Our Little Man is Here!!!

Sorry for the very late post, it has been a whirlwind of a week!  But I'm sure you guessed the reason for my lack of posting!  =)

I'll send out a more detailed post with the birth story, lots of photos and some videos after I recover and find some spare time, but here's a very short version for now...

I woke up Tue morning, June 22 @ 6:28a to my water breaking and immediately started having contractions.  33 exhausting hours later, our son entered the world.  He was born on his due date, June 23 at 3:17p.  He weighed 6 lbs 15 oz. and was 19" long.  He has strawberry blonde hair, blue eyes and is oh so little!  He's a total clone of Kerry, no mistaking that the lab used the correct sperm, lol!

Introducing Tyler Isaac Morris:

We are exhausted and running on fumes but are on top of the world.  We are so in love with him!  Sorry this has to be a drive-by post, but details to follow soon, I promise!

Maternity Photos

Here are my maternity photos from 36w3d.

39w1d

I had another midwife appt today.  My BP was up (129/90) so they checked my urine for protein.  They had me lay on my left side for a little bit and rechecked my BP and it had returned to normal (120/79).  My urine came back with no protein so all is good and no worries of pre-eclampsia.  The midwife checked baby's position and he's still in perfect head down position and his HB was perfect.

Today has been an incredibly sad day for me.  As I mentioned in a previous post, my dad and step-mom came to stay with us to meet their grandson.  My step-mom was also going to attend the birth.  When I returned from my midwife appt, they were gone.  My step-mom became ill and they had to leave unexpectedly.  It's been 2.5 yrs since I've seen them and now they are gone.  I didn't get to say good-bye, they won't be here the birth or to meet their grandson.  I don't know when I'll get to see them again.  I am just crushed.

The Nursery

As promised, here's the nursery!

Night stand, which really isn't needed now, but we went ahead and purchased so he'll have a matching night stand to go with his bed in the future.  His name (whenever we finalize it) will go vertically on this wall.  Each wooden letter will be done in one of the matching fabrics from the room.  I'll post a pic of it after it's up.

This tree swing is in honor of one of my dad's favorite memories.  As a little girl, he used to push me on this large tree swing.  The swing sat on the edge of a hill, so when you would swing forward, it was quite a drop to the ground and for a little kid, it was like you were soaring through the sky.  I would always say "Fly me to the moon dad!".  I didn't tell my dad and step-mom anything about it.  So when they walked in and saw it, they cried.  Great moment!

Dresser/Changing station with the hamper/tote/changing pad I made:

Rocker-glider and giraffe art:

The curtain I made:

Tall dresser with more giraffes:

Crib which goes from crib to toddler bed to day bed to full size bed.  I made the sheet, pillow, crib skirt and blue blanket.  The giraffe blanket was a shower gift.  I'm working on a custom quote to put on the wall above the crib.  Again, I'll post a pic when it's done.

Giraffe swing:

Just another blanket I made:

His closet with size newborn through 3 months.  All sizes beyond that are in the totes on the left.  He has way more clothes than Kerry and I combined.

All ready to go full force with cloth diapering once he's out of the newborn stage:

Well that's the long awaited nursery.  It was a ton of work but we're very happy with it.  Whatcha think?

39 Weeks

Yep, I'm still pregnant!!!  I'm trying to enjoy every last second of it as I fully realize that without a miracle, I may never get to experience this again.  The count down is on, SEVEN days till my due date, holy cow!!!  As of today, I'm not having any signs whatsoever that he's ready for departure and that's a good thing as I need him to wait till after Fri so my mom can make it to the birth of her grambaby.

My dad and step-mom are here and will be staying with us till sometime after the baby's birth.  Enjoying their company and looking forward to having the help as I charter the unknown territory of a newborn.  It hasn't quite hit me yet that there will be a baby in this house, wowser, very surreal!

My hospital bag is almost packed.  Still need to install the car seat.  The anticipation and the unknown has me on pins and needles.  It could happen tonight, or 3 weeks from now.  I'm excited and nervous all at the same time.  Every night I go to bed wondering, will tomorrow be the day?  What kind of birth experience will this little guy pick for me?  Ya know because he's running the show!  Will I be able to handle the pain without meds?  Exactly HOW bad will it be?  Then those thoughts of OMGosh, what's in this big belly has to fit out this little exit?  Yikes!  I guess I will have all these answers soon enough!

