Update: 2 weeks Old

Can I just say that I am so proud of my girl! She is such a little blessing and is teaching her Mommy and Daddy something new everyday. It's hard to believe that we have had her at home for almost 3 weeks. Every time I look at her I am more amazed and have to remind myself that she is ours. She is absolutely perfect and I fall more and more in love with her everyday.

Emerson hasn't been up to much these past few weeks. She sleeps, eats and relieves herself, which includes spitting up. She has been spitting up a lot actually, which we were initially concerned about. I of course was worried that she was loosing too much of her meal, but since her appointment revealed that she has gained nearly a pound since birth, she weighs 8 pounds 11 ounces and is 21 inches long, we don't have to worry about her not getting enough to eat. In fact, we are going to try and make her wait 3 hours between each feeding and see if all her spitting up is due to the fact that she doesn't know when to stop eating. I wonder where she got her love for food and overeating?!? ; )

With all that being said I have been really blessed with nursing. She latched on right away at the hospital, which is always a worry, and I have been producing so much breast milk that I am having to pump and have already formed a little stock pile. Daddy is anxious to get to bottle feed her, so once we get through this first month he is going to get his go at feeding her.

Her sleep habits, well I wouldn't call them habits because lets face it she doesn't have any habits just yet, are different everyday. Some days she naps great during the day and sleep 3-4 hours at night and sometimes she hates napping during the day. Thankfully she has been pretty good about giving Mommy and Daddy 3-4 hour stretches of sleep at night, but I'm hoping that once we get a more regular feeding pattern that she will form more regular sleeping habits. Sleep, eat, play and sleep is the schedule we are going for (Baby Wise), so we'll see if how things go in the next few weeks!

 

Here are some pictures from the Doctor's office visit! She was such a good girl!

Happy New Years Eve!

CHRISTmas Highlights!

I can hardly believe that Christmas has come and gone already! With Emerson being born just before the big holiday, time definitely seemed to speed up and before we knew it, we were eating leftover turkey and taking down decorations. With that being said, we had a fabulous holiday at home. Shawn's "paternity" leave had finally started and we spent lots of time at home with our girl. Both of our families made trips to see us, the Ludekers on Christmas Eve and the Sellers on Christmas Day, and we were so blessed to be able to celebrate Emerson's first Christmas with them.

 

"But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.'"

Luke 2:10-11
 
Now that I have a daughter, I am amazed at the love of our Father. I thought I understood it, but I didn't truly understand it, and I still may not, until I held my daughter in my arms. The love I have for her is unlike anything I have ever experienced and as we celebrated Christmas this year, I appreciated so much more, the true meaning of the season; the gift of Jesus, our Savior.

Here are a few pictures from our Holiday with family. We are so blessed!

On Christmas Eve, Shawn made his first Turkey and Emerson got to meet her Great-Aunt Pat, Great-Uncle Mark and Cousin Katherine. Later that evening we spent time with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Keith, opening presents. Let me just say, I'm pretty sure I opened more presents that were for Emerson than were for me. Guess I better get used to that! She is spoiled already and I wouldn't have it any other way. Not that I have a choice! : )

 

 

On Christmas Day Granny and Papa came up to visit as well as Aunt Katie, Uncle Luke, Aunt Alli and Jason. Once again Emerson was spoiled with lots of goodies and we had a great time celebrating with my family.

Love this picture of Emerson and Daddy!

 

Santa came! O wait, that's just Granny! ; )

 

On Christmas Day we asked my brother and his soon-to-be wife to be Emerson's god-parents. We are so proud of the life that they are living and couldn't have two better people to come along side us as we seek the Lord's best for little Miss Emerson!

 

Emerson's Hospital Visitors

They day that Emerson was born was one of the most monumental moments in me and Shawn's lives. A day that was anticipated by not only us, but by those closest to us. We were overwhelmed by the love and support that was shown to us during our stay at the hospital. Here are a few pictures of the people that showed their love by visiting. We tried to take pictures of everyone that stopped by, but we did miss a few. Thank you everyone who came out to meet our precious baby girl.

 

Both our families waited patiently at 0500 to meet our sweet baby girl.

 

 

Uncle Keith and Uncle Luke

 



 

Aunt Allison and Aunt Kim

 

 

Grandma and Grandpa

 

 

 

Great-Grandma

 

 

 

Granny, Papa and Great-Grandma (Love this one of my Dad)

 

 

 

Cousins, Lisa and Ginny

 

 

 

Laura and Zach and Nicole

 

 

And I had to throw a few in of Mommy and Daddy

 

 

Emerson is 1 week old today and doing great! We had our first doctor's appointment on Monday and she has already gained 8 ounces. The hope is that she is back to birth weight by 2 weeks, so prayers that she continues to grow healthy and strong are greatly appreciated!

