Day 3- Going home

We finally got to leave the hospital on Sunday! It was such a great feeling although quite nerve wracking. We wouldn't have the nurses to consult or to help us. But we were both so ready. Poor Stephen had been (barely) sleeping on the hospital cot and couldn't wait to get home to his own bed. We took a bunch of pictures that morning before we left.











We got some beautiful flowers while we were in the hospital. Stephens dealership sent these:



And my office sent these:



We got him all dressed up in his coming home outfit. He looked so cute!







Before the baby, Stephen claimed he would not change his driving habits, but that car ride home was much different than how he normally drives. The speed demon who is not afraid of anything took each bump with special care, drove at or below the speed limit, and barely pressed the gas to accelerate after a stop. How a baby changes things!



We stopped to drop off my pain medicine prescriptions and get lunch. I was overdue on my pain medicine by the time we got home and was in an incredbile amount of pain. Stephen told me to get in bed and he took care of everything. He let me sleep while he took care of the baby and unloaded everything from the car. He has been so wonderful!

That night my parents, Aaron and Jessica all came over. Mom brought dinner and aaron and Jessica brought "Mini Stevie" a cake. We all just hung out and let Stephen III spend some time with his grandparents, uncle, and soon to be aunt.







Mom ended up spending the night and was a lifesaver! She took Stephen all night except for feedings and let us sleep. It was wonderful! We are so thankful she was here!

Our first night at home, while stressful, was also wonderful! We are home with our family of three and we couldn't be happier!

Day 2

We had an eventful day today! Stephen III had his hearing test, which he passed, and had to get blood drawn and a shot. Poor baby! My dad came up to see us in the early afternoon and then Steve, Annette, Jim and my mom came up later. Stephen III was spoiled rotten by all of his grandparents today!

Nights are a little hard. We are both so tired and Stephen III will not sleep in his bed. He will only sleep if one of us is holding him. So this means not much rest for us! But it's ok. We can sleep when he is older, for now we will just hold our baby boy!

Day 1

Friday was our first day as a family of three. It's hard to believe our baby boy is really here! I was in a lot of pain so Stephen did everything for me and the baby.







The day went by so fast and by late afternoon we had visitors.

Steve came by first to see his grandson. He had to unwrap him and check him out.

Stephen Earl Sr, Stephen Earl Jr, and Stephen Earl III

My mom and Roslyn then came by. It was great to see them.

And finally Ki and Cassandra came by after work. They were so excited to see our son!

We were going to have a few other visitors, but I had some extreme, sharp pain come on so we had to tell them that tonight was not a good time, which I was disappointed by.

Overall, it was a great day for our little family. Stephen is such a wonderful dad already! And he is an amazing husband! He is so patient and gentile. I loved just watching him with our baby boy today, he is so lucky to have Stephen as a father!

His birth story

Stephen and I barely slept a wink all night. I finally got up around 5:00 and took and shower and then called the hospital at 5:45 to see when we were supposed to come in. They said be there at 7:15. Wow, we were really having a baby! We finished getting ready and headed out the door.



We got to the hospital and got into our room. They started my IV and Pitocin. I was still 1 cm dilated. Steve got there soon after us and kept us company for the early morning.



My contractions started steady and continued every 2-3 minutes. The pain was tolerable and I could talk through my contractions. The rest of our family showed up and filled the waiting room. I could only have 3 visitors at a time, so they all rotated coming in to visit me. Around 10 am I was still only 1 cm dilated but was 80% effaced. This was a good sign, but things were still moving slowly.

Around noon, Dr. Bruce came and broke my water. The very next contraction was so different. The pain was intolerable. I gripped the side of the bed, closed my eyes, and focused on my breathing. They were painful! I called our birth photographer, Nicole, and told her to come. I wanted her to take a few pictures of me before I got my epidural so I endured about 2 hours of painful contractions, coming every 2 minutes and lasting about a minute and a half. Not much relief.

I finally got my epidural and the pain subsided. I was still not making much progress though and the baby was in stress. During each contraction his heart rate would drop.

At about 8:30pm I was 5 cm dilated and the babies heart rate continued to drop with each contraction. Dr. Bruce decided it was time for a c section. At that time, things got caotic and it was quite scary to me. All of the sudden nurses started coming in rushing around, etc. It was not the calm environment it was while I was laboring. We said goodbye to our family and went to have our baby.

Stephen waited in the waiting room while I got prepped. They brought him in and he sat near my head. I told him to get the camera ready and the anesthesiologist who was also sitting by my head asked if we wanted him to take pictures. We said sure, not knowing what he was about to do. He proceeded to stand up and take pictures over the curtain. They are pretty graphic, so I won't post them here, but they are so amazing! I am so happy we have those pictures.

At 9:49 pm on July 28, 2011, Stephen Earl Prather III was born.

As soon as Stephen III was born, Stephen went over to be with him while they cleaned him off and weighed him. While I was laying there I could hear him cry. It was music to m y ears!

8 pounds 5 ounces and 21 inches long. A nice healthy baby. He is long and skinny!

