Amber Waves of Grain

Hello! Nathan & Keegan are at church this morning so I'm enjoying being home with just Kennedy. Yesterday we took her for another jaundice screening and then to her first pediatrician's visit. She is down to 5 lbs, 12 oz which is fine. Her jaundice scores were a little high but nothing to really be concerned about. We have to go to have her retested (test # 4!) on Monday to make sure the numbers have gone down. Kennedy is finally starting to be awake more. For the first few days, she slept pretty much all day. She's alert more now which is fun. Unfortunately though, she does have her days and nights mixed up which made for a long night last night. Hopefully she'll have it figured out soon. Since Nathan & Keegan were at church, I had fun taking photos of Kennedy this morning. I'll post a few pics from it. These are before editing, so bear with me. A lot of these are in black & white because she looks so yellow in the colored pics. That's it for now. I...

Just sharing a few pics! Here we are Christmas Day at my parent's house after being discharged from the hospital: Nathan with Keegan and Kennedy, 12/26: On Christmas morning, the hospital nursery delivered Kennedy to us in a stocking!: Kennedy right after discharge from the hospital:

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We were able to go to my parent's house last night after being discharged from the hospital and enjoyed our time there. Today we took Kennedy back to the hospital for her newborn screening. Since discharge, she's become a little jaundice-looking so they retested her and we're waiting for the results. If they determine that she has any jaundice, they would have a special warming blanket thingy for her to wear for a few days. We're just waiting for the call. She also has lost 7% of her body weight (we don't need to be concerned unless it hits 10%). She's down to 5 lbs, 12 oz. Just a tiny little thing! Tomorrow is her first visit with at the pediatrician's office. We also have the sweet hookup for meals. Our church has a meal ministry team and they are providing meals for us for about 3 weeks! Today a couple brought us some lasagna, cookies, chicken salad w/ croissants for lunches, garlic bread, and coffee cake (...

7:30am Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!! Greetings from my bedside! I've just gotten up after a decent (not great, but decent) night's sleep. We left Kennedy in the nursery last night to catch up on some zzzz's before heading out today. We basically just have to wait for the OBGYN to discharge me (and she's coming sometime this morning- maybe 8 or 9) and for the Pediatrician to discharge Kennedy; I have no idea when they are coming. Hopefully we won't have to stay here long this morning. But, just in case, I've just called room service and plan to eat like a horse before heading out; I can lose the weight when I get home, right? I've got french toast, bacon (you know how I feel about bacon), sausage (really, for Nathan), and home fries coming. As I look around the room and think about packing up, I realize that we have a lot of *free* souvenirs to take home. Here's some stuff moms get to take home with them when they have a baby........ a handy dandy bi...

7:45am Good morning! First, I cannot believe how many people are reading our blog. Don't you have anything better to do? (kidding.... well, sort of)! :) Seriously though, I love to think how many people are reading and are here with us through this blog! Thanks for everyone's notes! Nathan is asleep now but I'm up and ready for the day. I even got a shower in last night, so I'm feeling pretty decent today. Just having some post-partum contractions that hurt but I'll survive. After only 3 min of pushing yesterday, I really can't complain. Ok, so listen to how great my husband is (yes, this is still Amber typing, ha). He got me a beautiful gift. He hand-picked a blue topaz stone (Dec birthstone) which we will have set in a necklace when we get done here. Sure, I had to go through 2 labors and deliveries in December to get it, but still! :) Here it is: Isn't he the best husband ever? He is also taking great care of me and seems to have the 'touch' when...

Hello, blog readers and random internet stalkers! I've opened today's blog to keep you up to date on my labor progress as it occurs. Nathan is going to be my guest blogger today and will add info as he can if I'm unavailable.... so check back often for continuous updates throughout the day! 8:00am I have my IV's in which took forever and 2 nurses because they had problems with my veins 8:30 They started the Pitocin (drug to start contractions). 9:30 I'm now contracting now and waiting around for them to get bigger. 9:35 Nathan is pacing. 10:15 Nathan here Amber's contractions are picking up. She's starting to feel some pain, but barely. There is a well worn path between her bed and the bathroom. It seems the IV is dripping direcly into her bladder 10:30 Nurse Nathan is taking good care of me. He's in charge of unplugging my IVs when I have to pee, pushing my IV cart around, and then putting my blood pressure cuff back on. Ok, so he got the ...

