Allie & Jay

We are really talking up Christmas this year. Seriously I got lie 20 books from the library! Kennedy was in the car reading on of them on the way home….

“Snow (Santa) gonna come. Snow gonna say trick or treat Kennedy B, trick or treat Parker B, trick or treat mommy B, then daddy brings us presents”

I was spying on Kennedy in the room with Parker the other day “I love you Parker. I really love you”

I am thankful for where I live. Ok I dream of a bigger house (well not really a bigger house just a bigger living room), I dream of a better kitchen, I dream of having more neighbors our age, but I am thankful for where I live. I lie my house. It’s home, but I’m speaking more about the location. In just a 2 hour drive I can have my toes in the sand, my feet on a mountain, or my heart in Clemson. More importantly almost all my family is here and for that I’m very thankful. My Mom lives less than 10 minutes away and so does my sister. My sister in law is just 30 minutes down town. We have 2 sets of grandparents just a hop skip and a jump down the interstate. I can’t imagine not having my family so close. My other sister in law is 2.5 hours away, but we still see each other often. Now we just need to figure out how to get my step sister and step brother to move here…

I am thankful for my husband. He is such a family man and that is just 1 out of the millions of things I love about him. Sure it drives me crazy when his clothes are in the kitchen or when the dishes go in the sink not the dishwasher, but overall he is perfect:). What other husbands do you know who do 4 days of Halloween, or drop everything to go apple picking, zoo gazing, park walking, side walk drawing, or little mermaid watching. I love that he reads Kennedy books every night and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Or how about the fact that he takes her to daycare every morning. I could go on and on, but he pits up with me and for that I am thankful!

Did you know that as soon as I started dating jay I started thinking about our kids? How many? What sexes? When? I knew we were getting married. I knew he was Mr Right. I knew he would be the father of my children. June 10, 2004 he asked me to marry him. June 25, 2005 we were married. August 2005 he started law school. I asked all the time when we could have kids. I joked. I poked. I begged. I knew the time wasn’t right. I knew we needed to wait. I also knew I wanted to be a mommy. I wanted that job more than anything in the world. Finally January 1, 2008 I convinced jay that the timing was right. Little did I know the journey to get there would have a few curves, bumps, and even train wrecks in it! I wanted to give up and just adopt by the summer of 2008. Just 7 months after we started trying I was done. I wanted to give up. Jay and Dr S stayed positive. They both knew I was going to be a mommy to my own children. May 2005 we were blessed with miracle #1. I honestly thought she would be an only child. I knew I wanted more but in my heart I thought she was it. Dr S was so supportive when we started trying for #2. Again our road was bumpy and curvy, but in September we welcomed miracle #2. I love being a mommy. It is even better than I ever imagined! So this brings me to day 1 of my Thanksgiving…. I am so thankful that God chose me to be Kennedy and Parker’s mommy. I may never know why the road to becoming a mommy was so hard, but had that road been smooth I wouldn’t have the babies I do have and for that I am thankful.

I had a bread blog typed. Really, it was a good one! I wrote it 2 weeks ago when Parker was a month old. Checked the blog today and it wasn’t there! Here are a few 1 month states…well 5.5 weeks now!

Parker at 5.5 weeks you can

-smile
-you’ve laughed once
-you’ve rolled over one (I didn’t see it happen but you weren’t how I left you)
-you weight 9 lbs 3 oz
-you eat every 3 hours day and night for 15-30 minutes
-you had your first dr appointment and prescription today (I thought you had baby acne but in fact it is cradle cap on your face)
-you don’t really like pacis
-you can hold your head up
-you love to be held like a big girl sitting up
-you love your sissy and she loves you
-you like to be swaddled at night
-you have blond hair and blue eyes
-you love the moby wrap
-you don’t like the swing, bouncy seat, or really anything other than my arms
-you coo at me
-you wear newborn clothes and diapers but I think size 1 and 0-3 month clothes are coming soon!
-you love to sleep on my chest
-you love your froggie paci
-you are a trooper and have been to the zoo twice, apple picking, the pumpkin patch, and running many errands

We have been so busy. I have been out and about and driving for about a week. I can’t believe that Parker will be a month old tomorrow. Where does time go? We have been trying to keep things very normal for Kennedy which means keeping her the center of our universe. She’s done fun things like the okra strut, cooking with mommy, monkey joes, the zoo, and mornings with mommy at church. She has had a ball! Parker is easy going and just tags along where ever we go. Check out her eyes. Blue or brown, what do you think? Her favorite is when I strap her in my Moby wrap. Jay went to Clemson for the weekend and we girls had a ball. We went to the library, publix (yeah I did it! By myself!), and I actually had time to sew them a set of matching dresses:). Here are some pictures everything we’ve been up to lately! Oh yeah, and how bout our tigers?!?

