Gabby's first Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Week 2

It makes me sad to say that Gabby is 2 weeks old today! I know that it is great that she is growing and thriving, but I also feel like time is going too quickly. In week 2, Gabby has slept through the night a couple of times already. Most of the time she only gets up once to feed and goes back to sleep fairly quickly. She sleeps most of the day still, but we are beginning to see more of her eyes. The highlights of the week was her first picnic and our first and second trips to a restaurant. She was such a great baby on all of our outings!

Gabby's newborn pictures were taken last Friday and they are beautiful! I can't wait to share them with everyone. Amazingly enough, she was wide awake during the pictures so we have many with her eyes open!

Gabby has her first out of town visitors, Grandma Mary and Aunt Tracy. Uncle Steve is in town as well, but we haven't seen too much of him since it was homecoming weekend at MTSU! (FYI - the Blue Raiders blew out Western Kentucky this weekend!) She also went to her first party! Our friends Jimmy and Erin are expecting Hudson in January and their shower was this weekend. Gabby had a blast!

One Week Old

The week has flown by, but happy one week birthday to Gabby! We are still in awe of her and still amazed that she is here. Her first week of life has been exciting for her. We have taken a few car rides to get out of the house, she has been visited by friends and today we will go to the pediatrician. She also has been a great eater and a pretty good sleeper. Our nights haven't been too bad...in fact we had our first "sleep through the night" (at least to us) night last night. She was fussy fron midnight til 2:00am and then she slept til 8:00am this morning. Mommy and Daddy appreciated that for sure!

We are so fortunate to have her! She is a true blessing to us and we can't believe how much love we have for her!

I'm not sure why the one picture won't turn the right way, sorry, but it is her one week photo!

Day One

Our first 24 hours were pretty good. Gabby does have her nights and days confused for sure as she had us up from 1:45am til 4:30am screaming. We fed for most of that time just to soothe her, but we could only do so much. I was totally exhausted and we both needed to get some sleep, so we sent her off to the nursery so we could all get some rest. Today she has slept all day. We are looking forward to going home tomorrow. Let's hope we get rest tonight, otherwise she will be headed back to the nursery!

She is here!

Gabriella Elizabeth arrived at 11:45am this morning. I didn't really have an opportunity to update because things progressed so quickly. At 9:00am the doctor came in and broke my water, I was 3 cm dilated, 9:30am I had my epidural and by 10:00am I was 8 cm dilated. At 10:25am I was a full 10 cm and we decided to wait to push for a little while. At 11:00am I began pushing and 45 minutes later she was here! She weighs 6lbs. 14oz. and is 19.75 inches long. Not that we are partial or anything, but we think she is BEAUTIFUL. She has a head full of blonde hair too, which is super cute! We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers and can't believe what a wonderful day it has been.

All hooked up

Well, we have been at the hospital for 2 hours now and things are going well. I was having regular mild contractions when we got here and now they are more frequent and more uncomfortable. We expect to see the doctor during this hour so he can break my water and get things progressing even more. I will probably be opting for an epidural in the next few hours...the debate is whether to do it before the 2 c-sections that are scheduled or wait until after...

The most unfortunate thing about this morning is that it is a miserable day outside. It is cloudy, rainy and cool. A good day to be indoors, but wishing it was bright and sunny!

Monday is the Day

We had a great visit to the doctor yesterday; everything is going well. Brian asked the doctor if there was anything we can do to speed up the process of getting the baby here. The doctor replied, well we can do it tomorrow or Monday if you would like. You could imagine the look on our faces when discussing the thought of tomorrow, which would have been today! Deer in headlights for sure! We decided that tomorrow was too quick and opted for Monday if Gabriella doesn't come on her own. Sunday night the hospital will call us to let us know what time to be there the following morning. It will probably be some ungodly hour like 5:00am so they can get me hooked up to drugs and get things rolling. The doctor will come in between 7:00-8:00am to check me and he anticipates that if all goes well we will have a baby by around 4:00 that afternoon.

From the getgo I was anti-induction. After hearing some horror stories and knowing the fact that 40% of inductions end up in c-sections you really think twice. But, after talking with the doctor and trusting his judgment, he said he would make me go overdue if he felt my body and the baby weren't ready. Since I am already dilating and thinned, I have "favorable conditions" for a positive induction. Wish us luck on Monday!

Eviction Notice

Dear Gabriella,

While I am sure you are warm and cozy, your Daddy has come home and Mommy is getting very uncomfortable. I am asking kindly that you vacate your current residence in a timely manner so we are able to meet you, love you, and adore you. Daddy would like to spend as much time with you before he has to return to the job that helps put food in your tummy and I would like to have Daddy home to help for as much time as possible. Knowing that you come from a family of stubborn people, we know that you will vacate in your own time, but if you could do this sooner that later it would be much appreciated.

Love,
Mommy (38 weeks and a few days pregnant)