My little man

Just a few pictures of my little man.  Love him!!

Welcome baby Jackson, his birth story.

On Wednesday January 16th 2013, at 6:04pm we welcomed the best gift in the world into our lives. Jackson Clayton Kelley was born, a long awaited little miracle.

My labor started like any other. It was right around 10pm Tuesday January 15th, 4 days past his due date, when the contractions started. Joe and I hung out at home, we tried to get some sleep and make sure this was really it. Needless to say no one got much rest due to the excitement that was going on. An hour went by and the contractions kept up, now about 5 to 7 minutes apart and getting stronger. Around midnight I decide to take a warm bath to ease the pain.

The bath was nice but as time went by all I could think about was letting our parents and doula know I was in in fact in labor to take my mind off of the contractions I finished getting the bags ready for the hospital and cleaned the house for a bit. I didn’t want to leave the house messy while we where gone. I have to say cleaning was a good distraction. By 3:30am I was ready to go to the hospital. I planned to hang out at home a little longer but because this was my first time experiencing labor I also didn’t want to take any chances.So at 4am off to the hospital we went.

The 30 minute drive to St. Anthony’s hospital In Crown Point went surprisingly fast. We got there and got checked in. So up to the 7th floor we went, the nurse wheeled me to room 708 and in came more nurses. They got my vitals, took blood, and got me and the baby all hooked up to the monitors. Everything was looking great, the contractions even seemed to hurt a little less being at the hospital. But the nurses assured me that I was defiantly have good contractions. They checked me and let me know I was dilated to 2cm almost 3cm and 90% effaced.

So a few hours go by… Many walks down the hall while stopping to hold the handrail and lots of bouncing on the birthing ball still without any medication of any kind.

10:00am rolls around and my doctor was in the building.He came in to check my progress and even though I felt like I worked so hard and had many good contractions he told me I was only dilated to 3 cm. At this time doc wanted to break my water. He said I could wait but chances where I wouldn’t progress very fasts without it being broken.

So broken it was. And oh man did the contractions really pick up. I think I was having one every 1 to 2 minutes and they seemed to last for a few minutes each, or that’s how it felt. Each contraction got stronger and stronger and seemed to be closer and closer. By noon I got checked again. Without any progress i was ready for a epidural.

After getting the epidural things seemed to move fast. I immediately dilated to 5. However, the first contraction after receiving the epidural was very strong and very long. This caused the babies heart rate to drop. A bunch of nurses came in a tossed me back and forth and gave me some medication to stop the contraction and get baby’s heart rate back to normal. After the scare everything looked to be back to normal so I was finally able to rest for an hour or so.

Next time I was checked I hadn’t made any more progress. This is when doctor wanted to put me on a medication called patosin ( medication to induce labor and help strength in contractions ). So we approved the patosin and they started a very low dose. But, the first strong contraction after starting the patosin caused the babies heart rate to drop again!

After getting everyone vitals back to normal the doctor came back in. He discussed with us that the  baby was not tolerating strong contractions and without strong contractions he would not be able to come out normally. The doctor suggested the best option now would be to just get the baby out by c section. We knew this was the best choice and approved the c-section.

They quickly got me ready for surgery and had Joe put his scrubs on. They took me down to surgery, got me ready, and brought Joe in. Within a few minute the surgery was underway and baby Jackson was born. I remember laying there Joe held my shaky hand, waiting to hear Jackson’s first cry. Just a few more seconds later at 6:04 pm Jackson was born. Then we heard his first cry. What an amazing sound! Joe went over to see him for the first time and take a few pictures. Then they brought him over to me. Oh my cute chubby little 8lb 0oz, 19.5in baby boy. We waited so long to meet him and I have to say he was totally worth the wait.

