Time for some Catching up!

We've sure had an exciting last month and I wasn't sure quite how often I'd be writing in this blog since a lot of our news is on facebook, but I decided that this could be a neat tool to look back on to remember some of the milestones and details of all of our changing lives.  So here is an update of the past month. 

After being admitted into the hospital on Memorial Day because they weren't able to detect any amniotic fluid on the ultrasound, it then took two more days until sweet baby Trevor decided to join us in the real world.  Although he didn't come on his own free will.  After about 30 hours of labor, the OB stepped in and decided a c section was necessary because of my failure to progress and Trevor's lowering heart rate during each contraction.   I was immediately terrified at the prognosis and realized that my entire birth plan had gone array.  However, we trusted the doctors and knew what we had to do.   During the surgery, the doctor's learned that Trevor was in a transverse arrest position and that along with the shape of my uterus and pelvis had prevented him from progresssing further down the birth canal.  All in all we both came out of surgery in good condition.  Trevor weighed 7lbs, 7ounces and was 20 inches long. The surgery began at 1:49 pm and Trevor was born at 1:54pm.  So quick!  But it then took the doctor's another 30 minutes to put me back together while Alec and Trevor went to the NICU to monitor Trevor's breathing for about 2 hours.

Right after being admitted...

Fast forward 2 days and Trevor is OUT!

 First Family Pic together around 2:00 p.m.

 I didn't even recognize Alec when they finally let him into the surgery room!

Trevor aka my little burrito man LOVES to be swaddled.  Thanks to Sara D. for letting us in on the 5 S's from the Happiest Baby on the block!  

After spending two nights in the hospital and having fun meeting our new little guy, we were preparing to leave within the next day when one of the nurses noticed a low resting heart rate in Trevor.  This detection required several tests to be done to rule out potential problems.  Unfortunately the hospital wanted to admit him into the NICU so that they could monitor him 24/7.  We were still able to nurse and hold him, but it had to be done in the NICU.  They kept him in there for 5 extra days and allowed us to stay in our room even after my discharge.  The staff was great and we got a lot of good advice, but we were very ready to go home with a good report.  To make a long story short, Trevor was released from their care and after seeing a pediatric cardiologists twice, we are hopeful that his signs in the hospital were a result of a traumatic labor and will resolve on their own time.  We  have a follow up appointment with a pediatric cardiologist in two months.  For now, Trevor's pediatrician appointments have shown that he is a thriving "normal" healthy boy.  As of week one, Trevor was in the 65% of height and 30% of weight. 

Unfortunately or fortunately for me... Trevor was born by c section so I was forbidden by my doctors to help with any of the big move back to NC.  Luckily my parents came down and packed up our entire place while I tended to the baby and Alec was finishing up his last days of residency.  We were very grateful for their help and they even allowed me to go experience one more trip to Busch Gardens with our season pass that wasn't utilized after we realized I was pregnant. 

While I was very excited about moving back to NC, I was pretty nervous about getting our place packed and cleaned up, the 11 hour drive with a 4 week old who seems to despise his car seat, and finally unpacking.  However, thanks to my parents and Alec for packing and unpacking and Trevor being an amazing car rider, we made it to Greensboro at 4:30 am.   We also must think the Buscemis who have been so generous to us by offering to temporarily rent us their lovely home while we look for a more permanent place to live.  Nothing like arriving to to a new place where there are already clean sheets on the bed!  Now our life in NC as a family of three has begun!

Everyone has commented that Trevor looks just like his daddy.  I decided to find some baby pictures of all of us... see what you think...

Elizabeth

 Alec

 Trevor

Overdue Update (overdue in more ways than one:))

Since I have taken a slight hiatus from posts, I wanted to quickly recap some recent events in our lives and update you with some pregnancy events because HOPEFULLY my posts will soon be dedicated to a little boy outside of the womb.

In April, we made the drive home to celebrate Alyson and Teddy's wedding shower, Ashley and Andrew's wedding at the Angus Barn and two lovely showers to celebrate Baby Gill's arrival.  We had a packed, but great weekend.  We are so thankful for all of the love already being shown to Baby T.  At each baby shower, the guests made their own guesses of the babie's name and we did hear it at one of the showers, but still have been able to keep it a secret.  We also had a special visit from my grandparents.  The weather was perfect and we had a great time showing them around St. Petersburg.

Well the original due date of May 7th came and went with obviously no exciting news.  The midwife had told us that our baby was measuring small so that we should also plan to expect the baby two weeks later.  Even after hearing this, I was still convinced that the baby would show his face early in May.  However, this baby seems to be extremely comfortable and fortunately made things a little easier for us to travel to Alyson and Teddy's actual wedding on May 14th in Wilmington by staying tucked inside.  Their wedding weekend was absolutely wonderful and I was so glad that I was able to be a part of it! 

Kamron and I about two weeks before Sweet Ellis was Born!

Greensboro Girls at our first baby shower hosted by Whitney and Diane!

4-3-11

Mother's side of the family at 2nd Baby shower!

