Trying out a new hair do...

So Josh and I had some fun after bath time tonight at Isaiah's expense, although, he doesn't look too traumatized.

This is an attempt to look like big cousin Kayden who has a natural mohawk (he has a double crown...no kidding!).

Next, we'll try the messy look to be like Daddy!

Watch out girls!!!

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Introducing.....


ISAIAH
STEVEN


Born August 6, 2006
11:32pm

7 lbs 11 oz 21 in


Welcome, sweet Isaiah and thank you, Jesus for this precious little boy.

















The short version:

We were playing cards with friends late Saturday night/Sunday morning when my water broke. We got to the hospital at 1:20 and was admitted a couple of hours later. After awhile with only 2 cm dialated and no super strong contractions they started me on Pitocin. About 16 hours later they had continuously raised the amount of Pitocin they were giving me until they hit the most amount they could. Dr. Jones came in (I absolutely LOVE that man!) once again to check me and very gently told me that I was STILL only 2 cm and that the only real option was for us to go ahead with a c-section. At that point, I was totally fine with that. Later he told me that one of my pelvic bones sits in such a way that the baby's head pushes against it but couldn't get past it. Therefore, all other children will be born the same way....following suit from my mom so no huge shock there.

Josh's cousin, Amy, happens to be the head nurse/manager in Labor and Delivery so she prepped us for the whole process of major surgery (which I had never gone through before), and then took me back to the OR. They gave me a spinal block and by the time they let Josh come in he said he saw the scaple go down....yikes! He QUICKLY rushed past that and took his seat at my head. Amy was there the whole time and, knowing that squeemishness runs in Josh's family, she did a great job helping him deal with it all. When they finally got to Isaiah's head Amy turned to Josh and said, "Josh, stand up! Here's the head!" Josh, with huge eyes, said, "Uh...I don't know..." So she said again, "Josh, stand up! You're going to miss it!" So he did and I cannot convey the sound in his voice as he started laughing and crying at the same time and said, "It's Isaiah! It's Isaiah!" (we didn't know what we were having so I asked the doctors to let Josh tell me the name of our baby). I have never heard my husband sound like that. He almost sounded like a little boy himself just overwhelmed with emotion. It was so precious and surreal.

They showed Isaiah to me and then wisked him away for weighing, measuring, etc and Josh, of course, went with them to cut the cord and just cry and laugh some more. We stayed in the hospital until Thursday evening to get all the help we could from the doctors, nurses, lactation consultants and pediatricians who were constantly in and out of our room. Our stay there was filled with a steady flow of family and friends visiting, but also plenty of down time for us to rest and just be together as a family. With the exception of the chair/bed that messed Josh's back up, we really enjoyed our time there.

And Isaiah is the most amazing gift God could give us. I never knew I would feel this way about a little person. I was constantly afraid that I wasn't bonding with him during pregnancy and that I wouldn't be nurturing enough or I would get impatient with him really easily. I'm just in awe of how God puts in us exactly what we need to do what He calls us to.

He'll be 2 weeks old Sunday and I already get misty thinking of him growing up. He's changed so much since his birth. I remember one of the doctor's in the OR saying, "He's got red hair!" That was a big surprise to us, but already it has started to darken and he's filling out all over (he's a good eater!).

Thank you to everyone who has prayed us through this whole process (please continue!), come to see us, brought us meals, lavished us with baby presents and have just loved and cared for us so well. We couldn't have imagined the love and care we've recieved. We feel God's kindness to our family through you.

Keep checking back as there will be much more on little Isaiah later....


Look at those feet! Definitely Daddy's boy!

Stuff on the walls!

It's not a ton, but definitely a start. Although, it makes a huge difference with all that green!

(Josh is afraid the color is going to overstimulate our child resulting in no sleep and a bright glow coming from the nursery at all times....it'll be ok, sweetie!)

We've decided that we want to paint a verse on the wall over the changing table. Any ideas on how we can pull this off???

3 Cheers for Pitocin!!!

So, we went to the Dr today and after all the hello's and handshakes he immediately proceeds to tell us that there is no longer a question of if they'll induce but now it's when they'll induce. He went right ahead and put us on the schedule to be induced at 7:00am Tues morning.

Then...he checked me and said, "Oh! You've progressed further than I thought!" Apparently, the membrane stretching trick worked and got me to a whopping 2 cm and 70% effacement. I was very encouraged about the effacement progression because they haven't told me anything about that for the last 3 visits so I had no idea where I was. He was talking a mile a minute all while "checking" me which was extremely uncomfortable this time (which I realized later was because he was stretching me again and was a lot more aggressive about it than the Dr I saw last week). But what I heard was that I have about a 50% chance of delivering on my own over the weekend, but he would keep me scheduled for Tues morning just in case. So that was encouraging.

So far today, I've felt uncomfortable....more pressure and cramping at times...but nothing big. We went straight to Concord Mills to walk and try to get this baby out ourselves. Then after a short nap we went out to eat with Josh's family and hung out at his parent's house until just a little while ago. That was fun and everyone seems super excited.

Thank you guys for bearing through all the details (Josh says I write too much) and checking in on us. I have felt so loved and cared for through this whole pregnancy, but especially here at the end. We are truly very blessed. This baby has no idea how loved it is by so many people!

Quick update

For those of you checking in on us, tomorrow is our baby's due date!!! However, nothing "seems" to be happening.....yet, anyway. At my appt last Friday I was still just 1 cm (same as the week before) so they stripped my membranes which sounds so awful but it really wasn't even that uncomfortable. The Dr just wanted to try to get me to 2 cm, but who knows if it worked. I was a little crampy that night and EXTREMELY emotional which led to a huge cry fest at almost no warning. So apparently I am not in any way hormone deficient!

I have an appt tomorrow at 1:15pm and they told me that if nothing had happened by then we would talk about scheduling induction....oh boy! I am so tired of waiting around barely able to do anything, but at the same time I realize that these are the last precious days I have left with just me and Josh so I'm not sure I want to rush that away.

So, that's about it for us....we're headed to Walmart for travel sized toiletries so we can get our bag packed tonight (still haven't done that). Maybe the walking around will help.....and, by the way, if anyone knows of things that really help get labor going, please comment.

One more thing, we just changed our internet service and also had our home phone disconnected (trying to cut bills down) so for right now please send emails to my old hotmail address and call our cell phones if you need us. If you don't have this info, comment and I'll get it to you.

More soon....