Elisa Marie

Well, our baby was born on December 13th at 11:57pm. Everything went well with the labor and delivery. It truly was an amazing experience. I'll never forget my first glimpse of Elisa. She was hanging by her ankle, and I said, "Oh, I don't think I'm ready for this!" Then they put her on my stomach and all I could say was, "Oh, you're so beautiful." This is a picture of her when she's just a few minutes old. When the doctor first saw her crown he said she was, "bald as a cucumber." But, as you can see from the picture, she proved him wrong! Here are a few more pics.

Ready or not...

Well, today I am officially 9 days past my due date.

It wasn't bad at first, being overdue that is. But as the days have come and gone, and come and gone, and come and gone... well, you get the point... I have started to get a little impatient. It's a huge mind game. Every night I go to bed thinking, "Maybe I'll go into labor tonight." And then in the morning I think, "Maybe I'll go into labor today." But so far it hasn't happened.

The risks (and here we are talking about the risk of the death of the baby) greatly increase once you hit two weeks past your due date. So tomorrow morning we are going to go in and induce. I feel relieved and disappointed at the same time. This definitely was not my first choice for how the birth would be. But we prayed about it and I feel like this is what we are supposed to do. And the goal is not a certain kind of birth experience... the goal is a healthy baby and a healthy mom. So, here goes. :-)

A fall walk

I love the fall! I loved the fall in the Northwest and I love the fall here in NW Arkansas. The days are finally getting a little cooler.

I was reading that "leaf peepers" actually come to this area (the Ozarks) in the fall to see the spectacular colors! This year hasn't been quite as good as last year.... Still plenty beautiful though!

http://www.ozarkmtns.com/foliage/reports.asp

32 Weeks

Only 8 weeks left until my due date. Wow, time sure is flying by. Here are the latest prego pictures. Greg and I went for a walk at Lake Fayetteville today. It was gorgeous out... though still a bit warm. The weather here has been in the high 80s! In October! Fall has not yet come to NW Arkansas.

Prego Pictures

Lots of people want to know, "So are you starting to show?" I think that I can officially say yes. Although, depending on what I'm wearing, people who don't know me still may not know I'm pregnant. But here's the proof. There's been a big change!

10 weeks and feeling very sick... notice the nausea wristbands!

15 weeks - slightly bigger

23 weeks

26 weeks - yep, starting to pop out a little!

The Grand Canyon

Here I am with my friend Anna at the Grand Canyon! Seeing Anna and Caleb was definitely a highlight of our trip!

What a summer

Well, our summer break is officially over. We are back in Arkansas. Greg is now starting his marathon month of retreats, training, and getting everyone moved in. I start back to work at the library next week.

But what a summer it was... we had quite the road trip both on the way to Portland, and on the way back here to Arkansas. Here are some of the highlights:

Left our house June 8th.
In Oklahoma we stopped at Greg's favorite gas station - Quick Trip.
In Kansas our car turned over 100,000 miles.
We stopped for the night in Colorado.
The next day as we were leaving Denver we dodged prairie dogs on the road.
In Wyoming we got a speeding ticket.
In Utah we drove by the Great Salt Lake.
In Idaho we both put our grumpy pants on. :-) But after a good night's sleep we felt much better and the next day we entered Oregon.
In Oregon we stopped at the first Burgerville we came to for lunch - YUM! And drove through the Columbia River Gorge. Beautiful!
We arrived at Greg's Uncle's house in time for his cousin's graduation party on June 10th. It was so good to see everyone.

Now here are the highlights from the trip back to Arkansas:

Left from Colombia City (just outside of Portland) July 25th.
In Oregon we drove through beautiful wine country (the Willamette Valley).
In California we ate at In 'n' Out, and I officially decided that I would hate to live in the LA area.
In Arizona we ran out of gas in the middle of the desert. We also visited our friends Anna and Caleb and got to go to the Grand Canyon.
In New Mexico... nothing really happened... but it was my first time ever in that state and I thought it was kind of pretty! Oh, and I think we finished the Harry Potter Book in New Mexico somewhere.
In Texas we visited Cadillac Ranch on Route 66.
In Oklahoma we once again stopped at Greg's favorite gas station - Quick Trip.
And we arrived home in Arkansas on July 30th.

We also had a great summer in the Northwest... but I can't even begin to tell you all of the highlights from that. I'll post some pictures soon!

14 weeks down!

With 14 weeks of pregnancy under my belt I'm feeling... well, still a bit nauseous and queasy. "They" (whoever they are) say that after 16 weeks only a very small minority of women still experience nausea and vomiting. I'm hoping that on this one they're right. But I have to be thankful. I've still been feeling better than I was before and the vomiting is becoming less and less frequent.

On a more upbeat note... our baby is now theoretically capable of sucking his thumb. At our last ultrasound appointment he appeared to be sucking his thumb, but I think he wasn't quite developed enough at that point to suck. Check out the picture below. This ultrasound was taken May 17. The baby was about 11 weeks at that point.

