He is risen!! Emma's first Easter

This weekend was Emma's first trip Brinkley to meet her Great Grandparents! It looks like we can now expect to add 1 hour to every 4 hours when we travel. I guess that is something that every new mommy figures out sooner or later. :-)

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the weekend!

Pap Paw

Nanny

With 7 kids, 16 grandkids and 10 great-grandkids Nanny knows just how to handle babies!

Easter morning

Lunch at MeMe and Pap Paws

Uncle Hunter with his first bottle

4 Generations!!

NaNa holding her sweet grandchild!

One more photo op with Nanny before we left town

Can't believe it took me a week to get this posted but...life happens. :-)

Have a blessed week everyone!

Jill

One Month...so much has happened!

We just got  these photos from my good friend Nicole Sudduth. She came to the house when Emma was just 3 days old for her first photo shoot!! We can't believe just how different she looks just one month after she came into our lives!!

 One MONTH later...

Her first Easter Egg "hunt" at Tri Delta with her new friend Elle

See I am here!! I feel like I am always taking her picture but never in them! ;-)

We have had a rocky first month with Emma ultimately getting to visit the doctor for the fourth time since she's been born. We are now on some antacid medicine to see if that helps with what we can only conclude is reflux.  The bad news is that she is in pain and it will likely take a week for the medicine to work but the good news is she is gaining weight like a champ! In one month and one and a half weeks Emma has gone from 6 lbs 2 oz to 8 lbs 13 oz! This means that the spit ups and pain are not keeping her from thriving!

I have three more weeks home with this little angel and then back to work and while part of me can't wait to be back with people who talk I know I will miss her so very much when I can't hold her anytime I want.

That's all for now. I think I will try to grab a quick nap before our next feeding!

Be blessed!
Jill

4 Weeks...where does the time go?!?

So one would think that being home all day would allow for tons of time to blog but in reality this sweet angel is a 24/7 job and when she sleeps I can either do things that I need to like clean, do laundry, take care of myself ect...or I can do what my body needs and that is sleep. There are times when I can sleep but other times I can't because when Emma makes the slightest noise I wake straight up!

The first four weeks of Emma's life have FLOWN by! We have had some wonderful friends and family visit and this post will showcase them! Sorry to those who visited but I failed to get a picture of...mommy brain kept me from getng each and every visitor. :-(

Uncle Hunter

 Proud Grandparents Poppi, NaNa                                             Grandmother

Katie stopped by the hospital. We can't wait to meet baby Denton!

Elizabeth came with baby Graham in belly!

Mary's here and sometime super soon we will have to get a play date with Zoe!

Elizabeth is here and baby Aubry is gonna have a great friend once Emma is older!

Bethany came and Gabby wanted to make sure she was doing it right!



Whitney is here ...

And Elle made the trip too!

Corey didn't want to be left out of holding this tiny little girl!

Aunt Mel and Delaney

Cousin Kaitlin

Jessica getting her baby fix

Aunt Brenda

And cousin Desiree

We have had many more visitors but like I said...I forgot to document them all! Thanks to everyone who came by to welcome our little bundle home!

Be blessed!

Jill

I'm a Mommy!!!! Help me welcome Emma Jean!

I just wanted to update those of you who aren't on facebook or haven't already heard...I'm a mommy!!

A week ago yesterday (4 weeks before she was due to arrive) Emma Jean made her début.

At 2:10 am my water broke and when I woke Michael up to tell him his first word out of his mouth was "shit!" ;-) We hadn't packed our bag yet, we hadn't figured out how to put her car seat in...we just had planned on doing the final "get ready" that weekend!

I called the hospital and they said that even though my contractions were irregular and still spaced far apart I needed to come in right then.

We got to the hospital at 4 (it took us a little to get going!) and I was 1 cm dilated and 80% effaced, got to a room by 5 and at 6 a sorority sister came in to give me my epidural! At 6:30 they checked me and I was 3 cm dilated and still 80% effaced. 10 o'clock came and though my doctor wasn't on call her husband was so she still came in to check on me and planned on being there when I delivered if I did during the day. I had only dilated to 4 cm at this time so she started the pitocin and we just waited... the next time my nurse came in to check on me it was 3 (she had another patient start to push at 1) and I was complete! We started pushing at 3:20 and at 3:55 my doctor came in and by 3:59 Emma arrived!!!

I was doing great until the last push and then I tore :-( All in all it was a great delivery!

