Beyond Proud

Our angel is here.

We have a brand new baby boy - Ashton Taylor.

He was born into this world April 10, 2008 at 5:11 p.m. via c-section. He weighed in at 7 pounds 2 ounces and was 19.5 inches long. He is absolutly the most amazing little baby boy ever. He is so perfect, and daddy and mommy just can't get enough of him.

Life is so amazing - I cannot believe how lucky I am.

I am having a baby. Today. Holy shit.

This is so weird! I am having a baby today.

My wonderful amazing husband woke me up by whispering into my ear "We are having our baby today!" So sweet. He has been up since like 6, got all the kids ready and took them to school. He keeps saying things like "Today is a GREAT day for a birthday!" "I have to go to Lowes to plant flowers for the baby to come home to!" "No more belly after today" (as he is rubbing it). I honestly, in 8 years, have never seen him like this. When we got married it was exciting but different because we were in Hawaii and it was just the 2 of us, he was so kind and considerate to me by carrying my train and all that, but today he is just ....... different. Giddy almost. Like a child. It's so cool.

My sweet baby boys, Alex and Zach, knew I had to eat before 9:00 a.m. So before they left for school they knocked on my door and had made me breakfast in bed. They both made me cards that said "Good luck MOM!" and "See you at the hospital!" They are so super excited to come to the hospital after school and meet their new brother or sister. It is so wonderful to see the excitment on their faces.

My precious daughter is so helpful to me, as always. She wanted to be at the hospital with me the whole time, she wants to stay the night with me there, she wants to help with everything. Last night she washed one last load of baby blankets for me without being asked to. She is the most amazing child. I am so blessed and lucky to have a daughter who is like her. If the baby is a girl, I hope she takes after her sister.

So, I am off to get some last minute things ready for our big adventure in a few hours. Chris just got home from taking the dog to the park and we are going to get flowers. We will plant them for our brand new baby, our Spring baby, OUR baby. It is still so surreal to both of us that we are having a baby. We are so giddy with anticipation. We look at each other this morning, and just start laughing.

Chris has been through one c-section with the boys so I keep asking him all these questions about it. Even though it was 13 years ago - it is nice to know that he has actually been there done that - so I wont have to worry about him not knowing what to expect and he wont be surprised by stuff. He does really well in those settings, but he gets a little wigged out when they stick me with needles for IV's and stuff because he hates to see me in pain. And they never get it on the first try. So the fact that he knows what to expect with them cutting me open and all that is nice.

We also are going to tell the doctor not to tell us the sex of the baby - we want him to just hold the baby up so we can both see at the same time. The anticipation of THAT is almost as bad as the anticipation of the c-section. Today will be an interesting day!

My Wonderful Husband

I just had to make a side note about how great Chris is and how lucky I am to have him. He has been so amazing throughout this pregnancy - and today especially since we found out we are having the baby tomorrow. He asked me to check an email for him on his work email - so I did and one of the ones in the inbox was a respnse to a mass email he had sent to his entire work (about 450 people). It was saying how we are having the c-section tomorow and how excited and nervous he is and that he is so happy right now and all these really nice things. He signed it "New Dad" ... awwww.

This isn't the first time he has done the email thing - he sent another mass one with the 4d pics of the baby, and before that the regular ultrasound pics, and before that the first ultrasound pics when the baby still looked like a tadpole. He is so stoked, and it is so awesome. Some may think after 4 babies that the 5th one would not be as exciting. But not this time. He was so amazing last night, we were in bed going to sleep and he kept kissing my neck and shoulders and telling me how happy I have made him, how amazing our marriage is, how content he is that he has found such a perfect and wonderful love. It is so wonderful to be loved so much and appreciated so much by such a great man. That man could have any woman he wanted - and he has chosen me. I feel so blessed and lucky.

He left work for the appt. (which he has not missed one of!), took me to lunch to celebrate the birth of our baby tomorrow, and then had flowers sent to the house right after he left to go back to work. I got them at like 11:45 and we had just left each other at 11 or so. Then he came home early from work because he is too excited to concentrate! He has been doing all kinds of things around the house - changed the headlight on the car, the brakelight on the truck, mowed the front lawn, packed some stuff for the hospital, I think he is nesting!!

2 of my sisters-in-law have called me and have told me that when they talked to Chris they could tell how excited he was for this. They both told me I am very lucky to have him. It is always so nice that people see the tremendous love he has for me and that we have for each other.

I just wanted to get this out so Baby G can always have something to look back on not only to see how excited mommy was for his/her birth, but that its daddy is just as excited too! And nervous as well!!! Yes, I am nervous, but knowing that I will have that man right by side, looking into my eyes, whispering to me, telling me everything will be okay, holding my hand and rubbing my face, I can get through anything with him by my side. I am so blessed to be having his child, a child we tried so hard for and wanted so badly.

I have to pinch myself sometimes that I am this lucky. Now I am going to go downstairs because I smell that he has started dinner (my job!). He is too awesome.

Baby Time

Tomorrow it is. April 10, 2008 my baby will be welcomed into the world. My c-section is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. and I have to check in at 3:00. This is so different from how I expected it to be - but I think it will be good. We have a plan. We have the kids all taken care of, we can notify people so they can make plans to be at the hospital if they want to, I even have visitors starting to line up for Friday! LOL. So different than going into labor at some off the wall hour and having to scramble for stuff. So I figured that since Chris and I wanted so badly for this experience to be different from the other 6 kids of course something had to go awry. Well - I have had the past my due date went into labor naturally (Taylor), and the my water broke 10 days early (Alex) and Chris has had the water break (Andrew), the emergency C-Section (Tyler), the regular delivery but omg something is wrong with the baby (Dylan), and the regular walk into the hospital in labor (Zach) - but neither of us ever had the planned c-section delivery. So it must be a blessing in disguise! Our very own, very first baby will enter the world in a way unlike any of its siblings did. Kinda cool!