 

Happy Wednesday!

 

 

 

 

EPL - Our Birth Story

The day Emerson came into this world, our lives immediately changed forever. From the first little scream I heard her let out, I knew that everyday from now on would be about making sure she knew how much she was loved. And she is, so so loved.

Emerson Page

Born Wednesday, December 11, 2013 at 05:18 am

7 pounds 13 ounces and 20 inches long

I woke up Monday morning, having just had yet another "false" labor and thought to myself that I was never going to meet our Little Luda. Although I knew that wasn't true, I was just so anxious to meet her that every day that passed felt like an eternity. Shawn was with me most of the day on Monday and then he left to go out of town for work for a few days. As he was leaving he made sure to tell our Nugget to stay put, or to at least give Mommy and Daddy enough notice of the arrival so that Daddy could make it back in time to see the big debut.

Later that evening, I started to have what I was thinking could be real contractions, but because of all the false alarms, I ignored them as much as I could. As midnight rolled around I was still up and having the same contractions, so I thought maybe these are real and I am in early labor, which can last 12 or more hours. We had started to get some snow that morning, so I did let my good friends the Edwards know what I was experiencing, just in case things started to pick up and I needed a little help getting to the hospital.

Since I didn't get much sleep on Monday night I tried to take naps throughout the day on Tuesday, all while still experiencing the same contractions every 15 to 20 minutes. At around 4:30 or 5:00 in the evening the contractions started coming closer together more like every 10 minutes or so, so  I talked with my friend Liz and made the executive decision to drive to their house to stay for the night. I figured that even if this wasn't the real deal, that I had a doctor's appointment in the morning, so staying with them meant I was close to the hospital and my doctor's office.

As I got packed and started driving to their house, my contractions started coming closer together between 6 and 8 minutes, so I went ahead and ate dinner, because I knew they would starve me once I got to the hospital. I made the phone call to my Doctor and was told to wait until they were closer together, so at around 11:00 Liz drove me to the hospital.

When I arrived around 11:45 pm, I was 4 cm dilated and contracting every 4-5 minutes. I called Shawn and said it was go time. He got in his car and started heading home to meet who we would later know was his baby girl. After about 2 hours they checked me and told me I was 7 cm dilated, fully effaced and that baby was down and ready. The last 3 cm were the worst. Shaw arrived at 2:30 in the morning and relieved Liz from her duty as labor coach. She was AMAZING and I am so thankful that I had her there with my through part of the labor process.

I continued to labor, making rounds in the hallway and breathing through the contractions. It is amazing how your body just knows what to do. Our families arrived and my Mom came back and labored with me and Shawn through the worst of the pain. My water broke spontaneously around 4:45 and I started pushing a little after 5:00 in the morning. I pushed through 3 contractions and Emerson was out. She made her debut at 5:18 in the morning and Daddy was the one to tell me that,  "we were right, we got our baby girl!"

She is amazing. Absolutely perfect and we are two very proud parents!

Here are a few photos from her birthday, I'll post more later:

Me and Liz...right after Shawn got there. So thankful for her.

Our Baby Girl!

First Family Photo : )

Love those feet!

 Some thoughts on Pregnancy and my labor:

1. I loved being pregnant. Carrying our baby girl in my belly was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and Shawn and I are so blessed to be used by God to create a masterpiece.

2. Running and staying active during pregnancy was the best decision I ever made in terms of my pregnancy. It helped me through the labor process and I believe is the main reason I was able to have a natural delivery.

3. Shawn is simply amazing and I am so thankful for his love and support through our pregnancy with baby Emerson and labor. (He did amazing.)

4. Labor was hard, but I'm thankful that I was able to not have an epidural and deliver naturally. The doctor was right. Just when I thought I couldn't do it any longer, I was moments away from meeting my daughter.

Thank you Lord for giving us this child. For trusting us with your daughter. Help us to be parents after your heart, so that we can raise a beautiful baby girl who loves and serves You with all of hers.

Waiting on the Babe

If someone had told me how much I would anticipate and long for the day that I am to hold our precious baby in my arms, I don't think I would have believed them. With every movement I feel and with each passing day, I know that I am closer to that anticipated day. I wake up every morning thinking, "Maybe today is the day we will meet our son or daughter." As you can guess, with each day that passes there is a hint of disappointment. Okay, maybe more than a hint, but you get the picture. We can not wait to meet this baby and know that God has a perfect birthday picked out for our most precious gift. 

I keep reminding myself that God's timing has been more than perfect with every step of this pregnancy. From the day we found out that we were expecting, we knew that God was the one calling the shots. That He was the one who had blessed us so tremendously and who has continued to bless us and our growing baby. Every time I think something may be less than picture perfect, God reveals just how perfect His plan is. He has done this time and time again in our lives and it is because of this fact that I hold confident to the knowledge that God is in control and his timing for the debut of our Nugget is going to be perfect!

