Love

Words can't describe the love you have for your children. It is like no other.

Lena Kate is doing well. She is the spitting image of her Daddy, but we've discovered that she does have Mommy's dimples - YEA!...oh, and Mommy's toes too.

I never got to post the story of her first bath. She actually doesn't mind them as long as it is warm, but the first one she faught back. Not only did she "wet" with a powerful stream all down Mommy's pants, she managed to poop into her clean towel.

LK got to get her first picture with Santa at the hospital.

Merry Christmas


Check out my boots!

Sorry I didn't rotate these before uploading....

Happy New Year.

Update

We are doing great! Lena Kate is eating, pooping, and growing. She's a champ. She is a beautiful combination of her parents...or so we biased folks think. Stay tuned for Christmas outfit pics. I'm still a bit sore, but not even bad enough to take any meds.

She had her first pediatrician visit and got a great report. Her doctor said we could leave her there if we wanted to. We graciously declined.

This morning we went on our first shopping adventure - Babies R Us, Penney's, and Target - briefly at each store. She slept the entire trip. What a good little girl.

We even got some sleep last night and Daddy has been great :)

Merry Christmas too all!

A Few More Details

I didn't mention the details of why we ended up in an emergency situation. Long story...sorta short....I had a 50% placental abruptions during labor. After reading up on this situation, we are very fortunate God was watching over us. A few signs our awesome docs noticed were fairly heavy bleading, a drop in blood pressure for Mom and baby, as well as abnormal contractions. They were not coming down and my uterus was staying contracted (they thought it was the monitor at first, but apparently it was doing just what it was supposed to). At this point I had an epidural so wasn't feeling the consistent contraction, but was wondering why they weren't completely alleviated between them right before I was "numbed". This was followed by fetal distress which got the docs in high gear. I don't know how we remained calm during all this....I guess we didn't have time to let our minds wonder or realize what all was going on. It was soooo fast when it all came together. Doctors said, "Here's what we think is going on and here's what we are going to do about it...and quickly." I was in a fog to say the least.

Side note: Our nurse had been at the hospital for a year and a half and this was only the 2nd abruption she had witnessed.

When I heard her first squeak, I was elated! I will remember that feeling over anything else. I guess it was a good thing I couldn't see what was going on. I know Lane's heart dropped a few times that night. He was a trooper and his calmness helped me as well.

Yes, it seems even more scary looking back and I ask myself why wasn't I freaking out. All the scariness will creep up on me rather than hit at once. I guess I was just putting my faith in the Lord. So I will thank him everyday of my life for protecting Lena Kate and myself from harm.

Also, many thanks to Dr. Shows and Villa-Oviera (sp?). I would recommend these ladies to anybody!

Last but not least, thanks to my wonderful husband for being by my side through it all. He was great support and I don't think I would've been able to be calm and rational without him beside me.

With such a surprising entry into this world, I'm sure there will be many more to come for Lena Kate. The only thing predictable was that, ironically, due to complications she was born on her due date rather than one day past. That's my little accountant baby - gotta be on time. I thought I'd end on a lighter note.

Merry Christmas to all!!! I'm going to go kiss my little angel now. More pics to come and a story about her first bath tomorrow.

CORRECTION!

Just kidding....Lena Kate joined us at 11:01pm Friday December 19th - just in time. After a little scare and an emergency C-section, all is very well. We had awesome doctors and God was watching over our little family! Mom and baby are doing well. Dad's hangin in there too. Here is a preview.

IT'S COLD!

Snoozing...

"I'm not listening, Daddy"

Past Due

Stamp "Past Due" on my belly and start the collection letters. Nothing like two accountants that don't like to be late having a past due baby. I guess we officially have 10 hours left, but odds are she won't be here by then.

I have been having contractions off and on all day...but nothing regular. I guess something is better than nothing. Practice makes perfect, so they say.

Of course, I've baked today....jingle bell cutout sugar cookies for Santa....or Mrs. Claus in our case! I still have to ice them, that'll happen this afternoon when I can muster up the energy. Maybe a nap is in order first.

