2 months

Micah is 2 months old today. I can hardly believe that our Little Man has only been with us 2 months! He has truly changed our lives for the better. He celebrated his 2 monthaversary today by staying up ALL day. That's right, Micah has decided that it is better to be awake during the day than it is to sleep and thus is not taking naps at home. Hopefully the new year will change this!

Anyway, here is what has happened in Micah's life in this, his second month:

*He smiles ALL the time.

*He laughs, especially when Daddy does silly voices or makes him wiggle when he's naked.

*He has started to discover his hands and can almost get them in his mouth.

*He discovered the lights on his playmat and loves staring at them.

*He loves it when Mommy sings to him, especially after his morning feeding, we have a great time singing Bible songs and playing together.

*He enjoys being worn in the wrap that Mommy made.

*He celebrated his first Christmas and got lots of presents from everyone!

*He went to the zoo for the first time and got to see lots of pretty lights.

*He had his first baby sitter--his Auntie Brittany while Mommy went to see a movie with Auntie Heather and Aunt Tracy.

*He sleeps through the night pretty consistently now and we're working on pushing his bedtime up.

Overall, Micah is a very happy baby. He rarely ever cries or fusses. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful Little Man!

Happy Anniversary

Today is Brad and my 3rd anniversary. When we got married we promised each other that we would always go away to celebrate our anniversary, even if only for a night. We didn't go anywhere tonight, but plans are in the works for sometime in 2011. However, despite it being a very low-key day, it was still a great anniversary. Not only because we got to spend it as a family, but because I spent it with the love of my life.

Brad is absolutely the man that I always imagined myself marrying. He is so thoughtful and selfless. He puts my happiness before anything else, and he is always trying to find ways to make me feel special. He remembers the little things, which are really important to me. And he knows that sometimes surprising me with a Dr. Pepper is the best gift he could give me. He listens to me when I have to process something. Again. And again. And again. He pretty much always lets me pick what movie we're going to watch, and rarely ever argues when I ask if we can eat at the same restaurant again.

But most importantly Brad loves me with a selfless love, like Jesus loves his Bride, the Church. I know that Brad would do anything for me, and for that I am truly grateful. I am so glad that I married my Prince Charming 3 years ago, and I look forward to many more wonderful years together.

From our wedding day:



Our 1 year anniversary (we went to Disney World):



Our 2 year anniversary (spent that weekend Downtown, but went to San Francisco in February):



Our 3 year anniversary (okay, I'm just too lazy to download photos from today so that I can upload them here, but we went to the zoo lights at Brookfield Zoo. Instead, here's a picture of us at Brad's brother's wedding in June):

Oh! The Anticipation!

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not always a very patient person. I have a lot of patience with people, but that's not the kind of patience I'm talking about. I'm talking about not being able to wait for good things. At 27, I still count down the days until my birthday. I still get up in the middle of the night Christmas Eve to go look at my presents and open my stocking. Anticipation kills me. If I know something exciting is coming up, I'm miserable waiting for it to happen. Christmas is the worst. As soon as December hits, I start snooping around looking for my Christmas presents. The kicker is I hate knowing what all my gifts are on Christmas morning, but I still can't stop myself from snooping! Luckily, my husband knows this about me and he doesn't keep unwrapped presents in the house anymore.

This Christmas was especially exciting because it was Micah's first. Not only was I eager to see what wonderful gifts my husband had picked out for me, but I couldn't wait to see what he had picked out for Micah. See, I'm also a gift person. I love opening gifts and being surprised by things. I think my eagerness was contagious this year because I somehow convinced Brad that we should open our gifts before we went to bed Christmas Eve night. Typically we open one gift from each other before going to bed. Then, I wake up at about 6 in the morning and anxiously wait for 7 when I can finally wake Brad up to go downstairs and start opening our presents. This year, after opening our one gift, I said we should open all our gifts right now, not expecting Brad to agree. But after thinking about it for a minute, he did agree, saying it might make the morning not so rushed since we didn't know what time Micah would be up and it now takes us a lot longer to get ready and out of the house in the morning. However, he put the stipulation that we would save one present for the morning as well as our stockings. Fine by me. Of course, after opening our gifts neither one of us could wait for that last gift so we opened them all (but saved the stockings for morning).

