Can't believe he's ours

We are back from the hospital and things are going great at home. It is hard to live on such little sleep, but Adam is being great at helping me catch up when i need it. I have been pumping between feedings so Adam has been able to feed Asa without waking me up if needed.

Asa couldn't be doing better, he is feeding every 1 1/2 to 2 hours. He sleeps at night until he is hungry, and just gets a bit squirmy when he wakes up to feed. He rarely cries, and couldn't be more perfect to Adam and I.

We gave him his 1st bath today at home. He took it like a champ, although was pretty cold afterwards. Just more reason to bundle him up and cuddle with him!

We love all of the little grunts moans and noises he makes.

I don't think we ever were quite prepared, nor can any 1st time parent be, for the amazing feeling being a parent is. We couldn't be more proud of Asa, even though he is only 5 days old, and we can't imagine loving anything more then him.

Our dogs have been doing so great with him as well. Cadea loves to give his feet, hands, face, and ears kisses. She also loves to cuddle up next to him when he is sleeping. Chloe on the other hand doesn't care as much about him. She slowly creeps up to him to say hi, and then turns around quickly to find a spot to lay.

The hospital stay was really nice. We were so thankful for all of the nurses and drs that took care of us. They were just amazing! It was nice to have him in the nursery for the first 3 nights. They would just roll him in when it was time to feed, and give me my pain medicine (and don't forget the stool softener) when it was time for them. The biggest adjustment has been keeping track of feedings and when to take my meds since being home. I have created a medicine schedule for me, and adam has a chart that he keeps track of for feedings, and pumping.

Adam has been master diaper changer man since Asa was born. Adam had never changed a diaper in his life, and was able to put on Asa's 1st diaper, and has been so great at changing him since. Since being home from the hospital 1 day, Adam has already changed his diaper in the bathroom at church, and on the back seat of the car. He is just so great at taking him right after i feed, and he has clearly made noises out of his butt that indicates needing a change. He has never complained, and i honestly think i have maybe changed 2 diapers since he was born. He has been a great Daddy!!!

We had so many visitors come to the hospital, and are so blessed to have so many great friends and family. One of our friends that visited said that the nurse that man's the front desk said when he walked in to the birth center, "you must be here to visit room 319" he asked why she knew that, and she said that everyone that has been coming has been visiting room 319. We must have had a lot of visitors being she asked him that. We didn't once feel overwhelmed by visitors, we loved having people stop by and meet Asa. We have already had a few visitors to the house on Sunday.

Hope that is a good update for now. I am writing this at 3am Monday morning after being up feeding Asa. I am about to go back to bed, and get more sleep. I will update more and often. Adam even said that he wanted to post a blog strictly about Asa's poop. I will have to hold him too that because i think it would be super funny. He has been really into talking about poop and nipples since the Asa was born.

Leaving you with a few pictures we have taken over the past few days.Thanks again for all of your comments, thoughts, and prayers. Again we are so blessed, and thankful for what God has given to us. To Him be all of the thanks, praise and glory!

It's a BOY!

Asa John Heeren arrived at 3:27pm.
He weighs 7lbs 9 oz and is 21 inches long.
I feel great and the procedure went so well.
Can’t wait for you all to met him! We will post more details soon!!

August 4th!

Ok, so i post and then the scheduling department calls at the hospital and lets me know that they are already booked for cesareans on Monday, so they had to move me to Tuesday at 3:00 pm. Not ideal, but it works. It will be another day Adam and i can spend together before baby comes. The one really unfortunate thing is that my brother Joey is leaving for the Boundary Waters on Tuesday for 4 or 5 days, so he won't be able to see the baby until he is home. I talked with our Dr last night and he is going to try to see if he can pull some strings to see if he can fit us in Monday. If you don't hear anything, more on here, Tuesday will be the big day!

Happy Birthday Baby - Aug 3rd, here we come!

I have now written three posts and saved them and not posted them. I have been really busy with work/home life so i am posting now that we have all of the news. We had our version appointment at the hospital last Thursday, and unfortunately it was not successful.

Walking into the hospital

Waiting for instructions on what i am supposed to do

We checked in around 2pm, and they hooked me up to a bunch of monitors for baby, and then we waited for the dr to be paged to come.

