could literally touch my child now. If I just reached down, I could feel the top of its head. Once I did that, I got a 2nd (or 8th) wind. I was ready to finish this. She ran off to gather the team for an imminent delivery. I was soooo excited. By 9:30, we were well on our way. The baby was slightly facing to my right so after the head popped out, they had to stall pushing for a second as they dislogded the baby's shoulders from behind my pelvic bone (it shoulders were perpendicular to my pelvic). I didn't realize this, but it could have been a huge emergency had it not been for the swift actions of the doctor. She quickly twisted and turned the baby to pop it out and allow it to finally get air.

When the baby came out, there was absolutely no sound. I was so exhausted, I didn't even realize that we were through! Apparently the last few seconds of delivery had left baby slightly stunned. The nurses quickly took to reviving baby and within seconds, I heard that first wail.

What the on-call doctor didn't realize was that the baby's gender was a surprise to us. So it wasn't until I asked what it was that I finally learned we had a brand new baby girl.

The Last Supper

When you're getting into the last weeks of your pregnancy, it's amazing how much advice (some really really odd) you get on what to kick start labor. We got everything from your typical walk, sex, nipple stimulation, all the way to eat a reuben sandwich and labor chops.

Well, add this one to the list. For what it's worth, the night that my water broke, we had dinner with our friends and neighbors Matt & Monica Cluin at the Texan Cafe in Hutto. I had a deliciously southern meal of fried green tomato BLT and sweet potato fries and ending in chocolate toffee pie. Yup, that's what did it for me!

Week 38

Pretty uneventful week. We finished our "pre-baby" shopping spree at Babies R Us thanks to some very generous coworkers, friends and family. Stoli & I spent the night at Tommy & Stephanie's on Friday night. The first time I'd spent the night out of my bed since end of June. I'm looking forward to week 39 because that starts my time off of work!!!

Week: 38
Weight gained to-date: 37 lbs (so much for plateauing)
Belly measurement: 42 inches
Estimated Baby size: 19 inches, ~7 lbs
Swelling: feet & toes are to the point of no return. serious cankles. and now it appears that my thighs have taken over my knees
Stretch Marks: it's just a matter of time, now
How Mommy's feeling: SLOW
Happenings: Not much change since last week's visit. Still just a fingertip dilated. While checking, the doctor can feel the top of Baby's head. That's how far down it already is. So then WHY is it not coming out? It can't be comfortable for your head to be squeezed into such a tight little space. Every week, I get an update from one of those baby sites that tells you what and how the baby's doing that week. This week, the update starts with, "If you're STILL pregnant..." UGH. What happened to 40 weeks? Forget it, I'm going to feel accomplished that I can keep this thing in here until it's due date. I'm in no rush. I want a Halloween baby! So then why do I feel like a mother with a 28 year old living at home that she needs to send out into the REAL world?

Baby Shower #3: The Big Hoorah!

On Saturday October 10, 2009, our wonderful neighbor and friend Natalie Russell threw us our 3rd and final shower. I was 37 weeks pregnant and look about to pop! If the "Guess Mommy's Belly Size" game was any indication, Baby should be here soon! Here are some shots from the shower and weekend.

With my hostess Natalie
The beautiful and delicious cake Natalie made. All edible!

My wonderful cousins that drove up from Houston for the event

Mother-in-law slightly overestimating =)

Grandmother gifts

Week 37

Such an exciting and busy week! We had our 3rd and final baby shower this weekend and it was so much fun! But there will be a separate blog on that later... But I do have one interesting story for this week. On Sunday, I was at Kinko's working on a project for Baby. The man on the copier behind me was frustrated and having a time with his machine. He was an older gentleman, probably in his mid-late 60's. I turned around and asked him if he was ok. Apparently he was working enlarging a document and the machine was giving him a hard time. When I went over to help him, turns out he was using a copy that he'd messed up to try to enlarge. He realized that as I was over with him and said that the baby must be good luck! After he was done, he came over and said, "To thank you for your help, here's a copy of all the Beatles original signature." Wha?? How do you have this? "I got the opportunity to hand out with them back in the 60's." After his "your baby must be good luck" comment, I told him that I certainly hoped so! My uncle had rubbed my belly for good luck that morning before he bought a lottery ticket. So he told me that if we won the lottery, I needed to name the baby Ringo. Don't act surprised if we announce Ringo Starr Neubauer in a few weeks =)

