Santa Visits

TJ's good friend, Paul, dresses up as Santa every year for a local shelter.  He starts growing his beard and belly in the summer for the special occasion.  We were fortunate enough to have him stop by prior to heading off to the shelter to meet William and Kennedy!  William and Kennedy did pretty well but we do have a pictures of each of them crying....something about Santa!!  We even got a great picture with Brae and Brumps!!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas Eve!!

Thankful on Thursday

Quick Thankful on Thursday with Pictures :)

1) William Thomas - we are still so in love with every little thing our little boy does, every little noise he makes and how sweet he is.  Not a day goes by that we aren't thankful for him and the opportunity to be his mommy and daddy!!

2) Family - having my mom here has made our journey into parenthood a little smoother.  My dad arrived yesterday and is working on finishing our basement!!  Mom and Dad Y have been visiting and skyping with William  :)

3) Friends for all their support, advice, love and well wishes!!

4) Being a family of 4 :)

Sleeping :)

William loves being bundled

William in Thankful for his bottle :)

William and Kennedy meet for the first time!!

We have been waiting for this day for so long....both of us holding our happy and healthy babies....look at how happy we are as mommy's :)

1 Week Old

William is one week old today :)

We are still enamored by him and love every single minute. 

 Still in newborn outfits (we actually had to go purchase some because everyone thought he would be huge and we only had a few)

 Super cute face!!

This is the life...napping!!

Here are some extra pictures that I love, love, love!

 My outfit is too big!!

 First Walk around the neighborhood!

 Look at that hair!

 

William Thomas

We are over the moon in love and super excited to announce that William Thomas arrived on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 @ 8:19 p.m. (two days prior to his scheduled induction date!)  William was 8 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long.

Mommy, Daddy and William are home with Leo and Brae and all are doing wonderful.  William has a great personality, is a good sleeper and loves snuggling.

Short Visit to L&D

Sooooooooooooo.....for two days in a row, I have felt a gush of fluid (TMI I know) so when it happened again on Saturday I decided to call my OB just to see if it was normal or not.  The doctor decided to have me come in to check everything out since he was working on Saturday.  We got in the car and half way to the doctors office I got a call saying that the doctor had to go to the hospital because one of his patients was in labor and to just meet him at L&D.  We made the detour to the hospital.  Little did I know that if you go to the hospital, you have to be checked in, hooked up to monitors and administered lots of tests before you can go.  Apparently they were very busy yesterday because what should have taken 45 minutes ended up taking 3 hours.  I didn't end up seeing the doctor but the nurses took care of everything.  They did a test to determine if I was leaking amniotic fluid and hooked me up for an NST (basically just monitors baby's heart rate and any contractions).

The outcome:
1) I'm not leaking amniotic fluid.
2) I'm still only 2 cm dilated.
3) I'm having contractions....sporadic but still at least one every five minutes.  They aren't necessarily  painful yet though (just a few).
4) William is just fine and going to stay where he is for a little bit longer.

We did learn that it is very chilly at the hospital.  Here are some pictures that TJ took during our adventure!

 TJ was laughing cause I looked like a mummy after I just moved positions!!

Just watching Will's heart rate!

38 Weeks

Last update from the doctor on Tuesday - still 2 cm but now 90% effaced.  The doctor was happy to report that he was touching Williams head during the exam (kinda weird but encouraging).  He said everything looks great and if he doesn't come before next Friday, I'm in good shape for the induction.  We have our last biophysical profile tomorrow before Will arrives and TJ gets to come :)

Here are my 38 week stats:

Total weight gain/loss: 19 lbs....up one!

Sleep: Not so good as it is getting pretty uncomfortable no matter how many pillows or different positions I try.  I will say that the small amount of sleep I do get is pretty good though!
 
Best moment this week: Reading books to him at night with TJ.  TJ does such a great job that I sometimes get teary eyed thinking about him reading to William!

Movement: More of the rolling type movements but still pretty frequent.  Apparently he just moves his little butt back and forth with the occasional kick and punch mixed in.

Food cravings:  Back to sweets and as always ice cold water.

Gender: It's a BOY! 

Labor Signs: I think more Braxton Hicks and maybe a few contractions.

Size of baby: Pumpkin
 

What I miss: Being able to put on socks without having a pep talk with  myself "you can do it, you can do it!"

What I am looking forward to:Seeing our handsome baby boy :)

Milestones:  William is full term!
Now for some updated pictures!

37 Weeks

Had my weekly Biophysical Profile today and William was a little bit stubborn so it took a little longer than usual.  I had to drink ice water to get him to move more.  Needless to say this cause me a little bit of anxiety and worry but they said he did everything he needed to and that although he didn't move as much his heart rate was good.  He has moved lots since so I feel better :)

Here are my 37 week stats:

Total weight gain/loss: 18 lbs....gained two last week...lol!!

Sleep: Still falling asleep quickly but having trouble getting back to sleep after going to the bathroom for the third time!!  I tend to wake up and then want to see if I can get William to move and then he does and I can't get back to sleep.

Best moment this week: Realizing that we will get to meet William on the 14th of December....only 14 days away!!!!  Feeling him move every morning when I wake up!