But this isn't really a post about what wonderful presents I got. Or how I have the patience of a 6-year-old. As I was thinking about how much I was anticipating Christmas, I started thinking about what was I really anticipating? Was it the presents? Partly, but more than that, it was the whole day. I was looking forward to see how well my husband knows me: did he pick out gifts that showed he really listens to me and thought about me? I was looking forward to watching Micah interact with his family and how well he would do with all of the excitement. I was looking forward to just relaxing with our families, talking to each other. I was looking forward to sitting on the couch and watching a movie with my husband. I was looking forward to singing Christmas carols and looking at all of the pretty lights. But was I really anticipating what Christmas is all about?

It's so easy to lose the true meaning of Christmas in all of the bustle. With family pictures and meeting Santa and baking cookies and wrapping presents, who has time for Jesus? So often the first thing that gets left out is going to church. It's just not at a convenient time. Or I have to get these cookies baked for the party. Or the baby is sleeping and I don't want to wake him. It's not that I think you have to go to church in order to properly celebrate Christmas, but for me it really helps keep me focused. So, that got me thinking, what did I do this year in anticipation for celebrating Christmas the right way? I didn't really do anything to make Christmas more Christ-focused. The whole year. I believe that as Christians, we have to anticipate Christmas all year long. I started off the year right, but somewhere along the way, I just lost it. I lost that excitement, the anticipation of that special day. I just wasn't excited. And as I was opening my presents in the early hours of Christmas I thought, what if I approached my relationship with God in the same way that I approach this day? What if I was excited to get up in the morning and couldn't wait to find out what God had to say to me this day? What if I jumped out of bed every morning because I just couldn't lay around anymore, I had to see what lay ahead for me? What if I anticipated that God was going to do something wonderful in my life every day? How different would my life be? How different would my family be?

I think that's what I'm going to do in 2011: anticipate God's faithfulness every day and eagerly anticipate all of the wonderful, exciting things that he has in store for me. I wonder how that will change my life?

Micah's First Christmas

There is so much I want to write about because of Christmas, but I just don't know if I'm going to be able to write everything. For now, I will focus on it being Micah's first Christmas.

As usual our Christmas was very busy, but Micah handled it all like a champ! Brad had to work on Christmas Eve so it was me and Little Man for the day. We went to church first and then headed to my aunt's house to see my family. My mom bought Micah a vest to match the Christmas dresses that she bought for my nieces. They all looked so cute in their Christmas outfits!







Once Brad got off work, he met us at my aunt's and we went to his stepsister's house for Christmas with his family. Everyone was there. It was nice to see everyone again and catch up. This was a very late night for Micah and we didn't have anywhere to put him to sleep so Brad ended up holding him most of the night and missed out on most of the present opening. We got home around midnight and put Little Man to bed (because he still hadn't fallen asleep!). Then, Brad and I had to put all the presents under the tree. We sat down to open one present (our Christmas Eve tradition), then both of us were wide awake. We decided to open all of our presents so that we didn't have to feel so rushed in the morning once Micah woke up (more on this in a later post). Since Micah didn't wake up until 8:00 and we had to leave our house by 9:30 it ended up really working out. Luckily, I thought to take a picture as soon as all the presents were out:



Brad and I weren't sure what to do present-wise for Micah. He's so young we knew he wouldn't know whether he got any presents or not, and we knew he would be spoiled by presents from his aunts and uncles and grandparents. Plus, there isnt' really anything that he needs and when he does we'll just buy it. However, we both love giving presents so much that we just didn't feel like we could not get him anything. So, we decided that we would each buy him three things and not tell the other person what we got. Then, we could open each other's present for Micah and there would be at least some level of surprise and excitement. It worked great and Micah got some things that he really could use.