Week: 37
Weight gained to-date: 31 lbs (yay, starting to plateau!)
Belly measurement: 40.5 inches
Estimated Baby size: 19 inches, 6 lbs
Swelling: feet seem to be doing a little better
Stretch Marks: no, but this belly button might be an outtie sooner than later!
How Mommy's feeling: Random bursts of energy mixed with extreme fatigue. I never can tell what kind of day it's going to be
Happenings: At this week's visit, they reported that Baby's head is very far down there now. And I am just starting to dilate. 0.5cm. All good news on progression. I think that means I have at least one more week. Right? In other news, Mark constructed 3 beautiful frames for the artwork that Cathy did. He's now working on staining them.

Week 36

Not much to report this week. Very rainy week which was fine for me since I spent much of it in the office. The highlights of the week included getting the Halloween decorations out and up and having dinner at the Texan Cafe which is my new favorite PIE location!



Week: 36
Weight gained to-date: 31 lbs
Belly measurement: 40.5 inches
Estimated Baby size: close to 19 inches, almost 6 lbs
Swelling: yes yes and yes. I got a massage this week and she was so surprised at all my changes since she hadn't seen me June. My play-ring that I bought in August 2 sizes larger than my real ring is starting to get tight.
Stretch Marks: Still holding my breath
How Mommy's feeling: Just tired. It's harder to get up and down. I wake up about every 3 hours to pee now. That's an average of about twice a night.
Happenings: This week, we got a little surprise. It seems that Mommy & Baby are both progressing towards delivery. Caught a little off guard one night before bed, we found out after a call into the nurse's line that my cervix is starting to thin! A sign in the right direction! That meant that we really need to get a little more serious about packing our bags for the hospital. Mark had some free time during the week and started his bag (which, honestly will be more complicated than mine since he has to remember the cameras, batteries, charges, music, etc). Quarter close started on Thursday for me which meant working through the weekend. I did finally get started on Sunday evening with my bags. Not much to pack, thankfully. Now to get a bag together for Baby!

Week 35: Part II

I forgot to mention last week that Mark & Stoli spent a little time installing the baby car seat! We can now get Baby home from the hospital thanks to my two men.

Actually reading instructions

Latches? Straps?

Stoli trying to tell Mark that the seat does not

leave much room for him in the backseat

Week 35

Taking a break in Salado

Stoli wishing Aunt Jenni happy birthday

... and wishing for a slice of her cake *_*

Fall is here! This week, the weather's been cool enough that I was actually able to work with the windows open and the AC off a few days. This weekend, we started Friday night with a sweet baby shower thrown by my old IBM coworkers. Then we spent Saturday in the quaint little town of Salado with my in-laws celebrating my Jenni's b-day! We carried it on into Sunday morning with a huge brunch hosted at our home by Mark. Sunday night was spent with our neighbors Emily & Hunter and Tommy & Stephanie over a giant pot of gumbo and delicious pumpkin cake.

Week: 35
Weight gained to-date: 30 lbs (it was a BIG weekend of celebratory foods)
Belly measurement: oops. I forgot to check!
Estimated Baby size: just over 5 lbs
Swelling: My ankles have doubled in size since last week. The only shoes that now fit are my flip flops and crocs. Lovely for work
Stretch Marks: Nothing yet to report
How Mommy's feeling: Stiff. Like I'm retaining too much water
Happenings: This week, Mark & I attended our Breastfeeding class. We weren't really sure what to expect, but certainly learned ALOT. It was really very overwhelming for me as a mother and brought it all home. This is real. Sleep will be a dream for at least the first 2 weeks. Baby eats every 2 hours. Expect 10-12 diapers a day. Mark's going to get really really good at swaddling and diaper changing to even it out. In other news, I learned that I can now balance a small bowl of ice cream on my belly. I think I'll have made it when I can balance a pho-size bowl

Week 34

Well, the weather has finally turned more bearable (as in we're out of the triple digits) and I'm finally turning into my last lap of this race! 6 more weeks to go so I'll try to keep better status of our week to week progress.

