Friday, August 26, 2011
First visit with Dr. McQuillan
Thursday, August 25th was Hudson's first visit to the pediatrician's office. Garrett and I were both very happy with Dr. McQuillan and are excited that he will be Hudson's pediatrician. When we left the hospital on Monday, they lectured me a little about making sure he was continuing to eat well since he had lost 8% of his birthweight and was down to 7lbs. 9oz. Between Monday and Thursday morning, Hudson proved himself to be a very good eater indeed when he weighed in at 7lbs. 15oz.! I don't think he is going to have a problem getting back up to his birthweight by two weeks old. :) Oh how I love our little man. Completely and utterly head over heels in love with him!
God is so very good...
Welcome to the world little man.
On Friday, August 19th, I got up and headed to my typical 9am gym class. About 15 minutes into the kickboxing class, I went to the bathroom and realized that I had started bleeding. After several days of anxiously waiting/hoping to go into labor, I was ecstatic to see something new that indicated that labor was getting closer. With the hope of encouraging my body to go into labor after the start of the bleeding, I decided to go ahead and finish the class. When I got home I jumped in the shower and by the time I had gotten dressed I realized that I was bleeding pretty heavily. Because of the color and amount of blood I decided to call the doctor. She asked me to come in right away so I drove to Corvallis (Garrett had left early that morning to go to McMinnville) just to check on everything.
On my way to the doctor's office, I called my pastor's wife Patti (who has plenty of pregnancy/childbirth experience!) to let her know what was going on. Concerned that I would be at the doctor all by myself, she sweetly insisted on meeting me there. At the doctor's office, we listened to the baby on the fetal monitor and thankfully determined that although it was odd to be bleeding like I was, the baby was completely healthy. She told me a few thinks to watch out for and then dismissed me to leave. I was very thankful to have Patti with me that day because she knew all the appropriate questions to ask (ones that I never would have thought of). That day, I decided to stay in Corvallis since I was having inconsistent contractions, a lot of lower back pain, and continued bleeding. I passed the time with Danielle and her kiddos. Around dinnertime, I was still bleeding and getting ready to head head home to Monmouth. At this point, my contractions were occurring more frequently but still very inconsistent, and the only other indication that labor was around the corner was my constant (and increasingly more intense) lower back pain. At the prompting of Patti (concerned over the amount I had been bleeding all day), I decided to call the on call doctor (Dr. Wong) and ask him if he wanted me to come in and get checked again before heading to Corvallis. I liked the idea of getting a second opinion about the bleeding, as I obviously wanted to make sure my baby was not in distress and that everything was as it should be. After listening to me explain what was going on, Dr. Wong asked me to head to labor and delivery at the hospital before driving back to Monmouth. Once again concerned that I would be alone (Garrett was in Monmouth at this point, but I told him there was no sense in him driving to Corvallis when it was very likely that nothing was going on), Patti met me at the hospital while they looked into everything.
While in the hospital, I had the sweetest nurse named Angie. She was so kind and reassuring. During my visit, they watched the baby on the monitor again. He was once again responding just fine to all the bleeding, and my contractions were had become consistently five minutes apart. In the morning at the doctor's office I was dilated to 2 and 90% effaced. When they checked me at the hospital, I had not progressed any further since the morning so they decided to send me home and wait for things to pick up either that night or within the next few days. As I left the hospital that night, I begged Patti to tell me (or even lie to me!) that I would for sure go into labor that night. I was SO ready to meet my baby and did not want to wait and endure another week of pregnancy! Maybe Patti was just trying to be encouraging and tell me what I wanted to hear, but she said she would be VERY surprised if I made it through the whole night without going into full blown labor. Woo-hoo!
That night I anxiously drove home to Monmouth. Due to the long hospital visit, I didn't get home until about 10:00pm and, although still 5 minutes apart, my contractions were becoming increasingly more intense. Once at home, I got in the shower to try to ease some of the awful lower back pain I was experiencing. At about 11:00pm Garrett and I headed to bed with a combination of ice and heat on my back. As we were falling asleep (well I was at least attempting to!) Garrett commented how he was really looking forward to sleeping in that next morning. I laughed and said I didn't think we would still be at home in the morning. I was hoping to get at least three hours of sleep so that I could get some rest and a break from the back pain. At 12:04am I woke up to more intense contractions that were impossible to sleep through. I text Patti and started a conversation with her that continued until we headed to the hospital. (She was coincidently doing laundry after midnight and responded to my first message within seconds! hehe) I took another shower and was laboring on all fours to try to get through the back labor. At this point, my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and very intense. Around 2:45am, I decided that it would be wise to head to the hospital, knowing that the longer I waited, the more uncomfortable the car ride would be.