After breakfast, we packed up the car and headed to Brad's mom's house ("Grammie). Micah fell asleep in the car and missed the present opening, but he sure got spoiled by his aunts and uncles! We enjoyed a delicious brunch and had fun just talking with everyone. It was a very relaxing morning and Micah enjoyed some quality time with his Uncle Kevin:



Then, we headed to my parents' (Oma and Boompa) for Christmas with my family. All of my siblings were there as well as my three nieces. Once again, Micah was awake and Brad spent most of the present-opening time walking around with him trying to get him to sleep. And, once again, Micah was really spoiled by his aunts and uncle and Oma and Boompa. After a wonderful dinner, we packed up the car and headed for home.

Today was a little more normal for Micah. He has slept most of the day, I guess all that running around really wore him out. He did really well with all of the Christmas festivities, but we're looking forward to getting back to our regular days. Last night before we went to bed, I asked Brad if he felt like he missed Christmas since he was away with Micah most of the time. He told me absolutely not. Getting to spend quality time with Micah is worth missing out on everything else. He also said that if Micah and I were the only presents he had for Christmas it would still be the best Christmas ever. That's how I feel, too. Micah really is the best gift we ever got and we are both so thankful to have him and to be able to celebrate this special day with him.

O, Christmas Tree

Well, the holidays have definitely hit the Kolar household! It seems like as soon as December comes, it is gone! It's very different for us, we're learning what we can and can't do with a newborn. We're so used to being really busy that it's weird to not be gone every night of the month. But that doesn't mean that we're not keeping ourselves busy!

Last weekend we went to cut down our Christmas tree. We went to a tree farm in Wilmington. It was raining so Micah and I stayed in the car while Brad cut it down. Of course, we did jump out of the car for a quick picture next to our tree!



Before we could go outside, though, Micah had to get all bundled up. I bought this little Bear snowsuit for Heather just before Lilie was born. I knew she wouldn't get much use out of it so I bought a 0-3 and told her when she's done with it, I could use it for my (unborn at the time) child. So, Heather gave it back to me after Micah was born and we used it for the first time last weekend. I don't think we're going to get any other uses out of it, though, because Micah is growing so fast! Here's some pictures of Micah all bundled up with Mommy and Daddy:





After we got back in the car, Micah was all smiles! He loved it when I sang Christmas songs to him.





The next day we had Brad's work Christmas party. It was snowing outside all day and I wasn't sure if we were going to go, but Brad said the roads weren't bad so he picked us up after work and we got to meet some of the people that Daddy works with (Brad is currently working as a pharmacist for Osco. He does not have his own store so he has to travel to several different store in the area, which is why we only met some of the people he works with.). Micah did great at the dinner, no fussing at all (once Daddy got home...after this picture was taken!).



This weekend was a busy one, too. On Saturday I went with my aunt and sister to see It's A Wonderful Life on the big screen. The actress that play ZuZu in the movie was there, too. When I originally said I would go, Brad was not scheduled to work so this was going to be the first time I left Brad and Micah alone. However, Brad's work schedule changed so my sister, Brittany, came over to baby sit instead. Micah did great (so did Mommy!)! Sunday, all of the women in my family went Downtown to see White Christmas at Bank of America Theater. This is my favorite Christmas movie. I can remember watching it several times a day when I was younger. I loved acting it out, especially the scene where they perform "Sisters." I was really looking forward to seeing this play. However, I didn't like it that much. Too much about it was different from the movie, so it was a little disappointing. But I would go back again because it's a great family tradition. After the play, everyone came back to my house for dinner. Oh, I forgot to mention Micah and Daddy spent the whole day together. Brad brought Micah over to Grammy's house and Uncle Kevin was there, too. Brad said he did great, but I was so happy to be back with my Little Man!

This week is looking busy too. We have Christmas with our close friends and I have dinner with my girlfriends from high school. Then, there's Christmas Eve and Christmas, and next week is our anniversary! December is almost over. But we're really looking forward to spending our first Christmas with our Little Man. I'll post picture of our tree all decorated once I get them. And, of course, there will be pictures of Micah's first Christmas!

