Update from before birth to now!

This is Andrea! I thought Josh did a GREAT job yesterday keeping everyone posted as much as possible and I am so glad he did. I will try to fill in the gap between 3 pm and Reed being born at 5:14. After I was checked yesterday at 2:30, nurse Buffy came back to check me at 3:30 and even with my new position Reed still did not make any progress, I was still at a 4 and 80% effaced and his head had actually turned to the side. So at this point we knew this wasn't good. We had been up and down so much all day! I was feeling fine and willing to do whatever it took not to have a c-section. The day had gone by so fast and had not been bad at all. But when I realized they had started pitocin at 6:15 and Reed still wasn't coming down, it was pretty evident what was ahead. The nurse kept also adding that Reed's head was not trying to cone and shape for the birth canal, but she couldn't tell which way he was facing. The doctor and nurse really had no idea why he was not coming down at this point. So the nurse called the doctor and Dr. Cockrum gave me until 4:15 to show progress and then it was for sure a c-section! They had me turn on my side, trying to make Reed turn back down. Josh and I just spent this time together alone coming to grasp with what was about to happen, because at this point we knew. So when nurse came back into check me at 4:15 Reed had not only not progressed but he had turned almost completely sideways. I was okay and not really scared of the c-section, I was just worried about the after part. I hated thinking about having to be numb and not being able to hold Reed right away. I also hated it for Josh not being able to cut the cord. Just wasn't the experience we were expecting but it turned out okayand Reed is PERFECT!! Turns out the whole problem was that Reed was facing up, instead of face down, keeping him from getting into position for birth.

Afterwards they did give me pain medicine that made me SO loopy and I couldn't really move from the chest down....so frustrating. I had also had morphine and a huge side effect is being itchy, so because I was numb from the chest down, my whole face was so itchy...ugh! We let the family in to see Reed and then I tried to feed him. With me trying to set up to feed it made me sick. So not fun! I had gone through my whole pregnancy without throwing up and now I am sick trying to breastfeed for the first time. It was awful watching everyone meet Reed for the first time and I could barely articulate my words. The spinal epidural also made me very hoarse, so I sound awful, which is also very annoying! I tried to eat some Jello late last night and got sick again, which is so surprising to me because I normally have a very strong stomach. Reed finally did okay with his 10 o'clock feeding, but every 3 hours through the night, 1, 4 and 7, he didn't try to latch at all. Which is totally normal, I know, but I am hoping and praying for more progress today with the weekend coming up today is the last day I will have help while in the hospital.

9:00 am 4.10.09

Reed is currently getting checked out by the pediatrician for the first time and I am waiting on Dr. Cockrum to come give her orders to stop my I.V. and let me get up. I am doing 100% better this morning and I was able to eat breakfast, so I am good to go now. The new nurse this morning even thought that I had had my c-section yesterday morning early because of how well I am moving around. That made me feel better, so hopefully I will recover quickly. I am SO ready to get up and get ready for the day. I am just stuck in bed right now, without Reed about to go crazy!! :) The doctor mentioned yesterday that if I am feeling well we can go home tomorrow afternoon, so that is what I am shooting for right now.

Thanks again to EVERYONE that prayed yesterday!! Reed is here, healthy and perfect and we can't wait for EVERYONE to meet him. Feel free to stop by anytime, we are in room 248 at NLR baptist.

Dr. Cockrum pulling Reed out!

Reed coming out!!

Dr. Cockrum holding Reed up for me to see him for the first time.

Watching Reed get cleaned up!

Getting weighed!!

Holding Reed for the first time! Just a few tears if you can't tell! :)

A family of three!

Kisses all around!

Me with nurse Buffy! She was amazing ALL day! Both her and Dr. Cockrum are currently pregnant and both have had similar situations to what I went through with their previous babies, so it was good to have them around! I know they did all they could do to help me have the experience I wanted.

All the visitors! Right after birth!

8:30

All the family and guests are gone getting some dinner and the nursery has taken Reed to get his first bath. Andrea is doing fine, just a little sleepy from all the pain meds. I hope to have some pictures up soon, our camera's battery has worn down from on the action.

Reed is here...

Well, it's been a while since my last post, a lot has happen. To make a long story short Reed was turned face up and would not drop. So, it was best that we had a c-section. Reed was born at 5:15 p.m., weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces. Andrea and Reed are doing GREAT! Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers.

Baby Reed is on his way.....

3:05 p.m.

Andrea's new position. Reed has moved back down and the nurse is hoping this new position will keep him down.

Andrea and my brother, Branden

Andrea and Lauren

2:50 p.m.

The nurse checked Andrea a few minutes ago, she has progessed to a 4 and 80% efface. Reed has moved back down... that's encouraging! Andrea's contactions are starting to pick up intensity, but she's still holding strong.... no epideral as of yet! Please, keep praying for progress!

The nurse said Reed has about an inch of hair, that should be fun style! Maybe he'll have a fo-hawk like his Dad.

