Using Bird Baths As Flower Stands In The Garden
15 hours ago
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Guess Who
Colton James Alan is here!
What a busy week it has been but so joyous!
My labor story is actually pretty awesome for being a first time mommy.
FOREWARNING GRAPHIC DETAILS FOLLOW; I am not shy and it is a lengthy post.
Early Wednesday morning around 1:30 am my water broke. I had gone to the bathroom (for the millionth time) and felt a little extra something something. I went back to bed not thinking much of it but as soon as I got in bed I felt more. I went back to the bathroom and like the movies it happened. ALL.OVER.THE.FLOOR.
I called hubby into the bathroom to confirm. He walked into the bathroom, looked at the floor and said "you just peed on the floor." He then crawled back in bed. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I went back into the bedroom and proceeded to glare at him. He looked at me and said "Do you think I can at least shower first?" I swear! I was not having contractions so I had no problem with him getting clean before we headed to the hospital later plus it would wake his butt up because he was clearly pretty tired.
My contractions started about a half hour later. I called the doctor on call. My contractions were only about 8 minutes apart. At my last appointment I was 2 cm dilated. He said since I was negative for Strep B I could labor at home as long as I wanted and then head to the hospital in a few hours. This had been my plan all along. Jason and I figured we had till about 6 am or so before I would need to go to the hospital. We called both set of parents just to give them a heads up.
Jason was there rubbing my back for my contractions and I finished getting our bags ready to go. By about 3:00 am I started feeling nauseated and my contractions were still only 8 minutes apart. They were pretty painful but I was getting through them OK. I could only deal with the pain if I stood up and leaned over the bed. Within a few minutes I started have sharp, short contractions every 2 minutes. Jason thought I was crazy because of how close the pains were coming. I was sure they were not contractions but some other pain associated with labor. I threw up once and that is when we decided to go to the hospital so I could get some nausea medication.
We arrived to the hospital about 345 am. As soon as we got to the labor room the nurse hooked me up to the monitor. I told her about the 2 minute pains and she confirmed that I was indeed contracting every two minutes. CRAZY! I had only been in labor for 2 hours. She proceeded to hook my up to some fluids and checked me. I was 6 cm. Amazing for only being 2 cm two days earlier. I asked for some nausea meds and epidural. I am totally for the pain meds because I knew it would help me relax. Plus, I work with epidurals in the hospital and I know the benefits, risks, etc. I had to wait about an hour for the epidural to be started. Once it was in I was in heaven. My two minute contractions could not be felt. I could still feel my legs but they were a little heavy and my hips were completely numb. I ended up shaking pretty bad for the first hour of the epidural but it was not as bad as the contractions had been.
They checked me again after the epidural around 6 am and I was 8 cm. Jason started to feel sick to his stomach (whenever he lacks sleep he gets sick to his stomach). He wanted to keep going to the bathroom and leaving me to labor by myself. This was fine once I had the epidural because I could not feel anything. However, around 7 I started to feel sharp pains again in my lower abdomen. I asked the nurse if she would cath me (drain my bladder since I could not get out of bed) to see if it was the pressure I was feeling. However, she did not get much urine. I started feeling my contractions again so she called the doctor back to my room. Come to find out, the epidural machine had stopped working. UGH! He gave me some extra pain meds and restarted to epidural. It never did work as well as before. I obtained some minor relief from the contractions but still felt a ton of pain and pressure.
Jason started to feel worse and I seriously thought I might murder him (my emotions were going crazy at this point). The plan was for my mom to be in the room with us but unfortunately I was progressing so fast she and my father were still in the 3 hour commute to the hospital. Jason thought he could ask the nurse for some nausea meds for himself and I told him he better suck it up and get through it. Every little thing was setting me off. Looking back now it is actually pretty humerous and at least we can both laugh about it. Around 900 am I felt extreme pressure and wanted to start pushing. The nurse and Jason helped me with my legs. I pushed for about 1 hour before the doctor came in again. He estimated about 1 more hour of pushing and helped motivate me to keep going. I was exhausted at this point and just wanted to sleep. I kept my eyes closed most of the way through the pushing just as a way to focus and I think I fell asleep a few times. Around 1130 the doctor came back in and I kept pushing. I could feel everything at this point. I remember pushing 4 good times and hearing the doctor say he was coming. He then said his second shoulder was stuck and I just kept pushing to get him out. In all honesty, when he came out it was the biggest relief I have ever felt. After only 10 hours of labor, Colton was born at 11:41 am, weighing 7lbs 12 ounces and measuring 19 3/4 inches.
