Lots o' Smiles

So we learned how to smile really well now and other faces have followed. He has learned how to scrunch his nose up which just started yesterday. I haven't been able to catch his faces on the camera, but I can tell you that are very cute.

Yearly trip to the fair

Well we decided to go to the game on the busiest day, the red river shoot out. I took this picture in the car in case we didn't get to go. We drove around forever trying to find a parking spot.
Its funny that Ethan looks like he has bottom teeth in this picture.

Ethan slept most of the time while we were at the fair, but I wanted him to have a picture with Big Tex. You can see the top part of his carseat in the picture.

Our group consisted of Katherine, Hayley, Anne Marie, Nin Nin, and Papa.

Anne Marie couldn't resist holding her cute nephew.

Hayley is being her silly self.

So Ethan Finally Made It

So here is my account of Ethan's birth. I had my last doctor visit on August the 13th. My doctor and I decided on that day that Ethan was getting evicted on August the 19th. She said I would have to go in on August the 18th for some extra care. So I went to work on August the 15th, Ethan's due date, and when I got home chaos ensued. I had been having contractions since Wednesday but they were an hour apart on that day and Thursday they were 31 minutes apart. Well Friday I went into what I thought was the real deal but it turned out to be false labor. I was barely walking because of all the pain and Chris was freaking out. I had errands planned for the next day and laundry to do. I asked Chris to please let us eat dinner before we went to the hospital, so we ate then he helped me shower and I started laundry. All Chris kept saying was I don't think we should be eating, showering, and doing laundry right now. I laid down and had a big glass of water and before I knew it, it was Saturday. Saturday the 16th I ran my errands and finished laundry, all the while still having contractions but there was no pain this time. Since my contractions were three minutes apart we were trying to decide if we should go to the hospital. We ended up calling the hospital for advice and my friend Melanie. No hospital visit for that night. Same thing happened on Sunday but we didn't call anyone just decided on our own that it wasn't time. Monday we arrived at the hospital at 6pm like they told me. They hooked me up to a monitor for my contractions and a monitor for Ethan's heartbeat. At about 10pm they put a pill on my cervix to make it "ripen" as they put it. Well about 12am the nurse's kept coming in my room because the pill was making my contractions 2 minutes and I kept sitting forward in my bed to breath through the pain. The nurse told me I was not getting the other 3 doses of the pill they put on my cervix and she gave me demerol for my pain. I remember looking at the clock and thinking wow that clock is wavy. Chris called and I couldn't talk straight. He asked me what was wrong and I told him my speech was slurred because of the demerol. At 4am they started inducing labor and at 8am I was 3 cm dilated and they broke my water. I had to use the restroom and that was when we found out Ethan had pooped inside. They hooked me up to an uterus irrigation system and moved his heart rate monitor to the top of his head. At 12pm the contractions had gotten so close together it felt like I couldn't recover from the one before, before the next one came. At that point I was only a almost 5cm and then I asked for my epidural. They checked me a few more times and family started to arrive at about 5pm the epidural stopped working on my left side and I could feel everything plus they put an oxygen mask on me because Ethan's heartbeat kept dropping drastically. The nurse had all of the family go to the waiting area and the doctor came in and explained the situation to both Chris and I. She said that I wasn't progressing as I should, Ethan was still so far up in the birth canal that she could barely feel his head, she thought he was well over 8 pounds, that the umbilical cord was wrapped around him somewhere, and that he was face up. She then said we could do c-section now or wait and end up doing it by emergency at 12am. Chris and I decided it was best to do it then and so we notified the family and at 6pm they took me to the OR. They gave me a heavy dose of drugs through my epidural and made sure I couldn't feel it by poking me with a needle on my stomach all the way up to my chest. Chris came in and I closed my eyes and they said they were starting. I could smell the burning flesh from them cutting me open and then they were pushing. The anesthesiologist lifted my head and pulled the drape down and there was Ethan. He was perfect and everyone kept saying how beautiful he is. I couldn't take my eyes off of him as they cleaned him and Chris sat near and watched. Then from all of the movement on my stomach I began to throw up. Chris came close and tried to soothe me. They laid Ethan's cheek on my cheek and I remember thinking how hot he felt but he nuzzled me and I did the same back. They took him to the nursery and finished with me and wheeled me to the recovery.