Movement: ALL the time and I love it!! Still feel more rolling and big jolts of movements.  When I scratch my belly lightly he likes to move back :)

Food cravings:  Anything sweet or salty!!  Still love cold drinks!!

Gender: It's a BOY! 

Labor Signs: I'm pretty sure I've had a few Braxton Hicks this week.

Size of baby: Winter Melon
 

What I miss: Lunch meat!! 

What I am looking forward to: Seeing William for the first time....I cannot believe it is only 14 days away!!

Milestones:  William is now considered full term!!

Now for some updated pictures!

Possible Birthdate for William???

I went to the doctors for my weekly appointment this afternoon and while we are super excited about the news, we were a little shocked (in a good way!)

William is moving around all the time and has a great heart rate!  I am currently 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced!!!  The doctor is concerned about William's size based on my weekly ultrasounds.  When I asked him how big he thinks he is he responded by saying, "I never give a number because it is always wrong and people get upset with me!"  I asked if he thought he was bigger than 8 lbs and he said absolutely, especially if I go until my due date. 

If all goes as planned, I am scheduled for an induction on December 14th :)  We are super excited and cannot believe that we will meet our baby boy in just 18 days!!!

36 Weeks and Thankful

 We had a great Thanksgiving with TJ's parents this year.  Lots of yummy food, relaxing, catching up, watching TV and playing games....it was a very relaxed Thanksgiving which was just what we needed!  My favorite part was getting to eat Thanksgiving twice (left overs for a late dinner!!)  Here is a picture of all four of us!!

We had our weekly Biophysical Profile Ultrasound today and it was more exciting because TJ got to come!!  He hadn't seen William since our 20 week ultrasound so lots of changes for him and of course Will performed getting another perfect score.  He was moving, stretching and sucking for TJ to see.  We can't figure out if he was sucking his thumb or his toe since both his hands on one foot were in front of his face.  Here is a picture of him....you can see his lips ready to suck right below his nose!!  As always we are so in love with our little boy and cannot wait to meet him.

 
Here are my 36 week stats:

Total weight gain/loss: Only 16 pounds so far....

Sleep: What exactly is that??  All in all, I am falling asleep pretty quickly and getting about 8ish hours of sleep a night, it is just interrupted several times to use the bathroom, switch positions or try to make my back feel better.  I've tried using a body pillow and a pillow behind my back, but I move so much they aren't very effective.  I have a pillow between my legs and that seems to be the easiest at this point!

Best moment this week: Going to the doctor and signing the hospital paperwork giving the doctor permission to deliver the baby and for his circumcision (not fun for him I know!).  It made everything seems so close!!  Next week I get to find out if I'm dilated or effaced at all.

Movement: ALL the time and I love it!! He likes to play when I scratch or tap on my belly he will kick back!!  Even the big jolts that sometimes take my breath away or make me run to the bathroom make me smile so much!!  He is definitely kicking my ribs now!

Food cravings:  Still sweet, LoL American cheese and water.  This week I've wanted salty things as well!!

Gender: It's a BOY! 

Labor Signs: None so far.  I think I might have had a few braxton hicks the past few days but other than that just a sore back and aching belly!

Size of baby: Honeydew

What I miss: Lunch meat!!  My father-in-law is in charge of bringing me an Italian Hogie from Little Italy as soon as I have William :)

What I am looking forward to: Meeting William.....I cannot wait to meet him, hold him, give him kisses and spoil him so much!!!

Milestones:  In 27 days (hopefully less) I will be holding my baby boy!!  27 days seems soooooooooo close!!


Here we are at 36 weeks :)

35 Weeks

I promise to get better at keeping up with the blog and updating at least every week :)

35 Weeks Pregnant and Super Excited!!

Total weight gain/loss: Only 16 pounds so far....

Sleep: I fall into a deep sleep pretty quickly just about every night and wake up to use the bathroom feeling like I've slept forever and look at the clock to see it is only 11:45 p.m.   I'm starting to get up about 2-3 times a night to use the bathroom and am noticing it take lots of effort to get out of bed and walk to the bathroom.  My back has been super sore as well.

Best moment this week: Hiccups....TJ got to feel his hiccups the other night.  Seeing him move around and breathe at my weekly ultrasound appointment (he got another perfect score so he seems to be pretty happy in there and is head down in the right place).

Movement: ALL the time and I love it!! His movements are different, more like jolts and I can feel him move his little butt back and forth :)  He has started to let me know he is awake and hungry about every morning between 4:30 - 6:00 a.m.

Food cravings:  Anything cold, sweets (always), dill pickles and land o'lakes white American cheese from the deli!

Gender: It's a BOY!  The sonographer said, "yep, definitely a boy!!"

Labor Signs: None so far but starting to get a little sore when I get up and down and my back has been really sore!

Size of baby: Large coconut or cantaloupe

What I miss: Being able to put socks on without difficulty!

What I am looking forward to: Holding William in 5 weeks....I cannot believe we are only a few weeks away from meeting our little baby boy!  I cannot wait to see TJ holding him!

Milestones:  Completing our Childbirth class...we feel pretty prepared at this point.  All of his clothes are currently washed and placed in drawers :)

Here are some pictures of me and William....sorry I'm in my PJ's but they are sooooooooooo comfortable!!