Waiting for Dr to come to start the procedure

They did an ultrasound to be sure of the babies position. HEAD UP :)They gave me a shot of Tripoline ( or something like that) which relaxes my uterus, and the nurse told me would make me feel like i had taken too much cold medicine. I immediately felt a bit loopy, and shaky. They raised up my bed, and the dr started to push on my stomach where the baby's head was and he got the head a bit to my right side, and the nurse held it in place, and he worked on the butt. Once he started to try to move the butt, the nurse said she could feel babies head pushing against her, and the dr stopped. He looked at me, and said, are you ok with the cesarean, and i said you bet. I want to do what is best for the baby, and Adam and i went in with an open mind, prepared for either outcome. They hooked me back up to the monitors and we had to stay in the hospital for about another hour and a half so they could monitor baby.

Hooked back up to the monitors feeling really weird :)

They gave me a button to push, and every time i felt the baby move i would push the button, and that would make a mark on the print out of the heartbeat. This way they could see if the baby was under any stress comparing the heartbeat with movement, based on where the marks were. We sat in the hospital room and Adam fell asleep in the chair next to me a few times. :) I was far too wired to sleep after that medicine.

He is actually awake here :)

Monday, August 3rd will be the big day :) Adam and I couldn't be more excited!
This week i have made lists galore, and packed unpacked and repacked the baby bag and our bags knowing we were going in to have a cesarean. I have lists of everything we need to accomplish before Monday. It has been nice knowing the date because it helps me prepare, and it is nice to know i can get a good night sleep Sunday and go in bright and early for the procedure. I don't think you ever really prepare yourself during your pregnancy to have a cesarean, however when the decision is made for you, you make the best of it, and know it is best for the baby. Our doctor is just amazing! He has made us feel so comfortable with the procedure. We had our appointment today, and he really reassured us that regardless i was going to feel great afterwards, and that the procedure was going to be so enjoyable and painless. It makes me feel really comfortable knowing he will be in there with us. He is a dr that is very conservative, and has been in the "business" of delivering babies for generations....and he wears a little gold cross on the collar of his dr smock thing. We really have a great respect for him, and know he will take great care of me and baby. He told me there will be a mirror in the operating room so i can watch the whole thing if i want. (Minus the incision part)

I am definitely ready to meet the baby. This last week has really been the most uncomfortable for me. I have to pee just about every hour during the night. It is harder to sleep, and i have been quite swollen and sore. I think in general it just takes longer to do everything and my energy level is so low.

Adam has still been working on that house. We both figured it would take a lot less time to complete, but this week will be his last week, and we will have the weekend for each other and preparation.

I also received a bonus at work, which i didn't think i would be included in being i am going to be gone when it is technically supposed to be distributed. Adam and i made the decision that once baby comes, he is going to take a 4 or 6 week paternity leave to be with me and baby. I start my new job on October 3rd, so he will have a long time to be home with us. During that time, he is going to look for a new job and hopefully start one when i do. We are very blessed to be able to have him do this, and is a perfect time for him to devote time to looking for a new job. All of the changes we are going to experience in the next few days/weeks/months with new baby, time off, new jobs, it is all so exciting, and i know God has such a great plan for us, and has been so gracious to us during this time. We have so much to be thankful for, and continue to thank Him for all He has given us.

We will be at Methodist Hospital from Monday until Wednesday evening with the option to go home if all goes well by Wednesday evening. We can stay until Friday if we choose or something happens and they make me. Feel free to visit if you would like. We would LOVE you to meet the new little baby Heeren!!!!!

I am planning on bringing my computer with me to the hospital so i will try to update you once baby comes on Monday!

36 week update...

We had our 36 week appt on Monday and baby is still breech :( We have another appt this Monday, and if it has not changed we have decided we will have the version procedure the following week at around 38 weeks. I only have 3 ½ weeks to go if baby flips, and about 2 ½ weeks to go if baby does not(the cesarean will be scheduled a week earlier then due date of 8/9).

