Merry Christmas to us!!

After many long walks and many false alarms...my water broke around 2:30am on the night of Christmas Eve.  Todd and I had gone to the Christmas Eve service at our church and then we went out for dinner.  I was feeling a little homesick so I ordered some fried oysters and we had an eggplant appetizer because someone at work had told me that eating eggplant will send you into labor.  Maybe it worked!  After I realized that my water had broken, I woke Todd up and we called the doctor.  He said since my water broke and I was having contractions to go ahead and get to the hospital so we packed everything up and got to the hospital around 4am.  They got me into a room and we were ready to go!

At 7am the nurses switched shifts and Miriam came in.  She was absolutely wonderful!  Everyone there had the best attitude especially for having to work on Christmas Day.  The only downside to it being Christmas Day is that there was no food :(  The cafeteria was closed and poor Todd was starving.  We had packed some granola bars and some crackers in the bag but those didn't last long.  

They asked me when we got there if I wanted an epidural but at that point my contractions weren't too bad so I decided to wait it out.  I was only about 3cm dilated at this point.  When I said I wanted to wait it out, the nurses gave each other knowing looks and told me not to wait too long because the anesthesiologist was on call but he was at his house and it would take him a few mins to get there. About an hour later I hit btw. 4 and 5 and I figured out what those knowing looks were all about!  Luckily it didn't end up taking him longer than  15 mins after I asked for it.  After that things slowed down quite a bit and I ended up being in labor for about 12 hours.  With the epi, the pain was not bad at all.  I actually ended up taking a few naps during the day.  The only problem was everytime I tried to move off of my left side his heart rate would drop dramatically so I pretty much had to lay there in the same position the entire time.  He ended up being born at 2:52 pm on Christmas Day after about an hour of pushing!

This is my favorite.  Poor thing, he does NOT look happy about being on the outside.

He was 7lbs 12 oz and scored a 9 on the APGAR. (Not a 10 because his hands and feet were pretty purple for awhile).  We decided to name him Brooks (after Todd's middle name) and Douglas after mine and Todd's maternal grandfathers.  We hope he likes it...it took us a loooooooooong time to pick it out :)

My mom made it down for the big event and my sister surprised me by coming down a few hours later so they both got to see him the night he was born which was really neat.  Every single restaurant was closed but my mom somehow found us some Chinese food to eat that night, thank goodness.  After 13 hours of labor, I really didn't care what I ate!  We had some fun the next day with the whole Christmas baby thing and dressed him up in a Santa outfit for a little photo shoot.

We had a great hospital experience.  Everyone there was so nice and I really didn't want to leave!

This is him on going home day...my mom got him this adorable little outfit and his Aunt Maria gave him the little gray booties :)

Definitely our best Christmas ever!

Pregnancy Wrap-Up

So, I really did a great job posting during pregnancy. Nothing after 19 weeks.  However, even though I did not have time to blog, I did snap a few more photos.  I will put them here all in one post to refer back to.  All in all, I gained about 40 lbs...way past my scary weight but what can you do?

 

This was around 31 weeks at my friend Paige's wedding.

This was taken on Thanksgiving Day.

We had a warm snap towards the end of December so we went for several walks on the beach the week before he was born.  By this time in the pregnancy I was having alot of swelling and was ready to go!

19 Weeks...

Get ready for the most anticlimactic pregnancy photo post of all time.

4 Weeks later and I look exactly the same.  Oh well!  I have plenty of time left to get unrecognizably large...it's just funny to compare them side by side.  Btw the newest one is a selfie because by the time Todd gets home from work I am usually in my pajamas already (embarrassing to admit that to the hundreds 4 people that actually read this).  I can feel the baby moving now sometimes...which really exciting!  It started on Monday, the 29th right when I hit 19 weeks but it took me a few days to figure out what was actually happening.  

In other exciting news, we are going in for our big anatomy ultrasound on August 14th.  Can't wait to find out what "it" is!  People keep asking me what I feel like it is but I honestly have no idea.  Any predictions??

Meanwhile...

This past weekend I went on a girls trip to Amelia Island, Florida with all of my friends from college.  It was alot of fun to see everyone and relax by the pool for a few days...and of course I was sans margaritas so I was able to be the DD!

Dinner at Pablo's

Partying like its 1993. Seriously, this DJ had nothing from the 00's.  Chanel asked him to "play something current" and he played Tupac-Changes.  I felt like I was at the 8th grade dance.  But it was fun!

MEANWHILE...the whole time we were gone I had been talking to Todd and he was telling me he was playing video games with his friend and hanging out at the beach and playing golf.  Imagine my surprise when I got home on Sunday and saw this!!!

