Sunday, November 30, 2008

Isaiah's First Week

Well this week has certainly been a whirlwind! I still have a hard time believing that we are parents to such an amazing baby boy! First of all, I wanted to follow up to Jeremy's lst post. It was an incredibly hard labor and unfortunately my hope for a medication free birth was dashed. The reason why I bring this up again... to thank my husband publicly. He was such an amazing support person! Jeremy did everything he could to keep me comfortable and when I couldn't go on anymore, he held me tight, allowed me to cry, and let me know that it was okay. He would not let me be disappointed in myself-he was wonderful!

We had a lot of visitors this week, including my sister and brother-in-law who stayed for the entire week. I don't know how we would have gotten anything done without them here. We certainly wouldn't have eaten as well! Jeremy and I are so grateful to them and hope that they make it back home again soon! Isaiah got to spend some quality time with his Nana Miller, Grandma Christian, lots of cousins, aunts and uncles, and even got to meet his new friend Liam! Here are some pics from the week:



Isaiah's 1st close-up




















Another pic without all the goop in my eyes



















Daddy and Isaiah for the 1st time




















Mommy and Isaiah






















1st family picture


















Isaiah and Nana Miller




















Visiting with Grandma Christian




















Aunt Steph, Uncle Heath and Isaiah


















Meeting Liam





















1st Thanksgiving






















I'm so handsome!




















Chilling in my swing





















Right after my first sponge bath at home-I got all wrapped up and the peed all over mommy.



















Belly cast that Uncle Heath painted for Isaiah's room





















Cross stitch hanging that Aunt Stephie made for Isaiah.

























One last belly pic-taken on delivery day at 39 weeks! I really miss that belly!!!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

IT'S A BOY!!!!



Hello everyone,



Isaiah Bradley Christian was born on November 20, 2008 at 9:05 p.m. When he was born he weighed in at 7 lbs., and 19 1/2 inches long.



The day didn't go exactly as planned, but the results were still the same. As most of you know our birth plan was to have the baby naturally. Everything stated at good, as good as you can be at 6 in the morning. Dr. Moon had decided to induce Cheryl because her blood pressure was a little too high. They induce pregnancy by using a drug called Pitocin. The drawback with pitocin is that, it can be very rough on the mom, because the labor pains get more intense more quickly. The first few hours were fine, and then they broke Cheryl's water. Suddenly the pains went from being one every five or so minutes, to being one right after another and more intense. Cheryl braved thru 12 hours of labor without an epidural. Unfortunately, after all that time she was only 3 cm dilated. So we decided that Cheryl needed an epidural. After the epidural was administered her pain got better, and she was actually able to take a nap for about a hour and a half. So to our surprise, the doctor announced, that only a couple of hours after the epidural, that she was 10 cm dilated. Long story short, after another hour and a half of pushing, we had our little baby boy. I was in shock for the next few hours with a big goofy smile on my face.



Let me just say that I am a very lucky man to be married to such a strong, passionate, and loving woman. I am so proud of all the hard work that Cheryl did, not only giving birth to our child, but of all the hard work throughout the pregnancy. She's a natural and is going to be a great mother.



Friday, November 14, 2008

T-6 days!

Hello Everyone!!!
So, I promised I would be better this week about posting, and I'm doing my best. Thursday marked our 38th week. I had another appointment with Dr. Moon as well. Because of my recent issues with high blood pressure, I was a little concerned as to what she would say. First of all, my BP was still high, but since all of my labs had been so great up to this point, she didn't send me in to be monitored. The baby is looking perfect- still a little big- with a heart rate of 146 beats per minute. Also, I am still dialated to 2 cm, but I am now 80% effaced!! Now, to explain the title of this post. Since my BP has been running high for the last few weeks, Dr. Moon doesn't want me to go past 39 weeks of gestation. Apparently, people with high BP run the risk of their placentas deteriorating too soon, and therefore it becomes an unhealthy environment for the baby. Obviously, I want to do whatever is best for our little one, so... If I haven't gone into labor on my own by next Thursday (11/20) then I will be induced that morning. I'm still really hoping to have this baby before then, but either way- I'm gonna be a momma in no more than 6 days- 6 DAYS!!! I'm a little excited if you couldn't tell! Needless to say, I'm up for trying all the old wives tales in the book, but I figure it couldn't hurt to ask for a little help. If you could all send me your baby juju and vibes for labor, I would really appreciate it!!! I'll keep you posted as best as I can. For now, here is one more belly pic- taken at 38 weeks and 1 day.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Progress!

