Two Months

I can hardly believe that my baby girl is already two months old! Has it really been two whole months since we took this picture? My belly was so big! Scotlon took this picture at 2:07a.m. when we were leaving to go to the hospital. I was definitely between contractions since I was smiling!


A lot has changed since her one month pictures...praise Jesus! I remember being so sad that her one month birthday was being celebrated at the hospital. The nurses were so sweet and decorated her sign after I left for the day.

My sweet girl today! She's hanging out with her daddy and loving every second of it!

Alaina, my love, there are no words to describe how happy you make me. You are getting so big now and I so enjoy watching all the new things that you're doing. You are such a happy baby and you smile all the time now. Last Friday you rolled over for the first time and your daddy and I were so excited! You are so strong and it's hard to believe that you are only two months old sometimes. You are the best thing that God has ever blessed us with and we can't imagine life without you! I love you baby girl,

Mommy

Alaina Kristine Hughes

This is Stephanie's friend, Hailey. Stephanie asked if I would post a short update about Alaina's birth. I will not go into grave detail, because I am sure that once Stephanie regains her strength, she would love to share the entire birth story in her own words.

Alaina Kristine was born Saturday morning at 8:07 via emergency c-section because after laboring for several hours, her heartbeat kept fading from the fetal monitors. After she was born, the doctor found that she had been living in a severely significant amount of meconium for about a week. Apparently Stephanie's placenta had aged prematurely, causing Alaina a great deal of stress. The lack of amniotic fluid & oxygen in the placenta triggered Alaina's premature bowel movement, releasing the meconium. The doctor was able to remove a large amount of the meconium from Alaina's lungs, but the remainder of it is preventing her from breathing properly & has to be dissipated by her body. She is making small improvements, but she still has a long road of healing ahead of her. Fortunately, every report that we have received from her doctor since early Sunday morning has been encouraging.

Stephanie is doing well. I can not imagine the torment that she & Scotlon are facing. Alaina is in a zero-stimulus environment in the NICU where they are not allowed to hold her, touch her, or even speak to her. Thankfully, Scotlon was able to touch & visit with his daughter immediately after she was born. Stephanie was able to touch & visit with her daughter only minutes before she was taken to her postpartum room to recover.

Thank you for your prayers. I know that Stephanie & Scotlon are both extremely appreciative of every prayer, every thought & every kind word of encouragement. Please continue to pray for Alaina's & Stephanie's complete & speedy healing, as well as peace & wisdom for Stephanie & Scotlon during this terrifying time.

With much gratitude,

Hailey

Wonderful Weekend

This weekend was absolutely wonderful...uneventful, but wonderful! We got together with some good friends to celebrate a birthday, slept late, enjoyed some time at the pool and just took it easy. Yesterday afternoon we wandered the outlets and bought some cute things for our girl. We're trying so hard not to buy everything we see, but Carters was having a sale. It's hard to say no when everything at the already discounted outlet is even cheaper!

Mom Norton (Hailey's mama) came over last night to work on the nursery and we had a lot of fun painting together. She's doing a super cute border around the room that I can not wait to post pictures of. She is so talented and I love that Alaina is going to have a nursery that's unlike any other! Now if she would just get here so she could see it...

On that note, nothing new to report. We're down to only 12 days and I am SO ready for baby girl to get here. I'm doing everything that people tell you to scoot her along, walking, hanging out on my yoga ball, eating spicy foods, etc. Scotlon is really crossing his fingers that she's born on Fathers Day (6/21) which is next Sunday. Since there's supposed to be a full moon that day he may be on to something...I go back to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon so maybe I'll have something more to report then!

Childbirth Class: Week 4

Now that we're nearing the end, we finally had a class that was fairly uneventful! Not that it was without it's humorous moments, like our instructor breaking the forceps that she was trying to demonstrate with, but in comparison with previous weeks it was pretty tame.

The most interesting part was watching the girl across from me during the breathing exercises (I get distracted easily). Her mom is her labor coach and there seemed to be (and by seemed, I mean harsh whispering that was hard to ignore) a dispute about whether or not she was breathing correctly. I might have been able to ignore them, but halfway through each practice contraction, Scotlon would whisper, "She's at the 40, the 30, the 20, the 10, TOUCHDOWN!". While I usually appreciate a good football reference, the image of me running (waddling) down a football field in a hospital gown was making me giggle. Have you every tried to take deep, even breaths while holding in a laugh? It's not possible people!

Next week is our last class and I can only imagine what might be in store for us...