What Do You Do All Day?

I often get asked, "What do you do all day?" Especially by my mom. The truth is, I don't know. Often, at the beginning of the day I will wake up and think, "Today is going to be such a long day!" Especially on the days when Brad has to work. But then it's 9:00 before I know it and the day is over! I think I spend a lot of time just starting at Micah. I am so in love with him, I can't help it. It seems like every day I discover something new about him. Like last night, he was looking at me and cooing. It was the cutest thing. Brad says it's totally obvious that he loves me. And I'm okay with that. More than okay, really. Anyway, for those that are curious, I'm going to try to write down what I do as best I can.

Micah typically wakes up between 7 and 8. I feed him and eat my "first" breakfast (a S'More pop tart). He usually falls back asleep after this feeding, unless we have somewhere to go (Thursdays we go to BSF and every other Friday we go to MOPS). I typically go back to sleep, too (hey, they say sleep when the baby sleeps!). He wakes up again around 10 or so for another feeding. After this he usually is awake for a while. We play for a little while in the bedroom. He loves looking at our ceiling fan. Every other day, I give him a bath. He loves taking baths! Then, we make our way downstairs where I eat a quick "second" breakfast. He usually sits in his bouncy seat for a little while. Just yesterday he discovered the things that hang down. He doesn't reach for them, but he just stares at them now. At some point he wants out of his seat and I wear him in a moby wrap that I made. I turn on some music and we try to work on whatever I have to accomplish for the day (usually cleaning the kitchen, going through the mail, folding some laundry). Sometimes he falls asleep while I'm wearing him, but I've yet to manage taking him out and not waking him. He eats again around 2:00 and can usually nap after this feeding. If we're going to go out, it's usually around this time. I try to get out of the house at least once a day, whether it's to the library, Target, or to visit my mom. Typically, he takes a pretty good nap at this time and doesn't eat again until 6:00. Then, we play for a little while more, but he's usually tired and will sleep for a couple hours. He gets his last feeding between 9 and 10. I feed him in our room with the lights dimmed so that he knows it's night time. When he's done eating, Brad wraps him up and puts him in the bassinet. He'll usually fall asleep on his own, but sometimes Brad walks around with him to get him to sleep. Then, he'll sleep until about 4:00 in the morning when he wakes up to eat again and falls right back asleep to start the day over.

Of course, no two days truly looks like this. Every day is different. Some days he's awake for most of the day, other days he sleeps all day. I try to get stuff done when he's sleeping so that I'm not worried about the bathroom being dirty or the laundry not being folded. When he's awake, I try to focus on him. We play on his playmat, sing songs, I tickle him. I love our time together. Seriously, the days just fly by and I'm not always sure what I really got accomplished, but I know that any time that I get to spend with my little boy is time that I wouldn't trade for the world!

Our smiley baby.

1 month

Okay, I'm 2 days late, but I still wanted to write a post about Micah's first month. He turned one month on Tuesday. I still can't believe he's been in our lives for one whole month! It has been the most awesome, tiring, emotional month of my life. Micah has accomplished a lot in his one month of life. Here's a brief glimpse at what he's done:

*As of Monday, he weighs 9lbs. 6.5oz. He has gained 2lbs. 11oz. since coming
home!
*Poor guy has been to the doctor every week of his life--his circumcision got
infected and then the medicine for that gave him a yeast infection!
*He smiles at Mommy and Daddy.
*He has started to make more cooing noises.
*He has slept through the night FOUR times!
*He has met all of his aunts and uncles and cousins and many friends of Mommy
and Daddy's.
*He celebrated his first Thanksgiving.
*He loves being in his seat and outside or going for rides. Seriously, never
fails to put him to sleep for a long time!
*He follows Mommy and Daddy's voice and watches them when they are in the
room.

We are so totally in love with our Little Man and really looking forward to this next month of his life!

Micah on his first Thanksgiving.



Micah and his cousins on Thanksgiving.



