Learning when to raise your hand - Kate's Arrival

Okay, I have learned many things over the last 2 weeks, mostly dealing with when to raise your hand and bring attention to yourself. As I wrote in a previous post, I originally told myself no to my water breaking....which I was wrong about. Then on Wednesday night, October 8th, I told myself that I was not having contractions but rather stomach pains. The nurse came into the room several times beginning at about 7:30pm. She put the contraction monitor on my stomach and it didn't show anything. She left and came back later when I requested and gave me some hot packs because I was having some pain in my back. They felt good for a brief second, then the pain was back. After about hour of pain coming and going, I told Don that the nurse had to do something this time. The nurse came in and said before she did something for my stomach pain, she wanted to check my cervix to make sure what I was experiencing wasn't labor pains. She did and then reported that I was 8cm dilated! So I went from nothing to alot in like 1 hours time. I was moaning some during this time but Don kept reading his book thinking I was just crying wolf! So then, like 3 nurses come running in my room. The nurse taking care of me was shouting commands to the others. They were sticking IVs and catheters in. 2 Doctors in my doctors practice were already coming in to do a C-section on another lady, thank goodness. They wheeled me to the Op Room between 9:30 and 9:45 and by 10:22, I became a parent. They quickly showed me little Kate and then Don and a few nurses took off to take Kate to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). She was so tiny and so precious! I started crying as soon as I felt her being pulled out of me and then again when I heard her cry. That little cry was the best feeling in the world! When I got back to my room, my parents were waiting and then it wasn't long before Don's parents showed up. I think the Farmers must have broken record speeds that night to make it from Albertville that quickly. They all were allowed to go see her in the NICU at 11:30pm. I didn't see her until the next day around 5pm. She was a squirmy little thing! Here is my take so far, she looks like Don but maybe acts like me. :) She is the cutest little thing I have ever seen and I can't wait until she gets to come home. They told us between 3 and 5 weeks with a best case of 2 weeks. She is doing really good in there, just sleeping alot and growing. I am SO proud of her! So the next few weeks we will be hanging out in the NICU at St. Vincent's Hospital. I hope to have her home around Halloween. Oh, and the last thing to raise my hand about was an incident that took place the last night of my hospital stay. It was about midnight and I encountered another situation that dealt with lots of pain medications and being on bedrest. I will not go into the details, but have truly learned my lesson of when to raise your hand. I will leave you with some pics of my sweet little Kate...
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Hospital Shower with Family

My sweet mom and me (and the pink is not a coincident...girl baby!)

Little Marco McBride (future Alabama lineman)

Aunt Julie and Aunt Stephanie

Mawmaw Moore, Mom, and Aunt Stephanie

Mom, me, and Mawmaw (3 generations, bout to be 4)
Mawmaw, Aunt Melanie, and 3rd Cousin Alli
Marco trying so hard to give me a kiss before he left but he couldn't reach me nor me him...he was determined (SO CUTE)!
The dress I came home in that Kate will also come home in
Cousin Rachel with her daughter Alli
Aunt Rebecca, Monica, Marshall and Marco McBride (2.5 yr old twins)

Getting Very Excited

33 weeks today! Yay! Hoping to make it to 35 or 36 with little Kate in my tummy. The first week of bedrest was not bad due to my many sweet visitors (some multiple times, thanks Keri!). The doctor commented to me yesterday that I was pleasant. He said most people in here in your situation get depressed. I said, "Doc, I am very excited. I just want my little girl to hold in there until she can come out and not have to stay in the NICU". I really like my doctor. We have bonded. His name is John Foster and he is with OB/GYN associates of Alabama. I would recommend him to anyone. The highlights of my day are the visitors (of course), the food, and the shower. Who said hospital food was bad? My sweet husband has been coming up here almost every night. I keep telling him he doesn't have to and he continually shows up. I know he is exhausted but he wants to be here for me and Kate and I think that is the sweetest thing. So I am thinking I got 2-3 weeks of this with little Kate still cooking in the belly. I might read a few books or I guess I could do all my Christmas shopping online. Thank goodness for laptops! Okay, big things happening this week is Kate's furniture coming...woohooo! Her bedding is suppose to be ready Wednesday, October 8th. Don and mom are going to get both of those things set up (well the furniture will be set up by the people we bought it from). My family is having a "shower" for me at the hospital Tuesday afternoon at 4pm. :) Presents have been trickling in which is so much fun! Don has taken them all back and put them in her room. I better get started on Thank You cards.