My hip has really been killing me this week. I managed to think it was necessary to rearrange/organize the entire basement last Friday, which made my hip really hurt. I went to the chiropractor yesterday and he said it happens in some pregnancies which was horrible news because I just wanted him to fix me, and I guess that’s not possible. Something to do with my sciatic nerve. I have been trying to stay off of it, and ice it a lot but sometimes I get stuck in places, like on the floor or on the toilet and just cry trying to figure out the most painless way to get up. Adam has been working a side job the past two weeks, which although is very hard for me is a good thing. He met a guy through his work who just built a 10,000 square foot house, and Adam is doing all of the cabinetry inside. In turn this guy (who owns a window contracting company) is going to buy and install brand new windows in our house! It is just hard not having him around to help me...especially when i sometimes can't even get up off of the floor or out of bed on my own. He leaves for his normal job at 5:30 am, and usually doesn't get home from the side job until 10:00 pm. This should be his last week working the extra job....let's hope!

Besides my painful hip, things have been really good. The babies room is completely ready, as we did our last minute massive shopping trip on Sunday to purchase everything i was afraid we were missing. I hung some shelves, and got my two free maternity pictures that i put on the shelves. I really have been trying to take it easy as much as possible.

We went to Benihanas for an early birthday dinner on Saturday night, and Adam INSISTED they come out and sing me happy birthday, both in English and Japanese. It was kind of sweet. Just a note, if you go to Benihanas website and sign up they will send you $30 off to use your birthday month!

I'll update after the next appointment on Monday with details on when the version will be scheduled!

Dr Appointment/New Job

We had our Dr's appointment yesterday and found out the baby is STILL breech. I love our Dr though. He is very conservative and has been doing this since like the ancient times...so his practices are very conservative as well. He brought up the version again, and went over the procedure and his viewpoints on it. He said that he is not very successful performing the versions and it is mainly because he doesn't like to force the baby to move. He told me that if/when it were to happen, we would go to the hospital, ( he likes to perform the procedure at the end of 37 beginning of 38 weeks) and he would give me the muscle relaxer via IV. He doesn't push hard, and will only move the baby if it seems it would like to move. This made me feel good, being that i don't want to put stress on the baby, which could cause complications. He also put my mind at ease for the chance that i will have to have a cesarean. I had always pictured delivering naturally, and not by cesarean. He told me that the recovery is NOT as bad as people think, and is really only bad when people have 30 (random number) hours of labor and then have to have a cesarean. Our dr said, we would schedule the cesarean, and i would come in "fresh as a daisy." That really put my mind at ease, and i know that whatever God has planned for us, will be, and my only concern is that the baby is healthy. So, whatever means it needs to come into this world for that to happen will be how he/she comes.

Besides that, i have been a bit distant from Blogging...there has been a lot going on at home with projects and such.

Last weekend we went to my grandmas with my brothers and Chucks fiance. They had their big town festival so we went to see a band and had burgers and went to the beer garden (water garden for me) on Friday night. Saturday during the day was the parade in town, and then Saturday night was the big rodeo. It was a lot of fun. My grandma made some excellent food, and of course sent mounds of it home with us which i have been eating all week so far.

We are going to stay in town for the remainder of the pregnancy, so we don't have too many plans going forward. I will just be getting things ready around the house for baby. Adam is working on a project for a guy he knows through work, doing some work on his house. In exchange, the guy (who owns a window company) is going to purchase and install brand new windows in our house!!!! Yippee! Our windows are, no kidding, from the 1960's, and are TOTALLY inefficient. So it will be nice to have new windows.

Finally, i don't think i mentioned, but i got a new job. I will fill in the details on everything once all is confirmed, but it is a great opportunity, and i will only be working P/T which will be so nice. Because of that change, we are looking for Adam to find a new opportunity, making more $. If anyone knows of any good jobs, probably sales related, for Adam, LET ME KNOW :)

Please keep us in your prayers these next few weeks. Pray that God does what he pleases with this baby, turning or not, and that we wrap things up on our house projects. Pray that Adam finds a new job, and that baby continues to grow and stay healthy.

LOVE YOU ALL!!! :) 39 days until BABY :)

Oh, here are some pictures of Bella, my parents dog....:)

Flip baby...flip, and PUPPIES!!!