Micah now LOVES taking baths.

Thanksgiving

The holidays typically cause people to reminisce. So does having a baby. I am no exception. I've been thinking a lot lately about the past year. It has been incredible, gone nothing like what I thought. But I wouldn't change it for the world. For me, it all started about a year ago.

The school year got off to a bad start right from the beginning. By November things were just really going downhill. I had a problem with some of the parents and my principal was being a jerk. I couldn't do anything right by his thinking. In addition, things with my job at the church were getting very busy. I wasn't getting into a service regularly and it was really starting to pay its toll on my spiritual life. I really felt like Satan was attacking me and I had no defense because I wasn't going to church. So, Brad and I started talking and praying and we decided that I should resign from my job at the church. It was a very hard decision because I loved working with the kids and it really was my dream job. But I felt like I needed to do something in order to pick up my sword and fight for my spiritual life back.

January was the first time in months that Brad and I were able to sit through all four services in the month. It was wonderful and I immediately felt renewed and refreshed. It was also about that time that Brad and I decided to go to an infertility doctor. We had been trying to get pregnant unsuccessfully for a year so we decided it was time to find out why it wasn't happening. We started testing.

In the beginning of February, Brad and I took a workshop at our church about our finances. We learned a lot from the workshop about how to budget and get out of debt. We were also given tools for preparing to live as a one-income family. Also, we found out that there was no medical reason for our infertility. The doctor wanted to start me on clomid once my next cycle started. Last, things at school were getting worse than ever. My principal was so unsupportive and was just a jerk. After a little while, Brad and I decided that I should not continue working there. I knew that I was a good teacher and I could not continue working for a boss who did not believe in me. So, I turned in my letter of resignation.

At the end of February, I suddenly realized that I was late and decided to take a pregnancy test. I took it one morning before school. I can remember not wearing my glasses and swearing I wasn't going to check it until after I had brushed my teeth, washed my face, etc. As I was putting the test down I thought I saw something, which had never happened to me before so I decided to peek. I clearly saw two pink lines and started yelling to Brad (who was sleeping in bed still), "There's two pink lines! There's two pink lines! There's never been two pink lines!"

Literally within a few weeks, Brad and I found out there was no reason that we weren't getting pregnant, we learned how to budge off of one income, I quit my job, and we found out I was pregnant. Truly, it was a God thing. We were being prepared for the next step in our lives and we didn't even know it. I quit my job without any idea of what I would do next, at a time when there are very few job openings in the education field. It was a leap of faith. We had no idea what the future held for us, but we knew that this was what God wanted us to do. And a couple of weeks later, we found out I was pregnant. I was now able to stay home with our child, something we'd always wanted me to do.

It all started a year ago. To look back is just amazing to me. I wish that I could really put into words just how awesome it has been to see God working in our lives this past year. There is no doubt that he has been at work and we are so blessed to have received such a precious gift in our beautiful son. To look back is awesome, I cannot wait to see what God has in store for our future!

And now I will close with a picture of our little dream come true!

What Social Life?

When I was pregnant with Micah, Brad and I swore that even though we knew our life would change we would still stay the same in several ways. We are both very social people and did not want to give that up once we had kids. I've baby sat for children of all ages for years and I thought I'd learned a thing or two about maintaining a social life even after kids. Sure, I might be able to bring a toddler to a family party or take a baby to soccer game. But maintaining a social life? Much harder than we thought!

When I quit teaching I knew right away that I would have to find a job as soon as possible because there was no way I could sit at home all day with nothing to do. Then, we found out I was pregnant and the search for a job was called off. Mostly. I still had a couple of months in the summer to fulfill. I only watched Lilie three days a week, but for those three days I knew I had something to do. The other two days I could go stir crazy. I often drove out to my parents' house just so that I could be in the same room with someone. Never in a million years did I think that I would be okay with staying home all the time.