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,; they shall mount up on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:31

So we wait. Using the time as wisely as we can, knowing that are lives as we know them are about to change forever, and in the most amazing way that they can. We anticipate the day with excitement, knowing that the day will come when we meet our Nugget and what a glorious day it shall be! 

39 weeks!

Along: 39 weeks! We're the size of a mini-watermelon! And here I thought we would be getting to meet our sweet baby sooner, rather than later. I'm thinking this baby is hanging in there until the end!

Size: Our Nugget is weighing in at about 7.25 pounds and is roughly 20 inches long. Our baby is continuing to build a layer of fat, which I am sure I have been helping with due to ALL the holiday goodies I have been over-indulging in, and the vernix and lanugo are nearly completely gone. My placenta is working extra hard to provide antibodies to help protect our Nugget from infections in the outside world, which is good seeing as we are getting to the peak of the dreaded flu season! I hope you all got your flu shots!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Up 29 pounds. If I am honest, this is more than I wanted to gain. I was hoping to be around 25 pounds, but at this point what can I do! I have a feeling all the sweets I have been eating may or may not be a factor. Ooops!

Maternity Clothes: Love them.

Gender: Seeing as we are getting to the final countdown I am going to make my last and final guess at the baby's gender and say girl. Shawn and I are both on the same page with this one, but either way we are going to so happy when we can hold our Little Luda in our arms for the first time!

Movement: I'm going to say that movement is slowing down a bit, but they say that is normal. Our poor Nugget must be running out of room in there...you'd think that would give the baby incentive to make his or her appearance! 

Sleep:  I wake up a lot, but thankfully I am able to fall back to sleep pretty easily.

Exercise: Mainly walking, but throwing in a jog here and there. Nothing crazy though.

Cravings: Food, especially sweet food like pie, fudge, cookies.

Symptoms: Whelp, there hasn't been much change in the labor progression. I was hoping to be have some change at my appointment yesterday, but I'm still about 60% effaced and only 2 cm dilated. I had the dreaded induction talk with my doctor and it looks like if Little Luda hasn't made his or her appearance by next week, then we will be setting up an induction for December 17th. Prayers that he or she makes the big debut naturally would be greatly appreciated!

Best Moment of the Week: We set up our Christmas tree! Yay! I kept thinking that since Shawn and I are so in love with everything Christmas that having the tree set up would make our Nugget come right on out, but no such luck! He or she really likes it on the inside! : )

 

Just over 38 weeks in this picture...getting ready to deck the halls!

Thanksgiving with Shawn's Family

Thanksgiving. The beginning of the Holiday season and the perfect opening act for Christmas! This year we were blessed to be able to spend the Holiday with Shawn's family. Because I had to work, they drove up to our home and brought all the goodies with them! Between my side of the family and the Shawn's side the of the family, we have so much to be thankful for. This year has brought us to celebrate Engagements, BIG 50th Birthdays, Adoptions, Weddings, the anticipated arrival of another Grandchild for both families, and so much more. We are beyond blessed and in happy times and sad times we have so much to be thankful for.

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

We didn't take many, but here are a few pictures from our holiday celebration:

Shawn decided that even though we don't have cable yet, we had to be able to watch football, so the an antena it was!

And here is where all the extra pounds are coming from...

Our Nephew, Ethan, after a big meal of turkey and tea...I mean formula! Love this little man!

Shawn and his siblings, Kim and Keith.

38 weeks Pregnant on Turkey Day!

Praying that everyone had a great kick off to the holiday season! Christmas is right around the corner!

37 weeks and 6 Days : )

My sweet pumpkin (or basketball, as most people seem to think I am smuggling some sort of sporting equipment these days)...you can come ANY day now. Your Mommy and Daddy are so excited to meet you and the anticipation is starting to drive us crazy!

I'm really going to miss my bump! It's my favorite accessory!

Along: 37 weeks and 6 days! We're just about the size of a leek. (Since I know we will be super busy tomorrow, I decided to go ahead and update today!)

Size: Our Nugget is weighing in at about 6.8 pounds and is roughly 19.75 inches long. He or she has mature organs that are ready for life outside the womb! Yay! 38 weeks, was the goal after our little stint at the Birthing Inn a week and half ago, so we have made it and I'm pretty sure we are going to pass it!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Up 26 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: Most days I am wearing maternity jeans and a maternity top. I figure I only have a few more weeks to rock the maternity wardrobe. 

Gender: We are literally DYING to find out! 2 weeks give or take!

Movement: Enjoying every bit of it, because I know I am going to miss it once it's gone. 