He cried and Jason cut the cord. He had a cone head just from the passage through the birth canal. Jason got to go over and help get him cleaned up. Unfortunately, I ended up with a 3 degree tear from his shoulder being stuck. It was and still is pretty painful but well worth it. Holding him for the first time took all the pain away.
The rest of my stay in the hospital was somewhat eventful. I passed out on the toilet (luckily the nurse was in there with me) after I got out of bed for the first time. I then was not allowed out of bed without someones assistance for the rest of the day. The next two days I was tachy (high heart rate) and they drew some labs. Come to find out I had lost a lot of blood during the delivery. The doctor offered me a blood transfusion but I asked if I could hold off since by the end of the second day I was feeling better ( I have given enough blood to patients to know the benefits but I am otherwise healthy and wanted to see if I could go without a transfusion). I was pretty pale and weak for most of the stay. I am talking Edward Cullen pale. Jason was wonderful. He helped out a lot with the baby and taking care of me. Our families came and went and were very helpful in making sure we had everything we needed. By day three I was feeling okay enough to go home. I am still healing with stitches and still a little weak but I am getting better everyday.
We are now home. The changes in our lives have been overwhelming but we feel blessed everyday to have a happy and healthy baby. Colton is well and we are exhausted but enjoying life. Hopefully I can update more soon but as for know I am tired and my baby sleeps so I am going to sleep too! I leave you with pictures
What a busy week it has been but so joyous!
My labor story is actually pretty awesome for being a first time mommy.
FOREWARNING GRAPHIC DETAILS FOLLOW; I am not shy and it is a lengthy post.
Early Wednesday morning around 1:30 am my water broke. I had gone to the bathroom (for the millionth time) and felt a little extra something something. I went back to bed not thinking much of it but as soon as I got in bed I felt more. I went back to the bathroom and like the movies it happened. ALL.OVER.THE.FLOOR.
I called hubby into the bathroom to confirm. He walked into the bathroom, looked at the floor and said "you just peed on the floor." He then crawled back in bed. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I went back into the bedroom and proceeded to glare at him. He looked at me and said "Do you think I can at least shower first?" I swear! I was not having contractions so I had no problem with him getting clean before we headed to the hospital later plus it would wake his butt up because he was clearly pretty tired.
My contractions started about a half hour later. I called the doctor on call. My contractions were only about 8 minutes apart. At my last appointment I was 2 cm dilated. He said since I was negative for Strep B I could labor at home as long as I wanted and then head to the hospital in a few hours. This had been my plan all along. Jason and I figured we had till about 6 am or so before I would need to go to the hospital. We called both set of parents just to give them a heads up.
Jason was there rubbing my back for my contractions and I finished getting our bags ready to go. By about 3:00 am I started feeling nauseated and my contractions were still only 8 minutes apart. They were pretty painful but I was getting through them OK. I could only deal with the pain if I stood up and leaned over the bed. Within a few minutes I started have sharp, short contractions every 2 minutes. Jason thought I was crazy because of how close the pains were coming. I was sure they were not contractions but some other pain associated with labor. I threw up once and that is when we decided to go to the hospital so I could get some nausea medication.
We arrived to the hospital about 345 am. As soon as we got to the labor room the nurse hooked me up to the monitor. I told her about the 2 minute pains and she confirmed that I was indeed contracting every two minutes. CRAZY! I had only been in labor for 2 hours. She proceeded to hook my up to some fluids and checked me. I was 6 cm. Amazing for only being 2 cm two days earlier. I asked for some nausea meds and epidural. I am totally for the pain meds because I knew it would help me relax. Plus, I work with epidurals in the hospital and I know the benefits, risks, etc. I had to wait about an hour for the epidural to be started. Once it was in I was in heaven. My two minute contractions could not be felt. I could still feel my legs but they were a little heavy and my hips were completely numb. I ended up shaking pretty bad for the first hour of the epidural but it was not as bad as the contractions had been.