Ok, I didn’t think it at first but now I’m really starting to think they look alike….

can you tell which one is which?

I’ll pick up where I last left off. After our crazy day Tuesday, where we found out Parker was breech and I was low on fluid, I was put on bed rest. I rested all day Wednesday then Jay and I went to our appointment and ultrasound Thursday. We had the car packed and were ready to meet Parker. The ultrasound revealed that my water went up and a c/s scheduled Thursday, Friday, or Monday wasn’t medically necessary. Dr S said we would just wait for labor or he would see me first thing Monday. Well I was crushed. I literally cried. I wanted so bad to know when and I was terrified of going into labor with a breech baby. I thought it wasn’t safe to send me home to wait on labor. I went home from the appointment and went straight to bed. I slept all afternoon. My mom came over later to get my car so she could pick up Kennedy. I asked if I could ride with her and if she minded heading to Target afterward. We went to Target and I bought some different PJ pants to prepare for a c/s. Friday I hit 37 weeks and I just had a feeling I wouldn’t make it past the weekend. My mom came over at 9:45 to take Kennedy to mommy and me at church. I tagged along but let her do all the running after Kennedy. After mornings with mommy we met my sister at applebees for lunch. I ate it up! I even added jalapeños to everything (I do love jalapeños!). After lunch I went home and put Kbug to bed and headed to bed myself. I had killer heartburn and was so tired. After Kennedy woke up I got her dresses and we headed to a smocked dress tent sale. She was SO well behaved and I bought the girls Easter and Christmas dresses! Jay called and needed something from walmart so I then met him there and handed Kbug off to him. He wanted blimpie for dinner. I still had heartburn so I passed. We headed home and put on Robin Hood and watched it as a family. Kbug had so much fun and we put her to bed at 9:00. At 9:45 I told Jay goodnight and headed upstairs. I love my pinterest time and Girly TV before going to sleep. Potter curled up with me and we started our nightly routine. I noticed the Braxton Hicks were happening frequently but that had been happening for months. I started trying to time them but kept getting distracted by Say Yes to the Dress. I then started to notice an odd pain happening. It wasn’t contracting like a BH but it was a gas pain every few minutes. I started timing them and noticed they were happening every 1-2 minutes. I went down stairs at 10:45 to warn jay that something was happening. He freaked out and wanted to go straight to the hospital. I called my mom to see if she could come over just in case we went to the hospital. Unfortunately she had just taken an ambien and didn’t answer the phone. I called my stepdad and he said he would be right over. My mom was such a trooper and came along too. We headed to the hospital and walked into L & D. I informed them that I wasn’t really sure if it was labor or not but that with her being breech I was taking any chances. We had the best nurse who hooked us up to machines and talked us through everything. She was super excited about where she found Parker’s heartbeat and thought she might not be breech. The doctor rolled in the ultrasound machine. Parker was in fact still breech. They watched the monitors for a few minutes and told us not to call family yet, but it looked like we were heading towards a c/s. After about an hour my cervix was dilating fast and the contractions started to take my breath away. They came in and began explaining everything to me. Jay was given scrubs and next thing you know I am walking to the OR. Everyone was in there ready for me. At 2:52 AM just a few hours after we left our house Parker was born! She looked perfect. She had a head full of blond hair. Jay went over to meet her while they sewed me up. They swaddled her real quick ran her over for a kiss from Mommy and informed us that she wasn’t breathing well and needed the special care nursery. Jay went with Parker and the nurse gave me some drugs that made me real sleepy. I slept while they sewed me up then was rolled to recovery. I kept asking when I could nurse Parker and they assured me that I would be able to soon. They then took me to my room where again I asked when I could see Parker. Jay came back and told me she was in the special nursery and she was being heavily monitored and needed an IV. He kept going in and checking on her and taking pictures of her so I could see her. They brought me in a pump so I could start pumping. Family started to trickle in so jay took them to meet Parker one by one. Each time someone went in jay came back with a picture for me. I kept asking when I could see her and they told me I needed to be off the IV to see her. Finally late afternoon jay was able to wheel me down. I was the first person to get to hold her. She was so sweet, but looked so sick. I boohooed and told Jay it was my fault. She was too early. I shouldn’t have gotten up from bed. I shouldn’t have shopped. How could I have done this to my baby? It was the longest ride of my life from the NICU to my room. I cried the whole way. It wasn’t right! She should be with me! I failed her as a Mommy! The neonatologist came in later and informed us the Parker’s problems stemmed from her being anemic. They weren’t sure why she was anemic. It could have been because her blood back flowed up the umbilical cord. They tested my blood to see if that was the case. (later we found that to be negative and it is still a mystery as to why Parker was anemic). Once all the family left we went back once more to see our Sweet P. She looked a little healthier and my guilt lifted a little. We went back to the room and went to bed. At 3:30 I woke up 1: in pain and 2: needing to see my baby. We had the best nurse in there who decided it would be best to pull the curtain and close her eyes and let me nurse. She got it. She knew how important breastfeeding was to me. After we nursed Parker she was a different kid! She was wide awake! She was alert and moving. It was great for my heart to see her like a normal healthy baby. That’s what she looked like! A normal healthy newborn! When we left she was still awake. I woke up twice during the night in pain. After looking out for myself and eating breakfast we headed to NICU to see Parker. I was furious to fund out that her new nurse gave her formula (the evil white stuff as I call it) at 8:00. Why didn’t she call me to nurse? Why didn’t she use my milk in the fridge that I had been pumping all day? Why didn’t she look at Parker’s bassinet that said “I am only breastfed.”. Yeah I was MAD! The next feeding she let me nurse then got my pumped milk in a bottle to give Parker. She needed to measure Parker’s sugar levels and intake at each meal. You could tell this woman was not pro breastfeeding. She is the first person I have met at the hospital who is pro-formula. I tried to get Parker to take the bottle but that just wasn’t happening. She didn’t want it. She wanted boob! Finally jay came and got me because my doctor needed to see me. During this time the nurse and Parker had a battle of wills ver the bottle. I’m not sure who really won, but Parker took it. She needed 1 more feeding to get out of the special care nursery. The next time I came in she had no more wires! She was free! It was 2:30. She needed to nurse and take a bottle then keep her sugar level constant. She nursed well then the NICU was closing to guests so I told the nurse to fight her over the bottle. I told her I didn’t care if she gave her the evil white stuff as long as it got her out the NICU. Once the NICU opened back up we were informed that she was free! She was checked into the newborn nursery like any other newborn. Since then we’ve been in the room snuggling and loving on our sweet baby girl. Thank you to everyone who prayed for our sweet girl. She’s a miracle and we are so happy to be a family of 4!