Week: 34

Weight gained to-date: 26 lbs

Belly measurement: 39.5 inches (whoa!!!)

Estimated Baby size: 18 inches, 4.5 lbs

Swelling: YES! Hands, feet, ankles are starting as well.

Stretch Marks: Not yet. But I've been lathering up cause I keep seeing signs of them on my bottom. But I've been seeing that since about month 4. *Maybe* we'll get lucky???

How Mommy's feeling: Over all, pretty good. I'm excited that I made it through the Texas tailgate and the game. Also soooo happy that we beat Tech!!! Goooo Horns!

Happenings: This week, we got the pack 'n play which will double as our bassinett for the first few months. I also got around to cleaning and steralizing the beautiful glass baby bottles that were used as vases at my first baby shower. Now we have 6 ready to go! At my 34 week appointment, Dr. Collins feels that the baby should arrive some time between the middle of October and the first week of November. A pretty conservative estimate all around. She expects the baby's birth weight to be around the low 7 lbs which is exactly what I've been shooting for.

A Few Moments from the Shower

Here's a shot of me and my beautiful hostesses. You might also recognize them as my beautiful bridsmaids a few years back! Since then, 3 of them have gotten married and 2 more children have been born. My, time has flown!

Aunt Cathy had the girls draw portraits of Baby Neuby, but they had to do it atop their heads! Cathy, is this a hand-turkey exercise?


I got to pick the winner of our art time. Veronica with her pregnant baby was my winner!

My least favorite part. Mommy eats baby food, describes it and everyone guesses what she's eaten. I don't think I'll be feeding this to Baby. The look on my face says it all!

My First Baby Shower

I have the sweetest BFF's and sisters a girl could ask for. Even though my hostesses all live out of town, they drove and flew into Austin to throw me a beautiful Labor day shower.

Baby's Aunt Cathy, the artistic one, threw together the adorable guest sign-in above for guests to cast their votes for Boy or Girl. Looks like the girl squad won out at this party!

Aren't these the most vibrant Gerber Daisies??? Aunt Jenni had these is baby bottles throughout the whole party room. After the party, I put them throughout the house and they're still alive!

Aunt Cathy's gift to Baby were these 3 handpainted canvases for the nursery. I love that she did them just for us. All are super cute, but the favorite is the middle one. We hope to have a little chef in the making!

Checklist

Infant CPR, check.

Childbirth Prep class, check.

Pediatrician, check.

On Saturday, a doula came to the house and taught us our 3 hour CPR course. It was nice that it was at the house where I could sit and lay comfortably on the sofa. Highly recommend that route for any mother-to-be's. Also, since it was a small class (Mark, his mom and me), we could go at our own pace and ask as many or as little questions as we wanted. Afterwards, we went to dinner with his mom. Fun day!

We started our Childbirth Prep classes last Thurs and finished them last night. Although very interesting, I almost would have preferred them spread out over 3 days vs. 2. The classes were from 6-9PM each day which made for a very very long day for Mommy. After a ful work day, class and driving home, I was beat. Getting to bed an hour earlier would have been nice. I'm sure Mark would disagree since he got it done faster this way. Last night we went over the actual birthing process, both naturally and C-section. When they talked about epidurals and episiotomies, I thought that was going to be the end of me. I just hid my head in my pillow and somehow made it through. Mark raised his hand and asked, if the Father was no longer being "productive" in the labor and delivery room, at what point do they kick him out? I think what he meant to ask was, "If I'm not feeling good, at what point will you excuse me?" hahahaha. That question had the whole class rolling on the floor. So eventually, the passing out during the ultrasound story came out. We had a good laugh about that.

