Friday, October 12, 2007

We're a family of four! :)

It's SO great to be home! This week has just been filled with answered prayers! Thank you to everyone who's been praying for my family! Keep them coming!!! They are greatly appreciated!

A MAJOR THANK YOU to my Mother!!! She came down Tuesday afternoon to be with Abby and stayed till this morning! She was absalutely amazing! She not only cared for our 21 month old (she's 21 months today!!!) she also did a TON around our home to help out! We were so blessed by having her come stay and really appreciate the sacrifice she and my family made by having her come stay here :)

OUR DELIVERY EXPERIENCE! :)
Robby and I got up and left for the hospital at 6:40! We arrived on time, checked in and were in our room (#284) by 8:00am. My Dr. came in and broke my water and my contractions started almost immediately! They put me on pitocin at 8:15 at 2 (I guess you can start at 2 and go up to 20)! By 9:15, I was @ 5 centimeters dilated so my nurse stopped the pitocin! By 10:00am, the anstecioligist had come in to give me my epideral. I was at 8 centimeters and in transition!!! My contractions were literally right on top of each other, no break inbetween. I had a very chatty anstecioligst! ;) I remember telling Robby to tell him to SHH! ;) After about 15 minutes, I started feeling great again! My epideral worked SO well, I couldn't have asked for a better experience! I was seriously laughing through the contraction pressure at that time :) I could feel the pressure of the baby coming down but NO PAIN! Awesome :) I was then told that the baby would be here by lunch! This made me really happy since I hadn't had anything to eat since 10:00pm!

My Dr. had a 12:00pm appointment so my nurse said we'd do a test push to see where we were :) That was at 11:00am. After my test push I was told we'd start pushing in 10 minutes :) Robby called my Mom to let her know the status ;) That was 11:24! I had probably 3 good sets of pushing. Christian's heart rate was dropping which concerned the Dr. a little bit. I remember pushing and the baby heart beat monitor stopped. I looked at Robby who told me the Dr. had taken it off his head. With his heart rate getting lower, my Dr. said I might need help with the vacuum to get him out. I just prayed to not be nervous and to get him out. His cord was wrapped around his neck too but loose enough that the Dr. got it off :) At 11:49, 11 minutes of pushing, Christian arrived!

I felt such relief that he was OUT! Dr. Raffo put him right on my chest! I kept waiting for his cry! The NICU Nurse cleared his nose and throat and he started crying :) Robby and I were crying :) Birth is amazing! We had a son! Praise God :)

We got to spend a lot of time with Christian before family came to visit :) Abby was home napping :) It's funny cause everytime I'd call my Mom I'd have to say "no baby yet" and when Robby called to tell her the news, he said "baby" :) That was at 12:11. Robby went home and picked up Abby to come meet her new brother. My Dad was holding him :) We asked Abby who that was and she said "Baby Brother Christian". She gave him kisses and recieved a cool buckle puzzle and "I'm a big sister" book as a gift from brother! She gave him a baseball rattle to play with :)

Thank you to our church and to Thrive! Both brought us beautiful flowers that we're enjoying now at home! It was great to have some visitors too! Thank you Chiara and Carter, Darin, Alycia, Julie and Clyde for coming to visit! My sister Rose is home from Germany too so she got to come see Christian! My parents and Holly too came to visit twice :)

We got home this morning at 11:00am :) We're a family of four now :)

Robby's family is here for the weekend helping! It's great having extra hands around! A BIG THANK YOU to them also!

Christian Gregory Millsap
8 pounds 14 ounces 20 1/2 inches long
October 10th, 2007

I'm hoping to catch up on email early next week :) My inbox is kinda full right now, 140 unread! If you don't hear from me for a while, sorry, I'll be in touch :) Please don't hesitate to call, if we can get to the phone, we'll answer, if not, please leave a message. Our ringers will be turned up and down throughout our new adjustment process! :)

PLEASE KEEP THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR PRAYERS FOR OUR FAMILY!
That Abby will continue to love brother! She's adjusting well!
That Christian will nurse well once my milk supply comes in.
That Christian's appt. will go well on Monday. He's a little jaundice.
That my Dad's surgery will go well and he'll recover quickly. This takes place on Tuesday morning.
I had enough time to update my blog AND do a slideshow!!! ;) Not bad for a Mom of 2 ;)

PRAISES! Answers to prayer this week!
Details! God has been in every detail of this delivery!
Smooth delivery
Smooth recovery I'm feeling really good!
Baby is healthy
Christian seems to be really mellow and not been really fussy!
Abby was well cared for while we were gone
Robby and I are rested and are continuing to grow even closer together as our family is growing!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Today is the day!

Robby asked me last night "how well does a pregnant woman sleep the night before she knows she's going to have a baby?" The answer: um, not too well ;) I laid in bed for an HOUR just thinking and praying about what is to come! Then, was up four times and couldn't get back to sleep at 4:30 since I'd "rested" so much! :) I then decided to get up and do ONE last blog before going in to the hospital to be induced! It's so exciting to know that today our son will be born! I can't wait to meet him! :)

Thank you so much to all of our friends and family! I have been so encouraged by all the emails and phone calls and prayers! Robby and I are SO blessed!

To recap, we go in to Saddleback this morning @ 7:00am! I'm not allowed to eat any FOOD. I'm wondering if Jamba Juice counts! My last meal @ 10:00pm, a piece of pizza, a vanilla yogurt and a glass of milk, yum! Unfortunately, I'm sitting here hungry!

Still no signs of me going into natural labor! This baby boy is just so comfortable in there! He's being evicted today ;) I'm really feeling a sense of peace about this whole thing. Another huge blessing, my Mom is here! She came yesterday afternoon and is staying with Abby till Friday morning! This is a huge relief for me, an answer to prayer, that the details would work out!

We'll have our cell phones with us! I will probably LOVE to have visitors on Thursday too if anyone wants to come by! ;)

Monday, October 8, 2007

Is he EVER coming out!?!

This afternoon, I was CONVINCED my water broke. Robby, Abby and I went to Boston Market for dinner and then went to the hospital. The setting was ideal, my Dr. was on call. Nothing. We walked the Labor and Delivery floor for an HOUR. Contractions were every 4-6 minutes. Nothing. The nurse checked and I'm 3cm and 70% and 5 days OVERDUE! We're scheduled for an induction in 33 hours which seems FOREVER away! I'm SO ready to meet my son. My Dr. did an ultrasound and my amneotic fluid is low but will last till Wednesday. If we go into labor tonight/tomorrow AM, my Mom's busy with my Dad's Dr's appointments. SO tomorrow I'll be taking it easy, waiting to be induced Wednesday! I was/am hoping to just go in to labor, but this baby just doesn't seem to want to come out!!! I'm going to go get some sleep! :)