1:40 p.m.

Pray for progress... Dr. Holly just checked Andrea, she has progressed to a 3, still at 70% efface. Reed is not moving down like he should, he has actually moved up a little. They are going to check her again at 2:15. If we have no progress then the likely hood of more progress is slim and we might have to go for a c-section.

12:15

Andrea 's progress is going a little slow, so they have turned up the "pit". She can feel the contractions a little more, but they are manageable. She's looking great, definitely not like she is in labor!

10:40 a.m.

Nurse Buffy just checked Andrea, she's still at a 2 and now at 70% efface. She still hasn't felt a good contraction. She's having some lower back pain which is sign that Reed might be facing up, so they have rolled Andrea on her side to encourage Reed turn.

10:18 a.m.

Andrea is doing great! Her contractions have increased a little bit, but she still hasn't felt much. We've had quite a few visitors already as you can see below.

Dad, Andrea, and Dad to be...

Amy, Mom, Andrea, Marlyn, Vicky

Mom, Andrea, and Dad

Mom, Andrea, and Vicky

Mom, Andrea, and Vicky

9:00 a.m.

Dr. Holly just broke Andrea's water. Andrea is progressing as planned, she's dilated to a two and 60% effaced. My buddy Scott stopped by right before the water breakage , he freaked out in typically Scott Todd fashion.

Andrea's sister Amy is here now and rest of the family should be stopping by shortly.

8:07 a.m.

We met our nurse, Buffy, she's really sweet. She actually gave us a tour of the hospital a few weeks ago. Buffy increased the pitocin...aka "pit" as the nurses call it and Dr. Holly should be in sometime before 9:00 a.m. to break Andrea's water. Things should pick up after that.

7:40 a.m.

Andrea here, Josh wrote the first update while I was answering one million questions and signing lots of paperwork. We are still just hanging out! The nurse left about 6:30 and no one has been back in. We are just watching the news and playing on the internet waiting on things to pick up. The pitocin is dripping VERY slow, so I think it is going to be a while before we have any excitement!

6:00 a.m.

Well, we're off to the races. We arrived at the hospital little after 5:30 a.m.. As soon as we turned the corner to labor and delivery the nurses were ready to go. Nurse shift change is around 6:00 a.m., they can't wait to go home, so every thing is going at the speed of light. Andrea is doing great. She's already received a bag of fluids and they're about to start the pitocin.

The Nursery is Complete!!

In the last couple of weeks the nursery as come a long way! We had so many little things we still needed to get. Finally, two days before Reed is scheduled to be here we hung the last picture up. The room really came out better than both Josh or I expected. There are so many sentimental things in the room and we just love it.

The bat on the shelf was made from scratch by Mr. Mike (a great friend of the Baker family). It has Reed's name engraved on it and the tag says, "Most Valuable Baker!" So cute!

The bumpers and sheets made by my cousin Tonja.

This picture shows the dresser that Josh's Dad made. Isn't it amazing? We love it and will cherish it forever. He even put the drawer tracts on it that when you push the drawer they close by themselves (like what you might see in kitchens on extreme makeover). The table we bought and it has almost the exact finish on it as the dresser. We also bought the chair and ottoman, I have sat in that chair a lot over the last week, just dreaming about Reed.

The bats we bought at flea markets and Josh sanded them down and refinished them with different color stains.

This is a close up of the painting hanging behind the chair! It was given to us has a gift! So special!

This picture shows the round rug we got to go with the baseball theme!

This is a close up of the clock my Aunt made about 22 years ago for my cousin Tanner's room (Shannon's son, pic from my 2nd shower). Then it was redone to hang in my cousin Hayden's room (Tonja's son, she made the bedding). Now it gets to hang in Reed's room!

This is a close up of the framed baseball cards, hanging on one side of the window. Another special thing in the room. The cards were also given to us as a gift.

Last but not least the closet! In the beginning I was starting to think that Reed didn't have that many clothes, but as you can see he does now!

Weekly Appointments

Well back on March 17th I started going to the doctor weekly. At the first appointment, at 35 weeks, I was shocked to learn that I had already started dilating! I was only at 1 cm, but it was something, with 5 more weeks to go. She also felt Reed and said he was about 6 pounds and would probably be about 7 1/2 pounds at delivery. At the next appointment, I was still only 1 cm, but I was also 30% effaced. Appointment #3 there was no change, but at 37 weeks I was fine with that because I was starting to get nervous that Reed would come early. This is going to sound so selfish but I really needed to work through April 3rd to get the books closed at work and being quarter end it was really important for me to be there. All you accountants out there understand...right? I am the only one in the office that can make journal entries, so there is literally no one else that can do my job.