After visiting quite a few pediatricians around town, we were finally down to 2. We decided to go with Treehouse Pediatricians on 620 over Pediatrics Associates simply for the location. We loved both, maybe PA a little more. But the commute down to Seton with the traffic and confusion of that area and a sick newborn just sounded more cumbersome than the short shot over to 620.

This Sunday is my first shower! My hostesses will be arriving tomorrow morning and I can't wait to see them all. It's been too long since I've gotten to really hang out with them.

We're well on our way!

Pictures are in!

Christie did a fantastic job with these photos. Mark & I are so excited to share some of our favorites below!

15 minutes before the photo shoot, on the drive down to Town Lake, I made Mark aware that a red umbrella might be a nice prop. Never mind that it hadn't rained in Austin in 2 months. We had to stop at about 4 places before we found a store that even sold umbrellas.

I'm sure Mark was being silly here, but it came out very touching!

A must have: Barefeet and Pregnant
From my vantage point

I think Baby was kicking during this shot

I love this one. With the background, the beautiful natural lighting and my belly big and round.
Mommy & Daddy to-be

Week 30

Yes! Actually 30 weeks and 3 days. I can officially begin the 10 week count down.

Like a wedding, it seems that things are really busy in the beginning, quiet in the middle and in high gear once again near the end. Here we are, heading into the home stretch! The next few weeks will be very busy ones for Mommy & Daddy as we finish our preparations.

This week, we start our 2-session Childbirth classes. I have no idea what to expect. In fact, we haven't even been to visit the hospital yet. I assume we will do that during one of the 2 sessions. This weekend, we will take a class in Infant CPR. I hope I do well. The last time I took a CPR class, I was about 14 and almost passed out.

Next week, we finish our Childbirth classes and have our first of two baby showers! I can't wait for that. First off, we have 4 amazing women hosting it. All of which I'm dying to see. Second, all the awesome friends that will be coming. It will be so much fun to sit and gossip with my girls!

The week after will be the Baby Care Basics class. I think I might fair a little better in that one. But Daddy has never ever had to care for a baby so I'll be sure to document his responses carefully for you =)

OK, just thinking about all that makes me tired.

The Results

Oh wonderous God!!! I passed! I know I'm being dramatic, but I really hate when people mess with my diet. Dictate to me what I can and can't do. So I'm happy to say that I passed which means I am back in control. All of a sudden, my serious sweets craving has subsided. See, that was all it took =)

Glucose Test: Part II

After a wonderfully low-carb dinner with friends last night, Mark and I settled in early for some R&R. That was the plan.

I woke up at 1AM, 3AM and 6AM for potty breaks. At the 6AM one, it was time to wake up and get ready to make my way to the lab. The good part about fasting is that it doesn't take any time to get ready in the morning. Just get dressed and go! Fortunately, I thought to bring my laptop along for entertainment. And they have WiFi here! Yippeee!

The test is proving a little easier than I had imagined, although not without irritations. I was a little hungry this morning when I got here at 7AM, but it wasn't so bad. They got me to the back and quickly drew Vial #1 of blood and asked me to down the "fruit punch" drink. It was sweeter than the "orange flavored" drink of the first test. But again, not so bad. Um. Until about 10 minutes later. I think the combination of not having eaten for 8 hours, getting my blood drawn, and drinking liquid sugar gave me a mild case of nausea and a serious case of gut rot. The funny side effect was that Baby (not sure if it loved it or hated it) decided to do the Riverdance in my belly shortly after the drink. I have this image, and sensation, of Baby standing up in my belly with its arms on its waist, quickly crossing and recrossing its ankles all the while smiling away. It makes me laugh when Mark attempts to recreate my image.

The good news is that it keeps me from feeling starved. I've now finished Vials #2 and #3. About 30 more minutes until the final Vial #4 and then we're outta here to go find some Chik-fil-A to get the day back on the right track!

Belly Bump Sneaks

For most women, losing their figure is a scary and emotional rollercoaster, even if it is to do something as miraculous as growing a new human being. So it's nice to have a day when your figure is celebrated and aaah'ed rather than wow'd.

