Updates Soon!

Life has been quite crazy with family in town and all the events of the week! I will update soon! But for now I leave you with beautiful pictures of my little baby girl!

November 27th.....

I am thankful for safe travels! Tomorrow, we are celebrating Zoe Jane's baptism into the Church! What an exciting day! Our family is traveling this weekend to celebrate with us. I pray for everyone traveling, anywhere, and am grateful for safe arrivals.

Today, I am also grateful for Alabama's 12th W of the season....Gators here we come! Zoe Jane enjoyed her first real Bama game....UT Chattanooga doesn't really count. She can't wait to wear her cheerleading uniform next year!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

November 26th......

I am so thankful for this absolutely gorgeous, perfect day that I get to spend with my family, eating, relaxing, and just enjoying one another's company. I am thankful for afternoon naps, too!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

November 25th.....

I am thankful for sweet dreamy smiles.

November 24th.........

I am so thankful for the generosity of our family, friends and coworkers. We have been so blessed by all the wonderful gifts, thoughts and prayers from all of you! Thank you so much!

Black Friday

I am so excited this year for Black Friday. I have already been doing my research on all the local stores to see all the great deals. This year we have good reason to go shopping on the this crazy morning.....I know a lot of you think people are insane to get out on Black Friday, but it is so worth it! This year Zach and I need this.......
HHGregg and Lowe's have these items on sale! We also are looking for a good deal on hardwoods and carpet, so Lowe's will probably be our choice of store on Friday. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we have good luck! I am so tempted to head over to Carter's and OshKosh too....but we will see how Lowe's goes first....and how much sleep I get Thursday night!

November 23.......

I am thankful today that at Zoe's check up she gained 8 ounces.....she now weighs 7 lbs 1 oz! I am so glad about this because it reassures me that she is eating enough! I am so happy she is happy and healthy. I am also grateful because last night she slept so GREAT and fed every 4 hours...rather than 2....We woke up at 7! It was awesome.

We have also had more visitors! Mary, Kevin and Noah came over and brought with them a travel changing kit. It is going to make changing Zoe on the go so much easier! Thank you!

Zoe Jane's Godmother, Jenny, also came over. I can't wait for Baby Williams to arrive so we can play! Jenny brought Zoe an adorable outfit and I can't wait for her to gain more weight so she can wear it!

Our Little Family

Thankful!

November 21st......

I am thankful that I have my face back, my feet back, I am getting my stomach back.......I am thankful for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy recovery.....I have never felt better!

November 22nd.....

I am thankful that I love to organize....because a cluttered life is just no fun!

1st Week

Zoe Jane has been born for 1 whole week.....I can't believe a week ago today....I was about to start pushing our bundle of joy out! For our first week, it was a great and busy one.

Grandma stayed for the first couple days and it was so wonderful having her here. I have a really hard time letting people help me with things....a really hard time. I really like to do things myself but Zelda insisted she help and I really appreciated her being here! Grandma and Granddaddy get to come back next week and stay for a week. I am so excited to have them visit again.....especially since we will definitely need their help due to closing that week on the house!

Thursday, Zoe Jane had her first doctor's appointment. I absolutely LOVE her pediatrician, Dr. Evans. She is so loving and the nicest woman. We got everything checked out. Zoe weighs 6 lbs 9 oz.....a little bit lower than birth weight, but higher than her discharge weight. Her length is 19 3/4 inches. The doctor asked if she was making all the milestones at her age....reacting to loud sounds, start raising her head, making good eye contact. She is doing all of them! We go back on Monday to have a weight gain check.

After her checkup, we had a play date with our good friends, Alyshia and Greg. Greg III was born on September 30th. It was so funny seeing the two babies next to one another....Greg is SO much bigger! But so adorable! I can't wait to have more play dates with them in the future!

Friday, Great Grandma, or Grandma Panchito as we call her, arrived from Arizona. She will be staying until the end of the month. We also had visits from Carrie and Laurie. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of Carrie and Zoe and the one with Laurie didn't turn out! They will have to come back and visit so we can get more! Zoe has been sleeping really well.....and she sleeps all the time. Yesterday, she slept from 6-11....missing a feeding which made me nervous, but it allowed us to have a great dinner celebrating my Grandma's birthday at Dominick's.

