Just want to announce that Josh  and his wife had their baby this morning about 7 AM. We just saw them last night and she was saying how she wanted it born that night,but had nine days left to go.  Plan on going to see them tomorrow.

It's hard to believe Kevin is a week old. All day I've been thinking about his birth and how it was actualy enjoyable. It was how all births should be. I had great Dr.'s and nurses and no drama. SOOOO much different then Ashley's birth. Kevin is doing great. Eating like a little piggy. Sleeps all day, parties most of the night,but were working on switching that around. We drop Ashley off at school and crawl back in bed. So we're not totally sleep deprived. He's such a good baby. Not to mention such a cutie pie. It's hard to put him down.

Dr. Losher. This guy just doesn't play catcher. He knew Kevin couldn't come out the way we were pushing and he had me try another position and he was born within 5 contractions. Maybe 10 contractions total. Kevin came out looking like a c-section baby. Perfect round head, unlike Ashley's ginormous cone head and pushed for an hour,plus all the other drama.

Thinking back on the day I have to mention all the funny things  that Ashley said. Before I left work I had Mom go pick Ashley up from Mamaw's. When we were afraid we might get stuck at home during the blizzard(that didn't happen) I printed off emergency home delivery info from the Internet. Anyway Ashley asked Mom if she had her reading glasses because she may have to read up on how to deliver the baby at home. Mom told her not to worry,she could get me to the hospital faster then reading all the papers. Then before Kevin was born we asked her if she wanted to stay in the room. NO WAY!!. Mom took her out for a walk around the hospital and when we called them 24 min later to tell them that we had the baby ,Bill informed Ashley she was right. She said about what. That we had a boy. And she said"OH NO!!!!!!!!. She told everyone we were having a boy because it kicked me so hard and that the baby had to be a boy because it was ornery. Then they couldn't come back right away due to all the stuff they have to do after the baby was born and Ashley was mad,saying they have to let me back I'm a sibling. Tooooo Funny.

Simply Irresistable

Kevin getting lots of  Lovin at the hospital.

 My very good friends and co-workers Pam and Vickie

Getting outta the hospital early. Still can't believe I was able to climb up in the truck.

 First time for Leia to see Kevin. The hospital would not bend any rules.  No one under age 14 except siblings. I'm so glad to be home. Now if I can just start feeling like my old self instead of feeling like I've been run over by the truck. haha

Welcome Kevin Alexander!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everything went really well. I was very impressed with how smooth things went. Labor started 2/20, at 3AM. At 6AM I started timing  the contractions and they were consistently 10 min apart. I decided to go to work and couldn't do it anymore then 9 hours. I went home tried to rest and by 10PM they were 4 min apart.  Kevin was born at 5:39 AM weighing 8 pounds 2 oz 21inches long. Needless to say we were exhausted and had to sleep, hence why took so long to post.

Well it's 9PM and NO BABY!!! Maybe working will make things happen. It'll be an interesting weekend for sure. I'm hoping it goes by fast,and can't wait to see Amanda,Chris,and Leia on Tuesday.

Took Ashley to the Dr. yesterday cause she can't seem to shake this cough. Come to find out her ears are the problem. The Dr. gave her some meds and a nasal spray. She  whined and carried on about not wanting to take the nasal spray and then stated she hoped it wasn't cherry flavored. I laughed and said that they don't make flavored sprays cause you don't have taste buds in your nose. She said, " I know, but I'd like to smell it." Too funny. After putting it in her nose she then said it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Praying this works because if not we are going to have to see a specialist and she may need tubes. Looking back, ever since she was a baby,every time I took her to the Dr. she has had an ear infection. I guess she's so use to having pressure in her ears she never complained about them. Sometimes she makes this funny open wiggle mouth face and I never knew why. The Dr. asked her if she pops her ears and she goes," Yeah I do this." And I'm thinking SO THAT"S what that's about. Kids need to come with instruction manuals. haha

I'm feeling pretty good today, have been doing daily chore things. Seems like there is always a pile of laundry to do,even though I got it all caught up the other day. I did get my bedroom set up for temporary sleeping arrangements with the baby. I cleared off the nightstand to make a changing station and have the bassenett  ready to go. The nursery is also ready to go, we even hung up jungle animal decals and the wall hanging Ashley and Mom proudly made. The room looks fantastic!!! Just waiting on this little person to go ding I'm done and release whatever chemical they do, to get things going.

Come on full moon

Well the news today wasn't so great. Am measuring the same as last week. We asked about being induced this Friday and he was honest and said that if we did, it would more then likely turn into a
c-section, my cervix just isn't ready. Funny how just before we left I was watching The Baby Story and the lady was having the same issue as me and they had to do a c-section on her after many many hours of labor. Soooo When he told me that my cervix wasn't ready, I wasn't going to insist on giving it a whirl this Friday. Now I'm going to go back to work this weekend. May make it all the way through,probably not,but I do have a Dr's note that will hopefully count as FMLA instead of getting dinged for missing work. I will use it if I have to. Really not wanting to,so am praying and hoping the full moon will get things going this Friday. Don't know what it is about full moons,but I do know this weekend will be crazy because of it. Happens every time. So now that I'm going back to work anyway we asked about the following week, how that would go, cause if not getting induced this week I'm good to hold off till next Friday. The one Dr. told me no more then 5 days over,this one said he'd give me till Friday,but no more. I figure might as well see if I'll go on my own now. We found out that Dr. Reed would be on the following Friday,and that just seems perfect, for she was the one who helped us in getting pregnant after all these years. I know this will all be a faint memory and I will have this baby soon enough. I can still go anytime, some people can go from 0 to bam being ready without any notice, so we'll see. I am feeling pretty good other then just disappointed a bit. I really thought that with allllllll the contractions I've had over the last few months,this would go faster. Well apparently my body has the contraction part down,it's just the one little thing holding me back.

