One week old

This week Bo......

• weighs 7lbs 12 oz
• likes to sleep with his head on your chest
• is slowly using his voice
• does not like getting his diaper or clothes changed
• has peed 3 times all over himself and the wall
• pooed once all over his blanket
• got his first sponge bath
• has seen both sets of grandparents and aunts Hannahs and Lisa
• likes to have his hands out of his swaddle or by his face
• wears newborn clothes
• wears newborn diapers

Bo's Birth Story

I think most everyone knows the story but I wanted to finally put it on paper so I wouldn't forget the details.

We went to the doctor on Friday, July 19. We had been hoping every day that I would go into labor. Each day we waited with anticipation and nothing happened. We were slightly disapointed that we were going back to the doctor for another checkup. How much longer would we have to wait? At our appointment I hadn't made any progress. My doctor decided to strip my membranes to see if that would get things going. Hopefully, we would be going in to see her that weekend, as she was on call. We also did a stress test, just to make sure that he was doing fine. Of course, he was happy and active. We also decided to set our induction day as Monday, July 22. We then went home and tried to have a somewhat normal weekend, as we knew that Monday our lives would change forever.

Early Monday morning around 3:30, I woke up with back pain. It wasn't unbearable but just bad enough that I couldn't sleep. I tried to lie there for awhile but it just wasn't working. I decided to start timing them, even though I wasn't sure they were contractions. They were pretty sporadic but strong enough that I couldn't sleep. I got up and decided to watch tv. I sat on our exercise ball for an hour or so. It was still too early to get ready so I ellipticaled for about 20 min. Dean finally got up and we got ready to go. Dean had to go into work for a little bit so I went to my office and finished some last minute things.

We got to the hospital at 9 am, checked in and went to an exam room. I was almost 4 centimeters dilated. She hooked me up to my IV, started my antibiotics, and moved me to a delivery room. We got settled in there and waited. The contractions I was having were not very strong so we just hung out and tried to rest up. At 1:45 pm, the doctor came back and broke my water. After that my contractions started to get more intense. For the next few hours, it was pretty rough. Bo was sunny side up so every time I had a contraction he was pressing against my spine. All my contractions were in my back, which was very painful. I spent a lot of time walking, doing squats, doing step ups, sitting in the tub, and sitting on the ball. Nothing really helped. Through everything I was making Dean rub my back. I am pretty sure his arm was exhausted by the end. Then I decided it was time for an epidural. Dean tried to talk me out of it, because I had previously wanted to do it without any pain medications. The anesteiologist was in surgery so the nurse told us it might be quite awhile before he would be able to come in. They gave me some other pain mediction in the mean time and it really didn't help.

The anesteologist came in about 8 pm. I was nervous about getting the epidural as I had heard many negative things about it. However, it was AWESOME! It didn't really hurt going in and I felt great after. No more pain. However, my contractions seemed to stall out and I wasn't making much progress. I was between a 7 and 8 when I got the epidural. We had really been hoping that Monday would be Bo's birthday. Until we saw that Prince William's son was born on Monday. We were really just ready for him to come and labor to be over.

At midnight my doctor came in and decided it was time to push. We were pretty excited because we thought it would be an hour or two and then he would be out. Were we ever wrong. Pushing was pretty easy. I didn't really get tired besides the fact that it was the middle of the night. The doctor kept coming in every half hour or so and he wasn't getting much closer to coming out. He was stuck on my pubic bone.

We kept pushing. All the while believing that he was going to turn his head and come right out. Finally about 3:30 my doctor asked me how much longer I could push. Our choices were keep pushing or start thinking about a C Section. I was pretty determined that I didn't want a c section so I would push for one more hour. We were making progress little by little and his head was getting closer to coming out. After that hour my doctor decided that she could probably get him out with the vacuum. I could keep pushing but there was no guarantee he would come out without assistance. There was also no guarantee that he would come out with assistance either. At that point the possiblity of a c section was very real.

The doctor told us that the vacuum could pop off his head. She could only try three times before we would have to do an emergency c section. The first time she tried it popped off. The second time she tried, she was able to get his head under my pubic bone. I gave one more push, he turned his head the right way, and out he came. He started crying as soon as he came out. The doctor laid him on me and Dean cut the cord. He was crying so loud and probably cried for the next 20 minutes at least. It was quite a surreal experience. Even thinking about it now, it almost seems like it was a dream.