They checked me again after the epidural around 6 am and I was 8 cm. Jason started to feel sick to his stomach (whenever he lacks sleep he gets sick to his stomach). He wanted to keep going to the bathroom and leaving me to labor by myself. This was fine once I had the epidural because I could not feel anything. However, around 7 I started to feel sharp pains again in my lower abdomen. I asked the nurse if she would cath me (drain my bladder since I could not get out of bed) to see if it was the pressure I was feeling. However, she did not get much urine. I started feeling my contractions again so she called the doctor back to my room. Come to find out, the epidural machine had stopped working. UGH! He gave me some extra pain meds and restarted to epidural. It never did work as well as before. I obtained some minor relief from the contractions but still felt a ton of pain and pressure.
Jason started to feel worse and I seriously thought I might murder him (my emotions were going crazy at this point). The plan was for my mom to be in the room with us but unfortunately I was progressing so fast she and my father were still in the 3 hour commute to the hospital. Jason thought he could ask the nurse for some nausea meds for himself and I told him he better suck it up and get through it. Every little thing was setting me off. Looking back now it is actually pretty humerous and at least we can both laugh about it. Around 900 am I felt extreme pressure and wanted to start pushing. The nurse and Jason helped me with my legs. I pushed for about 1 hour before the doctor came in again. He estimated about 1 more hour of pushing and helped motivate me to keep going. I was exhausted at this point and just wanted to sleep. I kept my eyes closed most of the way through the pushing just as a way to focus and I think I fell asleep a few times. Around 1130 the doctor came back in and I kept pushing. I could feel everything at this point. I remember pushing 4 good times and hearing the doctor say he was coming. He then said his second shoulder was stuck and I just kept pushing to get him out. In all honesty, when he came out it was the biggest relief I have ever felt. After only 10 hours of labor, Colton was born at 11:41 am, weighing 7lbs 12 ounces and measuring 19 3/4 inches.
He cried and Jason cut the cord. He had a cone head just from the passage through the birth canal. Jason got to go over and help get him cleaned up. Unfortunately, I ended up with a 3 degree tear from his shoulder being stuck. It was and still is pretty painful but well worth it. Holding him for the first time took all the pain away.
The rest of my stay in the hospital was somewhat eventful. I passed out on the toilet (luckily the nurse was in there with me) after I got out of bed for the first time. I then was not allowed out of bed without someones assistance for the rest of the day. The next two days I was tachy (high heart rate) and they drew some labs. Come to find out I had lost a lot of blood during the delivery. The doctor offered me a blood transfusion but I asked if I could hold off since by the end of the second day I was feeling better ( I have given enough blood to patients to know the benefits but I am otherwise healthy and wanted to see if I could go without a transfusion). I was pretty pale and weak for most of the stay. I am talking Edward Cullen pale. Jason was wonderful. He helped out a lot with the baby and taking care of me. Our families came and went and were very helpful in making sure we had everything we needed. By day three I was feeling okay enough to go home. I am still healing with stitches and still a little weak but I am getting better everyday.
We are now home. The changes in our lives have been overwhelming but we feel blessed everyday to have a happy and healthy baby. Colton is well and we are exhausted but enjoying life. Hopefully I can update more soon but as for know I am tired and my baby sleeps so I am going to sleep too! I leave you with pictures
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Our Christmas
Our Christmas:
Our little home decked out:
(I did not allow the Grinch and leg lamp from a Christmas Story to be placed in the center window of our home, but it somehow ended up there! I wonder, hmmm)
Our mantel with stockings galore:
(all the stockings include the animals, roommate and Baby Colton)
Our dining room:
(notice the pretty girly colors)
Our DUKE tree:
(told you we were serious about Duke basketball in this house)
Our main tree:
(next year we will have a bigger tree and this one will probably go in our bedroom. Yah, bedroom! We LOVE Christmas that much).
