More Jeremiah Pics - our first day at home!

We had quite a night last night, that's for sure! Lots of troubleshooting and learning happened - so much more than I was expecting! Today we had Jeremiah's first doctor's appointment and it went well. We talked about feeding and then we had to take him for some lab work (his biliruben test came back elevated at the hospital), and he was a trooper. Here is all dressed up in his car seat - what a cutie!



And here he is in the swing grandma G bought him:



And sitting with daddy:


Here he is in the pack and play, with a bear his Great-Grandma Roland got him. So adorable!!


And lastly, here are some gorgeous flowers from Shawn's co-workers - how sweet!

Jeremiah's story

Okay I have a moment to post a quick story about how Jeremiah Christopher entered the world!

I started having contractions every 6 minutes apart Tuesday (the 26th) night. We went to bed around 1030pm but I kept being woken up by them. At about 130a Wednesday morning, I got up because they were starting to become more bothersome and were closer together. At 4am, I woke Shawn up and told him to get ready for the hospital. We got ready and headed out around 5am. At the hospital, they were going to send me home around 8am because I was 3 cm dilated and was planning an unmedicated birth. I had an ultrasound scheduled for 330pm that same day, so they did that before they sent us home. They found that my fluid levels were low so they admitted me. At 10am, we had our room and Shawn had gone to move our car and get our things - and my water broke. At this point, the contractions came on really hard and fast, and I asked for pain medication (they administer this through your IV). The nurse, KJ, warned me it could make me drowsy, which it did. However, it also made me feel like I was hallucinating. This coupled with the intensifying contractions made me feel like I was losing my mind. In addition, I had a really strong urge to push. Shawn called the nurse, who came in at about 11am, and I was 8 cm dilated. This is when I completely did the opposite of what I had planned on - BEGGED for an epidural.

Thank God the anisthesiologist was available, he came in, did the epidural, and actually gave me something else that would make it work faster, since I was so far already. It took affect so quickly and I went from what I would call a psychotic screaming person to being me again. The rest of the labor was a breeze - I started pushing around 1245pm, and Jeremiah was born at 112pm. It was an amazing experience!

Picture time!
Me before we left for the hospital:


After the epidural - I look pretty tore up, sorry, but it was rough!


There he is! I'll remember the first time I heard him cry for the rest of my life. What an amazing moment!


Baby on the scale picture...


Daddy and son!


Grandma G (my mom) and Jeremiah!


Me and my boy..


Grandpa G and Jeremiah


Daddy and Jeremiah on the lazy boy - one of their favorite places to nap!


Me and my 'baby weight' when we got home from the hospital. I thought I'd look smaller, LOL!


I'm just amazed at the whole experience of giving birth and the overwhelming love that I have for Jeremiah. I feel like God gave women the chance to feel just a piece of what He feels when he looks at us through the experience of childbirth. I have never felt closer to God than when I saw my son for the first time. I'm so thankful for that.

Stats

Jeremiah is born

Today is the day...

We be bloggin'

What am I doing up at this hour? Nothing, that's what! I think I have that 3rd trimester insomnia! I'd like to thank the impending birth of our first child!! Since most posts are worthless w/o photos, here are some pictures from our trip to Maui last year with Suzy and Steve McKenzie. Enjoy!

Our first night - we're all photo-messaging people stuck back here in AZ or other parts of the continental US. Nice!


Shawn and I by a big tree on the road to Hana...


Shawn managed to knock down a coconut, which he insisted on bringing back to the hotel with us. It was full of bugs - ewwwwwww!


Us at the luau. For some reason, we only have half the pictures, I don't know where the rest of them are. Ah well.


Now it's back to playing solitare...

An update

I'll be 40 weeks tomorrow and had a Dr's appt today. Unfortunately, there is nothing new to report on the baby front! I have not made any further progress as far as dilation goes but the my NP felt that things were definitely changing and Baby G had moved down more. All good signs, but I was certainly hoping for more progress than that!

We're going for a non-stress test and an ultrasound tomorrow to make sure everything is okay. If it is, then we'll be talking induction sometime next week. If anything appears to be wrong, then we'll be talking induction a lot sooner. I'll keep ya'll updated!!

