The goings on 'round these parts

**Still can't figure out this picture sizing thing. Click any of the smaller pictures to see a big version.**
So.

I had a baby.

My very own baby! Not one that I have to give back at the end of the day (or that I WANT to give back! ha!) but my very own that I get to keep and love forever.

Perfection.

Two days before my due date I had a regular doctor's appointment and they checked me and informed me that there was little progress from the week before and set an induction date for the following Thursday. I left the appointment in tears because the pregnancy irrationality had convinced me that I was going to be the only woman in the history of the world to be pregnant FOREVER. We went home and had a normal evening and night. At about 4:30am (Saturday, July 11th) I felt a new kind of pain with a contraction. An holy-gees-what-is-THAT?!?! kind of pain. I just laid there and nodded off again. 20 minutes later there was another one. Another 20 minutes and another pain. Hmmm. Justin was sound asleep beside me this whole time. About 6:30am he woke up to me sitting up in bed, leaning up against the wall, breathing that stupid breathing they teach you in the classes that doesn't do crap. I informed him that I was hurting but ok and he quickly went back to sleep. I got up about 7am (mom and dad were still asleep, as was the rest of the world on a summer Saturday morning) and went for a walk. The whole time I was praying that this was "it." After 30 minutes of walking and stopping to breath and walking again, I took a 45 minute bath and attempted to read. Ha! Try reading a novel when you have to close your eyes and breath every few minutes. I read the same paragraph a ridiculous number of times. Justin got up around 8am and we hopped in the car to grab some Chick-Fil-A. On the way there the contractions stepped it up a BIG notch and Justin's hand got the first of many to-the-breaking-point-squeezes. Those chicken minis were the last thing I would eat for a while.

We get back to the house and I am visibly in pain. Mom and I start timing them and they are 3-4 minutes apart and lasting 45-60 seconds. This goes on for a couple of hours and we decide it's time to go to the hospital. I got in my room about 12:30pm and got the antibiotic started for my Group B Strep and put in the order for the epidural. The anesthesiologist was on his way to my room when there was a problem with another patient and so he had to go do an emergency C-Section. I didn't see him for 3 hours. Those were the longest (and strangely, the shortest too) hours of my life. I discovered that breathing didn't do a dang thing for me, but I had seen on one of the baby shows (Baby Story, Birth Day, etc.) with a woman doing this thing called "toning." I don't even know how I remembered that because when I watched it it didn't make a big impression on me. Anyway - basically toning is when you sing a note and hold it while you exhale. I decided to try it, and that's how I made it though labor before my epidural.

Trying to smile between contractions. Pre-epidural

Finally, about 3:30pm the anesthesiologist shows up and I immediately start freaking out. I was terrified of the epidural. Not so much so that I was willing to attempt birth without one, but still very scared. I started crying and my midwife and nurse and Justin all rallied around me. They let Justin be the one to hold me and that helped me a lot. Also, I had the best anesthesiologist in the world. He cracked jokes and made me laugh the whole time. I told him up front that I needed him to tell me EXACTLY what he was doing, in detail, since I couldn't see.

*Sidenote* I'm one of those people that has to watch when I get blood drawn or an IV or a cyst lanced -- if I am going to be hurting I want to see why. Also, I think it's interesting. If you try to make me NOT watch, I will freak out on you (Dr. Manuel).

So, since I couldn't see it, he had to describe it to me and he did a wonderful job. I was scared for nothing. But if you've ever seen an epidural needle then you understand why - it is not a small thing. He numbed me during a contraction and that was the worst part. After that I couldn't feel a thing. They gave me the test dose at 5 til 4pm and I immediately had relief. Shortly after that they checked me and I was at 4cm and fully effaced and happy as a loon. Zach, Sarah, and Leslie came in to keep me company and the time flew by. A little while later I was at 7cm and I couldn't even feel her check me. That was a very strange feeling - to know that someone is touching you but not be able to feel it. They started the pitocen to help things along and less than an hour later I was at 10cm and ready to push. Between 7cm and 10cm I started being able to feel the contractions again - not to the extent that I was before, but enough to make me have to concentrate during one.Pain.

Sarah celebrating when they announced I was at 7cm

Zach and Sarah had been with us for the past hour or so and the plan all along was for Zach to stay and take pictures before, during, and after the birth. When my nurse, Amy, said I was at 10 and ready to go it suddenly became imperative that Sarah stay too. I wanted both of them there for me and to share the experience with us. I gave her the option, but probably would have freaked out if she had said she didn't want to. :)

I started pushing about 6:50 and couldn't feel a thing. It was wonderful! I laughed and smiled the whole time. They had to tell me when to push because I couldn't feel anything. At one point my midwife, Melissa, asked if I wanted to feel the head so I reached and felt this little hairy Pushing and having no idea what I was doing

head. That was weird too. A couple more pushes and they were telling me to stop pushing because the cord was around his neck. He was dark purple. They unwrapped the cord and one more push and he was out! She let Justin tell us what he was and I screamed with joy. I KNEW he was a boy! They immediately put him on my chest and I thought he was the most beautiful stringbean of a little boy I had ever seen. :) Seriously, he had toothpicks for legs. Justin cut the cord.