31 weeks

Today marks 31 weeks for me and my little guy... Thinking he will be here in 9 weeks or less seems so much closer than 10 weeks away.  I'm going to make a prediction here and now about his possible due date.  He is due to join us on January 11th but I think he will join us on December 29th.  I know its a bit early but the 29th is an important number to me.  My grandma that past away last year had a Sept 29th b-day and left us on August 29th and I really think her being in heaven was a huge part in us having this little guy.  I think he will share a lot of her qualities.
So in the last week my hubby finally got the crib and other baby furniture put together and we also got new carpet for our living room and bedrooms (its so nice and soft).  so my pictures this week will feature the baby furniture in the background. 

In this picture I'm showing an owl hat my mother-in-law made for the baby.  I really hope she makes all kinds of cute stuff for him to wear.

This picture is funny because my  dog max came and sat right next to me while i was getting ready for the camera timer to count down... he wouldn't leave my side until the flash went off = )

Baby's dresser, I can't wait to fill it with tons of cute baby boy clothes.

Changing table with storage, for now it just hold a few of the baby's stuffed animals.







I've still been feeling pretty good.  I get a little nauseated at night sometimes but it's never really that bad.  I think I'm up about 16 lb's in total... I unfortunately didn't gain any weight from my 28 week appt to my 30 week.  I've been trying to add a few extra snacks so hopefully next weeks at my 32 weeks visit I will have put on a  pound or two.

26 & 27 weeks, getting so close!

I've almost made it to the 7 month mark.  Its still so surreal that in just about 3 months we will have our little man in our arms.  At this point in the pregnancy I defiantly feel pregnant all of the time but I still have thous moments of disbelief... After so long of waiting I still have the flashes at time of wow is this really happening? Crazy! A lot has been going on lately.  My mom and I have been trying to figure out the details of the baby shower, while my husband took charge of the invites and him and the ladies at his work made them and sent the out for me.  Here is how they turned out = )

Also in the last 2 weeks my hubby has been dealing with plumbing issues, ugg!  We replace the shower liner and put on new fixtures a few weeks ago and ever since then it has been issue after issue for him, on top of that he is trying to finnish our cabinets that he started at the beginning of summer.  Cabinets still need a few weeks of work but good new is we can use the shower again... no running to our family members houses to use there shower. 
And because I'm always behind on my weekly updates here is my 26 week belly pic.

I just love looking at my belly, watching my little guy wiggle and poke out from different spots.  My hubby even got a good belly session.  One night before bed we layed in bed and he got to feel pokes and kicks and rolls... every time he felt something different he would make a sound.  So cute, and so glad he got to feel so much movement.
Also this last Sunday (October 14th) was our 5 year anniversary.  5 years married and still as happy as ever.  We didn't do to much to celebrate this year, but my hubby did buy me an amazing can.on reb.el t3 dslr camera that should arrive any day.  I can't wait to play with my new camera... I've wanted it for so long.
Also on Saturday a good friend of mine who lives a little over 3 hours away go married.  We choose to drive up for the wedding and back home the same night (kinda an anniversary weekend adventure).  Here are a few pictures from the wedding and my 27 week belly.

me and joe

What I get to look at = )

Me and my friend tiff and 2 of her kids

I've been feeling the baby move so much  lately and I love it, I always encourage him to keep moving and growing.  I think I'm up to 126Lbs now (up from 112 starting weight)  But I'll find out my weight for sure on Friday at my 28 week checkup. 
As far as clothing, I have a few pre maternity shirts I can still fit into but for the most part i'm wearing all maternity clothes.  Thank goodness for my friend Amber who gave me a tote of clothes at the start of my pregnancy.  I still don't really have a lot of cravings.  I love sugary things and chocolate and could probably eat pizza and drink ices on a daily basis... Mmmm Pizza!  I think I know whats for lunch.
Another interesting this is that within the last few weeks strangers have finally stated asking me about my pregnancy or just saying things like "oh wow when are you do?"  I think it would be funny to say "oh I'm not prego" but I just can't do that I love being pregnant and sharing it with everyone.

Am I really at the halfway point? Ya baby!

Friday marked a huge milestone for us... I'm 20 weeks pregnant.  Ahh it feels good to be halfway.   We had a 20 week Ultrasound to make sure our little one was on track, great news baby is perfect.  We also found out the gender of our little miracle (which I'll share soon).  Here are a few of the better pictures from our visit.