More memories...

Recently, Shawn and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary (on June 18th). While cleaning I found the CD of pictures that my mother in law, Anita, had taken at our wedding and the days leading up to it. She took a bunch, and here are some of my absolute favorites.

This is me and my two best friends (they are from Wisconsin) the day before the wedding, relaxing in the pool before the rehearsal.
Tiffany, Shannon, and me (duh). People always said we looked like sisters - I think it was just all that blonde hair. I miss you girls!!


Anita's the only one with pictures of the rehersal itself, this is probably my favorite. I have no idea what the heck we're doing! Maybe practicing blowing out the candles for the unity candle? No clue. But a silly pic, nonetheless.


Here's my favorite from the ceremony - none of the professional pics really have my face because my hair was blocking it...kind of on purpose on my part, I didn't want people to see my face all scrunched up if I cried (I didn't). I'm not sure why I'm making this face - I blame Shawn (of course).


We kept the ceremony short and sweet - we had a party to get to! And trust me, we did party! The wedding was held at the Red Mountain Ranch Country Club in EAST Mesa. I'm talking what used to be the end of the 202 back in 05. It was far away, but totally worth it. The reception room overlooked this gorgeous sunset:



Of course, it was 110 degrees outside. But still beautiful. On to the party!! This next picture is for Anita. She's posing with her two sisters and her brother, and the funniest part about it is her husband, Ken, in the background - with a big ol' grin like he's supposed to be in the picture, too! Wait to go, Ken!!


Party time! The dance floor was packed all night - I know I was so happy that Shawn's family danced - my family is pretty wild, but they kept up with us! It was so worth it!!


Shawn's grandpa and his lady, Margaret, danced all night. Not kidding - even to "Shiny Disco Balls" (one of my favorite dance songs!) It was fabulous! (They are the couple in the lower left hand corner)


We left I think around 1130 or so, I don't remember. But we paid for the room and DJs til 12am. So what do these crazy people do??

Shawn and I: "Bye everyone! See you later!"


Everyone: "Great, they're gone - back to the party!!"


If you've made it this far, congrats, LOL! I just really loved our wedding and am so thankful Anita took all these pictures. They brought back so many beautiful memories of that day.

Trip down memory lane...

While assuming my new role (at least til the baby is born) of "housewife," I started cleaning up in our loft - our new office. I found an old picture cd and uploaded it to the computer...and it has pictures of Shawn and I when we were first dating! We're talking December 2002. Dang I was skinny. It seems like so long ago, but not so long ago...how does that happen?





Please forgive that lipstick, LOL!

For real now, part 2 - the belly pic I promised

I don't know what happened with the last post, I thought I posted a pic of my big ol' belly but failed.



Yes, I took the picture myself in the bathroom mirror.

For real now, the last pics of the nursery.

So...Shawn and I finished up the nursery the other day. It was actually Shawn, I just told him where to put stuff up on the walls. I did put the bouncer together, though.
Here's a view of the room from the doorway:



And the dresser + changing table. (see the pics we put up - we took them at a fly-in in Casa Grande, printed them and bought cheap frames. Cheap decorations!)


Here's the crib, again. This time we have a blanket made by Grandma Roland - I can't wait to use it with Baby G! It's so soft.


Here is one of the coolest things I think we've receieved for the baby - definitely the most creative and unique. It's called a diaper cake! It's a cake-shaped thing of diapers with little socks, booties, bibs, a paci, a "first Bible" and a beautiful stand that says: "All good things come from above." (They sure do!) It's so adorable that I don't want to take it apart until I have to! We received this from a very sweet friend @ work, Darlene, who's mom made it. How talented! I love it.



And finally, my 39 week belly shot (in the same shirt). Hopefully it's the last one that I have to post!!!

Are we there yet??

Oh gosh...I am feeling like a little kid, giddy with excitement and totally impatient to get somewhere.

Here's me @ 38 weeks:


Shawn thinks my belly looks 'lower' than it did before. I don't know if I can tell. My doc told me at my appt Tuesday that I've had no change in status, and I'm not really surprised. I've been having contractions but nothing painful, so I don't see how I could progres without contractions happening, right?

