It's finally time!!!

So here's the story of my labor and delivery... For about a week before Micah was born I was having contractions on and off. None were ever close enough to time or get excited about. It seemed like forever that the contractions were coming and going. The week that I delivered, we had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday the 11th. Dr. Farhart checked me and I was 1 cm dilated and my cervix was almost fully softened. This was a BIG change since the week before, when I had no dilation. 1 cm made me a really happy camper! Dr. Farhart told me it would probably be pretty soon that I would go into labor. The next day, Thursday, my best friend Kori and her hubby Zlatko came into town from St. Louis. We went about our regular day to day activities with them, hoping that Micah would come while they were here. On Friday evening we decided to go downtown to have dinner on the Riverwalk. My contractions were about 7-14 minutes apart and I was still pretty comfortable. After a nice long dinner, and lots of walking (for a preggo), we came back home and decided to watch a movie and then hit the sack. It was about 2 am when we finally got into bed, and my contractions seemed to be coming closer and stronger. So while lying in bed I decided to time them, with a contraction timer app on my iPhone, you can do anything with an iPhone! For about 30 minutes my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. Now, Dr. Farhart said if my contractions were 5 minutes apart for 1 hour we should head to the hospital. At about 2:40 am I felt and heard a weird pop! It was really muffled and I wasn't sure what it was. I thought to myself "this isn't suppose to happen." And all of a sudden, I felt a little trickle, that I couldn't control. I knew right then that my water had broke. So I reached over to wake James up, and when I did.....let's just say someone turned on the faucet! I nicely yelled to James to get his attention "MY WATER JUST BROKE!" I've never see the man jump out of bed so fast! Haha! He hustled to get everything in the car, that wasn't already packed in it to begin with. It took me about 30 minutes to get myself together and get downstairs to the car. My contractions hit strong and hard soon after my water broke! I could barely walk through them. So we got in the car and headed to the hospital. On the way to the hospital James was so frazzled! When we were leaving the house I had to direct him to do a few, important things like: open the garage before you start to back out, close the garage before you drive off, directions out of the neighbor hood, and of course I told him not to speed. Once we got to the hospital they had me in triage to check to make sure I was really in labor. I wasn't too happy about that pit stop! I finally got into my labor and delivery room and asked for pain meds asap! They gave me something to take the edge off, but that's all it barely did. It wore off pretty quick and I was more than ready for my epidural. My nurse was great! She hustled to get the anesthesiologist into my room before he went into back-to-back C-sections and couldn't get to me until hours later. Once I had my epidural I was A-OK! James was able to get some sleep on the couch in the room, but I couldn't sleep a wink, I was way too anxious! After 12 hours of labor, and 1 1/2 hours of pushing....Micah was finally born! It was 3:34pm on Saturday the 14th! He weighed in at 6 pounds 15 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long! He scored an 8 and then a 9 on his APGAR test! What a perfect baby! James and I were both so overjoyed and couldn't believe we made this little guy!

Being talked off a ledge....

It's been a while since I've posted, and so much has happened lately so I'll break it up into a few posts. By the title of this post your probably wondering "what in the world is she talking about?" Well, needless to say I was more than ready the last couple of weeks for my pregnancy to be over. James says he felt like he had to talk me off a ledge a few times! I was just so uncomfortable and pretty much tried everything for Micah to come early. And of course EVERYONE kept telling me "he'll come when he's ready!" That's the last thing I wanted to hear. I spent most of my last weeks lying on the couch, doing nothing, in total discomfort. My nights were sleepless, which I assume was a sign of what was to come with a newborn! One thing I did look forward to was my best fried Kori and her husband Zlatko came into town. She came down to run the Rock 'n Roll half marathon! I am so proud of her! That's something I hope to attempt and achieve one day! They were only here for a few days before Micah decided to make his entrance into the world! (That story will be told in the next post!) It meant the world to me to have my oldest best friend here for the birth of our first child!

Classes, classes, classes...