Emma arrived March 9th weighing 6 lbs 2 ozs and a whopping 19 1/2 inches long. She was 4 weeks early (April 3rd was her projected due date) but she had no complications. They were happy to hear that her lungs were good...and as a matter of fact the pediatrician said "She doesn't know she is a preemie so we just won't tell her.)

We stayed 2 nights just to be on the safe side and then made our way home. Thank goodness I had my last two showers the weekend before and Mom helped me finish setting up her room by noon on Monday

It's been a great first week!! We went to our 5 day check up and she was perfect. She had even regained her birth weight and 1 oz. She is sleeping like an infant which means 2-3 hours at a time and eating like a champ!! Best of all our 4 legged babies are really taking well to the new addition to their pack. :-)

Here are some of the pictures from her first week!

Morning of March 10th

 Proud Daddy

Leaving the hospital

 

 Gabby and Brinkley meeting Emma for the first time

 A practice photo shoot with my friend Nicole Sudduth

 Another pic I took while Nicole had her set up!!



Well it's about time to fee again...have a very blessed day!!

 

Jill

34 weeks and swelling...um I mean growing. :-)

Well gang we have made it to 34 weeks and while Emma is growing I am swelling.  It was first noticeable after my cousin Blake's wedding this past Saturday. The wedding was in Little Rock and Michael and I drove down and back in one day...maybe not the BEST idea but we made it happen. When I got home I was horrified at how big my ankles were...and they swelling hasn't stopped since. During the wedding however I felt fine and didn't even notice the pain.

Me and Michael

Mom!!

 My sweet Nanny and brother Hunter

This week I have started needing to wear compression pantie hose or socks every day to help with the swelling in my ankles and every night I go home and prop my feet up above my heart for a least an hour to try to help things out. I had an appointment with my doctor and she said that I am doing all I can right now since my weight gain is right on track, I am drinking lots of water, walking and exercising every day and staying away from most processed foods. The bottom line is that some people just swell worse than others. :-(

We had our second childbirth class and we talked all about meds and got to see a C-Section...well it was playing but I couldn't watch it. Michael said it looked cool :-) and I will take his word for it! One more week and we will be ready for whatever this delivery throws at us...or at least that is the idea. ;-)

Back to Emma!! She is now the weight of an average Cantaloupe and almost 18 inches long!

They tell me her fat layers are developing and that will help her to regulate her body temperature once she is born and also help her to round out! Experts also say that most baby's do well if born from here on out! :-) That helps you feel a little better but I would still prefer her to keep growing inside for another 2 weeks.

For me...I've already told you that I am swelling in my hands and ankles and I am getting a little more tired. I will rest for a while once I get home and then I feel better for most of the night. I am also watching that I don't jump up too quickly after sitting or lying for a while to keep me from becoming faint. Other than that it's just the same ole same ole! :-)

Can't wait to see this little girl!!

Have a blessed week!!

Snow snow go away....and don't come back! ;-)

Don't get me wrong...I have really enjoyed the time off to rest with Michael and the pups but it's been too cold and to snowy to do anything but rest! Here are some of my favorite picture from the snow.

 Brinkley loves the snow!!!

 And from the looks of it Gabby does too!

 Time to see the front of the house.

22 inches!! And I think it was still falling at the time we took this pic!

Michael's truck didn't get to be inside and it almost got lost in all the snow.

And lets just be clear, I have only seen this much snow in Colorado and that is where it's supposed to stay! ;-)  Again just like the last winter storm, I had all this free time but I did not blog!  So this week will be another 2 week catch up week.

Week 32

Well Emma is growing...and I mean GROWING! We had the 32 week ultrasound and she is measuring at 34 weeks... For those who don't know the ins and outs of the "weeks", this means that if she keeps growing on track like she should she will be 9 LBS at 40 weeks!!  I have gained 15 lbs myself but sometimes it feels like more thanks to the fact that my feet really don't want to fit into anything other than tennis shoes and my belly keeps bumping into things before I do! :-)


I will give you Emma's stats as though she were really 32 weeks...
Emma weight 3.75 lbs about the size of a large jicama (for those like me who didn't know it's a crispy, sweet edible root that resembles a turnip although there is no relation and is popular in Mexican cuisine.)

And is 16.7 inches long. From now on I should gain around a pound a week and half of that goes directly to Emma proving that she will gain a third to 1/2 her weight in the next seven weeks.