He started a secret project in the baby room!  I have been pinning pictures of nurseries with board and batten walls for awhile now and everytime I would show it to him he would say something dumb like "looks like too much work" etc etc.  And I wanted him to build a little shelf in that weird nook that we have in between the closet and the wall for books and toys.  Surprise!!  It was apparently all part of his master plan to trick me.  He worked on it all weekend while I was away and did SUCH a good job...I was so excited!  I will post more detail pictures when it gets closer to finished.  We still have to prime and paint but it is going to look so good.

And he didn't stop there...when we built my closet back when we moved in the light switch was underneath the second row of clothes.  So everytime I went in I had to bend over and dig around in my sweaters til I found the secret spot.  Somehow he managed to move it over so its right on the wall when you walk in.  SO COOL!  I have no idea how he did it and no idea that he even knew how to do electrical stuff like this.  But now that I know I have a few more project ideas...jk.  I think this will tide me over for awhile.  Thanks love! You rock!

Big News!

We're back with some big news!  It's time to introduce...

Baby P!  We are using that term until we find out what it is because my mom informed me on the phone the other day that I need to stop calling it "it". oops!  So he/she will be here sometime around December 23, 2013.  Todd and I are so excited and can't wait to find out if he/she is a he or a she!  We should be able to find out sometime in early August.

Early in the morning of Saturday, April 13th (the day of Todd's 30th birthday party)...

For my future child who may read this someday, don't worry you were not an accident.  It just made for a better picture.

I went to the doctor about 2 weeks later and found out I was about 6 weeks pregnant.  Here is Baby P at 6 weeks...

They wanted me to come back 2 weeks later to check everything again because they were confused about the due date and wanted to make sure things were moving along the way they were supposed to so here we are at 8 weeks...

Then, I was having a few complications so I called the doctor and they asked me to come in to check things out.  So here we are around 11 weeks and everything was looking good!

I went back 2 weeks later and we heard the heartbeat in the office.  Then I went back right at 14 weeks before we went on our trip to Mexico and we heard it again.  I got this video to send to Todd since he couldn't make it to that appointment.

I go back on the 17th and hopefully will get a date for our 20 week ultrasound!  We are starting the count at 14 weeks because for about the first 13 I felt pretty terrible and getting camera ready was honestly just way too much work ;)  I am feeling better now and we are enjoying summer and having lots of time to relax and look for nursery ideas on Pinterest. (and by we I mean the baby and myself, believe it or not Todd is not too big on pinning nursery ideas) So here is me at 15 weeks pregnant...

 

I am feeling pretty good these days.  I have been getting a few migraines here and there and having some pain in my lower back when I walk alot but other than that I have more energy than before and I'm not nauseous anymore either.  If you didn't know I was pregnant you probably wouldn't be able to tell by looking at me but my regular pants are very uncomfortable to button.  I have been rocking some maternity jorts (yes I know) or a maxi dress pretty much every day this summer.  I am still a few pounds down in weight from where I started but I'm sure I will start catching up soon now that I am able to eat again!

**Update--I am posting this 3 weeks late because it took me that long to get all the pictures on the computer. Because I am super busy. Or lazy. Whatever.  And also because my friend Sarah was here last week and told me I need to start blogging!  I will try to get an 18 week pic today, and maybe by the time this baby is born I will post that one ;)

Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas at Granny's this year.  Everyone was able to be there and my sister even found a pearl in her fried oyster.  We decided to do a Dirty Santa gift exchange this year...  here are some of the pics I took with our new camera!

Chase and I baked a gingerbread man.

Everyone posing with their White Elephant present...

Jake got an RGIII jersey...Todd was pretty happy about that!

Chase and I also made a "Christmas cake"

Mel was supposed to be in this pic but she ran off right as I was taking it.  

We had a great trip!  Merry Christmas!

Grace

Encouragement for Today

I have been getting these daily devotionals emailed to me for awhile now.  This came to me this morning, just when I needed it the most.  I decided to share it here in case it will help anyone else or incase you might like to go sign up for these daily devotionals.  They are very quick to read and it is uncanny how many seem to come at the most opportune times.

Some of my favorite excerpts from today:

Isaiah 55:8-9 "“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts."

"Perhaps you feel overwhelmed today. You may be experiencing some sadness, loss or worry. You may find that God has called you to a difficult path. "Surely," you think, "God has an easier road for me to travel."

The truth is, we aren't wise enough to assume another path would be best for us. Maybe the easier road won't make us into the person God intends us to be.

Perhaps the difficult road is a path of grace—protecting us from the worst.

Maybe this road is about learning something new about God or ourselves. Could it be the difficult journey is the path that prepares us for a greater purpose or a greater faith in God?"

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

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