She has also been eating great! I love breastfeeding! I love the time I get to spend with her....just the two of us. I just stare at her the whole time. She smiles a lot too while eating and it just melts my heart. Breastfeeding also takes away a lot of worry....I know that when Zoe is done eating and full, she will let me know and detach. And I also love that I don't have to lug around bottles and formula....everything we need is always with us! Zoe Jane has been eating every 2-3 hours, more often at night. My milk flows extremely fast, so she only eats for about 10 minutes a feeding. I also have to burp her often....I love hearing her burp....it is so funny!

Zoe Jane is wearing preemie size clothes.....she is teeny tiny! I hope she will be in her newborn outfits soon...they are all so cute!

I have been keeping track of her messy and wet diapers and when she eats....I am very much a "schedule" person and this helps me so much. When we left the hospital, the doctor said she should have about 5-7 messy diapers and day and I laughed....I have taken care of a lot of kids and never have I seen one have 7 messy diapers in a day. Well, boy was I wrong.....our little girl has 9-10 a day! I guess I should see this as a positive thing....she is healthy!

I received these yesterday from my wonderful Pop Pop. They are beautiful....Thank you so much!

Update on me: I have been feeling GREAT! I am healing wonderfully and have lost almost 30 pounds so far....only about 20 more to go! I just am so overwhelmed with joy and love and more love! I have never been happier in my life!

November 20th......

I am so thankful for delicious Italian food from Dominick's, our absolute favorite restaurant, and a wonderful glass of wine! Not only am I thankful for these things, but that Zoe Jane slept through all of dinner, allowing me to stuff my face! Baby knows how to make her Mommy happy :)

P.S. Happy Birthday, Aunt Misty.....We love you! Can't wait to see you next week.

Zoe Jane's 1st Bath

Zach has a slight obsession with bathing. I think all he talked about for a good while when I was preggo was how he couldn't wait to give his baby a bath. Since we have brought Zoe home, he has constantly been hinting toward wanting to bathe her. So last night, we had our first sponge bath. I love the smell of a clean baby.

I am so sad because tonight...at Midnight.....NEW MOON will be out and I won't be there to see it....all in due time!

But today I am so thankful because we OFFICIALLY have a closing date for the house!!!!! November 30th here we come!

November 18th.....

I am so thankful to have a camera to capture all my Zoe Jane's every moves and for CVS where I can order the pictures online.....SO EASY! I love how the Internet makes so many things so much more simple! Developing pictures is definitely one of them. I no longer have to go to the store, stand at the kiosk and wait 20 minutes for everything to print. Now, I can upload my pictures to CVS.com, pick which ones I want to print, place the order for hours or days and then pick them up. I love too that you can order prints and have them sent to relatives through the mail or make a picture gift and have it sent.

Baby Pool Winner!

Congratulations to Ms. Crystal for winning the Baby Pool!

(I have decided that this is how Zoe will call all my friends....with a Ms. or Mr.)

Here is what she guessed:

Birth Date: 11-14-2009

Birth Time: 6:08

Gender: Girl

Length: 20.5 inches

Weight: 8.125 lbs

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

And the actual results:

Birth Date: 11-14-2009

Birth Time: 12:19

Gender: Girl

Length: 20 inches

Weight: 6.813 lbs

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Great guessing Crystal.....be looking in the mail for your prize....

Love you and Zoe Jane can't wait to meet you!

Home Sweet Home

Bringing Zoe Jane home was so wonderful today. It is real now! We had a wonderful first day home. We had a little bit of trouble getting her to eat....so I had to pump and give her a bottle. She took great to the Playtex VentAir bottles. My milk has definitely come in....in FULL FORCE. While at the hospital, I was about to feed Zoe and I looked down and was SOAKED! Oh the Joys of Motherhood. I now know to always bring an extra bra and shirt where ever I go.

I was able to take a good nap today and Zoe Jane slept a ton. She is doing so great and I just love her so much! We had a couple visitors today and lots of gifts. My Uncle Tim and Ms. Brenda stopped by and we all had dinner together....and of course OOOed and AAAed over our little one.

I am so glad Zoe is home, right where she belongs!

Zoe is Coming Home!