Time to play catch up

So I had my baby shower on July the 13th. I know I am a little late posting about it but you know how life gets away from you. Anyways we played a few games, opened gifts, and ate.

Here is everyone that came, except Ella, I don't know where she had crawled off to. Elisha, the beautiful lady on the far left, was kind enough to drive all that way with her 3 week old AJ.

Cute gifts and lots of them. Thank you to everyone. Our little family is very appreciative of the kindness our friends and family have shared with us.

This is the beautiful cake my mom bought for the shower. Thanks mom. A big thank you to the hostess of my shower, Anne Marie, my big sister. You are awesome and I love you.
Anyways I have also been to the doctor 2 more times since the last post and I have not dialated at all. The doctor has nicknamed my cervix "The Rock". The doctor also did a sono to see how big Ethan is and she estimated he weighed 6.12 2 weeks ago and supposedly they gain a half a pound every week.
I kind of thought Ethan would come on his own. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

To the the doctor we will go

So another great visit. My blood pressure was 110/56 (normal is 120/80). I was pleased and so was the doctor. I had to wait for an hour and 15 minutes to see my doctor today. They did the strep b swab on me so they had me undress from the waist down and there I sat for over an hour. My hiney kept getting cold so I would pull my shirt down every so often to try to stay warm. The doctor said she was running behind because she delivered 6 babies that day. Wow busy busy.
So she thinks I will probably carry past my due date. We will see.
Until later.

A little over 5 weeks to go

Well only 38 days. Ethan has decided that at night when I lay down to go to sleep he is going to move around so much mommy can't go to sleep. Now if you know me I do not have problems falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping through noise. This baby is moving that much at night, oh yeah not just at night all day long at work too. Meagan says that Ella did the same to her the last month. This truly sucks because I am so tired at night I really want to sleep.
Anyways I go to the doctor tomorrow for my last 2 week visit and then I have to go every week. We are on the downward slide of this whole pregnancy.
So I think Ethan will be born with blonde hair, a little button nose, rose petal lips, and chicken legs like his dad.
Family shower is this weekend so we are excited. All of his clothes are washed and his room is painted. Almost completely ready.

I could see him blinking and blowing bubbles

So I took a look at Ethan and I luckily found his face on the sono machine and my booklet was right his head is almost in position. Anyways I witnessed him blinking which was odd and then he was blowing bubbles.
So I have most of his things washed. I think he has more clothes than me and Chris put together.
My sister Anne Marie has sent out the invitations for our family shower and I can't wait to see them because she hand made them and she is very proud so I bet they are pretty. Hopefully I will get my invitation today.
Ethan has become very spunky lately. Well we are patiently awaiting his arrival.

So the doctor said...

Everything is still looking good. I have gained a total of 36 pounds. WOW! I think that there is 10 pounds in each one of my legs. I did get a little emotional at the doctors office about my back hurting sooooo bad. She prescribed me some anti spasm pills.

I had my work baby shower on Thursday 6/26. Being the person receiving gifts at a baby shower is kind of strange. But Ethan got a lot of towels and washcloths, some more clothes, diapers(they smell so good), and some other things. I had fun but it was kind of weird.

My family baby shower is on 7/13. I am preparing a video surprise for everyone and even though Anne Marie's house is far away I hope everyone can come.

The girls at my work shower were talking about delivering and they freaked me out even more. My friend Elisa just had her baby at a birthing center and she looked happy in all of her pictures. I don't know I will just have to be patient and hopefully it won't hurt too bad.

A Better Doctor Visit

So I went to the doctor yesterday and there was no protein in my urine, my blood pressure was good, and I only gained 2 pounds. The doctor was very pleased with this last visit. She said I looked my healthier than I did last time. So no preeclampsia worries for now. I am so glad she did not put me on bedrest. I still have to keep wearing my pressure hose and take it easy at work and home.
Its funny because Ethan gets moving around like he is fighting a boxing match but when he hears Chris' voice he stops.
I didn't know that babies can tickle you from the inside. One night I was laying on the couch watching TV and I started giggling and Chris asked me what I was laughing at and I told him that Ethan had tickled me. Chris looked at me and said that is weird.
So I can't wait to meet Ethan and I am glad he won't be born too early.

