Finally he's here!

Garrett Michael Gragg made his appearance at 2:04 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25! It was not an easy labor! My water broke Tuesday night at 10:45 p.m. just as I was getting to sleep! We came to the hospital only to be told my water hadn't broken and to be sent home! (My husband and my mom are not happy about this still)! As soon as we began to pull out of the parking lot, my contractions began! My husband wanted to turn around and come back to the hospital, but I said no, I'm not going back to be sent home again! So, we got home and I continued to have contractions every 5 minutes for 2 hours before I finally let my husband call the hospital again. They asked if I'd taken tylenol (yes), had I tried to rest (yes), and then they asked to talk to me. The nurse asked if it was like menstraul cramps..duh! YES! Well, it was my decision if I wanted to try a warm shower or come back to the hospital! I still did not want to go to the hospital only to be told to go home, so I tried a shower..didn't work! We headed back to the hospital and got back to hospital at about 4:30 a.m. When they checked me, I had dilated 1 to 2 cm and was 50% effaced! From that point, I was admitted and my family was called to come back. When the doctor came to check I was 3 cm dilated and in severe pain! I asked when I could have an epidural and she said now since I was progressing! Let me just say...that was the best thing ever! By the time they got here I was 4 cm dilated. It went quickly from there and by 12:30 pm I was ready to push, but my epideral had worn off and I was in pain! It was horrible! When I started pushing, we found out he was face up instead of face down and while he could still come out naturally it was going to make it harder! After pushing for about an hour, they decided to try the forceps. They put them in and I said take them out! She did after only 2 minutes and we went in for a c-section! I had to wait again for the epideral guy to come and I was in so much pain that I threw up at least 4 times! Finally they came and I was wheeled into surgery! From this point on, the day is kind of hazy. Garrett came and they showed him to me for about 10 seconds and took him! I had been running a fever since before I started to push and was on an antibiotic, so when he was born, he was running a fever of 102. They took him to the NICU after cleaning him up and showing my family. He was put on an antibiotic as well! His fever broke about 4:30 pm, but because he had an IV to take his antibiotic for precautionary purposes, he had to stay in the nursery and could not come to the room! I finally got to see him at about 8:30 that night, but didn't get to hold him to the next day! He stayed in the nursery until Friday at 11 a.m. and then he got to come to our room and stay! We go home tomorrow after his circumcision and I can't wait!

I am thankful he came when he did because my parents got to be here for it! We are so blessed to have family and friends who have prayed for us, came to see us, sent e-mails, called, texted, and facebooked us! This is a special time in our lives that I know we will never forget and at the end of the day, no matter how bad labor was, I received the best gift in the world....Garrett!

AND STILL WE WAIT!

So, my due date has come and gone and still no baby! I have not even dilated as of Monday! My parents are here and guess what..no baby! I go back to the doctor on Friday if I haven't gone before...which from my current condition...seems doubtful and we will set up to induce on Sunday because it is a week from my due date! It is so frustrating to wait on something you have no control over! Oh, we've heard all the old wives' tales...walk, lots of sex, spicy food, castor oil, mineral oil, and crisco oil! We' ve tried the walking, sex, spicy food, and crisco oil in oj (I don't recommend this!), but at this point, still no baby! Everything and everyone is ready, but him! Already too much like his dad!

And we are anxiously waiting!

I made it through another week of school! I only have to make it till next Thursday and then I am off for my maternity leave! My dad is set to come next weekend and my mom flies in on my due date...22! Hopefully, when I go to the doctor on Monday, I will have dilated some and we can see this baby boy within the next 2 weeks! I am so ready! It will be nice to feel normal again and to hold him in my arms instead of my belly! Robert has decided he will take off until after Easter break to be home with me! We will probably be sick of each other by then, but it will be nice to have some time with just the three of us, one parents go home, too! We basically have everything we need now and are just waiting for our bundle of joy to make his appearance! Keep us in your prayers!

What a week!

We started out the week with snow and missed Monday at school and had a two hour delay on Tuesday which put me at catch up all week in my classroom! Then on Thursday, I started having severe back pain! I heard everything from back labor to that's just pregnancy pain!
When I got up Friday morning, I was still in pain, so I took a day off school and called the doctor. They said for me to come on in. Robert took me to the doctor and he said I had a pinched nerve! Are we surprised that something else is wrong with me? The doctor showed Robert some exercises to do to help the pain! Poor Robert...more ways to have to pet me...lol! He also checked to see if I was dilating and I'm not. Garrett's head is still on top of my pelvic bone and that is the pressure I feel! He said once Garrett went below the pelvic bone I would start dilating and the pressure would change. He asked how much longer I was going to work and I said 9 more days and he said it would be painful, but to sit down as much as possible since my feet are also swelling horribly! So much to look forward too! I have some more sick days I can take if the pain is too severe I can take off! We have our church shower on Sunday, so hopefully we will have Garrett's basic needs covered in case I go early (which my mom is praying I don't)! Robert put together the travel system and ordered an extra base for my car! He also put together the swing and he is going to clean out the cars. With this new pain, I am no help to him. He said the next baby we were buying all new stuff and I had to put it together! I said not unless there's two next time...lol! Hope your week was blessed! Enjoy your weekend!

Snow Day!

On Monday, we had 5 inches of snow that started on Sunday morning during church! So, no school...YEAH! Corbin was here so we enjoyed playing in the snow with him since snow days are really all about kids once you reach our age...lol! Here are some pics from our fun day!