When I tried to wake Garrett up I told him I thought it was time to go and he responded, "Where???" and then proceeded to roll back over. I shook him again and said it was time to go to the hospital and that he needed to get up. We got the last few things in the car and headed to the hospital with a half-asleep husband behind the wheel. :) On the way to the hospital I called my mom to let her know where we were heading and that I was almost positive we would NOT get sent home. Once we got to the hospital, they monitored the baby and I for about 20 minutes and determined that I had progressed to 100% effaced, 3 1/2 centimeters dilated, and that my water had indeed broken at home. At that point it was official! We were staying and having a baby! I was so excited! My mom was on her way. Garrett called his parents and they headed to Corvallis. I called my dad to let him know and he responded by saying, "Okay we'll be right over. We're at the Comfort Inn." My dad (being his crazy self) unbeknownst to me had decided to drive to Corvallis and get a hotel room after finding out that I had gotten checked out at the hospital earlier Friday night. He didn't even know if I would go into labor...just wanted to make sure he didn't miss anything. :)
After we were admitted and all the paperwork was taken care of, I continued to labor until about 5:00am, when I asked for the epidural. I had such intense back labor and not knowing how long the laboring would continue, I decided it would be a much more enjoyable experience for all involved if I got an epidural. The doctor came in and delivered the glorious epidural between contractions and almost instantly I felt relief in my back. It took awhile for the left side of my body to respond, but eventually it had completely kicked in and I was totally relaxed and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby. At about 8:00am the doctor came in to check me and determined that I was still only at a six (once again glad I got the epidural!). We waited things out and by 10:00am I was between 7 and 8 centimeters. At noon when they came to check on again, I had not progressed much more so they decided to start me on some pitocin to get me to 10 centimeters and start pushing. The doctor wanted to get things to pick up because of the amount of time that had passed since my water broke. For the next few hours we waited for the pitocin to kick in and for my body to complete the dilation process. The hospital staff let our families come into the room to say hello to me while we waited to start pushing. At about 2:15 it was time to start pushing. At first I was very anxious for this part because I wasn't sure how it would feel. After we did the first round of 3 pushes during the first contraction I was pumped! I felt like I finally had a job to do and I was eager and very excited to get the baby out and meet the little miracle that we had been waiting for!
I pushed for 57 minutes. It sounds like a long time to me now, but in the moment it all went by so quickly. Garrett held one of my legs and my mom held the other. The nurses were so encouraging as I pushed and at 3:12pm on August 20, 2011, Hudson Garrett Jones made his loud entrance into this world. They immediately set him on me. He was pretty blue and screaming crying. After a little bit, Garrett cut the cord and went with the baby and the nurse to the other side of the room to check him out. During this time I started losing a lot of blood due to a clot in my uterus. The doctor came back into the room and fixed the situation which thankfully slowed down the bleeding. They brought Hudson back to me and I remember feeling a wave of emotions. I couldn't believe I was looking at my son. It was all very surreal. Garrett was on cloud nine...completely amazed and excited by our little boy. After a few hours of cleaning everything up, stitching up my episiotomy, giving the baby a bath, nursing him for the first time, and talking with the pediatrician, our family was FINALLY able to come in and meet him. We felt so loved and supported at the hospital. Garrett's parents, my dad and Kris, Bob, Mallory and Kalie, and Jenna had all waited ALL DAY LONG in this tiny little room with no chairs just to be able to meet him when he was born. Hudson was born with a TON of dark brown hair, and little baby fuzz hair all over his shoulders, arms and back. At first his eyes resembled Garrett and his mom's. He had long arms and BIG hands and feet. I couldn't believe he weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and 21inches long!!! He was perfect!