First of all, I want to apologize to all of you that faithfully read our blog- I realize this post is way overdue! I've been sick for about a week and a half now and I've been slacking. Secondly- I want to give fair warning- this will probably be a long post. I'm gonna start where I left off last time. The last post I made was Oct. 27th. The next day started pretty normally. I got up to go to work on Tuesday and while I was getting ready, felt nauseous. I didn't think much about it, but it continued throughout the day. Later in the morning while I was at work, I felt like my face was swelling. I had one of the nurses take my temperature and blood pressure. My bp was 162/92! I immediately called the doctor and they said I had to come in. I was really nervous and didn't know what to expect. When I arrived, they took my blood pressure and it was still high- that is when they sent me to the hospital for monitoring and labs. I was told that I might have to be induced. Jeremy arrived shortly after and we stayed for about 4 hours. We had a wonderful nurse and she explained that the baby's heartrate was staying strong throughout my contractions (I didn't even know that I was having any) My blood pressure started coming down and all of my blood and urine tests came back looking great. Dr. Moon was thinking of putting me on bedrest, but decided to let me try to go back if I could sit and take things easy. Thankfully, we were released to go home that afternoon! That following Wednesday Jeremy and I had our 3rd and final baby shower. It was so sweet. Two of the women he works with regularly decided to throw a shower for us and invited everyone who works with Jeremy in the clinic. The turnout was really great, and we were surprised to see that there were 3 other men besides Jeremy. Lynn and Candice went all out- we had a great spread of food and a beautiful cake from Taylors Bakery. We sat and opened gifts for about 40 minutes. It was so nice that everyone was willing to stay late after work to celebrate with us. Here is a pic of our cake and one of us opening gifts.


The next Friday I had my 36 week appointment with Dr. Moon. This time my blood pressure was great- 118/72. We're not really sure what caused the spike, but luckily the baby was safe and sound. This appointment was really good, I found out that my contractions had been doing their job- I was 1 cm dialated and 75% effaced (thinned out). Peanut's heartbeat was 152 beats per minute and he/she had continued to get even bigger. Here is another belly photo taken of me at 36 weeks and 3 days.

Last weekend Andy and Mandy decided to come down to Indy. The boys thought it would be a good idea to have a guys night out to commemorate their last night out before the babies came. Danielle, Mandy and I had planned on having a girls day in and thought we would make out belly casts. The boys had a great time, as did the girls, but boy were we ever a boring bunch! I didn't feel well, and pregnancy had caught up with all of us, so instead of doing our casts, we all sat on the sofa and watched tv. It was really nice to get to visit with the two of them though!!

Finally, that brings us to this week. It had actually been fairly uneventful. I started getting a cold last Thursday, and unfortunately it still hasn't gone away. Jeremy helped me make my belly cast on Tuesday night- I think it turned out pretty good- I'll post pictures when it's completely finished (Heath is going to be painting if for me so we can hang it in the nursery) I went back in to see Dr. Moon on Friday and once again... my blood pressure was high. I wasn't feeling bad but they recorded it at 154/100. Dr. Moon said it was way too high to not get it checked out. So, back to the hospital I went! On a side note, she did tell me that I am now 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced- she kept commenting on how our baby's head was "soooo low" in my pelvis. Also, she said "this baby is certainly getting bigger" when doing my belly measurements. I thought about asking her how big, but then I realized that I probably didn't really want to know! I really thought they were going to make me get induced this week, but my labs came back and were even better than they had been the week before. Everything seems to be fine, my blood pressure is just very sporadic. I was sent home to rest again. I have my next appointment next Thursday and I was told that I will probably end up going back to the hospital for labs next week as well. It seems like it's gonna be a routine for me until our baby comes. It's perfectly fine with me- it gives me reassurance that he/she is doing fine. We're very hopeful that the little one will be able to come on it's own terms and that I won't have to be induced. I guess only time will tell. I'll end with another belly pic- taken at 37 weeks and 1 day. The baby has really dropped in the last 2 weeks! I'll try to do better about posting this week! Thanks for reading!