I love this picture of him holding Stephens finger.

The first time I saw my son. There are no words.

I got to hold him for a while which was so wonderful.

Our first family photo.

I then went into recovery and they took the baby to meet our family and then to the nursery where he got his first bath.

We finally got to our room about 1 am.

I am so happy and relieved that he is here! We have a beautiful, healthy baby!

Our birth photographer put a sneak peak up on her blog if anyone would like to see it. Here is the link,

http://houstonbirthphotographer.com/womans-hospital-of-texas-birth-photography/

Once I get the rest of the pictures from her, I will probably come back to this post and add them, but that could be two weeks or so from now.

We're ready!

Or are we?

The nursery is done, we have all the baby essentials, the house is clean, our hospital bags are packed, everything seems ready. But are we really ready for this next step?

We were both shocked to find out I was pregnant in December. I was definitely expecting it to take us a while to get pregnant and it happened when we weren't even trying. What was initially a total shock has now turned into the greatest blessing in our life! The past 39 weeks or I guess 33 (we didn't find out until I was 6 weeks along) have prepared us to be ready for this moment.

And we ARE ready! Stephen and I are both so excited! We can't wait to welcome our son into this world! Today I was working and Stephen text me and said "I love you and I can't wait for tomorrow". I love that he is so excited. I know he is going to be a great Dad! We are both a little anxious and will be until our baby boy is here and we know 100% that everything is ok. We are both so ready for this day!

It's the last night with just Stephen and me. The house seems quiet and still. I can't help but think of all the sounds that will soon carry throughout these walls. So we are just going to enjoy this quiet, still night. Tomorrow our lives will be changing forever as we go in to induce labor. But we ARE so ready!



Stephen III,

Your daddy and I are finally going to get to meet you tomorrow or Friday. We are hoping to meet you tomorrow, but we will see how well you cooperate :). We love you so much already. I can't imagine how it will be to see you and hold you for the first time. We are just giddy with excitement for you to join our family!

I have so many hopes and dreams for you, baby boy, but most of all I hope you know everyday of your life how much you are loved!

Love,
Your mommy

39 Weeks

I am 39 weeks today! I can't believe it! It seems like such a long time ago that we found out we were expecting and now he is almost here!

I had a doctors appointment yesterday. I didn't make any progress so we decided to go ahead and schedule an induction for Thursday! I am so excited that our baby boy will be here Thursday or Friday.

I am so ready to not be pregnant anymore, but a part of me will definitely miss it. I always thought that being pregnant would be the worst 9 months of my life, but it really hasn't. Up until this last month, my pregnancy has been great! I have had such an easy pregnancy and really felt good for the most part. Even though I am in a lot of pain right now, I have been trying to cherish this last week of being pregnant! And hoping my next pregnancy is as good as this one!

Please ignore my incredibly large arms in this picture!



How Far Along: 39 weeks
Size of baby: As big as a watermelon- I would say this accurately describes what my belly looks and feels like!
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 17 pounds- I gained 5 pounds this week! Holy cow! But I am super swollen and the doctor said that is probably why. She assured me my ankles will look normal again!
Maternity Clothes: I only wear maternity clothes now.
Gender: BOY!!! Stephen Earl Prather III
Movement: He has been moving a little less this week. I don't think there is any room for him to move. One night this week he moved to the right side of my stomach. It was the weirdest thing. Sometimes when he really loves you can actually feel him, it is neat!
Sleep: I have some good nights and some bad nights.
What I miss: Feeling normal. And deli meat! I can't wait to have a sandwich from Central Market!
Cravings: A sandwich from Central Market
Symptoms: Heartburn, swelling, frequent bathroom trips, contractions
Best Moment this week: Probably just feeling him move around and cherishing it. I am so ready to be done being pregnant, but I will miss feeling him move, etc.

38 Weeks

I am 38 weeks today! I now feel like there is an end to this. He will be here soon!

I had a doctors appointment today and Stephen went with me. I hadn't made any progress since last week which really surprised me. I have been having so many contractions that I was sure something was happening, but nope! My doctor said she thinks that I will end up having a c section. His head is very large and my pelvis is small and the position he is in right now doesn't look good. I was really disappointed to hear that, but things change every week so you never know! And in the end, our baby will be here and that is all that matters. She did an ultrasound and measured his head and it is big! She also said he is 8 pounds right now! Yikes! That could be off by a half pound either way. Everything looked really good though, so as long as he is healthy, I am happy!

This picture keeps messing up, but it hides my extremely large behind, so I'm going to stop worrying about it!



