Christmas 2009

I can't believe our little guy is already 3 weeks old! The days are flying by...although the nights seem to be a bit longer. But, sleep is slowly improving. We took Carter on his first 2 hour road trip last week to visit Grandma and Grandpa Vance for Christmas. He slept the entire time! Christmas was fantastic. I'm so excited for future years when Carter won't sleep through opening presents. We had a great time relaxing, eating and visiting many friends. Here are some pictures from the last week...enjoy!

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Week 1.

Well, we made it. With the help of 2 loving grandmas, lots of friends, free dinners and endless naps, we survived our 1st week of parenthood. So far Carter loves to eat, poo, nap, and hiccup. He has amazed us with his strength to lift up his head, loves tummy time and hates baths. We can't believe how quickly the days fly by, how much laundry one baby could possibly dirty in one day, and how much love we have for him. No, it's not easy, but we are surviving and taking each day at a time. Here are some pics from the major events in his first week. Enjoy!

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Carter's Birth Day

Warning: This will most likely be a long post. If you aren't into hearing about births, this might not be the post for you!

So, Carter's birth day is really a birth journey. It didn't all happen in one day. I went to work on Wednesday feeling a little different than I had before. The last few weeks my Braxton Hicks contactions had been more frequent, but wouldn't ever stay regular (frustrating to say the least). But that Wednesday morning, something just felt different. I kept working trying to avoid some of the pain, but then went home for lunch. Contractions were about 2-4 min. apart, so I went back to work to finish the day. Right when I got back, they started getting more painful so I left again! For the next 2 hours they stayed pretty consistent. I started getting excited thinking, "this is it" and called Matt to come home. Of course, right when he came home they slowed down and basically stopped. So, we decided to take Yoshi for a walk and I complained and whined the whole time that this kid would never come out! About an hour later, I was sitting on the couch, still complaining when I felt a little trickle. Embarrassed, I told Matt, "I think I just peed my pants...oops." But, 5 min. later and a huge gush on the floor, it was confirmed my water had broke! I called the doctor and waited at home until my contractions worsened.

Around 1:30am we headed to the hospital. I was only dilated to 1 cm, but they admitted me and I started the "work" of labor. I was handling the pain pretty well, but my contractions continued to last longer and longer. Around 4:30am, my contractions were coming every 1-3 min. and lasting 2 1/2 minutes long! I opted for a little Fentanyl and kept on going. I started getting really bad back labor and had another dose of Fentanyl an hour later when I had progressed to 3 cm. The doctor then realized Carter was facing head up, which was causing my horrible back pain. Though not originally planned, I decided to get an epidural around 6:30am when I wasn't getting any break in between contractions and my doctor knew I needed to relax in order for him to turn himself around.

Then the waiting game began. I stopped progressing for a few hours and had to have Pitocin started as I switched positions every 30 min. to get him to flip. Unfortunately, once they started the pitocin his heartrate dropped quickly. In a matter of 30 seconds, his heartrate dropped down to 97, I had oxygen placed on my face and about 7 nurses came running in to flip me on my stomach, stop the pitocin and insert a scalp electrode onto his poor little head. By far, the scariest moment of my life. Being a nurse isn't always fun when you're a patient, you know more than you should in those moments. As I lay there holding Matt's hand, trying to hold back the tears, the worst scenarios started running through my head. Luckily, he recovered quickly and I was back to waiting about 20 min. later.

The pitocin was restarted (at a slower rate) and I finally started to dilate. I went from 5 to 7 cm in 10 min, then 7 to 9.5 cm in about an hour. Finally around 5:45pm on Thursday I was able to start pushing! The first 2 hours were pretty intense, but little progress was made. The pitocin was bumped up again and after 3 full hours of pushing (24 hours after my water broke), Carter Thomas Vance entered into this world with both of his hands pushed up against his cheeks (hence 3 hours of pushing and a lot of pain - the epidural had basically worn off by then!).

He was absolutely beautiful, screamed so loud and immediately lifted his head up to look at the world. Matt and I were instantly in love. His stats were: 8lbs. 6 oz, 21 1/2 inches long, 14 in. head circumference, blue eyes, huge feet and lots of dark hair. In a word - perfect!

We have only been home 1 day but just love every moment with him. He is cuddly and likes to yawn, eat and poop. Life couldn't be any better and we feel so blessed.