We are FINALLY finished with all of our "baby" classes! It felt like we were back in college again, going to class twice a week from 6-9pm, and taking notes like good students! I highly recommend taking as many classes as you can before having your first child. We learned SO much! In our Child Birth class we learned ALL about giving birth. From the anatomy of the woman's and baby's body to getting down on the floor learning how to push, the instructor taught us everything! This class was a three week course, so we were there every Monday for the past three weeks. I think they could have squeezed this course into two days instead of three, because the second day was just an overview of the first day and they taught us a few stretches. But overall, the class was definitely worth the time! The second class we took was the Baby Care class. I think it was our instructor, but the class was a waste! The instructor was a nursing student, with NO kids of her own. So every answer was a textbook answer and nothing from personal experience. The main reason we took this course was for James, since he has never been around nor cared for a newborn. I could have taught him everything the instructor did, and then some! I'm not saying no one should ever take this course, just make sure you have an instructor who has experience with babies! The third class and one of the two most helpful class, was the Car Seat Safety class! Hands down one of the BEST classes we took! Our instructor was amazing and knew anything and everything about the topic! She even scheduled an appointment with us to help us install the car seat and bases in both of our vehicles. You would never have thought that so much went into car seats and policies and regulations! The last class we took was the Breast-feeding course. This was the other class that was the most helpful. I was so nervous and scared of failing when it came to breast-feeding, but this class definitely put me at ease. I feel very confident and think that I, along with James, know just about everything on the topic of breast-feeding. Now I just need my little man to be born to put all of my new knowledge to the test!!! Only about 3 1/2 weeks until my due date!

In launch position...

Well it's been about a month since i've posted anything and I am now 36 weeks preggo! Only 4 weeks to go!!! We can't wait for Micah's arrival! The nursery is all set up and ready to go, now I just need to work on getting the rest of the house in order. I'm waiting for my "nesting" instinct to kick in! Haha! Micah has been doing all sorts of punches and kicks while in my belly! He is a very active little boy, unless someone wants to feel him move, then he comes to a halt! It's like he doesn't want anyone else but Mommy or Daddy to feel his movements. I think he gets stage fright! :) He also gets the hiccups quite often, which Dr. Farhart says is a good thing because he is practicing his "underwater" breathing! We had our 36 week check up yesterday with Dr. Farhart. He checked me for the first time to see where I'm at. So far, no dilation, a little bit of softening of my cervix, and he could feel Micah's head which means he is in "launch position," as my Dad would put it! Also, Dr. Farhart said Micah has dropped, which I had a feeling he had because I was having a lot of pressure last week and it felt like Micah was just going to fall out! I have only had a few contractions, and by a few I mean like two! Dr. Farhart says that we are probably right on schedule for our November 19th due date, give or take a few days!

Here is a picture of my growing belly at 35 weeks and 5 days! It's not the best picture because it was taken from my phone, since the camera is already packed in the hospital bag!

Bad Blogger....

I have been such a bad blogger! It's been way too long since I have posted anything, SORRY!!! Well not much has been going on since we found out we are having a boy! I have had a pretty normal pregnancy. Every doctor visit has been normal, including the yummy glucola test! Yuck! That stuff was nasty!

We had our first baby shower, with just our close friends! I had a great time with all the girls while James and the guys watched football and played poker in the garage! We got a lot of goodies for Micah! Thanks everyone!!! Now, I'm ready for our second baby shower, which will be with the family! I'm sure it will be a great party as well.

And lastly, we had maternity pictures taken when I was 31 weeks pregnant. Just far enough in my pregnancy to be big, but not too far to be big and bloated! They turned out great! Here are some of our favorites:

It's a......

BOY!!! June 24th, 2009 was the day we found out we're having a baby boy! From the day I found out I was preggo, I just knew that it was going to be a boy. I always hoped of having a girl, but when I actually got pregnant my feelings changed. I, along with James, really wanted a boy. When we went in for our appointment, we were all so excited. When I say all, I mean James, my Mom, my little sister Chelsey, and myself. Dr. Farhart told us we could bring whoever we wanted to see the sonogram. So I decided on two of the most important people in my life, including my hubby of course! Dr. Farhart told me to drink a BIG caffeinated drink before the appointment, so that my bladder would be full and would push my uterus up, and to get our baby moving. So I had my first Diet Coke since I found out I was pregnant. Man it tasted gooooooood! But ended up giving me a tummy ache because I drank so much. The worst part was that they wouldn't let me go pee until after the sonogram was over! But the absolute best part was when Dr. Farhart announced "there's his little rocket!" Ahhh, we were so elated!!! The grin on James' face was priceless! The whole moment completely took my breath away! We were able to get quite a few pictures, as well as a few videos from the sonogram.

Showing off his "little rocket!"

Little feet, my favorite picture so far!

View of body and head, check out the size of that head!

Video of his spine:

Video of his heartbeat:

Our little bean looks like a baby....

April 22nd, 2009 we had another appointment with Dr. Farhart. I thought it was just going to be a routine check-up. But we got another sonogram done! I just love seeing our little bean! This time he didn't look like a bubble on the screen, he actually looked like a little baby! The best part of the sonogram was when he waved his little hand, as if to say "hi Mom and Dad!" Here is a picture from our 10 week appointment.