It's a boy! (above)

He was 7lb 10oz and 21 1/2 inches long. He scored an 8/9 on the apgar and he peed as soon as they put him on that cold scale. :)
I could not have dreamed of a better delivery (well, maybe one where stitches weren't involved). I was alert the whole time and completely ENJOYED and RELISHED every moment of bringing him into the world. The team of people with me smiled the whole time and made me feel like that were thrilled to be there sharing the moment.

Justin was amazing - he was exactly who I needed him to be to get me through it all. Thanks babe. You and me (and Silas now).

Thanks also to Zach for thinking it might be a little weird to be in the room but doing it anyway, and to Sarah for staying with me. I wouldn't trade y'all for the world. :)


More pictures to come of Silas now. Can't believe he's 5 weeks old tomorrow.

More Silas

If you want to see some pictures from Silas' birth go here.

I promise I will update soon. :)

Introducing...

Silas Caleb Moon
7lbs 10oz
21.5 inches
Arrived at 7:10pm on Saturday, July 11th

Mom, Dad, and Silas are all doing wonderfully. More pictures and details to come soon. :)

39 weeks

**EDITED**
So once again I've screwed up the pictures and they are cutting off some stuff on the right side. I'm too lazy to fix it now since it already took way too long to get this post ready. Sorry!

Baby Moon is still cookin'. Momma Moon is still miserable. :P

In the past two weeks there has been a trip to the hospital over what turned out to be false labor (the kid's got jokes) and two doctor's appointments. On Friday I was still 2-3cm and 50% effaced which didn't surprise me since all contractions pretty much ceased after the hospital trip. They have picked up again in the past two days, so hopefully we're getting somewhere. I'll go again on Friday (the 10th) if nothing happens before then and will most likely set a date for induction. Until then I'm just trying to pass the time.

Thankfully the holiday weekend provided lots of entertainment and fun. Justin was off of work on Thursday and Friday so I had a great 4 day weekend with him. Thursday he and Mom and I went to see Transformers 2 and we all loved it. After the movie I went to get a mani/pedi (which took about 3 hours) compliments of the Cardoza family. THAT was lovely. :) Thanks guys!

Friday we spent the whole day with the gang at the pool (a friend's house) and I enjoyed feeling weightless in the water. It was the first time (and most likely the only time) I was able to swim since being pregnant and man do I wish we had a pool! Glorious. There was good food and fun was had by all. I played my best game of Corn Hole EVER, but we still lost thanks to absolutely ZERO help by my partner (Justin). It was a wonderful day - the best day that I had had in a long while. :)

Saturday was CCC's annual 4th of July party. Our band played all day (and by "all day" I mean, for the whole party - from about 12:30-4pm with just a couple of breaks) and it was fun covering a bunch of songs. It was SCORCHING hot, but I survived.

Sunday was a normal day and we got to spend more time with Michael and Krista, some good friends that recently moved away from Rockdale County. All in all the whole weekend was relaxing and fun and refreshing. Too bad every day isn't like that!

Here are a few pictures from the festivities:The band

Corn Hole

Michael. There are no words.

Me and Zach singin'.

The whole band.

Singin' with Bella.

Sweet William

Gettin' some sun on the enormous belly. :)

Hotness. :)

Thanks to Zach for sharing the pics.

Maternity Pictures - 36 weeks

The pictures are here! Like I said before, we had a photo shoot with Zach last week. They turned out great and I am excited to share them with you. There's a lot, but trust me, I narrowed it down as much as I could for you. :)

ENJOY!

In our living room

In the nursery

Our front porch

Our yard

In the field by a church up the road

My husband is hot.

At Corner Market in Conyers.

This one might be my favorite.

I really like this one too. Love that we are out of focus but laughing. :)

My husband is silly. Unless you know him well, you probably wouldn't think that.

What are your favorites? We have to pick some to frame.

If you want to see more of Zach's work or to contact him about booking a shoot, go here.

Now for the Baby Update:

At my appointment last Friday I was 1-2cm and 50% effaced. I have an ultrasound tomorrow (Thursday) to check the size of the baby - I'll be at 37 weeks, 4 days. If it is looking big we will talk about inducing so that it doesn't get so big that it increases the possibility of a c-section. I would really like to NOT have surgery. I'll see the doctor after the ultrasound so we'll see if I've progressed anymore since last week and what the options are for getting Baby Moon here. :) The contractions have definitely stepped it up a notch in the past few days so I'm getting excited.

That's all for now! Leave me a comment and tell me which pictures you like best! And go give Zach some comment love too!