But having a baby changes things. Now, most days I don't even make my way downstairs until almost noon. The only reason I get out of my pajamas is because someone is coming over or I have to run an errand. Even then most of the time I put on lounge pants (something I didn't even own until I had Micah!) and a T-shirt. Often, when Brad gets home from work he'll ask me what we did all day. I tell him I have no idea. I fed Micah. That's pretty much it. And yet somehow the time always seems to fly by!

Now, back to the social life part. I still get a little stir crazy and like to get out of the house. I still want to spend time with friends. So, last week when I had the opportunity to go to Olive Garden with the girls in my small group, I jumped at it. Of course, I took Micah with, but he did great, slept the whole time (of course, I had to feed him in the parking lot before we could head home, but he made it through the restaurant!). I was so happy, our first outing and he proved that it could be done! Then, Thursday, we had a doctor's appointment for Micah and needed to go to Target for some things. We also made plans to meet Brad's mom for lunch. Micah's appointment was at 1:20. After lunch, we walked around Lake Katherine with Grammie. Then, we needed to stop at my parents' house so that I could feed Micah. My sister and the girls were over so we spent a little extra time there with them. Finally, we left and headed for Target. We did not get home until 10:00. Again, Micah did great, only got fussy one time when he was getting hungry. Yay! We have a social kid, too! On Friday, I had an appointment and my dad picked me up early so that he could spend some time with Micah. After a couple of hours at my parents' house, my mom and I went to Archiver's to buy the materials for our birth announcements. Then, she took me to my appointment. That night, some friends stopped by to drop off a meal and meet Micah. Again, Micah did wonderful the whole day.

Then Saturday came. We were supposed to go to a family wedding, but from the very beginning of the day, Micah was not in a good mood. He was very fussy and wanted to eat all the time. The kid was practically attached to me the whole day. And the poor boy was so overtired he barely slept the whole day! We quickly realized that the busyness of the past couple days had really taken its toll on Micah. He wanted to be home in the comfort of his bed, able to be held by his Mommy or Daddy whenever he wanted. He just needed a day to relax and not have to be anywhere. So, we gave that to him. And just like that, I realized that having a baby had definitely changed my social life. I never would have guessed that I would be the person to not go to a wedding and just stay home instead. But I'm beginning to appreciate those days. Don't get me wrong, I still like to get out of the house. I try to get out at least once a day in someway: run to Target, go for a walk, whatever. But I really enjoy the days where I have nothing planed and I just get to hang out with my little boy. I still want to spend time with my friends and stay active, but my little boy is more important now. He doesn't like the fast-paced lifestyle. At least not right now. So, I'm perfectly content staying home and cuddling with him most days. After all, dinner out and shopping trips will always be there, but Micah will only be a baby once and I plan on enjoying every minute of it!

Now, a few pictures of Micah being social:

Going for a walk, something we do most days.



Family picture at Lake Katherine.


See? Doesn't he just look tuckered out?

The New Normal

Today Micah is 11 days old. He has been home for over a week and we're still trying to figure out what normal is going to be like from now on. It seems like it changes every day. One day he's wide awake during the middle of the day, the next he sleeps practically the whole day. We're learning to just roll with the punches, because that's all we really can do.

So, what's life been like since Micah came home? Well, he had his first doctor's appointment on Friday. When he came home from the hospital, Micah weighed 6lbs. 15oz. At his appointment, he weighed 7lbs. 3oz. This was a huge relief for me because I just had no way of knowing if Micah was getting enough milk or not. This definitely confirmed that he is a healthy eater! He has another appointment this afternoon. I'm eager to see how much he weighs now!

The first two nights home were long, but Brad wasn't working so we worked together and survived. Ever since then, Micah has been a great sleeper at night. We actually have to wake him every night for his middle of the night feeding. I know, many of you are saying, "You never wake a sleeping baby!" but he's still so young that we have to make sure he eats at least every 4 hours. We're really hoping at our appointment today, the pediatrician says it's okay to let him sleep and wake himself when he's hungry. He sleeps a lot during the day, too, but usually has a good awake time of about 4 hours or so.