Wow we have been on a crazy ride! Parker is still in the special care nursery so prayers are greatly appreciated:). Here are some sweet pictures

Well today did not go as planned. It all started with my alarm going off at 6:30. At this point it was like any other day. Whine. Try to roll over. Whine. Then pull up facebook and interest on my phone. I always lay in bed a few minutes wasting time and waiting for a little kick from Parker to let me know it is time to get up. After waiting and stalling for a while still no kick. I got on up and took a shower. I grabbed a real diet coke on the way out the door. By 9:00 I had drank a whole diet coke and still no kicks. I called my doctors office. At 10:00 they called back to check on me. When I told them she wasn’t moving they told me Dr S was not working and that I needed to go to the hospital. I was worried and felt like maybe she was moving and I was just missing it. I called jay and he was going to meet me at the hospital. We prayed on our way then I thought I may have felt a movement….or was that a contraction??? We went up to L & D to maternal monitoring and of course there is my doctor walking down the hall. He asks why I was there and I told him about the movement and that his nurse told me to come in. He told the nurses that his patient was here and to take care of me. They said his nurse had already called and told them about me and my not so good pregnancy history. Of course at this point Parker starts dancing the tango and gets the hiccups. I am mortified and apologized for wasting there time. They said given my history that it was good for me to come in but now that I was there I had to stay for an hour for monitoring. As usual I was having contractions every 10-15 minutes. I’ve been having these for over a month. Dr s decided to go ahead and check my cervix while I’m there. That is where the story really begins. He checks me and I am 2 cn dilated and 80%effaced and surprise! He can feel a head. They bring in the ultrasound machine and a nursing student and there is her head. Under my right rib cage. Her butt is on my cervix and he feet and up my left side. Her head is facing my arm pit rather than my front or back. Then comes surprise number 2. I have very little amniotic fluid. He send me for another ultrasound (biophysical profile I think they called it). It was here they checked her “breathing”, heartbeat, movement, and fluid. Although Parker scored 8 out of 8, my fluid was low. My fluid is the level of someone who is 41 weeks pregnant, not 36. They sent me back upstairs to be monitored some more. They decided to send me home but I’m not allowed to work anymore. I am officially on bed rest. I go back Thursday for them to recheck my levels. If the levels go down we will have a c-section on Thursday. If it is the same we will have a c-section Friday or Monday. I called my high risk insurance case manager and she freaked out. She couldn’t believe they sent me home being as dilated and effaced that I am. She is super worried that I will go into labor soon. If a miracle occurs they will try to get me a little farther into the pregnancy before doing the c-section. I would be lying if I said a c-section didn’t terrify me but I am excited to meet my sweet baby Parker. I feel that God truly watches out for me. He made Parker lazy this morning to get me to the hospital and He placed my doctor (who is a miracle worker in my book anyway) there to watch out for me. I trust my doctor so much and am so thankful he takes such good care of me!