We spent Saturday morning with the very talented and super sweet Christie Stockstill in our favorite Austin location. Town Lake. It was a beautiful morning full of runners and bikers and dogs happy as can be. All healthy and toned. And me with my big belly hanging out. Giggling at the overly energetic dogs swimming in the lake. It was a great time. From there, we moved to the 1st Street bridge and then indoors to the upstairs of Paradise. What a gem on 6th Street! I never would've thought to run up there. But they had gorgeous old wood floors. Windows with real wood panelings and tons of natural lighting flooding through. Original stone walls. Wood walls. And even a baby grand. Great choice Christie! We're dying to see the rest now!

P.S. - These were shot at Week 29 of the pregnancy!

What Happened to Eating for Two???

First of all, I hope you've been enjoying the refreshing break that Mark's provided with his blogging. Even though we talk all the time, it's nice to see his thoughts organized into written form.

Eating for Two. This is the phrase I've been hearing since I first announced we were pregnant. Even though I knew this technically wasn't true, I still felt a lot less guilt when my appetite starting ramping up. And even better when I saw that 16 weeks into my pregnancy, I'd only gained a whopping 5 lbs. "Yes. This I can get use to," I told myself.

But the doctor recommends a steady 1 pound per week gain through your second and third trimesters. Seems easy enough as I'd only gained an average of 0.3 pounds through the first 4 months. What they don't tell you is that your body really doesn't gain weight all that linearly! Unless you have some serious self control. I think the problem is that as you get later into your pregnancy, not only is your baby growing faster, but because of that, you get more tired and start carrying weight in weird places. Due to that, your activity level really starts to drop.

So 28 weeks into this process my total weight gain is now up to 22 pounds! Yes, that's 17 pounds in the last 12 weeks. No bueno. The doctor isn't complaining yet, but I know that more I put on now, the more difficult it will be to take it off later. Not to mention the higher risk for stretch marks and gestational diabetes.

Hmmm... speaking of gestational diabetes. I've been dreading this test for weeks. For more info on what gestational diabetes is and why it's such a bad thing, check out this site http://www.babycenter.com/0_gestational-diabetes_2058.bc?showAll=true. Basically, if left uncontrolled, all the excess blood sugar and insulin can cause your baby to make more fat and put on extra weight, particularly in the upper body. Which equals painful delivery and a whole schlew of potential medical conditions for baby.

I had my pre-screen yesterday and found to this morning, I didn't pass. It's not the death sentence. But it does mean that I have to return for the Glucose Tolerance Test. This is the test where you have to fast for 8 hours prior to going into the lab. Once you get there, they make you take that digusting orange drink, again. And then they proceed to draw your blood once every hour for 3 hours. All the while, you can't eat. Yes, you read that correctly. This test requires for pregnant women to abstain from eating for 11 hours. Talk about ridiculous.

Those lab techs better watch their fingers.

Nursery Update

This is for the grandparents... who keep hounding us for new pictures. This is what your grandchild's room currently looks like:

Note the beautiful new trim around the top. This is the mural I worked on. CG will be holding balloons and some of the ballons will have letters that spell out baby's name. Nope... we're not there yet!

Baby central. Yes, that is my old jam box from my dorm room. It still works. Hasn't chewed up a CD in a few years...

This is the mural Cathy mostly worked on. Isn't Stoli adorable?! She got the Frost Bank Tower, but didn't get to finish the rest of the skyline. I don't want to mess up her masterpiece =) (Yes, Mark put his trophies on the shelf. I'm humoring him)

Another angle of the main wall with the glider

Nursing/Reading/Sleeping station

Construction Zone

Before I post the after pictures, here are some pictures of the construction site that is our nursery!

Mark working on assembling the dresser

Here I am trying to do my part on the dresser:

We put Cathy to work since she actually has artistic talent

Me trying not to mess up her work

The trim was Mark's idea. I think it turned out pretty cool!

Mark pulling down the last of the tape

Putting the room back together