We stayed at the hospital until Monday afternoon. Saturday and Sunday were full of visitors, all of whom included: Mallory, Kalie, my dad and Kris, Bob, my mom, Scott and Phyllis, Sara, Jenna, Pastor and Patti, Jenna, my Grandma Braun, Steve and Penny, Amanda, Nick, Alex, Cassie Thompson, Mackenzie, Josiah, Johnny and Danielle. By the end of the evening on Saturday, Hudson, Garrett and I were all thankful for our friends and family, but completely EXHAUSTED!
Hudson nursed incredibly well from the very beginning. He caught on to nursing well and hasn't stopped since. :) The first night at the hospital, he slept pretty well. On Sunday night, he spent the majority of the night awake and by 5am, Garrett took the nurse up on her offer to sit with him for a bit so we could get a few hours of sleep. :) --I wanted to protest cause I didn't want him to leave the room, but in the end (since I hadn't been napping at all during the day, I was very thankful for those few hours of sleep! On Sunday, Dr. Salmon, the pediatrician, ordered an x-ray of his lungs and bloodwork due to continuous rapid breathing that didn't seem to taper off even after 24 hours of being born. I went with Hudson to get this done and he did well for both the x-ray and the blood work. Thankfully, everything came back looking great and Dr. Salmon felt confident that the pace of his breathing would slow over time, and that it was not caused by an infection.
On Monday morning, Garrett went with Hudson for his circumcision. I felt horrible sending him and was thankful that Garrett was going with him to hold his little hand. Garrett said he was a champ through the whole process and hardly cried at all. --That surprised me considering during our hospital stay he would scream and scream if anyone so much as loosened him from his swaddle! Dr. Salmon even referred to him as a "very fiesty baby" on several different occasions! ;) After they monitored his reaction to the circumcision for about an hour, they gave us all the paperwork to be discharged. We loaded everything into the car prepared for our first ride home as a family of three. Hudson did well in the carseat initially, and then cried for about half of the drive home.
Before I end this story, it must be said that we had some of the most wonderful nurses a person could ask for during both the labor and delivery, as well as the recovery. Remah, Angie, and Kathy were AMAZING. They told us they fought over who would get to take care of us. :)
Thank you Jesus for our precious little boy. Thank you for bringing him into this world safely. Thank you for the miracle that he is. We pray you give us the wisdom to raise him to love you with all his heart, mind and soul. Thank you, thank you, thank you for our little man.
On Friday, August 19th, I got up and headed to my typical 9am gym class. About 15 minutes into the kickboxing class, I went to the bathroom and realized that I had started bleeding. After several days of anxiously waiting/hoping to go into labor, I was ecstatic to see something new that indicated that labor was getting closer. With the hope of encouraging my body to go into labor after the start of the bleeding, I decided to go ahead and finish the class. When I got home I jumped in the shower and by the time I had gotten dressed I realized that I was bleeding pretty heavily. Because of the color and amount of blood I decided to call the doctor. She asked me to come in right away so I drove to Corvallis (Garrett had left early that morning to go to McMinnville) just to check on everything.
On my way to the doctor's office, I called my pastor's wife Patti (who has plenty of pregnancy/childbirth experience!) to let her know what was going on. Concerned that I would be at the doctor all by myself, she sweetly insisted on meeting me there. At the doctor's office, we listened to the baby on the fetal monitor and thankfully determined that although it was odd to be bleeding like I was, the baby was completely healthy. She told me a few thinks to watch out for and then dismissed me to leave. I was very thankful to have Patti with me that day because she knew all the appropriate questions to ask (ones that I never would have thought of). That day, I decided to stay in Corvallis since I was having inconsistent contractions, a lot of lower back pain, and continued bleeding. I passed the time with Danielle and her kiddos. Around dinnertime, I was still bleeding and getting ready to head head home to Monmouth. At this point, my contractions were occurring more frequently but still very inconsistent, and the only other indication that labor was around the corner was my constant (and increasingly more intense) lower back pain. At the prompting of Patti (concerned over the amount I had been bleeding all day), I decided to call the on call doctor (Dr. Wong) and ask him if he wanted me to come in and get checked again before heading to Corvallis. I liked the idea of getting a second opinion about the bleeding, as I obviously wanted to make sure my baby was not in distress and that everything was as it should be. After listening to me explain what was going on, Dr. Wong asked me to head to labor and delivery at the hospital before driving back to Monmouth. Once again concerned that I would be alone (Garrett was in Monmouth at this point, but I told him there was no sense in him driving to Corvallis when it was very likely that nothing was going on), Patti met me at the hospital while they looked into everything.