                                                     Happy Valentines Day!
 What a beautiful day. The sun felt so good on Sunday. I hope it decides to stick around till next winter. Thanks to everyone who gave us candy and roses and Mamaw for the yummy dinner.

 I thought this week would never get here. Keeping my fingers crossed that the baby comes sooner rather then later. The baby will be here before next Wednesday the 23rd for sure. They won't let me go any farther then that. My house, as of now is CLEAN, and everything is ready to go.

It makes you wonder if there really is something to these labor foods. My Braxton hicks are back in full swing and the baby is again deep down in my pelvis. Most of this week hasn't been too painful. I welcome them back and I'm hoping these contractions turn into the real thing soon. I've been scouring the Internet for boy names and not coming up with many. Kevin is starting to sound fine. I've jokingly said we should name him Braxton if it's a boy. I'm just really ready to have this over with.

Not in labor yet. Wonder if the critters had any luck.haha. I did however get some strong Braxton Hicks and crazy dreams last night. Will keep eating the salad. Couldn't hurt. Feeling pretty good today. Getting caught up on laundry and bills. Wish I had a magic wand for housework. Bill put the swing together for me yesterday . It is sooooo adorable. We have to still finish the curtains,but at least one window is up and it looks really good esp. with the giraffe valances Mom made. If you need room darkening curtains go to JC Penny first. We returned 3 other stores before we went there. They may say 99% light blocking,but apparently 1% makes a huge difference. haha. Don't know how they came up with that %,but the Penny's curtains block light 100% Plus we got them on sale for $20 a panel.  You should have seen us in the stores holding curtains up to our faces to see if they blocked out light. I guess I should say the others blocked out store lights just not sunlight. Also a shout out to Target. We picked up a few baby things there yesterday and spotted some yummy looking blueberries as we were walking by  the food isle. I swear they are the most flavorful blueberries I have ever eaten. Driscoll's is the brand name and they are from Chile.

Labor Salad

Labor Salad turned out tasty if nothing else. Especially after Mamaw doctored up the dressing with different spices. Yummy. Ashley even ate a bunch of it. What was left over, we let Mamaw's critters have. Ashley said she hopes none of the animals are pregnant,cause they might have their babies. Doubt it works,but what could it hurt. The salad consisted of red cabbage,romaine lettuce, walnuts, carrots, balsamic vinegar,oil, a bit of sugar, celery seed, and garlic. Topped with a bit of Gorgonzola Cheese. Keep your fingers crossed.

Today's Dr's appointment details.  Dilated 3 on outside,1loose on inside softer cervix then last time 50% effaced. Whatever all that means. Baby's heart rate was 140 yeah!!!!!!!!! Told him I wanted induced by next Friday, he said we'll talk about it next week. He seems to think I'll go on my own. I have another appointment Tuesday. Unfortunately it's with a Dr I haven't had yet.  SOOOOOO I'm in the process of looking up labor inducing recipes. I think I found one like Laura's on line. I'm making Bill take me out tonight to get the ingredients.

I'm feeling really good today. Just taking it easy, not doing much of anything. I have a pot of vegetable soup going. Smells wonderful. Yesterday Mamaw brought me some yummy potato soup and Bill some ribs.  You know it's good when Ashley goes back later for seconds. It was nice seeing her and Terri. I'm so lucky to be  close by my family, and am so thankful when in times of need there is always someone to help out.

After yesterday I decided I'm a wimp and WILL get an epidural. I was in so much pain I thought I was in labor. If they would have offered me one, I would have jumped on it. I started feeling bad during the night and by morning I was miserable. I went to get checked out before going to work and after running all kinds of tests and lab work they decided I just had a stomach virus. I felt sorry for the third shift tech who had me for the last half hour of her shift. Just when things are winding down she got me. I puked twice on her, poor thing, had her running all over taking care of me. The baby's and my heart rate were super high,so they kept me  for observation about 4 hours. When they dismissed me, the nurse said I could take Tylenol PM for the pain and let me tell you that knocks you on your butt good. I woke up feeling much better though. Today I'm just taking it easy. I don't know why the baby's heart rate was on average 180-205 pretty much the whole time I was there.  The normal supposedly is 120-160. I had to quit looking at the Internet because,makes you think of everything that could be wrong. I'm just trusting the Dr.'s judgement and hoping the baby's heart rate was  high,because mine was, due to being in so much pain. By the time I left it was down to about 164 for at least 45 min. and they felt it was safe for me to leave. I have another Dr.'s appointment on Wed, so we'll see what he thinks we should do.

Thanks Mom and Dave for helping me out. They took good care of  me. I couldn't have made it without them. I just hope they don't get sick too.

An update

I had a Dr.'s appointment today and am dilated 2 ,but cervix not "ripe" enough so he thinks I'll at least make it past this weekend. Darn it,but am glad that we don't have to worry as much about this weekend. He said  he could feel the head, which doesn't surprise me one bit. He told us he could induce me next week if I wanted. The week before we told the other Dr. No thanks, but this week I'm considering it. I'm just very uncomfortable. At least I'm off next weekend. Don't really want induced, but am really wanting to get this over with.  We'll see. Have my next appointment Wed. He said I may be ready to go by then by myself. Just a waiting game now. Anybody have any boy name ideas? Please help. Have a girl one picked out, just having trouble agreeing on a boy one.