One Week!

Well what a whirlwind of week it's been, emotionally and physically!   Lots of tears, lots of joy, lots of blessings! 


The Birth Story  (a.k.a my life over the last week)

So Monday afternoon I went in for a "post due" appointment, had my ultrasound, did my non-stress test, and was told each step of the way that baby was super healthy, in great condition, and that I looked great!  THEN (after Eric left, no less) the doctor came in and hit me with a brick wall - baby was measuring 10 lbs 15 oz (plus or minus one pound) AND he was recommeding I have a c-section the next morning.  The doctor was super concerned about shoulder dystocia, among other things related to the birth size. 

What a flood of emotions!  Eric and I had spent the last nine months reading everything we could about natural childbirth, natural pain management, how to deal with unexpected complications naturally, and we were (and still are) very informed. I was so confident I could deal with anything! We'd spent weeks gathering the support materials: packing lotion for massages, making playlists on the ipod, buying snacks for Eric, practing lamaze, attending birth classes, watching documentaries, etc, etc. etc.

So as you can imagine, I spent most of the afternoon in tears dealing with disappointment that I wouldn't get to labor in the way I'd wanted to,  fear that if I didn't follow doctor's directions, baby might not make it through labor, and doubt - what if the measurements were wrong and he's only 8 lbs and I have a c-section  for nothing!   We came home, called the family, prayed, researched, met with the doctor a second time, and in the end decided that whatever my hopes had been for labor, they weren't worth the possible risks to baby's health. And now that our 10 lb. Asher is here, we haven't looked back and regretted it one bit - well, most of the time - but that's to be expected, I think.  

Tuesday morning, we headed to the hospital at 7:00 a.m. for our pre-operation prep for our scheduled surgery at 9:00.  Everything went super smoothly, except they had to give me two spinal shots because the first one didn't go high enough.  Consequently, it took me a good 4-5 hours after the operation before I could feel my legs again, but who can complain when you labor pain free.  Eric got to watch Asher being taken from the uterus, which I wish I could have seen, but hospital policy, no pics until the baby is out. Oh well.

We spent three days in the hospital, including Thanksgiving Day, but we had a LOT to be thankful for!  Recovery went as well as could be expected, and we were well fed by two different Thanksgiving meals that friends and family brought in for us. The nurses were super helpful, respectful of our wishes, and we had an all around great experience at the Marshalltown hospital!   

Asher @ 1 week

I realize it may just be a phase and that it could change, but thus far, Asher has been an incredibly easy baby.  I'm praising God for his blessings, because it sure has helped make my recovery that much easier.  Asher really only cries when we're changing his diaper.  He wakes to eat about every 3 1/2 hours, which I've been told is really good.  He's already staying awake for at least 20 minutes, and up to an hour, after eating during the day and then naps a good hour or two, most of the time.  At night he eats faster, stays awake shorter amounts of time, and sleeps a better chunk of the time between feedings - we're really not feeling sleep deprived yet (partially thanks to having the grandmas here)!  He's super strong and can already lift his head by himself for a little while.  I'm telling you - easy baby!  Don't worry, though, I'm counting my blessings while they last, knowing this may only be temporary!  God is good, regardless of what the future holds!

Anyway, here's a few more pics of our sweet baby.  One week old today!

  #Meagan

Awake, and grandmas!

Thought we'd upload a couple of videos of Asher in some of his awake time, which seems to be pretty good these days.  When he's awake (which tends to be 45 minutes to an hour after he feeds), if he isn't hungry, dirty, or tired, he is super content.  He just looks around, at us, at whatever.  He's pretty much an awesome baby is what I'm trying to say.

Grumpy?  Or is that just what your face is doing right now?

Also, he's a pretty strong baby, and can lift his head pretty darn well.

Grandma Dobbs has been here the last couple days, getting to meet Asher and being a big help to us.  Thanks Mom!

Now we get to have the help and company of Meagan's mom Pam, who is staying with us for a while and also being a big help.

Thank God for grandmas!

#Eric

Asher Joseph Dobbs - a pictoral introduction

Asher Joseph Dobbs came into the world on November 22, 2011 at 9:09 am.  He weighed in at a whopping 10 lb even, and measured 21" long.  Here are some pictures from our crazy first couple of days with him.  Thanks to everyone for all your prayers during the c-section and beyond, and for all your well wishes.  We're so blessed and we're loving our time with him so much! 

So what do you think?  Does he look like his ultrasound?  Who do you see in his face? :)

#Eric

Nine Month Ultrasound!

Well, I'm not due until tomorrow, so I'm not technically overdue at all yet, but the doctor wanted to make sure everything was okay before going into the weekend and got me started on the post due routine checks.  Long story short, I got to "see" my baby yesterday!  Never thought I'd get to see the baby inside this far along!  Crazy how clear these ultrasounds are!  Anyway, here's a decent pic of his/her face.  The arms are over the mouth and umbilical cord is partially over the eye, but doesn't it have the cutest little chubby cheeks?  I can't stop staring at the pics we got and I really can't wait to see him/her in person!  Just in case you were curious the tests all came back great... baby's is SUPER condition and seems to be healthy as can be!  Praise God!  We love our little baby so much already! :)     

#Meagan

Almost there!