Micah's had many visitors, including all of his grandparents and aunts and uncles and even some friends. His cousins loved holding him for the first time and just admiring how little he is. On Wednesday, Micah even went to his first restaurant with Mommy and her small group friends. He slept the entire time! He really is a good baby and we're adjusting quite well to this little bundle that has completely turned our lives upside down!

Welcome home, Micah!



He wasn't too fond of his first bath, but I'm sure with time he will love them just as much as Mommy does!


Being weighed at the pediatrician's office--he did not like having to be naked!


My sister is taking some newborn shots of him. Here's a sneak peek.

He's Here

Life's been kind of busy lately. Why, you ask? In case you haven't heard, we have a newborn in the Kolar household. Micah Benjamin was born on October 31st at 12:05 in the afternoon. I know we haven't been able to talk to a lot of you and you're curious as to everything that's been going on so I thought I would write it out here for you.

On Saturday, the 30th we went to the hospital for my regularly scheduled non-stress test. As usual, my blood pressure was elevated. Despite being hooked up to the monitors for 45 minutes, my blood pressure was not going down so I was sent for biophysical profile (a special ultrasound). Everything with the baby looked good and the technician said he would be about 8lbs. 14 oz. We went back up to labor and delivery and I was hooked back up to the monitors and my blood pressure was still elevated (160s/high 90s). After a while, our midwife called and said that we should think about being induced because of my blood pressure. All of my tests came back normal, as did the baby's so there was still no indication that the high blood pressure was negatively effecting me or the baby. However, at that point, there was no benefit to keeping the baby inside. The midwife left the decision up to us. After discussing it for a little while, Brad and I decided to go ahead and do the induction.

So, we were admitted into labor and delivery. At 12:30 I was given my first dose of cytotec, which helps ripen the cervix. Brad and I played a mean game of Phase 10 while waiting for things to happen. My mom and sister also stopped by to visit. At 4:30 I was given my second dose of cytotec and my last dose at 8:30. By then, I started having contractions, but nothing intense or real regular. Also, my mom, sisters, and Brad's mom came by for a visit. Everyone left around 10:00 and Brad and I started to settle down for the night. We tried to get some sleep, but our minds were racing making it nearly impossible to calm down. Around 1:30 I started feeling more regular, intense contractions. At this point, I was not hooked up to the IV so we decided to walk the halls. We walked up and down the halls of the ob floor for probably close to 2 hours as the contractions got closer together and more intense.

At 5:00 the nurse started my pitocin. There was almost an immediate increase in my contractions! In addition, I was now confined to my bed because I had to be hooked up to the monitors and an IV. I felt defeated because moving around really helped me deal with the pain. The nurse was awesome. She came in and tried talking to me, helping me deal with the pain. She even brought in the labor ball so that I could sit on that. I lasted another two hours like that before I finally asked for an epidural. The contractions were very intense, very close together, I was feeling nauseous, and just very emotional. Within an hour, the anesthesiologist was administering my epidural and I was feeling no pain! At this point, Brad called the grandparents and they came by. By 10:00 I was 10cm and we were waiting for the baby to drop a little bit more so that I could start pushing. Around 11:00, I was told I could start pushing. We kicked everyone out (though they didn't go very far--they all stood outside the door, listening) and started pushing. At 12:05, Micah Benjamin literally came bursting into the world! He weighed 7lbs. 9oz. and was 21 1/2in. He has lots of blond/brown hair and the longest fingers!

Micah has really changed our world. Both Brad and I are just smitten with him and cannot believe that our world ever felt complete without him. I'll close with some pictures from the past few days and a promise to write more about what life at home has been like since Micah joined us.

Exactly 40 weeks pregnant. Just before starting the induction.



Happy Halloween from Micah!



Welcome to the world, Micah Benjamin!

Still Waiting

We had another midwife appointment today. I've made a little progress since last week, but not much. She swept my membranes again in hopes that it will start something. We're hoping he decides to come tomorrow or Friday because Brad has next week off and we'd rather have that time to spend with the baby, not waiting for the baby. But I guess he's the one in control of this, not us, so we will be patiently waiting on him.