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Baby Shower #2

One of my best friends threw me a baby shower down in Puyallup last weekend. It was so much fun! Because we did a robot themed nursery, she thought of every little detail to make the perfect robot themed shower. From the nuts and bolts on the tables to the robot cake, it was perfect! I was able to see some friends I hadn't seen in quite some time (Heather, Andrea and Kim!) and catch up with some great family friends (Walden clan!). Plus, I received some amazing baby stuff - clothes, diaper pail, baby book, stuffed animals, diapers, and more. I feel so blessed to be loved by so many people, it was such a special day.

So, I now have 2 1/2 weeks until my due date, which officially means he could come at any time. I've been having quite a few contractions, but nothing regular. So, it's now a waiting game. Here I am at 37 weeks. This might be the last blog until our little one comes. Can't wait to post pictures of our cute little boy!

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Pumpkin Time!

We went to Stoneyridge Farms yesterday for our annual pumpkin pickin', apple pie eatin', farm animal watchin' and hayridin' good times. It was a little muddy from all the rain we've had, but we were still able to do everything but the corn maze. Unfortunately, the pumpkins were a little soggy from the rain. So, after enjoying a warm slice of apple pie, we went to a local fruit stand and picked out our actual pumpkin. Matt worked hard carving the design. I worked hard eating pumpkin seeds! Yoshi relaxed on the couch and enjoyed the beautiful fall colors from the park across the street.

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Baby Shower

This past weekend two of my close friends threw me a baby shower in B'ham. It was so much fun and they thought of every little detail to make it extra special. I feel so lucky to have such great friends surrounding me and realized how much this little guy is already loved. I completely forgot to take a group picture (or really any picture besides me opening presents - oops!) but here's a small sample.

The delicious food.

Cute little Ellie.

My surprised look when opening gifts.
I'm now 32 weeks - only 8 weeks left to go! This baby is super active and constantly getting the hiccups! It's fun to watch my belly bounce up and down throughout the day. Can't wait to meet him!

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the projects continue...

As my mom pointed out the other day, it's been quite a while since I've updated this thing. Oops. I guess it means we've been busy! I'm now 31 weeks along and we are busily preparing our house for our little guy. (In case you didn't hear, we do have a name picked out, but keeping it a secret until the big day!) In pregnancy news, I'm feeling great and haven't had any major issues throughout the pregnancy. I feel so lucky! Sleep is getting much more uncomfortable, but I guess that is to be expected at this stage in the game. Here is a picture from last week. We've checked most of the major projects off our list the last few weeks. Matt's dad has been so helpful in getting things ready. Latest projects include: removing a very ugly built-in ironing board in the nursery, fixing our sump pump, ripping out carpet in our bathroom, laying new flooring in the bathroom, dump runs, painting, sanding down and repainting a dresser and much more! I think Matt's ready for this baby to come so he can stop working on things around the house. Last weekend we (okay, Matt) tackled the nursery. It's not finished yet, but getting there. We decided on a robot theme and think it's pretty darn cute. Hope you'll agree!

In our sparetime we are getting quality cuddle time in with Yoshi.

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before and after

It's been a busy summer as we are trying to get everything ready for the baby. Who would have thought a simple pregnancy would be such a motivating factor to start 1,000 house projects! Since we moved into this house, I have absolutely hated our fireplace. It's a 6 foot long red brick monster with a shiny brass door that is the focal point of our living room right when you walk in the house. Well, we finally decided to tackle the beast and think it turned out pretty great. We still don't have our final mantle in place (saving more money for that since baby stuff is turning out to be quite expensive!), so we painted it white in the mean time. Here's the before picture (without the brass door - I couldn't even stand to look at it in a picture!).And here's the after!We also decided to get new carpet in the baby's room. The rest of our house is hardwood, but the baby's room had this old, dirty berber carpet from an old daycare. Needless to say, the germaphobe nurse came out in me and I couldn't imagine the baby crawling around on that. It's so soft and clean and just perfect!

It's hard to see, but the before carpet (we still have some in the bathroom...eww, I know - it's getting replaced too) is on the left and the new stuff is on the right side of the pic.

Baby V is growing and kicking like crazy these days. I can't believe I'm already 25 weeks! Here's a pic from last week.

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