For those of you who have lost track............. I'm scheduled to be induced tomorrow (Tues) morning at 7am. Stay tuned for baby news tomorrow!!!!!!!

Well, I woke up this morning with some pretty strong contractions (OK, I admit. I was buckled over in pain). They were regular and went on for about an hour and half. We were timing them and just waiting for them to be a little closer together to call the doctor. Then, they magically went away! I had smaller ones throughout the day here and there, but nothing major since this morning. I'm mostly just restless now. I'm trying to keep the house in order to the last minute (I refuse to come home from the hospital to a single piece of dirty laundry!)..... and also trying to enjoy the week of Christmas. We skipped church this morning due to my contractions so I'm sure that started a lot of rumors! :) No baby yet, we're still here and waiting! Thanks for checking and stay tuned; I'll try to keep updates on this blog!

Hello! Several of you made bets on my 12/13 blog, guessing the date of my baby's birth! I just wanted to make an official list of who's left in the running! The stakes are high; this is for bragging rights! Sorry, Karen, Michele, & Anne-- you are gals out already. Although, I appreciate the early dates you guessed. I tried really hard to go into labor those days! :) Here's who's left : Sat, 12/20 (today!): Andrea & Mimi Sun, 12/21: Jen Mon, 12/22: Christi Tues, 12/23: Mariah Fri, 12/26: Sarah May 4th: Jeff (of course, only my big brother would wish me to be that many months late. He really wants her born on his bday!). Winner to be announced in the very near future....... I hope! :)

At today's doctor's appointment, I am a 'good 2 cm' dilated and 80% effaced now. I asked the doctor if she thought I'd make it until Tuesday's scheduled induction and the response was "probably not but we'll see!". So, hang tight for more news!!!!!!!!!

Hello! Just a quick baby update. After a few days of discomfort & other pre-labor type symptoms, I finally gave in and called my doctor. Her office just closed, so she told me to go to the hospital for a labor "check" and some monitoring last night. Of course, there was also an ice storm going on (if you read my blog about Keegan's day of birth, you know we pick only snowy & icy days for all of our hospital trips). :) It took awhile for Nathan to get home and to get there. Anyway, after the check they determined that it wasn't time for the baby and they sent me home. The fun part to this was that we left Keegan with my in-laws and so he spent the night there last night and is still there this morning. We got a free night of babysitting and will get to go out for breakfast, kid-free, this morning. The things we do for a night off! I might go into false labor again tonight.... and tomorrow..... and the next day...... now I know the secret!

Ok, readers! Place your bets! Today's blog is a friendly competition. Post a comment stating what DATE you think I'm going to have the baby. Will I go into labor before my 12/23 scheduled induction date? Will my induction get pushed back because the hospital won't have enough beds or staff (yes, that's possible)? Pick a date! Winner gets......... uhhh..... well, the winner gets official BRAGGING RIGHTS and a CONGRATULATORY SHOUT OUT on my blog. Really, that would almost make you famous. One guess per person! Let the games begin!!!

Just a quick baby update! As you know, I'm scheduled to be induced on Tues, 12/23. I just got home from my weekly checkup and I'm just under 2 cm dilated and also 70% effaced. The baby is head-down, ready to roll! :) There is a chance I'll go into labor before my scheduled date so I'm packing my bags and trying to be ready! Stay tuned for more..........!