Feeling Better

Last Saturday, after a particularly bad episode of hanging over the toilet, I was laying on the couch praying.

I told God, "You know, I think I'm done learning what You've been teaching me through this. I think it's time You made me feel better. I mean, I want Your will for me... but I really want to feel better. I know if You're willing You can make me well." Then I fell asleep for three hours. When I woke up I had the impression that God was saying, "I'm willing." Since then I haven't thrown up once! Which is a miracle in and of itself. I can eat normally again! I'm continuing to gain energy. I'm so thankful! I still have a small amount of nausea, but I can usually keep it at bay by eating frequent snacks.

I read that the placenta and the baby's own pituitary gland start taking over hormone production at this point in the pregnancy. This is why most pregnant women start feeling better around 12 weeks - their body is no longer being flooded by all the excess hormones.

I'm just so thankful that I'm feeling better. I think that sometimes God puts it on our hearts to pray for something that He wants to give us. That way we recognize that the gift is from Him, and can thank Him for it. So, Thank You Jesus!

Morning Sickness?

I'm really annoyed by the term "Morning Sickness."

I'm the youngest in my family, so I never saw my mother go through pregnancy. I also haven't had any really close friends who I've watched go through pregnancy. What does that leave me to base my expectations of pregnancy on? T.V. and movies, of course!

I've seen the movies with the women throwing up in the morning and then going on their merry way throughout the rest of the day as if nothing is wrong. I just have to say, this is a movie myth. And the term Morning Sickness isn't accurate at all. They should call it All-Day Sickness.

One of my books jokingly called it Progesterone Poisoning. I liked that. What with constant nausea, extreme fatigue, and occasional vomiting, I have felt... poisoned. But I must add in here that everyone has a different experience. Some women (my mother among them) never feel any nausea. (My mom was extremely fatigued however, and remembers sleeping constantly)

Okay, enough ranting...

For me, things are getting a little better. I still have plenty of bad days. But I have some good days too. I've started throwing up a lot more often. But I'm not always nauseous anymore, and I have a lot more energy than I used to. I weighed myself yesterday and found that I've lost 11 pounds since this whole pregnancy thing started. I felt a little worried. But then I thought of all the women I know that have had this same experience, or worse... and their babies have turned out quite normal. That made me feel better. The most worrisome thing is that lately I haven't been able to take my multi-vitamin everyday due to the vomiting. I get it down at least every-other day though.

Anyway, I'd appreciate all your prayers. I'm getting close to the 12 week mark! And I'm supposed to start feeling a lot better after that.

Greg's been great! I know it must be stressful for him having a sick wife... but he's been a wonderful support to me. He's done housework, run to the store to buy whatever sounds appealing to me at the time, listened patiently to all my complaints, and made himself endless meals when I've been too tired or nauseous to cook (which has been pretty much all the time).

Also, through this I'm learning to rest in God's will for me. He's all-powerful and completely loving. And so I can rest, knowing that even this is one of His good gifts. He uses everything (including nausea, vomiting, fatigue etc.) for my good and His glory. I'm so thankful that I have a loving Father's arms to rest in.

Baby Brock

First Impressions

So I went to the doctor a few weeks back for my first prenatal appointment. It was pretty normal at first, you know... pee in a cup, stand on the scale, blood pressure etc.

The excitement started when the nurse started to draw blood.

Now my history in the blood drawing department isn't great. I guess I have small, "roll-y" veins. At Red Cross blood drives they resort to using the child needle, and even then they have trouble. This nurse was no different. She started to talk about how my vein wasn't cooperating, all the while trying to coax it into cooperation with the needle. I started to sink down in my chair. I was feeling terribly hot and light-headed... it kept getting worse and worse, and then all of a sudden... nothing. Was that a fan blowing on me? Ah, delicious breeze! This was the best I'd felt in days. Oh, did I just faint? Struggling to pull myself back into consciousness I saw Greg's somewhat anxious, though smiling face. There was another doctor buzzing through the room, he looked amused. And there was the nurse... Oh, and now I have a bandage and cotton-ball on my arm.

Well, several minutes later I'd been ushered into a different room, and the nurse was asking me family history questions. All of a sudden, I knew... my mouth tasted different. I grabbed the trash can and proceeded to empty the contents of my stomach into it. It's amazing how much you can have in your stomach even after eating very little. Anyway, I'll spare you the details.

Well, the rest of my appointment went without much more excitement. But I couldn't help but think, "Wow, quite the first impression."

Kudos to all moms

Okay, I know it's not quite Mother's Day yet. But I just have to say that I have a new-found respect for all moms. After almost 9 weeks of pregnancy, I find myself in awe of anyone who has chosen to go through this process more than one time. Especially amazing to me is anyone who has had four kids or more. Wow! You deserve a standing ovation!