Childbirth Class:Week 3

I'm sad to say that our break from the crazy lady (as I affectionately call her) is over. Last night we focused on things the coaches can do during labor to help mom stay on track with her breathing. The first thing she mentioned is getting right in front of mom's face and telling her very firmly to focus. Riiiiiight. Knowing the gentle spirit that I am (ha!), I can tell you with confidence that this is not going to be a move that we use. My husband is smart enough to know that if he gets that close and starts barking orders, I'm liable to grab a handful of his hair and pull until I start to feel better. I love my sweetheart and I don't want to hurt him, but these are extreme circumstances people.

We were able to tour the hospital last night and see where we're going to be in a few weeks. It was pretty cool, though the highlight was when crazy lady decided to show us one of the antipartum rooms. Does she look on the sign to see if it's occupied?

Nope! She just walks right on in!

The room was definitely taken and I'm not sure mom was super thrilled to be barged in on.

On a serious note, I'm going to ask for your prayers. One of the girls in our class was admitted to the hospital and will be there until she delivers. She's only 31 weeks pregnant and they're trying to buy her a few more before they induce her. I cannot even begin to imagine how scared she is right now. Please pray for peace and healing for both her and the sweet boy she's carrying.

Thank you!

Childbirth Class: Week Two

I am happy to report that our class last night was much less eventful than last week. I'm sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that our regular teacher couldn't be there and we had a substitute teacher. Who, might I add, was awesome.

Going into last night, I was super bummed because my hubby is out of town and had to miss class. However, I am so blessed because my labor & delivery nurse happens to be a great friend and she attended with me. How awesome is that? In addition, Nina is best friends with the woman who was our sub so I was definitely in good hands.

The only downside to the whole evening was the labor video. Not specifically the video itself, but the two fabulous women who were whispering about how hard that particular phase was, etc. I leaned over and whispered as politely as possible, "NOT HELPING!" Nina laughed and promised that every second was worth it in the end. While I know that in my heart, the screaming woman on the screen is still haunting me a little.

The best part was practicing this weeks relaxation technique...massage. I feel very confident that it won't be quite so pleasant when I'm actually in labor pain, but last night it was pretty nice.

Overall, a much better experience than last week. Here's hoping that next week goes just as well!

Sweet Little Bunny

Yesterday, we went to the doctor's for our 3-D ultrasound pictures and it was incredible. I know that there is a real person in my belly, but seeing her sweet face for the first time was a moment that I will never forget. She was so cooperative and gave us a great picture with her eyes open. We can tell already that she's going to be a thumb sucker as she had it there almost the whole time!


You can't see it here but after a few minutes of blinking at us, she decided that we weren't so interesting and tried to take a nap. The picture below is one of my favorites because you can see her sweet little face so clearly. Bless her heart though, she got my fat cheeks!

Overall it was a great day for us! We can't wait to meet our sweet little bunny!

Jeremiah 1:5-"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart."

Inappropriate Classroom Behavior

Last night, armed with two pillows and a blanket, we attended the first week of our childbirth classes. We were a little unsure of what to expect since we've never had a need to attend this kind of class before. Nothing, NOTHING, could have prepared us for the next two hours.

We arrived early and met the woman who will be teaching our classes. Off the bat, I'm wondering how many years it's been since she has actually been in labor. Seriously, I think she might be related to Methuselah (we later found out that she has 8 great-grandchildren). I admonished myself for being so judgmental and thought about all the wise older people that I have learned from over the years. After attending only one of our five classes, I can tell you with confidence that she is not going to be one of them.

We get in and settled into the very back row of the classroom. I usually don't sit in the very back because I'm a nerd, but Scotlon insisted and I am so glad that he did. As people are filing in, I'm secretly thrilled that I am not the largest woman in the room. I mean, I love the girls I work with but they're all dieting and skinny. It did something amazing for my self-esteem to sit with women who are not shrinking more by the day. We go around and everyone introduces themselves, when they're due, etc. Then we got down to business.

As we're discussing the progression of labor, our instructor picks up the skeleton pelvis and the doll so she can demonstrate. She shows the baby moving down and everything is going fine until she puts the pelvis back down on the table...with the baby's head still stuck in it. The baby is now sticking straight up at a 45 degree angle out of the pelvis. Perhaps if I had gotten enough sleep on Monday night this might not have been so funny. However, it caught me just right last and the laughter started. At this point, it was still containable though.

We move on to relaxation techniques and visualization. The woman on the tape she's playing has us visualizing ourselves in the womb, talking to our babies, what is your baby telling you? (My baby is telling me to get out...there's barely enough room for her in there)! Then we're imagining our babies in the ocean with water all around. (What the crap is my baby doing in the middle of the ocean? She can't swim people, she's going to drown! How is this supposed to be relaxing me)?

