God is Good

As some of you may know, yesterday was the anniversary of our miscarriage of my first pregnancy. It was also the day that Eden turned 2 months old - can it be true?! The day was bittersweet for me.

This time last year I sat on the couch all day every day and would randomly cry. I was also anxious because I had been so excited about celebrating my first Mother's Day, only to lose the baby the Monday before. It was hard - I didn't send cards, gifts, and I'm not even sure I called to say "Happy Mother's Day!" I was sad and I felt like the world was coming to an end.

This year I was sad, but I also had a bundle of joy to take care of and to love on when I got sad. I I started to realize after the miscarriage last year that God just wanted our child(ren) to have a guardian angel, but it was solidified this year. As I watched Eden sleep, eat, play, laugh, and smile I knew that she had her own angel to watch over her. I know God knows what he's doing and

Eden's life, as short has been to this point, has really opened my eyes to realize God's blessings. She was born on the anniversary date of Grampie's funeral last year. Grampie was the first person who was close to me that I've lost. He did not see his death as a bad thing, he told us that he was simply graduating. It is special that she was born a year after we celebrated his "graduation." Then, the day that she turned 1 month old was Easter. This is another day of celebration for us as a Christian family as we celebrate Jesus rising from the tomb after dying on the cross for our sins so that we may live a life eternal in Heaven. And then yesterday, we celebrated Eden's turning 2 months on the anniversary of our miscarriage. With all of these blessings that she has already been a part of, I can thank God for being awesome and blessing our lives in the ways that he has.

Loving the Beach

Recently we've discovered how close we actually are to the beach. We went to the beach for the first time just last week since living in Florida and I would venture to say that we're addicted. We have gone in groups and we've gone as a family and we've even taken Grandpa with us. Eden has her own little tent (as seen above!) in order to keep her out of the sun and allow her to veg while Mommy and Daddy enjoy the sun, water, and beach sports - we've purchased bocce ball and corn hole to take to the beach with us.

The next time you see us, we'll be nice and bronze! Until then, enjoy the beautiful weather that this time of year provides us!

Living Hour by Hour

So I've come to realize that I don't ever know what time it is, only how many hours have passed since the last important event of our day - eating, sleeping, waking, etc. As Eden and I face the days ahead (because Lane is back at work now) we live one hour at a time. Here's how our days go:

Wake up and Eden eats breakfast in bed with Lane (she nurses and he eats a bowl of cereal) and then Eden and I go back to sleep
A few hours later Eden and I wake up and watch The Price is Right while she eats again
Eden stays awake for about an hour - during this time she and I usually laugh and play with each other
Eden then goes back to sleep for a couple hours
Again, Eden will wake up and eat, stay awake for an hour and then go to sleep again...for the remaining hours of the day
Once dinner has occurred for Lane and I we will give Eden a bath
After bath time Eden and I start her bedtime routine and then Daddy helps us finish it before she eats one last time before bedtime
Once Eden is down for the evening she typically wakes up at 1:00 and 5:30 and we then start it all over again!

There's your insight to our daily lives as a family!

To Sleep or Not to Sleep?!

HA HA, Well, it isn't really up to us I guess! Eden is sleeping pretty well at night these days (knock on wood). Last night she had her last feeding of the day at 11:00 and didn't wake up again until 4:00-ish and then again around 9:00. I never thought that I would think that was enough sleep, but I feel pretty good day after day...until it becomes bed time!

Even though sleep is coming pretty easily and in long(er) bouts than it was before, we're still facing one slight problem...Eden is sleeping in the bed with us :( We're trying real hard to get her out of the bed and into her cradle, bassinet, or crib, but it isn't working out very well right now. I keep telling myself that patience is what will pay off in this case, but for right now, I feel that sleep is SO much more important! We've tried putting her car seat in the cradle beside the bed because she seems to be comfortable in her car seat - that didn't work. We've tried letting her sleep in different positions, with and without her wedges to hold her in place, and we've even tried letting her fall asleep in the bed and transferring her to different places...nothing seems to work! I'm also holding out on the crib sleeping because our room is on the opposite side of the house from her room. This isn't too far away, but in the middle of the night it seems like its MILES away! With all the effort that it can take sometimes to get her to fall asleep and stay asleep I like being closer to my bed (or even in my bed) as we're trying to get her to stay asleep in the middle of the night.