The World's Worst Blogger

Here are the images I promised. Sorry for the delay.

So babies profile is good you can see nose and a foot on the right side of the image.

This still frame made me laugh because Chris' grandma Nancy said that after Chris was born they had no problem spotting him in the nursery because he always had his hand in the air with his pointer finger pointing at the ceiling. Nancy says he was trying to say "I'm number 1" but Chris says he was trying to say "Don't forget me here".

So this picture says we are still to expect a boy. Poor baby with all of those girl cousins he will probably be teased and dressed up.

This foot looks pretty long. I guess he is going to be tall like his daddy.

So here is the 3D image we captured.
The last doctor visit was at the beginning of may and the doctor said I was showing some signs of preeclampsia. I am to see the doctor on June 6th so hopefully she has better news this time.
We decided on a name. Ethan Glenn
This child has become so spunky lately you wonder what the heck they are doing in there.
Anyways I have some 3D images from this past weekend I will enter them on Friday the 6th.

The blog police are after me

So my older sister says I am not blogging enough to her satisfaction. Sorry to her and whoever else that has been waiting for my next blog.
Anyways I have more sonogram pictures but for some reason the files are corrupt and I am going to have to rescan them and try again another blog.
This is a picture of me at Ella's (my niece) baptism last weekend. I am 24 weeks now and my cankles have taken on a life of their own. Used to they would get swollen then I would put them up and they would be fine the next day but not anymore. They get swollen now I put them up and they are still swollen the next day. The heartburn was so bad Friday that I wanted to cry and I have been craving Chicken Express unsweet iced tea. I have to have one after work every night.
So I went with my little sister Meagan and Ella out to my parents this weekend and we all had a good time. We ate cajun food, played seasame street, and watched Walk the Line. It is funny because my parents each have their own remote to the TV and it is like a battle of the remotes when people are talking in the living room with the TV on. Ella is such a good baby but by the time we got back you could tell she was ready to get out of her carseat.
We have decided to name the baby Ethan Glenn. Chris' grandma bought the baby some clothes and I opened the bag to look at what he got and there was this romper in there that said in child like handwriting "If my mom was a kid she would be my best friend". Chris looked at me because I was making sniffling noises and he said are you crying and I replied "Yes". I don't know why it made me cry but I thought in my head it is so true.
Everyone is being so giving to Ethan and I. We have gotten clothes, teethers, a carseat, a swing, a crib, baby furniture, my mom is making Ethan a quilt, and some other odds and ends. So to everyone who has bought, given, or made Ethan and I stuff thank you very much we appreciate it.

First Time for Everything

So my older sister suggested that I start a blog to put into words my journey through this pregnancy. This is my first time blogging. I found out I was pregnant in January. I was at work one day talking about this and that to my co-worker Raeanna and she said "Are you pregnant?". I turned to her and said "No I am on birth control". Well a blood test later my B-hcg came back over 97,000 when it is supposed to be <1. I was completely suprised and confused. I returned home that night and tearfully told Chris that I was pregnant. Chris looked at me and said "It will be alright". My fear melted and was soothed by his words. After having a sonogram it revealed that I was close to 9 weeks. In November I took antibiotics and from that a new life began. Having suffered 2 miscarriages at 3 months of pregnancy the next month was nerve racking. I felt like I was waiting for the inevitable but hoping for a miracle. Luckily I didn't suffer any morning sickness just a lot of congestion that made me... you know.

Here is a 3D sonogram of baby at 10 weeks.

Here is baby at 13 weeks. I felt baby move for the first time at 15 weeks which felt like a butterfly flapping its wings on my tummy. Awesome!

As you can see we are going to have the first boy in this family. I feel anxious about this because we mostly have girls and I don't know much about boys.

Say hello baby.
So I am 21 weeks now and looking to deliver in August. Lately my ankles, which I now call cankles, have been 5 times the size they normally are and I have heartburn so bad it wakes me up at night. I could swear sometimes that I could open my mouth and fire would shoot out.
I have 2 doctors appointments on Friday, one for a wellness check and the other a sonogram to see if there are any abnormalities in the babies anatomy. Keep your fingers crossed and say a pray for us.