While in the hospital, I had the sweetest nurse named Angie. She was so kind and reassuring. During my visit, they watched the baby on the monitor again. He was once again responding just fine to all the bleeding, and my contractions were had become consistently five minutes apart. In the morning at the doctor's office I was dilated to 2 and 90% effaced. When they checked me at the hospital, I had not progressed any further since the morning so they decided to send me home and wait for things to pick up either that night or within the next few days. As I left the hospital that night, I begged Patti to tell me (or even lie to me!) that I would for sure go into labor that night. I was SO ready to meet my baby and did not want to wait and endure another week of pregnancy! Maybe Patti was just trying to be encouraging and tell me what I wanted to hear, but she said she would be VERY surprised if I made it through the whole night without going into full blown labor. Woo-hoo!
That night I anxiously drove home to Monmouth. Due to the long hospital visit, I didn't get home until about 10:00pm and, although still 5 minutes apart, my contractions were becoming increasingly more intense. Once at home, I got in the shower to try to ease some of the awful lower back pain I was experiencing. At about 11:00pm Garrett and I headed to bed with a combination of ice and heat on my back. As we were falling asleep (well I was at least attempting to!) Garrett commented how he was really looking forward to sleeping in that next morning. I laughed and said I didn't think we would still be at home in the morning. I was hoping to get at least three hours of sleep so that I could get some rest and a break from the back pain. At 12:04am I woke up to more intense contractions that were impossible to sleep through. I text Patti and started a conversation with her that continued until we headed to the hospital. (She was coincidently doing laundry after midnight and responded to my first message within seconds! hehe) I took another shower and was laboring on all fours to try to get through the back labor. At this point, my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart and very intense. Around 2:45am, I decided that it would be wise to head to the hospital, knowing that the longer I waited, the more uncomfortable the car ride would be.
When I tried to wake Garrett up I told him I thought it was time to go and he responded, "Where???" and then proceeded to roll back over. I shook him again and said it was time to go to the hospital and that he needed to get up. We got the last few things in the car and headed to the hospital with a half-asleep husband behind the wheel. :) On the way to the hospital I called my mom to let her know where we were heading and that I was almost positive we would NOT get sent home. Once we got to the hospital, they monitored the baby and I for about 20 minutes and determined that I had progressed to 100% effaced, 3 1/2 centimeters dilated, and that my water had indeed broken at home. At that point it was official! We were staying and having a baby! I was so excited! My mom was on her way. Garrett called his parents and they headed to Corvallis. I called my dad to let him know and he responded by saying, "Okay we'll be right over. We're at the Comfort Inn." My dad (being his crazy self) unbeknownst to me had decided to drive to Corvallis and get a hotel room after finding out that I had gotten checked out at the hospital earlier Friday night. He didn't even know if I would go into labor...just wanted to make sure he didn't miss anything. :)
After we were admitted and all the paperwork was taken care of, I continued to labor until about 5:00am, when I asked for the epidural. I had such intense back labor and not knowing how long the laboring would continue, I decided it would be a much more enjoyable experience for all involved if I got an epidural. The doctor came in and delivered the glorious epidural between contractions and almost instantly I felt relief in my back. It took awhile for the left side of my body to respond, but eventually it had completely kicked in and I was totally relaxed and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby. At about 8:00am the doctor came in to check me and determined that I was still only at a six (once again glad I got the epidural!). We waited things out and by 10:00am I was between 7 and 8 centimeters. At noon when they came to check on again, I had not progressed much more so they decided to start me on some pitocin to get me to 10 centimeters and start pushing. The doctor wanted to get things to pick up because of the amount of time that had passed since my water broke. For the next few hours we waited for the pitocin to kick in and for my body to complete the dilation process. The hospital staff let our families come into the room to say hello to me while we waited to start pushing. At about 2:15 it was time to start pushing. At first I was very anxious for this part because I wasn't sure how it would feel. After we did the first round of 3 pushes during the first contraction I was pumped! I felt like I finally had a job to do and I was eager and very excited to get the baby out and meet the little miracle that we had been waiting for!