Zippity Do Da

I was looking through some pictures last night and came across the album from our beach trip last year. I had forgotten about a lot of the pictures, and this first one in particular made me literally laugh out loud. That's me and Sarah - I think I was using her sunglasses as a mirror so I could fix my hair. Zach took this without us knowing it and now I'm glad he did. Compare it to the next picture of us about a month ago. Yeah. See the humor? :)



Zach came and took pictures of the belly and of Justin and I last night and I CANNOT WAIT to see them and share them with y'all. We had a really good time, and I didn't even really freak out in front of the camera. :) I didn't realize how tired I would be when we were done - but I had been standing for A LONG time and wasn't even thinking about it. I'm paying for it today, but that's just fine with me because I will have PICTURES! Yay! I'll share them just as soon as he gets them to me. If you want to encourage him to hurry it up go here.

Now for the all important baby update...

Let me interject here that I'm sorry for those of you that are still coming here because you want to see what crafty thing I've been up to and could care less about this baby that has taken over my blog (and my life). I promise I will be back to crafting eventually, but I also promise that you will forever be hearing about Baby Moon. That's just the way it is. So thanks for sticking with me!

Anyway - I went to the doctor last Friday for the first of my every-week-til-the-baby-comes visits. They did my Group B Strep test and I'll know the results of that THIS Friday. They also went ahead and checked me since I had been having some contractions and since I was already going to be undressed. Surprisingly I was at 1cm with a little effacement - nothing too exciting, but I was very glad to know that my body was at least getting ready. :) We also talked about the pelvic bones thing and basically Dr. Duhart said she didn't notice me being extremely small, but that since the baby was measuring big at 28 weeks that she would check me again this week and then either this week or next week I'll have an ultrasound to get an idea of how big the baby is and we'll go from there. I weighed 155lbs, which is what I THOUGHT I weighed the last visit, but the nurse said I weighed 154 last time, so I guess I gained a pound. But I swear she told me 155 the week before. :P The baby is supposedly gaining an ounce a day and I swear I think I can feel that happening. Also, I'm very curious about whether or not it is possible to feel and see the baby breathing - because there will be these very steady movements (not bumps or pokes, just the rising and falling of some part of the baby) that we can see and feel and they last for a long time. And it looks like breathing. It's kinda weird, but I can't figure out what else it would be. Anyone else experience that?

That's all.

P.S. I have a funny story (involving boobies) about my trip to the dermatologist today that I will share with you tomorrow so check back then.

34+ weeks

34 weeks, 155lbs

Well I'm under 40 days til Baby Moon's due date. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I am so ready to meet this baby and also to have my body back. And I don't even mean my pre-pregnancy body, I just mean a body that doesn't have a mind of it's own that I semi-recognize both physically and emotionally. I feel like I have been a completely different person for the past 8 1/2 months. Anyone else understand what I mean? It's like all these hormones have screwed with my head so much that I can barely even find myself in there somewhere. My creativity is GONE and I'm just praying that is a side-effect (ha!) of growing a human and all the hormones because I miss it and I miss being able to form cohesive logical thoughts. I also miss being able to get out of the bathtub by myself. :) But enough ranting.

I went to the doctor last Friday and now I have met everyone that could possibly deliver the baby. My blood pressure was actually very average the last two appointments. I don't know if that's good though - hopefully it's not just getting higher and higher. I asked if it was normal for my ribs to make popping noises and feel like they are breaking and apparently it is. Joy joy. :) I also asked about the likelihood of a C-Section for me and if there is anyway to tell ahead of time if it is a big possibility. My mom and a couple of her sisters had the thing where your pelvic bones aren't wide enough for the baby to get though and they had to have C-Sections because of it. I'm just interested in knowing if there's any chance of knowing that before-hand so I don't get stuck dilated to 4 cm for 20 hours and then told I have to have a Section. I'm gonna see Dr. Duhart next week (she does most of the C-Sections) so she can look at me and we can talk about it. I AM NOT scheduling a C-Section. Let me just be clear about that before I start getting all kinds of ugly emails about it.I finished work with Bella and William this week and it is bittersweet. I had a wonderful year with them and I hate that they were cheated out of my usual energetic self for the past few months. But we had fun and I am soooooo blessed to have been their nanny. And I'll still see them all the time. :)

I spent the last week getting my house clean because I always feel like I can't start on fun projects until the dishes are put away and the bed is made. This week I hope to finish the nursery. I just painted the new closet doors and now I need to buy fabric and sew the curtains, paint the table and chairs that were mine and Doug's growing up, re-cover the cushions for the glider-rocker (and figure out where I'm putting it), find artwork for the walls, and hang the shelving in the closet. Not too much, but I'm ready to have it all done.

That's all I've got for now peeps. I promise it won't be so long between posts now that I'm a stay at home mommy. :)