Cade's Arrival

Cade finally made his appearance on Tuesday, December 17 at 12:53 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs 5 oz and was exactly 19 in long.

My contractions started on Monday night/Tuesday morning around 1:30 a.m. I knew right away that these were the real deal. I got up, told Brian he was coming but it would be a while so to get some sleep, showered, ate, and cleaned the kitchen between contractions while I waited. I eventually laid down for a bit but was never able to get any sleep. Most of my night was spent timing contractions.

Finally at 4:30ish I woke Brian up again because they were about 4 minutes apart and had him start getting ready. I then called my mom and we headed to the hospital. We called Brian's mom on the way. When we got there, we weren't sure if they would keep us. They put me in a room, checked me, and told me they would check again in an hour to see if I was progressing. At this point I was at a 3.

My mom couldn't wait so she headed on up. They came back in an hour later, checked and said that I was at a 4 and they would be moving us to a room. This is when it all got real. We started telling everyone since we knew he was really on his way, and we were beyond excited. We were thinking it would be that night before he arrived so told people to go on to work and come up after. Little did we know, this would be a fairly quick and easy labor.

Every time they came to check me, I was dilated one more centimeter. They asked about the epidural and I said YES as soon as I can get it. They did that and that was the worst part of the whole thing. From then on, labor was smooth sailing. And really up until that point, things weren't too bad. I had a lot of back labor but I really can't complain. Things went great! 

Our 1st family picture

Finally she came to check me and said I was at a 9 then I started feeling a lot of pressure (as they had said I would), so we called for her to come back, she checked again, I was at a 9 1/2, and next thing I knew she said we were about to start pushing. This was right around 12:20. I pushed with 2 nurses for about 10 minutes until we got me crowning then they called in Dr. Bell, then it was about 20 more minutes of pushing and our sweet boy was here!

Brian, who has said for 9 months that he was not going to look, ended up delivering him! And the whole thing was just a wonderful experience. I could not have imagined any of it going better. After he got here, they gave us 30 minutes alone, which killed our families who were patiently waiting, so we could breastfeed. He latched right on and did wonderful!

Finally they let Brian go get our family, and they passed Cade around and took pictures as he got his first bath.

I was so glad to have everyone there to see him.

They then left to get me some food and let me shower then we had a night full (and 2 days full) of visitors.

Brian was pretty proud

We are in love with him

Honestly, I have to say this whole experience from pregnancy to labor to delivery all went so much smoother and easier than I ever could have imagined. I am hoping our transition into parenthood goes just as smoothly!

Finally on Thursday 12/19, they released us to go home! We were so excited to get our baby boy home! I will blog soon about our first week with him and the craziness of adjusting to parenthood.

And just for fun, here is the last picture of me pregnant. This was at work on Monday. I went into labor that night!

Early Labor

We had a very eventful yet uneventful weekend all at the same time! 

It all started Friday. I woke up feeling fine and normal and unswollen. I went to school, was fine, and about 8:30ish I noticed my rings were incredibly tight all of the sudden. My hands had swollen up out of no where and next thing I knew I was extremely light headed and could not focus. I headed straight to the nurse's office to have her check my blood pressure. She said it was in a good range but she was not sure how it was compared to where it normally is for me (when I later called the dr they said it was higher than I normally run but still fine). I continued to feel light headed and luckily the principal was wonderful and came to my room and told me to go home for a free day. My long term sub was already at the school so they pulled him to my room and wanted me to go rest without docking me a day. 

Things from there were a bit of a blur, but Mrs. Chambers got my mom to drive me home while Mrs. Herrera got me peanut butter, a coke, and candy because by this point everyone had decided my sugar or iron had dropped. Teachers are wonderful support during times like this but can be a bit much. :) I appreciated all of the concern but at one point had 10 people in my room all checking on me and making suggestions while I was alternating between trying not to pass out and trying not to throw up and in a pretty confused/overwhelmed state. 

Mom and I headed out and surpassed my house to head toward the hospital until we heard back from my doctor. By this point, I was having on and off back pain that my mom assumed was back labor, as she had it strongly with me. The nurse finally called and said for me to go home and rest on my left side and call if anything else happened and went back over the reasons to come in. So home we went. Mom cleaned the kitchen while I laid down. We assumed at this point my labor was starting. Brian got home shortly and by that point I was feeling much better, but still having the back pain. 

That night, we went for a short drive to catch the score of the Booneville game (we beat Dollarway-YAY!) and I started having contractions. My first one was at 7:38 and we timed them but they never got consistent. We had our bags packed and by the door, but finally went to bed that night to try and get some rest...assuming still we would end up in the hospital before the night was over. Much to our surprise and disappointment, we woke up Saturday to nothing. 