I pushed for 57 minutes. It sounds like a long time to me now, but in the moment it all went by so quickly. Garrett held one of my legs and my mom held the other. The nurses were so encouraging as I pushed and at 3:12pm on August 20, 2011, Hudson Garrett Jones made his loud entrance into this world. They immediately set him on me. He was pretty blue and screaming crying. After a little bit, Garrett cut the cord and went with the baby and the nurse to the other side of the room to check him out. During this time I started losing a lot of blood due to a clot in my uterus. The doctor came back into the room and fixed the situation which thankfully slowed down the bleeding. They brought Hudson back to me and I remember feeling a wave of emotions. I couldn't believe I was looking at my son. It was all very surreal. Garrett was on cloud nine...completely amazed and excited by our little boy. After a few hours of cleaning everything up, stitching up my episiotomy, giving the baby a bath, nursing him for the first time, and talking with the pediatrician, our family was FINALLY able to come in and meet him. We felt so loved and supported at the hospital. Garrett's parents, my dad and Kris, Bob, Mallory and Kalie, and Jenna had all waited ALL DAY LONG in this tiny little room with no chairs just to be able to meet him when he was born. Hudson was born with a TON of dark brown hair, and little baby fuzz hair all over his shoulders, arms and back. At first his eyes resembled Garrett and his mom's. He had long arms and BIG hands and feet. I couldn't believe he weighed in at 8lbs 4oz and 21inches long!!! He was perfect!
We stayed at the hospital until Monday afternoon. Saturday and Sunday were full of visitors, all of whom included: Mallory, Kalie, my dad and Kris, Bob, my mom, Scott and Phyllis, Sara, Jenna, Pastor and Patti, Jenna, my Grandma Braun, Steve and Penny, Amanda, Nick, Alex, Cassie Thompson, Mackenzie, Josiah, Johnny and Danielle. By the end of the evening on Saturday, Hudson, Garrett and I were all thankful for our friends and family, but completely EXHAUSTED!
On Monday morning, Garrett went with Hudson for his circumcision. I felt horrible sending him and was thankful that Garrett was going with him to hold his little hand. Garrett said he was a champ through the whole process and hardly cried at all. --That surprised me considering during our hospital stay he would scream and scream if anyone so much as loosened him from his swaddle! Dr. Salmon even referred to him as a "very fiesty baby" on several different occasions! ;) After they monitored his reaction to the circumcision for about an hour, they gave us all the paperwork to be discharged. We loaded everything into the car prepared for our first ride home as a family of three. Hudson did well in the carseat initially, and then cried for about half of the drive home.
Before I end this story, it must be said that we had some of the most wonderful nurses a person could ask for during both the labor and delivery, as well as the recovery. Remah, Angie, and Kathy were AMAZING. They told us they fought over who would get to take care of us. :)
Monday, July 25, 2011
Our last little baby-free getaway...
This last Friday we went on a mini-getaway to celebrate our last little bit of time we have left before becoming parents and having children attached to us forever... We went to Lincoln City and stayed the night at the Inn at Spanish Head. It was beautiful! We had a lot of fun just hanging out, watching the sunset, eating a great dinner and just talking (mostly about the baby of course). It is funny as the end of this pregnancy wraps up how I am so so so excited to meet our little man, but also trying to savor these last few weeks of it just being "us". I suppose those are normal feelings...considering everything is just about to change. Today I am 37 weeks. I am still working out hard hoping it will help me get back into shape quickly after the birth. I feel constantly out of breath, have a very annoying constant back pain throughout my whole back, and typically feel slightly claustrophobic and squished...ready to have my own body back. Overall I just really looking forward to meeting this little guy! Here are some pictures from our trip to the beach... (I am just about done with the nursery...need to post some pictures of that soon!)
Ahh!!! It is July!
I can't believe it is July and the last time I posted was in MAY. Yikes! Here are a few updates regarding progression pictures...
July 2nd....35 weeks
May 9th...26 weeks...
Sunday, May 8, 2011
I'm such a slacker!
We have been so busy lately getting things done around the house (cleaning out the guest room to make room for the baby, tearing up our ENTIRE yard, cleaning lots of stuff, etc. etc.) that I have been sadly neglecting my little blog. Today is Sunday, May 8th and today marks 26 weeks along. Here is FINALLY an updated picture of the all the growing that has been happening...