I have noticed that for me the biggest problem lately is blood flow...there is so much but apparently it doesn't know where to go. Last Tuesday I had a scare with numbness in my leg, then arm then face and then some yummy tunnel vision.  While these are classic signs of a migraine for me it's always on the left side and this day it was the right. I called and got in to see Dr. Bailey just to make sure everything was okay and we did the 32 week ultrasound then too. Everything looked good and luckily my blood pressure was normal. Turns out I was just having all the migraine starters without the actual pain so that was a relief. And had I waited until Wednesday for my scheduled appt...I might still be waiting since that was the morning the snow came to town.  Sleep is getting more predictable and I normally only have to go to the bathroom at most 2 times a night I do wake up and waller over to my other side several times each night.

I also escaped NWA for the last time solo for the remainder of my pregnancy to go shopping and looking around Little Rock with my mom. I drove to LR and by awesome little brother picked me up in North Little Rock so that when Mom and I came back the next day it would save me an hour in the car alone. We hit the local baby stores like Baby Depot and Babies R Us but we hit the mother load with Pickles and Ice Cream in Little Rock! I finally found my glider and Mom and MeMe ordered it for me right then! I had said over and over again that I didn't want the traditional glider because I didn't like the way it looked and I wouldn't be able to move it to other rooms...but after sitting in many different chairs...the traditional gilder was just the BEST!  Here is picture of what mine will look like ...

We didn't get the ottoman because of room and this isn't the actually fabric but it is a pink and I think I will like it for years to come!! Later on if I have a boy we can always get it recovered but I decided that there is no need to plan for someone that might not be here for 3 years or more. It will take 5 weeks so hopefully it will be here by the time Emma makes her appearance. Also got my present from my little brother this weekend and it's already in Emma's room!

And MeMe is going to see if she can't make this little guy for some newborn pictures!! :-)

All in all it was quite a wonderful week!!


33 Weeks 

Emma should now be weighing in a little over 4 lbs and the weight and shape is reminiscent of a pineapple.

She has passed the 17 inch mark and is rapidly losing her wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening but thankfully her skull isn't fused so that she can make her appearance with a little less pain. :-)

This is the week that they let me know I may start to waddle!! How exciting! ;-P I also get to look forward to seeing more difficulty finding a comfortable position to sit in and the bumping into chairs and counter is now par for the course! They have also validated the numbness I have been feeling in my hands. I am noticing it when I drive and dry my hair...apparently it's due to the increased pressure in the carpal tunnel of my wrists and I should stretch more. I will give it a try.

This week marks the first week that we should be able to go to our child birth class and we are going to have to squeeze 4, 3 hour sessions into 3 nights.  It will be a lot of info but I want as much info as I possibly can have!!  And last but certainly not least we got our proofs in! Jonathan Edward and his beautiful wife Becky did an amazing job!! Check out their work on http://jephotography.net/ and we have already found 6 photos that I can't live without! Here is one that will go in Emma's room... We can't wait to get them in our hands and will be ordering today or tomorrow!

Have a blessed day!!!

How Far Along: 31 Weeks- due date is April 3rd

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Gained 13 lbs

Maternity Clothes: All maternity all the way!!

Gender: Girl  -  Name: Emma Jean

Movement: All the time! :-) But I think mostly she is just trying to get in a better position!

What I miss: Being able to eat stuff without always getting reflux. :-(

Cravings: I wanted watermelon soooo bad on Tuesday night...but alas it's not in season. Instead my wonderful husband made me a berry and peach smoothie and I put it in a martini glass to dress it up! 

Best things about this week: Getting to catch up on my sleep thanks to snowmagedon!! I feel like a real person again and last night I had 2 4 hour blocks of sleep!! And here is what I woke up to yesterday...(Michael was in the other room working from home so his spot was open!)

We also got a visit from Elizabeth Sullivan, her husband Pat and their little girl Aubrey. The best part about the visit was the Gabby and Brinkley did great!! We were worried about Gabby since she is so scared of little people! But look...

Maternity photos were taken on Saturday and we can't wait to see them this next Monday assuming the snow works with us!! And the breast feeding class was great. Unfortunately we didn't get to go to our child birth class due to the weather so they are going to try and put our 4 weeks into 3.

Week 31 has been eventful

Emma is now over 16 inches long and weighs about 3.3 lbs!! (it' like carrying around 4 navel oranges!) and she is headed into a growth spurt!!

She can move her head from side to side and she is plumping up to fill out the skin she's had for a while. 

For me it's the same ole same ole...she moves a lot so I don't sleep as much but that is a blessing since her movement means she is doing GREAT! I'm getting braxton hicks contractions every now and then and I could start leaking colostrum or "premilk" now! :-(

Hopefully we will have some pregnancy pictures to show you next week and we will have our 32 week ultrasound to check on Emma's growth! YEA!!!

Be blessed!! And stay warm!