Nursery Pics

Trey's room is finally done! It's been set up (furnished) since before he was born, but I finally just got the rest of his decor on the walls. I know Trey's been dying to get the decor up...he's very excited ;)

Announcing...

Holy crap...we're having a baby (part 2)

The nurses hooked me up to monitors to check the baby���������s heartbeat and made me lie on the hospital bed. Lying down hurt horribly during the contractions that I just couldn���������t take it and begged them to let me stand up and walk around. Dave and I paced the halls for about 10 minutes until the nurse talked some sense into me. She asked why I was waiting for my epidural and I realized that my lame excuse to ���������see how far I could go��������� just didn���������t make sense. We agreed that I could still be superwoman without feeling the pain. She called the anesthetist and we waited about 15 minutes for him to come. He put the epidural in my back and I could feel it going down my spine. I moaned and yelled a few times because it was SO uncomfortable. After a few minutes, I could no longer feel my right side, but had quite a bit of pain on my left side still so the nurse had me roll onto my left side to get the medicine moving. Finally���������relief.

We called my mom and dad, Dave���������s mom and dad, all our brothers and sisters and Keri. NO ONE answered! Dave ended up leaving messages to call us back and it took a good 30 minutes for the calls to trickle in. Everyone was so excited and Kyle, Mom, Dad, Jackie, Bryan, Joyce and Keri all came to the hospital to hang out with us. We watched TV and chatted while listening to Diana Krall. It was very relaxing and I was even able to sleep for an hour.

After a total of 13 hours, I was dilated to a ten and was told I could start pushing. I was so scared to push for some reason! I kept pushing my epidural button to make sure I wouldn���������t feel anything. The nurses cleared the room except for Dave, my mom and Keri and called for the doc. It was all hustle and bustle and before I knew it, I was told I could start pushing. After the first push, the nurse looked startled and called in another nurse to help. They put oxygen on me, propped me on my left side, and told me to stop pushing. The baby���������s heart rate had dropped very low. After it stabilized a few minutes later, I was told to push again. About 15 minutes, 6-7 pushes later and a few twists to maneuver his shoulders, he was out! They cleaned him up and we heard a faint cry���������.then it got louder. The doctor cleaned him off and laid him on my chest. I held his head and stared at him and cried. My baby boy was here. He was perfect. And big! I remember thinking ���������where have you been���������? ���������what took you so long?��������� It all felt like a dream. All I could do was cry and say ���������Hi baby��������� over and over. Dave was so cute and proud. He walked over to the scale to check on our boy and make sure he was okay. Then he came back to my side and gave me kisses and hugs while I was sewed up. I kept telling him to go be with our son, but he stayed by my side and kept whispering in my ear ���������look at him, he���������s here���������. He was so happy. Dave started calling him Scrumptious that night. What an amazing, surreal feeling! Our boy is finally here and I still feel like I need pinching sometimes. He���������s a dream come true!!

2 minutes old - such a big boy!

New Dad - so drearily in love! Trey looking intently at Daddy (doesn't he look so different just a few hours later?!)

(updated 4/20/08)

Holy crap...we're having a baby (Part 1)

I woke up to my alarm to get ready for work. I walked to the restroom to go to the bathroom and felt like I had peed my pants. I sat on the toilet and couldn’t stop “going”. I called to Dave from the toilet to tell him that I thought my water broke. He mumbled a few words and rolled over. I called to him again and he sat up and said “really?”. Yup, it was time. He got up and started cleaning the house and packing his bag.

I took a shower and my contractions started up. They weren't too bad at first, just stronger than the braxton hicks I'd been having since 20 weeks. I ended up blow drying my hair and putting on my makeup as the contractions got stronger and closer together. I called my doc to make sure I could stay home for a while before getting hooked up to IVs and such. He gave the okay and we hung out at home for about 5 hours while Dave finished cleaning the family room, kitchen, and our bedroom. He also finished packing his bag between rubbing my back during contractions. They started coming about 2-3 minutes apart and hurt like the dickens, so we decided to go in to the hospital. At L&D, I put on a gown and they took a sample of the fluid. After waiting 2 minutes, they confirmed that I was definitely in labor and took me back to my delivery room.

(updated 3/17/08)

Doc Update

I'm now just over 2 centimeters dilated and 60% effaced. Not much of a difference from last week (1.5 cm and 50% effaced). My doc stripped my membranes. It wasn't too bad, just a bit more uncomfortable than the cervical checks but with cramping afterward. After my appointment, I walked through the waiting room out to my car and felt like the baby was definitely going to fall out. That sensation passed quickly and 6 hours later, I feel no difference whatsoever. My doc says that if I haven't gone into labor on my own by my next appointment (12/5), he'll put me on the induction list. For some reason, I don't think I'll ever go into actual labor on my own. Then again, that may be the infertility creeping in, thinking that my body won't do what it's "supposed" to. I'm totally good with hanging another week. I still like being pregnant. I'm going to miss it!

Budda Belly

Keri did a "photo shoot" of Dave and I last night. Here are a couple cute pics. Woah, I'm huge!! :) Dave thought he could compete with my belly!!

9 days left...

(Note: Trey was born two days later)

More Contractions

My contractions have been consistently about 15-20 minutes apart for about 4 days now. Occasionally they will get closer together coming to about 3-5 minutes apart for a couple hours, but they taper off and never stay consistent. I've decided I want to labor mostly at home unless there are any concerns and it's a good thing I've decided that! I'd be at the hospital with false alarms probably 4 times now if I went when the doc says to (5 minutes apart for 1 hour). The contractions are becoming increasingly uncomfortable now; I had light spotting after a few rounds of really bad ones yesterday, so it seems they are starting to do their job (light bleeding/spotting indicates the cervical capillaries are breaking due to dilation/effacement).

I have my 39 week appointment this Wednesday and I'm tempted to ask my doc to strip my membranes while he's doing the cervical check. I'm fully aware that may do nothing, but it might be worth a try. What are ya'lls thoughts on that? Good idea? Bad idea? The more I think about induction (with drugs), the more I want to avoid it, but I'm all for "helping" mother nature along...