The rest of our stay was pretty uneventful. We had quite a few visitors and were able to enjoy some quiet time just the 3 of us.Bo did so well in the hospital. He had a little jaundice but it cleared up by Friday morning. Bo spent his first afternoon home sunbathing. We were so glad to be home and are enjoying life with Bo. He is a very good baby and so cute!!

40 weeks-Our anniversary is safe

We made it to 40 weeks. Which means we made it past our Anniversary. Which means we are officially a week past our due date. I am glad that he will get to have his own special day and we will get to have ours. Plus as it gets later and later, we will get to take longer anniversary trips without worrying about getting too close to his birthday. We tried to keep it low key this year. We went to Chick-fil-A and then got frozen yogurt. It was nice and relaxing. A great little outing before baby.

I have still been feeling pretty good. We have been taking lots of walks, exercising as much as possible, and trying to stay busy. Everyone keeps giving me suggestions on things we can do to make him come. We have tried most, but he still won't budge. I guess he is just not ready yet. That or he is just being stubborn. He is still moving around a lot and feels so big. We asked the doctor about the possibility of him getting too big and making it hard to have a normal delivery and she said not too worry. I am measuring small so he is going to be on the small side. I hope she is right. We are all ready for his arrival. We keep trying to guess when he might decide to come but so far we have been wrong. My mom guessed Monday, I thought Wednesday, and Dean and my dad are predicting Friday the 19th. Our next step really depends on what the doctor says at our appointment tomorrow. I'm really not sure what I want her to say. I know that I don't really want to go back to work. My days have been spent filing and organizing and I am ready to be done. 

Dean and I have talked a lot about induction. I really thought she was going to push for it last week but didn't. If I have not progressed anymore then I am sure we will really talk about it tomorrow. I'm not really scared about getting induced but was hoping my body would go into labor on its own. I was still only dilated 1 cm at our last appointment but I have been having more Braxton Hicks contractions so maybe. We are so excited for him to come that every day he doesn't come is a little disappointing. It doesn't help that I get asked 100 times a day about when he is coming, or I can't believe you are still here, etc. It's not like we are trying to keep him in there. As one of our coworkers said, "No one was pregnant forever." I guess that's reassuring. Hopefully this will be the last prebaby post but we will keep you updated on what happens next.





My first picture at about 11 weeks



My picture at 40 weeks



39 weeks-come and gone

We are now on to week 40. After Tuesday, we were really hoping that he would make his appearance before our next doctor's appointment on Friday. Unfortunately, that did not happen. I felt great for the rest of the week. He is still moving like crazy and just hanging out. I feel like he is so comfy in there, he may never come out. We are just getting anxious and are ready for him to come. Everything is set up and ready. I feel bad as everyone is on edge waiting for the call that he is here or we are in labor and everyday, nothing changes. Oh well, having to wait so long will just make it better in the end.  

