Quick Update

We survived!! Praise the Lord! Oh how the good Lord blessed today. Josiah and I had a very rough night. I could not get him to stay asleep and he kept crying and crying. He was overtired and well-fed. Around 5:30 am, he finally gave in some and we rested until 7:30. Ugh!!!!!! So, I woke up not in a great mood and dreading today. BUT - it was a good day! We even went for a 20-minute walk and I met another mommy in the neighborhood. Jon David behaved much better today and Josiah did well also. And, we all took 2+ hour naps!! How great is that????

I am glad to have this first day behind me. I am so thankful that God gave me the strength to care for my boys today.

On My Own

The words to that Patti LaBelle (I think it was her) song are ringing through my head as my mom headed for duty at my sister's for the weekend. She promises to come back Sunday and we are all counting the seconds!

My mom has been at our house since basically the end of June and has been the most amazing help to us all. Jon David is beyond crazy about her and she is probably the only adult besides my husband who I could live with for 8 weeks and not go crazy. She's just easy like that. She's my mom and I love her very much.

So - tomorrow, it's me and my two guys. I'm PETRIFIED - beyond scared. Jon David is testing every limit and still not well. How will I keep him from coughing all over Josiah? What will he do for the many times a day I nurse? Let's just say this, my prayer life will be at an all-time high tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from today. The new favorite toy is Jon David's house (also known as the box to our double-stroller). Notice the art work.

Eyes Wide Open and HMTL Help Request

Good morning! Here are some pix of Josiah with his eyes open. He is becoming more and more alert every day. Big brother is still all sorts of goopy with a cough and yucky nose.

Also, when I took off the baby tracker from my blog, it did weird things to my Blogger and now everything is in HTML which I do not know. So, I don't know how to edit things. Can anyone help?

How Things Are Going

Ahhh, a moment to post!

Well, for those of you who followed all the drama of this summer, here is what happened. As you may recall, a week ago on Monday (the 13th), I went into the hospital with false labor. That was incredibly discouraging - not to mention painful! The rest of the week was not great but not as bad. I kept waiting for that "different kind of pain." On Sunday around 4 pm, I started to feel the same way I did on the 13th. Around 9 pm, I talked with my girlfriend Kim who warned me that if I did not call that I was "going to have that baby at home." That made me laugh but the prospect of no epidural was enough to get me on the phone to my OB. We arrived around 10 pm and I heard the happy news that I could stay and deliver my baby! I was told to expect an early "breakfast" baby around 6 pm but things progressed quickly and I started pushing around 4 am. About 20 minutes later, I had my beautiful baby boy in my arms!

A few of you asked how big brother was adjusting to the new guy. Well, it's been a rough week for him. He has a bad cold and cough with a very drippy nose. You can imagine the fear we have over one of us catching it. So, we're trying to love on him real good and then go wash and Purell. Poor guy! In addition to the cold, he has been uncharacteristically "naughty" and really challenging. I know it's normal but it hurts our hearts to see him so off his game. At times, he wants very little to do with me and other times, I am all he needs. And, little Josiah really has not been a demanding baby (during the day, that is). So, it's not like we're all focusing on the baby all the time. We're really not. So, please pray for little Jon. His little world has been shaken.

To add to the fun, JD is now sick. We're praying hard that Josiah and I escape this nasty bug!!!

All in all, we are doing well. My mother is a saint who has been making Jon David very happy (such a love-fest), cooking and cleaning my house. I don't want her to ever leave!!

Introducing Josiah Samuel

It is with great pleasure that we present our baby boy, Josiah Samuel.

He was born Monday, August 20 at 4:17 am. He weighed 7 lbs 12. oz and is 21 inches. He has a beautiful head of dark hair and looks a lot like his big brother (minus the dark hair) did at birth (give or take that Josiah is 3 more pounds than Jon David was at birth). We arrived home today and are all adjusting to our new life. I'll write more later but I wanted to make sure you all heard the wonderful news!

No Baby Yet

You guys really are the best! I thought I'd give a quick update to say - NOTHING new! :( I walked around the mall for an hour today which totally knocked me out. I was so hot and tired! I'm not having too bad of contractions since my doctor said I could go back on my cramping medicine. Apparently, my brand of contractions are more like cramps (though VERY painful) and not the type that will get me much closer to having a baby. So, I'm hurting less but feeling overall very yucky today. Headache, nausea, overall crabby mood. But, as we were headed to the hospital around 12:30 am Tuesday morning, I told my husband that I'd be a "monkey's butt" if I did not have a baby within hours. I know, kinda crude but that's what you get when you're feeling like this. So, I am officially OUT of the guessing game. I have no clue when this here baby boy is coming. I know that I'm not even late but with all this contracting and pain, I feel like I'm 42 weeks!

A Bummer of a Night - STILL no baby

My contractions were quite painful and only 2 minutes apart. My OB told me to go to the hospital and I was SURE that this baby was on his way. That much pain has to equal real labor, right???? Well, apparently for me, that's not the case. I spent 4 VERY painful hours in L/D and did not progress at all past 2 or so centimeters. So, they sent this cry baby of a pregnant woman home around 4:30 am today. I am just "one of those people" (I'm starting to really hate that expression when talking about this pregnancy) who stays in the early stages of labor for a really long time. >oh joy<> So, I am at home, still having contractions (though not as regular nor as painful) and am supposedly just going to know when it's the real deal. Until then, big and pregnant I remain...

His Room is Ready and So Am I...

Well, I'll spare you the gory details but I've started to "show" some signs of labor (code language for all you mommies). I am 2-cm dilated and 80% effaced which, I guess, can mean a whole lot of nothing. But, my cramps have turned into contractions so we think we're starting to get some action here.

While up in the wee small hours of the morning feeling crappy, I finished the last details on baby boy's (still no name) room. The bedding is courtesy of our friends at babyGap. And a HUGE thank you to my amazing pal, Kim, who gave me the beautiful cross (she painted it herself - I'm so impressed), picked out the paint color while I was on bed rest and also painted the frame on the "The Prince Sleeps Here" print). She is the best!!!

Stay tuned for more details...

You May Want to Push Back Your Guesses

Though my "unorganized" contractions continue, I am not showing any concrete signs that this here baby is about to enter the world. My appointment today went well and I have been given the okay to continue with my meds to help with the painful cramping (VERY good news!).

There was a request to see my big belly and against my better judgement, I am sharing it. I have been a true over-achiever again in the weight gain department so consider yourself warned. I did crop myself out of the photos since my face is now bloated and it's just not flattering in the least. And I made sure that the photo was small. :) (Yes, I know that there is a spot on my shirt. I can't seem to make it to my mouth with food these days and keep dropping things. The distance from the plate to my mouth is just too long and these things happen.)

I'll give you a few more days to update any guesses and then I'll post the results. I am kidding, by the way, about giving away naming rights but I am always interested in suggestions. :)

Thanks, as always, for your funny posts and continued encouragement

Guess My Delivery Date, Baby's Weight, Etc.

Jon at 8 months!

Let's have a little fun with this. Since I'm not feeling so hot the past few days with lots of "unorganized contractions" that feel like bad cramps, I figure I might seek some help from my blogging friends and family. I've toyed with the idea of a prize for whoever gets the closest but we'll just have to see about that. One possible prize is the naming rights for our child since my husband and I are super lame and cannot commit to a name for this boy! I am due 9/2 and am 35 1/2 weeks pregnant.



So, here are the categories for your guesses. I will tally them in a few days and post for record keeping purposes. I may enlist the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers to validate the results in case things get heated and ugly here. ;)



Deliver Date and Time:

Weight:

Height:



Thanks for playing!