We found out at our last Dr's appt on Friday that little baby Heeren is breech. I think it has been in this position the entire pregnancy, because i always feel it kicking down my my crotch :) Dr. K did an ultrasound to prove that indeed it is sitting head up. I guess our baby just likes to be upright and not upside down. I have about 3 1/2 weeks for it to turn down, and if it doesn't do it on it's own then i will have to go in and have a version where they try to push on my stomach and turn it from the outside. I have read that this only works 35% of the time and even if it works the baby could still turn back breech again before i deliver. If this is unsuccessful, then i will have to have a cesarean. I am fine with whatever the outcome is, although i would prefer the baby flips on it's own. Dr. K told me that if it doesn't then the baby is just telling us that it is content where it is and is telling us something. My friend Angel's friend Katie just had a version about a week ago that was successful, http://thecarringtonchronicles.blogspot.com/2009/06/she-flipped.html so i am hoping if baby doesn't flip, then the version will go as smooth as hers did. Besides that the appointment with Dr. K went really well. Baby is healthy, and was really exciting to see it again on the ultrasound. I couldn't believe how much bigger it was! Dr. K moved it around and down to my pelvic area and showed me the little butt, and all i could think of was "don't show that area too long..." :) Dr. K also gave me some tips to try to help the baby turn from now until 3 1/2 weeks. She told me to spend some time relaxing and taking deep cleansing breaths. She also said i can lay at a 45 degree angle with my butt up and head down, which sometimes can trick the baby into thinking that it is positioned the wrong way and turn. I can also rub my belly with lotion in a circular motion, which may help it feel the motion of turning. Last night Adam set up the beanbag on our bed and positioned it so my butt would be up and head down (of course i mean butt up, but still laying face up). I laid there and rubbed my belly and felt quite silly for 30 minutes! When Adam came in to check on me, i told him that i read on the Internet that it might help for the dad to talk to the baby with his mouth close to my pelvis. He immediately put his mouth close to my pelvis and started YELLING, literally, "BABY, COME DOWN HERE...TURN AROUND TO MY VOICE" I laughed so hard, which was not easy to do in the position i was in. I also read that if I flip over and get on my knees and bend down to my elbows and rock that sometimes the baby will feel a different kind of gravity and could flip as well, so i tried that for about 15 minutes. I am willing to try anything to make the baby flip on its own. So back to the inverted beanbag i will go tonight :) I am getting more and more tired as the days go on, which i am not used to, being i have not been tired all of my pregnancy. It is harder to sleep and i wake a lot more often. I also notice how much harder it is to be on my feet for long periods of time, and how i will feel the effects the next day. My feet swell, and i feel a lot of pressure down in my low pelvis if i am on my feet for a long time as well. Amidst how smooth my pregnancy has been, i am not upset at all with these small inconveniences i am experiencing now. Only about 7 1/2 weeks left!

In other news, my cousin graduated from high school and her graduation party was on Saturday. It was a Hawaiian theme, and was SO much fun. Adam and my brothers were in charge of grilling, and they wore grass skirts, straw hats, leas and Chuck wore a coconut bra (figures). I will post pictures when i can, but it was a lot of fun to see so many family members and my cousins friends.

Sunday i went to my parents and swam after church for the afternoon. It was very nice to just relax and float in the pool. One of the floaties was even a little deflated and i could lay on my stomach which felt AMAZING! I don't think i mentioned before but my parents got a new puppy a few weeks ago. I am pretty sure they are going to name her Bella, but they are not 100% sure. She is another Yorkie and weighs like less then a pound. I will post pictures of her soon. She is already best friends with our dogs. She follows Caeda around everywhere. I think Caeda sometimes is a little annoyed as i am sure it feels like she has a permanent shadow, but Bella doesn't care. I brought Caeda and Chloe over to swim with me, and they played with Bella all afternoon. Adam stayed home and cut out our kitchen window and put french doors in. They look AWESOME! I love how handy my hubby is :)

We are already down to our 2 week appts so our next is Monday the 30th...pray the baby flips! He/she is one stubborn little thing, so we definitely need your prayers :)