Right now Little Miss Priss is sleeping in her crib for her nap. We are trying to let her stay awake for about 2 hours at a time - if she will even stay awake that long - and then putting her down for "naps" in her crib. Today has been the most successful day with the crib napping. It took her about 30 minutes of fussing and crying with us patting her back before she fell asleep and she's only been asleep for about 20 minutes now, so we'll see how long it lasts. I read an article in a baby magazine about sleeping schedules and napping that said we should make her stay in the crib for an hour no even if she's awake (with constant comforting from us, but not taking her out of the crib) and put her back down for another nap in 2 hours if she stays awake that long to help establish a routine and get her into a napping schedule. Of course, if she goes to sleep and stays asleep we'll let her sleep for as long as she needs.

Hopefully these crib naps will help us establish a good sleeping habit and we'll be able to keep her in her crib at night so that Lane and I can get more restful sleep without worrying about the covers coming up close to her face, our pillows being to close to her, us rolling on her, etc. We'll make sure to keep you posted to let you know how everything works out with our sleeping habits around here! I hope to be able to report some kind of progress sooner than later!

The First 3 Weeks!

Well, tomorrow Eden will officially be 3 weeks old. I can't believe that much time has passed already. As promised before I will try to touch on our adventures with jaundice as I update everyone about our new lives and how we're adjusting as a family.



In the first 3 weeks we have done the following:

- gone to the ER because Eden wasn't peeing or pooping like she was supposed to

- been admitted to the hospital and Eden was put under the bililights for jaundice - Mommy and Daddy had to sleep in the twin hospital bed together

- had a post partum appointment for Mommy and Eden. Both were reported as doing well.

- Eden has made 2 trips to Daddy's work for various outtings

- gone to the mall

- gone out to eat twice. (Eden slept through both meals!)

- gone to a St. Patrick's Day party at a friends house. Yummy corned beef, mashed potatoes, and cabbage

- had Eden's 2 week well baby appointment. The doctor actually used the word "Perfect" to describe how she's doing so far! Mommy and Daddy were proud parents!

- had sleepless nights with ffew hours of sleep at a time

- had sleepful nights of 4 hours of sleep at a time

- been on many walks as a family



I think that about sums up what we've done so far in a checklist format. Next week we will venture out further and go to GA to celebrate Easter with our extended families. We are excited to be able to show Eden off and spend time with family before Lane has to go back to work.

Labor and Delivery - EDEN IS HERE!

Well, the night of March 3rd came and Lane and I watched American Idol together. While we were watching I was having contractions - at the time I believed them to be Braxton Hicks because they weren't getting close together or getting more intense - they actually eventually went away completely. Eden and I then went in to take a bath and have a heart to heart...Braxton Hicks this late in the game are wrong and should not happen. Lane and I then went to bed without any thought of an impending labor being upon us.

At 3:15am I woke up thinking I had wet the bed. I had heard that this wasn't uncommon in pregnancy and so I sheepishly got out of bed and was trying to sneak into the bathroom without being noticed - I was slightly embarrassed. Half way to the bathroom Lane must have rolled over onto the wet spot and promptly asked me if my water had broken. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind at that point, I still thought I just peed all over myself. The more I thought about it and the more I couldn't get it to stop I was coming to the realization that it was indeed my water that had broken and our journey was about to begin.

Once we got to the hospital I only measured 1cm dilated, which was no change from my 2 previous appointments. I was a little discouraged at this point because I knew that there was a long way to go and I had only 18 hours to get to where we were going since my water had broken. We were placed in a Labor, Delivery, Recovery, and Postpartum (LDRP) room once it was confirmed by the doctors that my water had broken.

Once in my room and after several cervical checks, only to find that I was at 2 cm and a couple hours into my labor process the doctor put me on a pitocin drip. The drip increased my contractions in intensity and in duration and in frequency. All that being said, I didn't get a chance for much rest between contractions. My contractions were lasting about a minute and they were coming every 1-3 minutes. So when they came every minute, I got no rest between contractions and my body didn't relax - therefore preventing much progression. As I approached 4 cm all I could ask for was my epidural. I had a couple doses of an IV medication to take the edge off the contractions, but that didn't even TOUCH the contractions, it only made me tired and loopy. Once I had the epidural, I was a different person. I was willing to talk to people and I was willing to get hugs from people who were there to visit me (my mom and dad and a close friend of mine and Lane's). At one point with the medication, it made Eden's heart rate go up more than the doctors wanted it to and they were talking very seriously about a c-section for me. At one point the talk about it was so serious that the OR was prepped and they were coming in to have me sign the forms for everything. I just told myself to lay there and relax as best I could and take deep breaths. It seemed to work because when they came to get me, they were pleased with her heart rate and they called off the section - thank goodness! As the epidural set in I was able to relax and before you knew it, it was time to push!