This Christmas was good to us. It was weird being our first Christmas not traveling to see family however we made the best of it. Santa was super nice to my hubby and got him an IPOD Touch, Blue Ray movies, video games, drum accessories, Duke shirt and Redskins hat. I was blessed with new pearl earrings and necklace, gift cards for clothes when I can wear normal sizes again, new CDs, the new Harry Potter movie, the new Mario Bros for the Wii (yah I'm a video game girl), new lamps for master bedroom, pjs, and perfume.
We had a lovely meal Christmas Eve and then went to church service at the Duke Chapel. It was gorgeous. Stunning!
Christmas Day we opened presents and had a delicious meal!
It was a great holiday but it would have been better if Colton was here. Fingers crossed; any day now!
Our little home decked out:
(I did not allow the Grinch and leg lamp from a Christmas Story to be placed in the center window of our home, but it somehow ended up there! I wonder, hmmm)
Our mantel with stockings galore:
(all the stockings include the animals, roommate and Baby Colton)
Our dining room:
(notice the pretty girly colors)Our DUKE tree:
(told you we were serious about Duke basketball in this house)
Our main tree:
(next year we will have a bigger tree and this one will probably go in our bedroom. Yah, bedroom! We LOVE Christmas that much).
This Christmas was good to us. It was weird being our first Christmas not traveling to see family however we made the best of it. Santa was super nice to my hubby and got him an IPOD Touch, Blue Ray movies, video games, drum accessories, Duke shirt and Redskins hat. I was blessed with new pearl earrings and necklace, gift cards for clothes when I can wear normal sizes again, new CDs, the new Harry Potter movie, the new Mario Bros for the Wii (yah I'm a video game girl), new lamps for master bedroom, pjs, and perfume.
We had a lovely meal Christmas Eve and then went to church service at the Duke Chapel. It was gorgeous. Stunning!
Christmas Day we opened presents and had a delicious meal!
It was a great holiday but it would have been better if Colton was here. Fingers crossed; any day now!
FOOD!!!!!
This is the first year Jason and I have spent the holidays just the two of us (well really we have our dog, two cats and roomate with us). No family this year. With the baby due any day our families will come and visit us upon his arrival. Jason's family came last weekend and we had a great time with them.
I wanted to make this year special since it is the last year of just the two of us. I am making Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day dinner for all of us. Tonight's dinner will become our "family" tradition for Christmas Eve. We will be having steak, twice baked potatoes and salad. This is a fav meal in our house so it is neat that we are going to have it every Christmas Eve we are home. For Christmas day I could not decide between a turkey and a ham so I am making both. YUMO! My ham is a recipe I have developed over the years that involves coca-cola and burbon. It is delicious! I will also be making corn casorole, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce (the can kind because that is my fav and I do not care how childish it is; it is delicious), prosciutto wrapped asparagus, veggie tray, shrimp and cocktail sauce, rolls, peach cobbler and pumpkin pie. I am so excited for this food (you think I was nine months pregnant or something, geez!). I will be sure to try and take pics of tomorrows meal since it will be the first time we will actually eat in our formal dining room. I also will be using the wedding china which has not been used since we moved to our new home.
Recipe for corn dish (I do not know where I got this and honestly do not use the recipe anymore because I have pretty much made it a million times that it has become my own dish; but this is the jist of the dish)
8 bacon slices, chopped
4 cups fresh sweet corn kernels (about 8 ears)
1 medium-size white onion, chopped
1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Directions
Cook chopped bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 2 tablespoons drippings in skillet.
Set bacon aside.
Sauté corn, onion, and bell peppers in hot drippings in skillet over medium-high heat 6 minutes or until tender.
Add cream cheese and half-and-half, stirring until cream cheese melts.
Stir in salt, and pepper.
Top with bacon.
Prosciutto wrapped asparagus (allrecipes.com)
1 tablespoon olive oil 16 spears fresh asparagus, trimmed 16 slices prosciutto
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and coat with olive oil.