So, WHAT is going on?

Okay, I know many of you are confused by the events of this past week. Yes, we entered this week thinking that we would be meeting our baby boy by the end of the week. However, that is not so. So, what exactly happened? Well, here's the story:

At 34 weeks, I was diagnosed with pregnancy-induced hypertension and put on partial bed rest. Basically, my blood pressure was high and I had a lot of swelling so I was told that I had to be horizontal for at least 12 hours a day. The other 12 hours I could do pretty much anything. I also had to start going to the midwife weekly. So, every week at my appointment my bp has been slightly elevated and now we have to start watching out for pre-eclampsia, which can come on very quickly and be very serious. At 36 weeks there was protein in my urine so I was told that I would have to start getting weekly non-stress tests. Basically, I go to the hospital on Saturday morning and they hook me up to two monitors: one to see if I'm having any contractions and one to see how the baby's heart rate is. They want to make sure the baby is moving around like he should be and that his heart is responding appropriately to the movements. At my first test, my bp was up the highest it's ever been and was up again at my regular appointment. So, the midwife said that since I'm full term and my blood pressure is still elevated we start to get concerned about any damage that this can be causing to me or the baby. So, she said that it would probably be best to get him out before anything gets too serious. However, since I have no other symptoms and she'd rather deliver a baby that is 38 weeks than a baby that is 37 weeks she thought we could wait another week.

This was totally not what we wanted to hear. As many of you know, I've been hoping for a completely natural childbirth this whole time so finding out that I would be induced was extremely disappointing. I know how painful contractions can be with pitocin (the drug they typically give you to induce labor) and I knew that meant the chances of me getting an epidural would increase. Nevertheless, we started to prepare ourselves for an induction. I made sure everything was ready at home and did some reading on inductions, etc. We even started to get a little bit excited that we would finally be getting to meet our little man.

So, we go to our appointment on Wednesday and my bp was elevated, but not as high as it has been. The midwife brings up induction again and says it's like walking a tight rope because inductions come with their own set of problems, but we have no idea what the high blood pressure is going to do to my body. So, she sent us to labor and delivery for a full PIH work-up. Depending on the results of the tests we would start the induction that night. So, I get hooked up to the monitors again, they draw blood, take a sample of my urine, and we settle in for a long night. Eventually, they took me down to get an ultrasound so that they could make sure everything is going well with the baby and he's moving as he should be, etc. After a couple of hours, we got a phone call from the midwife. She said the tests came back great and I was "the picture of health." Since I'm not experiencing any other symptoms and there appears to be no damage being done to the baby or any of my organ systems we were sent home and told that we could let this baby comes when HE wants to.

As you might imagine, it was a very up-down kind of day. We were ecstatic to find out that both Micah and I are healthy despite the high blood pressure, but there was a little bit of let down knowing that we were going to have to wait to meet him. However, more than anything, we are overjoyed that we will get a chance to experience this birth the way that we were hoping--and that Micah gets to decide when it's time for him to come rather than someone else. Now, it's just a waiting game. I still have to get weekly non-stress tests and we had another ultrasound today (he stuck his tongue out at us during the u/s as if to say, "Haha, Mom and Dad! I'm still in here!), but he can come any time he wants.

First Post

Well, here we are, following the trend of new families and creating a family blog for friends and family to be able to keep up to date on what is going on with us. This is something we've been meaning to do for most of the pregnancy, but have only just now gotten around to doing. So, what do you write on a first post? We could catch you up on what's been going on through the pregnancy, but it seems a little late for that. So, instead, I will let you know how we came up with the name for our blog.

As many of you know, Brad and I met in high school. We constantly receive comments about how our story is like a fairy tale, and we often feel the same way! However, as is true with most fairy tales, our story is not always full of puppies and rainbows. We've had bumps in the road and our share of struggles. But despite that, we know that in the end it will all work out as long as we have each other and our faith in God. So, this is the story of our happily ever after, however it may be!