Doc said I should be discharged by Sunday. It's perfect really. My mom will be here Sat. so I will have my right hand man taking care of me and the baby, and my right hand woman taking care of everything else! Now all we hope is that they pull out a very healthy baby, that it doesn't have any hip issues from being breech, that it doesn't have any lung/breathing issues from being a c-section, that I recover without a problem, that the baby nurses well, etc. I have always kinda wanted pics of my newborn with that perfectly round little c-section head! No cone heads here!

I just hope no nightmare scenario happens - like I get an infection or some stupid shit. Or god forbid something were wrong with our baby. Holy CRAP I'm havin a baby tomorrow!!!!!!!! Wow.

Who knew 24 hours could be so long?

Minutes seem like hours, hours seem like days. Days? They seem like YEARS!! I am so ready to have this child. The kind soul in my tummy kept me up again last night kicking the holy hell out of me. Even Chris, once again, kept getting kneed in the back from baby G. Now that we know exactly how the baby is positioned, we can totally tell if it is a kick, knee, or punch coming from in there. And the head-butts into my ribs are really enjoyable.

So I go to the doc tomorrow to hear what the rest of my week will consist of. My guess is that I will have the section sometime Friday, God please let it be in the morning, so I will spend most of Wed. making plans (again) and most of Thursday making sure everything is ready at the house, groceries are bought, etc. My mommy comes in on Sat, thank God, and I gave her the run down on all her duties. She will be on full kid patrol, taking them to school, picking them up, taking them to their extracurricular activities, etc. She's like "Mit, I can do everything if Chris will just be there to change Dylan's diapers!" LOL!! No, Mom, I wont ask you to change a 12 and a half year olds diapers. THAT is a little over the top! So I have lists to make for my mom too. It's not like I wont be right here in the house, and Chris as well, it's more that I would rather things just run smoothly downstairs while I am resting upstairs. But she did say she would be bringing me all my meals to my bed! Yes!! This c-section might not be as horrible as I am making it out to be! :)

My biggest concern is the moments after the birth, naturally. I wont be able to hold my baby and that kills me. But I know Chris will be there, he will hold the baby, he will follow the baby everywhere, he will stay in the nursery with the baby and when I am finally in recovery Chris will bring me the baby. Then I will get to hold and feed the baby. So we are probably going to ask all visitors to come to the hospital after I am in recovery. I am getting antsy thinking about other people handling the baby before I do, so it will ease my mind to just have Chris at the hospital with no one else to worry about except for little baby G, and when the 3 of us have had time to recoup from the c-section and I have had time to try to feed the baby, which will be more difficult after the c-section and I really don't want any one in there while I am dealing with the pain and the latching on and all that shit for the first time. So hopefully the surgery will be in the morning, and by the early afternoon all the baby's family and friends can come to the hospital and meet our new addition. This will be the plan any day that I deliver... OH! And I'm thinking we wont tell the sex of the baby over the phone. If you want to know what it is you will have to come to the hospital! LOL. Just because I enjoy driving everyone crazy :) Although I have my doubts that Chris will be able to keep his mouth shut. But once he tells one person, everyone will know. One person calls another who calls another, and our big surprise is blown! I had imagined that everyone would be outside the room when I delivered vaginally, and Chris would come out of the door and yell "It's a _______!!!" But since that can't happen now because clearly this baby likes to challenge all of my OCD control issues, we have to think of another fun way to let people know the sex. Hmmm. I'm going to ponder that for the next few days. Maybe we will keep the baby all bundled up in the hospital and when I get home we can have an unveiling of the gender. Haha. So for days no one would know if they were holding a boy or a girl. THAT would be a real kick in the pants for us!

Alright - well that's the story. After my appt. tomorrow I should be updating here to let you peeps know the deal. Or maybe I wont and I will keep it all a secret because honestly I am having such anxiety about how this is going to unfold. I can't wait to be over this part and just have my tiny baby with me in my arms.

Home from version ... Still pregnant

Obviously, the version didn't work. Stubborn little thing. So it was horrible, more horrible than I thought it would be, more horrible than I allowed myself to imagine it could be. Horrible. The Dr. tried and tried, and then called in another Dr. so both of them could try some more, but no. Nope. Little baby G would snuggle right back where he/she was as soon as they took the pressure off and put the ultrasound on. I cannot believe that I am going to have a c-section. I am so irritated by the thought of it - them whisking my baby away from me, taking it to the nursery, so I can't even hold it for a half hour, or more. Staying in the hospital for 2 days. TWO DAYS. But a healthy baby and a healthy mommy are the most important. At least that's what they tell me. Ha.

So the plan is this: If I don't go into labor before next Wednesday, I go in for my appt. and schedule the section. It will be Thursday or Friday. My mom flys in Saturday so at least she will be here to help with the kids, which is perfect. Since I wont be home for two (god damn) days. The one thing Doc did say was he would look more into my request of having the version done after I have had an epidural, and since I would be in for a c-section he might be willing to try and vert the baby after the epidural and before he does the c-section. If that works, yay, I get to have a vaginal delivery. If not, they wheel me back for the section. But as he said, he was pushing about as hard as he could push, and our little baby was not budging.

Chris is now convinced it is a girl, because he said a boy would never be that stubborn. The poor man must not be aware of how stubborn my offspring can be! Haha. Either way, we know now that this is most certainly its mothers child.

I'm off to research-to-death c-sections.

We have a plan

Version attempt on Friday - if it is successful we are having a baby!

If not, we wait for labor to start and if it hasn't turned we do the section.

Let's hope it works!!!