Pardue Side of the family:)

Alec's Mom, Linda and Karen

Perfect Hosts, Nora and Sandy at My "Tea" themed baby shower

Grandparents visit St. Pete! 4-15-11

We made it to Wilmington- Alyson's Bridesmaid Luncheon

5-13-11

Alyson and Teddy's Rehearsal Dinner!

Bridal Party Pic of Alyson and Teddy's Wedding 5-14-11

(side note- size 18W worked out about as perfectly as it could have:))

After returning to Florida from NC, I decided that baby T needed more of a "push."  From the Bradley Class, numerous friends and family suggestions, and googling "naturally induction techniques," I had plenty to choose from and decided to tackle one method at a time.  Amongst others, I have tried castro oil (disaster), walking several miles a day, visiting a foot reflexologist, massage, numerous pedicures, taking red raspberry supplements, prim rose oil, and spicy food.... I am now convinced that natural techhniques are merely a coicidence wih inducing labor!  However, I have decided to try one other method- acupuncture.  I have an appointment tomorrow and they said their percentage of initiating labor is over 80%.  I guess the odds are with them if they are dealing with overdue women:).  I have never had acupuncture, but have heard that regardless it should be a relaxing procedure with hopefully labor will follow shortly after!  I have a midwife appointment as well tomorrow to check on the baby.  I am still hoping to avoid being medically induced because of my hopes to have the water birth, but inducing is sounding more and more appealing!  Although, physically I am still feeling good and able to work.

In other news, we just celebrated our first anniversary by visiting Honeymoon Island, St.. Pete Beach, and Pasagrille Beach which we will certainly miss next year.  We only have about four and a half weeks left in Florida.  This year has gone by insanely fast and I anticipate the rest to follow speed with a growing family.  While we are both very eager to start our lives back in NC, this has been a great experience to share together during our first married year. 

Ok, I will let you know how my appointments go tomorrow, but hope my next post can be the announcement of baby T! 

Weekend Adventures

Last weekend we went to visit the Fixels and had a great time in Tallahassee.  Sarah and Will were lovely hosts and we enjoyed a relaxing weekend with the two of them.  This weekend we were finally at home in St. Petersburg.  We spent Saturday at St. Pete Beach and tried out Fort Desota Beach on Sunday which was very pretty. We decided that we'd like to try out different areas until the baby/move back to NC if possible.  Last week while in the middle of the walk, we got a little bored and decided that it would be fun to rent bicycles.  After walking out to our single bikes, we realized they had a double seater that looked like a lot more fun.  Our ride was probably the most hilarious 45 minutes I've experienced in awhile.  I was in front with my huge belly laughing as Alec was in the back with a panic stricken face because of my steering.  I'm sure it was an interesting sight for the walkers around us.  I think I"m asking for a tandem bike for Christmas 2011!

In addition to beaching it, we spent a ton of time looking for strollers/car seats.  There are way too many options out there.  My main criteria was a lightweight stroller that folds up easily and would hold several different types of car seats since we hadn't decided on a car seat yet.  Luckily William and Julie sent us our car seat so now at least our baby will be allowed to come home from the hospital with us! As far as pregnancy goes, here is a little update.  Our Bradley classes are going well so far.  They are definitely making me excited and more hopeful to follow through with a natural birth.  There are only two other couples in class with us so the class goes by pretty quickly.  I'm feeling a little more tired on my walks and at the gym than I have been in awhile.  Still sleeping well though and really can't complain about much.  After going back and forth several times, we decided to have the 3d/4d ultrasound.  It was VERY neat to see such a clear picture of the baby.  They also gave us a few moving images of the baby on a cd where you can see the baby kicking his legs and moving his hands.  Also, we decided on a baby name!  We are going to keep it quiet until the arrival, but the initials are T. A. G.

This week is my Spring Break, which I'm very excited about.  I plan to spend a lot of time reading and relaxing before our LONG drive back to NC on Friday.  We are headed back to NC for Ashley and Andrew's wedding at the Angus Barn, Alyson and Teddy's wedding shower, and finally for our baby showers on Sunday!  I can not wait to see everyone from NC.  We then will drive back to Florida on Monday.  My new job should begin that week.  I'm very excited about working in one school with small groups of students until labor instead of trying to manage 27 new wild students everyday! 

I'll leave you with some 3d/4d ultrasound pics!  Love the little guy already:)

 Hello!

  

my little feet

 I'm definitely a boy!

 

Ok enough with the pictures.. turning my head away and hiding behind my hands for the rest of the appointment

Getting BIG!

We took what we think is our last scheduled plane flight this past weekend to New York.  We were able to spend some time with William and Julie (haven't been to visit them in way too long) and enjoy Jenny and Lane Teller's incredible wedding right in the city.  The weather was a bit different than what we are used to and made it a little bit of a challenge to find "winter" clothes that fit!  My stomach seems to expand at least an inch per day, yikes!  In continuing with our travel routine, we are off for a road trip to Tallahassee this weekend to visit one of Alec's College friends. 

I've been able to pick up sub jobs every day in grades K-12.  Some days are a breeze, while others can get quite challenging:).  I plan/hope to be able to sub until our baby boy decides to come.  Everyday definitely brings something new with a different grade and school.  Alec is counting down the days until his residency is over and he can start his new job in NC.   This year has really seemed to fly by!