I am so thankful that Zoe Jane gets to come home this morning! She has been eating amazingly....I absolutely love breast feeding! For her to get to go home, she had to eat and hold everything down and she did great the last 2 days. I can't wait to get her home. I missed her so much last night.

Day 2

Let me first just say......wow do I feel so blessed! I am so thankful for all our doctors and nurses, family and friends, everyone out there that may read this....we are all so blessed to have you praying and thinking about us....and I am so grateful!

Zoe Jane was emitted to the NICU yesterday morning. Saturday night, she was spitting up a lot so we couldn't lay her down to sleep. She stayed on my chest majority of the night....which was perfectly fine with me because I couldn't stop starring at her anyway. I didn't want to let her go at all. Finally, at around 5, my body gave in and I had to get some sleep. We sent her to the nursery so I could sleep until about 7. While there, she threw up some green, they are thinking bile, but were not 100% sure. Our pediatrician came in around 8 and examined her. Afterwards, around 9:30, Dr. Welsh-Evans sent her to NICU to get some tests run and X-rays taken. She wanted to take every precaution and I truly appreciated that.

We finally got to go down and see Zoe Jane around 10:45 and tears just came rolling. It just broke my heart seeing her with all her wires and tubes. There was one tube that went through her mouth into her stomach so they could monitor if there was anymore green substance. I just ached. It was hard too because we couldn't hold her.....and all you want to do it hold and kiss her and tell her you love her. When we went back to visit later that afternoon, we did get to hold her and love on her which helped so much. Grandma was here all day with us and Papa and Grammy came around 7:00. It was so nice having them all here!

Zach and I definitely were able to catch up on our sleep last night. I woke up at about 1:30 and pumped and then went to visit Zoe. Up until midnight, Zoe Jane had not been bottle fed, but everything they had been monitoring in her stomach came back great so they took the tube out of her mouth and were able to feed her her first bottle. I got down to visit around 2:oo and I was just so happy to see her! She was wide awake and I got to hold her and talk to her and stare and stare! The nurse let me know everything was great and that Zoe ate great at midnight. She said if I wanted to stay and give her her 3am feeding that I could. And, of course, I was going no where! She ate great again at 3 and went fast to sleep there after. I came back to the room and slept too. Zach and I both went down for the 6am feeding and Zach did so great feeding her. He is just smitten! I love seeing him with Zoe Jane...it just brings me to tears now thinking about how much love he has for her! She has stolen his heart.

Today, we have a meeting with the doctor at 10:00. Please pray that all the test are showing good things and that Zoe Jane is going to be just fine. I get discharged at 11:00.

A little bit about our little Zoe Jane:

*She has awesome blonde hair.....everyone has been telling us so! Can't wait to get cute bows and flowers for her hair!

*She has big blue eyes, but I think they will darken some.

*She loves, loves her hands....they are never far from her mouth and face.

*She smiled a ton at us this morning.....so I would say she is the happiest baby EVER! Ha!

*She has a great grip and just held my finger forever this morning.

*She has only lost a little bit of weight so far, which is great all things considered.

*She is perfect....enough said!

Our Baby Girl is here!!!

November 14th......

Could possibly be the best day of my life! I am so grateful to God for this beautiful gift He has so graciously given to us.....our Zoe Jane. I mean seriously....I said this when I first became pregnant and seeing my first ultrasound and still believe it now if not 100x more.....how can someone go through a whole pregnancy....every up and down...good and bad part.....week by week....and finally have a baby...and not believe in God! There is no perfection greater!!!! He is amazing and should be praised! And to feel this amount of love.....what a gift to be able to feel the way Zach and I feel right now!

On this special day that I will never, ever forget.....I could not be more thankful than for our family and friends...I could feel all your prayers and love surrounding us all...whether you were here or not. Thank you all so much for keeping the three of us with you through this pregnancy, labor and delivery and arrival of Zoe Jane.

Warning: This is a long post....I wanted to get down my memories in writing so I can look back and remember everything....and I loved reading people's experiences for piece of mind before I did it myself.

So....you are probably wondering how we got to this point based on my last post....because I sure wasn't expecting Zoe Jane's arrival this soon!