Silly story for today: So I went to pick up my bridesmaid's dress for my brother-in-law and future sister-in-law's wedding in February and the girl asked me if I wanted to try it on. Really?? Do I look like it would do any good to try anything on in my current state? I guess she hadn't noticed the roundness of my belly. I'm just going to say it was hiding under the counter for her benefit. Maybe it wasn't a fair assumption to think she was crazy, I guess I could be planning to wear it this weekend, but she did look up the wedding date noting it was Feb 28th. I got a chuckle out of it anyway, hope you did too.

Not yet

Ms. Lena Kate is taking her sweet time, despite the pleas by all to "Come out!" We go in December 23rd at 4:30 am to be induced if she is not here by then. Everybody say some prayers that she wants out in the next few days on her own. Back to baking tomorrow!

I'm feeling pretty good today and am trying to get the last minute things in order and our house clean and presentable. I'm saving the vacuuming for Lane - I know he'll be so excited. He's much better at it than me. What a good husband I have. Confession-I've only vacuumed the entire house 2 times since we've moved in. Lane has taken over that job- YEA LANE! I'm sure this will change since I'm going to be a stay-at-home mom, but that is fine by me.

Congrats to my friend Rachel. She had her baby boy, David Mark Gardiner, yesterday and all went well. We are so thankful for this blessing for her family. I guess I lost that race :)

Funny story: Very early on in conception the scientific term for the fertilized egg is a zygote. Lane found it amusing to start calling our baby girl "the goat" for short knowing that it would irritate me. I've come to accept it and just go with the idea it is a term of endearment, and baby goats are really cute, right? If Lena Kate holds out until December 22nd, then her astrological sign will be Capricorn - The Goat. How appropriate.

Until next time.....

Missy was cold this morning...brrrrr. Can you tell that she hates pictures?

Today is a very special friend's birthday - Happy Birthday Roni! I got to visit with her this morning and it had been way to long since we'd talked. I think we could talk for hours and still not get caught up, but with our busy lives...she has 3 precious kiddos now...we don't get to do that as often as I'd like. E-mail keeps us up to date on each other's lives most of the time, not to mention her blog which is why I decided to start my own. I love seeing the pics and hearing her family stories each week. I hope she has a wonderful day and we get to visit again soon.

Amy came over to work on her Christmas gift to us (updating Lena Kate's bathroom) and brought me a project too. Knowing that I really enjoy baking I got to make gingerbread men muffins and mini-bundt cakes. It was great. She was doing what she does best and I was having a ball downstairs baking. As you can see below, my nephew Charles came to help too. He was the best spoon-licker ever. I didn't get the pic I wanted of him sticking his tougue out to get a taste, but he was ready. I can tell he is going to be Aunt Laney's big helper in the baking department very soon. On a side note, he started calling me Mimi today - that is Mom's name, but it is a start! I think he said "Aney" at one point, but may have been hearing things.

More!

Mmmm, he says!

Final product to be wrapped up for gifts.

This guy is my favorite :)

Have a good weekend everyone! Maybe all this baking will get Lena Kate wanting to come out and help Mommy. One can only hope.

Well Wishes for a Friend

As many of you know, a friend of mine from work, Rachel Gardiner, is also due to have her baby next week. Some could say the race is on! Who's going to be here first David Mark or Lena Kate? It has been nice to share the experience with someone going through it at exactly the same time. Won't we have fun on play dates? We are both going to be stay-at-home moms for awhile. Rachel is such a sweetheart and her family will need thoughts and prayers just as mine during this joyous time for all of us so I wanted my readers to keep her in mind these days as well. She has had the added complication of gestational diabetes but kept a great attitude throughout. She is always smiling and positive. So, good luck Rachel and Shaun. I know you will be great Christian parents to baby David Mark when he is here.

Here are some pics from our shower at work. Fieby made us baby "mums" - FUN! We had a very special day.

Saving the $$ for the kiddos...

MMMMM- cupcakes

Don't our husbands look excited? There were sooo many gifts. Everybody was so generous. I'm going to miss my work friends...but it is for the best cause ever! Mom even came up for the day - surprise Elaine!