This week's 41" belly:

Still dealing with the swelling but getting used to it, so it's not as bad.  Feeling really good, except when little man punches my cervix.  He's very active and my belly is morphing all over the place.  I will miss this part the most.

We're getting really close on his name, but will probably wait till we meet him to make our final decision.  Will let you know as soon as we know.

Our rocker-glider came in, love it!  We just finished the nursery minus putting his name on the wall.  I'm too exhausted to post pics now but promise I will tomorrow.

Until then, nighty night!

38 Weeks

2 weeks to go!!! I feel like I'm in some kind of time warp!

All is good except for a little sciatic pain and some crazy swelling. My feet and legs are huge. They burn by the end of the day when the skin stretches to the max.  But blood pressure was great today at 106/76. No signs of labor really. I did encounter 2 days over the last week where I had nonstop braxton hicks for about an hour, but then I'll go a few days with none. Looks like the little guy is happy being inside for now.

We had our prenatal appt with our doula last week. She spent 2 hrs at our house getting to know us, getting a tour of our home and designing our birth plan. She interviewed us to figure out what she can do best to help support us through a med-free labor. She really helped us figure out exactly what we want as far as a birth goal and everything related to the baby's care after he's born. We really like her!

We had our 2nd midwife appt today. We get a different one each visit so we can get to know as many as possible before I go into labor as you never know which one will be on duty. We LOVED today's midwife and are praying that we get her for the delivery. She was hilarious, compassionate and we just really clicked with her. She felt my belly and said that I was all baby... love her! Baby is in perfect position, head down facing to one side. Then I lifted my shirt so she could use the heart doppler. Heartbeat was perfect. She commented that I have no stretch marks... love her! I just hope my belly can hang in there for another 2 weeks or so of stretching.

The midwife we had at our last appt had an opinion that perineum massage didn't make much of a difference. Because of that, I guess it discouraged Kerry and I from continuing the massage since it seemed it was going to be a waste of time. Well today's midwife had the complete opposite opinion. She said it makes a huge difference and she can always tell who did and did not do the perineum massage prior to labor and that there is a big difference in the amount of tearing. So now we're like oh crap, we just skipped this for an entire week! So back to it we go again, oh fun!

We then headed over to Vanderbilt for our tour of labor and delivery. We are soooo excited and soooo glad we made the move!!! The rooms are huge and have everything you would ever want to help you get through labor. The bed is like some kind of transformer, it transforms into every kind of position you'd ever want to give birth in. The room has a shower with a seat in it to help with labor. Two of their rooms have labor tubs, which we immediately had them put in our records that we would like one of those rooms if available. In addition to all the things that cater to a med-free birth, the room is fully equiped to handle every kind of intervention or emergency that could pop up. They also have a high level nicu on the same floor. We couldn't be more pleased with our decision.

The nursery is really coming along and is very close to being done. We realized that until our rocker-glider comes in, we don't know for sure how far down the wall the dresser and crib will go, which means we can't hang anything on the walls yet, which means we're not ready to share pics just yet. Soon, I promise!

I have been nesting like a mad women, washing all of baby's clothes and linens and trying to put everything into place. But I have yet to pack my hospital bag! We're also getting the guest bedroom ready for my dad and step-mom who are arriving this Sat and will be staying with us for however long we can convince them to stay. I'm soooo excited, I haven't seen them since Jan 2008!

This week's belly... getting bigger and starting to get a faint brown line above the belly button now. Notice my Michelin cankles?

I'll end this with a "baby loves funk" video. We watched Glee for the first time last night and baby went crazy when he heard the funk tune.

Guess Those Baby Stats Contest!

I thought I would do something fun as we sit here with an incredible amount of anticipation wondering when this little guy will make his appearance.  I find myself paying attention to every little sign, wondering, could it be today?  Will I be early, will I be late?