Here are some new pics of the nursery, as you can see, we moved things around.
We still have a few things to hang up (some pics, the curtain, and the shelf) but other than that, his room is done - who-hoo!!

The Crib:

Changing table & dresser (from ikea - Sweet deal and a nice piece of furniture!)

Hamper, glider (from Tracie Rollins - thank you!!), and little toy box (from Ikea)

The closet - I love all the little clothes!


I really wanted to write more but the comp is being wonky and I need to get ready for work - I have only SIX days left. My goodness!!!

One of the reasons Shawn married me...

...is because I make cheesecake. Not just cheesecake, but wicked good cheesecake. Shawn really dislikes 'regular' cake - cake w/ frosting - but will eat half a cheesecake if you let him. It's kind of disturbing. I know what you're thinking - "I can make cheesecake, too, Rachel. It comes in a box, duh." Sorry, that's not the kind of cheesecake I'm talking about. My cheesecake is SERIOUS BUSINESS.

Check it:




If you've ever made a cheesecake before, the standard is usually two or three packages of cream cheese - this one uses five - meaning it is rich beyond belief. Shawn is the only person I know that can eat a piece wider than 1/2".

I have to give props to my mom, though - she's the original cheesecake maker in the fam. She's the reason I make these for every potluck Shawn has - we had gone home to WI once to visit, and she had made it for something. Shawn tried it and was in love. When we got home, I had to make it for the two of us. Um...a cheesecake that huge for just two people is a BAD idea. After about a week, you're so sick of it. I had to throw away half of it. So now, even when he begs, the only time I make it is when I know he'll either come home with none of it or just enough where we can enjoy maybe one or two pieces.

Another bonus of making this is that I get to use my super-hot Kitchen Aid stand mixer. (A gift from my mother in law!) Ever try to mix 5 packages of cream cheese with a hand-mixer - I did, once, and it took FOREVER. The stand mixer makes life so much easier, plus looks gorgeous on my counter.

So bummed...

I had a Dr's appt today and have not progressed at all. (At my last appt I was starting to efface and was beginning to dilate.) I'm just sad because I was hoping for some progress.

Ah well, I'll do my best not to complain about my exploding ankles or acid reflux. Hopefully things start to happen this week, though! I'm 37 weeks today.

No rest for the pregnant!

But, of course, I'm doing to myself. On Saturday I 'put together' (term used very loosely) the stroller and carseat. The carseat still needs to be installed in the car, Shawn will probably do that soon, I hope. Otherwise I'll just do it myself, because I'm going CRAZY.

My stepdad called it the "Cadillac of all strollers." It's pretty nice, it's the Evenflo travel system w/ the Embrace Infant carseat.



The carseat is nice, but I can't figure out how I'm going to put a baby in there. Maybe I should practice w/ Pooh. (He's become our practice 'baby')


On Saturday I assembled - yes ASSEMBLED - the swing. That thing was a PAIN. Thinking about it makes me frustrated all over again - I had to walk away from it several times before it was completed. But it is nice - I sure hope Baby G likes it because if he doesn't...*shakes fist*


And I threw the pack and play together tonight. What an easy product! I guess it's supposed to be, since you can transport it wherever. But after the swing experience (another Graco product), I expected something much worse. Of course, it's missing pieces (to nothing important, hooks to hang something called the "parent helper" LOL), but they will arrive soon, I'm sure.



My living room is PACKED full of furniture. The pack and play might get moved, the spot I put it will make it nearly impossible to do diaper changes and the like. I have a spot for it kind of cleared, we'll see what Shawn thinks later.


And before you ask, I don't know why there is a dark spot on the couch. It's a suede-like material and looks darker if the fabric is 'pushed' a certain way. Plus, you get a BONUS pic of my handsome dog, Prince. What a cutie!

Now I'm off to make the bed, and maybe do some more laundry. Anything that could possibly bring on labor. Is it wrong that when I have a contraction, and it's even slightly painful, I get excited - thinking - "Maybe it's starting?!?!" I honestly cannot wait for labor to begin, I know all you haters are like: "It's gonna hurt," but you know what? I am okay with pain. Pain doesn't bother me. I'm ready to meet my G-man and announce his (very secret) name to the world!