Bedrest until Kate arrives

So I decided it would probably be best to write all this down on our blog so I can just refer here for details. Saturday, 9/27, we were headed up to Huntsville to spend time with family. Petey was even invited to spend the night so he was in the car as well. Well the night before I had an incident at Jim N Nicks that I thought could be my water breaking or leakage but after arriving home and calling the on-call doctor, they convinced me it probably was not my water breaking. I woke up Saturday and went about my day but I was noticing signs that I was still leaking. On the way to Huntsville, we talked to Don's sister (whom we were going to visit). She convinced me that I was not overreacting and I probably should stop by the hospital to determine if I was leaking fluid or not. I did, and here I sit now on 3rd day of bedrest. After a few tests run Saturday afternoon I was told my fluid was leaking and they had me a room. My next question was, "For how long?" Their quick response, "Until your baby arrives." I was SHOCKED to say the least. I was almost 32 weeks and all I could think was 2 months in the hospital on bedrest. Later after talking to several nurses and doctors I learned that if the baby does not come before 34 weeks, they will normally take her then. My doctor will not say that is a definite but his colleagues seem to believe that is the route they would take. Mine likes to stay noncommitted so I sit here and wonder. Right now, they are giving me antibiotics, fluids, checking my blood pressure, temperature, blood, giving me shots of steroids, and some to stop contractions. I am not sure I ever had any contractions but I guess they gave me the medicine just in case. So Kate's birthday will more than likely be in October...just when...we are unsure. I will be 34 weeks on October 13th and 35 on October 20th. She might have to spend some time in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) but we won't know until she gets assessed by the doctors. I am fairly optimistic and am realizing every day that we are never in control, God is in control, so I pray to him. Leave my worries with him. That is how he wants it. I will keep you guys updated with any big news. Until then, I will be hanging out in room 316 of the Women's Center at St. Vincents Hospital in Birmingham. Come see me!

8 weeks & counting

Okay...we are finally in single digits! Woohoo! Baby furniture should be in, in 2 weeks, along with bedding. At parenting class this week Don had to try on the pregnancy suit so that he could sympathize with the weight I am carrying around. Here is a picture...

I heard alot of the men say that it was pretty heavy. Uh, yeah guys! Try bending over. :)

Petey went to the dermatologist this week and his weight was up to 10.5lbs. Wooh Mama! So he started off in July at 8.7lbs and now he is at 10.5lbs. I blame it on the roids they have had him on to help get over his infection that his etopical dermatitus caused him. Now, we got to figure out how to get a pound and a half off of him. I guess I will have to go run with him once Kate gets here. Here is a cute picture of him this week...late night...

October is going to be crazy busy with 2 showers, Kentucky football game, 1 make-up parenting class, 2 weeks spent in Auburn for work (my last travel for PwC), and Halloween and anything else that comes up. Busy, busy!

We are about to head to Huntsville for the day and night, we will come back tomorrow afternoon after church. We decided it probably would be good to get some time in with our sweet nephews and their parents before little Kate shows up. I will post pictures of Reid and Ryan on my next post. Also, this will be a great tester of Petey around a baby. I sure hope he behaves.

Updates!!!

Let's see...we are still waiting on nursery furniture and I really have no idea when it will come in. They told us 8-12 weeks when we ordered on August 8th but then she confused me by saying the manufacturer would not be filling orders until August 16th and then it would only be a few weeks after that. I might have to call in a few weeks and get an estimate. The nursery furniture is supposed to be ready October 8th! Can't wait! Hopefully the curtains will be hung tomorrow. Don and I essembled the travel system stroller last Sunday. At least we can get Kate home now :)! Mom and dad ordered us a rocker chair that will hopefully be in, in a few weeks. Ahhhh! I already feel like a bad mom with no nursery to show forth and almost 9 weeks left....I am trying Kate. I got some showers coming up that I am really excited about. It will feel so real then, but believe me, the little thumps I am getting from within my tummy makes it feel pretty real too. She is over 3lbs now. I am very large. I will take a 35 week picture and post but that will probably be it on the photos for a while :). Here are pictures of the furniture I am getting in the store...