Sleep:  Sleep has bee pretty bad which means I am officially preparing for sleepless nights with the babe. 

Exercise: I was being a good patient and not running as to make it to 38 weeks, but since that is tomorrow, I think I may bring out my running/walking/jogging shoes so we can get this show on the road! ; )

Cravings: I'm eating smaller meals, but much more frequently. As of late I have been craving all things cinnamon which explains the cinnamon sugar pretzel and homemade snicker doodles we baked last night!

Symptoms: I'm definitely nesting. We went crazy in the kitchen yesterday baking and I have been going around the house making sure everything is just right for when Little Luda arrives. I even jumped the gun and put out our Christmas decorations, which I think is justified since Thanksgiving seems to be a little later than normal this year. I've also been have "contractions." Not sure if they are real or braxton hicks, but based on the fact that I was still only 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced on Monday, I'm going to go with braxton hicks. 

Best Moment of the Week: On Saturday Shawn and I did a little shopping and went to see the Hunger Games: Catching Fire. We had such a good day together. Just enjoying the two of us. As each day passes we get more and more excited to meet our little blessing, which makes us cherish each day even more, because we know that things will never be the same and that are lives will forever change, in a good way, once we hold our precious baby for the first time!

37 weeks!

So I figure I should start with what really matters...has there been any labor progression. And the answer is, yes. However, it was a little too much for my OB. On Tuesday afternoon I took advantage of the semi nice weather and went for a run/walk. I ran a little over a mile and half and walked 2 more miles. When I got back, sorry if this is TMI for some, I noticed a little spotting, so I did what I was supposed to do and called the OB because I was having some cramping as well. Little Luda was still bouncing around in my belly as usual, so I wasn't too concerned, but the OB did want me to go to the Birthing Inn, to be monitored. Shawn had just gotten home, so I took a shower, got ready, grabbed a snack and we headed to the hospital. When I got there, the nurse, like me wasn't too concerned and thought we would just monitor the baby for 30 minutes or so and then I'd get to head home. Well after 30 minutes the nurse came back and asked me if I was feeling anything. Turns out I was contracting every 3-4 minutes with a moderate intensity. Who knew that belly tightness and twinge in my back was a contraction...not this first time mom! Anyways, they had be down lots of fluid in hopes that a little hydration would slow the contractions, which it did not. The end result was a subcutaneous injection of Terbutaline, basically an anti-contraction medication. I'm still up in the air about the whole scenario, but Little Luda has handled everything like a champ, so that is all I am worried about. I went back to the OB yesterday and as of then I was 1 cm dilated and 20% effaced. Still a long ways to go, but hopefully we'll be meeting our Little Miss or Mister sooner rather than later!

 

Here we are hanging out getting monitored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now, our usual stats:

Along: 37 weeks...Little Luda is the size of a swiss chard.

Size: Our Nugget is weighing in at about 6.3 lb and measuring roughly 19.25 inches. At this time our baby's organs should be fully developed and prepared for the outside world. Yay!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 25 pounds as of yesterday. 

Maternity Clothes: Loving all my stretchy, comfy clothes! Thanks mom for spoiling me!

Gender: I had a baby boy dream last night, but in my dream Shawn and I each had a different name picked out for the baby. I can't wait to know if I am going to have a son or daughter...any hour/day/week would be fine by me!

Movement: We're still having lots of movements, although I am noticing that our Nugget seems to be super active and then rest for a while...maybe he or she is forming sleep patterns already? I'm just going to plan for no sleep and be super excited if I get any!

Sleep:  I've had a few bad nights this week with lots of hip pain and cramping (which I now know are contractions). However, I've had time for naps in between getting everything ready for the baby, so I still feel pretty rested throughout the day.

Exercise: I was still running up until Tuesday, but I think I am going to stick to walking from here on out with a little pre-natal yoga thrown in there just for kicks.

Cravings: I have loved PB and Banana bagels this week and have started making a weekly visit to Panera Bread for a Cinnamon Crunch Bagel and Decaf Pumpkin Spice Latte. Definitely one of my favorite moments of the week!

Symptoms: Looks like I can officially put contractions on here as well as the hip and sciatic nerve pain. Heartburn has been it's usual...we totally should have invested stock in Tums!

Best Moment of the Week: On Saturday my parents came up for the evening to bring us our glider for the nursery and to help install ceiling fans in all the rooms. We had our blinds installed that day as well, so there were a lot of items checked off our list of to do's before Little Luda arrives and it felt great! The nursery is 95% finished with just a few things to hang and of course a Nugget to arrive! I'm so happy with how it turned out! Here are few pictures:

 

Don't worry, the Teddy Bear (aka Georgia), will not be sleeping with the Nugget!