 Its was great to see my little one move around.  My hubby loved the part when we got to see our baby grab its toes and try to eat them.  So adorable.









We decided (well I decided) to share the news of baby's gender in a cute way, instead of over the phone.  So the day before we found out I baked 2 dozen chocolate cupcakes and set aside some blue frosting and some pink frosting to inject inside the cupcakes so that when our family's bite inside they would find out the gender... Its went over great.  Everyone was so excited and loved the sweet treat too.

                                                          Here is what everyone found = )

          Yes that's right, your eyes aren't deceiving you thats blue filling you see... We are having a baby boy, we are so excited to be able to start planning for our little man.  I've had a lot of friends on facebook                                for a belly picture so here is how I shared the news on there.

20 weeks prego.

I've been feeling good still.  I don't have headaches anymore which is amazing because they are no fun.  My sleep is getting more interrupted lately.  I'm starting to use the bathroom a lot more and due to sleeping on my sides my hips and my shoulders are sore throughout the night.  I'm open to any suggestions to help my hip and shoulder problems. 

Cravings: I still don't really have any craving, but i know I have plenty of time for that to change

Weight gain: I'm up to 120, my starting weight was 114 (i think).

Maternity clothes: I'm wearing 98% all maternity pants and I'm still in my pre pregnancy tops.  But thats mostly because I like to look pregnant... I don't want to wear baggy shirts that would cover up my baby bump.

Movement:  Yes I've defiantly been feeling my little guy move.  The other morning he must have been inspired by the Olympics because for about 2 hours he was flipping and turning.  It was crazy but awesome.  Since that day he hasn't moved that much... But he does like to get a little rowdy in there when I'm hungry,  and he also moves more when I'm at work, I think he's telling me he wants me to go home and not work.  I wish!

I'm sure I left something out of this post but the main point is yay I have a healthy baby boy growing and I can't wait to meet him <3

I hope you like pictures, and I'm 19 weeks.

This is going to be a quick update about me but mostly a picture post.  I've been on vacation for the last few days (or should i say staycation, cause I'm not going anywhere) and I don't have to go back till next friday. yippy!!!!!!  We celebrated my 29th Birthday yesterday,  we went to breakfast and dinner and i hung out with family all day... it was really nice.  Even better than my birthday today I'm 19 weeks prego and in one short week we will know if our little bean will be a boy or a  girl.  It's so exciting, time is just flying by and before We know it the new year will be here and I will be holding my long awaited miracle will be in my arms.

Me at 19 weeks prego

I had to ad this into this post because i found it in my closet from when I was in High school.  We had a child development class and we had to have egg babies for a weeks... well part of the project was to make a journal and this was mine, a project I was pretty proud of.  One one my proudest parts of the book was a page in which i drew a silhouette of a women with her growing belly and added a picture inside each growing belly of what the baby would look at during that stage of pregnancy.  It's so funny to look back on this book now that I am pregnant.  What a good memory.

Journal from my high school class

page from the journal

this is a cake cookie my sister made me for my birthday, yum!

Me and my hubby (oh and my new haircut)

This is my mom, me and my sister on my bday

me and my brother and the cool cherry cake he made me

me and my nephew Gabe, he told me a little secret today.  He's going to be a big brother and my little one is gonna have a little cousin.  lol not even born yet and my munchkin isn't the youngest in the family any more.

...and last but not least here is a beautiful picture frame my hubby made me for my birthday (with a pic from out honeymoon inside)

i've got pics

I had my 16 week checkup with the doctor today.  Everything is good and I even got another little sneak peak at my little miracle. 

ultrasound at 16 week

And because the only time in life its ok to take side profile pics is while your pregnant...

Me and baby

I didn't think my belly was this big but looking down i realize my feet are fading away like the moon, lol!

16 week belly close up... again I didn't realize my belly was getting this big = ) 

My pups laying at my feet as I take pictures of myself.

I hope everyone enjoyed my pics = )