Our first doctor appointment...

We had our first doctor appointment yesterday. We first met with the lactation consultant to assess his intake and weight. He's doing excellent!! He not only has maintained his birth weight but has eaten his way up to 7 lbs, 9 oz. He is taking in over 2 oz per feeding which is great. Doctor Jenny was very enthusiastic about how well he is doing and unless we are feeling anxious or questions or concerns arise, we'll see her again in 3 weeks.

I had my first Ty blessing on Monday, and a close call yesterday... it's been 21 years since a baby boy peed on me. Oh, just like his cousin Alec! It was pretty funny- I wasn't expecting it at all and I think I reached for a wipe when the next thing I knew, he made a perfect shot right down the front of my tank top. I should've known; he got very quiet and peaceful right before it happened each time.

Our first night home was pretty tough. The longest stretch of sleep either Christian or I got was 30 minutes, although most sleeping periods were only about 10-15 minutes long. By the following night, he woke up 3 times to eat and was a little fussy between each feed. The last two nights, however, he woke up every 3-4 hours to eat, but otherwise slept right through the night. Last night was like clock work. He woke up every 3 hours on the button to eat! So, needless to say, we are very happy with his current sleeping pattern!

We were able to go for a walk yesterday too. It was so nice outside! We love our new stroller and can't wait to go out and explore the neighborhood again sometime soon.

It's a boy...

Ty Christian has arrived!! He was born on Thursday February 5th at 12:53 in the afternoon and shares a birthday with his Lolo. He weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz and is 21 inches long. He is absolutely amazing and has forever changed his Mommy and Daddy! We are so in love with every cell of him, he is truly our little miracle.
On Wednesday morning at 4:30 am I had my first sign of impending labor... or at least I had hoped so. I went to work and quizzed all the moms about their experiences and found myself in a big grey zone. Some women went into labor within hours, some within days and others within weeks of losing the "plug". So I just continued to tell myself if would be another three weeks before my little bundle of joy would arrive.




After having a brief talk with my Grandmas in heaven asking them and God to "Please help me have a baby tonight", Christian and I went to bed at 10:00 and I woke up at 10:30 to learn my water had broken. "Okay", I thought, "this has to be it...". We packed up and left for the hospital. My contractions were quite intense to say the least and are accompanied by some pretty funny stories that Christian tells best! I began pushing at 10:30 am on Thursday and Ty was born two and a half hours later.






Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers, they were successful! Ty is a healthy baby boy and Christian and I are doing very well. We certainly could not be any happier. We love staring at him in amazement and are absolutely in love with our new family! We have some rest to catch up on, that's for sure... Ty has stuck to his pregnancy plan and sleeps well during the day and stays up and active at night.





He had his first bath at home yesterday; I think he'll be happier when we can sit him in the water to help keep him warm unlike yesterday since we needed to keep his umbilical cord dry. He was a trooper though. His favorite parts were getting water poured over his back and cuddling in the froggie towel his Daddy bought him many months ago. So darn adorable!

Big Fish

We had our 38 week appointment yesterday. I am 95% effaced and 1cm dilated. We're getting there. I had no luck (obviously) with the spicy mexican food and did go to Jewel for the raspberry tea, but found only raspberry flavored tea, even in the organic isle. I am still on the lookout. However, I have made a promise to myself that I will consider myself 4 weeks away from baby being born and anything sooner will be a "surprise". A very pleasant one at that.

Why 4 weeks?? Because when I reviewed Baby's potential 40 week birth weight with Dr. Heimburger yesterday and asked his opinion on induction, he gave me a very lengthy response as to why he doesn't believe in induction. In summary, I quote "your fish will only get as big as your aquarium". He believes my "fish" won't grow "that much more" between 40 and 42 weeks due to the size of my "aquarium". Therefore, there is no sense in disturbing mother nature until I am nearing the 42 week point. I can see where he's coming from, but COME ON!! My aquarium??!! Really??!! I wonder if he'd like to carry around a fish in his aquarium for an extra 2 weeks.


You see, at 35 weeks, the maternal-fetal specialist measured Baby T to be 6 lbs, 3 oz. If Baby were to grow the normal 1/2 lb per week, that would give me a 9 lb baby come Valentines Day. Keep in mind that the weight they told us has a one pound varience and this little one has been measuring big since it's conception. So, my math tells me that really leaves the potential of a 10 lb baby on Valentines Day... Can you understand my concern here?


Ahhh.. just FOUR more weeks...