Lifetime Crib that will convert to Full size bed

Dresser and Hutch

The crib I wanted but wasn't as practical :)

Oh, one thing I haven't mentioned is us going to parenting class. Don and I have been scheduled to attend parenting class every Tuesday of the month of September (except the last). The first week we learned about natural births of which noone in my class planned on having (we all want to be selfish like it said on the movie, Baby Mama, of which you HAVE to see). We had to reschedule the 2nd week because I had to go to Peachtree City, GA for some training for work. We went this past Tuesday and learned about C-sections, after care of the mom, and took a tour of the birthing suites. Don and I got there 30 minutes late after they changed classrooms on us, ahhh! Anyway, the after care part kinda freaked me out but what do you do, no turning back now?!? Another thing that kinda wooohed me was the stirups in the birthing suites. WOW! Somehow we are suppose to put our bottom at the end of the beds and the hike our legs up (going different directions, of course) where our back thigh goes in the support part. We all had questions on how it could be our thigh going in there, shouldn't it be our calves? Anyway, she said thigh. We'll see how this works out. Next week is care of the baby. We are suppose to bring cameras so I will be sure to post.

Okay, what else has been going on with the Farmers....I turned 27 this week (that is the picture at the top with Don and me at Superior Grill celebrating with my parents)! Ouch! I guess it happens to all of us. I have been working like a mad dog in Tuscaloosa on Foundation audits of which the person originally assigned left the firm so I had to pick up some pieces and deadlines. It has been nice being around college students though. I am so entertained about how they try to not care about their looks, but they really do care. Ah, the days! Don got sick 2 weeks ago with a raging cold of some sort. He always brings home the germs. I slept in another bedroom and washed my hands a bunch so I didn't get it. It has worked so far! I was able my friend Becky last weekend that I haven't seen in a while and since she has had a precious baby girl, Lily. She lives in Tampa now so I always make a point to see her when she is home. We had a nice conversation when her 2 girls slept. I had lots of mama questions to ask her. It was like we bonded on a new level because we are now sharing the same experiences. We have known each other since we were 5 years old so that makes it even more special.

Plans for this weekend - Don is playing golf this morning with his buddy Heath. I am suppose to be cleaning, then I am going to do my birthday shopping for Don (which involves purchasing new makeup and some maternity clothes, I told you I am getting LARGE), then Heath and Ashley are coming over to watch the Bama game (we DVRed it so we will probably start it an hour and a half late), then we move onto the Florida/Tennessee game, and then end with the Auburn/LSU game. Wow, what a jampacked day....of course! Tomorrow is church, hanging curtains, and more church. Whew!

I will leave you with some flowers Don gave to me for my Birthday. He is a keeper! :)

Football Kickoff & Curtains

We got back yesterday afternoon from a very exciting get away to Atlanta, GA. We witnessed a surprise victory when the Crimson Tide defeated the Clemson Tigers, 34-10. I will admit, I was holding my breath the whole time and didn't believe we had the "W" until there was about 5 minutes left in the game. If you have been an Alabama over the last few years, you understand my uncertainty. It was a blast to say the least! We went over there with my mom and dad Saturday morning and returned Sunday afternoon. We had a wonderful meal in Marietta, GA after checking into the hotel at Stoney River. Its a a steak joint and it was amazing! I would recommend it to anyone. The GA Dome was truly alive once we got there 45 minutes prior to kickoff. The Clemson fans were very nice and had real catchy cheers. I did get a little nervous when all of them started jumping to a certain song the GA Dome played. Seriously the Dome was shaking! :) We sat in the Clemson section due to the Clemson section being alot cheaper to buy on Ebay. Needless to say, we had a great time and are hopeful for the 2008 football season. Here are a few pics from that night...

Today I went with a friend of mine, Keri Southern, to shop for baby stuff. Since she is a mother of 2 little girls, I figured she was an obvious choice to give me advice. We started out at Pottery Barn which has precious stuff (of which I eyed Kate a Halloween costume for next year, possibly the pumpkin or puppy dog), then made our way to Babies R Us. Keri confirmed I made a good choice on my stroller/travel system selection then we found the prize of the day...curtains for Kate's room. I was going to have someone make her some but we found some on clearance that I believe will be perfect. Here they are, 1st is the curtain taken out of the bag, 2nd one is up close curtain with my swatch sample of the bumper I am having made, and below that is a link to the same curtain being sold on ebay...

http://i6.ebayimg.com/08/i/000/e5/e3/db9c_1.JPG

Once I get some of the nursery together, I will be sure to post some pictures.

The last stop today was at Belk. We found this little dress marked down and I figured Kate would have to have it. I plan to do a little more shopping in the coming days for Kate some marked down clothes for next summer.