Pushing was not terrible and not painful (thank you epidural!). I would say that it was very tiring! I pushed for 2 hours and even had the help of the suction. The suction helped with positioning of Eden in addition to helping us make progress through the birth canal together. She was facing sideways and so she was having a hard time getting through the birth canal - so again, another section was threatened, but I don't feel that it was as serious this time. Between contractions Eden's heart rate was now going down and they were getting slightly worried about this. Changing positions for me - on my side, on my back, on my other side and with oxygen - seemed to do the trick and we eventually pushed so hard that there was a baby in the doctor's arms and Lane and I couldn't help but cry together over the joy of seeing and hearing our sweet little Eden in out in the real world!

Since I've written a novel in this post, I will save our journey's through jaundice for another post because that is an adventure that is worth sharing. We had our own little glow worm for a little while and she was precious! Until that post, have good days and sleep some for us! :)

Weeks 38 and 39 appointments

Hey there Friends and Family...

Sorry to leave you hanging last week without an update from my appointment. It wasn't my most favorite appointment so I'll just hit the high points and leave out the details. When I got to the doctor's office my chart was still lost (it had been "lost" since the week before and hadn't been seen since the 8th of February) and so that stressed me out a little bit. On top of that, I was weighed and took note of the fact that I had gained 4 pounds in a week...on top of 5 pounds the previous week. I almost lost it - so then they took my blood pressure, which we can all assume was going to be higher than normal under the circumstances. It was, no fear, when taken manually everything was normal and the doctor wasn't worried about it. Eden and I both measured fine and I was 1cm, 25% effaced.

As the week went on I went to Bible Study that night and we talked about worry and how we should trust God with our worries. The lesson on worry was specific to physical health and let's just say that it was exactly what I needed a Bible Study to be on because of my appointment earlier that day! Still on Wednesday last week, my worries weren't completely gone and I had emotional break downs most of the day. I guess I felt as though Eden was going to live inside of me and grow up there forever! I knew this wouldn't be the case, but I couldn't help but feel as if this was the truth. Lane reassured me that night that it didn't matter what other pregnant women were going through, that was them and Eden and I are different from everyone else and we would do things the way that was right for us. Miraculously, I woke up on Thursday feeling like a TOTALLY different person and was smiling all day and full of energy! What a change!

The weekend went on uneventfully as did Monday. Today I went to the doctor again and had a pretty good visit. I really like my doctor and feel that he doesn't take any short cuts or treat me like I'm stupid. He always answers all of my questions without hesitation and with confidence. My blood pressure was high again when they took it on the automatic machine that they have, but the doctor wasn't worried about it and he said that he would take it again after we had a chance to just sit and talk that way I could relax a little bit. He re-took it and it was fine when he took it manually so I was much better at that point - no longer freaking out! We got to listen to Eden's heart rate again today and while he was listening she decided she was uncomfortable and she moved around a lot. It was funny because you could hear the swooshing and then you could hear her heart rate increase and get much louder! The doctor told us that she was excited about something! After we listened to her heart he measured my tummy and everything was right on. He then did my cervical exam and said that I was still only 1cm, but 50% effaced so I've made some progress - YAY!

My doctor will not be the doctor that I see next week becacuse his children are on spring break and he will be taking the week off in order to have some family time. I'm hoping that the doctor I see will be a good one - I've been reassured by my doctor that he is a great doctor and they were going to have a chat about what's going to take place at my next appointment. As I understand it I will have my appointment on Monday with the "different" doctor and he will sweep my membranes during my cervical exam and then he will set me up with a non-stress test the following Tuesday (not the next day, but the week after) in order to see if I need to be induced then or later. My "regular" doctor told me today that if everything goes according to plan, that we will probably induce me the end of that same week that I have my non-stress test.

Essentially, within the next 2 weeks we will have a baby! Keep your eyes and ears posted as we will keep everyone updated as new news arrives!