It is so funny because this next picture is from when we went to San Diego over spring break to get the Segway. At that point, I was 19/20 weeks along and of course I thought I was huge and totally showing. Now, looking back at the picture, it doesn't seem quite soooo obvious (and boy have I grown since!)...
In the past few weeks I think I have been feeling a lot of growing pains. Every day when I get home from work, my back feels like I can feel the insides puuulllinngg and streeetttchhiing forward. It isn't excruciating or anything, just this dull constant pain as I think things are readjusting and, sadly, making me larger!
So we are going to take a little trip back in time to when we found out we were having a boy...
On March 31st, I met Garrett, his mom, and my mom at the doctor's office after work. The day had finally arrived to put all of Garrett's blabbing/dreaming/hoping/praying/wishing that it was a boy to the test. The night before, for some reason I really thought it was going to be a girl because of how bad Garrett wanted it to be a boy. I was really excited thinking about it being a girl, but a little sad too because I really wanted to use our boy name and I was truly a little concerned with how Garrett would react to the news of a girl. It isn't that I didn't think that once he saw her, he wouldn't love her, I just thought hearing the news at the ultrasound before being able to meet her might make it a lot easier for him to be very disappointed over not having a son first. That same night before the appointment when we were praying before going to sleep, I asked Garrett if, just for this one night, he would please NOT pray that it was a boy. The decision had already been made and I guess I didn't want all this, "please please please let it be a boy," going towards our already perfectly made daughter. :)
All those fears were halted when we went into the ultrasound and they did the ENTIRE anatomy scan without saying anything about the gender. Towards the beginning of the appointment, the ultrasound tech made a quick scan over the whole body and I thought to myself, "Oh my gosh. There it is! We are definitely having a boy." I didn't want to say anything aloud in fear I wrong and to get Garrett's hopes up all over again (it seems like you never know what you're looking at on those things anyway). As the appointment went on and the tech was back in the leg/tummy region, I saw nothing and assumed I had been wrong about what I saw earlier. Once he was done measuring EVERYTHING else (Garrett is dying in anticipation at this point), he went back down to that area and said, "There you have it. One. Two. Three legs." ---and there it was, clear as day. I couldn't believe Garrett had been right! I am pretty sure every person waiting in the lab waiting room also got to experience how excited Garrett was. He was hooting and hollering, and then, as we walked out into the waiting area, decided to officially announce the news to all. Wow...it is truly amazing how different him and I are. :)
Needless to say, we were ecstatic with the news. I was very relieved to see that all body parts were developing correctly and there were no areas of concern. At one point during the appointment, the UT tech caught a good glimpse of one of his feet and I asked him to zoom in a little if he could. To my surprise (and honestly a little bit of horror), I asked Garrett to start counting the number of toes he saw (because he was closest to the screen). Garrett started counting, one, two, three, four, ...and then the baby moved and we couldn't keep going. I may be wrong again, but I would almost bet there are more than 5 toes on that foot. Like mother, like son. Poor guy. I hope that isn't the best and only trait I pass on to him. :) I guess we will find out in August!
With a little over three months to go, I am getting more and more excited each day to meet our little miracle. We have decided to name him Hudson Garrett. I think a lot about the kind of kid he is going to be. He is such a little mover inside of me, that I am honestly a little fearful of how crazy he has the potential to be. Is it possible for two people who are as active as Garrett and I to have a calm, quiet kid? We will see. As always, my biggest prayer is that he will be stand-up out of this world man of God, and with that, the rest should take care of itself. :)
Can't can't can't wait to meet him!
It is so funny because this next picture is from when we went to San Diego over spring break to get the Segway. At that point, I was 19/20 weeks along and of course I thought I was huge and totally showing. Now, looking back at the picture, it doesn't seem quite soooo obvious (and boy have I grown since!)...
In the past few weeks I think I have been feeling a lot of growing pains. Every day when I get home from work, my back feels like I can feel the insides puuulllinngg and streeetttchhiing forward. It isn't excruciating or anything, just this dull constant pain as I think things are readjusting and, sadly, making me larger!
So we are going to take a little trip back in time to when we found out we were having a boy...