One last thought: My friend Caitlin's response via text after seeing my last posted picture,"OMG!! U could possibly be having a toddler!"

Spicy Mexican and Raspberry Tea!

Tonight, we are going out for spicy Mexican dinner with Ron, Jenessa, and Gerry. Then we'll come home and watch the UFC fight on pay-per-view. Hopefully that'll stir up some excitement. I got a message from a friend today whose husband, a physician, has suggested I drink real raspberry tea; he specified that it not be raspberry flavored, but rather the kind found in the organic isle. If I don't make it there tonight, I'll be in the organic isle in the morning!! I'll let him remain nameless unless we see some results, in which case I want half of the money he earns from me making him FAMOUS!! ;-)

How do I feel? Well, like a stuffed sausage. And although I would love to deliver tonight, I have really enjoyed the way Baby has been moving this week. Evening is still the most active time, but I love feeling Baby's little heels sticking out of the right side of my belly. It's head is down, as it has been, but it is laying sideways with it's back and butt on the left side of my stomach and the arms, knees and heels all the way over on my right side. I'm really going to miss these feelings. What's making me uncomfortable is my back, and in the evening, or after walking or standing my stomach actually hurts. It's so tight and heavy!

Looks like it's gonna be Valentino Tolentino after all... I was hoping for a Baby Barack today.

Just got home from the doctor... NO CHANGE!!! I will go back to work on Thursday as long as I'm approved to do so by my employee health department tomorrow. I'll also need to go pick up some new scrubs since my last sets weren't fitting so well when I left work 4 weeks ago. It's bitter-sweet. I'm glad to be able to go back to work because I'd rather be there and busy than at home watching the clock. However, I would much prefer to be HAVING MY BABY! I know, Baby will come when God is ready for Baby to come. But can't I have a say in it too?! A girl at work was told my her mother that when you feel like you just can't take it anymore, you have FOUR weeks to go! I guess that means I have 3.5 weeks left, which would accurately take us to Valentines Day...
Next appointment is next Monday.

OK, I'm ready...

Sometimes it's better to let the picture do the talking... what do they say about girls stealing your beauty? If this belly wasn't hanging so LOW, I'd think it was a girl.

We've reached our 36 week goal!!!

We had three beautiful baby showers... they were amazing. So much hard work was put into them and we are so thankful to everyone!
Overall Baby has been behaving. We had an appointment on Tuesday morning and I wasn't yet dilated. However, when we had our weekly non stress test, doc wasn't seeing what he wanted. So he sent us back to the hospital for a few hours of monitoring. We were there for about 4 hours and by the time we left we were in good shape. They like to see a 15 beat acceleration of baby's heart that lasts for 15 seconds with baby movement. The expectation is to see 3 of these in 10 minutes of monitoring, but they weren't seeing that at the doc's office. I had eaten breakfast and drank some water, but they gave me OJ to see if that would help, they used the loud buzzer on my belly and that didn't work either. So that's when they sent me over to CDH. I think baby was asleep because at that time of morning I don't usually feel baby being really active, so I wasn't extremely concerned. Sure enough, within a few hours, we were getting the expected outcomes from Baby. And as usual, as the day went on we had increased activity!
Today will be my last dosages of medication. I'm 36 weeks tomorrow, so they feel comfortable that if I'm having contractions and go into labor, we are in a safe zone and it would be okay for me to deliver. The last few days I've been having a lot of contractions breaking right through the medications, but that doesn't really mean anything either... So only time will tell! I've washed Baby's clothes and started to put the nursery together. We don't want to get too much together because we are having carpet installed in just over a week to our upper level. So we're kind of in a holding pattern with a living room and dining room filled with baby items. We'll start bringing some of the items that won't be needed till Baby is a little older down to the basement to save room in the mean time.
My next scheduled appointment is on Tuesday evening and we'll have a better idea of our plan then. I may go back to work if I'm still not dilated... doc said he normally wouldn't allow that but as long as I don't do any lifting, he feels the safest place for me is probably at work since if I do go into labor I'm already at the hospital! I'd like to go back. I kind of miss being there. I know that feeling won't last once I have my baby, so why not go in and make some money?! Regardless of my feelings, I'll see what Dr. Heimburger has to say on Tuesday and leave the final decision up to him. Oh, and as for what led to all this in the first place: we saw the maternal fetal specialist last Friday who is quite sure it's due to placental abruption. And I should mention that we saw an ultrasound of Baby T that day, and this baby looks just like Daddy!! We're getting closer and are SO EXCITED!!!