Blown away by our baby showers

I didn't expect to have a baby shower - let alone two. I've been so scared through this whole pregnancy that I really anticipated being hospitalized or ending up with a preemie. So up until a few weeks ago, I was having a hard time even conceptualizing having a baby shower. That being said - the idea of two was unfathomable. But we crossed the 28 week mark and then we crossed the 30 week mark and when we crossed the 32 week mark, I was willing to commit to a baby shower. I talked to my doctor and got an OK to attend a shower outside of the house and to have one at my house. Since I was on bedrest it was interesting to have so many people monitoring how much walking around I was doing. My water was always refilled and people were quick to remind me to sit back down :)

My coworkers threw and office shower for me - and I was just floored at the turnout and the number of gifts. We had roughly 25 people at the office shower. I was really humbled by the generosity of the gifts and the turnout. For our friends outside of my work, we hosted a shower at home. A good friend helped us organize the whole thing. Since I'm still on bedrest, we catered food. I bought favors online. I was a bit nervous about how it would go because I'm used to cooking for HUGE parties. We did a co-ed shower, so we went very light on the games.

For the guys ( and any brave women) there was a beer chugging competition. We filled 8 ounce baby bottles with beer. We closed them with slow flow nipples. The competition was basically to be the first person to suck 8 ounces of beer out of a baby bottle the fastest. It was a blur of people sucking on bottles for dear life, giggles, beer soaked t-shirts and crazy laughter. It was an absolute hit. The guys loved it and it didn't have that formality that you often see at baby showers. For the ladies and kids, we had a traditional baby shower game - guess the name of the baby animal. In both games the prize was alcohol. The beer chugging game gave the winner a 12 pack of beer. The animal game gave the top two winners a bottle of wine - a sauvignon blanc or a moscat.

The shower started around 4 pm and the last person left around midnight. After the games it was pretty much a free-for all food-wise and drink-wise. I was really happy to be able to celebrate this pregnancy as this is the first time I've actually celebrated it. My husband and I have been on pins and needles for so long that it felt just great to be able to say for one day - we didn't worry about the baby being ok... we were just happy.

Between both showers, we received close to 100 gifts. I know I keep saying it but I really was humbled by everyone's generosity. I had no idea that we'd be receiving that much stuff. The whole experience has made me appreciate our friends and our friendships with them that much more. Now I am beginning to fully appreciate how important these types of life events are.