On March 31st, I met Garrett, his mom, and my mom at the doctor's office after work. The day had finally arrived to put all of Garrett's blabbing/dreaming/hoping/praying/wishing that it was a boy to the test. The night before, for some reason I really thought it was going to be a girl because of how bad Garrett wanted it to be a boy. I was really excited thinking about it being a girl, but a little sad too because I really wanted to use our boy name and I was truly a little concerned with how Garrett would react to the news of a girl. It isn't that I didn't think that once he saw her, he wouldn't love her, I just thought hearing the news at the ultrasound before being able to meet her might make it a lot easier for him to be very disappointed over not having a son first. That same night before the appointment when we were praying before going to sleep, I asked Garrett if, just for this one night, he would please NOT pray that it was a boy. The decision had already been made and I guess I didn't want all this, "please please please let it be a boy," going towards our already perfectly made daughter. :)
All those fears were halted when we went into the ultrasound and they did the ENTIRE anatomy scan without saying anything about the gender. Towards the beginning of the appointment, the ultrasound tech made a quick scan over the whole body and I thought to myself, "Oh my gosh. There it is! We are definitely having a boy." I didn't want to say anything aloud in fear I wrong and to get Garrett's hopes up all over again (it seems like you never know what you're looking at on those things anyway). As the appointment went on and the tech was back in the leg/tummy region, I saw nothing and assumed I had been wrong about what I saw earlier. Once he was done measuring EVERYTHING else (Garrett is dying in anticipation at this point), he went back down to that area and said, "There you have it. One. Two. Three legs." ---and there it was, clear as day. I couldn't believe Garrett had been right! I am pretty sure every person waiting in the lab waiting room also got to experience how excited Garrett was. He was hooting and hollering, and then, as we walked out into the waiting area, decided to officially announce the news to all. Wow...it is truly amazing how different him and I are. :)
Needless to say, we were ecstatic with the news. I was very relieved to see that all body parts were developing correctly and there were no areas of concern. At one point during the appointment, the UT tech caught a good glimpse of one of his feet and I asked him to zoom in a little if he could. To my surprise (and honestly a little bit of horror), I asked Garrett to start counting the number of toes he saw (because he was closest to the screen). Garrett started counting, one, two, three, four, ...and then the baby moved and we couldn't keep going. I may be wrong again, but I would almost bet there are more than 5 toes on that foot. Like mother, like son. Poor guy. I hope that isn't the best and only trait I pass on to him. :) I guess we will find out in August!
With a little over three months to go, I am getting more and more excited each day to meet our little miracle. We have decided to name him Hudson Garrett. I think a lot about the kind of kid he is going to be. He is such a little mover inside of me, that I am honestly a little fearful of how crazy he has the potential to be. Is it possible for two people who are as active as Garrett and I to have a calm, quiet kid? We will see. As always, my biggest prayer is that he will be stand-up out of this world man of God, and with that, the rest should take care of itself. :)
Can't can't can't wait to meet him!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Daddy was right...
You are a BOY!
I have a lot to say about our ultrasound appointment as well as how crazily you've been moving inside me lately, but for now, this mama is TIRED. I promise I will write more soon.
We are ecstatic that you are a boy (especially your dad!) and cannot wait to get our hands on you!
I have a lot to say about our ultrasound appointment as well as how crazily you've been moving inside me lately, but for now, this mama is TIRED. I promise I will write more soon.
We are ecstatic that you are a boy (especially your dad!) and cannot wait to get our hands on you!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
17 weeks! Dear baby...
This weekend your dad and I went on a ski/snowboarding trip for Wounded Warriors in Bend. This year, because of you, I had a great excuse to not spend the day falling on my bum a bazillion times and freezing all day long. :) I tried to act a little bummed because I know how much your dad loves snowboarding and wants me to get better, but truth be told, I was quite content sitting in the lodge watching him snowboard, sipping hot chocolate and reading about how to make you bilingual. :) On Friday night when we were at the hotel I kept feeling the same kind of "bubbly" movements in my stomach which I though at first were just digestion-related. The next day they continued happening and I realized that all those little bubbles must have been you moving around like a maniac inside me. What a wonderful little feeling! It makes it all seem so much more real!
In the past 7 days I absolutely cannot believe how much my body has changed. I took a picture on my phone last Sunday at 16 weeks and had nothing to show for the fact that you were inside of me. This week, it is a much different story. How can so much change so quickly?!?!? I still feel like I'm in that weird transition phase of not showing-to-showing but it is all worth it! We cannot wait to meet you and love you up!