Many of you are probably already familiar with "Elf Yourself" from Office Max. You just plug in some pictures of you and up to 4 other people........ and, voila! You become an elf singing sensation. Here are some elf dance videos of our family. Warning, there is sound! Classic: http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/v0LAC1DYfmu0UNlNPWbb Country : http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/74FIsPry2w7lkwaWS4I8 Charleston : http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/44M94aDqbnhYa0jiPSGQ Disco : http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/RyPWsRpQMUGQDB9nP7KS Want to make your own? Go to http://www.elfyourself.com/ ! Enjoy!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY to my precious little Keegan!!!!! Three years ago today, I woke up to 2 loud "POP!" sounds after a full night's sleep. I didn't know what the pops were until I rolled over in bed. It was the sound of my water breaking! For those of you who haven't experienced water-breaking, let me just tell you... it isn't a 'trickle'. It isn't a cute little "drip, drip". It's more like lots of little buckets of water that just keep being poured out every time you move again. And, again. And, again. So, we got checked into the hospital where I began to do email on Nathan's laptop, between contractions, of course. Who doesn't keep their email account up-to-date while in labor, right? I remember instant messaging someone my final words, "Gotta go- time to push!". Labor came on quickly. Like I've mentioned before, I went from about 3cm to 9 cm in under 10 minutes (4 minutes to be exact). The nurse wanted me to d...

Tomorrow (Dec 8th) is Keegan's 3rd birthday!!!!!!!!! First of all, I cannot believe that 'my baby' is turning 3. Wow, where did the time go? We celebrated on Saturday by taking my parents and my grandma to the Pizza King Station. Keegan loves trains so I thought this would be fun. The restaurant actually has a train that runs past your table and delivers your drinks. The food isn't very good, but you really go for the train. Then we went back to my parent's house where Keegan opened some presents and blew out the candles on his giant cookie cake. Here are some pictures! The train stops at your table and then you open the glass door to get your drinks off of the train. Keegan watching the train go by: This ride was broken, but Keegan seemed to enjoy it anyway. That's his grandpa behind him. Keegan's giant cookie since he's not a big cake-eater yet. He actually got too close to the candles and singed his eyelashes, an eyebrow, and some of his bangs. Yet a...

Happy Friday! I went in for my 36 week doctor's appointment today. I am dilated (or is it "dialated"?) a mere 1 centimeter and 50% effaced, for those of you who care about those numbers. :) They moved back (and officially scheduled) my induction date. They now have me scheduled for Tuesday, December 23rd at 7am. Many people have asked why they are inducing me. There is only one 'medical' type reason and that is because I went into labor pretty fast with Keegan. When I was in the hospital to deliver him, I dilated from 3 cm to 9 cm in less than 10 minutes. The doctor said this is highly unusual for a first pregnancy. We want to be 'ready' with this one since 2nd deliveries are usually even faster than the first. My body is just efficient; what can I say? So, this is part of the reason for inducing me. The other reasons are just a matter of preference and convenience. Our doctor is on Christmas vacation after Christmas, Nathan gets vacation days before New...

Today marks the 9 year anniversary of my first date with Nathan. In honor of this day, I think I should go back and tell you how it all began..... For those of you who didn't know this, Nathan & I actually met in high school. We were both in the symphony together, sat together in Calculus (you can already picture how cool we were....), ate at the same lunch table, and hung out with the same group of friends. He was a nice guy but I was never interested in dating him. Plus, I think he was busy dating my friends at the time. :) When we graduated from high school, we went off to separate colleges and pretty much lost contact. After college, I got a job at a hospital where he was consulting. While eating with a group of my close girlfriends, Nathan walked into the hospital cafeteria and this is where we reunited. When he walked away from the table, the girls teased me about Nathan and wondered if he was a potential guy for me. My response was simple. "I would NEVER date him!...

Hello! I just wanted to advertise these fun Coke bottles that I found today at Walmart ($1). They are 13.5 oz and they had about 4 different pictures to pick from; they are supposed to be shaped like ornaments, I believe. I think they would make great stocking-stuffers! They were all in a big display in the main aisle of the grocery section. Buy one for a stocking today! :) (PS Coca Cola isn't paying me a lick to say this!).