Saturday was filled with random contractions as well. We got Macy groomed, Brian stocked the house with groceries, we made some meals to freeze, and we even tried to go for a walk but it was so cold we didn't make it far. Finally that night we were going stir crazy so we went out for hot chocolate and a drive to look at Christmas lights. When we got home, my contractions got a little more intense and longer but still inconsistent. I, again, went to bed thinking we would wake up at some point in the night and head to the hospital. And AGAIN we did not.

Today I felt better so we went out on a day date to Red Lobster for my birthday since I did not feel up for it last night. At this point, not much is happening and I am feeling discouraged. It is still 5 days until my due date, but these contractions keep getting my hopes up then nothing comes of them. That is beyond frustrating to me. At this point, we are just trying to kill some time and keep our minds occupied because all I can think about is having this baby! I wake up every morning thinking it will be TODAY and go to bed every night thinking it will be TONIGHT! Only for 2 nights now but that is more than enough to truly believe it is happening only to have nothing happen. I know he will come eventually and I have been patient thus far, but once you think it is starting to happen it is hard to think about anything else. So here's to the waiting game! 
COME OUT CADE!!

38 Weeks

1st snow of the year...we had about 4 inches when we measured earlier

How Far Along: 38 Weeks 

Size of Baby: 6.8 pounds or a leek

Weight Gain: +32

Maternity Clothes: Mostly maternity except dresses and a few long shirts...Nothing in this picture is maternity

Gender: Boy...Cade Alan

Movement: Yes, I am finally noticing him slowing down a little. That has me wondering if he has finally dropped. Fingers crossed for news at my appointment Tuesday. 

Sleep: Not happening. We are down to 13 nights of being able to sleep so I'm really trying, but I just don't sleep for some reason. And I can't nap either. I'll sleep again some day I guess...or learn to live without it. 

What I Miss: Nothing currently. Trying to enjoy these last 2 weeks of eating for 2 :)

Cravings: Nothing new. 

Best Moment This Week: Getting 2 snow days off with Brian! I love snow days. I have a lot to do at school and didn't really want to miss but I always love these days. We have sat in front of the fire, drank hot chocolate, watched too much tv, and just enjoyed being lazy together. Oh and ate a lot of course. :) And we were lucky enough to not lose our electricity though it has flickered a little. He's trying to talk me into cleaning today so I guess that's our agenda for the day. My nesting MIGHT not be in full swing. Cleaning sounds no fun at all. 

37 Weeks

How Far Along: 37 Weeks, 4 Days

Size of Baby: 6.3 pounds or a swiss chard?? (again no idea what that is)

Weight Gain: +30 

Maternity Clothes: Mostly maternity except dresses and a few long shirts...the shirt in this picture is obviously not maternity, but I wore it under a dress today that I stripped off as soon as I got home

Gender: Boy...Cade Alan

Movement: Yes, lots of flips, rolls, and hiccups. I am supposed to count him 5 times within an hour after each meal at this point and we always get there within 10 minutes. He's quite the little mover.

Sleep: Still totally random. I slept good over break, but now am back to being up most of the night.

What I Miss: Between the holidays and rival week in football, I'm ready for a drink.

And to feel like a person again! Right now everything I eat, breathe, think is BABY. I'm ready to eat, drink, think for myself again. I know he will forever consume my thoughts, but last night I just wasn't hungry. I was tired, slightly sick, and not feeling supper yet I had to eat because he had to eat. I'm ready to just be me again. That being said, I will miss feeling him and have really enjoyed being pregnant for the most part. I am just 9 months pregnant now, not progressing at all, not sleeping at all so I may be getting a bit crabby. At least I can admit it.

Cravings: Ahh mint chocolate chip ice cream! I bought a whole gallon Saturday and it is almost gone...and Brian hasn't even had a bite. I cannot stop thinking about it. 

And on a healthier note, orange juice. I've pretty much craved that the whole time too but have not mentioned it much.

Best Moment This Week: Hmm let's see, the doctor told me he thinks Cade is waiting until it gets warm outside to make his appearance, we went back to school from Thanksgiving break, and nothing is going on around here. There's my crabbiness again. I'm just gonna skip this part today.
But I will add, I am still very thankful for this whole pregnancy and it has been much easier up to this point than I could ever have imagined. I've truly been blessed with an easy pregnancy and I will forever be thankful for that. I am just getting a little impatient and hearing that I am not progressing...and the fact that 2 people I know are being induced and having their babies tomorrow...is not helping things. I am just so ready to meet him. 

17 days and counting!