!Te quiero mucho!
In the past 7 days I absolutely cannot believe how much my body has changed. I took a picture on my phone last Sunday at 16 weeks and had nothing to show for the fact that you were inside of me. This week, it is a much different story. How can so much change so quickly?!?!? I still feel like I'm in that weird transition phase of not showing-to-showing but it is all worth it! We cannot wait to meet you and love you up!
On March 17th, I had another quick appointment for them to check your heartbeat and make sure everything was going well. I knew we had been through a growth spurt but was a little surprised by the 6 POUND GAIN in the last four weeks. We should really start slowing that down! The medical assistant started to check for your sweet little heartbeat with the doppler and every time she caught you for an instant you were gone...moving to a different place. Finally, after 4 times of trying to catch you, you stayed in the same spot long enough for her to time your heart rate. Somehow, if it isn't you, I hope one of our children miraculously ends up being calm and maybe even quiet. :) ...they certainly won't be getting that from EITHER one of their parents!
Lately your dad is crazy about calling you Hudson and talking about all the things he can't wait to do with you...his son. I keep telling him he is insane because the chances are just as likely that you will in fact be his daughter! We just made our appointment to find out what you are and now only have to wait until March 31st! It will be even more fun to watch your two grandmas' reactions over seeing you on the ultrasound! I'm predicting tears from both! (By the way, you have NO idea how good you're going to have it with grandmas like the one's your getting! You could not have hand-selected better ones! We'll have to make sure they don't spoil you rotten TOO badly!) I can't wait to either confirm once and for all that you truly are a boy, or get your dad used to the idea of having a sweet beautiful little girl! Either way, we will be ecstatic with whoever you are and cannot wait to meet you!
The school year is quickly starting to get to the last leg. We start spring break this week and I can't believe there will only be about 10 weeks left when we get back. In all honesty, I'm getting a little sad about it being close to the end. There is a lot I'm going to miss about my job, the population of kids we serve at my school, and the fight in the nasty world of education to do what truly is best for student learning. Ahhh....but I know that once they place you in my arms, my whole world will change and suddenly everything I feel right now will seem faint and it will all be re-confirmed to me that being home with you is exactly where I want and need to be.
I know this post is titled 17 weeks, but I've been a little bit of a blogging slacker and today marks 19 weeks. It is hard to believe we're almost half way there. 10 pounds up. (I had a complete meltdown yesterday when I tried to put on some capris that I wanted to take on our San Diego trip. Last summer they were falling off of me so I figured I'd be able to wear them this spring and summer too. Maybe not. Turns out they were skin tight. Your dad walked in the room and I burst in tears. I cried and cried explaining that you were not supposed to be making your way down to my legs. They didn't need to get any bigger than they already were. Your poor dad. Sometimes I feel so bad for him. I truly haven't been very emotional throughout this pregnancy so far, but when stuff like this happens it is so random and he is so completely caught off guard. Thankfully he is so sweet to always make me feel better and reassure me that blimp or not, it will all be worth it for you! ---(Just kidding, he doesn't really say the blimp part!)
I'm sure that as we start our new life as a family of three there will be a lot bigger and more challenging surprises coming our way than pants being a little tight. In the end, I just pray God helps us to be great parents to you in this crazy world. Your dad and I were talking the other night about how much stronger of a warrior for Jesus you and your future siblings are going to have to be. As the world gets further and further way from God and crazier and crazier, Christians are really going to have to stay firm and grounded. I hope we can raise you to be that kind of person. Knowing and loving Jesus is so incredible. It is my only wish that you will love Him with all of the entirety of your heart and serve Him in whatever destiny He has for your life. I pray that many souls will be brought to His merciful offer of salvation because of your impact on their lives. He is oh-so-good.
Well I need to get moving and headed to church. I love you so so so much and can't wait to see how much you've grown at our ultrasound on the 31st. Just a few more days and I get to start buying you great clothes and accessories :) hehe. We can't wait to meet you. Stay safe in there and grow like you are supposed to. Oh, and if you can, cut your sweet mom some slack and please stop adding weight to my thighs. :)
!Te quiero mucho!
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