He's Here!

Well, I spoke too soon on my last post. What are the odds that after my frustrated post about being miserable, I would go into labor that night! I was not dilated or effaced and there was no end in sight. Nonetheless, my water broke Wednesday, October 21st at around midnight. It was a crazy surprise for Brent and I. I had to wake him up for the cliche "My water just broke, we gotta go to the hospital". However, I was having no contractions at all so I thought this might not be it. When we got there, they checked me immediately to see if in fact it was amniotic fluid and it was!! We were having our baby that day! We called my parents right away around 1:00 am and they headed to Tuscaloosa. Since I still wasnt having any contractions and still was not dilated at all, they gave me Pitocin to start the labor process. Luckily, they were willing to give me an epidural as soon as I wanted one which was ASAP. After that, I felt fantastic and just waited around to dilate. After 10 short hours, I still was 0 dilated and 0 effaced and the doctor recommended a C-section. This was not my plan at all, but it wasnt looking like I would get to have him naturally. So, 30 minutes later, Baker Thomas was in this world as handsome and perfect as ever!



These pictures of from Day 2 of his little life and he has already changed so much. We just love him to death and are enjoying every minute. I now understand what "you love them so much it hurts" means. He is just so precious. I am a protective and paranoid mom, but I am hoping I calm down as he gets a little older. He had a few minor challenges (a little jaundice, weight loss and a minor tounge issue) but now he is great and such a good baby. He eats well, sleeps well and rarely fusses unless he is hungry.



We are very thankful for a healthy baby. I can't wait to see what the next few weeks, months and years will be like. Thanks to all of his hospital visitors!

37.5

Weeks pregnant that is. Wow. In the very grand scheme of things, making it to 37 1/2 weeks is awesome and means pregnancy is almost over. The problem is the "almost". These past few days and the weeks (or so) to come will drive me crazy. If you know me, you know I am not very patient at all. This has to be the best and worst kind of anticipation too. I mean, I am so very excited about what is about to change my life. I know once he is here I will be so thrilled, but waiting for it to happen just seems impossible. I had my second appointment today where they checked to see if I was dilated. Nothing. This was discouraging even though I'm 2 1/2 weeks away from my due date. I'm sure moms out there know what I'm talking about. At this point you just don't know how much longer you can take it.

It wouldn't be SO bad but I've recently developed some new, fun symptoms. For example, I now have a constant headache. I take the Tylenol and when it wears off the headache is back and Tylenol again...and so on. It never stops. I really tried to avoid all medicine this whole time and I have done pretty well and not having to take anything. Now, here at the end I am having to take butt loads of it.

My pelvis bone now hurts. I'm sure my pelvis is separating or doing whatever it does to prepare for birth, but OUCH. I have kissed sleeping goodbye.

Dizziness is another one. I sporadically get dizzy and feel like I'm going to faint. Not sure what that's about.

Cramps. I assume anyone not interested in hearing these details has stopped reading by now anyway, but I've had menstrual-like cramps off and on for weeks.

One would think, "Hey, you're about to go into labor". Yes, well its not looking like its anytime soon. So cervix, dilate please! And Baker, please be ready to come into the world. I promise you will love your nursery and your family and all the pets. It will be much more comfortable that my cramped up womb. Thanks.

Shower

Last Sunday, I had a wonderful shower in Birmingham at my life-long friend, Beth's house. Amy, Linda and Kristen helped out too! It was awesome! I have the best friends and family ever! We got so much cute stuff for Baker and he is now set for his arrival. Here are a few pics. I am aware that my face is ridiculously swollen.



The Hostesses
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Mom, Honey and Hayes


Emily, Lucy and Amy

Home Stretch

As you can see from my ticker on the left side of the screen, I am 32 weeks pregnant. I have 8 (hopefully 7) weeks left! Pregnancy has been crazy. I started off with quite a bit of nausea, then that went away and the weight gain really started. I just got heavier and heavier and everyday tasks became harder and harder. The kicks started around 24 weeks and are still going strong. This little guy is a definite mover. I thought I would take this time to give a top ten list of things I look forward to about NOT being pregnant:

1. Being able to sleep (and everyone laughs b/c they know you don't sleep but for different reasons)
2. Having a normal size stomach
3. Not having 2 thousand limitations because I am pregnant
4. Having a sweet baby to hold in my arms instead of my stomach
5. Being able to exercise/lose weight
6. Having a glass of wine
7. Drinking caffeine
8. Using the restroom a normal about of times per day
9. Not having people ask when I am due and then gasping that I am so big with so much time left
10. Getting to see Baker for the first time!

There it is. I am going to post pics of the nursery ASAP. It is finished minus a few small details.

WARRRR EAGLE EVERYBODY!

Paper Anniversary!

We made it! 1 whole year of marriage. It truly seems like yesterday we were scrambling around in a hurricane to pull off this wedding at American Village. We had so many wonderful people come together to make it happen for us. It went by in such a flash. I felt like the reception lasted 10 minutes. It was a great time despite the weather. I'm sure every girl wishes they could relive their wedding day.

My cousin Claire just got engaged and I've been talking to her a lot about planning. My parents asked me if I had it to do over again, would I just take the money and run and not have a wedding. The answer is NO! I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. The stress of it all was worth having this one wonderful day with all of our family in friends in the same room.

So, to celebrate in the traditional fashion we decided to do the paper gifts. Brent made me a book of our relationship from day one. He even printed out the cast list from the show (42nd Street) that we met while doing together. It had pictures and mapquest directions and the whole bit. At the end he gave me a "paper" gift certificate to my favorite spa here in town. He knows he can't go wrong with massages and spa pampering! I gave him a subscription to Sports Illustrated since I knew he would love this and never buy it for himself. For the grand finale, I had 2 tickets to the Alabama v. Arkanasas game.

Friday night we went to our special restaurant, Bottega. Then, we stayed at Cobb Lane Bed and Breakfast. It was a unique treat. I have never stayed at a bed and breakfast before and we both really liked it. It felt like a vacation even though we were only in Birmingham.

Saturday we ate lunch at Chappy's (my favorite) and then went to the dollar movie and stayed for 2 movies since they are only $1. Then we came back to Tuscaloosa and grilled out. Sunday, which was our actual anniversary, we ate a piece of our wedding cake (which was good, by the way) and ate at Cypress Inn Sunday night. It was a great anniversary!

This makes me laugh so hard!

Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker's Man..

We finally have a name for the little man and I think he's going to like it and own it with pride.

BAKER THOMAS JONES

We will call him "Baker". I love it for several reasons. I'm big on names that are not very popular. I don't know any baby Baker's as of now. I hope that lasts.

On a totally different note, I want to take a brief moment to explain the picture below. Our little kitty "Cow" is affectionate but only on her time. She is choosy about the times she wants to give you loving. However, when she does it is so worth it. Today she decided as I was working on the computer that it would be a good time for affection. The black n white polka dots is my enormous belly that she is "hugging". The cats LOVE Baker. I truly think they know he is in there.