Wrap one slice of prosciutto around each asparagus spear, starting at the bottom, and spiraling up to the tip. Place the wrapped spears on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 5 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove, and shake the pan back and forth to roll the spears over. Return to the oven for another 5 minutes, or until asparagus is tender, and prosciutto is crisp. Serve immediately
Now I need to get to cooking!!!!
I wanted to make this year special since it is the last year of just the two of us. I am making Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day dinner for all of us. Tonight's dinner will become our "family" tradition for Christmas Eve. We will be having steak, twice baked potatoes and salad. This is a fav meal in our house so it is neat that we are going to have it every Christmas Eve we are home. For Christmas day I could not decide between a turkey and a ham so I am making both. YUMO! My ham is a recipe I have developed over the years that involves coca-cola and burbon. It is delicious! I will also be making corn casorole, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce (the can kind because that is my fav and I do not care how childish it is; it is delicious), prosciutto wrapped asparagus, veggie tray, shrimp and cocktail sauce, rolls, peach cobbler and pumpkin pie. I am so excited for this food (you think I was nine months pregnant or something, geez!). I will be sure to try and take pics of tomorrows meal since it will be the first time we will actually eat in our formal dining room. I also will be using the wedding china which has not been used since we moved to our new home.
Recipe for corn dish (I do not know where I got this and honestly do not use the recipe anymore because I have pretty much made it a million times that it has become my own dish; but this is the jist of the dish)
8 bacon slices, chopped
4 cups fresh sweet corn kernels (about 8 ears)
1 medium-size white onion, chopped
1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Directions
Cook chopped bacon in a large skillet until crisp; remove bacon, and drain on paper towels, reserving 2 tablespoons drippings in skillet.
Set bacon aside.
Sauté corn, onion, and bell peppers in hot drippings in skillet over medium-high heat 6 minutes or until tender.
Add cream cheese and half-and-half, stirring until cream cheese melts.
Stir in salt, and pepper.
Top with bacon.
Prosciutto wrapped asparagus (allrecipes.com)
1 tablespoon olive oil 16 spears fresh asparagus, trimmed 16 slices prosciutto
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and coat with olive oil.
Wrap one slice of prosciutto around each asparagus spear, starting at the bottom, and spiraling up to the tip. Place the wrapped spears on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 5 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove, and shake the pan back and forth to roll the spears over. Return to the oven for another 5 minutes, or until asparagus is tender, and prosciutto is crisp. Serve immediately
Now I need to get to cooking!!!!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The room that my son will come home to
He may not remember...
(This is his crib and yes, that is a Duke Blue Devil mobile. We take Duke Basketball serious in this house)
(These are just onsies, over 75 to be exact! More clothes than me.)
He might not pay attention...
He won't know how many clothes he has...
He might not care when he is older...
But this is the room that my son will come home from the hospital to.
Any day now I will become a mom. WOW!
My Early Christmas Present
I wish I could say it was a baby, but sadly not yet :( Soon enough he will be here.
My hubby did get me an early present though. The new Droid cell phone.
I am in love with this phone. It is basically a mini laptop. So cool! I have always been the one with the dorky, cheap, freebie phone so this is definitely a step up. I like it a lot better than the Iphone. I highly recommend it.
I am now officially on maternity leave and super excited. I am almost done with getting the house ready and will post pics soon of all things baby.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thanksgiving
This year we spent Thanksgiving with my family in VA Beach. My family rented a large beach house so we all could enjoy the holiday together. The group included: Me, Jason, my mom, dad, aunt, uncle, cousin and his wife with their two children, other cousin, little sister, other sister, fiance and nephew, grandmother, other grandmother, grandfather and uncle. Woo, there was a lot of us. We spent the holidays eating, enjoying time together, eating, getting facials, manicures, pedicures from my sister in beauty school, shopping, eating and more eating. I seriously don't think I could have held down anymore food even if I was pregnant with triplets. It was a great long weekend.
My sisters
My sisters
Sister Meghan, Charles and Jackson
Jason and I
Jackson
The boys
Family
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