Just wanted to post a pic of me at nine months.  Well almost!   I'm due Saturday.  I'm ready for baby to be here for many reasons.  Firstly and most importantly, because I want to meet our baby, see what he/she looks like, and hold and snuggle with him/her.  Secondly, because I'm feeling more uncomfortable every day.  I've been having pretty consistant contractions for the last month.  I've had about two or three an hour during the days and then they're often between 4-15 minutes apart for several hours in the evenings... and then they just stop.  I also had to get out of bed 6 times last night to go to the bathroom - usually it's 2-3 times.  (I do realize that I'll be up that much at night with baby too, but at least baby will be here! :)   The contractions are stronger every day, but thankfully they seem to be doing something!   At my appointment last week I was 1 cm dilated and 25% effaced.  They said that was really good for a first time mom.  My next appointment is tomorrow morning, so I'm praying that even more progress has been made, and that all this discomfort helps make labor that much faster whenever it does actually start for real.  Thirdly, this may be selfish and superficial sounding, but I'm starting to feel heavier than just pregnant.  I'm not tired of the belly, but I am tired of the extra weight elsewhere, especially in my face, and I'm anxious to start working on getting back to my pre-prenancy size and the ability to wear my pre-pregnancy clothes.  I'm down to about 4, maybe 5, shirts that still cover my belly and I'm kind of getting tired of wearing the same things over and over again.  :)   All in all, I'm ready to have baby!   Can't wait to introduce our little one to everyone.  It's good to know that labor is inevitable sometime in the next 2-3 weeks, and it's comforting knowing that includes even if baby is way overdue!   5 days and counting!
 

 #Meagan

Furniture migration

Well we've now pretty much got everything in order for the moment at which our little bundle of joy decides it's his/her time to make an entrance (or, should I say exit).  The nursery is ready, we've got a bag packed with the essentials, and I even put the carseat base in the car.  Now with the official due date a week and a half away, what do we choose to do?  Why get the carpets cleaned, of course!  It was something we had wanted to do prior to the baby coming along, cause the day will be coming soon when the little tyke will be burying his/her face into the carpet, and I'd just rather have it be clean.  To save a buck, we moved all the furniture ourselves (well, myself.  And I got a bit of help from our friend Benjamin on a couple things).  So this is now what our living room looks like.

And this, of course, is what our dining room looks like.

So, the carpet is now drying, and I plan to move the furniture back tomorrow.  We also had them do the stairs, upstairs hallway, and the baby's room.  Alas, the nursery no longer looks like Meagan's previously posted pictures, but it will again soon.  Now the big hope is that the baby doesn't come tonight or tomorrow.  Are we crazy?  Probably.  What do you think?

#Eric

The Nursery

So I'm pretty proud of my work in the nursery... so I thought I'd share some of the pics. :)  I wish I had some before and after pictures, but unfortunately, I don't.  So I'll do my best to describe what we did.  

Since we don't know the gender, Eric painted the walls a nice pastel green and then I decided to decorate with one of my Mother Goose books, because I absolutley ADORE the illustrations in it.  I bought a second copy of the book and sliced out all the pages, but boy was it hard to narrow them down to a few favorites!   I bought the rack at Hobby Lobby and painted it white, and then bought some cheap frames at Target... and Voila, my mother goose masterpiece.   

This was one of my favorites in the book (of Humpty Dumpty), so I paid for it to be framed professionally at Hobby Lobby.   Isn't it adorable? :)

Here's our crib from Target.  Eric's mom made us a dust ruffle and bought us some cute wall clings.  My mom got us a musical mobile that matches the colors in the room perfectly.  Above the bed is the nursery rhyme of the Man in the Moon, as well as Eric's technological addition of a video baby monitor. :)
  

I attempted to make this piece of furniture by myself one afternoon with some wood in our garage after watching a string of  HGTV shows on Hulu and being thoroughly inspired to create something.  BUT after realizing my complete lack of knowledge on how to use a drill, and spending an afternoon on and off the phone with Eric in tears of frustration (and pregnancy emotions), I gave up on it being a surprise and let Eric do the drilling for me when he got home.  Granted if I'd let him do it all by himself, as an engineer, I'm sure it would have been more structurally sound, but he was being kind and helped me do what I had been trying to do on my own.   It'll work for now. :)  

This was one of my more sucessful projects, and the one I most wish I had a before picture of.  Eric's parents gave us an old dresser that wasn't wanted anymore.  It was covered in a glossy light wooden laminate of sorts.  I sanded it down, primed and painted it, bought some new hardware, and a few days later, had an adorable dresser/changing table that matches the rest of the furniture in the nursery! 

And we've been going backwards this whole blog, because this was the very first project I did when I found out I was pregnant.  Some sort of mothering instinct kicked in and I wanted to do something for baby... we hadn't told anyone we were pregnant yet, so it helped quell my urges to tell everyone we were expecting.  I dug up a bunch of fabric scraps from my craft room, and just started cutting without a pattern and ended up with this fun, brightly colored quilt.  I've never made a quilt of any kind before, so while it's not perfect, I'm pretty proud of it.  I have to admit though that I have watched my grandma make quilts a hundred times before, so I at least had some ideas of where to start!  :)   Being the newly pregnant mommy that I was, I added the heart on the back so baby would always know I'd made it just for them! :)  

So  here's a quick overview of the room...

We're still waiting for our ordered glider (white wood with yellow cushions) for the empty corner by the book shelf, but other than that, I think we're ready for baby any day he or she would like to join us!  The due date is a mere two weeks away, and I can hardly wait! 

#Meagan