We went to class on water birth at our hospital last week and we realized that it really will take a good 45 minutes on the fast side to get to the hospital, but I'm counting on having plenty of notice:).  While we are a little nervous about the distance of the hospital, we know that if there is some sort of emergency we can always go just across from our home to another hospital.  The people who we have talked to seem to really recommend our new (further away) hospital to the closer one because of their birthing practices. 

Alec seemed to think the idea of a water birth was a bit "odd/unnecessary" at first, but after learning more about it agrees that it is a  good option.  We start a series of 8 birthing classes on the Bradley Method tonight.  The class is normally taught in 12 weeks, but our instructor learned to teach it in 10 and she is making a special exception to have it completed in 8 weeks because of our quickly approaching due date.  I've attached a website link for the type of class we are taking if you haven't heard of it- http://www.bradleybirth.com/ .  I also put a pic of the water pool that we will have in our labor room.  

We're still having trouble with the babies name!  I think I'm just about as indecisive with this decision as I was with wedding dresses.  We've narrowed it down to around 3 and each week we choose a different one to pretend that we have selected as a final name, but at the end of the week we just can't quite pull the trigger.  Maybe we'll do a blog vote if the decision is still unmade before the next post.:)

Still feeling good over here, can't complain.  Less than 2 Months to go!  Which means, 2 months to figure out a name and actually set up for a baby boy!  So far, there have been no changes in our household to prepare for a baby. Hopefully we'll have made more progress by next post!

And The Last Trimester Begins!

Well, when I started the blog, I honestly thought that I would put more into it than one post per trimester, but I'm trying hard to make sure each post is filled with truly exciting info for all of the dedicated followers....(maybe one exists?:)) haha kidding about the truly exciting info.  So for today, I'll just give you a little update on life here in Florida with a growing bean.

We are now onto our bimonthly doctor's appointments and have recently switched to the midwife side of our OB practice.  After reading a little about the differences of midwifes and OB's and even talking to our current OB, we are excited to experience the midwife's approach to labor and delivery.  For now we still plan to give birth in the hospital where the OB can be called if there are any last minute problems.  We are taking a water birth class at the hospital in about 2 weeks which I'm really looking forward to.  Our first meeting with the midwife is in a week and we have lots of questions for her, such as will I be allowed to walk around during labor in the hospital.  So far, my favorite book is, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Natural Birth," which I might add was the first book I purchased on my new Kindle (a gift from William and Julie:)) after sampling out several other birthing books.  Physically and emotionally for the most part, the pregnancy has been very pleasant. Knock on wood.  I feel almost completely normal (pre-pregnancy) everyday.  Random strangers are noticing more and more that I'm pregnant which is fun.  

The baby and I went to Miami for Alyson and Jenny's bach and had a wonderful time!  Felt great all weekend and the weather was wonderful!  Ready for the wedding in May!  Our next flight isn't until March 6th to Wilmington.

Here's a little story for you to end with....A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to William and convinced him to allow me to send him a picture of my baby bump via phone pix text.  However, instead of sending him a picture of me, I sent him one of Octo-mom's bare stomach near her due date.  Needless to say, her stomach is HUGE and a tad scary.  I assumed that William would see the joke right away....how wrong I was.  His reply text, was "oh god, that looks like an uncooked turkey, can you please pull your shirt down the next time IF you must send me another picture?"  I couldn't believe that he actually thought my stomach was up to that size at this point so I decided to play along for a few more texts and act hurt that he was being so insensitive about my massive stomach:).  William did not feel the need to apologize about calling my stomach "disgusting."!  But I sure got a good laugh out of it!

Moving right along...

Within the past couple of weeks, our baby boy has started moving a lot.  We can both feel him punching or kicking away in there especially at night time.  It's great having the kicks to reassure you that everything is alright in there between appointments.  We've been having monthly appointments up til now, but after next week's, we will start to see the doctor once every two weeks.  The pregnancy is going by fast to me at this point!  This week we took a tour of the hospital where we are most likely going to deliver.  We had never even seen the complex before so we figured it would be a good chance to make sure we wanted to use the hospital that was 45 minutes away from home.  There is a new hospital that is actually walking distance from our home, but the doctor that we like delivers at the further away hospital.  The hospital tour was very nice and looked very comfortable.  We will have to go back sometime soon for the water birthing class:). 

Everything is going well here in Florida.  We have a busy Spring lined up but are eagerly awaiting July when we are able to move back to friends and family in NC!  I am taking the baby to South Beach in two weeks for his first bachelorette trip and Alec is going to spend the weekend with Beau.  Then we are traveling to Wilmington in March for Alyson and Teddy's engagement party, NYC for Jenny and Lane's wedding, and Greensboro in April for some other parties and hopefully to see Kamron's baby in April!  Finally after our last scheduled trip in April, we will sit tight for a month to relax as a family of 2 as we eagerly wait on the baby's arrival  (hopefully before May 14th!- Alyson's wedding).  Well, all is well here and I will leave you with a pic of my bump somewhere around 23 weeks!