Last week at my 4th weekly appointment, I was 2 cm and 50% effaced. My doctor mentioned that if I had progressed at my next appointment we could talk about inducing. I have had mixed emotions about inducing because I have heard it makes for a harder labor, etc. But I have always feared waiting and then still having to be induced. Also she had not estimated Reed's weight since the first weekly appointment 3 weeks ago, so I was still thinking he would be around 7 1/2 pounds at 40 weeks, not to bad if I wanted to wait. Well, yesterday I was only a little more dilated, but still at a 2 and still 50% effaced. To me that wasn't much progression. However, the doctor still felt it was something and seemed happy with it. Also, she felt Reed and said he was at least 7 1/2 pounds right now, maybe 8 lbs. She looked at me and said, "Your ready!" She said if you want to induce we can or you can wait. I said, well if I said I wanted to induce when would you want to do it (totally expecting her to say a day after my due date, I never thought anything before my due date would be a possibility)? She looked at us and said, "This Week!" What?!?! She said I would prefer tomorrow or Thursday. What?!?!

Just a side note, April 7th, has been my dream date since we got pregnant. It is our 10 year dating anniversary and I am a huge date person, so I have always thought it would be so neat. I got SO excited when it was a possiblility. But the nurse called and there were already 6 inducements scheduled for Tuesday, so that was out! :( I was definitely sad, but finding out that we might be having Reed with only 1 days noticed would have been way to crazy. For the most part we had everything done but realistically and mentally we were not prepared.

So we knew Thursday was still an option so we left and thought about it for a little bit and then I called the nurse back and asked her to check on Thursday and she called back and said, "We were on the schedule for Thursday morning!" Wow, was this really happening? Last night we came home from work and I think we were still in shock mode, we just ate dinner and did nothing and we hade quite a few things to get done, including installing the carseat! :)

Tonight, we have gotten a lot done, so I am feeling much more prepared right now! We have installed the carseat, I steralized some bottles and pacifiers (just in case), mop the kitchen floors and we hung the last picture up in the nursery....it is COMPLETELY finished...pictures to come!

So hopefully 48 hours from now we will be parents! So hard to believe! Literally my only emotion is excitement! I don't really feel nervous at all (yet, I am sure it will come)! This is something I have dreamed about my whole life and I can't believe it is actually about to happen! I just can't wait to meet Reed! I have had the best pregnancy I think anyone could ask for, I am still even sleeping good (still haven't had a night where I had to get up and use the bathroom and I promise I drink SO much water, I have water bottles right beside the bed, if anything that is what I wake up for, to get a drink). At this point I feel like I could be pregnant forever! I have actually had a few moments where I have gotten sad about missing my belly and I NEVER thought that could happen.

We plan to update the blog on Thursday as the day progresses so check back in to see the first pictures of Baby Reed and maybe the first post from Josh! :)

Baby Shower #5!!

We were so blessed to have my hometown church offer to host a shower for us! It was so good to go home to Sheridan and see everyone! The shower was simply amazing, I counted over 40 gifts on my list when it was over. My sister was writing for me and she could barely keep up with all the gifts!

This is a little onesie Amy got for me! The picture is blurry, but it is a little onesie with a guitar on it....so cute!

Look at Reed's room once we got everything unloaded! I had just spent the weekend before organizing, but it was so much fun to add to everything, obviously!

Baby Shower #4

Baby shower #4 was on March 15th and was hosted by two of the best gals, Amanda and Kristie! When Josh and I first started going to New Life Church, the first life group we joined was lead by Kristie, Amanda and their husbands. I can't believe that was almost four years ago. We have been so blessed by their friendships. The shower was so much fun and the food was great, especially the adorable cake!!

Me with Kristie and Amanda, the hostess with the mostest!!




Me and the Grandmas!!

Some of the NLC girls, the Moms & Mrs. Vicky and her daughter Lexi came down from Wynne again!

We played a fun game where Amanda walked around with a basket full of baby goodies and you only got a few minutes to look at it and then had to write down everything you could remember!

Opening all the goodies!

Baby Shower #3

Baby shower #3 was on March 14th and was hosted by a group of people from Josh's work. It was a co-ed shower and it was so much fun seeing the guys interact and look through all the fun baby stuff. Again, we got so many great things!

The food and decorations were amazing! Everything was baseball themed...so cute!

The food was amazing!!

Check out the adorable baseball cake!!

Baseball Diaper Cake!!
Baseball cookies....I could not stop eating them! They were homemade and so good!

Cutting the cake, like we were getting married again!!

Josh and I with Debbie and Coleman! Debbie was nice enough to open up her beautiful home for the shower!


One of the neatest gifts we have received was from Josh's friend, Scott. As a child, Scott collected baseball cards and he gave us all of his old Braves baseball cards. We got them framed and they are now hanging in Reed's room.

We have one million pictures of Josh posing with every gift.....so funny!

We were so blessed to have the Davis' family come down and surprise us by being at the shower! The Davis and Baker families have been best friends for many years.

The shower host and hostess!! Josh is on a leadership team at work with six other people, lead by Debbie. They were generous enough to organize and host the shower for us! We had so much fun, thank you guys so much!!