After my appointment on Thursday, I went on to work and was cramping but nothing serious...I just figured it was from getting examined. That night I continued to cramp throughout and went to the bathroom probably 10 times. I finally woke up around 6 on Friday morning and was bleeding...nothing I was too concerned about but I still called the doctor to double check. They told me it was probably from the exam but to call them if the bleeding continued. So, I went on to my playdate with Mary and Katie to meet Joshua and Max. I continued to bleed and my cramping got a little bit worse. I decided to call the doctor again around 3:00 to let them know everything going on. They had me come in and get checked again. I was about .5 cm dilated and the doctor still was not too concerned about anything progressing too much (little did we all know Zoe's plans). Dr. Pohl wanted to monitor the baby's heart rate to make sure everything was okay so I did this before heading home.

On the way home, cramping become more regular and had a start and end, so I decided to start writing down when I was feeling them. I would say this was all around 4 pm. At this point, everything felt more like menstrual cramps....very manageable. So off to the mall we went!!!! I had heard, as I am sure all of you have, that walking is great to bring on labor....AND BOY DID IT! By the time we left the mall around 9, I had steady manageable contractions about every 8-10 minutes, some closer together and some further apart. Once we got home it was closer to 10 and I figured sleeping would probably be very important so we went straight to bed. Sleep was not in the cards for us though. The contractions started getting much stronger....not something I could sleep through. I called the doctor around 11 because I was still bleeding and now contracting and just wanted to make sure everything was okay and I was doing what I should be. He said not to call until my contractions were 5 minutes apart for about 2 hours. Around 2 am, I was about 90% positive my water broke and I was contracting every 10 minutes or so. I called the doctor and he said the head on into the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 3 am and I swear contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes and were a ton more painful! The nurse checked me and I was 3 cm....they were going to send me home but saw how quick contractions were coming and she decided to check me in. We got into our room and monitored the baby for about 30 minutes....Labor was definitely in full swing.

One thing I would definitely suggest to anyone who wants to go naturally or is not able to get an epidural right away is to take full advantage of the TUB! Water helped me so much in those early stages!

I got into the tub and stayed for about 45 minutes until I had to be monitored and checked again. At this point, I was about 5 cm. I decided to walk around and keep moving, while I still could. A little while later, I got checked again and was 6 cm and was in crazy pain. I decided to get IV fluids at this point. The nurse let me know that in no way would this take away the pain if that is what I was hoping for, but rather take the edge off. The fluids definitely helped me rest in between contractions too which was great since I hadn't slept at all. I had a lot of back pain because the baby was face down....I pray for anyone who is pregnant that they don't have back labor. Ouch! Once I reached 8 cm, my progress seemed to slow down. The nurse had to give me petocin to get things going again....which didn't help with the pain. One round of IV fluids lasted 2 hours....and I could definitely tell when that 2 hours was up! THE EDGE WAS BACK! I ended up getting 3 rounds of IV fluids....so to get from 6 to 9 it took about 6 hours, not typical since the transition phase of labor is usually 45 minutes to an hour.

At 9 cm, the nurse let me know that the doctor suggested getting an epidural because I was having a really hard time relaxing (YOU THINK) and my cervix was swelling some....making it more difficult for the baby to come through. I said absolutely not....I made it this far and I was not about to get an epidural. At this point too, the baby was still face down so we had to try and get her to turn. I had to get up and sway back and forth and when laying down, I had to rotate side to side.....much harder than it sounds. By this time too, all I could scream, and I mean scream, was that I had to push. I don't think I actually dilated to 10 cm fully....they checked me one last time and at about Noon, Dr. Pohl came in and I was we were ready.

Another thing too for anyone even thinking about going natural is....the urge to push is no joke! Once you are dilated, the pain does go and you know exactly when to push. There is no pain really, just lots of pressure when pushing. I pushed for about 20 minutes and Zoe arrived!

That moment was so amazing! I couldn't believe.....one....she was a she....and two.....Zoe was finally here! Zach and I just held each other and cried.....it was such a beautiful moment that I will never forget! I got to hold Zoe Jane immediately and then they cleaned her up a little.. Zoe was born at 12:19 and is 6 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long. Zach went out and told everyone the news and came back with everyone. Grammy, Grandma, Aunt Kaitlin, Aunt Chrysti and Ms. Brenda came in to oooo and aaaa at Zoe and we all cried. It is so wonderful sharing such a gift with everyone. Oh, I love her so much!