Our excitement at 39 weeks

The week isn't over yet but we have had quite a bit of excitement since we started this week. On Friday, we had our doctor appointment. We expected it to just be a routine thing, be dilated a little more, and have her tell us everything looked good. After we got in there, she felt for his head and bottom and then checked me. Then she decided to do an ultrasound, just to make sure his head was down. Surprise, surprise he had turned around and his head was now up in my ribs. He was breech. She told us we had two options. We could come back on Tuesday and she would try to turn him around using an external version or we could have a c section. We were not ready for that. We told her we wanted to try the version first before we had a c section. We were pretty shocked and nervous the whole weekend. We looked up a version on the Internet and tried to prepare ourselves for the fact that we might have a c section. We were both really comfortable either way. I felt like I would be able to make a good recovery if we had the c section but I really wanted to go into labor on my own. Dean was really leaning more toward the c section at first. Mostly because of the pain I would have to go through during labor and the not knowing when it was going to happen. We found some suggestions on the Internet about how to get him to turn around but didn't try any of those. A lady at church told us that if I beat on my chest and screamed like Tarzan then he would turn around. I didn't really believe her but Dean decided we should try it. It was totally embarrassing even with only him there but I did it. Dean also spent a lot of Sunday reading him a Western, rubbing my stomach in a downward motion so he would know where to go, and turning the shower on FREEZING so he would move away from the water. We also did a lot of praying about the outcome and knew that God was in control of whatever happened.
So this morning, we got up and tried to keep things as normal as possible. We exercised and went to work. I couldn't eat anything in case they had to do a c section so it was better to be at work where I was less tempted. We went in to the doctor at 10:30. They hooked me up with monitors and we sat listening to the baby's heartbeat. A little over an hour later the nurse came in and said that our doctor was still in a meeting and she didn't know how long it would be. She also had a c section at noon so we might have to wait until after. At noon she came back in and told us we would have to wait until after the c section. She gave us the option to stay or leave and come back. We decided to take a walk and then go get Dean his medicine. He got an ear infection this weekend and was having lots of ear pain. We then went back to the hospital, went back to our room and waited for the doctor. She came in about 15 minutes later with another doctor to do the version. She turned on the ultrasound machine, felt up high for the baby, and then put the wand down low. What do you know, there he was; in the exact position he was supposed to be. He was head down and looked good. Everyone was quite amazed. I wanted to be mad that we waited for so long just for her to tell us he was right where he was supposed to be but I couldn't. I also can't say which of Dean's turning techniques worked, if any but we are very happy that he was able to turn on his own. She was ready to induce me right then but we decided that we would just wait and let him come when he is ready. Yes, it was slightly disappointing that we wouldn't get to meet him today but God has a plan and his timing is right. We would love for him to come this week but we will just wait and see. If not, we have an appointment Friday afternoon to see where things are and how much longer we will wait before they induce me. I have a feeling that even though I don't want him to come on Friday (its our anniversary), he might just decide to make his appearance. Until then, I am going to do lots of walking and eat lots of spicy food. Today was definitely a day we will remember when we tell him about when he was born. :)

All the pictures are on Dean's phone. I will try to upload them before baby comes and the blog is full of only baby pictures.

38 weeks

Dean is home!!! That made the start of the week so much better. We had a doctor's appointment on Friday and everything is still the same. Bo hasn't moved down and I haven't progressed any. That is ok with me. We still have quite a bit to get ready before we are ready for him. We bought most of our final purchases on Saturday, now to just get everything arranged and set up. Everyone keeps asking if we have our bags packed and I can actually say Yes, we have it mostly together. I still have one load of baby laundry to do and get put away but I think we will make it. Bo has so many clothes already. We are not buying him anything else. Even though there are so many cute things I could buy him.

I have been feeling really good this week. I am working on getting everything extra situated that needs done within that first week we will be home from the hospital. I don't want to worry about paying any bills or having to do anything extra. I am sure I am forgetting something or will miss something but I am going to try to be prepared. We have made it to the 4th of July, which was one goal. The next goal is to make it to the 7th. After that, we are good to go. We have our doctor's appointment tomorrow so we will find out if I have progressed any more and if Bo is getting closer to making his arrival. I am trying to stay relaxed and not think about the labor and delivery part. Just the bringing him home part.

Full Term

We made it to 37 weeks. Bo can now come any time he wants. We are closer to being ready. Dean has been gone this week at a conference so I have been living alone. Everyone was so worried about me going into labor but I made it. Bo knew he wasn't allowed to come when his daddy was not home. I only did the mimimum things that needed to be done. I am sure I would have done more but we had a bit of an issue. We had a big storm Monday night and lost power at 7 am Tuesday morning. We didn't get power back until some time Thursday afternoon. I had to go buy ice for the freezer and pack all our fridge stuff into coolers. To make it worse we ran out of water Wednesday night. We have a well but the pump is electric so once the tank went dry, there was no more. I was able to use bottled water to wash my hands and brush my teeth but couldn't do much else. I also had to eat cold pizza. I do not like cold pizza but I made due. There weren't really any other choices. It would have been better if Dean was here but I survived. I don't like being alone but I didn't a pretty good job on my own.

Our work had a baby shower for us this week. Dean, of course, missed it since he was out of town but it was very nice. Lots of healty food, which Dean would have loved. It was a very nice shower and we got very nice gifts. All things we didn't already have and things that will come in very handy after Bo arrives. Now to just get them organized and put away. I also went to our last baby class. We practiced diapering, swaddling, and breathing techniques. It was a pretty good class. Our doctor says Bo probably isn't coming until 39 or 40 weeks so we have a couple weeks to go. That's fine since it will give us a chance to get things finished and ready. Bo is still moving a ton and always seems to be pushing and flopping around. We can definitely feel his feet pushing out on my belly. If Dean rubs his finger on my stomach Bo usually moves over to that area. Its fun watching Dean get so excited about him.