The tape transitions into relaxing each part of our body individually. Each appendage is getting heavy and warm. When she gets to our legs getting heavy and warm, soooo relaxed, all I can hear is Ron White doing his bit about floating down the river peeing on himself. I've got the giggles at this point and I am trying desperately not to laugh out loud. She then says to imagine ourselves warm and flaccid. I will not share my inappropriate thoughts here, but my composure took a nose dive and my shoulders were shaking uncontrollably. The girl in front of me turned around to glare at me, which only made me laugh harder. Not only am I not doing the breathing exercise, but I can't stop laughing long enough to suck in ANY air. The tape finally ends and the instructor lets us have a break. I bolt for the door as fast as my 30 week pregnant belly will let me, praying that I can hold in the laughter until I get outside.

Bear in mind, that we're only halfway through the class at this point. The rest was filled with more of the same uncontrollable laughter and praying that the time would pass quickly. The conclusion that we came to on the way home was that we essentially paid $75 for a self-esteem boost and a great abdominal workout.

I can't wait to see what's on the agenda for next week....

Pregnancy Brain

My daughter is slowly draining all of my brain cells from my body. I promise that I used to be an intelligent person before I got pregnant. In fact, I used to secretly scoff at the girls who blamed "pregnancy brain" for their space-cadet moments. I am here today to tell you that pregnancy brain is very real. I forget what I am saying mid-sentence. I walk out and climb into my car, only to realize that my keys are sitting on the counter. I will ask you a question three times, listen to your response, and still walk away without knowing the answer. It's gotten proportionately worse, the farther along I get in my pregnancy. However, last night takes the cake.

I was working on a special gourmet dinner of Hamburger Helper and Five-Cheese Bread (don't be jealous of my mad cooking skills), and everything was going along fine. Ground beef is done, I added the additional liquid needed, set the timer, and walked away. When the timer went off I came back and instead of seeing a finished meal, I see white & grey gunk. Confused, I open the lid and stare at the pot for a good two minutes trying to figure out what went wrong. I call Scotlon to ask if he thinks it looks odd when I notice the box sitting off to the side.



Unopened.



I realized at that moment that while I added liquid, I never actually added the box of Hamburger Helper. Even though his shaking shoulders were giving him away, I give my husband serious credit for not laughing out loud as he tried to console his overly-emotional, pregnant wife.

Perhaps boxed meals aren't idiot-proof after all...

Cure for the Monday Blues

I hate Mondays. I struggle to get out of bed and then try to ward off feelings of mild depression as I realize that I have 4 more days before I can sleep in again. It didn't use to be quite as bad, but I am finding myself moving a wee bit slower these days! Yesterday was particularly challenging because there were two of us trying to get ready. For the first time since we've been married, we don't each have the bathroom to ourselves in the morning. We discovered quickly that we both missed the day in kindergarten where you learn to share things! Adjustments were made on both sides and we managed to make it out of the house without strangling each other.

The end of the day, however, was much better than the beginning! We spent the evening at the Emerson household where we were treated like royalty. Hailey not only made her famous lasagna but surprised Scotlon with his favorite dessert...cupcakes with homemade buttercream icing. Nothing cures the Monday blues like licking fresh icing off of the beaters! In the midst of the mixer going, pots and pans banging, the boys yelling at the xbox (because that will keep their players from dying), I look over and see this:

Girlfriend is passed out. I have no idea how she is still sleeping with all of the noise around her, but I hope and pray with every fiber of my being that Alaina sleeps just like her cousin!

After she finally woke up we put her new t-shirt on her and tried to get a picture of her in it. Ha! She did NOT want her picture taken, which she told us very clearly over and over again. Being the persistant people that we are, Hailey was finally able to get a good one (note the saying):

That's right! Hannah is going to be a big sister on or around November 20th! She already loves her "baby" and will kiss & pat mommy's belly. She got a little confused when we tried to explain that Aunt Stephie had a baby too, but we'll work on that:) Of course, Hailey & I are thrilled to be having our babies together! After all, we do everything else together so why not this???

Here's hoping that your Tuesday goes by quickly and smoothly. If not...only three more days to go!

Love,

Stephanie

Quiet Moments

I love it when the alarm goes off in the mornings. At least for the last couple of months or so. My sweet baby girl wakes up at the same time I do, and greets me with lots of kicks! It is still dark, all is quiet and it's just us (Daddy is still passed out cold). I love to put my hands on my belly and feel her swimming around beneath them. If I press on a specific spot she will get annoyed and kick back over there. It's a silly game we play, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I lie there and thank God for such a wonderful blessing and wonder how I can possibly love her anymore than I already do. I know I will, but it's just that my heart is so full that it's overflowing.

While I long for the day that I can hold her in my arms, I know that I will miss this feeling. I will miss this quiet time together. There will be so many more incredible moments but it will never be quite like this again. Is it silly if that makes me just a little sad? This time is flying by and I just don't want to forget one second of it...