Looks like it is going to be another week of waiting. My doctor didn't seem to think I was close to labor any time soon after this morning's visit. This didn't surprise me. She did say that if things looked more favorable next week we could possibly induce on the 22nd. In less than 2 weeks I could have my little girl!!! Hopefully, I'll go into labor on my own before then - fingers crossed everybody.

Being that Lane thinks today should've been "the day" I think he might be wrong. Sorry Lane. Since neither Lane nor I really like to be late for anything, I'm sure Lena Kate is going to be late just to get us from the start:)

Happy Wednesday.

Baking...and eating

Does wanting to bake everyday count as nesting? I don't ever see myself obsessing over cleaning, although I do obsess over little things like the stove rather than the whole kitchen. That is not out of the ordinary though. Most of the time the stove remains dirty and it just bugs me rather than coercing me to clean it! Back to baking. I baked oatmeal cookies yesterday and proceeded to eat at least a dozen throughout the day - HELLO STRETCHMARKS :) Today I'm going to bake chocolate chip cookies for one of my good friends from work, Fieby. She's awesome. It is her birthday, so she says I need to have Lena Kate on the 11th and name her Fieby. I'm sure I'll manage to try out a few of those to make sure they are good enough for her! It is like I'm getting in the last of my junk food before Lena Kate is here and I have to get back in shape. I want to be able to get back into my clothes fairly soon since I don't really have anything in between what I was before I got pregnant and maternity. Motivation, right?

So after our 12 week sonogram, I believe it was Lane decided he was going to recalculate my due date based on the remaining days of human gestation and the sonogram estimate on how far along I was. It was something like 11 weeks, 6 days - right on. He came up with December 10th and has stuck with that date throughout - yes he is an accountant! I'm afraid he's going to be wrong. I'm sure he'll say the doctors were wrong in the sono. None-the-less it is enjoyable to what him get so passionate about why it is tomorrow.

I'm off to baking, the butter should be softened by now.

Nervous?

This is just a random braindump of everthing in my mind at this very moment.

I've been asked if I'm nervous....yes, I think I am! I think I'm so ready, but am I really? I know I'm ready to meet my daughter, but am also so afraid of the challenges it will bring. She seems secure where she is now, but she will be in this crazy world soon. When I think that the only thing that we know is that her heart sounds great and her size is good since the last sono. at 20 weeks, it is a little unnerving. I just pray that her delivery is good and she is healthy. Everything else will be fine...or so I keep telling myself. I have a wonderful husband and family who will be there for me, I know. I've always said that I would rather not have a child around Christmas due to them possibly missing out on birthday events/gifts. I've changed my mind. God willing, this will be a most joyous Christmas ever. I'll just have to let her know how special she is to be born so close to the day that Jesus was born. I'll just have to make sure she treasures the story of his birth as well as hers. It is going to be a wonderful day whenever it might be. Family is the most important thing and ours will be here to celebrate her birthday as well as the birth of Christ - what could be better?

May God bless each of your and your families this Christmas season. One of my favorite pieces of advice is that God would not allow you to go through anything that he won't be there beside you to help you get through. It can probably be said more eloquently, but this is the way it came out today. I thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers over the last 8 months.

Lena Kate, you are loved more than you'll ever know. I thank God for you everyday. I can't wait to hold you and kiss you.

On a side note: If you are looking for a good book, read "Same Kind of Different as Me" It is by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It is a very inspirational story of faith that everyone should know. I read some of this aloud to Lena Kate - sometimes through a stream of tears. Thanks Leslee for letting us borrow your book and the recommendation. I hope I didn't leave any tearstains on it.

Nursery time

Many thanks to my wonderful family that helped bring the cutest nursery ever to reality! Check out a few pics. Now we are just waiting for Lena Kate to arrive.
I guess I should include one of us. This is not my favorite of me, but maybe Lane will like it better than the last one which I've removed because he said it wasn't flattering of him. I'm sure I'll replace this one when I get another I like better....



Bedding close up and LK's first baby doll

Crib corner

Closet view

Another view

Name and mobile



My great grandmother's rocker and my doll with new clothes to match LK's nursery.

Changing table wall and decorated shelves

I hope you enjoy the preview!