To enter the contest, leave your guess in the comments section of this post with the following info:

Birth Date: _________ Time: _________ (am/pm)
Weight: _________ lbs. _________ oz.
Length: _________ "

The person with the closest combined guess will win.  The winner will receive a $25 gift card to the store/restaurant of their choice.

The winner is determined by points.  The person with the least amount of points will win.  For each stat, a score of 0 will be assigned to an exact guess and a point will be given for each increment you are off.  These points will be added up to determine your final score.

No entries will be accepted once I announce I'm going into labor.  If there was to be a tie, the person who guessed earliest will win.

If you don't know how to leave a comment, click on the "leave a comment" link right below this post.  Type in your guess.  If you don't have a google account, select "name/url" as your identity.  Enter your name, leave the url blank.  Click on "publish your comment".

Here's a few stats to help make your best guess:

Due date:  June 23, 2010

Jill's Stats:

* Born 2 weeks early (due to water breaking)
* Weight:  5 lbs. 11 oz.
* Length:  19"
* Adult Height:  5'1"

Kerry's Stats:

* Born 3 weeks late (according to doctor)
* Weight:  8 lbs. 4 oz.
* Length:  19.5"
* Adult Height:  6'5"

Good luck!!!

37 Weeks

21 days to go, yikes!  I'm officially full-term now.  I'd have to say full-figured as well!

Everything is going really well except I look like the Michelin Man's wife from waist down.  The swelling is ridiculous and is making it hard to walk.  I've gained 6 lbs in 1 week and 11 lbs in 2 weeks.  That's a lot of extra fluid!  I spend my days after work in bed with my feet elevated above my heart.  Sometimes Kerry will stop by and squeegee my feet and legs.  It takes several hours to get the swelling to go down and only 15 mins of sitting/standing before it returns.  This may be TMI, but I'm going to tell you because no one, nor no book warned me of this... pg induced edema not only affects your legs and feet, it can also cause extreme swelling in your lady bits!  But the good thing is that my blood pressure is nice and low and the swelling is even, so it just a nuisance at this time.

I've been watching for pre-labor signs.  So far I have 2.  Constipation has changed to loose bowels.  You really wanted to know that didn't you!  A few people have told me that the baby has dropped a little.  I can't really tell as it doesn't feel any different yet.  That's it so far.

I had my 1st midwife appt and it went well.  I was given the freedom to ask as many questions as I wanted and never felt rushed.  She checked the heartbeat which was nice and strong.  He's still head down.  She said she believes that he's dropped some as my upper belly is soft.  They don't check the cervix at every visit because they don't like risking infection or prematurely rupturing the membranes, so I don't know if my cervix is effacing or dilating.  She said there's really no way to know at this time if I will go early or late.  She then said she'd see me in a week.  We feel like we totally made the right move.  It's such a different mindset.  I was treated like I'm about to go through a natural process instead of some procedure.  As long as the baby is doing well, the mom is completely catered to and their goal is to give you the birth you desire and the support to make it happen.  They have OB staff on hand should anything go wrong, so I feel I'm getting the best of both worlds.

We've started our perineum massage.  Our first time was quite a fiasco.  This is when we discovered that it wasn't just my feet and legs that were swollen.  Kerry just couldn't get over how well endowed I had become and I'm sure you could imagine his hilarious comments.  It wasn't long before I was laughing hysterically, coughing uncontrollably all while stuck on my back like a turtle.  The massage ended abruptly when I peed on him.  Never a dull moment around here!  We've gotten our technique down now though I do have to say that I do not enjoy this at all.  But this has got to be better than an episiotomy or major tearing.  I just hope this works and isn't all for nothing.

We've made good progress on the nursery this week.  We finished the stripes, chair rail moulding and painted all the trim.  Kerry is bringing home the rest of the nursery furniture tomorrow.  I am soooo stinkin' excited to finally be able to put this room together!

I've started on the hospital bag.  I haven't actually packed anything, but have made a comprehensive list of everything I want to take and started buying the things I don't have like a robe and nursing tank.  I have the baby's bag packed.  Here's his hospital outfits I bought for him.  I was so excited to find blue/brown giraffe outfits:

This week's HUGE belly:

We had our maternity photos done.  I'll post a few as soon as I receive them.  That's all for now!