How Far Along: 38 weeks
Size of baby: As long as a leek
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 12 pounds- somehow I got messed up somewhere but I looked at my chart at the doctors office and I have gained 12 ponds total my entire pregnancy. I didn't gain any weight this week.
Maternity Clothes: I only wear maternity clothes now.
Gender: BOY!!! Stephen Earl Prather III
Movement: Yes, he moves a lot. It is a little different now though. It feels more like he is just rolling or stretching versus kicking, etc. I don't think there is much room in there for him to move much!
Sleep: I haven't been sleeping good this week. I am in a lot of pain when I get in bed and anytime I get up to go to the bathroom I just hurt. When I wake up I still hurt. But it won't be long!
What I miss: I am so ready just to feel normal again. I want to be able to walk fast, just jump up and do something, be able to stand for more than 30 minutes, etc.
Cravings: Nothing really
Symptoms: Heartburn, swelling, frequent bathroom trips, contractions
Best Moment this week: Seeing the baby on ultrasound and knowing we are not far from meeting him!

My 29th Birthday

I had a nice birthday this year celebrating with family! Sunday, my mom, dad, Aaron and Jessica came over to our house and we had a great time together. Stephen went and picked up BBQ for lunch and my mom brought dirt cake! It was all so good! We just hung out and talked and had a great time together.





Tuesday night, we met up at Cracker Barrel with Steve, Nancy, Gary, Mary, Brook, Shelly and Taylor. We all had a fun time together.

Then on my birthday, Stephen and I met Steve and Nancy at Houston's for dinner! It was a wonderful evening and a great way to spend my birthday.

I can't believe I am 29! Time flies when your having fun! I am so excited about this year and everything it is going to bring us!

37 Weeks

I am 37 weeks today! Full term! I can't believe we are this far along.

I had a doctors appointment yesterday. I am 1 cm dilated, 50% effaced and at -2 station. She said this was good, escpecially since it is my first, but she doesn't think I am laboring and doesn't expect him to come this week.

Stephen was really hoping she would say he is coming today or in a few days. But there is really no way to tell. He will come when he is ready. We did go for a long walk last night. It was nice to get out and walk even if it didn't speed up labor! We are both just so ready for him to be here!



How Far Along: 37 weeks
Size of baby: As long as a stalk of swiss chard- )I would estimate more like a watermelon!)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 8 pounds
Maternity Clothes: I only wear maternity clothes now.
Gender: BOY!!! Stephen Earl Prather III
Movement: Yes, he moves a lot. It is a little different now though. It feels more like he is just rolling or stretching versus kicking, etc. I don't think there is much room in there for him to move much!
Sleep: Still not very good. I seem to have more insomnia now. I fall asleep fine, but seem to toss and turn all night.
What I miss: Not feeling huge! I am ready to be back to my normal self again!
Cravings: Nothing really
Symptoms: Heartburn, swelling, frequent bathroom trips, contractions
Best Moment this week: Spending Sunday with my family

36 Weeks

I am 36 weeks today! 9 months- WOW! Everyday is a new day around here. Some days I feel awful and just want to be done being pregnant and then other days I feel good and am really going to miss being pregnant. Some days I am really nervous about labor and think I can't do this and other days I am just excited thinking about our baby finally being here and all the joy he will bring. I am trying to "enjoy" these last few weeks just being pregnant. There are things I will certainly miss about being pregnant, but at the same time I can't wait for our baby boy to be here. Stephen and I both just want to hold him so bad!

This weekend we had a three day weekend for July 4th and we got so much done. I got everything ready for the hospital for me and the baby, watched all of my childbirth videos, registered at the hospital, cleaned the house, worked on the nursery some more, and just relaxed. I feel so much better now that all of that is done. I am still hoping for a few more weekends before he comes so I can get a few more things accomplished, but if he came today I would be ok. Last week I was a nervous wreck he was going to come early and I didn't even have my hospital bag packed!

I had a doctors appointment today and it went well. I lost two pounds, which is strange, but my appetite has been kind of weird lately. My blood pressure was high, 130/88, but she didn't seem worried. She checked my swelling and said it wasn't too bad. My blood pressure is normally very low, so even 120/80 is high for me. The past three weeks it has goneup every week so I am a little worried about it. I just want it to stay low so that it doesn't cause any stress to the baby and so that I can go into labor naturally. I really don't want to be induced and really don't want a c section. I am still having some sharp pain and contractions. The braxton hicks contractions are coming more frequently and I've just had a few regular contractions.



I felt absolutely HUGE today so I had Stephen take a quick picture of me.

How Far Along: 36 weeks
Size of baby: The size of a crenshaw melon
Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 5 pounds- I lost 2 pounds this week- weird!
Maternity Clothes: I only wear maternity clothes now.
Gender: BOY!!! Stephen Earl Prather III
Movement: Yes, he moves a lot. It is a little different now though. It feels more like he is just rolling or stretching versus kicking, etc. I don't think there is much room in there for him to move much!
Sleep: Still not very good. I get up a lot to go to the restroom and never really feel rested. Getting in and out of bed is hard too and Stephen says I moan and groan every time I move.
What I miss: Not feeling huge! I am ready to be back to my normal self again!
Cravings: Nothing really
Symptoms: Heartburn, swelling, frequent bathroom trips, contractions
Best Moment this week: Relaxing this weekend with Stephen and just enjoying our last few weeks alone. This baby is going to bring so much joy to our lives, but at the same time our lives are going to change drastically. It is nice to just enjoy the time the two of us have together.