As a side note: I have the most amazing husband EVER! He was phenominal during the whole labor and delivery. He did anything I demanded him to do....and I was demanding. He was so supportive and positive. He helped me focus on something else and counting through contractions. He was just great and I could not have made it without him. For all dads, do whatever your wife says, practice massaging now to stregthen your hands, and bring tennis balls!

November 13th...


I am thankful for CONTRACTIONS.

Lay 'em Down

November 12th........

I am thankful for prayer.

Today, I must say, was not one of my best. Do you ever just feel down....like crying would be the best thing in the world? On a day like today, I am so glad to be able to pray about what bothers me, what went differently than I hoped it would, and that I have all of you praying for me, too.

I had my 39 week appointment today....I am 40 weeks on Saturday. Blood pressure was fine, heart rate on the baby was fine, the baby had a growth spurt this past week which is great......BUT still NO PROGRESS....Nothing....Nada....Zero! I can't help but be a little disappointed. I was just hoping for something.....ANYTHING! The doctor also didn't seem very hopeful. He didn't feel that anything would really happen within the next week, so we scheduled me for a stress test on Friday. And if nothing does progress on its own, I will be induced on the 23rd. Not ideal.

Not to mention......buying a house has been one of the worst experiences of my life! No exaggeration. I am so sick of it all and ready for it to be over.

Be Positive.....be positive....is all I have been telling myself. And this is where the prayer really kicks in! One of my favorite songs by NeedToBreathe is Lay 'em Down. Pretty much the gist of the song is if you have things troubling you or bringing you down....lay them down to God.

Tonight, I pray

*for a healthy Baby

*for labor to progress on its own before the 23rd

*for the closing of our house

*for things to be simple

*for things out of my control to not affect me negatively

*to be happy and positive

*for your continued prayers and support

*for you all and any troubles you may be having

Lay it all before the Lord!

Veteran's Day

November 11th......

I am thankful for the men and women who are in the armed forces and go to work everyday to fight for our Freedom....especially those who are deployed and see the face of war. I am thankful for my brother-in-law, Joe, who has been a Marine for the last 9 years. I thankful for the sacrifices he has made for my sister and their 4 girls. I pray for the the men and women in all divisions of the military from the past, present and all those who consider going into the military in the future. Thank you!

Operation Christmas Child

November 10th......

I am thankful for being able to give.

#76 on the list is checked off.....and it was so much fun! #76:

Instead of giving gifts to all the children our family at Christmas,

let them pick a gift out for a child in need.

I read about Operation Christmas Child on The Wedding Story Blog. Right when I read about it, I thought how PERFECT this would be with my nieces. So....this morning I explained to the girls what we would be doing and they were so excited! OCC's goal is to collect shoe boxes filled with things, whether it be toys, schools supplies, socks, etc., and send them to various countries to children in need. I thought this would be a great thing to do with the girls that would really help them understand that Christmas is about giving and celebrating the things we are fortunate to have. We all watched a video on the charities website . The girls asked why the kids were so excited and I told them because the shoe box of gifts was probably to only thing they had received as a gift....that they don't have Christmas every year or celebrate their birthdays like we do. They were so excited to get shopping so these children would get gifts. Before we left, each girl got to decide if they wanted to fill their box with gifts for a girl or boy. Julie and Kayley decided on girls and Ally and Rylee bought for boys. So off to the store to shop........

Poor Ally....all through shopping she kept seeing Kayley and Julie put girly things in the cart, like baby dolls or tea sets. She would ask.....is there a boy baby doll or is there a tea set with tigers on it? So cute. The girls really enjoyed picking things out and making sure everything fit into the boxes. We got coloring books and crayons, pencils, hair ties, tooth brushes and tooth paste, baby dolls, footballs, squishy balls, jump ropes, hairbrushes, and candy.

Once we got home, the girls made Christmas cards for the boxes.
And then we packed them all up.....Ally was pumped!

I am so excited because, as a family, we are making this a Christmas tradition! For every child, we are going to fill one box. Next year, there will be 5!